• microsoft,  windows mobile,  windows phone

    Nokia Lumia 900 Now 50% Off

    July 17, 2012 /

    “The Lumia 900, Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone handset and AT&T’s “hero phone,” has had its U.S. price slashed by half, just three months after its release. As of Sunday, the Lumia 900 can be purchased for just $49.99 with a two-year contract through AT&T.”

    Wow, that was fast.  Only on the market for 3 months and the phone is on “sale” for $49.99 with a new 2-year service agreement?  I guess is sucks when Microsoft tells the world that your ‘hero’ phone won’t be able to run the next version of Microsoft Windows Phone software due out later this year.  Ouch.

    [Via AllThingsD.com…]

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  • apple,  ios,  microsoft,  windows phone

    Microsoft To Hold VIP Future of Windows Phone Event

    May 10, 2011 /

    BGR.com is reporting that Microsoft will be holding a VIP media event on May 24 to talk about what’s coming for the next release of their Windows Phone smartphone operating system.

    BGR blogger Todd Haselton writes:

    “We know Mango will offer Internet Explorer 9 with an integrated Twitter experience, better multitasking, and new apps such as Angry Birds, Skype, and Spotify. We’ve also heard that Microsoft will add Bing Audio for identifying music, Bing Vision for scanning bar codes, and voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation with Bing Maps, although none of these features have been confirmed by Microsoft just yet.”

    Sounds interesting.  The timing is also interesting to me because Microsoft will be holding their event just days before Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference, at which, they will be talking about the future of the iOS platform, Mac OS X, and hopefully, new cloud based services.

    By the way, over the weekend, I saw that the B&N Nook now supports apps, including the insanely popular Angry Birds game.  Is there any platform out there that Rovio hasn’t invaded yet?

    [Via BGR.com…]

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  • att,  microsoft,  sprint,  t-mobile,  verizon,  windows phone

    No CDMA Windows 7 Phones Until 2011

    September 19, 2010 /

    While I was off vacationing, it appears that Microsoft has stated that there will be no Windows 7 smartphones released for Verizon or Sprint in 2010.

    “For the worldwide market, the vast majority of phones are GSM phones, so we focused on GSM first and then plan to deliver an update that will have great CDMA support in the first half of 2011. That’s device availability in the first half and we’re very confident of that. That’s probably a conservative estimate,” said Microsoft senior product manager, Greg Sullivan.

    After Microsoft’s disaster with the Kin, I’m all for letting them test out their new mobile operating system in “the worldwide market” before it comes to Verizon or Sprint.  The silver lining is that customers on AT&T and T-Mobile have a chance of getting their hands on a Windows 7 phone before anyone else her in the States.

    [Via BoyGeniusReport.com…]

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  • ces,  microsoft,  windows,  windows phone

    Steve Ballmer To Deliver Kickoff CES 2011 Keynote

    July 11, 2010 /

    John Paczkowski, of All Things D fame, is reporting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will deliver the kick-off keynote address during the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.

    Mr. Paczkowski writes:

    “This will be Ballmer’s third time headlining CES, and after his first two appearances, I don’t think anyone’s expecting too much. The highlight of his 2009 keynote: The widely expected announcement of the Windows 7 beta. The highlights of his 2010 address: An ill-starred Windows-based tablet and Project Natal, a controllerless game interface system the company debuted at E3 months earlier.”

    If “The Other Steve” wants to keep things interesting, he will have to really play up his company’s new Windows Phone 7 operating system and have a slew of OEM and carrier partners on stage to help launch the new phones.

    I have to admit that I’ve never watched a Steve Ballmer keynote. They lack the excitement of even the dullest Apple keynote or media event. The last Microsoft event that I watched was the “Windows Longhorn is Windows Vista” keynote. We all know how that turned out. (Because of Vista, I switched back to all Macs at my home office.)

    You can read the full article on the DigitalDaily website.

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  • windows,  windows mobile,  windows phone

    Shout Hallelujah, Come On, Get Appy

    February 21, 2010 /

    Time Magazine’s Techland writer, Peter Ha has a good write up of Microsoft’s recently announced Windows Phone 7 series mobile operating system, due out at the end of the year (2010). While I don’t agree with everything Mr. Ha writes (Doesn’t Motorola’s MotoBlur do the same social media aggregation trick as Windows Phone 7?), he does a good job of summing up why this now mobile operating system is so important to Microsoft.

    “When you think about Microsoft, a lot of adjectives come to mind, but hip and cool are probably not among them. Many consumers associate Microsoft only with the Windows machine they’re using. And all those “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC” ads have made Apple users like me feel kind of sorry for PCs.

    But it’s a brand-new decade, and Microsoft is about to leapfrog Apple — and every other player in the cell-phone world — with the launch of Windows Phone 7 (WP7).

    But the most underappreciated product in Microsoft’s vast portfolio, the Zune digital media player, is about to roll all these products into one handy little phone that catapults Microsoft ahead of Apple, Google, Palm and BlackBerry’s maker, RIM.”

    You can read Mr. Ha’s full article on the Time website.

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  • microsoft,  windows phone

    Steve Ballmer MWC Keynote Address Posted

    February 16, 2010 /

    Didn’t make it to Barcelona for today’s Mobile World Congress keynote by Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer? Neither did I.

    You can watch Mr. Ballmer’s keynote below and then head over to the Microsoft website to watch the other Microsoft videos about Windows Phone 7 series.

    http://www.microsoft.com:80/presspass/silverlightApps/videoplayer3/standalone.aspx?contentID=mobileworldcongress2010&src=/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/channel.xml

    Visit the Microsoft Windows Phone video gallery.

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  • microsoft,  windows phone

    Windows Phone Screen Shots

    February 16, 2010 /

    With the first Windows Phone smartphones not going on sale until “holiday 2010,” Windows Mobile fans may be left feeling a little bit empty inside until late this year.

    Until then, Microsoft has posted a number of screen shots to cheer you up until the forth quarter!

    If the screen shots are not enough to hold you over until we can get our hands on handsets running Windows Phone 7 series, make sure to check out the Microsoft Windows Phone Newsroom for all the latest news on Windows Phone 7. And if you want to jump in on the discussion about Windows Phone, you should check out the Windows Phone Backstage website to talk about the new operating system with other Microsoft fans.

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  • att,  dell,  microsoft,  sprint,  t-mobile,  verizon,  vodafone,  windows mobile,  windows phone

    Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series

    February 16, 2010 /

    Earlier today, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer showed off the next generation of Microsoft’s mobile operating system: Windows Phone 7 Series.

    BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 15, 2010 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.

    “Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

    Designed for Life in Motion

    With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

    Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

    Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

    • People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.
    • Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.
    • Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.
    • Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.
    • Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
    • Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.

    Availability

    Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

    To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.

    Today’s Microsoft press release was posted on the Microsoft website.

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