Microsoft has called on telecom companies to tap new revenue streams with its software as it stepped up efforts to muscle into a $250 billion market.
Chairman Bill Gates secured a keynote speech ahead of Mr Arun Sarin, the chief of top mobile phone firm Vodafone Group, at the ITU Telecom World 2003 trade fair in Geneva, to tout his wares.
His message was clear: that software is vital to the health of the telecommunications industry as it emerges from one of its most precipitous downturns ever.
A few short years after Gates mapped out Microsoft's plans to conquer the industry, he said he could announce products and clients.
Gates, who is also Microsoft's chief software architect, showcased a range of software that spanned plans for quality television over broadband Internet connections, a new Microsoft-powered smartphone for Orange and a deal with Vodafone for new mobile messaging and location services.
Microsoft, which spends around $7.5 billion each year on research and development, wants to gain a foothold in the telecoms industry as its key Windows and Office software faces saturation and increasing competition, compounded by piracy.
The firm, which plans to launch its new version of Office software on October 21st, knows pay-back could be years away for its mobile phone software business and other fledgling operations.