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Tag: microsoft

  • Cloud Storage Vendors Aggressively Slash Prices Again

    Since November, the three leading cloud storage vendors have slashed prices for data storage per month, offering massive discounts for the first terabyte. Amazon Web Services reduced prices by up to 28% to 9.5 cents, extending reductions to its nine regional centers. Google Cloud Storage dropped data rates by 30% to 8.5 cents. Microsoft Windows Azure slashed its prices by 12% to 8.5 cents.

    Vendors are cutting prices to attract as many early cloud adopters as possible, with the knowledge that switching service provider later might prove to be difficult for customers.

    "It's definitely a race, but it's a land grab," said Terri McClure, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "The race is to the bottom to get more data into the cloud. They are trying to accelerate adoption because the service is very sticky. Once data is in the cloud, it's hard to switch providers."

    Steve Zivanic, vice president of marketing at Nirvanix, a San Diego based cloud storage provider, said the three dormant cloud providers keep competing on price because their services are similar.

    "If you have no technology differentiation between clouds, then it's the same as disk-drive vendors waging a war for the lowest price per raw drive," said Steve Zivanic, "The key is to wrap advanced storage services around the physical drive and sell business value of that overall service. The price cuts between Amazon, Google and Azure are basically battles for cheap, raw online disk."

    An analyst for IT infrastructure and cloud at 451 Research Cloud, Carl Brooks said that while storage prices have come down, the costs of bandwidth, replication, security, compliance and maintenance, make the price of cloud storage high compared to on-premises storage.

    "Cloud providers are well over the cost of actually provisioning on-premises storage," said Carl Brooks. "Hard drives are almost a commodity at this point. We have not seen that in the cloud market. The trend behind the price cuts are more about cloud providers trying to get ahead of the trend. They don't want to be undercut by other vendors."

    "Amazon, Azure and Google cut prices to continue to be relevant," Brooks said further. "You are going to see price competition for a couple of years, and you will see cloud service providers go out of business.

  • Microsoft announces Windows Phone 8 event

    The following month will be very important for Microsoft, since they are about to launch the highly anticipated Windows 8. Along with Windows 8, we are also expecting the Windows Phone 8 handsets, which are also expected to increase Microsoft's share in the mobile market.

    Microsoft is having an event on October 29 in San Francisco, inviting the journalists to "meet Windows Phone 8". As it seems, Microsoft is about to announce the release of the brand new Windows 8 handsets and reveal all the details that are related to them. From what we already know about Windows Phone 8, it will be compatible with all the Windows 8 devices, being an extension of Windows 8. What's more, Windows Phone 8 will have a customizable start screen, but it will also feature the NFC technology.

    As for the phones, there will be handsets from HTC, Samsung, Huawei and Nokia, with the latter being the big advocate of Windows Phones lately. There is also a rumor that Microsoft will create a Surface device with Windows Phone 8, but there isn't a confirmation yet, which means that we have to be patient for it.

    What we know for sure, is that Microsoft has high expectations on the big release of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, hoping to boost their income during the highly profitable holiday period. Although we have already reported the disappointment of the Windows Phone 7 owners, Microsoft is aware of the big competition in the mobile industry and they can only have a share with ambitious projects. And Windows Phone 8 is definitely one of them.

    More details about Windows Phone 8 at the end of the month then.

  • Microsoft to Release Windows-Based Smartphone

    Microsoft prepares a Windows smartphone under its own brand. Designed for the premium segment, the prototype is already operational, currently being under testing, according to sources inside the company, quoted by wpcentral.com, which reinforce the rumors previously circulated in the Chinese media.

    The Microsoft phone is different from other models that run the Windows operating system on the market, being a single product, said a source inside the company, who did not provide information on the smartphone’s features, prices or expected date of release.

    The cited person added that the phone already exists as a prototype and is being tested.

    China Times wrote on Monday, without sourcing the information, that Microsoft is working on a Windows phone.

    Microsoft introduced this spring the Surface tablet, proving that it has the resources to create their own completely new hardware product. The company avoided leaking information to the press shortly before disclosing the tablet. Surface will be available after the release of Windows 8, scheduled for October 26.
    Windows Phone 8 was adopted by Nokia, the main hardware partner of Microsoft, but also by Samsung and HTC, which presented their own competing models. Windows Phone 8 phones will be available somewhere in November, after the release of the operating system.

    Redmond company may choose to sell their hardware products on Microsoft Store, in order to don’t bother hardware partners, which largely depend on the sales by telecom operators at subsidized prices with the signing of a subscription for a period of time, usually two years.

    At the same time, preparing its own smartphone could represent a “plan B” for Microsoft to promote Windows Phone 8, if Nokia’s models will not be successful.

    Another possibility circulated in specialized media would be an alleged state of discontent in Microsoft’s management board regarding Nokia’s marketing strategy, which would focus too much on Lumia brand and too little on Windows. This variant seems to be reinforced by Microsoft’s participation at the recent event held in New York and organized by HTC, which showed its Windows Phone 8 models, a competition for Nokia’s Lumia range.

  • Microsoft Retools SkyDrive Cloud Storage

    Microsoft already offers a market-leading cloud storage service through their SkyDrive system. But the computing giant isn’t resting on its laurels, as evidenced by the recent announcement of some major upgrades to their offerings.

    According to the company’s debriefing, SkyDrive’s entire interface has been retooled, and will now match the tile-centric layout of all other Windows 8 devices. The new layout, deemed ‘Metro’ by Microsoft, will appear consistently on all the company’s new releases, include the upgraded Office release and new Windows operating system.

    In addition, Microsoft has added to SkyDrive’s search capabilities, expanded the sorting options, and improved the functioning of the drag-and-drop features. The SkyDrive desktop app has also received upgrades that should smooth performance on both Mac OS X and Windows 8 platforms, helping bulk uploads complete faster and with less glitches.

    Microsoft has also taken off all restrictions from the SkyDrive API, giving programmers the ability to adjust its functioning to their needs. This now allows third-party apps of all sorts to be uploaded to the Drive, making their cloud storage system welcoming for as many devices and users as possible.

    These significant upgrades shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to fans of Microsoft or industry experts. It’s been clear for well over a year now that Microsoft feels their SkyDrive will soon become one of the cornerstone products in their library. And since it will seamlessly integrate into all other Windows-powered desktop and mobile devices, they expect an increase in user retention across the board.

  • What to expect in Windows Phone 8 and not Windows Phone 7.8

    Microsoft has already announced that Windows Phone owners should expect another update on their smartphones, the Windows Phone 7.8 update.

    Although every update is received with satisfaction, this time was rather different. Windows Phone owners were not happy when they heard that their current Windows Phone 7 smartphones won't be updated to Windows Phone 8. Microsoft sees Windows Phone 8 as part of the whole Windows 8 change and sadly for current Windows Phone owners, it couldn't be done on their existing smartphones. Windows Phone 7.8 update will contain some new features, but unfortunately it won't be like the Windows Phone 8 update.

    According to a French document that leaked at the Internet, Windows Phone 7.8 will lack the following features, comparing to Windows Phone 8:

    – Windows Phone Wallet
    – Internet Explorer 10
    – Real Multitasking
    – NFC
    – Device Management
    – MicroSD card support
    – Secure boot and encryption
    – Multi-core processor support

    Nokia did not comment on whether the document is correct, although the French blog "Smartphone France" claims it as authentic.

    Even though we are not totally sure of the document's authenticity, we do know that current Windows Phone owners will feel "betrayed" by Microsoft, since their relatively new smartphones will become obsolete sooner or later. Buying a smartphone just a few months ago and being obliged to leave it does not seem the ideal situation for any customer. Although Microsoft does plan something bigger, they still know that they need to win the current Windows Phone owners.

    Windows Phone 8 handsets are expected to arrive in the following months, with Nokia collaborating with Microsoft once again. The fact that the new iPhone arrives in the mid-September raises the competition even more, with Microsoft being aware that Windows 8 should make the difference. It's their chance to prove they can make it big in smartphones, too!

  • Skype Questioned on Privacy Policy Changes

    Recent media reports have accused Skype’s management of changing their privacy policy following their sale to Microsoft, in an effort to help law enforcement agencies keep tabs on video and voice calls. Mark Gillett, Skype’s chief development and operations officer, recently took to the internet to refute those claims, in a statement released through the company’s blog.

    Various media reports have surfaced in recent weeks, claiming that Skype has altered their service architecture in such a way that it is easier for law enforcement officers to monitor incoming and outgoing calls. But Gillett declared in his blog post that the privacy policy changes had nothing to do with that, and would be completely contrary to the company philosophy.

    Gillett did not mention the specific media outlets questioned, but frankly denied the reports, and also refuted the claim that the changes came down from Microsoft staffers. The referenced changes involved the addition of what Skype calls “supernodes”, a directory distribution that helps Skype users find each other through the service. Gillett also mentioned that these changes went into effect well before Microsoft declared they were buying the VoIP giant in 2011.

    VoIP-List.com: extensive catalog of voip providers, available software and hardware resources.

    Since Microsoft acquired Skype, they’ve been working to consolidate the supernodes, which had been spread across outsourced cloud servers and dedicated Skype data centers. The goal was to bring them all together with Microsoft, not to work with law enforcement in any structured way.

    The issue came to light after an article appeared in The New York Times reporting that law enforcement across the United States submitted more than 1.3 million information requests from the nine major cell phone carriers in United States. The majority of those records were turned over after a subpoena was issued, but some were relinquished due to “emergencies”, without requiring any legal documentation.

  • Rebtel Competes With Skype in the Windows Phone Market

    Rebtel is the largest VoIP service in the world after Skype, and has been working hard to close that gap in recent months. This week they took another large step towards further industry dominance, with the launch of a Rebtel app specifically for the Windows Phone. It will be free for all users when downloaded through the Windows Marketplace.

    Rebtel has a massive network of local phone numbers, available in upwards of fifty countries. Their app allows customers to make VoIP calls internationally at an incredibly affordable rate. Rebtel already had apps available for all iOS devices, as well as tablets and smartphones running Android technology, and the release of a dedicated Windows app now means nearly all American customers can take advantage of their cutting edge service.

    VoIP-List.com: extensive catalog of voip providers, available software and hardware resources.

    Andreas Cernstrom, Rebtel’s CEO, announced the new product offering in a press release. He feels they have the most comprehensive group of mobile computing VoIP apps in the world. According to their studies, international calls can be made for 98% off standard phone service, while working through customers wireless phone plans, and not by utilizing data plans. That’s a huge distinction, as customers on many networks have a huge amount of traditional minutes, but limited data plans that made heavy VoIP usage immensely expensive.

    The Rebtel app for Windows phone not only allows inexpensive calls to any phone in the world, regardless if the receiver is running a Rebtel app, but it integrates the phone’s address book as well. International text messaging is available, for roughly 60% off standard rates, and the quality of the calls is elevated by the reliance on cell phone minutes, not data connections. The company expects Windows phone to gather larger and larger shares of the market as Microsoft unveils their latest operating system, built with the mobile app market firmly in mind.

  • Microsoft Moves Office to the Cloud

    Computing giant Microsoft recently announced the pending release of their Office 2013 software, further cementing their status as a leader in the new world of cloud computing. The latest iteration of Office will directly tie into the Microsoft SkyDrive, their cloud storage offering, which will also come built-in on all computers that carry the latest Windows 8 operating system.

    While previewing Office 2013 for current customers, Kirk Koenigsbauer, the VP in charge of the software bundle, pushed most of the focus onto SkyDrive. Customers favorably compared it to Dropbox, a much smaller company that is still Microsoft’s primary competition in this market.

    Microsoft also recently announced that the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro will only cost $40 when purchased directly through Microsoft’s online portal. This is a huge sea change for the company, which now seems willing to significantly lower upgrade charges in favor of gaining customers for SkyDrive and earning that regular, monthly usage fee. That also means that consumers could find Office 2013 carrying a much lower pricetag than previous versions when it enters the marketplace.

    Microsoft also seems to be pushing the limits with how their products integrate, following Google’s approach to the cloud storage market. The new Office will work seamlessly on all Microsoft hardware, as well as link in effortlessly with Windows 8 and other key applications such as Bing and Skype. It may take a while to see if the strategy pays off with increased support of SkyDrive, but in the crowded world of data storage, even a company as large as Microsoft seems willing to take the risk.

  • No Windows Phone 8 Upgrade for Current Nokia Lumnia Phones

    One of the significant hits given yesterday by Microsoft refers to the lack of possibility to upgrade to the new OS – Windows Phone 8 – for the owners of Lumia smartphones, even for the owners of high-end models such as Nokia Lumia 900.

    Although Windows Phone 7.8 will be a significant sample of the functionality of WP8, the guys at The Verge consulted Kevin Shields from Nokia to hear an official opinion regarding the company’s trust or distrust in the Lumia.

    "I definitely think it's more than enough. I think that ultimately your typical customer probably isn't all that aware of this upgrade thing," said Shields. When asked about the upgrade prospects for Lumia 900, the same Kevin Shields said that he definitely thinks that with “products like the Lumia 900, where a consumer walks in and buys that product they're getting great value and they're getting a great offering that's going to have a long lifetime of innovation”.

    Although there will exist new applications that would take advantage of the functions implemented exclusively in WP8, Nokia representative was keen to ensure that users will constantly get new features through updates and applications made in house by the company. Applications like Camera Extras, which will reach on all the Lumia terminals until the end of July, represent a clear proof of these statements. Camera Extras will allow users to capture intelligent panoramic and group pictures.

    As a subjective note, we think that Nokia undermines users’ intelligence with such statements and, although Lumia 900 is a sensational terminal, in the world we live increasingly more people think about the future and put in balance the free upgrade options and the extended support. Since these elements are missing from all Lumia terminals on the market, we believe that Nokia has received a new hit in this period.

  • HTC Releases First Details on Its Windows Phone 8 Smartphones

    Besides Nokia, HTC is one of the leading supporters of the mobile platform from Microsoft and this does not seem to change with the new version of the platform – Windows Phone 8.

    After yesterday’s event in which we learned the first elements, more or less spectacular, related to Windows Phone 8, HTC rushed to make give the first official details for its next generation of smartphones running on the new operating system from Microsoft.

    HTC Rio is the low-end model powered by WP8. The smartphone will feature a 4-inch WVGA screen, will support HSPA data connection of 14.4 Mbps and will have an integrated 5-megapixel camera with video capture capability in 720p resolution. The processor used will be a Qualcomm MSM8227 from the new series Snapdragon S4 Plus, and the amount of RAM will be only 512 MB.

    HTC Accord will be the second model on the price scale. This one will have a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 screen and a native resolution of 720p. It will integrate an 8-megapixel sensor, and will jump to 1080p when capturing video content. In terms of data, the new smartphone will support 42Mbps HSPA+ as well as NFC connection. HTC Accord will be powered by a dual-core processor – probably Qualcomm MSM8260A, while the amount of RAM will jump to 1GB.

    HTC Zenith will be the new flagship of the WP8 range of smartphones. It will feature a 4.7-inch Super LCD 2 display with a native resolution of 720p and will integrate the same 8-megapixel sensor. Also concerning the similarities with HTC Accord, HTC Zenith will also feature the same processor and quantity of RAM.

    The first two terminals and HTC Rio and HTC Accord are scheduled for launch in October, while HTC Zenith will be available shortly before the end of the year.