Microsoft brand will only replace the Nokia brand in product, applications and experiences when Microsoft has launched a new product into the market. The Lumia and Asha brands and products, the Mobile Phone portfolio, including Nokia X, sold under the Nokia brand will be transferred to Microsoft as part of the transaction. You may now say, "I work for Microsoft and I work on the Microsoft devices business." Do not say you work on the "Nokia business".Based on my understanding, all Lumia and Nokia X products currently on the market will continue to carry the Nokia brand for some time. However, no new products from either portfolio will carry the Nokia brand. Interestingly, the bulk of Lumia and Nokia X shipments are concentrated in markets where the Nokia brand holds a lot of value (India, Europe, Latin America, etc.). Needless to say, this could spark a steep decline in Windows Phone's market share over the next 12-18 months.]]>
Yet despite the new look, everything about the software is obvious. For the most part, the iPad versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote work exactly as they do on PCs and Macs.
This is a testament to the designers and engineers at Microsoft and to the power of long-term training. Other than my web browser, there’s no software I use more often than Word, so I’ve internalized all its tics. I know the keyboard shortcuts, the menu options, the ins and outs of esoteric features like Track Changes. As I used the iPad version, I felt it click into the same neural grooves dug out by the years I’ve spent on desktop Office. If you’re familiar with Office, you won’t face any learning curve in the new version.
If you love Office on your computer, you’ll love it on your iPad. If you’ve always hated it, that won’t change, either; now you’ll just have one more place to hate it.]]>
The target shipments are too optimistic, and 18-20m units is more likely, according to the sources.
In order to reach the goal, Microsoft has offered subsidies to vendors developing and launching Windows tablets, the sources indicated. While Sony and Lenovo are less interested in developing Windows tablets, Asustek Computer and Acer have been very cooperative with Microsoft, the sources noted. Asustek aims to ship 12m tablets in 2014, including about 4m Windows units, while Acer aims to ship 10m tablets including 2m Windows units, the sources said. And Surfaces? Aiming to go from 3m in 2013 to 6m.]]>
According to several sources of mine, Microsoft's latest timetable calls for the company to finally introduce the long-rumored Microsoft Office for iPad suite of applications before the end of March 2014. This March 27 event sounds like it might be the time and place.
The suite for the iPad is rumored to include only Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and possibly no other Office client apps. It is expected to be downloaded from the Apple Store but most likely to require a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, similar to the way Office Mobile for iPhone works. Wouldn't take away from Microsoft tablet sales, because they're tiny; would add to Office sales, because the iPad comprises a sizeable market. What would it do to the tablet market, though?]]>
But the software companies have ways to exert pressure to deter the propagation of dual-OS products, people familiar with the situation say.
Though versions of Android are available under open-source licenses that give Google little control, for example, versions that allow access to Google's app store must be approved by the company, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "Google wants all-Android devices," he said.
A Google spokesman declined to comment.
Microsoft has its own reasons for not wanting to share space on computers with Google, particularly on business-oriented desktop and laptop PCs that could give the Internet giant an entry point into a Microsoft stronghold.
Computer makers that make dual-OS machines risk jeopardizing a flow of marketing funds from Microsoft that are an important economic force in the low-margin PC business, Mr. Moorhead said. Wouldn't Asus have talked to Google and Microsoft about its plans for a dual-boot machine before showing it off? It seems Microsoft is halting this; two existing Transformer products are being stopped too. ]]>
Several directors and co-founder and then-Chairman Bill Gates - Ballmer’s longtime friend and advocate -- initially balked at the move into making smartphones, according to people familiar with the situation. So, at first, did Nadella, signalling his position in a straw poll to gauge executives’ reaction to the deal. Nadella later changed his mind.
“Nokia brings mobile-first depth across hardware, software, design, global supply chain expertise and deep understanding and connections across the mobile market,” Nadella said yesterday in an emailed statement. “This is the right move for Microsoft.” Great reporting by Dina Bass, Beth Jinks and Peter Burrows; it shows that the cracks have been widening at Microsoft for some time. And that the board is concerned about Windows Phone's lack of traction.]]>
Ram's company is one of the many makers of low-cost Android phones here at Mobile World Congress. It makes the Verykool line of phones that are sold by carriers in Latin America, and primarily unlocked in the US.
With license fees dropping, Infosonics would certainly consider building Windows Phones, Ram said. Microsoft is having to play at Google's pricing. Can Microsoft undercut Google at anything?]]>
The zero-day exploit was served on vfw[.]org, the official website for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, according to a blog post published Thursday afternoon by security firm FireEye.]]>
Nokia’s adoption of AOSP as an operating system is consistent with the ecosystem strategy set forth three years ago, and is also consistent with Microsoft’s competitive strategy.
Which is why I believe Microsoft is not only comfortable with this development but had agreed to it over a year ago when work on this initiative was already well under way. See later for Frank Shaw's outlook.]]>
First, our transaction with Nokia has not yet closed. Today, we operate as two independent companies as required by antitrust law, and we will until the acquisition is complete. The anticipated close timeframe for the acquisition remains end of the first quarter of 2014.
Second, we’re pleased to see Microsoft services like Skype, OneDrive and Outlook.com being introduced on these devices. This provides the opportunity to bring millions of people, particularly in growth markets, into the Microsoft family. The Skype team on Monday announced an offer in select markets for the first customers who purchase a Nokia X, one month of Skype’s Unlimited World Subscription. Read the Skype blog for more details.
Finally, our primary smartphone strategy remains Windows Phone, and our core device platform for developers is the Windows platform. From the sound of it, he isn't pleased to see the Nokia X - that's a gun in his pocket.]]>
Manufacturers will be charged $15 to license Windows 8.1 and preinstall it on devices that retail for less than $250, instead of the usual fee of $50, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The discount will apply to any products that meet the price limit, with no restrictions on the size or type of device, the people said.
Stronger competition from Apple and Google cut revenue last quarter at Microsoft’s devices and consumer licensing division, which includes Windows software, as the computer industry posted its biggest annual decline on record. Is it really Chromebooks that are driving this (given their tiny sales), or just a lack of low-end sales?]]>
I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize — many of the things we do and experience in business, life and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning.
This is a software-powered world. ]]>
When Microsoft launched Office 365 Home Premium, it said that it would deliver new features and services to subscribers as soon as they were ready, eliminating the need for users to wait for the next version of the software to get the new features.
However, in the year that it’s been available, Microsoft hasn’t added anything notable to Office 365. That makes it hard to see the benefit of using Office 365 instead of Office 2010. Are there blockbuster new features that it can add? If so, what are they?]]>
The group known as the Syrian Electronic Army posted several articles on the Microsoft Office site, including one titled "hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army".
The group crowed that it had managed to hack into the blog's CMS [content management system] despite Microsoft's best efforts - and suggested it had access to employee login details. This could continue for quite a while. Two-factor authentication isn't any use if the intruder is inside the system and the system is big enough.]]>
So the challenge for Microsoft’s new CEO is the same one Steve Ballmer has tried and failed to answer for years: Demand for Windows is declining because the platform hasn’t done anything new for a decade, while Microsoft doesn’t control the fast-growing segments in tablets and smartphones. Microsoft tried to use Windows 8 to take over tablets. That failed. What do you do now?]]>
Sources tell us that fewer than 2,000 units landed at the shores of Blighty since Redmond cleared the way for a select band of nine resellers to start peddling its wares from 15 August, three-quarters of which were the RT version.
Back orders are growing, our contacts tell us, and demand has not been overwhelming, but clearly Microsoft is forecasting more conservatively. Once excess inventoried, twice shy.]]>
Second, Microsoft needs a CEO who will tolerate nothing less than execution excellence. Berenson makes the point that the next CEO needs to be able to hold up a project because it's not ready, even if it's gigantic. He's completely right about Gates as a visionary: he sometimes saw too far ahead, but hardly ever wrongly. He grasped the full importance of the internet in 1995 in ways some people still haven't.]]>
The Web-based player experience is where Microsoft started before May, when the Redmond, Wash. company first launched its own YouTube app for Windows Phone. Shortly after Microsoft published the app on its Windows Phone Store, Google issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding Microsoft yank the app.]]>
That's because a lot of companies haven't done any large scale tablet deployments yet, and they're looking to the ARM-based Surface RT (old) or Surface 2 (new) as their first line-of-business tablet. They often build custom apps for these tablets, sometimes locking them down so users can only access these apps, and deploy them all at once to employees in particular functions, like retail or mobile salespeople.
In contrast, the Surface Pro is more of a laptop replacement, and will probably trickle in to enterprises according to their regular PC refresh cycle of maybe 10% to 20% new PCs per year. Moreover, some companies are still buying Windows 7 laptops instead of or alongside Windows 8 machines.]]>
For several years, I've been hearing the notion that IT will ensure Microsoft Windows [and Windows Phone] becomes the primary mobile platform in business because they know and depend on Windows PCs. The opposite has happened.]]>
"Starting in Q1 we will report quarterly the revenue derived from our Surface products and related accessories," said Chris Suh, manager of Microsoft's investor relations, in the call last week.
Microsoft's first quarter for its 2014 fiscal year ends Sept. 30, and is equivalent to the calendar's third quarter. The company will release the quarter's numbers on 24 October. Previously generated $853m between October 2013 to end of June 2013, and a writeoff of $900m.]]>
"Any news on a potential trade-in scheme for current Surface RT/Pro owners to get money off the new devices?" asked someone identified as "Exilify."
Others jumped on the idea. "I'd love to shell out some for [Surface Pro 2] if I had a good incentive," said "johnlennin," joining the chorus. "Dealing with eBay and Craigslist would be a pain ... I hope you guys consider it and if so announce it soon."
Some argued that they should be rewarded for being early Surface adopters who jumped on the bandwagon while others dissed the platform. Not sure Microsoft would want a one-for-one trade of old for new Surfaces. ]]>
Analysts said Dell could launch an XPS 10 successor with Windows RT 8.1, but chances are remote.
Right now, no device maker is interested in Windows RT other than Microsoft with its Surface 2, said Patrick Moorhead, founder and president of Moor Insights and Strategy.
“I think all we can assume is that Dell sold out their current inventory of RT tablets,” Moorhead said. Dell's going to go with Android, and Windows 8. So Microsoft's going to save RT with the Surface 2? Good luck with that. ]]>
For a start, although the cases look very similar, this isn't just Haswell slapped into the same motherboard of the Surface Pro - although that might have been faster to bring to market. This is a completely redesigned motherboard, tuned to reduce power consumption as much as possible. Lots and lots more detail inside.]]>
Microsoft has released its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2.
Microsoft sold about 900,000 Surface tablets in the first quarter of 2013 and 300,000 in the second, totaling 1.2m units in the first half, according to the sources citing figures from IDC.
The sources pointed out that the first-generation Surface's poor sales are mainly due to their high prices although their hardware specifications and industrial design are competitive. Seems very low. Perhaps it's moving more to a just-in-time model?]]>
When Surface Pro 2 becomes available, Surface Pro will no longer be available for purchase from Microsoft or its retail partners. Our goal is to help as many customers as possible experience all the benefits Surface has to offer. Starting at $349 for Surface RT 32GB, it’s extremely easy to join the Surface family.Yes, that statement does not really offer a specific reason why the Surface Pro is no longer being sold. We were told that's the only comment that Microsoft will give officially on this subject. Could it be that it's got tons of Surface RT v1 left over and would like to keep selling them, having written their value down to zero in a $900m writeoff last quarter?]]>
As before, there are two variants: a lower-price ARM machine, running Windows RT 8.1, and a higher-price x86 machine, running full Windows Pro 8.1. The ARM version has lost its RT moniker, now being named simply "Surface 2."
Surface Pro 2 improves the internals, picking up a Haswell processor, which replaces the Ivy Bridge in the older unit. Microsoft is touting a 75% improvement in battery life. Beyond that, it looks essentially identical to its predecessor. The Covers still aren't part of the price ($449 for Surface 2, $899 - yes! - for Surface Pro 2), so add on another $119 at least just for the Touch Cover. Odd how the Covers seem to be essential for what should just work as a tablet.]]>
"The Nokia deal is a lot of things," said Ballmer. "One of the things it is, is a way to make sure we can capture the gross margin upside because we're making most of the investment today, that we need to make even owning Nokia." It's clear Microsoft wants to take some of the smartphone profits away from giants like Apple and Samsung, and Nokia is a key part of that plan. It's fascinating how Google has destroyed Microsoft's business rationale in mobile by making Android free, and in effect forced it to buy Nokia. Next question: is Google making money from mobile?]]>
But if sales don't match the projections Microsoft has settled on internally, it would pull the trigger on Office for the iPad, [Patrick] Moorhead [of Moor Insights & Strategy] said. "Does having Office on Windows 8.1 incent buyers to buy a Windows machine over an iPad or Android tablet?" asked Moorhead rhetorically. "If not, I would expect them to rapidly move to put a more robust Office on iPads and Android tablets, because they wouldn't be losing anything at that point."]]>
• Skype
• Mortar Melon Classic
• Netflix
• Google Search
• Network Speed Test
Spot the interloper.]]>
In many cases, these customers are new to Microsoft, and their first personal computer will be a phone. With Nokia’s Mobile Phones starting at $20, more people will be introduced to Microsoft services earlier in their lives than ever before. In some geographies, Windows Phones are not available. Again, Nokia’s Mobile Phones will introduce more people to Microsoft services in more places than ever before. The four sentences in that second paragraph sit uncomfortably together, and don't seem to have a single strand of thinking behind them. It's more like two people arguing.]]>
I sat in a packed room as Microsoft held a daylong series of sessions during which the company announced what it called the .NET strategy. To regain its place within the vanguard of personal computing, Ballmer's Microsoft promised to deliver an interconnected set of Web services that could serve up relevant information to users across multiple devices and let them share with family, friends and co-workers. In a statement then, Ballmer said Microsoft would create a "unified platform through which devices and services cooperate with each other." Why not? Dot-com bust and internecine squabbling. Are there any examples where concept videos have come to pass? ]]>
It seems to me that a new Microsoft CEO must at least consider turning Android into a stack of poorly debugged device drivers. After all, Google has stolen Microsoft's natural place in mobile: it is Android that fills the role taken by Windows in the PC world. There is no free slot in the 'poorly debugged device driver' game. But there is a very big one in providing a stable, secure ecosystem, in providing a managed environment for enterprise, in corporate messaging, and in putting corporate documents onto mobile, on whatever platform. The idea of Android becoming the platform for Office and other Windows enterprise products is weird at first. Then you see the benefits to Microsoft. What, if any, are the negatives?]]>
These updates will result in a modest bump to the specs to the Surface RT and will help keep the tablet running Windows RT 8.1 with ease. These updates are clearly a evolutionary step for the Surface RT family and is by no means a complete re-write of the device.
We will be curious to see what the price point is when Microsoft releases the device to see if they stick with the $349 price or if they return to the initial MSRP of $499. Two-step kickstand might be the best improvement. None of the rest matters; they aren't the reason why the Surface RT didn't sell.]]>
With today's smart phone and tablet markets, the same situation is repeating, but this time it is Android that is relegating Apple's system, iOS, to also-ran status. What's changed is that Android has grown quickly simply because it is free and infinitely malleable. Unlike Windows. Unlike iOS.
With Android and perhaps with Chrome OS, Google is attempting—and perhaps succeeding—at rendering Windows irrelevant. Which it sort of already is. Metro has gotten off to a slow start, obviously, and there hasn't been a major new Windows desktop application in years. You couldn't name one if you tried. The question of why Microsoft is emulating Apple's structure, rather than Google's, is indeed puzzling.]]>
But ownership by Microsoft will not of itself change the sales of Windows Phones. If anything, it will decrease them, since it prompts other OEMs to give up on it entirely. It will not make more developers make Windows Phone apps or more consumers buy the devices. And it does little or nothing for Windows on tablets. Something else needs to change. Nokia really was at risk of running out of cash. Microsoft is offering a €1.5bn loan through to January 2014.]]>
Are the features that Google wants Microsoft to put into its browser those WebKit vendor prefixes? It's certainly relying on them in many of its web properties – and that would explain why it wants changes to Internet Explorer, allowing it to simplify the code in its JavaScript libraries and developer kits.
It's tempting to build apps that rely on the latest features, and if they'll run on most of the devices out there, well, the rest will catch up someday. But that's a rationale that assumes that the W3C will standardise on those experimental features, and that the resulting CSS and HTML markup will end up in new editions of current browsers quickly. His conclusion: "Google appears to be using user agent sniffing to deliver different experiences to different browsers — a poor approach to modern web design".]]>
He’s a guy who, when he saw how successful software-hardware integration was on mobile devices, built a close partnership with Nokia to deliver the same level of integration, and even experimented with building his own devices, going against 20 years of Microsoft tradition and potentially alienating dozens of partners.
Steve Ballmer is the guy who before retiring published a public strategic memo defining Microsoft as a “devices and services” company – for a company that has always rejected those two types of businesses. A memo where the word “software”, which has defined Microsoft for 30 years, doesn’t appear even once. Steve Ballmer “doesn’t get it”? Puh-leeze. Microsoft's product manager for IE, Jonathan Wong (@armchairdude on Twitter) calls this the "best article on Ballmer's retirement that I have read so far".]]>
In research, this is known as confirmation bias, and it’s a very hard thing to overcome, even when you are aware of it.
So, if you really want to understand what’s going on with a category as complex as the one we operate in, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
In that spirit, there have been a few common themes in some of the coverage I’ve seen since Friday that are worth taking a moment to dissect and discuss.
One approach has been to focus exclusively on some of our consumer businesses, and then judge us harshly while ignoring the successes we’ve had elsewhere.
Another approach has been to go a step further, criticize our lack of “focus” and suggest that those other successes are actually a distraction from what they believe should be our single priority.
What these themes reveal is a single narrow frame through which the writers and pundits view the industry itself that leads them to reach these conclusions.
Since we have a different perspective that drives our strategy, we naturally see things differently.]]>
It was neither planned nor as smooth as portrayed. There was a hint of that in his leaving statement. It's starting to emerge: this has been months of pressure most recently.]]>
That maneuver, while necessary, probably gave Microsoft a false sense of security—a belief that the desktop was all that really mattered. If you see Ballmer’s job as being the preservation of MS’s position on the desktop, he’s certainly been a success. Microsoft’s real customers, IT departments, still trust Microsoft and still buy from them, mainly because Microsoft treats them very well. You say Ballmer’s a failure because he hasn’t been “disruptive”? His customers don’t want disruption—they thought Vista and Windows 8 were too much change.]]>
Ballmer: Oh, you know, I've actually had a chance to make a lot of mistakes, and probably because, you know, people all want to focus in on period A, period B, but I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista. I would say that's probably the thing I regret most. And, you know, there are side effects of that when you tie up a big team to do something that doesn't prove out to be as valuable.]]>