Nokia has been taking a beating in the world market the last few years. The mobile phone manufacturer was once the top dog in the mobile phone industry. But its failure to adapt to changes in the mobile phone preferences of consumers – mainly from the typical mobile phones to smartphones – has resulted in a dwindling market share. In fact, the situation has gotten to a point where it is leaving certain markets because of poor sales. For example, Nokia has basically left Japan and it also hasn’t released any new phones in the United States for the last couple of years. More →

Microsoft is hedging its bets on the new Windows Phone mobile operating system as the one that will give Apple’s iOS a run for its money. Microsoft seems to have taken some inspiration from Apple’s very popular operating system and made its own innovations to make it more competitive and separate itself from the giant it wants to do battle with. People who have been able to play with the 7.5 Mango update have reported positively about it.  If you’re still unfamiliar about what Windows Phone 7.5 can offer you read on.

Probably one of the tent pole features of Windows Phone 7.5 that Microsoft thinks will attract consumers is its social media integration. Facebook integration was already featured in an earlier iteration of Windows Phone but with version 7.5 Twitter and LinkedIn have been added as well. The integration of these social networks is not just superficial it is integrated into the system. For example, photo sharing is a seamless affair. Sharing photos to Twitter and Facebook will only take a few clicks. More →

An almost universal computing environment. This is what the future will look like if reported information about Windows 8 is true.

According to Nvidia CEO Jen Hsun Huang, he thinks that Microsoft’s next generation computer and tablet operating system, Windows 8, will be able to recognize and run apps that have been developed and coded for the Windows Mobile Phone 7 operating system – which is the new mobile operating system developed by the software giant. More →

A class action suit is likely being readied against Microsoft by consumers alleging that the software giant’s Windows Phone 7 operating system tracks the locations of phone owners without asking for consent.

A woman from Michigan has filed the likely class action lawsuit in a Seattle District Court. She claims that Windows Mobile Phone 7 gathers user data from owners of the phone, and continue to do this even if the owners have already opted out of the location-reporting feature. An equally damaging allegation is that Microsoft did not tell the truth to Congress about how much data from location information the device collects.

According to the suit, the location logging feature incorporated into Windows Mobile Phone 7 gets location and network information data directly from the device in order to build a map of WiFi hotspots, cell towers and other related data that can be employed for assisted GPS. The suit further alleges that the information gathered is not just to give phone owners a thorough location-based service but also to create a targeted marketing system that can personalized the ads that are sent to a user’s particular location.

Microsoft, which is expected to fight the class action suit, has assured the public and the US Congress before that data gathering feature will only work if the user has permitted an application to get location services. The company further clarified that the application only gathers location data and nothing else.

Both Android and iOS devices were also accused of getting location data without permission from users but these were eventually fixed in subsequent updates.

Image credit: technologyrekor.eu

Despite experiencing less than stellar sales, Microsoft is committed to Windows Phone 7 which they believe is their ticket towards combating the rise of Android (which ironically is making more money for them than WP7).

As far as Windows 6.x devices however, it looks like Microsoft has decided to slowly starve their archaic OS, starting with their app store.

Last week Microsoft began notifying Windows Mobile 6.x developers that the company will no longer accept new Windows Mobile applications for the Windows Marketplace for Mobile starting July 15, 2011.

The company also announced a transition plan to move Microsoft My Phone customers onto Windows Live SkyDrive storage service. (Redmond Developer News)

Microsoft plans on cutting support for customers on Windows Mobile 6.x in January of 2013 and will end distribution for the software on Halloween of the same year.

Since the mobile OS is no longer noteworthy, Microsoft should try to convince customers still running devices powered by Windows Mobile 6.x to upgrade to a WP7 smartphone (perhaps by giving them a 50% discount to help sweeten the deal).

For those of you who grew up on Windows Mobile, what are your thoughts of Microsoft beginning to phase out the OS? Also, was Windows Mobile your first smartphone device?

As an iOS fan boy I’ll be the first to admit that Windows Phone 7 (or WP7 for short) is an impressive OS.

In fact every single one of my friends (both geeks and non-geeks) who have tried a WP7 device have become addicted to it, with a few ditching Android in order to partake of it’s glory.

That said, this former Microsoft VP’s behavior of blaming others for poor sales is at best pathetic. More →

That is the question on every mobile geeks mind right now after a report came out from an analyst projecting horrific sales of Windows Phone 7.

Despite selling 1.5 million phones to carriers, consumers apparently are not flocking towards the device (making Microsoft’s wonder phone a flop).

But what are the sales over the same period to end-users? Minus the donated phones and provided to its employees. Let’s assume that figure my personal assessment, that there were no official investigations and persecutions of the staff Microsoft. So, Fasten. By my estimate retail sales totaled 674,000 units. (Mobile Review, note: translated from Russian to English)

Seeing that this news is from an analyst one should always take information like this with a grain of salt (as truthfully no one really knows how many phones were sold outside of Microsoft).

However Microsoft could help clear up the confusion if they would simply release their activation numbers to the public (a method which Apple and Google both use to measure OS popularity).

Hopefully the company will consider releasing some hard numbers in the future, as the last thing Microsoft needs is shadowy rumors dragging the image of Windows Phone 7 down (which could hurt their image amongst developers).

Despite boasting a thriving app market, Microsoft isn’t content with remaining in Apple’s shadow as an “after thought” for developers.

Instead of spending more marketing dollars wooing developers, Microsoft is now attempting to reduce the friction for iOS developers thinking about experimenting with Windows Phone 7.

Launched today, the iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool helps developers find their way around when they discover the Windows Phone platform. [...]

With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7. A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms. (Windows Phone Developer Blog)

Honestly this is a smart move by Microsoft, who needs high quality apps built upon their platform in order to attract the attention of consumers (who thanks to Apple’s marketing are more interested in apps than tech specs).

Although this tool is great for some iOS apps, developers looking to recreate iOS apps upon Windows Phone 7 would be wise to study Microsoft’s mobile OS (or hire an expert who is fluent in WP7).

Surprisingly Microsoft isn’t offering something similar for Android, webOS or even Blackberry developers, although that could change in the future if their API matching tool proves to be successful.

Dear RIM, we have a problem. Despite your best efforts at revamping your OS, launching a decent smartphone (not to mention a mini-tablet), people around you are predicting doom and gloom for your company.

Worse, developers are balking at creating apps for Blackberry and your flirtation with Android isn’t building much confidence in your mobile OS.

With market share declining and Apple constantly refining iOS, it might be time for RIM to consider taking a cue from Nokia and embrace Windows Phone 7. More →

The International Data Corporation (or IDC for short) apparently is able to gaze into the future and declare the dominant mobile OS in 2015.

While IDC isn’t doubting that Android will dominate the globe for the foreseeable future, their predictions regarding iOS are a bit puzzling.

“Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences,” added Llamas. “The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.” (IDC) More →