Skype released an official version of the Skype for Windows Phone app, which is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace. You can also get the app directly from your Windows Phone.
With Skype on your Windows Phone, you can join the thriving community of 200 million people using Skype every month across almost any screen: smartphones & tablets (running Android, iOS, and Symbian), computers & laptops (Mac, Windows) and connected TVs. See the video above to see how the app works.
Available for use on 4G, 3G and WiFi networks, Skype for Windows Phone helps you connect with friends and family instantly with free voice and video calls everywhere you go. Make affordable calls to landlines and mobiles using Skype Credit, create and hold one-to-one and group chats (even while in the middle of a call), and update your profile and account information, among others features. | |
AT&T today launched two new devices, the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II, the first Windows Phones available on the mobile operator’s speedy 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network.
The launch is a milestone for Microsoft and partner Nokia, and also for AT&T, which is giving the award-winning Lumia 900 top billing as one of the centerpieces of its spring retail and marketing campaign.
“This LTE launch is a big milestone here in the U.S. and there is some great momentum overseas as well,” says Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Division.
Anticipation for the Nokia Lumia 900 began building after the device “stole the show” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, according to tech blog ZDnet, and its predecessor the Nokia Lumia 800 is already a top seller in a number of European countries.
“As many media have already commented, this is a major milestone for Nokia, for our partnership with Microsoft and for the Windows Phone ecosystem,” says Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Smart Devices, at Nokia.
The Nokia Lumia 900, named "Best of CES" for all smartphones, is available in an eye-catching cyan blue and a matte black, as well as in a high-gloss white version, which will go on sale April 22. | |
To drive innovation and business opportunities in Finland’s mobile ecosystem and beyond, Microsoft Corp. and Nokia will each invest up to 9 million euros into a newly established mobile application development program at Aalto University during the next three years. The AppCampus program has been set up to foster the creation of innovative mobile applications for the Windows Phone ecosystem and in addition, Nokia platforms, including Symbian and Series 40, to create a new generation of self-sustaining mobile startups.
Kicking off in May 2012, the Finland-based program will be led and managed by Aalto University, which has a growing reputation as a hotbed of new startup companies. AppCampus is intended to attract thousands of application proposals from students and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Aalto University will make a significant contribution to the project by providing premises, coaching services, and access to both academic and business networks for budding app developers.
Within the AppCampus program, mobile entrepreneurs can benefit from comprehensive support, training in mobile technology, design and usability, and funding to create innovative new mobile apps and services. Windows Phone Marketplace and Nokia Store offer local and global business opportunities to program participants via distribution to consumers around the world.
Mentored by veterans in the mobile industry, program participants will be given insights and business coaching to help them commercialize their ideas while retaining the full intellectual property rights for their innovations. | |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced test results for servers utilizing the world’s first 20 nanometer (nm) class* Green Memory that were conducted at the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) in Munich. A system based on Samsung’s 20nm-class DDR3 memory and solid state drives (SSDs) together with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V proved to be twice as fast as current memory configurations for servers setting up virtual machine instances and recovering data in private cloud environments. These advanced configurations also consumed as much as 50 percent less power per server.
Detailed findings on the testing are available in a white paper posted on Microsoft’s website: http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/5/4/05423B32-73BF-4EAA-80A8-09B5F9D9E4DE/201202_MTC_Samsung_Whitepaper_20nm_v10.pdf and on Samsung‘s Green Memory website: www.samsung.com/GreenMemory.
“In an increasingly complex IT world, Microsoft Technology Centers (MTC) are set to provide complete solutions to customers, and we achieve this goal through strong collaboration with our partners. With Samsung’s Green DRAM and SSDs, we have just such a partner on board at the MTC in Munich to educate and to provide highly advanced solutions to our customers,” said Chris Bayer, Director, MTC Munich. | |
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global Microsoft smartphone shipments grew 36 percent sequentially to reach 2.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. Nokia captured top position as the world’s number one Microsoft smartphone vendor for the first time ever.
Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments using the Microsoft operating system grew 36 percent sequentially to reach 2.7 million units in Q4 2011. Microsoft smartphone shipments remain tiny, but they are showing tentative signs of growth. Nokia overtook HTC and others to become the world’s largest Microsoft smartphone vendor with 33 percent market share. Nokia’s global Microsoft smartphone shipments hit 0.9 million units, as distribution of its Lumia family expanded across numerous countries and operators.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “An expanded portfolio of Windows Phone 7 models such as the Lumia 800, an increased retail presence and highly visible marketing campaigns across several European and Asian countries drove Nokia’s growth. Nokia is by no means out of the woods yet, and it is still on a long road to recovery, but capturing top spot in the Microsoft smartphone ecosystem is an encouraging baby-step forward for the company.” | |
Facebook has announced that they will be releasing a new version of Facebook for Windows Phone to marketplace today.
Test out your groups. Visit your pages. Look at who likes your posts. Change the banner image. Check out the improved news feed performance. Use the new filters. Explore the improved navigation.
Focus areas for the v2.3 release:
- News feed performance improvements
- New panorama design.
- New profile design.
- Banner Images.
- Improved navigation.
- Pages
- Groups
- View “likes”.
- Feed filters.
- Posting privacy.
- Bug fixing
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Openwave Systems Inc., a global software innovator delivering all-Internet Protocol (all-IP) mediation and messaging solutions, announced today that Microsoft Corporation agreed to license Openwave’s patent portfolio.
Microsoft becomes the first company to license Openwave’s portfolio of approximately 200 patents, including several foundational patents covering smart device and cloud technologies, among others.
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Microsoft has announced the next step in the evolution of Bing for Mobile, with the release of the new Bing for Mobile app for iPhone and Android (coming soon to more devices). Today’s update uses HTML5 to blend the mobile browse experience with the app experience so you get a consistent and fast mobile search experience whether you’re using m.bing.com from your browser or the Bing app. | |
Tony Bates, former CEO of Skype and now President of Skype, the newest division of Microsoft, talks about why he's excited about the acquisition. | |
Microsoft announced that this morning, at roughly 10 a.m. Pacific time, the roll out the Mango update has started to phones around the world. Windows Phone 7.5 (aka Mango) is our largest and most feature-packed software refresh to date.
Microsoft plans to ramp up delivery gradually—but make the update available to most existing customers within 4 weeks.
Today Microsoft is starting the roll out of Windows Phone 7.5 to more than 98 percent of existing Windows Phone customers. This is a simultaneous, coordinated, global update that cuts across carriers, phone models, and countries. This time, almost everybody is going first. | |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd announced the launch of the Samsung Omnia W, its first Smartphone based on the latest release of Microsoft’s Windows Phone, code-named Mango. Featuring an elegant design, a vivid Super AMOLED display as well as an enriched content and social communication experience enabled by People Hub, the Omnia W is a different kind of phone that puts people at the center of everything.
“We are excited about the potential for Windows Phone and the possibilities it opens for Samsung customers. Mobile consumers increasingly expect to be socially networked through their phones anytime, anywhere, and instantly. They are looking for high-performance devices that are easy and intuitive to use, look great, and enable them to create and share rich multimedia content with ease. The Samsung Omnia W delivers on every count,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications business.
Stunning Performance in Vivid Clarity with SuperAMOLED Display
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AT&T announced plans to add new Windows Phones running Windows Phone 7.5, code-named “Mango”, and update its current portfolio. The new 4G Windows Phones in the fourth quarter include products from HTC and Samsung. AT&T currently sells more Windows Phones than any other carrier. Additionally, AT&T will be among the first carriers to start updating existing phones and all Windows Phones already sold by AT&T will receive the Windows Phone 7.5 update this fall.
Outselling all other carriers, AT&T is the clear leader in Windows Phones. Offering the broadest portfolio of Windows Phones today, AT&T will build upon that success with three new 4G devices, two from Samsung and one from HTC. In addition AT&T will be among the first carriers to deliver the Mango update to existing Windows Phone 7 customers this fall.
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Bing today unveiled an update to Bing for Mobile Browse, which includes a number of new features to help you make faster, more informed decisions while on the go. Today’s updates make it easier to share on Facebook, access news, see local listings and directions in one view, reference past searches and view trending topics.
The new features include:
Share on Facebook – Easily share images, local business details, and, applications (only on iOS devices) with your Facebook friends, making it easy for them to learn, comment and “Like” what you find interesting and you to get their opinion while on the go. | |
Microsoft Corp. today previewed the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango,” through a series of media events around the world. “Mango” will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The “Mango” release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall. More details on device update timing will be provided closer to availability. Windows Phone will also add support for additional languages, expand access to apps by launching Windows Phone Marketplace in new countries, and partner with new OEMs to enable expansion to new markets.*
“Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more,” said Andy Lees, president of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft. “With ‘Mango,’ Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort.” | |
After we have published our global findings from our Q1 smartphone forecasts, a number of tech bloggers, journalists, amateur telecom fans, people passionate about their own phones and others picked up on the very last sentence of our précis: “By 2015, Windows Phone will establish itself as the leader in the smartphone OS space.”
Some people have misinterpreted our statement, thinking that Windows Phone (WP) will establish its leadership in 2011. We actually believe that this will happen much earlier – as early as 2013. Some of you loved this projection and agreed with it, others argued that the potential margin of error was too large, and still others disregarded it. While I respect all the opinions, this blog is mostly aimed at readers who want to understand better how we came to the projection.
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Nokia and Microsoft today announced the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11. See video above of Microsoft's Tim McDowd talking with Nokia's VP of Microsoft Alliance, Waldemar Sakalus, and Microsoft's General Manager of Developer & Marketplace Experience, Matt Bencke, about Nokia and Microsoft signing a strategic alliance. | |
On the heels of its recently announced Nokia partnership, and a range of improvements to its Windows Phone platform and developer toolkit, Microsoft rode into Las Vegas for MIX11 this week on a wave of Windows Phone momentum. The company’s corporate vice president of Mobile, Joe Belfiore, took to the keynote stage with a compelling message for developers: Now is the time to create the next-generation apps and games for Windows Phone. Microsoft said it remains on track to start delivering the next version of Windows Phone to new and existing devices by the end of this year. Windows Phone Developer Tools will be available in May, and Microsoft announced that new features will enable the following: | |
Starting today Microsoft will resume rolling out the February update to Samsung phones. Meanwhile, Microsoft is continuing to dispatch the update to other Windows Phone models. As has been the case, the software patch is being sent out on a rolling schedule. You’ll see a message on your phone when it’s available.
During the past week Microsoft's engineering team has pinpointed and fixed problems that were preventing a small percentage of Windows Phones from installing the February software patch.
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Nokia and Microsoft today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem.
Nokia and Microsoft intend to jointly create market-leading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity. As each company would focus on its core competencies, the partnership would create the opportunity for rapid time to market execution. Additionally, Nokia and Microsoft plan to work together to integrate key assets and create completely new service offerings, while extending established products and services to new markets.
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