03 September 2013

Microsoft going "all in" buying Nokia

Microsoft buying Nokia -- doubling down, going for broke, Elop next CEO of Microsoft?

With $7.17 Billion Nokia Buy, Microsoft Brings Its Trojan Horse Home | Wired Business | Wired.com: "Less than two weeks ago, Microsoft chief exec Steve Ballmer announced that he would be stepping down sometime over the next twelve months, and Elop — who becomes a Microsoft executive vice president with the Nokia deal — is now the obvious choice to succeed him. In the end, Microsoft may lose the smartphone wars, and if Elop graduates to the CEO job, he may fare no better than Ballmer with a company that’s struggling to reinvent itself in the face of so many new challenges to its software kingdom. But this, at least, is the company’s best shot in a world that’s quickly moving from desktops and laptops — Microsoft’s traditional domain — onto smartphones and tablets."

Steve Ballmer email to Microsoft employees on Nokia Devices & Services acquisition: ... I also know people will have some questions about what happens post-close. While details aren’t final, here is what we know, and how we’re generally approaching integration: Stephen Elop will be coming back to Microsoft, and he will lead an expanded Devices team, which includes all of our current Devices and Studios work and most of the teams coming over from Nokia, reporting to me....

Accelerating growth: Microsoft's Strategic Rationale in Buying Nokia (slide presentation at link)

Amazon Web Services, IBM battle over high-profile CIA cloud contract
Washington Post
An ongoing fight between Amazon Web Services and IBM over a cloud computing contract with the CIA is bringing to a climax questions about what kind of company is best positioned to provide the government with the new technology. It's not unusual for ...

What China's Xiaomi can teach Apple, Google, and the Western tech ...
By Devindra Hardawar
... of product management, away from Google. Barra has been a very public face for Android in recent events, and his departure could spell trouble for Google (especially since Android founder Andy Rubin also abruptly left the project this year). Clearly, Xiaomi is doing something right. .... iPhone, Android, iPad, BlackBerry, Palm webOS, Windows Phone 7 and Symbian. Some of the companies it covers includes Apple, Google,Microsoft, RIM, Palm, Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Motorola.
VentureBeat


Google Chrome browser turns 5 - CBS News: "But as HTML5 standards solidify and the implementation of that technology proceeds, the big thing to watch Chrome for will be its push of the Web-as-platform. Chrome Packaged Apps, which allow the Web to run as an app independently of the browser, were introduced to Chrome's developer's channel earlier this year. They follow the Native Client apps that you can get from the Chrome Web Store. And Google will be interested in flipping those "stock Android browser" users over to Chrome as it brings the mobile versions of the browser closer to parity with the desktop versions."

Google crunches data on munching in office
Washington Post
Last year Google had an M&M problem. So as it does with most dilemmas, the Internet giant put its data wizards into action. Employees were eating too much of the free candy and that, the firm surmised, might hinder efforts to keep workers healthy and ...

Microsoft Renames Xbox Live Marketplace to 'Xbox Games Store'
PC Magazine
This is to make it easier for consumers to find content both on Xbox 360 today and Xbox One when it launches in November," said an unnamed Microsoft representative in an interview with Joystiq's Sinan Kubba. Otherwise, it's almost the same ol' online ...

Microsoft ends top Masters certification exams for IT pros
PCWorld
The company said in an email to IT professionals that Microsoft will no longer offer Masters and Architect level training rotations and will be retiring the Masters level certification exams as of Oct. 1. "The IT industry is changing rapidly and we ...

Google Map Maker Expands to Italy, Vatican, Bulgaria
eWeek
Google is again expanding its Map Maker program around the world by opening it for the first time to residents in Italy, Bulgaria, San Marino and even Vatican City so that more local color, flavor and details can be added to existing Google Maps ...

How Microsoft Missed the Future of Computing
PC Magazine
Had it developed this fully without trying to make it PC-centric, Microsoft might have beaten Apple and Google to market with a consumer OS that could have been used across all types of devices, from tablets and TVs to mobile devices. Microsoft's ...

Fascinating Number: Amazon Is Larger Than The Next Dozen Internet Retailers ...
Forbes
The implication for Amazon being of course that there's still plenty of expansion possible. The only thing that slightly puzzles me is why internet sales would be so much smaller in the US. I would have thought that the geographic dispersion of the ...

Amazon Web Services formally opens Herndon office
Washington Post
Amazon Web Services last week formally opened its Herndon office last week, in a move that Teresa Carlson, who heads the company's worldwide public sector, said “demonstrate[s] commitment to the community.” Local officials lined up to herald the ...

Microsoft abruptly pulls 'masters' certification; hints a replacement may come
ZDNet
Microsoft's surprise phase-out of its highest-level certification programs has angered a number of those who have trained or are in the midst of training to be "masters" across a variety of the company's products. microsoftmasters. Microsoft officials ...

An Apple phablet, anyone?
CNET Asia
So, does Apple need to be in this market? It seemed like a wacky tweener category (wait, is it an unwieldy, oversized phone or an undersized tablet?) a couple of years ago. But it now appears to be a natural evolution of the smartphone or tablet ...

What Google And Uber Have In Store For The Future | TechCrunch
By Ryan Lawler
Last week, I published a piece of speculative fiction about how I saw Google and Uber evolving as companies and taking advantage of new technology 10 years from now. That “Dispatch From The Future” got quite a lot of attention, in part ...
TechCrunch


One Microsoft On, Ballmer Out, ValueAct In. Get Ready for More at ...
By Kara Swisher
Let's be clear — although Microsoft tried a take-the-trash-out-on-Friday-before-Labor-Day move, which was also a deadline for ValueAct to notify Microsoft if it planned a proxy battle — the news was unprecedented in the history of the company. As voiced to me.... I nominate, in no particular order: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Workday's Aneel Bhusri, Dropbox's Drew Houston, LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, and perhaps even Seattle-based Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
AllThingsD

Switched On: The smartwatch Microsoft needed yesterday - Engadget
By Ross Rubin
When the US smartphone market consisted of Microsoft, Palm and RIM, Windows Mobile had been powering smartphones -- and doing respectably in terms of US market share -- for years before Apple changed the game. Now ... As Google understands well with Google Glass, wearables represent perhaps the last opportunity short of implantables (or perhaps "tattoos" like the kind MC10 is creating) to intercept the smartphone as a ubiquitous personal digital presence. Here, too ...
Engadget RSS Feed

Apple Loop: iPhone Trade-Ins Begin, Siri Trash Talks Google Glass ...
Forbes
Those prices are significantly lower than the trade-in quotes being offered by competing services” such as Amazon, Gazelle, GameStop and even Apple's own ...

Apple's mobile Web share fell to 55% from 66% last August
Fortune
It will be curious to see if Cook cites the Web analytics firm's stats at Apple's next special event, because according to NetApplications' latest report, August was a ...

Google As A Champion Of Fluid Core Strategy
Forbes
A woman holds a Google Nexus 7 tablet computer equipped with a 7-inch LCD display and a ... By the way Apple is a leader here – having created a fluid core that takes in miniaturization, ...Microsoft created the trend for flat OS design. Apple ...

Google Docs winner for file sharing simplicity
San Angelo Standard Times
Associated Press file Microsoft newer version of its Office software became ... Google and Apple have free or cheaper alternatives that may fit your needs, but ...

Amazon shifted strategy in pursuit of CIA contract
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
...Airbnb: The property-renting marketplace runs most of its Web-based computing on AWS, ramping up its use as its business needs have necessitated.

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