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RSS feedsSamsung's mobile based on Microsoft's Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 platform has just received clearance from the US Federal Communications Commission.
The SCH-1600 has limited PDA functionality and has been designed as a clamshell device with dual-band CDMA. Features include LCD panels, one inside the phone and one outside, so that caller ID can be seen even when the phone is closed.
An infrared port and Secure Digital memory card slot, which supports Secure Digital IO standard extension peripherals (such as digital cameras and Bluetooth devices) is also included. The phone supports email and SMS.
The Smartphone 2002 operating system, previously known as Stinger, complements Pocket PC 2002. Smartphone 2002 is designed for devices that are a phone first and a PDA second. Pocket PC 2002 is for devices that are PDAs first and phone second.
Smartphone provides access to all the usual Microsoft features, such as MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer, Media Player, Active Sync and email functionality.
Microsoft's Smartphone partners currently include Samsung, High Tech Computer from Taiwan, Compal Electronics, and Sendo Holdings. Among the partners, Samsung is the most active, with plans to produce handsets based on operating systems from Microsoft's competitors Palm and Symbian.
The news comes at a time when there is growing suspicion that Apple is considering the development of a mobile phone. For some time the question on many people's lips has been what will be the next big thing from Steve Jobs. The answer may be the 'iPhone'.
Palm has recently been in negotiations with Apple over linking its handheld devices more closely to Apple's new OS X, with little cooperation from Apple.
And then there is the deal with Pixo, a small company that designed the software for Apple's iPod MP3 player. The deal includes a licence for Apple to use Pixo's software on a second, as yet unnamed, product.
Added to this there was a certain "mobile" feel to some of the product announcements at the recent Apple World Wide Developer Conference as the company put itself at the centre of the "digital hub" it sees as the future.
Although Apple remains coy about any plans to move into the mobile world, through phone or PDA, just the thought of Apple's industrial design applied to these devices is enough to get the juices of the most earnest non-techie going.
So as Microsoft moves forward it remains to be seen whether Apple will give them something to worry about.
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