Qualcomm Embraces Windows Mobile

Qualcomm and Microsoft have inked a deal to support Windows Mobile on Qualcom's MSM mobile phone chips.

Microsoft and Qualcomm have reached a deal by which Qualcomm will support Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system in its Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets.

Support for Windows Mobile will enable Qualcomm’s partners to quickly develop new smartphone products which leverage Microsoft technology to stop into the areas of email, document processing, and (of course) the lucrative, emerging mobile music and video markets. Qualcomm expects to offer support for Windows Mobile 5.0 on its MSM chipsets by the second half of 2006; phones based on the technology should begin to hit the market in 2007.

“Having support for Windows Mobile on QUALCOMM’s MSM chipsets will bring a familiar software experience to the next generation of smaller, lighter phones with more appealing form factors,” said Dr. Sanjay K. Jha, Qualcomm’s president of CDMA Technologies. “Our customers will be able to more quickly design cost-effective and innovative devices that harness the power of our Convergence Platform dual-processor solutions.”

“We know that mobile operators are eager to attract and retain subscribers with an affordable portfolio of Windows Mobile-powered devices. More and more of their customers want capabilities such as mobile e-mail and Office productivity programs in a familiar and easy-to-use software experience,” said Pieter Knook, senior VP for Microsoft’s Mobile and Embedded Devices Division and Communications Sector Business.