Taiwanese electronic company Acer, which recently dived into the smartphone market with Windows Mobile handsets, is planning to churn out very affordable smartphones starting this year so that carriers may give them away for free.

The phones will be powered by the new Windows Mobile 6.5 platform and will arrive in stores in September or October.



Acer

Acer executive Aymar de Lencquesaing told a news conference that it sees promise in the market where only 200 million use smartphones amid 4 billion cellphone users.

Acer unveiled its initial offerings last month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but plans four new models later this year, including those that they hope would entice carriers to hand out to subscribers for free.

PCWorld reports that the first Acer "cheap" smartphone is code-named F1. It will have a big and generous high-resolution touchscreen and a 5 megapixel camera, and a "widget" user interface.

Another goes by the codename L1 which will have a GPS receiver, a sliding numeric keypad and a touchscreen with a virtual QWERTY keyboard, the report added.

Acer bought smartphone-maker E-Ten last year. It is a leading manufacturer of desktops. notebooks and other consumer electronic products.