Microsoft signed a partnership with Acer that will see Office and other apps preinstalled on the device maker’s phones and tablets. In doing so, Acer joins a lengthy and growing list of device makers that have aligned with Microsoft.
Following in the august footsteps of China, Russia is the latest totalitarian state that is publicly seeking to “ban” Microsoft Windows and replace it with less U.S.-centric technologies.
Microsoft announced last night that it has acquired SwiftKey, makers of the most popular software keyboard for devices. The software giant will integrate SwiftKey’s technologies with its own WordFlow efforts and presumably push the combination across all device types.
Following the release of Microsoft’s Q2 2016 fiscal year earnings, Windows Phone has apparently been proclaimed dead… again.
Sales of tablets fell 10 percent in 2015, and almost 15 percent in the fourth quarter,according to the market researchers at IDC. But sales of so-called “detachable tablets” hit a record high in the year, with Microsoft Surface falling behind Apple’s iPad Pro.
The market researchers at IDC claim that device makers sold 1.4 billion smart phones in 2015, a record. And sales were stronger than expected in the final quarter of the year, with nearly 400 million units sold.
Apple delivered a knockout punch in its quarterly earnings as always, but warnings about slowing iPhone sales growth did not go far enough: The business was essentially flat when measured against the same quarter a year ago, the first time ever that iPhone sales haven’t grown.
Microsoft’s Surface tablet was repeatedly called out as the culprit of a technical glitch during the nationally-televised AFC championship football game yesterday. And while Surface was in fact not to blame, Microsoft will have a hard time living this one down.
This week’s other news includes a key remaining question about Microsoft’s new Windows support policy for new hardware, Google paid $1 billion to be iPhone search provider, Android revenues, the iPad Pro is not faster than a PC, and Yahoo continues to navel-gaze.
Russell Smith shares his thoughts on 10 days on the road with Windows 10 Mobile.