Tag Archives: Windows Phone 7
Microsoft Near Deal to Acquire Skype
Microsoft Acquire Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for $7 billion and $8 Billion the most aggressive move yet by microsoft to play in the increasingly converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment.
Microsoft has invested heavily in marketing and improving the technology of its Bing search engine. While it has made some market share gains over the past year, Google Inc. still dominates the search market with more than 65% of U.S. searches going through its site.
Telefonica and Microsoft Bring BlueVia to .NET Framework Developers
Alliance extends BlueVia’s reach, providing Microsoft’s 6 million-strong .NET Framework developer community with easy access to Telefonica’s network capabilities for the creation of new communications-enabled applications.
LONDON — March 28, 2011 — Today, Microsoft Corp. and Telefonica S.A. announced a collaboration that creates new possibilities for application development across PC, TV, mobile and beyond, powered by Telefonica’s new BlueVia developer platform. BlueVia software development kit (SDK) for .NET offers a range of rich developer tools, including the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, specifically enhanced for the design and creation of applications that integrate BlueVia APIs, such as short message service (SMS), advertising and user contextual information. The SDK includes Windows Azure, Microsoft’s open cloud platform, for the creation of Internet-scale applications with no initial investment in infrastructure required by developers. This collaboration project combines telco functionality from Telefonica with Microsoft’s experience in Web development and the cloud, to help drive innovation in applications and services in a simple and frictionless way.
Day of reckoning dawns for Nokia’s new CEO
On Friday 11 February 2011
Reuters) – Nokia’s wisdom in picking outsider Stephen Elop to return it to its former glory will be tested on Friday when the new chief executive reveals his plans to transform the world’s biggest cellphone maker.
Following a leaked memo in which Elop candidly described the need to leap from Nokia’s “burning platform,” speculation has intensified that he will announce a radical switch to use software from rivals Microsoft or Google.
Nokia has rapidly lost share in the higher-margin smartphone market to the likes of Apple’s iPhone, and products based on Google’s Android platform claimed the top spot from the company last quarter.
In a bid to stem the losses, Chairman Jorma Ollila brought in Elop from Microsoft last September. The 47-year-old is the first non-Finn to head the company.
Customer Spotlight: T-Mobile USA and Xerox Adopt the Windows Azure Platform in the Development of Key Applications
Cloud apps bring families together and make road warriors more productive.
REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 1, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. announced today that T-Mobile USA Inc. and Xerox Corp. have adopted the Windows Azure platform and are creating new services and gaining greater efficiencies through cloud computing. This announcement comes as Microsoft celebrates the one-year anniversary of Windows Azure Platform availability.
“These companies are creating new solutions and businesses in record time that reinforce the new possibilities created by the cloud,” said Doug Hauger, general manager, Windows Azure, Microsoft. “A company can quickly use the power of the Windows Azure platform to scale and meet the demands of any market. Success is no longer limited by computing capacity, capability or cost, it is now a matter of imagination and execution.”
The Windows Azure platform has enabled T-Mobile and Xerox to address customer needs quickly with innovative solutions that are cost-effective and reliable.
Microsoft blames Windows Phone 7 data usage issue on unnamed 3rd party
Microsoft has issued a vague response to say that the company has determined the cause of excessive Windows Phone 7 data use issues. In a statement given to SeattlePI, the company says that the configuration of a “third-party solution” is causing the operating system to transfer many tens of megabytes of data each day.
As for a fix, Microsoft says that it is contact with the third party to assist them in making changes to their systems to resolve the problem, and is also pursuing “workarounds” in case they are necessary. The statement did not offer any particular timeline for when these changes would be made.
All very peculiar. The main culprit fingered by the Windows Phone 7 community over this issue (though not named in the statement) is Yahoo! Mail. Windows Phone 7 has special support for Yahoo! Mail allowing it to treat Yahoo! accounts as something more than regular POP or IMAP mailboxes (similar special support also exists for GMail and Hotmail accounts). The special support typically enables non-mail features such as contact and calendar syncing. Given this level of integration, one might have expected any configuration issues on Yahoo!’s end to be detected and resolved prior to launch.
Microsoft objects to Apple’s “App Store” trademark application
Microsoft has filed an objection to Apple’s application for the “App Store” trademark, calling the term too generic to be fairly registered.
Apple filed for the trademark shortly after the launch of the iPhone App Store in July 2008, describing the App Store as “retail store services featuring computer software provided via the internet and other computer and electronic communication networks; Retail store services featuring computer software for use on handheld mobile digital electronic devices and other consumer electronics.”
On Monday, Microsoft challenged Apple’s application by filing a motion for a summary judgment that would deny Apple the trademark, PC World reports. According to the filing, the Redmond, Wash., software giant objects to the trademark on the “grounds that ‘app store’ is generic for retail store services featuring apps and unregistrable for ancillary services such as searching for and downloading apps from such stores.”
The filing alleges that “undisputed facts” establish that ‘app store’ is generic for retail store services featuring apps: “‘App’ is a common generic name for the goods offered at Apple’s store, as shown in dictionary definitions and by widespread use by Apple and others,” and “‘Store’ is generic for the ‘retail store services’ for which Apple seeks registration, and indeed, Apple refers to its ‘App Store’ as a store.”
