Proving that corporate agendas sometimes can't be put aside long enough to create a unified computing platform for the world's poor, Microsoft has unveiled "FonePlus," a concept device making good on its proposal to use smartphones as the basis for sending computers deep into emerging markets. Unfortunately we've been unable to dig up any eye candy, but FonePlus looks to follow Gates' formula pretty closely: you get a CE-based smartphone (likely watered down from the full Windows Mobile package) with TV out and an external keyboard connection. The logic behind FonePlus suggests that phones and televisions are pervasive even in some of the world's poorest regions, making the product an easy sell -- plus, Internet access is part and parcel with the phone, something OLPC doesn't provide out of the box. Whether FonePlus will see production remains to be seen, but Microsoft's studying the idea closely -- and when you get snubbed by OLPC in favor of Linux, well, it's no surprise to see them come out swinging.

Sure, the OLPC project's connectivity options are all well and good with the promise of WiFi and mesh networking, but how's about tethering that $100 $130 laptop up to some high-speed WWAN action? The GSM Association has announced its "3G for all" initiative to bring UMTS access well beyond its current user base of 72 million people, most of whom reside in industrialized nations. Although OLPC is not specifically mentioned, the synergy is pretty obvious -- we suspect these laptops could find themselves in a few places where WiFi is hard to come by. Besides challenging carriers to build out the network, GSMA is asking manufacturers to develop 3G handsets with the needs of emerging markets in mind, something they've done in the past for 2G handsets with the goal of mass production at the $30 price point. UMTS has a long way to go in some industrialized nations before we see this all happening, but dare to dream, guys -- we're all about $130 laptops tethered to $30 3G-capable phones.