Just as they have apparently tapped HTC for the dual-boot option for Android phones with Windows Phone 8, it’s become apparent today that Microsoft may have asked Samsung and Huawei to do the same. Microsoft was tipped this past week to have suggested HTC make a selection of devices that boot to Windows Phone 8 […]
The ongoing drama between Microsoft and Google regarding having a dedicated YouTube application had a number of ups and downs as both companies at one point were working together to make the popular app available to Windows Phone users. Since then, we’ve seen the YouTube app make its way back onto the Windows Phone Store, to only be pulled by Google shortly after it was released. At this point, it looks like Microsoft has completely given up on having a dedicated application for YouTube as it has updated the app to revert back to its basic web player, which the company originally made available when the Windows Phone platform launched. (more…)
Microsoft Reverts Windows Phone YouTube App To Web Player original content from Ubergizmo. 
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![Microsoft Approached Samsung And Huawei About Dual Booting Windows Phone/Android Devices [Rumor]](https://i0.wp.com/cdnrss.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-2014-edition-my-render.jpg?resize=640%2C471 "Microsoft Approached Samsung And Huawei About Dual Booting Windows Phone/Android Devices [Rumor]")
The other day it was rumored that Microsoft had asked HTC to consider whether they would be willing to create a dual-booting device that would run both Android and Windows Phone at the same time. It was an interesting idea and it seems that HTC was not the only ones Microsoft had approached. According to new reports, Microsoft has approached their other Windows Phone OEMs such as Samsung and Huawei, asking them to if they too would be willing to create a dual-booting device. To make things even sweeter, Microsoft is allegedly offering Windows Phone for free to the manufacturers, as in they are willing to drop the licensing fees, as well as pay for what adaptation costs they might incur along the way.
This offer extends not just to Windows Phone devices, but Windows RT as well. As it stands it seems that Samsung already has a dual-booting device called the Galaxy Tab 2014 Edition that runs both Android and Windows RT at the same time, so for OEMs to create devices like this would not be a stretch of the imagination. Take it with a grain of salt for now, but do you think OEMs such as Samsung and Huawei would be interested in this deal?
Microsoft Approached Samsung And Huawei About Dual-Booting Windows Phone/Android Devices [Rumor] original content from Ubergizmo. 
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This week the folks at Microsoft appear to have given control back to the Google team when it comes to the unofficial-official YouTube app for Windows Phone devices. Here existing on Windows Phone 8, the app has been part of a battle between companies for several months, resulting in several iterations of said app for […]
Google this week launched AdMob—an SDK developers use to build ad units into iOS and Android apps—for Windows Phone 8 for the first time. The release happened just as Google ads started showing up in the Promotions tab in Gmail for Android. The Windows Phone 8 SDK for AdMob is in beta mode, and it […]
![Windows Phone And Windows RT To Merge Over Two Years [Rumor]](https://i0.wp.com/cdnrss.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Microsoft_sells_60m_Windows_8_licenses.jpeg?resize=640%2C425 "Windows Phone And Windows RT To Merge Over Two Years [Rumor]")
Rumor has it that Microsoft might be planning to merge Windows Phone and Windows RT over the next two years. Such a titanic feat can not be done overnight, that’s for sure. Apparently Microsoft will slowly merge both Windows Phone and Windows RT by releasing three regular GDR or General Distribution Release updates per year, for the next two years. The execution of this move will reportedly be seen by Terry Myerson, who is the newly promoted executive vice president of operating systems at Redmond.
Windows Phone and Windows RT are not the only two things that Microsoft is reportedly merging. Recently we reported that it is possible Microsoft might merge Windows Phone Store and the Windows Store, this move is expected to be completed by spring next year. This decision was reportedly confirmed by Myerson himself at Microsoft’s internal company meeting which took place last month. It is possible that the merger of both stores into one single store might be the starting point for bigger things, such as Windows Phone and Windows RT. Apparently Myerson’s going for this merger in order to boost Microsoft’s mobile presence in the market. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will end up with different UIs for different screen sizes, if it decides to merge the user interface of Windows Phone and Windows RT. Microsoft has not commented on this rumor as yet.
Windows Phone And Windows RT To Merge Over Two Years [Rumor] original content from Ubergizmo. 
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The Windows Phone 8 Facebook app has received its latest update, bringing it up to version 5.1. With the update — which is pretty substantial — users gain access to a variety of new functionality they otherwise have to use the Web for, including the ability to unfriend those no longer wanted on an account. […]
Welcome to the new Apps of the Week, where we give you all the cool apps we came across in one place. Android folks, iOS folks, and Windows Phone folks, now you can all come together and live in peace, sharing in the joy that is a cool new app.
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When it comes to Nokia phones, Nokia’s name does pop up quite a bit, although to be fair there are manufacturers such as Samsung and HTC who should be taken into account as well. So far both companies have been relatively quiet on the Windows Phone front, and now according to a report from Bloomberg, Microsoft is in discussions with HTC about putting more Windows Phone handsets out there. Unlike Android, building a Windows Phone will require the company to pay Microsoft a licensing fee to use the software, but the report claims that Microsoft is willing to cut or eliminate the licensing fee altogether to make the deal more attractive.
While HTC has yet to confirm this, one of their sources claims that the Taiwanese company has no plans to make a new Windows Phone handset at the moment, and has no plans to release anymore in the future, which might explain why Microsoft is making this deal as attractive as possible. Given HTC’s recent financial woes where they recorded an operating loss of $101 million, not to mention the Microsoft-Nokia deal that will take place, making a new Windows Phone hardly seems like a priority for HTC at the moment.
Microsoft Eager To Cut/Eliminate Windows Phone Licensing Fees For HTC original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Microsoft has reached out to HTC to see if the company would be interested in adding Windows as a second OS to its Android handsets, a new report by Bloomberg claims. It isn’t clear exactly how the two operating systems would share the handset, in terms of allowing dual-booting or making a user choose a default at device setup, but it’s a sign Redmond may be thinking about pulling out all the stops to get people using its mobile OS.
These talks are in very early stages, according to Bloomberg’s sources, and there’s a possibility that Microsoft may even reduce or eliminate its licensing fee for Windows Phone to make it more attractive to HTC. HTC seems to be a target because it’s a former partner that has already built both Windows and Android hardware (though it doesn’t seem to be too keen on delivering more on the Windows Phone side). Microsoft’s head of Operating Systems Terry Myerson is said to be heading to Taiwan to discuss the arrangement in further detail with HTC, says Bloomberg.
There are a couple of reasons this makes sense, including some information TechCrunch has heard about Microsoft and its organizational sentiment towards Android. First, HTC has been one of Microsoft’s few hardware partners for Windows Phone, and that relationship is likely strained given the Nokia hardware division purchase. Second, HTC is in a bad way in terms of continuing poor financial performance, and in terms of device sales, so it’s probably very willing to consider unorthodox models to help it gain some unique appeal for users.
As to what we’ve heard about internal feelings on Android at Microsoft, a source suggests that there are contingents of younger engineers at the company who pushed hard to have Android/Windows dual-booting on Surface tablet devices, so there’s a willingness to experiment with things very much like this HTC dual-OS smartphone. Those ideas, TechCrunch has been told, came from younger elements within Microsoft’s mobile engineering team, and were not embraced by the older, more established elements of senior management.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is leaving within the next year, he announced back in August, and there have been other big executive shifts at the company lately, too, including the departure of Xbox head Don Mattrick and Windows lead Steven Sinofsky. This may have changed the culture enough at Microsoft to allow some of the more radical new ideas to gain better purchase, which could result in an HTC device that lets users choose not one, but two mobile operating systems with one device buy.
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