Microsoft’s new smartphone for enterprises

Sony introduced the Ericsson Xperia X1 running Windows Mobile 6 at the T-mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. Below is a video that offers a close up look at the device. What Microsoft has been promising (according to a video of discussions at the Microsoft booth) is that its next generation of phones are purely geared for the enterprising – securely hooking into the existing corporate backoffice (Microsoft Office presumably). The Xperia phone will ship in the second half of the year. For corporate IT departments that want to appease employees clamoring for iPhones, but who don’t want to deal with iPhone’s notoriously anti-enterprise problems, Microsoft wants you to think of the Xperia as the solution. Time will tell if it performs as claimed or if we are looking at another Zune vs. iPod maneuver.