Born to be Wireless

According to Reuters, Eddie Wu, Microsoft's MD of OEM embedded devices on Asia, told that Microsoft expects to increase the sales of Windows Mobile up to 50% in the fiscal year of 2009.

The expectation is to sell 20 million units until the end of this fiscal year (Jun 2008).

Labels: microsoft, Windows mobile

Microsoft announced that will allow ads to be displayed on two of its mobile services: Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail.

Labels: microsoft, mobile ads

Microsoft Corp. has completed today its acquisition of Danger, Inc.

Danger will become a part of the new Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team, a group within the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. Danger co-founders Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt will join the new organization, reporting directly to Roz Ho, corporate vice president of Premium Mobile Experiences.

Danger is specialized in platforms, software, design, and services for mobile computing devices. Their most notable product is the T-Mobile Sidekick (aka Danger Hiptop).

Labels: danger, microsoft

Juicy rumours about Microsoft Corp. buying Research In Motion Ltd. swished around the market Thursday, and while most were quick to dismiss the chatter as background noise, some observers said the idea has merit.

Even though Microsoft has its own wireless product on the market, Windows Mobile, the giant tech company may want to snap up RIM in order to ward off other competitors. Apple Inc., with its iPhone, and Google Corp., with rumours of a new device, are both threats to dominate the wireless space Microsoft covets.

While RIM is one of the largest companies in Canada, analysts think it would be a breeze for Microsoft to purchase. Microsoft has a market capitalization of $266.7 billion US and had $34 billion in cash and short-term investments on hand at the end of fiscal 2006. RIM's market cap totaled $48.95 billion Cdn at Thursday's close, making it the fifth most valuable company in Canada but a reasonable meal for the software goliath.

"The amount (Microsoft) would pay for RIM is a little pimple on a hippo's ass," one analyst said.

Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM declined to comment on the rumours, as did Microsoft.

RIM stock closed at $87.71, up 91 cents for the day, after reaching as high as $89.68. At its peak, the stock was worth more than $50 billion for the first time.

Peter Misek, an analyst at Canaccord Adams, thinks an outright sale is unlikely but argues a partnership agreement would make sense.

Such a deal would be an about-face for Microsoft, but it would put it well ahead of Apple and Google in the mobile-device race and give RIM access to content such as television shows, games and movies.

RIM's popularity has made it the subject of takeover rumours before, with Nokia often appearing as the predator. Motorola has also surfaced as a potential buyer, but RIM's size likely puts it out of reach.

Misek said this is the first time Microsoft has been kicked around as the rumoured suitor.

He said any potential buyer would have to pay a 50-per-cent premium and have co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis on board.

"I don't see them as sellers," he said. "Would you sell if you are just absolutely crushing it, and you still think you're not even half done?"

source: Financial Post

Labels: acquisition, blackberry, microsoft, RIM

Microsoft has agreed to buy ScreenTonic, a company that specialises in delivering location-based ads to mobile devices.

ScreenTonic's platform, called Stamp, enables delivery of text or banner links on portals, ads in SMS (Short Message Service) messages and ads in mobile web pages that vary depending on where the reader is located.

The platform includes a manager component, which can handle monitoring, billing and reporting, and a server that delivers ads according to certain criteria, according to ScreenTonic's website. It also has a sales component for developing and selling ad campaigns.

The acquisition of ScreenTonic is part of a long-term strategy to deliver relevant ads to consumers, Microsoft said. ScreenTonic said it has also worked with Apple, Nokia and Nike, in addition to European telecommunications operators in the UK, Belgium and France.

Last year, ScreenTonic announced it had gained €5.5 million (£3.8m) in new funding from investors 3i Group and I-Source Gestion, while also opening a subsidiary in London.

Microsoft and ScreenTonic officials were not immediately available for comment on Thursday morning. The companies did not disclose the terms of their deal.

source: PC Advisor

Labels: acquisition, microsoft, mobile ads, screentonic

Microsoft announced recently that, like Yahoo and Google, it would be throwing itself into the mobile arena more fully with the release of its Deepfish service. The service aims to better replicate actual computing.

Although it is currently only available in private beta, it is expected to be available for WinMo users in the near future.

Deepfish

source: MobileCrunch

Labels: deepfish, microsoft

Microsoft has made a big play in mobile/voice search and has bought TellMe, a provider of nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service and voice-enabled mobile search. The price was not disclosed, but if reports are true ($800 million to a billion) they will have to disclose it in SEC filings down the line. Tellme is profitable and has raised over $235 million in venture funding prior to this....this will be Microsoft’s biggest purchase since 2002.

From the release: “Potential areas of development resulting from the deal will range from hosted voice-enabled customer service solutions that complement Microsoft’s existing unified communications offerings to voice user interfaces in existing Microsoft products to search services on mobile phones that integrate with Live Search for mobile offerings.” The company’s service is already used to fixed-line consumer services such as finding local businesses, driving directions, sports scores, stock quotes, weather, news, movie show times and more, so mobile voice search is a natural extension of that.

Labels: microsoft, search, tellme, voice