Microsoft, which lags behind leader Symbian Ltd in the mobile software market, is eyeing demand for high-data applications as the line between consumer gadgets and PCs blurs, Tony Mestres, general manager of Microsoft's mobile business, said on Wednesday.
"Unit shipment (growth) in Asia will exceed 75 percent this fiscal year, and that's a comfortable number," Mestres told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, without giving a revenue figure.
Microsoft is keen to raise mobile software sales in Asia, which are currently less than one percent of total revenue, as it tries to catch up with Symbian's operating system used in high-end models made by Nokia, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics.
One challenge for Microsoft has been Japan, where carriers selling low-priced phones can read documents or Web pages without Windows Mobile, and where Symbian software is used on many handsets from top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc.
But Microsoft has made inroads. Softbank Corp., Japan's third-largest wireless carrier, released two handsets with Microsoft's Windows Mobile software in May. Smaller carrier Willcom Inc. plans to release its newest handset on Thursday.
"We are in talks with all key players in Japan's wireless (market)," Mestres said. Device makers that have put Windows on their smartphones include Toshiba Corp. and Sharp Corp., he said. "We're on the right track."
Microsoft, which hopes more users will want to synchronize their mobile phones with their Windows-based PCs, expects unit shipments of Windows Mobile to double in the year ending June 2008 to 20 million units, he said.
well its a good news for developing countries like india, specially for b.tech student 
