CES: Microsoft Intros North American Smart Phone

By Gregg Keizer, TWN
iApplianceWeb
(01/09/03, 11:14:11 PM EDT)

Las Vegas, Nevada -- The Consumer Electronic Show isn't all fun and games. Although this rambling trade show, which holds Las Vegas hostage this week, specializes in home gear and gizmos, there are some nuggets for business among the glitzy dross.

Microsoft here introduced a version of its Smartphone and Pocket PC Phone Edition software for CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, the mobile phone networks most common in North America. Until now, Microsoft's software has been available only for the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks that operate in Europe and elsewhere.

The Pocket PC Phone Edition software targets users who want a PDA first, but who also want to make cell calls. Microsoft's Smartphone software aims at the opposite audience: those who want a device primarily for phone calls, but also need a wireless link to the Internet. While E-mail is the dominant driver for buyers of such hybrids, the ability to go online is also a big draw.

"Consumers in North America will now be able to do more than just read about Pocket PC and Smartphone devices that have until now been available only in Europe," said Ed Suwanjindar, a product manager in Microsoft's mobile devices division. "This is the first step toward widespread adoption of the Pocket PC and Smartphone software in North America."

The lack of CDMA support meant Microsoft was missing out on the important North American market. According to Suwanjindar, CDMA accounts for more than 100 million subscribers in North America, six times the number of customers using GMS in the United States and Canada.

Backing Microsoft's announcement were Hitachi and Samsung, both of which used the show as the platform to debut CDMA network devices powered by Microsoft's Pocket PC software.

The Hitachi Multimedia Communicator Pocket PC, which will be distributed by Sprint sometime in the first half of 2003, features an integrated digital camera and a small "thumbpad" keyboard wrapped into a PDA device that's also able to place calls.

Samsung also said it's developing a Pocket PC-powered CDMA device, the i700. Like the Hitachi handheld, the i700 boasts a digital camera that snaps pictures in VGA resolution (640-by-480 pixels, relatively crude by digital camera standards today, but then it's a phone). The i700 is also expected to debut in North America sometime in the first half of 2003, pending FCC approval.

Like other Pocket PC devices, the Hitachi and Samsung phone-enabled PDAs will include PDA-style editions of Microsoft's Outlook, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and Windows Messenger instant-messenger applications.

Also Monday, Hop-On unveiled one of the world's first disposable CDMA cell phones. These use-and-toss phones are an alternative to the traditional cellular contracts and prepaid calling cards, the company says. Its disposable phones come with 60 minutes of prepaid calling time, but can have more time added.

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