Friday, March 19, 2010 3:05 PM/CST
HP's upcoming tablet PC may be priced at around $545, which would put it roughly on the same price level as most of the iPad models slated for release. Unable to undersell Apple's tablet PC, HP will need to rely on rumored features such as a built-in Webcam, along with Windows 7, in order to create a competitive enough entity to succeed in the marketplace.
Thursday, March 18, 2010 5:27 PM/CST
Microsoft's first ad for its Windows Phone 7 Series plays it very safe, showing how devices running the new smartphone OS can be used in "real life." This represents a marketing approach similar to Microsoft's successful "Laptop Hunters" and "I'm a PC" ad campaigns, perhaps a wise move considering Microsoft's lack of success with "hip" ads such as its Bill Gates-and-Jerry Seinfeld series.
Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:32 PM/CST
Umang Dokey's Windows Phone 7 Series tablet design, while purely hypothetical, shows that the upcoming smartphone operating system's user interface would be well-suited to a broader touch-screen. A smartphone OS may actually prove a tighter fit for a tablet-form factor than Windows 7, which includes tap-and-swipe functionality for multi-touch devices.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 5:00 PM/CST
Around 10 percent of Microsoft employees apparently use the iPhone, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, much to the irritation of certain executives such as CEO Steve Ballmer. While it seems natural that a company would want its employees to use its own products, the presence of the iPhone on the Redmond campus seems, well, not so shocking considering the presence of the device on the smartphone market.
Friday, March 12, 2010 2:36 PM/CST
Microsoft's share of the smartphone operating system market tumbled 4 percent in the three-month period ending January 2010, reports analytics company ComScore, casting into doubt the abilities of Windows Mobile 6.5, released in October 2009, to be the market-share retainer that Microsoft needs until Windows Phone 7 Series, its newest smartphone OS, is released near the end of 2010.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 5:09 PM/CST
Data from analysis company ComScore suggests that Microsoft Bing is incrementally gaining in the U.S. search engine market, along with Google, while Yahoo is falling. While that speaks positively of Bing's long-term prospects, it remains to be seen how well the search engine will fare once it expands more into international markets.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 3:12 PM/CST
Microsoft Research technical fellow Charles Thacker was named the winner of the 2009 A.M. Turing Award for his work designing the Alto, the first modern personal computer. Thacker developed the Alto at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in 1973, and went on to contribute to the development the Ethernet, as well as multiprocessor workstations, snooping cache coherence protocols, and tablet PCs.
Monday, March 08, 2010 5:11 PM/CST
More video and photos have leaked of what's purportedly Microsoft's Courier tablet PC, a dual-screen device that not only allows Web surfing and e-reading, but also functions like a traditional paper notebook. However, given Microsoft's oft-stated desire to play in high-volume market arenas, the eventual release of a Courier device will likely be determined by whether tablet PCs succeed as a segment, something that may be determined by the upcoming Apple iPad and its competitors.
Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:48 PM/CST
Opera Software announced the launch of the Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5.x and 6.x smartphones on March 4, suggesting that this particular version of the mobile browser would run particularly fast on those operating systems. With Windows Phone 7 Series approaching by the end of the year, will third-party developers continue to build products for Windows Mobile?
Wednesday, March 03, 2010 4:50 PM/CST
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemed noncommittal at the Search Marketing Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., over whether his company would consider purchasing microblogging service Twitter, with which it has an agreement to incorporate results onto Bing. But as Microsoft's recent dealings with Yahoo have shown, sometimes a simple partnership with a company can extend at least some of the benefits of an acquisition without the drain on cash and energy.
