Full FeedMicrosoft sings better tune on Windows Mobile
Microsoft Mobile Communications Business SVP Andy Lees has said that future versions of Windows Mobile will improve the music “experience.” In his statement, he acknowledged the successful strategy that Apple has followed with the iPhone: by tying the iPhone into the wildly successful iTunes + iPod ecosystem, Apple has managed to successfully enter a market where they have absolutely no proven competence. The other big closed-source player, Research in Motion, has also made moves to bring music and cell phones together. They recently announced a music service much like iTunes in partnership with a Canadian music company called Puretracks.
IBM ready to conduct Symphony
In addition to the release of the generally available public release, IBM has announced for-pay software support help to accompany its Lotus Symphony office productivity software. Lotus Symphony is a direct competitor to the market leading Microsoft Office suite, and joins a legion of alternative productivity suites, including Google Apps. The software itself, which includes full-feature word processing, presentation design, and spreadsheet application, is free, though many companies have expressed concerns about the long term sustainability of free software. IBM’s move lends credence to Symphony as a genuine alternative, by following a more conventional for-profit business model in the deliver of software.
Android to offer iPhone-like application store
In the latest indication that Apple truly is revolutionizing mobile phone technology, Google appears to be borrowing one of the most anticipated features from the forthcoming iPhone 2.0 revision. While an official announcement has not been made, comments by Android project leader Andy Rubin indicate that an Android App Store is definitely in the works:
“It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort”.
The weight of these two up-and-coming names in the cell phone industry (Google and Apple) represents a complete sea change. Previously, application distribution models have been carrier-specific. Applications are usually available only from a single, carrier-chosen storefront, such as Verizon Wireless’ V Cast service. Applications bought through such services are usually tied to the phone they are purchased on, and are always tied to the carrier. With the iPhone App and Android App stores, that appears ready to change.
Microsoft’s multitouch: interface revolution or me-too attention grabber?
At the D6 Conference yesterday, Microsoft’s chairman and founder took the stage to present the world with a glimpse of Windows’ future. A brief demonstration of the forthcoming Windows 7 showed a multitouch interface that is, according to Julie Larson-Green, VP of Windows Experience, built in throughout the OS. During the demo, there were hints that the Windows Dev has seriously considered how the Widows UI needs to adapt to support multitouch. This begs the question: Is multitouch Windows a true interface revolution, or is it merely another niche add-on to the system, much like it’s less-than-stellar cousin the Tablet PC?
Sun beats Microsoft to ODF compatibility in Office
Want to use MS Office to open and save ODF spreadsheets, word processing, and presentation documents, but don’t want to wait until 2009 to do it? Sun has got you covered. Microsoft recently announced that native ODF support would be coming to its popular Office 2007 productivity suite with the release of Service Pack 2, currently scheduled for early to mid 2009. Users who either can not or do not wish to wait that long have an alternative though, and it comes from one of Microsoft’s chief competitors in the market for office productivity software: Sun Microsystems.
Sun has taken the open source OpenOffice suite of productivity applications, and offers a branded version called StarOffice 8. The productivity suite, which includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database capabilities (think Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Access) costs far less than typical licenses for MS Office, and offers nearly the same functionality. Major advantages include full compatibility with both ODF and popular MS Office formats, including .doc/.odt, .xls/.ods, and .ppt/.odp, as well as significant cost savings versus a typical installation of MS Office.
Next-gen iPhone pricing still set, says AT&T CFO
AT&T CFO Rick Lindner has let slip a semi-confirmation regarding the arrival of the much anticipated next-generation iPhone. Widely believed to be announced during Steve Job’s keynote address at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 9th, the next iPhone is expected to run on the AT&T’s recently upgraded 3G network. Lindner’s comments regarding the iPhone indicate that pricing has not yet been determined, which leaves the door open to continued rumors of a subsidized version of the device:
“There’s not been a product announcement. There hasn’t been any pricing decision made. That’s yet to come,” he [Lindner] said.
Other popular smartphone devices, including RIM’s Blackberry devices and the Motorola Q are offered on all major networks at reduced prices, in exchange for a long term contract commitment. Rather than profiting from the device sale, the carrier added packages or services to the plan, including data access and MMS messaging, to recoup the cost of the handset. At its introduction, the iPhone bucked this convention by offering a full price handset and cheaper, unlimited data packages, a condition set by Apple.
MIcrosoft Office to gain PDF, ODF support
The good news: MIcrosoft has announced its flagship Office productivity software will gain support for more open formats, including PDF v1.5, PDF/A (the ISO standard for archival PDFs), and ODF v1.1.
The bad news: Users will have to wait until 2009 and Service Pack 2 to get it.
In a press release, MS detailed the intention to increase the interoperability of Office 2007, and reaffirmed the commitment to delivering ODF support for older versions of Office through support of the OpenXML-ODF open source translator project. This move comes after Microsoft’s recent success in establishing its own Open Office XML (OOXML) as an ISO standard, and provides significant backing to Microsoft’s pledged support of interoperability. The media spin that Microsoft is using goes something like this: Step 1: Innovate. Step 2: Create partner opportunities. Step 3: Profit. But is this really a move for greater compatibility, or simply a move to maintain dominance?
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