Vodafone said it made a deal with Microsoft to standardize software on its handsets and plans to reduce the number of OS platforms on its phones from 20 to three during the next five years. Vodafone will coalesce around Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian/Series 60 and open source Linux software in a bid to reduce development costs. The Vodafone/Microsoft agreement will integrate Vodafone's applications and services with Microsoft's software, speed the convergence of mobile devices and computers and increase the number of applications and services the operator offers. Vodafone and Microsoft plan to release their first device using the software through handset maker Samsung Electronics in the first half of 2007. Will other operators follow to clean up the mobile OS market?
For more about Vodafone's OS decisions:
- check out this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)
- read this report from RCR Wireless News