Microsoft wins Chinese vendor for Mobile OS
Register | at | by Mike
Microsoft Corp's mobile strategy continues to gather pace with the announcement that the company has agreed to supply the leading Chinese domestic mobile handset manufacturer TCL Mobile, with both its Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 operating systems. Microsoft, having been shut out of the major global phone manufacturers is pushing a strategy of selling its products via original device manufacturers (ODMs).
The other major vendors exclusively back Symbian Ltd, a London-based operating system developer that is a joint venture between them. But Microsoft is being extremely divisive in this market by trying to sell products directly to mobile operators that can be made in the Far East by contract manufacturers, cutting established vendors such as Nokia Corp out of the chain. The first device of this type, the XDA, will be launched this month by European mobile operator mmO2 Plc, and was manufactured by HTC.