— Photo: Kamal Narang

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY: Manoj Kohli (right), President, Bharti Airtel, with Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Mocrosoft Corporation India, at the launch of Microsoft's Windows mobile 5.0 technology in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a strategic tie-up with Microsoft to provide the latter's Windows Mobile 5.0 platform, enabling Airtel subscribers to access corporate e-mail through direct push technology.

The service will deliver powerful business applications and multimedia experience to all enterprises and SME (small and medium enterprise) customers.

Bharti Airtel President Manoj Kohli said: "This new service will benefit Airtel users to access a host of Microsoft Office applications and other multimedia products on their mobile phones, besides allowing them access to corporate e-mail.''

Stating that Bangalore-based Infosys is the first customer in India for the 5.0 Windows mobile solution, Mr. Kohli said: "We have now launched the service in seven cities across India and will launch in 20 other cities by this year-end.''

The service is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

According to Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan: "The Windows Mobile 5.0 is the perfect solution for the global mobile workforce to work in an always-on environment and better organise their work and personal lives.''

The new platform, which is seamlessly integrated with the MS Exchange server 2003, is priced at Rs. 399, offering 100 MB of space, Rs. 599 — 1 GB and Rs. 799 — 1.5 GB space, for individuals at the entry level.

However, for enterprises, the service will be available at a discount, depending on the number of users in an enterprise.

The service will be available to Airtel customers on the latest HP I-paq and I-Mate handsets ranging anywhere between Rs. 16,000 and Rs. 65,000, with Airtel customers getting preferential hand-set pricing.

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