InformationWeek 11/5 (I'm still wonderin' about how G* and Teledesic might fit into this):
__Microsoft, Qualcomm To Form Datacom Provider__
Microsoft and Qualcomm Inc. are forming a wireless data
communications company that aims to give customers ubiquitous
access to their corporate data networks.
The company, to be unveiled next week, will marry Qualcomm's CDMA
wireless transmission technology with Microsoft's Windows CE
operating system. It's unclear who will provide the actual global
wireless service. However, Qualcomm is a founding member of the
Globalstar low-Earth-orbit satellite communications consortium,
and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is a major investor in another such
project, Teledesic LLC.
The Microsoft-Qualcomm company is partly a response to the
announcement last spring of a wireless data company formed by
three leading European manufacturers--Nokia, Ericsson, and Psion--
and Motorola. That company, Symbian, was formed ostensibly to keep
Microsoft from seizing control of the still-nascent market for smart
phones by adopting non-Microsoft technologies.
Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that it sees its CE
operating system for handheld computers and TV set-top boxes as a
perfect system for use in smart phones as well. Microsoft officials
declined to comment on next week's announcement.
-- Stuart J. Johnston
_Symbian Eyes Enterprise Market With Oracle-Ready Handhelds_
Oracle is teaming with Symbian Inc. to create a version of its Oracle
Lite database that would run on Symbian's Epoc operating system for
handheld devices. Oracle already has a version of its Lite database
for 3Com PalmPilots.
The aim is to make handheld devices more appealing to business
users concerned about performance, business value, and security,
Symbian executives say. "We realize there is very much a credibility
gap when you're talking about mobile devices in the enterprise
market," says Jeremy Burton, technology manager at Symbian.
"Oracle closes that credibility gap. It makes people realize that
these are serious business tools."
While no current applications take advantage of the Oracle Lite
capabilities on Epoc, Symbian says the joint development provides a
platform for sales-force automation, E-mail, or other applications
that require network access.
Oracle Lite for Epoc won't be ready until April 1999. Some Symbian
devices, such as Psion's Series 5 handhelds and a smart phone from
Philips Electronics, will support Oracle Lite when it arrives, but
most won't ship until the third quarter of 1999. -- Jeff Sweat |
