Dec 30

Windows Phone 7 Gets 5000th App

Posted in: Today's Chili, windows phone 7

HTC HD7 with Windows Phone 7.jpg

Not that it’s a competition, or anything, by Microsoft just wants to let you that it hit its 5000th Windows Phone 7 app this week, eight days after announcing that the company had shipped 1.5 million devices running the mobile operating system (that’s shipped, not sold).

That’s the same number of apps that Palm/HP has in the webOS app store (Microsoft launched its store two months ago–Palm’s store has been around eight months) and one-third of what the BlackBerry store is carrying.

Of course, Microsoft is still far behind the industry leaders–Apple and Google have 300,000 and 200,000 apps, respectively, but the numbers are still promising for a company that was largely considered out of the game, just a few months back.

No Comments | Tags:
Dec 30

Former Employee: Nokia-Windows Phone 7 Rumor Is ‘Loony’

Posted in: Microsoft, nokia, Phones, rumors, Today's Chili, windows phone 7

Don’t believe the recent gossip that Nokia and Microsoft are hooking up to make a Windows phone. A former employee of Nokia claims it isn’t happening.

On his personal blog, Watts Martin explained that a partnership between Microsoft and Nokia isn’t even close to happening, because it’s unlikely Nokia would cede control of an OS to a third party. UPDATE: Martin left Nokia earlier this month, Wired has learned.

“There is no guarantee of that at all, because it is stark raving loony,” Martin wrote. “A lot of the reporting on Nokia I’ve seen seems to miss a fundamental fact: they are, in their fashion, just as insistent on control over their ecosystem as Apple is.”

Nokia has been a diehard supporter of Symbian, an open-source operating system that’s a decade old. For years, Symbian has been the worldwide leader in smartphone OS marketshare, but some analysts say it could soon be dethroned by Google’s Android OS, which has a more modern user interface and several manufacturing partners.

“Market share is an existential threat to Symbian, it imperils the very existence of the platform,” said Gartner analyst Nick Jones. “And the main reason Symbian is losing share is the user experience which isn’t competitive with Apple or Android.”

Eldar Murtazin, editor in chief of Mobile-Review editor, claimed last week that Microsoft had begun talks to make Nokia-branded smartphones running the Windows Phone 7 OS. The bleak outlook for Symbian got the tech press wondering if such a partnership would be likely.

Martin’s answer to that question would be a firm “No.”

“Nokia really does have their OS strategy figured out, and it’s a good one,” he said. “What they don’t have figured out is user experience design…. The good news for them is that over the last year they’ve started to take all those problem seriously. The bad news is that they needed to have been taking them seriously in 2007.”

See Also:

Photo of a Samsung phone running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7: Mike Kane/Wired.com


No Comments
Dec 29

SurfCube gives Windows Phone 7 the 3D browser it needed so desperately

Posted in: app, Today's Chili, video, web browser, WebBrowser, windows phone, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone, WindowsPhone7

If there’s one thing the 90s taught us, it’s that these silly 2D interfaces are only a passing fancy, and soon everything will be VRML-based mirror worlds of our physical space. SurfCube is a small, tentative step in that direction, turning the browser into a fake 3D experience of sorts, with favorites on “top,” and history and settings on the “sides,” while the front face of the cube is, naturally, the browser part. You can get around with swipes and flashy tilt gestures, and for $1.99 on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace it’s hard to go wrong. Just remember our VRML warning, and start investing in MicroVideoGoggles Inc. stock with your carphone once you get home from the record store.

SurfCube gives Windows Phone 7 the 3D browser it needed so desperately originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWMPoweruser.com  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Dec 24

HTC 7 Pro shows up on O2 Germany’s site, promises January launch

Posted in: germany, HTC, Microsoft, o2, Today's Chili, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7, Wp7

HTC had pegged “early next year” for the 7 Pro’s launch in Europe, and when you think about it, January is just about as “early” as you can get. O2’s boys and girls in Germany have thrown up a teaser page for the QWERTY-equipped Windows Phone 7 handset, saying it’s expected to be available next month — a promising sign, indeed. Granted, launch dates can always slip, but considering how desperately the world needs some more landscape QWERTY options for WP7, we’d bet it’s one of HTC’s top priorities to get this thing pushed.

[Thanks, Jens]

HTC 7 Pro shows up on O2 Germany’s site, promises January launch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceO2 Germany  | Email this | Comments

No Comments
Dec 21

Microsoft: 1.5 Million Windows Phone 7 Handsets ‘Sold’

Posted in: Microsoft, Phones, Today's Chili, windows phone 7


The early numbers are in for Microsoft’s brand-new phone operating system Windows Phone 7: 1.5 million handsets sold to date. However, that number requires some explaining.

Microsoft on Tuesday morning published a faux interview with Achim Berg, vice president of business and marketing for Windows phones, who says Windows Phone 7 is growing fast.

The “sales” number is a bit tricky.

“Another is phone manufacturer sales — phones being bought and stocked by mobile operators and retailers on their way to customers,” Berg said. “We are pleased that phone manufacturers sold over 1.5 million phones in the first six weeks, which helps build customer momentum and retail presence.”

To be clear, that means Microsoft has sold 1.5 million phones to mobile operators and retailers to put on their shelves, not 1.5 million phones activated by customers.

Then again, I’d be surprised if 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 handsets were activated already: Microsoft is entering a market already dominated by Google and Apple.

Google claims it’s activating 300,000 Android phones a day, and Apple claims 270,000 iPhones are activated each day. Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do before it can start boasting similar numbers.

However, Berg’s statements generally give a modest overview on a fresh, new start. Berg adds that after just six weeks, Microsoft has recruited 18,000 developers, and there are 4,000 Windows Phone 7 apps available in its app store. The number the company gives — 1.5 million “sales” — isn’t a sales figure we’d usually care about, but it shows that the software giant has a solid foundation of partners to help Windows Phone 7 potentially gain a foothold in the smartphone market in the coming years.

Next year will provide a better glimpse into Windows Phone 7’s performance on the market. A software update introducing copy-and-paste and other new features is due sometime early 2011, and we’ll probably see Verizon getting on board to carry Windows Phone 7 devices, as well.

See Also:

Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com


No Comments
Dec 21

Josh talks holiday gadgets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video)

Posted in: Android, barnes and noble, BarnesAndNoble, GalaxyTab, gingerbread, Google, nexus s, NexusS, samsung, smartphone, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Television, Today's Chili, TV, video, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7

Couldn’t stay up till 12:37AM? We’ll forgive you… in time. Thankfully, the wonders of the internet are enabling you to travel back to catch our own Josh Topolsky’s holiday jam party with Late Night’s Jimmy Fallon. The duo ran through a gauntlet of gadgets, including B&N’s Nook Color, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, D-Link’s Boxee Box, Apple’s MacBook Air, Dell’s Venue Pro and the Gingerbread-equipped Nexus S. Also appearing: teenage jokes, visions of a lunar eclipse, legally / illegally downloaded content and the Nexus X. Yeah, the X. See what we mean in the pair of videos just past the break.

Continue reading Josh talks holiday gadgets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video)

Josh talks holiday gadgets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLate Night with Jimmy Fallon (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
Dec 21

1.5 Million Windows Phone 7 Handsets Sold in First Six Weeks

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, windows phone 7

HTC HD7 with Windows Phone 7.jpg

Microsoft has finally opted to release some sales figures for Windows Phone 7, the company’s in-house iPhone killer. In the first six weeks since the operating system hit the market, 1.5 million handsets have been sold, a number the company says is “in line” with expectations.

“We know we have tough competition, and this is a completely new product,” Microsoft VP Acim Berg said in an announcement. “We’re in the race-it’s not a sprint but we are certainly gaining momentum and we’re in it for the long run.”

Microsoft’s mobile marketshare has dipped significantly in recent year, thanks to the presence of Apple’s iPhone ands Google’s open Android OS. It’s hard to compare, um, apples to apples here, but as a point of reference, the latest version of the iPhone sold one million units in its first three days.

But while a number of different manufacturers released phones running the OS, many of the initial Windows Phone 7 handsets were plagued by shortages.

No Comments | Tags:
Dec 21

Microsoft: over 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold to carriers and retailers

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Microsoft, official, sales, statistics, stats, Today's Chili, windows phone, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone, WindowsPhone7, Wp7

Microsoft has decided to finally dish out some sales figures for its new Windows Phone 7 platform, but alas, these are not the sales figures we are looking for. Instead of giving us the juicy number of actual devices sold to end users, the Redmond crew has provided a neatly rounded figure of 1.5 million sales to mobile operators and retailers. That tells us that the mobile industry is cautiously buying into Microsoft’s new OS, and it’d be foolish not to, but it doesn’t really educate us on the relative success of the platform’s launch — 1.5 million units is a tiny, tiny number when you consider the platform launched on 10 devices on over 60 carriers in over 30 countries. All that Microsoft’s Achim Berg would say is that early sales have been “in line” with expectations.

Microsoft: over 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold to carriers and retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMicrosoft  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Dec 20

Windows Phone 7’s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, apps, launch, Microsoft, Today's Chili, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7, Wp7

An analyst note released by research firm IDC yesterday points out that in the nearly two months since Windows Phone 7’s retail release, the Windows Marketplace has swelled to 4,000 applications — a number that the Android Market took five months to reach. That’s impressive, no doubt, and the analyst behind the numbers notes that he “would not be surprised if Microsoft had the third largest app portfolio in the industry by the middle of next year.” Now granted, hitting number three would take very little effort on Microsoft’s part — they’d just have to beat webOS, BlackBerry OS, and Symbian, none of which have sparked iOS- or Android-like levels of developer interest. So beyond that, what does the growth mean? Read on!

[Thanks, Stephen]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7’s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much

Windows Phone 7’s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPoweruser.com  |  sourceeWeek  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , ,
Dec 20

Rumor: Nokia Might Make a Windows Phone

Posted in: Microsoft, nokia, Phones, rumors, Today's Chili, windows phone 7

Nokia, known for its religious-like devotion to the Symbian operating system, may be working with Microsoft to develop new phones running the Windows phone OS instead.

Nokia and Microsoft have begun talks to make Nokia-branded smartphones running the Windows Phone 7 OS, according to Eldar Murtazin, editor in chief of Mobile-Review editor. (Murtazin is known for gaining early access to the Nokia N8 phone long before its release, which led Nokia to file a report with the Russian police).

If true, adopting Windows Phone 7 could work well for Nokia, whose Symbian OS is outdated compared to more user-friendly Android-powered phones and Apple’s iPhone. Critics have called the Symbian OS “broken.”

The Windows Phone 7 strategy, as I’ve reported before, is more thought out than Google’s. Rather than simply license the OS to any manufacturer, Microsoft is requiring OEMs to adhere to a standard set of hardware features for any phone running Windows Phone 7. (Each phone must have three buttons, for example, and include a Snapdragon processor.)

What would Nokia get in return for playing by Microsoft’s rules? As part of the negotiation, manufacturers get a few default tiles on the Windows Phone 7 home screen devoted to the OEM’s proprietary applications; the rest of the space goes to Microsoft’s default apps (phone, calendar, etc).

So hypothetically, Nokia could put its own fancy GPS app on the home screen that charges a monthly rate to customers, for example.  (Most of us would call this “bloatware,” but proprietary OEM apps are removable on Windows Phone 7, unlike bloatware on Android.)

From Unwired View

See Also:

Image courtesy of Microsoft


No Comments