Intrinsyc late last month
released version 1.0 of Soleus, which is currently based on Windows CE 5.0. Soleus,
first demonstrated at the Las Vegas CES one year ago, is characterized as a turnkey software platform for faster, lower-cost consumer handset development.
Soleus running on a cellphone at CES 2007
(Click each image to enlarge)Soleus includes a full suite of development tools including a Windows CE 5 adaptation kit and board support package (BSP), a software development kit (SDK), and the "UX Designer" plug-in for Visual Studio 2005. According to Intrinsyc, UX Designer is a tool for creating and editing portable user interface schemes.
Intrinsyc's Soleus OS targets the mid- to low-end segment of the cellphone market that is unserved by Microsoft's Windows Mobile smartphone OS. The feature-phone segment is forecast to become the largest category of mobile phones sold by 2010, according to Strategy Analytics (
see chart), representing a fierce battleground between embedded Windows, Linux, and a number of other OS alternatives.
Intrinsyc notes that its Windows CE-based Soleus OS adds to Microsoft's overall penetration of the mobile phone space, since Soleus, which targets feature phones, and Windows Mobile, which targets smartphones, address two distinct market segments.
Last June, Wistron became Intrinsyc's
first Soleus licensee. The companies announced at that time that Wistron intended to use Soleus to develop a line of "market-driven, feature-rich phones" for multiple mobile phone manufacturers and network operators.
The above photos first appeared on WindowsForDevices sister site Gearlog.com.
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