Microsoft has struck a deal with China Mobile, which will make its mobile browser—Internet Explorer (IE) 6 for Windows Mobile—available on the Samsung Omnia handsets the Chinese operator offers to its subscribers. The pairing is quite a coup for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Though the online version of Explorer dominates web surfing, the mobile version is routinely panned by critics as clunky and not very adept at rendering the tinier pages. Last week, it announced an updated version was coming soon, and released emulator images to allow developers to conduct testing. An early review by Ars Technica found that the new version was an improvement, but not as substantial as one would expect the software giant capable of implementing.

It’s very revealing then, what Microsoft’s Windows Mobile director Scott Rockfeld told ZDNet Asia about the tie-up. First, Microsoft had “chosen” China Mobile as the world’s first operator to get mobile IE6, thanks to its vast subscriber base and continuing growth. (As of September 30, it had 436 million subscribers and counting). Rockfeld: “Our target is not to convert existing users of the competing phones like the iPhone or Google’s Android…We want to have users in [emerging markets] get their first online experience with Windows Mobile.” Translation: Forget those who have experienced other mobile OS’s or browsers, and get those who haven’t yet had a better experience to compare it to. 

• Microsoft Gears Up For New Mobile Browser