TAOYUAN, Taiwan-In a surprising turnaround, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced it will sell phones running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system. DoCoMo previously had allowed only phones running either the Linux or Symbian OS.
In a brief announcement, DoCoMo said it reached an agreement with High Tech Computer Corp. to sell Windows Mobile 5.0 Japanese Edition devices. HTC is the company behind the vast majority of Windows Mobile devices in the market today. The company generally designs and manufactures the devices and then sells them to other companies-such as Orange Group plc or Palm Inc.-which then resell the devices to users.
HTC said it will sell Windows Mobile devices for DoCoMo’s FOMA 3G network sometime in the second half of this year. The company said the devices will offer voice and video services, QWERTY keyboards and support for Wi-Fi networks. The devices will be aimed squarely at the business user.
The move is notable for a variety of reasons. For DoCoMo, the carrier’s deal with HTC essentially signals an expansion in DoCoMo’s smart-phone plans. DoCoMo tightly controls the development of its phones, and a move to Windows Mobile signals a potential relaxation in its device strategy. Previously, DoCoMo would only sell smart phones that ran either a Linux-based operating system or the Symbian OS.
For HTC, the agreement opens up another significant market opportunity for the company.
And perhaps most importantly, the announcement signals another win for Microsoft. The software giant has been working tirelessly to break into the smart-phone market. Although the company’s offerings were slow to catch on at first, Microsoft recently has been gaining steam. Indeed, Palm-a longtime Microsoft rival-recently launched a Treo smart phone featuring Microsoft’s platform.
