He said the market for smartphones would continue to grow quickly as they moved from being expensive corporate accessories to become consumer devices.

“This is a real shift in the market,” he said. “You are hearing fewer people talking about a business-only phone or a consumer-only phone. People don’t live that way.

“Our lives are mixed and we believe people need one phone for their lives.”

Starkweather said Sony Ericsson contacted Microsoft “about a year ago” and the two companies had been working on the deal since then.

According to industry figures, there are currently around one billion mobile handsets shipped each year around the world. Of those 120 million are smartphones.

“The big challenge for anyone building smartphones today is letting the consumers know that there is more than the pretty exterior,” he said. “The industry is working on raising awareness.”

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Telecommunications  Windows Mobile