Thanks to Jeremy Millard for pointing out this Guardian article. It details the fact that the SPV E200 “will be available in time for the crucial Christmas season and will sell for less than £200” and Orange reckon “the new feature-packed phone will help … retain high value contract customers” as competition from T-Mobile and O2 rises.
Microsoft are also going on the assault (wehay), trying to get more networks to pick up their products. The Guardian article goes onto state that….
“Microsoft will also publish a survey today which it hopes will persuade other networks to use its range of phones. The mobile industry has so far been cautious about accepting Microsoft into the fold because of its reputation for dominance in the PC industry. The survey, by Edge Strategies, looked at 1,000 Microsoft smartphone users and concluded that they spent 25% more on average than users of other phones.”
This is a good article, and well worth a look. It also shows the amount of pushing being done by Orange and Microsoft together in order to ensure the success of the Smartphone. Good news!
Source and more info – The Guardian Newspaper (UK)