LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. and Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc. today announced at CTIA Wireless 2001 that Mitsubishi will extend its support of Microsoft® mobile device platforms to include Microsoft Mobile Explorer™
technology. 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 the phone is connected to a wireless network. Mitsubishi Wireless will use the Mobile Explorer solution to power its new Trium G520 and GT550 phones for the United States’ GSM networks, with phone availability expected during the first quarter of 2002.
The addition of Mobile Explorer-powered phones to the Trium product lineup expands the Mitsubishi and Microsoft device portfolio to three platforms. Mitsubishi Electric currently offers a wireless and voice-integrated Pocket PC, the Mondo Trium, in Europe and plans to ship products based on the Microsoft smart phone software platform, currently code-named
“Stinger,”
in Europe later this year.
“Moving to a browser capable of supporting WAP, iMode and HTML is absolutely critical to delivering true wireless Internet services to our customers. Microsoft Mobile Explorer proved to be an ideal choice in terms of enabling access to multiple Internet content types while working with our existing software,”
said Patrick Marry, senior vice president of Mitsubishi Wireless.
“We’re proud to extend our work with Microsoft in the mobile device space and believe our cellular expertise combined with Microsoft’s software portfolio will bring customers the experience they expect when using the ‘wireless Internet.'”
“We designed Mobile Explorer to be a generation ahead of other microbrowser-based phone solutions, and we’re thrilled to work with Mitsubishi Wireless to bring the first Mobile Explorer-powered phones to the United States,”
said Ben Waldman, vice president of the Mobile Devices Division at Microsoft.
“Microsoft’s vision is to enable our customers to access their information any time, any place and on any device — this announcement moves us closer to making this vision a reality.”
Mitsubishi Wireless Communications’ G520 and GT550
The Trium G520 and GT550 browser phones by Mitsubishi Wireless Communications are designed for wireless access to the Internet, e-mail and games, in addition to voice and SMS services. These high-tier phones feature the following:
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Tri-mode browser. Microsoft’s Mobile Explorer 3.0 allows users to access content on the Internet in all three popular formats (WAP, cHTML (iMode) and HTML).
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Color LCD. High-resolution, color LCD technology from Japan’s highly successful wireless Internet market will be brought to the United States for the first time.
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Games. An embedded software engine for gaming will permit almost limitless capability for online gaming and feature expansion.
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Packet Data. High-speed GPRS packet data bearer provides instant access to wireless data services.
Advanced Functionality on Today’s Phones
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.
About Microsoft Phone Platforms
Microsoft is delivering software to handset manufacturers and mobile operators for two phone solutions. Microsoft Mobile Explorer technology provides a lightweight microbrowser-based solution for mobile phones offering connected services. The Microsoft smart phone software platform, code-named
“Stinger,” is based on Microsoft Windows® CE 3.0, a highly componentized embedded operating system for 32-bit connected client devices that demand rich applications and Internet services, and is specifically optimized for mobile phones to extend battery life and reduce memory requirements.
About Mitsubishi Wireless Communications
One of the pioneers of mobile telecommunications, Mitsubishi Wireless Communications introduced its first wireless phone in 1981. Since that time it has been a leading developer of analog and digital wireless phones, WAP/Internet phones, and camera phones.
Headquartered in Duluth, Ga., Mitsubishi Wireless specializes in the design, development, sales and service of innovative digital wireless telephones.
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.
For more information about this event:
More information about Microsoft announcements and products highlighted at CTIA Wireless 2001 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/ctia01/default.asp .
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