Hasta La Gadget!

If there was any scrap of doubt in your mind, we’ll obliterate it for you right now — October 11th is the day Windows Phone 7 will be unveiled in the US, not just at a fancy London event… and wonder of wonders, T-Mobile’s the star of the show. Looks like AT&T won’t be launching Metro UI handsets all alone, eh? The event agenda clearly states there will be “an exclusive showing of T-Mobile powered Windows Phone 7 devices” at 3:30PM EST, and you can bet your britches we’ll be there live to cover the whole thing.

[Thanks, James T.]

Confirmed: Windows Phone 7 launches October 11th in New York City, and T-Mobile’s on board originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember what I said yesterday, about “patent infringement suits mak[ing] strange bedfellows?” It was in reference to the fact that Microsoft’s frequent competitors, Apple and Google (not to mention a slew of other folks like Walmart, and Toyota), had joined with the Redmond in its fight to lower the bar for the defense in patent cases.

Now you can add another surprising name to the list: The Electronic Frontier Foundation. The organization tasked with defending the rights of technology consumers is siding with Microsoft in its multi-million dollar battle against i4i.

The organization this week allied itself with the software giant, filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, alongside Public Knowledge, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and the Apache Software Foundation.

According to the EFF, “the Federal Circuit’s requirement that an accused infringer prove patent invalidity by ‘clear and convincing’ evidence unfairly burdens patent defendants, especially in the free and open source software context.”

A court awarded i4i $290 million in its battle against Microsoft and also ordered Redmond to stop selling Word in its current form. Microsoft has already unsuccessfully attempted to appeal the ruling.

Okay, two crazy bits of news here: first off, it seems Samsung intends to start making cellphones. Second, some of them will be running Windows Phone 7! Insane, right? Okay, we kid, but Sammy is just now getting official with the news that it has licensed Microsoft’s upcoming mobile platform for its own purposes, and that the company “plans to launch several models based on Windows Phone 7 this year in the US, Europe and Asia.” Of course, one of the most prominent WinPho 7 prototypes Microsoft has been trotting around this year has been a Samsung loosely based on the i8910 HD, so this should come as… well, absolutely no surprise whatsoever. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Shocker! Samsung licenses Windows Phone 7

Shocker! Samsung licenses Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Ballmer is back, baby. The Microsoft chief received a 5.8 percent raise for 2010, bringing his salary up to $1.34 million. That’s up from $1.26 in 2009. It puts him roughly around the level that he was making in 2008.

According to The Seattle Times, “[Ballmer] received 100 percent of his targeted incentive pay. The board could have awarded up to 200 percent.”

Ballmer also received a good share less than many of his peers at other companies–and even some of his co-workers. Take, for example, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, who nearly doubled his 2009 earnings in 2010, pulling in an impressive $10.4 million, according to Microsoft’s filings with the Securities and Exchange commission.

The Microsoft board–Ballmer’s bosses, more or less–praised the chief for the “strong financial year” and the “successful product launches” of Windows 7, Office 2010, and more, but docked him for the swift failure of the Microsoft Kin and the company’s overall lackluster performance in the mobile space.

Great, that’s all we need–more reasons for the guy to scream.

The most thrilling Microsoft product in years was killed before it ever officially existed. One of its most awesome services elicits more snickers than nods. Microsoft isn’t even in the mobile space right now. Redmond, we have a problem. More »