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According to an article in the New York Times, Microsoft has stated they will acquire Danger, a maker of consumer smartphones.  Apparently the acquisition has been in the works since the middle of last year and it sounds as if Microsoft moved quickly and not just to penetrate the crowded market:

"According to a person familiar with the negotiations, Microsoft ultimately doubled what it was willing to pay to keep Danger out of the hands of other suitors, including Google., an indication that the software giant is quickly moving to expand its mobile strategy."

Now that Microsoft has greatly improved their Windows Mobile (WM) operating system and companies like HTC, Motorola, Palm and Sony Ericsson have embraced WM on their PDAs & Smartphones; it appears that Microsoft may be marketing their own handhelds through this acquisition.

Danger was founded in 2000 and is best known for the Sidekick, which was one of the first mobile devices to give consumers easy access to wireless data beyond electronic mail.  Unfortunately, according to the article "they have been unable to expand their service provider alliances beyond T-Mobile, the third-ranking cellular carrier in the United States".

I'm fairly happy with my PDA running WM5 and the newer WM6 handhelds I've dealt with have been very stable, but I'm not sure how Microsoft will fare in this arena.  I assume this acquisition is in response to the threat posed by Google's Android platform, but again wonder if anyone would be willing to buy a Microsoft-branded PDA or Smartphone.