Monday, January 11, 2010 5:31 PM/CST
Futurist Ray Kurzweil plans to roll out a free e-reader application, Blio, at the end of the January. In a meeting in Microsoft's exhibit area at the Consumer Electronics Show, Blio representatives talked through the features of the application, which displays e-books with the same layout, colors and text as their paper counterparts and lets users highlight and take notes.
Monday, November 16, 2009 3:15 PM/CST
Microsoft plans to release a Zune-branded video service internationally on Nov. 17, but will not release the Zune HD to those same global markets. While this suggests that Microsoft is indeed pushing a cloud-based services strategy, it also signifies that the Zune HD is an increasingly marginalized product within the Microsoft ecosystem. A marginalized Zune HD, combined with weak adoption of Windows Mobile, could spell trouble for one part of Microsoft's cloud strategy.
Monday, October 26, 2009 4:11 PM/CST
Microsoft's first retail store opened in Arizona on Oct. 22, and demonstrated that many of the elements present in the summer's early-concepts PowerPoint leak to Gizmodo found their way into the storefront final version. Much of Microsoft's retail store design seems reminiscent of both the Apple Store and big-box retailers such as Best Buy. Microsoft's retail experience will first compete in close proximity with Apple's in Mission Viejo, Calif.
Monday, October 26, 2009 2:30 PM/CST
Microsoft spent a portion of its Windows 7 launch event on Oct. 22 touting the multitouch functionality of some of its partners' PCs. Although Microsoft-powered touch screens have been in use for many years, the Windows 7-equipped devices represent a huge push by Microsoft into the consumer market. The only question is, does the public's enthusiasm for multitouch PCs actually match Microsoft's?
Monday, October 19, 2009 1:58 PM/CST
Microsoft's first retail store will open in Arizona on Oct. 22, the same day that the company releases Windows 7. While Microsoft has taken a number of steps to ensure that the stores succeed financially, it faces substantial competition not only from Apple, but also from traditional retailers such as Best Buy and GameStop. Microsoft is tying in a number of promotions to the first store launch in order to promote turnout.
Friday, October 09, 2009 4:20 PM/CST
Microsoft's Zune HD aims to gain at least a few points of market-share from the iPod Touch this holiday season. The third part of Microsoft Watch's match-up describes how neither device has a substantial advantage over the other in manufacturing or interface, but Apple's more substantial ecosystem might ultimately decide the battle...for now.
Thursday, October 08, 2009 5:26 PM/CST
Microsoft's Zune HD portable media player represents one of Redmond's hopes to gain a few more points of consumer market-share during the upcoming holiday season. The Zune HD's biggest competition comes from Apple's popular iPod Touch. How do the two devices match up?
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 5:08 PM/CST
Microsoft has positioned the Zune HD as a tentpole of its holiday product offerings, hoping that the portable media player and its supporting ecosystem can gain traction against Apple's popular iPod. In Part 1 of a head-to-head matchup between a Zune HD 16GB and an iPod Touch, Microsoft Watch compares the physical aspects of both devices.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 5:31 PM/CST
A teardown of Microsoft's Zune HD shows the portable media player equipped with an NVIDIA Tegra processor with a 600MHz core, among other features. Despite the high-profile rollout of the Zune HD device, Microsoft seems more concerned with creating a Zune-branded media ecosystem.
Monday, August 24, 2009 12:09 PM/CST
Microsoft is hiring for its retail stores, due to open this fall, as the company seeks to compete more directly against Apple and other competitors with a well-established storefront presence. Between the retail stores, an expanded Windows Mobile presence and other new products and services, Microsoft seems determined to make the next year a make-or-break period in the company's history.
