Microsoft previewed Windows 8 last September. And it's important because the ARM version of the new operating system will be the one that powers many of the tablets that Microsoft hopes will compete with Apple's industry-leading iPads.
In a blog post today, Windows president Steven Sinofsky said "our collective goal is for PC makers to ship (Windows on ARM devices) the same time" as more conventional Windows PCs debut.
Sinofsky did not disclose the date the company is targeting for launch, though most analysts expect the new operating system to arrive before the end of this year, and possibly in time for the back-to-school sales season at the end of summer.
Amazon.com has just added new functionality for users of Microsoft Windows, making it easier than ever to send documents to their Kindle devices. The “Send to Kindle” for PC feature allows Kindle owners to transfer documents to the Kindle, by simply right-clicking in Windows Explorer and choosing Send to Kindle.
From applications with printing capability, you can alternatively select Print and choose Send to Kindle.
Installing an application probably tells you why it's not available for Mac yet: Amazon.com needs to create a Mac OS X app, as well. The company indicates it's working on that, but didn't give a date when the functionality might be ready.
The new functionality adds to Amazon.com's previously existing way to send documents to a Kindle: e-mailing them to an end user's Send-to-Kindle e-mail address.
Amazon.com has just added new functionality for users of Microsoft Windows, making it easier than ever to send documents to their Kindle devices. The “Send to Kindle” for PC feature allows Kindle owners to transfer documents to the Kindle, by simply right-clicking in Windows Explorer and choosing Send to Kindle.
From applications with printing capability, you can alternatively select Print and choose Send to Kindle.
Installing an application probably tells you why it's not available for Mac yet: Amazon.com needs to create a Mac OS X app, as well. The company indicates it's working on that, but didn't give a date when the functionality might be ready.
The new functionality adds to Amazon.com's previously existing way to send documents to a Kindle: e-mailing them to an end user's Send-to-Kindle e-mail address.
U.S.A. based mobile phone network T-Mobile has announced that the lower-costing Nokia Lumia 710, based on the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system, will be available on their network early next year.
This comes off the back of the American press being sent last week an invite to a joint T-Mobile-Nokia press event, where rumours were rife that the non-flag ship Nokia Lumia 710 would be launched at the press conference.
Another addition to this now-confirmed report was that the 710 was sent to the FCC, to confirm that it passes certain eligibility tests in order to run on the USA mobile phone networks.
This has now been established by T-Mobile that the handset that was launched alongside the flagship Nokia Lumia 800 will be coming to their network.
The mobile phone is capable of running from the T-Mobile 4G network, with one-click access to Netflix, T-Mobile TV and as a first foray into the smartphone market for consumers.
U.S.A. based mobile phone network T-Mobile has announced that the lower-costing Nokia Lumia 710, based on the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system, will be available on their network early next year.
This comes off the back of the American press being sent last week an invite to a joint T-Mobile-Nokia press event, where rumours were rife that the non-flag ship Nokia Lumia 710 would be launched at the press conference.
Another addition to this now-confirmed report was that the 710 was sent to the FCC, to confirm that it passes certain eligibility tests in order to run on the USA mobile phone networks.
This has now been established by T-Mobile that the handset that was launched alongside the flagship Nokia Lumia 800 will be coming to their network.
The mobile phone is capable of running from the T-Mobile 4G network, with one-click access to Netflix, T-Mobile TV and as a first foray into the smartphone market for consumers.
Microsoft is preparing a version of its Office productivity suite that will run on the iPad, the Daily is reporting. Coincidentally, The Daily is Rupert Murdoch's iPad only news daily (iTunes link) that was launched on the iPad earlier this year.
The report cited the typical unnamed "sources." It went on to say that the iPad Office app could be released prior to the next version Office for Mac, which is expected to ship late next year.
It wouldn't be the first iOS app for the Redmond, Wa. company, which also has its own smartphone platform, Windows Phone. Office for the iPad can only help the iPad in corporate environments, but it's also a market just waiting for Microsoft to enter it, with the iPad currently owning some 80 percent (or more, depending on the source) of the tablet space.
Still, with Microsoft's Windows 8 OS capable of supporting ARM-based processors in addition to Intel-based processors, it's widely expected that a Windows 8 tablet will be coming. One would expect that porting Office to iOS might actually hurt those Windows 8 tablet sales.
The Daily said that Office for the iPad would be around the same $10 price point that Apple has established for its Pages, Numbers and Keynote products. We'd assume, actually, that the information is inaccurate, and probably another 0 to the left of the decimal point would be added.
Still, it's a tablet, and a mobile app, and that sort of pricing isn't normal in that realm. We'll see what Microsoft chooses to do.
This is still rumor, and notably, it's hard not to doubt them based on the following: The Daily said the following, speaking of Office for the Mac: "The current version of the desktop package, Office 2011, officially supports iOS versions up to Snow Leopard." Uh, Snow Leopard is Mac OS, not iOS.
Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie is the latest executive at a rival of Apple's to put forth with what appears to be some sour grapes with regard to Apple'e Siri functionality. Speaking in an interview with Forbes at the Techonomoy conference, Mundie said that Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has had Siri-like capabilities for a year.
Huh?
In the video above, taken from the interview, Mundie first begins by speaking about a piece of tecyhnology that Microsoft should be proud of: Kinect. The discussion is about "alternative interfaces." It's then that things turn to Siri, which is an alternative interface, but on Apple's iOS 5 platform. At about 2:00, Mundie says:
"The TellMe facility has been in Windows Phone for almost a year. People are infatuated with Apple announcing it. It’s good marketing, but at least as the technological capability you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows Phones for more than a year, since Windows Phone 7 was introduced.
So you can take these Windows Phones now, you can pick ‘em up and say ‘text Eric’ and it says 'what do you want to say' and you say it, and it transcribes it and you say send. You can query anything through Bing by just saying the words. I mean, all that’s already there. Fully functional, been there for a year."
Mundie is right that Apple has marketed Siri strongly, because as most will admit, it needed some sort of differentiation between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S, more than just the hardware spec upgrade, since the two phones are virtually identical aside from an improved processor and an improved camera.
That said, saying Windows Phone has Siri capability because of its TellMe functionality is like saying that Android has Siri because of Voice Actions. In both cases, the other two platforms have the beginnings of Siri, but they are nowhere near close to Siri.
Speaking of Google, in mid-October, Google’s vice president of mobile Andy Rubin offered up his own set of sour grapes, er, an argument as to why people didn’t need Siri:
"Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn’t be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone."
Well, wait, isn't Siri just facilitating communication with others by making it easier, through a voice interface? Hmmm.
Although HP continues to say that it's webOS hardware, not software, that the company has just axed, without hardware to run webOS software, why would anyone in their right mind develop for the platform. Thus, Microsoft, never one to pass up an opportunity, has made an offer that webOS developers (the few that there are) may find hard to pass up: free Windows Phones and development tools.
The offer came via a Tweet on Friday, from Brandon Watson, Senior Director of Windows Phone 7 development at Microsoft.
It said, "To Any Published WebOS Devs: We'll give you what you need to be successful on #WindowsPhone, incl.free phones, dev tools, and training, etc."
Watson Tweeted still more information. “Someone asked me why. Because every developer matters, that’s why.”
It's not developers, but rather apps that matter, really. Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace is nearing the 30,000 mark for apps. However, that is far less than an Android and iOS, and Microsoft needs more apps to be relevant. As was once said, every app that's downloaded to a smartphone means one more reason for that user to avoid switching to a different platform.
While some (including us) might wonder how many webOS developers there really are, apparently Watson is being inundated with requests from developers. On on his favorite, and repeated Tweets of late has been "Send me an email, tell me where you are located, and we get you connected to one of our mobile champs for some personal attention."
If you want to know just how poorly Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is doing so far, think about the fact that it currently trails five platforms in worldwide smartphone use. Four come to mind easily, but can you name the fifth?
According to data released this week by Gartner, the top four smartphone platforms are Android, Symbian, iOS, and BlackBerry OS. The fifth platform you probably haven't even heard of: it's Samsung's Bada platform, which is secondary to the company's Android aspirations.
Bada is a platform home-grown by Samsung. It's used mostly in emerging markets and the Asia-Pacific region, sold in Samsung's Wave phones. Things weren't too bad in 2010, when only 577,000 Bada units in the Q2 of 2010, compared to the 3 million smartphones Microsoft sold in the same three month period. Those were Windows Mobile phones, since Windows Phone hadn't even launched yet.
This year, in Q2 of 2011, Samsung sold over two millions Bada units, while Microsoft sold 1.7 million Windows Phone and Windows Mobile units. Pretty sad, isn't it? Despite presenting a new platform to consumers, Microsoft is going in the wrong direction.
Still, there's that Nokia tie-up coming down the pipe, with Mango (Windows Phone 7.5), as well. Microsoft also has nearly 30,000 Windows Phone apps available now. Just how far behind is it, however? As we (and someone far wiser, who we can't place right now) have said before, every app downloaded to a smartphone means one more reason that user won't want to change platforms.
Windows Phone now has around 25,000 apps available, according to two different market tracking sites. Depending on the source, the Windows Phone Marketplace is either slightly north of 25,000 apps, or slightly south (assuming you include inactive apps).
Windows Phone App List says that Microsoft's store currently has 25,076 applications available to users. However, another Windows Phone 7 Marketplace tracker, WP7applist, claims the store has 24,878 applications. However, WP7applist claims 4,044 of those programs are currently "inactive."
It should be noted that these are both unofficial numbers. Only Microsoft has the official stats. Still, in comparison to the number of apps in the store when Microsoft launched Windows Phone, it's a major "victory."
It's been said, however, that every app downloaded to a particular platform means one more reason for the user to stay with the platform. At its Worldwide Developers Conference last month, Apple announced that there are now 425,000 applications available in its marketplace. Similarly, in May, at Google's I/O Conference, the Internet giant said there are 200,000 apps available in its Android Market.
However, Microsoft has repeatedly said that it is more interested in quality, not quantity. After all, how many fart apps do you really need in an App Store?
To be clear, what is most important is that Microsoft has the most important apps that are also in the other App Stores. That includes items like Angry Birds, which just arrived on Windows Phone, Kindle and Pandora (still not there), among others.
Recent Comments