Microsoft Corp and cellular phone vendor Qualcomm Inc are preparing to launch a joint venture on November 10 they hope will be able to make up ground lost to rivals which launched their own joint venture – Symbian – earlier this year. The venture will be set up to find a way for Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system and web browsers to be integrated into mobile phones. Other as yet unnamed partners are also thought to be set to join the two key companies in the venture. A major hurdle that neither has addressed is Qualcomm’s existing plan to use 3Com Corp’s PalmOS technology in new smart phones it is due to deliver to subscribers in the first half of 1999. Qualcomm declined to say what happens to that initiative, even though the Microsoft venture will commit Qualcomm to developing new generations of mobile phones, or at least those equipped for data services, using Windows CE. The Palm technology is Microsoft’s biggest headache in the PDA market – it went so far as trying to buy Palm from 3Com some months ago but was rebutted. While Microsoft has long been looking to extend its influence into the wireless market, the largest mobile phone companies have seemed to avoid getting involved with the company. Indeed, the Symbian venture has appeared to many as a way for the phone vendors to develop data services for their equipment without having to rely on the powerful Microsoft. In addition, as news of the Microsoft/Qualcomm partnership leaked out, Oracle Corp, another long time Microsoft antagonist said it would work to allow Symbian systems to access data on its databases (see separate story). Symbian stole the headlines in June by joining the world’s largest mobile phone vendors – Nokia Oy LM Ericsson AB and Motorola Inc with PDA vendor Psion Plc. In the Symbian venture, UK company Psion is providing its operating system to enable the phone vendors to offer data services on their next generation of handsets. In recent weeks, leaked Microsoft documents have come to light including a Microsoft CEO Bill Gates memo that referred to his concern about Symbian’s threat to Microsoft’s PDA operating system, Windows CE. á