Microsoft, Nokia Link on Mobile Web Names

LONDON(Reuters) - Nine top computer, telecoms and handset companies said on Wednesday they would jointly set up a new Internet names registry company to issue domain names for wireless devices, in an attempt to boost mobile services.

The new firm has to yet be approved by ICANN, which registers domain names for the Internet. The new firm will establish a new as-yet-unnamed domain to simplify mobile access to the Internet, replacing the myriad of addresses with the mobile equivalent of the .com domain.

The initiative brings together two unlikely bedfellows, top software company Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) and leading handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE), rivals in the battle to make the software that runs mobile handsets.

It also involves the world's biggest mobile telecoms operator Vodafone (London:VOD.L - News) and its competitors Orange, owned by France Telecom (Paris:FTE.PA - News), and Hutchison Whampoa's (HKSE:0013.HK - News) operator 3.

U.S. computer makers Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM:SUNW - News) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News) are also participating, as is South Korea's Samsung Electronics (KSE:005930.KS - News) and the GSM Association…

More stories are popping up today including http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040310/sfw064a_1.html