Gates Sees Big Money In Small Devices

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/Gates+sees+big+dollars+in+little+devices/2008-1016_3-5701477.html?tag=nefd.lede">http://news.com.com/Gates+sees+big+dollars+in+little+devices/2008-1016_3-5701477.html?tag=nefd.lede</a><br /><br /><i>"Bill Gates doesn't think his company has been slow to crack the cell phone market. He just thinks the little devices have yet to catch up to the power of his company's software. Still, with cell phones quickly gaining the power PCs had not that long ago, Microsoft's chairman sees a bright future, in which the company's operating system can quickly gain share from Nokia and others that run rival software."</i><br /><br />The article goes on for a two page Q&amp;A. Their phone presence in Europe has shot up dramatically. There were no partners four to five years ago. Three years ago it was primarily just Orange. Today, they are working with 68 carriers in 40 countries.<br /><br />Now if we could just get US carriers to be a bit more cutting edge with Windows Mobile offerings. Some like T-Mobile and Verizon are carrying products nearing two years old. :|

[Kowalski]

Bill Gates is a bright man for sure. If he had continued the war against Nokia+Symbian we would probably lost the battle. Converging windows mobile and smart phone devices puts microsoft one step ahead Nokia.
Nokia and symbian is in real trouble

[griph]

Now if we could just get US carriers to be a bit more cutting edge with Windows Mobile offerings. Some like T-Mobile and Verizon are carrying products nearing two years old. :|
Isn't part of the problem that the US doesn't have a standardised cell phone system e.g. CDMA, TDMA, iDEN &amp; GSM! I may be being simplistic here - but its easy to produce a multi band phone these days to cope with the two primary bands used in say Europe. Providing phones to suit the non standardised US market that are not going to be used anywhere else in the world must put off cell phone manufacturers/carriers?