Motorola will become the first major handset manufacturer to ship a Microsoft smartphone, with the clamshell MPx200 starting in Europe with Orange next month, and AT&T Wireless commencing sales in the US in the 'fourth quarter.

Motorola has also announced an alliance with Microsoft that will lead to the release of Motorola Pocket PCs and smart phones running both versions of the Windows Mobile operating system.

Unfortunately, no other details are available on Motorola's handheld-related plans.

"We consider this alliance with Motorola to be a tremendous milestone for our Windows Mobile platform and a major win for customers, operators and developers," said Pieter Knook, corporate vice president of mobile and embedded devices at Microsoft.