French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom is set to announce a wireless internet portal service in partnership with Microsoft Corp. Patrick Leleu, managing director of Bouygues, told French newspaper Les Echos that a service would be launched by the end of the year. The service would allow Bouygues subscribers to create a web portal using their PC, then access it in a text-only format via a mobile phone, or with limited graphics content via a Palm Pilot type computer, Les Echos said. Leleu said the firm would invest in the technology more heavily as the rate of adoption increased.
Microsoft’s involvement is expected to stem from its $130m acquisition of Swedish wireless application server developer Sendit AB, finalized Friday (see related story). Bouygues is already a customer of Sendit, which makes an NT-based server platform called Internet Cellular Smart Access that allows internet applications to be delivered over GSM networks. Microsoft bought the company as part of its strategy to take its all-pervasive operating systems from the desktop to the mobile world. As a result of the acquisition, Microsoft has set up a development center for mobile servers in Stockholm.
