Andy Sjostrom
05-16-2002, 09:32 PM
Microsoft announced today its first China-based Smartphone and Pocket PC Phone Edition OEM, <a href="http://www.tclmobile.com/indexe.php">TCL Mobile</a>. The announcement was made at Enterprise China's Strategic Mobile Networks Conference in Beijing, China. This news demontrates a significant breakthrough for Microsoft on the Chinese market! According to the announcement, TCL Mobile will be developing its next generation OMIT (Open Multimedia Information Terminal) devices based on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 software. Here are some snippets from the announcement:<br /><br />"Beijing, China -- May 16, 2002 - Microsoft and TCL Mobile today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement will see TCL develop its next generation OMIT (Open Multimedia Information Terminal) devices on Microsoft's Windows Powered Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 platforms. TCL Mobile and Microsoft share the same multi-platform approach to the device space and believe this partnership will help quickly bring to market devices that will meet the needs of users in China.<br /> <br />China's position as a significant mobile communications market and its continued potential is undoubted. According to CCID Consulting, in 2001 the number of <b>mobile phone users in China leapt 71.3% to 144.8 million, accounting for 44.13% of the total phone market. It is anticipated that by 2005 this number will grow to 252.03 million mobile phone users.</b> This high growth, coupled with the increased demand for mobile computing, means Microsoft's recently launched (April 2002) Simplified Chinese Pocket PC platform will play a key role in helping Chinese manufacturers and development partners take advantage of this huge opportunity. <br /><br />Wan Mingjian, President of TCL Mobile said: "Wireless data is the direction next generation communications is taking. We believe that mobile devices with only voice functionality will end up in the same category that pagers are in today. We believe OMIT devices represent the future of the mobile market and our goal is to provide the best, most available wireless experience to our customers." ... He continued: "In the past three years, the profit and revenue of TCL Mobile has grown ten-fold and we believe this is the ideal time for us to partner with great companies such as Microsoft to provide us with leading edge technologies we need to compete globally. Microsoft is also helping to drive China's IT industry to take on a more prominent role internationally. By co-operating with Microsoft, we will be able to provide smart devices using Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002 software which we believe are critical to deliver a great customer experience. This partnership will enable us to accomplish our vision of being one of the world's top five manufacturers of multimedia and mobile-communications products within three to five years."<br /><br />Kelvin Hou, Greater China OEM Director, Microsoft Greater China, acknowledged TCL Mobile for its achievements and leadership in China. He said: "We believe TCL's investment in the mobile handset market combined with their best-of-breed mobile devices, based on Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition and Smartphone 2002, will be a winning combination locally and internationally. Microsoft will work with TCL on joint R&D and marketing activities and we expect this to be a long and fruitful business partnership."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/china_1.jpg" /><br /><a href="http://www.geraldoar.com/china-sha-flag-pudong.htm">Image source...</a>