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Whereas Windows Mobile has never really been in the running against iOS and Android in most parts of the world, for a very long time Russia remained a country with a massive following for Microsoft's mobile OS. Especially within Russia's business community, Windows mobile phones managed to maintain a lion's share of the market all the way into the 1st quarter of 2011. But after 10 years of quasi-total control of the market, Windows Mobile has been handed a lethal blow by the dramatic rise of Android users in Russia. With much saddness and regret, the bosses of Russia's Microsoft division have been force to admit defeat in one of the last holdovers of the Windows Mobile empire.
So Apple had kind of a big day yesterday, unveiling the next versions of its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems--along with iCloud, the company's new (and free) cloud offering.
As detailed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his executives, the iCloud service will sync user content and push it to various devices (such as the iPad and iPhone) via the cloud. Apple contacts, calendar and email are now cloud-centric features, with new messages and updates automatically delivered across the user's ecosystem. Documents uploaded to the cloud will appear on the user's other devices (provided the documents in question have been created using Apple's productivity software; that is, Pages, Numbers and Keynote), along with any music downloaded from iTunes. To top it all off, iCloud is also a photo depository.
It's a big deal. More to the point, it's a shot across the bows of Google, Amazon and Microsoft. And what was Microsoft's immediate response to Apple's cloud revelations?
That was the trailer for "Halo 4," which appeared at roughly the same time Jobs appeared onstage to show off his latest software toys. If anything was going to take even a smidgen of Apple's thunder, it was Master Chief doing his usual personality-free, shoot-everything-in-sight routine. But all the virtual bullets in the world won't stop this latest challenge to Microsoft's "all-in" cloud strategy.
What does Microsoft have in its consumer-cloud corner? SkyDrive, Hotmail, Xbox Live and Messenger. Within a day of Apple's presentation, Microsoft sent an email to media calling out a Windows Blog post highlighting some of those services' features--including Hotmail's "contacts anywhere" and Skydrive's ability to store and sync photos and video.
There's also a substantial mobility play, with the upcoming Windows Phone Mango update giving users the ability to view and share photos on their smartphone via SkyDrive. Something similar extends to documents. "Windows Phone lets you view folders and files directly on your phone," read the post, "so when you group things on SkyDrive, you know they'll be available with the same folder structure on your phone."
Hotmail and Xbox Live certainly have substantial audiences, and both SkyDrive and Messenger offer some interesting features. But if Apple's proven anything over the last decade, it's their ability to enter a new market and establish a substantial presence. It's a near-certainty that Microsoft will respond to its rival's newest initiative with a harder push for its own cloud offerings--including Office 365, set to debut later this month (and also intended as a robust response to Google Docs).
Nonetheless, Apple raises the specter of a new, tough opponent in a new, tricky market. Maybe Microsoft should consider calling in Master Chief.
If you’re waiting on a decent deal from one of your local retailers on an HTC Sensation Target may soon have the goods you’re looking for. A tipster of ours has stumbled across planogram materials for a deal on the HTC Sensation for $130. If all goes as planned, you should be able to grab [...]
There's no denying that AT&T has been particularly quiet about its plans for an Android phone release. Last month I speculated that the carrier may have picked up the HTC Hero but now, thanks to engadget, we have fairly credible confirmation that AT&T's first Android phone will actually be the HTC Lancaster.
At first look it seems to be quite a nice handset, an amalgamation of the G1 and Magic and had it been around sooner I would have chosen it over my G1 – or would I? I personally prefer a physical keyboard to the a touchscreen so the Lancaster seems to have everything going for it apart from the display. I'm really impressed by the G1's 3.2 inch HVGA (320 x 480) display but the Lancaster is let down by a smaller 2.8 inch QVGA (240 x 320) display which is a bit of a disappointment.
I'm also not sure about the MSM7225 processor (which the leaked Lancaster datasheet shows incorrectly as an MSN7225). Although, like the G1's MSM7201 the 7225 is a 528 MHz ARM processor, rumour is that it lacks a GPU. I can't seem to find any details on this processor on the Qualcomm website – maybe someone can shed some light on the differences between the MSM7201 and the MSM7225?
Motorola's first UK Android phone, the Motorola DEXT will be available from October 7th. The DEXT Android phone will be offered free to new customers as part of a 2-year Orange contract priced at £35 per month.The £35 tariff will include 900 minutes, unlimited texts, data allowance and Orange maps. Known in the US as the Motorola [...]
There’s 10s of telco programs targeting developers. But they all lack commercial traction. Isn’t it about time for telcos to question their approach? Guest author Jose Valles argues for a ‘polarity change’ in the telco business model and discusses the need to rethink the telcos' relationship with developers
Playbox, makers of the popular Bang Bang Racing THD, recently announced a trio of new games for the Android Market. Each game will be made available for free to, using in-app advertising to offset development costs . . . → Read More: Playbox Announces Three New Free Android Games
Profit. No point in burying the lede. For the past two years, it seems as if every other story in the mobile space has been about the war between the iPhone and Android. Hell, though it wasn't technically the theme of our Mobile First CrunchUp last week, that's all anyone wanted to talk about there as well. It's a sexy story because it features two companies, Apple and Google, that could not be any more different. And now they're the two companies dominating the mobile landscape. And the cherry on top is that they used to be close allies. They're Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier.
It’s the second day of August, and my fellow Android and Me staffers and I were starting to get excited. August was the month NVIDIA suggested the first wave of devices featuring their quad-core Kal-El processors would be available to the public.
This morning, our hearts started sinking when a post over at Fudzilla suggested Kal-El devices won’t come out in August as originally anticipated. No offense to Fudzilla, but we’re not prime to taking not-well-known blogs at their word, so we reached out to NVIDIA and received the following comment:
My favorite Android tablet, the I/O limited edition Galaxy Tab 10.1, received a small update today with version number KG4 (full version: HMJ37.UEKG4 P7510UEKG4). The only new feature the update seems to bring is the Videos/Movies app from Google, which is otherwise not available from the Android Market. Disappointingly, I don't see a new Movies tab in the Market, so literally only the Videos app was added and nothing else. What a silly way to roll out new apps, considering I had to reboot to perform it.
Over a month ago, we first reported on Project Spartan, Facebook's secret plan to bring applications to the mobile web via HTML5. Facebook is working with teams of third-party developers that they call their "Spartans" and hope to unveil the project later this summer. As we noted, the key to all of this is really Credits. Right now, Facebook has no way to make money on any of the mobile platforms out there. With Credits bought and sold through the web browser, they'll have a way. It's that simple. That's why it's surprising to see Bloomberg report today that "Facebook May Bring Credits to Mobile Browsers". Um, of course they will. Not only did we report it last month, in a follow-up story, I included a screenshot of the implementation. I've seen it with my own eyes. It's real. No anonymous sources needed.
With devices like the Motorola XOOM and Samsung Galaxy Tab stealing their fair share of attention, The success of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer was a bit unexpected. But successful it has been, shipping 300,000 units in June and an additional 400,000 in July. The dual-core Honeycomb tablet wins points for its combination of pricing, [...]
Profit. No point in burying the lede. For the past two years, it seems as if every other story in the mobile space has been about the war between the iPhone and Android. Hell, though it wasn't technically the theme of our Mobile First CrunchUp last week, that's all 
Over a month ago,