Microsoft says to bring full power of web to phones

Microsoft said Monday that it would release an update of its Windows Phone operating system later this year that will provide a full web experience to smartphone users.

"We need to give people the full web, the full Internet on their phone, like they've come to expect with the PC," Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said at the mobile industry's annual get-together in Barcelona.

"Later this year we are going to release a version of Internet Explorer9 (web browser) complete with hardware and graphics and other hardware acceleration for the Windows Phone," he added.

"The web in some senses was designed for the PC first - we need to make it a first class citizen on the phone," he added.

Together with a free update for Windows Phone7, which was released just four months ago, the company aims to provide a smoother web experience on smartphones that rivals surfing on a PC, or personal computer.