Microsoft battles the Epoc alliance

Microsoft's strategy to translate its domination of the server market to the wireless world is not going according to plan.

For once, Microsoft faces real competition persuading independent developers to concentrate on its platforms. Yet its marketing muscle could see it win in the end.

The Redmond giant plans to extend Windows to mobile and palm devices using its Windows CE operating system. But rivals Nokia, the Symbian consortium and Palm Computing are co-ordinating their fight against Microsoft.

Microsoft's competitors gathered at London's recent Mobile Business Solutions show to explain the implications of the alliance between Nokia, Palm and Symbian. Such an alliance looks a good bet on paper for users and developers, but the consortium faces a tough fight persuading developers to adopt a non-Microsoft computing platform.

Both camps are playing for a stake in the wireless and mobile market, expected to be worth $5.1 billion by 2005, according to analyst Frost and Sullivan.

Helping hand

Symbian's Epoc operating system is poised to take a good slice of this market, with the help of its erstwhile competitor Palm Computing. Palm will develop mobile communication devices with Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker and a founder member of Symbian.

Nokia and Palm will develop touchscreen-based wireless devices which combine Palm's interface and Epoc's speed, to be shipped a year from now.

Nokia will contribute the key technologies, including voice applications and IP-based access to networks. Palm also gains access to Nokia's engineering experience in wireless access protocol (Wap), for Internet access from mobile devices, and Bluetooth, for connection between different mobile devices.

The alliance with Symbian could ultimately see Palm devices running Epoc, and smartphones running the Palm operating system.

"We will extend the benefits of the Palm platform to the telephony market," says Alan Kessler, Palm president and chief executive.

Market force

The alliance puts Epoc in a powerful position. Palm controls 48 per cent of the European personal digital assistant market, while Symbian members account for 70 per cent of the mobile phone market, according to researcher IDC.

Epoc will be on most next-generation mobile phones, and has only one competitor: Microsoft. The latter is now promoting Windows CE as an operating system for smartphones, although at present it is restricted to handhelds.

Microsoft has already demonstrated its faith in the smartphone with last November's partnership with wireless technology developer Qualcomm, and its decision to join the Wap Forum, which is pushing for industry standards in wireless communication.

Microsoft moves in

Microsoft also made forays into the rival Epoc camp. In July it bought STNC, a key supplier of web browser technology to Symbian, for an undisclosed sum. This was followed by a mobile data alliance with NTT DoCoMo, a Symbian development partner and Japan's largest mobile communications operator.

Microsoft, however, has huge marketing muscle that could thwart its rivals' ambitions. Take this month's alliance with BT, the UK's largest single carrier.

The BT deal includes plans to develop wireless access to corporate intranets and email applications. UK trials of the BT Cellnet GSM service are under way, with services expected to become available next year. Corporate customers will get email, calendaring and web content, plus access to Microsoft Exchange-based networks.

Microsoft has also formed alliances with Avantgo.com and Socket Technologies to develop a Windows CE wireless kit for mobile phones. This would allow developers to create new applications.

"The proliferation of data-capable mobile phones together with wireless communication kits is the next step," says Jonathon Roberts, Microsoft UK general manager for Windows CE.

Another ace Microsoft claims to have up its sleeve is the cost of supporting mobile devices.

Organisations expect the number of mobile users to increase substantially in two years, but they also expect support costs for such users to increase, according to a survey by Forester Research.

Missing link

Microsoft is already suggesting that a way around this is for organisations to simply fall back on the existing Microsoft skills they have in-house to support Windows CE, rather than learn new support skills and development languages to serve the Symbian and Palm-based systems.

This argument has its flaws, however. Windows CE uses entirely different code to the traditional Windows operating system, and Microsoft has not yet found a way to link Windows NT to Windows CE.

Businesses should tread carefully before they commit to a platform. Symbian may offer a system that works and which delivers true cross-platform compatibility, but Microsoft could triumph in the long run through marketing muscle alone.