Microsoft developing Windows for phone chips

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Microsoft Corp. today confirmed that it is developing a version of its main Windows operating system that will run on cell phone chips, providing an alternative for the first time in many years to the chips based on Intel technology.

The new version could take advantage of the power savings provided by cell phone chips, and give Microsoft a better chance of gaining a foothold in the emerging world of tablet computers. Apple Inc.'s hit iPad tablet runs on a cell phone-type chip, which is part of the reason it can last 10 hours on one charge.

Steve Sinofsky, president of the Windows division, demonstrated at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas prototype computers running Windows on chips designed by ARM Holdings, a British company whose technology goes into practically all cell phone chips.

Sinofsky didn't say when the new version of Windows would be available, but intimated that it might be one or a few years away.