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Much of the buzz at last week's 3GSM in Cannes centred on handsets and mobile content: Wi-Fi announcements of substance were thin on the ground. One development of note was that i-mate will be pre-integrating the Skype voice over IP software client on selected i-mate handsets. However, the reality is a lot less grand than the announcement might suggest. i-mate will simply pre-install the Skype software on its Wi-Fi-enabled handsets which run the Window Mobile Pocket PC operating system. A version of Skype for Pocket PC has existed for almost a year, so the i-mate strategy simply cuts out the installation step for users.

i-mate is not a typical handset vendor. Instead, the Dubai-based company simply places its i-mate brand on a range of handsets produced by the Taiwanese ODM, HTC.

HTC designs and manufacturers handsets and was the first company to produce a commercial handset based on the Window Mobile for Smartphone operating system back in 2002. That device was codenamed the HTC Canary and, since then, HTC has grown to become the single largest manufacturer of Window Mobile cellular devices - both for Window Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition (PPPE) and Window Mobile Smartphone. The Canary was followed by the Tanager and then the Typhoon Window Smartphone devices, and on the Windows Pocket PC side, the HTC Wallaby was followed by the Himalaya. HTC has now integrated Wi-Fi into its PPPE devices, and in the past 12 months has put out the Blue Angel and the Alpine. Now the company has released a 3G Pocket PC handset, also with integrated Wi-Fi, known as the HTC Universal. With three handset models incorporating wireless LAN capability, HTC can boast of having the widest portfolio of cellular/Wi-Fi phones in the handset industry.

While Microsoft has encouraged other ODMs to produce Windows Mobile devices, many have struggled to produce commercial grade handsets, and none have been able to produce the variety of models which HTC has been able to churn out.

There are no indications that HTC will halt the integration of Wi-Fi within specific PDA models. In fact, now that small footprint, single chip WLAN semiconductors are readily available from vendors such as CSR, Atheros and Marvell, it is likely that HTC will move Wi-Fi beyond its PDA range and add it to some of its smartphones.

As an ODM, HTC has no brand ambitions of its own, and its handset designs are offered to third parties to label. i-mate is just one of more than 10 companies which brand HTC devices, and it are European mobile operators, looking to strengthen their position with own-branded devices, which represent HTC's biggest customers. O2 was HTC's first operator customer, selling the HTC Wallaby as the popular XDA device in 2003. O2 has since been joined by Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone which distribute own-branded devices under the model series of SPV, MDA and VPA respectively.

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