Microsoft and QUALCOMM Inc. has just announced a collaboration that will include support for the Wm5 platform on QUALCOMM's highly integrated Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets. QUALCOMM may mean that Windows Mobile phones at last will be able to offer UMTS (and fast UMTS = HSDPA) also in case of low-end models. The collaboration will enable device makers to develop more affordable, feature-rich Windows Mobile powered phones while shortening their development times. Support will also give users extended battery life while running a wide variety of business and entertainment applications.

QUALCOMM with support for Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphones Microsoft and QUALCOMM will fully integrate and test the Windows Mobile operating system with QUALCOMM's dual-core architecture. The integration and testing speeds time to market by removing some custom development work device makers previously undertook to build 3G Windows Mobile devices with QUALCOMM chipsets.

Support for the Windows Mobile platform on QUALCOMM's highly integrated MSM solutions also gives users extended battery life while running a wide variety of business and entertainment applications, such as Microsoft Office Mobile and Windows Media® Player Mobile, along with third-party offerings.

Microsoft and QUALCOMM are fully integrating and testing support for the Windows Mobile operating system on Convergence Platform 7XXX-series MSM chipsets from QUALCOMM, which feature a dual-core architecture with an integrated ARM11 applications processor and ARM9 modem processor for superior performance. The testing and integration speeds time to market by enabling handset manufacturers to more easily develop Windows Mobile-powered devices featuring the Convergence Platform MSM chipsets by removing some custom development work that would otherwise be required. Additionally, device makers can take advantage of the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and UMTS modem features, as well as the hardware-accelerated multimedia capabilities, multi-megapixel camera support, 3D graphics and Assisted-GPS engines from the Launchpad suite of technologies integrated with Convergence Platform MSM chipsets.

More information here.