CANNES, France, and NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2001 — Today at the 3GSM World Congress, Microsoft Corp. announced delivery of Microsoft® Mobile Explorer™
3.0 technology for evaluation and/or development to handset manufacturers including Benefon, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony-Digital Telecommunication Europe. Mobile Explorer 3.0 is a lightweight mobile phone platform that can run on virtually any phone operating system or wireless network, providing users with secure access to corporate or personal e-mail, personal information and the Internet when it is connected to a wireless network. Mobile Explorer 3.0 gives users access to a wide range of wireless Internet content, while providing enhanced ease of use, end-to-end security and a superior ability to personalize content on mobile phones. Samsung will be the first company to announce and demonstrate new mobile phone hardware running Mobile Explorer 3.0 this week at the 3GSM World Congress.
“Microsoft’s goal is to enable people to access their personal information any time, any place and on any device,”
said Ben Waldman, vice president of the Mobile Device Division at Microsoft.
“Mobile Explorer is a key component of our multidevice strategy, enabling users to access the information they want regardless of what format it is written in — be it HTML, cHTML or WAP, and regardless of the phone operating system.”
Mobile Explorer enables a wide range of advanced capabilities on Web-enabled phones that users anticipate in future phones, including the following:
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Broad access to Internet content. Mobile Explorer 3.0 enables users to browse a wide range of Internet content available on a Web phone, including content written in HTML, cHTML and WML (WAP) formats, delivering today what WAP 2.0 promises in the future.
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Security. Mobile Explorer 3.0 goes beyond the base security offered on most Web-enabled phones by offering full end-to-end security for e-commerce transactions with support for both WTLS protocol 3 (WAP 1.2.1 specification) and SSL 3.0.
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Graphics. The Mobile Explorer 3.0 user interface supports a wide range of graphics in formats that are scalable to any size and color.
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Personalization. Mobile Explorer 3.0 supports both WAP and SMS push as a way to provide users with updated content in any area they choose. For example, if a user selects a weather report as a live link in his or her home screen, that information will be updated with fresh content from the server via WAP push each time the user logs on to the Internet.
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Ease of use. Unlike many microbrowsers that require users to input complicated settings and gateway information, Mobile Explorer 3.0 is optimized for over-the-air provisioning and configuration so operators can make sure people do not have to enter that information themselves. The enhanced SSL security also enables the use of services such as Microsoft Passport that speed the authentication process for e-commerce transactions.
“We looked at a variety of microbrowser solutions for our SGH-N350 phone,”
said Bongwoo Lee, director of the Mobile Telecommunication Division at Samsung.
“Microsoft Mobile Explorer 3.0 won us over because it provided the most flexible solution to work with our operating system, as well as access to the broadest Internet content that will appeal to our customers. Couple the capabilities of Microsoft Mobile Explorer 3.0 with its tie into Microsoft’s overall mobility solutions, and we can bring the most capable Web phones to market.”
Availability
Samsung’s SGH-N350, which uses Mobile Explorer 3.0, can be seen at the 3GSM World Congress in the Samsung booth, Hall 2/B27, and will be unveiled in the second quarter of 2001. Its large high-resolution LCD (128×128 pixels) with four gray scale, Internet direct access key and four-directional navigation key provide a solid platform for phone and Internet use. The SGH-N350 supports voice functions, PIM and ring customization as well as PC synchronization. Mobile phones running earlier versions of Mobile Explorer are available in Europe on phones from Sony and Benefon and in Korea on phones on the KT Freetel network.
About Microsoft Phone Solutions
Microsoft is delivering software to handset manufacturers and mobile operators for two phone solutions. Microsoft Mobile Explorer provides a lightweight microbrowser-based solution for mobile phones offering online services. The Microsoft smart phone platform, code-named
“Stinger,” is built on a version of the Microsoft Windows® CE 3.0 operating system specifically optimized for mobile phones to extend battery life and reduce memory requirements.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Mobile Explorer and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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