microsoft

Something big going down at June Windows Phone Developer Summit and we are invited

May 2, 2012 | By Surur

Microsoft is sending out invitations to a Windows Phone Developer Summit at the end of June 2012, and the buzz going round is that it must be Windows Phone 8 related.

If it is it would be the first official revelation of the OS which has been shrouded in mystery, with information only revealed in leaks, unlike Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 which were both well described well before its official release on devices.

The WMPU team has also been invited to the event, and we look forward to having one of the first hands-ons with whatever mystery Microsoft unveils that day.

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Microsoft Announces Twilio’s Voice And Messaging APIs For Azure Customers

May 2, 2012 | By Pradeep

Twilio, a cloud communications provider today announced a relationship with Microsoft to make its voice and messaging APIs easily available to Windows Azure customers. As an introductory offers, the developers will receive a starting credit of 1,000 free text messages or inbound voice minutes with sign up.

Using Twilio’s APIs, developers can develop apps which require features such as interactive voice response, mobile app distribution via SMS, call automation or two-factor authentication, etc,. Many leading apps such as Microsoft Skype’s GroupMe, eBay, etc, rely on Twilio’s APIs. You can find more information on Twilio’s free offer for Windows Azure developers can be found at ahoy.twilio.com/azure.

Source: Twilio

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Win A Limited Edition Kinect STAR WARS Bundle By Trying Out Nokia Lumia 900

May 2, 2012 | By Pradeep

Microsoft is hosting a series of events called “Behind the Tiles” at Best Buy stores to promote Windows Phone devices. In the events, you can

Play with a Nokia Lumia 900 in our demo room

Use new Windows Phones, including the HTC TITAN II

Learn about “Metro” style design and the future with Windows Phone

Walk-away with a bag of Windows Phone branded gifts†

Apart from the above, you will get a chance to win a Limited Edition Kinect STAR WARS Bundle. You can register for the event here and visit Best Buy Stores at the specified time to take part in this event.

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Microsoft Partners With Barnes & Noble To Bring E-Book Content To Windows & Windows Phones

April 30, 2012 | By Pradeep

It was a surprising announcement. Today Microsoft and B&N announced a partnership to form a new B&N subsidiary that will bring digital reading content to Microsoft platforms especially Windows 8. Its interesting to note that recently Microsoft Corp. sued Barnes & Noble Inc. for violating patents related to Android and B&N in return even filed an anti-trust case against Microsoft. Its good to see that Microsoft turned the patent battle into a huge content deal for its platforms and even made B&N have royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products.

Press Release:

New York, NY and Redmond, WA (April 30, 2012) – Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the formation of a strategic partnership in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary, which will build upon the history of strong innovation in digital reading technologies from both companies. The partnership will accelerate the transition to e-reading, which is revolutionizing the way people consume, create, share and enjoy digital content.

The new subsidiary, referred to in this release as Newco, will bring together the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble. Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in Newco at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake. Barnes & Noble will own approximately 82.4% of the new subsidiary, which will have an ongoing relationship with the company’s retail stores. Barnes & Noble has not yet decided on the name of Newco.

One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble’s digital bookstore by providing one of the world’s largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.

The inclusion of Barnes & Noble’s College business is an important component of Newco’s strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble’s industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.

“The formation of Newco and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”

“The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them. We’re at the cusp of a revolution in reading.”

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products. This paves the way for both companies to collaborate and reach a broader set of customers.

Newco

On January 5, Barnes & Noble announced that it was exploring the strategic separation of its digital business in order to maximize shareholder value. Barnes & Noble is actively engaged in the formation of Newco, which will include Barnes & Noble’s digital and College businesses. The company intends to explore all alternatives for how a strategic separation of Newco may occur. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company, and there is no set timetable for this review. Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.

Additional information will be contained in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Barnes & Noble.

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Microsoft and Apple being asked to explain higher music and game prices in Australia

April 29, 2012 | By Surur

In an enquiry which could likely have happened as easily in any other country outside USA, Microsoft and Apple (amongst others) has been asked to explain why Australians are charged higher prices for the same media, be it music or game downloads, than US customers.

This is particularly irksome when often no actual localization is taking place, as may be the case with music, or the costs for localization has already been borne by the developer, such as in games.

A Productivity Commission report found company excuses such as the smaller Australian market ”in most cases are not persuasive, especially in the case of downloaded music, software and videos where the costs of delivery … are practically zero and uniform around the world”.

”People here scratch their heads trying to work out why they get fleeced on software downloads,” said Sydney MP Ed Husic. ”When the Productivity Commission asked IT companies why they charge so much for downloads, even they found the answers were not persuasive.”

Technology commentator Trevor Long said: ”As time rolls on, every single one of the Australian arms of those global companies will realise that Australian consumers are getting their products elsewhere. ‘People are already setting up, in droves, addresses in the US just so they are able to download a piece of American software at American prices.”

Labor MPs hope publicity generated by challenging the companies will result in lower prices and put an end to local consumers being ”fleeced”. The inquiry will begin later this year and be conducted by the House of Representatives standing committee on infrastructure and communications.

Do our readers wish their own government would launch a similar enquiry? Let us know below.

Via TheAge.com.au

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Microsoft files patent for dual display phone

April 21, 2012 | By Surur

Microsoft has filed a patent for a dual display phone. While there are many other dual display phones already, what sets Microsoft’s application apart is that it would use as much of the back surface of the phone as possible, including even curling over the sides, and would ideally use a low-powered display, like e-ink, which would allow the device to display information which does not change very frequently, like the date and time, or Microsoft suggests possible device logos or tattoos.

They even suggest a novel application – when taking a photo of a person, the backside display of the camera could be set to provide a visual countdown so that the person knows when to freeze that smile: 3-2-1 will appear on the back display and then snap.

See Nokia’s much more exciting vision of a full a full touch, all display device after the break.

Continue reading →

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Microsoft Announces $17.41 Billion Third-Quarter Revenue With $6.37 Billion Operating Income

April 20, 2012 | By Pradeep

Today Microsoft announced its third quarter financial results and as usual it was a good result. Microsoft announced quarterly revenue of $17.41 billion for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2012, a 6% increase from the prior year period. Also the operating income was up 12% YoY to $6.37 billion. Net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.11 billion and $0.60 per share, compared with $5.23 billion and $0.61 per share, respectively, in the prior year period.

While almost all of the divisions at Microsoft showed revenue growth, Entertainment and Business division which holds Xbox, Xbox LIVE, Skype and Windows Phone resulted in drop of revenue by almost 16%. Microsoft said that the poor video game console market was the reason behind this drop.

Microsoft is expecting strong growth ahead after this year as its in the verge of refreshing almost all of its product lines across the divisions. Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, Office 15, Windows Phone 8, System Center 2012, Halo 4, etc, are releasing in Q4 2012 which may result in strong financial results.

And on Windows Phone front, Microsoft just mentioned that the launch about Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan II LTE smartphones in US and Lumia 800 launch in China.

Source: Microsoft

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Microsoft taking #SmokedbyWindowsPhone to UK as ‘Dare to Live’

April 19, 2012 | By Surur

Microsoft is taking the Smoked by Windows Phone campaign to UK streets with a new campaign called Dare to Live.

They will be betting UK punters £20 that a “Windows Phone can Spank other smartphones (on certain tasks)” and also offering losers the chance to trade up to a Windows phone and receive £100 cash back instantly.

The campaign video recordings will be coming to the Facebook page on the 23 April 2012. Hopefully with the low stakes of the game everything will remain in good fun, and no-one will end up calling the lawyers this time

See the Facebook page for more details here.

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Microsoft Germany running AppRevolution Contest

April 19, 2012 | By Surur

Talking about Microsoft Germany, the company is running a contest with Nokia where they are giving away 100 Nokia Lumia 800 handsets for developers writing apps for the Windows Phone platform.

On this occasion they want more than junk apps however, requiring developers use at least 5 Windows Phone 7 features, presumable like live tiles, pinnable secondary tiles etc.

Read more about the contest at Microsoft Germany here.

Thanks Fahd for the tip.

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Now Microsoft Germany’s Windows Phone Marketing Manager also out

April 18, 2012 | By Surur

We posted yesterday about Gavin Kim, Microsoft’s Marketing Manager for Windows Phone departing for unknown “personal” reasons.

Now the German Microsoft Marketing Manager for Windows Phone, Frank Fischer, has also announced his departure, leaving for Deutsche Telekom.

Also leaving “at his own request”, unlike Kim he has been working for Microsoft for 9 years, and has been responsible for marketing the introduction of Windows Phone and Nokia’s new handsets in the region.

Microsoft will unveil in the coming months for a successor.

Via AreaMobile.de

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Microsoft Windows Phone Marketing Manager leaves after 5 months in the job

April 17, 2012 | By Surur

designer

I guess selling Windows Phone 7 is not the easiest job in the world.

Less than 5 months after joining Microsoft from Samsung, Gavin Kim has left the company.

"We can confirm that Gavin Kim has made a personal decision to leave Microsoft," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail. "We feel very good about the work he has done to set the team, and its new lead Eugene Ho, up for success. We wish him all the best."

We covered his arrival in November last year, when he said “I will be responsible to help set the future direction for the Windows Phone platform and to accelerate Microsoft’s trajectory to win the hearts and minds of consumers, carriers, device manufacturers, developers and partners,”

The actual reasons for his departure has not been revealed, but it is of course not difficult to believe he may have found the job of marketing Windows Phone, so far with high expectations and poor results, somewhat difficult to stomach.

Via Rcpmag.com

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Microsoft Evangelist confirms all Windows Phone 7 handsets will be upgraded to Windows Phone 8

April 17, 2012 | By Surur

It seems while we were all worried whether our Windows Phone 7 handsets will be upgraded to Windows Phone 8, Portuguese readers were already reassured some time ago.

In this video interview by Zwame, a Portuguese mobile forum, with Microsoft Evangelist Nuno Silva, Nuno rather explicitly makes it clear that all current Windows Phone 7 will receive the Windows Phone 8 upgrade.

The conversation goes as follows:

Q: In terms of devices, who today have one is it expectable that…

A: What Microsoft said/stated and what I’m allowed to tell you is that all actual devices will get upgrade to the next major version of Windows Phone (we´re talking about Apollo)

Q: When you say actual devices. Are all that came out to market?

A: Are all that came out. Since the first generation that were bought. The LGs and SAMSUNGs.. OMNIA 7 which were the first devices with Windows Phone reaching the market.

This may be as official as it gets for some time, but hopefully this admission will prompt Microsoft to make an official announcement.

Thanks Pedro for the tip.

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Cool student-created Windows Phone commercial could teach Microsoft a lesson or two

April 15, 2012 | By Surur

Above is a Windows Phone commercial created by an advertising class at Grand Valley State University in USA and while it will not appeal to hipsters, it does exactly what I feel is needed with Windows Phone advertising – advertise a specific feature, explain its benefit and make it look sexy.

In this case the ad is for the Office Suite in Windows Phone 7, and sells the real benefit for being able to manipulate and access work documents while on the move, while making it look like Minority Report.

I wish Microsoft would make a similar range of ads, as we have seen Nokia India did, selling Facebook Messenger integration, Group texting, SkyDrive photo uploads, Local Scout, Bing Vision and many more.

Do our readers agree? Let us know below.

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