Fujitsu plays smart with Symbian
Published: 11 Dec 2002 07:46 GMT
Device maker Fujitsu on Tuesday said it has developed the first mobile phone for 3G networks based on Symbian, an operating system backed by Nokia, Motorola and other wireless leaders.
Symbian is one of several operating systems that create "smart phones," which blend a cell phone and personal digital assistant into one device. Symbian's rival in the smart phone operating system market is Microsoft, which has its own family of smart phone software.
Tuesday's announcement is another sign that Microsoft is falling behind Symbian, believes Peter Bancroft, a spokesman for the company formed to license the Symbian software.
He points out that the Fujitsu phone, now shipping to Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, uses the wideband-CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) standard, which moves Web pages or e-mails between 386kbps and 2.4mbps.
Microsoft's mobile phone software hasn't been incorporated into any phones using wideband-CDMA or similarly performing standards such as EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and Qualcomm's more sophisticated versions of its CDMA technology.
Microsoft did not immediately comment.
A cell phone using the Smartphone 2002 software is being sold by U.K. wireless carrier Orange. But Orange's network is based on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), considered not as sophisticated as wideband-CDMA.
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