After dominating the desktop, burrowing into the Internet and bursting into the video game market, Microsoft Corp. is making progress at getting firmly into the palm of your hand.
Already a force in software for personal digital assistants, Microsoft is ramping up efforts to provide the operating systems for those devices' close relative: the next generation of "smart" cell phones that can handle e-mail, digital photos and other data.
Microsoft splashed into the smart-phone scene in Europe last year with a device sold by the British wireless carrier Orange.
And last week it made a big North American advance as Hitachi and Samsung each said they would soon produce Microsoft-powered handhelds with phones that employ the most common U.S. network standard.
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