Behind Microsoft Deal, the Specter of a Nokia Android Phone

SEATTLE — Before Microsoft reached a deal to buy Nokia’s phone business, there was a possibility that Nokia could have switched its smartphones to Google’s Android operating system sometime after late 2014.

And now, it is clear that a Nokia Android phone was more than a possibility. It was real.

A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business, according to two people briefed on the effort who declined to be identified because the project was confidential. 

Microsoft executives were aware of the existence of the project, these people said.

Another person said the idea of Nokia using Android wasn’t a part of Microsoft’s discussions with the company about an acquisition, even though that was widely recognized as a possibility.

On one level, Nokia’s Android effort is not shocking. Companies often have “plan Bs” in the works in case they need to change course on strategy or want to help negotiate better terms with partners. Getting Android to run on Nokia’s hardware was not a Herculean engineering effort, according to the people familiar with the project.

Still, a functioning Nokia Android phone could have served as a powerful prop in Nokia’s dealings with Microsoft, a tangible reminder that Nokia could move away from Microsoft’s Windows Phone software and use the Android operating system, which powers more than three out of every four smartphones sold globally.

Susan Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Nokia, declined to comment, as did Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman.

Nokia reached a deal with Microsoft in 2011 to use Windows Phone on its smartphones, but Nokia had an option to exit that partnership at the end of 2014. Unraveling that deal would have been painful for both parties. It would have been devastating to Microsoft’s mobile phone efforts since Nokia accounts for more than 80 percent of the Windows Phone handsets sold. For Nokia, changing such an important ingredient in its products would have been a costly setback too.

Nokia has faced criticism that it made the wrong decision in choosing Windows Phone over Android several years ago. Nokia’s share of the smartphone market fell to 3 percent during the first half of 2013, from 32.8 percent in 2010.

There is no telling for sure whether Nokia would have been better off with Android over that time. It is possible the design of the operating system and greater abundance of Android apps might have put Nokia in a better spot.

The current status of Nokia’s Android project is unclear. Presumably, after Microsoft completes its acquisition of Nokia’s phone business early next year, there won’t be much future for it.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com

New Consoles Special Game: Waiting For PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Best Games May Have to Wait

Video game players are always excited to get their hands on new consoles, and in November, two new game machines are scheduled to be introduced: Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4. But while new consoles usually lead to better games, often that happens only in the long run. Some of the final games made for aging consoles have been better than the first games that were released for brand-new systems. Neither the PlayStation 3 in 2006 nor the Xbox 360 a year earlier went on sale with a single memorable initial title.

Xbox 360 gamers waited four months for their system’s first great game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and an entire year for the next one, Gears of War. Likewise, a full 12 months went by before PlayStation 3 players were able to get their hands on that system’s first noteworthy exclusive, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. At the same time, two of the PlayStation 2’s most highly regarded games, Bully and Okami, were released mere weeks before the release of the PlayStation 3.

While it’s too early to say for sure, something similar looks as if it will happen in 2013. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One each have a long list of launch titles, but the most interesting games that will be playable on the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft seem to be coming next year, including Titanfall from Respawn Entertainment and Project Spark from Microsoft Studios, both of which are Xbox exclusives on console; The Witness from Jonathan Blow’s Number None, a console exclusive for the PlayStation 4; and Destiny from Bungie, which will be playable on both (and on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3).

Who knows? There might be surprises among the first batch of games being released with the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Maybe Ryse: Son of Rome, an initial Xbox One title, will end up as one of the year’s best games. But Ryse’s E3 demonstration didn’t do much to auger that, instead promising to immerse players in antiquity by letting them repeatedly stab people in the neck. The developers of Dead Rising 3, another Xbox One exclusive, have talked about using the system’s superior technology for the important work of improving the graphical fidelity of zombie blood and teeth. Sony’s big-budget exclusives don’t look any more enticing.

Many games will be released with versions for currently available consoles — the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii U — as well as for the new ones. The most exciting of these games is Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, coming Nov. 19 for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U. (No release date has been announced for the PS4 and Xbox One.) An open-world game about information hackers in a near-future Chicago, Watch Dogs seems impossibly well-timed for the year of Edward Snowden.

Perhaps because two new consoles are coming out nearly simultaneously, the next few months seem to be the most unpredictable video-game autumn in memory. Can the gameplay in Watch Dogs possibly live up to its alluring premise? Will the military shooters Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 be hurt by a form of the blockbuster fatigue that afflicted moviegoers this summer? Will Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag mount a comeback for that series after last year’s divisive Assassin’s Creed III?

And many of 2013’s most-anticipated games won’t be playable at all on the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One. Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, the first Grand Theft Auto game in five years, will be released on Sept. 17 and can be played only on an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3. Set in an immense virtual Los Angeles, the game features three criminal protagonists instead of the usual one, and players can switch freely among all three characters in the game’s open world. Rockstar says the world that it has built for Grand Theft Auto V is bigger than the ones inside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption combined. I played Grand Theft Auto V for about four hours at Rockstar’s offices in SoHo last month, and it felt las if I only sampled the game’s possibilities.

Likewise, Batman: Arkham Origins, the third title in an exceptional series of games about that comic book hero, comes out Oct. 25 for PCs, PlayStation 3s, Xbox 360s and Wii U’s.

And Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls is a PlayStation 3 exclusive that stars virtual renditions of Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. It lands on Oct. 8. Quantic Dream’s previous game, Heavy Rain, was a bold experiment in interactive storytelling, even if it didn’t entirely succeed.

Super Mario 3D World is the season’s most promising Nintendo game. For decades, Nintendo has often broken the rule of thumb that new consoles don’t ship with their greatest games. New Nintendo systems have been packaged with games like Super Mario Bros., Mario 64 and Wii Sports, after all.

But the Wii U, Nintendo’s newest console, went on sale last year and it is still waiting for its system-selling game. Super Mario 3D World, slated for Nov. 22, gives Nintendo reason to hope. It is being designed by the people behind the extraordinary Super Mario Galaxy games. For the first time since 1987’s Super Mario Bros. 2, players will be able to play as Princess Peach, rather than just saving her from a kidnapping. And now, the damsel can throw fireballs, too, just as Mario can.

There are also a number of intriguing games without scheduled release dates that might come out this fall but also might get pushed to 2014, including South Park: The Stick of Truth, a game for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that has the close involvement of the TV show creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone; TheWalking Dead: Season Two, the sequel to Telltale Games’ acclaimed series of downloadable episodes inspired by Robert Kirkman’s comic books; and Silent Enemy, a game about bullying from Minority Media, the independent studio that made Papo & Yo, my favorite game of 2012.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com

Microsoft has gone ahead and made it official by slipping a $7.2 billion ring on Nokia's finger to acquire the Finnish company's phone business. The deal, which had been rumored for some time, puts that last big piece into place for Microsoft to have end-to-end control over the Windows Phone ecosystem. In essence, Microsoft has become Apple.

Except it isn't Apple. Certainly, the Nokia deal is basically an admission that Apple's approach in mobile — that is owning and operating the hardware, software and services around its devices — are best one. But Microsoft and Windows Phone are different animals from Apple and iOS. Besides ecosystem and market share, the companies have wildly different cultures.

True, Microsoft is undergoing a top-to-bottom organizational shift to adapt its culture, and having 32,000 Nokia employees (including 18,300 who are "directly involved" in manufacturing) will inject a little Finnish sauce into Redmond. But you don't just become Apple by adopting its strategy. And if Microsoft needs reminding of that, it should look no further than its own Surface tablets, which have failed to become the viable iPad competitor they were meant to be.

Apple, Google and Microsoft

In other ways, the deal makes Microsoft more like Google, since both companies acquired a hardware partner (in Google's case, Motorola) to give them some device clout and beef up their patent and IP portfolios (Microsoft's was actually already pretty big). At the same time, they have to keep existing partners happy. HTC, Samsung and Huawei can't be as excited about Windows Phone today as they were yesterday.

But when Google acquired Motorola, it was a struggling player in the crowded field of Android handset manufacturers. By contrast, Nokia is by far the biggest maker of Window Phones — again making Microsoft more like Apple in bringing that manufacturing in-house.

There is another pesky problem that some others have already pointed out: We already have an Apple. Smartphone users who are willing to pay a premium to buy a device with a tight ecosystem (not a healthy app catalog) have, for the most part, already done so. How can Microsoft hope to make future gains with less of the market to work with?

Rising From Asha

The answer lies in a key part of the deal, which is Nokia's feature phone business. As part of the acquisition, Microsoft gets Nokia's Asha-based handsets and the right to market them under the Nokia brand. Microsoft says it wants to use Asha phones as an "on ramp" to Windows Phones.

The Asha phones could play an important role in overseas markets, particularly places like India, Brazil, China and Russia, which a Nielsen study recently found were areas ripe for smartphone growth. While it's hard for any smartphone maker to stand out over others in these areas, there are two brands that have some pre-existing clout in those markets: BlackBerry and Nokia.

BlackBerry obviously has its own problems, and the generational shift from the old BlackBerry OS to BlackBerry 10 hasn't been much of an on ramp for those phones, at least not yet. Looking at some recent numbers, however, Windows Phone is having better luck, and if Microsoft could come up with some key services that cut across the Asha/Windows Phone divide, it could push the platform even further.

That's a big if, though, and looking at Microsoft's previous attempt at creating robust feature phones, the ill-fated Kin line, doesn't give much hope. But that product failed because it targeted the wrong market (kids) at the wrong time (the iPhone was ascendant). Played right, Asha could help solidify Microsoft's mobile game.

The Last Mobile War

Buying Nokia's device business isn't a genius move. In fact, it's incredibly obvious — but at least it puts Microsoft on par with the other major mobile platforms. That's a good thing for Windows Phone, but the question is: Is it forward-looking enough?

By emulating Apple's ecosystem strategy, I can't help but think Microsoft just put into place a great strategy for winning the last war. The smartphone market certainly still has lots of opportunity, but it's much closer to a finished work than a blank canvas. Microsoft's now ready to put its mark on mobile with Nokia's phone business, but what about wearables, data-based services and in-car integration? The biggest innovations yet to come in mobile have nothing to do with phones.

It's an interesting coincidence that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia phones comes about a day before Samsung will debut one of the most anticipated gadgets of the year: the Galaxy Gearsmartwatch, which connects with your phone to open up entirely new experiences with apps. Which story do you think will better define the mobile in the years to come?

Source: http://mashable.com

Google and Microsoft Spar Again Over YouTube Windows App

 Redmond, Wash., and Mountain View, Calif., are at it again, leaving Windows Phone users inconvenienced. 

Just two days after a new YouTube app for the Windows Phone debuted, Google has blocked the app — again. Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed to Mashable in a statement that it has disabled the app over grievances with a terms of service violation:
 

We’re committed to providing users and creators with a great and consistent YouTube experience across devices, and we’ve been working with Microsoft to build a fully featured YouTube for Windows Phone app, based on HTML5. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not made the browser upgrades necessary to enable a fully-featured YouTube experience, and has instead re-released a YouTube app that violates our Terms of Service. It has been disabled. We value our broad developer community and therefore ask everyone to adhere to the same guidelines.

A Microsoft spokesperson also told Mashable the app has been blocked but did not elaborate: “Google is blocking our updated YouTube app for Windows Phone. We are working with them to resolve the issue.”

This is not the first time this has happened. Earlier this year, Google and Microsoft bickered over Microsoft failing to include advertising on the YouTube app for Windows Phones. Google then demanded that Microsoft take YouTube off the Windows Phone OS because of its lack of ads. The tech giants eventually made amends in May, and Microsoft released its latest app Tuesday.

Thursday's new inconvenience appeared to baffle and irritate some Windows Phone users: customer reviews on the app's page in the Windows Phone store clearly showed customer frustrations. "Pathetic," said user Matthew. "Not working after last update," user Sara said. "Waited ages for this app and it doesn't work ... Thanks Microsoft. It just says 'something went wrong ... We don't know what,'" said user Stanley.

Source: http://mashable.com

Windows 8.1: Reports Suggest October Release

The next version of Windows is expected sometime this fall, but ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley is narrowing the timeline down even further, reporting that the system will move to manufacturers this month and hit store shelves in October.

That follows more or less the same timing as the 8.1’s predecessor, Windows 8, which went to manufacturers ahead of general distribution on Aug. 1 of last year. Windows 8 was available to general consumers on Oct. 26, of last year.

Windows 8.1 is a recalibration of last year’s radically different Windows system, and walks back some of the more drastic changes Microsoft made for Windows 8, such as adding back the start button. Windows 8.1 also includes tweaks such as smaller Live Tiles and more search integration.

Microsoft had hoped that Windows 8, which was built to have a touch interface that could also be operated with a keyboard and mouse, would help the company boost sales of PCs with touchscreens. But the PC market, so far, hasn’t seen a boom from the new version of Windows. In fact, sales of personal computers have continued to slow and Computerworld reported Monday that research IDC recently cut its estimate for sales of touch-based PCs to 10 percent to15 percent of the market rather than the 17 percent to 18 percent the firm predicted earlier this year. Touch PCs, the report said, are still too expensive for most people, but won’t come down in price until they become more popular.

And as Microsoft prepares to launch its retooled operating system, the company also is planning to discontinue support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014 — meaning it will no longer release general patches for the software to address things such as security threats. According to the Web analytics firmNetMarketShare, XP is still the second-most popular operating system in the world, behind Windows 7, with around 37 percent of the desktop market.

Many businesses are still using XP, having opted not to update their computers to Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, and — as The Washington Post reported— are looking for help transitioning from the 12-year-old system.

A separate report from Computerworld also noted that there’s another group out there looking forward to April 4: hackers. The report noted that hackers may bide their time and take advantage of security holes they find in XP until Microsoft ends its official support.

Source:http://www.washingtonpost.com

Microsoft, Sony set prices for Xbox One and PS4 controllers

If you’re saving up for a next-generation console, then it’s also worth remembering that the $499.99 device comes with some additional costs. Accessories for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, by and large, won’t work with the next generation, meaning that you won’t be able to use your old controllers to supplement the one that comes in the Xbox One box.

Microsoft on Monday released prices for new accessories, including its controllers, for pre-orders to give gamers a clue about what amounts they should set aside to make sure they can play with their friends.

Multimedia
A Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Galaxy S4 smartphone, right, sits on display inside an OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) retail outlet in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, July 11, 2013. OAO Mobile TeleSystems's chief said Russia's largest mobile-phone operator would need better terms to back Apple Inc. handsets again after Windows smartphones advanced to almost match iPhones in market share. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
What is spectrum and why should you care?--Post Buzz
JUL 15
The Post’s Hayley Tsukayama breaks down the spectrum policy debate and explains why it is important for mobile users to understand.
While there are clear examples of companies inventing new ways of human computer interaction, they just don’t seem to happen often enough.

New controllers will set you back $60 a piece, while a headset made to work with the new console costs $25. According to Microsoft’s Xbox Support Twitter feed, an Xbox One adapter for older headsets is in the works, but the company hasn’t offered more information on that ahead of the console’s planned launch in late 2013.

Microsoft is also taking pre-orders for its “Play and Charge” controller kit, which lets users ditch the double-AA’s in favor of a rechargeable battery pack. With a controller, the whole kit costs $75. If you just wanted the charging cable and battery pack separately, it’s $25.

The company is also offering a 12-month Xbox Live Gold membership for pre-sale, which will cost $60 and give players access to multiplayer gaming, entertainment and Skype. The Kinect, which has been one of Microsoft’s most popular Xbox peripherals, is now bundled with all new systems.

Meanwhile, Sony has said that the controller for its PlayStation 4 will also be $60 and is available for pre-order at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and GameStop. Sony’s PlayStation Camera, also $60, is also up for pre-order on those sites. Sony is including a mono headset with every system.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Admits He Made A Huge Mistake

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer is finally admitting what everyone has been thinking: Microsoft made a huge mistake with the Surface RT tablet.

Last week, the company disclosed that it lost over $900 million on the low-selling tablet computer, and during an internal Microsoft event this week, Ballmer put the disaster into simple, understated terms, The Verge and Neowin separately reported.

"We built a few more devices than we could sell," Ballmer reportedly said.

Despite some good reviews, Microsoft had an extraordinarily difficult time getting the Surface off of shelves, and an overwhelming number of Surface RT tablets have been left unsold. If you break down the $900 million Microsoft lost on the Surface RT, it comes out to about 6 million unsold devices.

Still, Microsoft is working on the next generation of the tablet, and internal response to the new device has been positive at Microsoft, Neowin reports.

It's not just the Surface that has been letting the company down; Microsoft is not selling enough Windows products in general. But Microsoft does have one bright spot: Windows Phone 8 is beating BlackBerry for the coveted No. 3 spot in the smartphone market.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com