![]() Price makes a big difference, and when I inquired about the probable retail price of Stinger and other smart phones, I got extremely vague answers. I don't share Microsoft's expectations-not yet, anyway. Will the two technologies converge? Microsoft seems to think so-witness the tremendous effort invested in the project code-named Stinger, a "smart phone" with built-in Pocket PC-like functionality, and the Microsoft Mobile Explorer, a browser for "feature phones" that supports both Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and HTML. (Microsoft's release mentions "high-margin, high-end device\".) Digital cell phones appeal to nearly everyone. Even so, as the popularity of digital cell phones explodes, pocket-sized computers remain boutique items. Granted, Pocket PC doesn't rank as the most popular mobile computer-about 10 times as many Palm OS-based devices have been sold. For every 500 or so GSM phones in use, there's only one Pocket PC. I find comparing the two press releases illuminating. That's one digital cell phone for every 12 people on the planet! The second press release came from Microsoft, announcing the shipment of the one-millionth Pocket PC. One, from the GSM Association, announced that more than half a *billion* people now own Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)-based digital cell phones. Two press releases caught my eye this week.
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