MobileCrunch |  |
- Just In Time For The New NFL Season, Taptu Brings Fantasy Football To Mobile Readers
- Leaked FCC Doc Reveals Details Of AT&T’s Strategy For T-Mobile Deal
- Microsoft Patents Flat-Slider Phone Form Factor, Multi-Touch Gaming Mice
- Are We Ready For A True Cloud Phone?
- Mystery Android Vulnerability Not Detailed By Prudent Hackers
- HTC’s 1st NFC Phone HTC Stunning is Actually Incredible S
- TSMC Beginning Production Of Apple’s New A6 Processor
- W3i Launches New Service For iOS Game Developers
- Samsung To Finally Debut The Galaxy S II In The U.S On August 29th
- The Battle Continues: Samsung To Appeal Apple’s European Injunction
- Google Videos Brings Movie Rentals to Android Phones
- Windows Phone VP Debunks Mango’s Sept. 1 Release, We’re Still Not Convinced
| Just In Time For The New NFL Season, Taptu Brings Fantasy Football To Mobile Readers Posted: 12 Aug 2011 09:10 PM PDT  From its founding in 2007, Taptu was a startup that specialized in search and touch-based interfaces for mobile, launching a realtime mobile search engine in conjunction with OneRiot back in 2009, for example. In November of last year, however, the startup made the smart decision to bring its mobile search proficiency into the news reader market, launching Flipboard-like Android and iPhone apps that brought an interesting value proposition to bear on the burgeoning mobile reader market: Users could aggregate more than 5,000 mixed streams — no paltry number, and far more than that offered by the competition. In April, Taptu launched on the iPad with a sleek and clean design that, again, worked to differentiate itself from competitors like Flipboard, Pulse, Flud (and perhaps Editions) by bringing its proprietary mobile search tech to bear on the aggregation of thousands of news sources, rather than relying on those tired RSS feeds. As some readers may know, the National Football League had been in the grips of a contentious lockout that put the 2011 season in jeopardy. The owners and players were recently able to come to terms, ending the lockout on July 25th, and allowing the pigskin show to go on. Seeing as football is back on, not wanting to miss out on a golden opportunity to expand their feature set, Taptu is today entering into a new athletic domain with the launch of a NFL fantasy football news stream for Taptu users on both smartphones and tablets. The new stream enables fans to receive updates on every critical stat and news item in realtime, allowing fantasy footballers to field a competitive team each and every week. As my colleague MG wrote last week, the sports world has largely been underrepresented on tablets and news readers, because ESPN (the behemoth of sports content) has basically been absent from the space — at least in terms of partnering with other developers or startups to syndicate their content. But last week, Pulse dropped a bomb on the news reader tablet market by announcing that it was the first player in the space to receive an infusion of ESPN content, along with existing content from Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, and so on. While this was a big win for Pulse, there is still an even more coveted, niche demographic that remains underrepresented on tablets, which would be none other than fantasy sports. Fantasy sports are currently played by over 27 million Americans; it’s becoming an increasingly popular pastime (and money maker). And for those who are involved, or have friends who play, fantasy sports are by and large a rabid group. Though it depends on the sport, in order to field the best team each week, fantasy sports players have to consume a lot of information about who’s playing well, including what players are injured, or under-performing, etc. Fantasy sports enthusiasts consume a lot of news and statistics, they do their homework, like analysts, or enterprising journalists — obviously a great customer to have if you’re a mobile startup. Over the next 30 days, loads of football fans will be building out their teams on their desktops and mobile devices in preparation for the start of the season. And now, thanks to Taptu, those fans no longer have to visit multiple websites to get the lowdown on a trade or injury. Plus, Taptu’s fantasy feature lets users mix and match from football’s big publications and blogs into one stream, making the information easy to read and glance over. And, in a nose-thumbing at Pulse, Taptu will feature breaking news from ESPN, SB Nation, Fox and CBS Sports, among others. To find the app’s fantasy football stream, users simply go to the “Stream Store” and look for the fantasy football icon, click “+”, and the stream will be added to a user’s news collection. As before, Taptu is available for free on iOS (here) as well as Android phones and tablets (here).
   |
| Leaked FCC Doc Reveals Details Of AT&T’s Strategy For T-Mobile Deal Posted: 12 Aug 2011 04:36 PM PDT  A partially-redacted letter from AT&T lawyers to FCC officials was accidentally posted on the FCC website today, and it reveals quite a bit about AT&T‘s strategy for its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Unfortunately, the filing has come and gone on the website, but the folks over at Wireless Week took down some notes for us. Here's what's up: AT&T faces heavy competition since its biggest rival, Verizon, has been implementing its LTE network at a much faster pace. Verizon has plans to build out its network to the point where it would provide coverage for up to 97 percent of the population, and the expansion is already underway. AT&T's initial plan (sans T-Mobile) only provided for 80 percent, and the company has yet to get its first set of cities rolling. So not only has Verizon been moving faster, but it's also been covering more ground. According to Wireless Week, the letter from AT&T lawyers to the FCC gives us our first-ever peek into how much it would cost AT&T to match Verizon's planned LTE footprint, had the company not chosen to acquire T-Mobile. This is going to blow your mind, so get ready. The price of expanding its LTE coverage to rural areas would have cost AT&T $3.8 billion. But the letter also says that the $3.8 billion price tag and the speed at which AT&T would have to deploy made that impossible. "AT&T senior management concluded that, unless AT&T could find a way to expand its LTE footprint on a significantly more cost-effective basis, an LTE deployment to 80 percent of the U.S. population was the most that could be justified," AT&T counsel Richard Rosen said in the filing. Yet, AT&T is willing to throw down a staggering $39 billion to swallow up T-Mo and get that 97 percent foot print up and running. Confused? Totally understandable. Let's parse through this together, shall we? While this isn't quite as bad as it looks, it's still not good. Rosen isn't just straight up lying when he says AT&T needs a cost-effective route to make its LTE plans a reality. These carriers have to spend, well $3.8 billion-ish, to bring coverage to rural areas. The problem is that there are way more towers to build, each of which covers far fewer people than in metropolitan areas. That means the return on investment isn't nearly what AT&T would like it to be. Wireless Week spoke with ABI Research analyst Phil Solis, who seems to understand where Rosen and AT&T are coming from. “You really do get diminishing returns,” he said. “They’re making the case that if they’re allowed to acquire T-Mobile, they’ll have so many revenue benefits that they’ll be able to afford the extra coverage. It would help.” But that doesn't really change the fact that we end-users would be left with a duopoly. What's best for AT&T isn't what's best for everyone, and it's the FCC and DoJ's job to make sure the public interest is protected at all costs, regardless of AT&T’s preferences and financial situation. What's interesting is that the letter revealed that AT&T decided not to spend that $3.8 billion in the beginning of January. But according to Bloomberg, Sprint could have potentially been in talks with Deutsche Telekom during the same period, with its own plans to acquire T-Mobile. Bloomberg reported on March 8 that multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Sprint and Deutsche Telekom were in "off and on" meetings about a possible T-Mo merger. It's entirely possible that those conversations started in January, or even earlier, and Bloomberg only got wind of it towards the tail-end of the situation. If that's the case, AT&T may have tried to shell out a $39 billion premium just to keep T-Mo out of Sprint's reach, citing costs to cover its tracks. I'm no economist, and have no way to figure if AT&T would actually be saving money by paying $39 billion for T-Mo instead of $3.8 billion to build it's network. But it seems a bit shady, no? AT&T vehemently denies that any new or suspect information was released with the leak. "There is no real news here," said AT&T spokeswoman Margaret Boles in a statement. "The confidential information in the latest letter is fully consistent with AT&T's prior filings. It demonstrates the significance of our commitment to build out 4G LTE mobile broadband to 97% of the population following our merger with T-Mobile. Without this merger, AT&T could not make this expanded commitment. This merger will unleash billions of dollars in badly needed investment, creating many thousands of well-paying jobs that are vitally needed given our weakened economy." There's really no way to know for sure what we should believe here. The only thing we can do is hope that this leak puts a little extra pressure on the FCC and DoJ to really carefully consider the deal that's been placed before them. T-Mobile is a mobile telephone operator headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile has 101 million subscribers making it the worlds sixth largest mobile...
  |
| Microsoft Patents Flat-Slider Phone Form Factor, Multi-Touch Gaming Mice Posted: 12 Aug 2011 04:26 PM PDT  We’ve seen a lot of interesting patents from Apple over the last few days, but Microsoft loves to patent things too — and they’ve just been granted a nice little pack of designs for mobile phones in a special slider format, and some Kinect and mouse tech to boot. They’re not patenting a plain slider, of course. They’re patenting a few specific designs of sliding mechanism by which, once you finish the sliding action, the keyboard and the screen are “positioned in a substantially similar plane.” That is to say, mostly flush. Check it out:
The advantage is, potentially, a more comfortable typing experience. Many complained about having to type around the G1′s “chin,” and other phones with sunken keyboards have similar problems. My issue with a design like this is that the additional hinges and such might end up increasing the weight and decreasing the sturdiness of the phone. The second design does look more interesting, though, lowering the display rather than raising the keyboard. That could actually work. What I’d like to see is some patents on a slider keyboard with keys that are actually fun to type on. Or maybe a slide-out keyboard for a tablet that doesn’t increase the weight the thing by 500%. Microsoft was also granted a patent that clearly relates to the Kinect — it’s about determining the potential space for gestures and tracking user movement within a sort of cone. I wouldn’t say this is particularly exciting, but if you’re interested in the Kinect and Microsoft’s implementation thereof, it could make for some fun reading this weekend. More up my alley, Microsoft has patented a method of interacting with games via multi-touch mice. I’m pretty surprised this patent flew, since games are just a form of software, and there must be hundreds of patents in play regarding the interaction of software and multi-touch surfaces. I mainly liked looking over the patent because they use illustrations that hearken back to the days of yore, when multi-touch mice were a novel proposition. [via WMPoweruser]
  |
| Are We Ready For A True Cloud Phone? Posted: 12 Aug 2011 03:06 PM PDT  As we approach the fall, all the rumors of the Apple empire descend upon us. And this year may be the craziest yet because for the first time since the iPhone’s inception, Apple did not release new hardware in the summer. And there are still whispers of an iPad revamp as well. iOS 5 is coming. iCloud is coming. And then there are the iPods which are traditionally updated in the fall timeframe each year. Things are already getting crazy enough that potential Apple announcement dates are topping Techmeme one minute, and then stories debunking those dates are the top story in tech the next minute. This will only get worse. But there’s a reason people write up these rumors. Because people read these rumors. And the reason they do that is because sometimes those rumors are correct. And more often than that, they’re at least somewhat correct. That hope keeps peoples’ imaginations running wild. Now it’s time for me to indulge that. One rumor that caught my eye this week was the talk of Apple looking into releasing an “iCloud Phone” alongside a new iPhone 5 this fall. This actually isn’t a new rumor so much as it’s a repurposed one. If you’ve heard talk about the “iPhone 4S”, this is the same potential device. It’s the “cheap iPhone” that TechCrunch and others have written about in the past. Given the smoke out there, it would seem that there’s something to this rumor. Even Apple’s executives have hinted at the possibility. But the iCloud angle is a particularly interesting one. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely accurate necessarily, just interesting. First reported by Apple ‘N’ Apps, Trevor Sheridan writes:
He continues:
He cites three independent sources on the information, and notes that a modified iPhone 4 design is likely to be used for such a device. Reducing the internal storage in the iPhone is certainly one way Apple could reduce the overall cost of the device. Plus, Apple has spent the past year and a half perfecting the manufacturing of the iPhone 4, so you can be sure costs in that regard have come down. On the face of it, this makes some sense. But the larger question remains if the world is ready for a cloud-based smartphone? And there’s a side question: what if this cloud phone is a data-only device? To the first question, with Apple rolling out iCloud this fall, the timing could be right. Apple hasn’t turned on things like music streaming from the cloud yet, but they easily could. They recently did this with an Apple TV update for television shows. If you have an always-connected device, this concept could work. Storage would be needed for apps and perhaps a little for offline usage, but overall, maybe Apple could get away with a device with just a few gigabytes or so of onboard storage. The second question is different. After we reported on Apple’s work on a cheaper iPhone, a few people reached out wondering if the iPod touch could simply morph into this product? In other words, Apple could upgrade the iPod touch with an iPhone 4 body, including the 3G radio. If that’s Apple’s thinking for this product, it may be the perfect opportunity to create a phone that doesn’t offer traditional phone service. As in, it would be data-only. Now, the carriers probably would have a hard time with this concept. But if Apple sold it as more of an iPod touch with 3G capabilities, they may bite. The carriers are currently making no money off of the iPod touch, which is a hugely popular product. It remains WiFi-only. If they offered a $29-a-month data plan, or pay-as-you-go, it could be a really compelling new source of revenue. And to consumers, Apple could tout it as more of a “lite” phone. It can do everything the iPhone can, except make phone calls. And really, thanks to apps like Skype, FaceTime, etc, it can do that too — maybe they just don’t play that up as much at first. Without full $60 or $70-a-month plans for cellular minutes and data, the carriers probably wouldn’t subsidize the cost of such a device down to $0. But they might be able to get close if Apple was able to make the device cheaply enough. The low-end iPod touch is currently $229. But then again, contracts are one more headache for consumers, so maybe Apple would be more in favor of selling the device cheaply without a contract, and allowing consumers to pay for 3G service on the go, like they do with the 3G iPads. The concept of a data-only phone has been around for a while. In November of 2009, we reported that Google was looking into possibly offering their own Android devices which would be data-only. This didn’t happen, obviously. Instead, Google not only fully hopped into bed with the carriers for their Nexus devices, they got really close for maximum snuggling and abandoned their broader Android dreams. Whether or not Apple takes this path this year, it’s pretty clear that this is the future. Eventually, carriers will exist as data dealers. All information, including voice calls will happen over this pipe. Cellular phone service will just be an optional add-on if you’re in an area with a bad data connection. Apple could kick-start this movement in the coming months. Or they might not. But someone will. [image: flickr/jesse kruger] Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...
  |
| Mystery Android Vulnerability Not Detailed By Prudent Hackers Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:30 PM PDT  Riley Hassell and Shane Macaulay were all set to go on stage at Black Hat and describe a few methods of hacking Android devices. But they never appeared: at the last minute, they decided not to reveal the vulnerabilities they had discovered. Why? “To prevent an unacceptable window of risk to consumers worldwide and to guarantee credit where it was due.” How very white hat! Yes indeed, Hassell and Macaulay were concerned that going public with these vulnerabilities might have resulted not in a scholarly discussion and plugging of the security hole, but a feast of hackery as millions of handsets succumbed to unpatched exploits. They also learned just before going on stage that their discovery may have replicated some earlier findings, and they wanted to make sure they were making the proper acknowledgements. So they no-showed. So what’s the vulnerability? They aren’t saying just yet. And according to Google, “The identified bugs are not present in Android.” Very illuminating! We’ll see about that, I’m sure. So many undiscriminating hackers and hacks are in the news these days that I felt it only right to call attention to a couple guys doing things right. With luck this security hole (which doesn’t exist) will be patched and we’ll all be a little safer next week.
  |
| HTC’s 1st NFC Phone HTC Stunning is Actually Incredible S Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:07 PM PDT  Earlier this week, smartphone maker HTC revealed its first NFC-based device, reportedly called the “HTC Stunning.” The phone is being released in China and will include support for mobile payments through a partnership with China UnionPay, a Chinese bankcard network. What we didn’t know, however, was what kind of phone the Stunning is. Now we do: it’s just the HTC Incredible S with a NFC chip. Also, it’s not called the “HTC Stunning.” That was a slight mistranslation from the Chinese for “Incredible.” The strategic partnership between HTC and UnionPay will include technical R&D, mobile payment services promotion and future growth opportunities, HTC tells us. Users who purchase this device will be able to pay their China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom bills and their utility bills, check their available credit, earn loyalty points and make reservations at hotels, purchase movie tickets and tickets to other events. UnionPay’s partner banks will also offer mobile banking and payment services to the phone’s users, which they can sign up for online. In addition, thanks the phone’s NFC chip (near field communication), the Chinese version of the Incredible S will allow for mobile payments at the point-of-sale. According to Fred Liu, the General Manager of HTC Research, Development and Operations, HTC is convinced that mobile payments will become one of the “essential functions” a smartphone offers. He believes that through the strategic partnership with China UnionPay, an improved mobile payment system can be established and the popularity of smartphone mobile payments can be boosted. HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Mobile operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in...
  |
| TSMC Beginning Production Of Apple’s New A6 Processor Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:02 PM PDT  We reported a few weeks ago that Apple was potentially looking at TSMC (otherwise known as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) to start work on their next-generation A6 processor. Apple seems to have made up their mind in the interim, as the partnership was confirmed on Friday by the Chinese Economic News Service. TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, has reportedly already begun trial production run of the new chip. The A6′s design hasn’t been finalized yet, but the company aims to have the final product done by Q1 2012, in time for its big public unveiling a few months afterwards. With the A6 expected to power Apple’s next-generation iPads and iPhones, TSMC’s production timeline means there won’t be any iPad 3s sitting under anyone’s Christmas tree this year. That timing also means the chip’s much-awaited specifications won’t be set in stone for quite a while. The A6 is expected to retain its dual-core architecture, but the report leaves just enough room for ardent semiconductor fans to speculate like crazy. There are already rumors, for example, that the A6 will be Apple’s first quad-core processor. Quad-core chipsets have already been announced by Qualcomm and NVIDIA, and considering those companies have a strong working relationship with TSMC, it’s possible that some quad-core production expertise could find its way into the A6.
  |
| W3i Launches New Service For iOS Game Developers Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:32 AM PDT  Monetization and distribution network for app developers, W3i, is today announcing a program specifically for iOS Game Developers. The new service, now in beta, is simply being called “Games Platform,” the company says. And its goal will be to solve the challenges facing game developers such as server set-up, maintenance, security, storefronts and analytics. The idea for the service was sparked by a number of interviews with mobile game developers, conducted by W3i over recent weeks. The most common headaches, especially for small-time or hobbyist developers, was dealing with the setup of the infrastructure needed to support their applications, the company found. Most developers would rather focus on actually developing their game – not server set up and maintenance. In addition, the new service will also help freemium developers create and maintain a virtual goods storefront which is easily re-usable across multiple games. Plus, the included analytics service will detail the breakdown of revenue by item within this storefront, which is a feature several competing analytics services don’t currently offer. W3i is now inviting interested developers to sign up for the beta service and give feedback. In return for testing the service, those developers will receive access at no charge. There will be a limited number of spots available during the beta period. No official public launch date or pricing information has been announced at this time. You can learn more about the new program here. W3i increases revenue, distribution, and engagement for consumer desktop applications, browser add-ons and mobile applications. On the desktop app side, app publishers get paid for recommending relevant applications...
  |
| Samsung To Finally Debut The Galaxy S II In The U.S On August 29th Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:19 AM PDT  It’s coming! It’s finally, finally coming! After nearly four months of traveling around just about everywhere but the US, the Galaxy S II is finally set to make its stateside debut. Samsung will be holding a press event on August 29th to spill all the details. Just last month, Samsung’s President of Mobile Shin Jong-Kyun predicted that the US S II would launch sometime in August. As long as they’ve got things prepped to hit the shelves somewhat shortly after the press conference, it looks like he won’t be too far off. If the rumor mill’s whispers from waaaaay back in May are still holding true, the S II will likely launch as the Galaxy S 2 Attain (on AT&T), S 2 Function (on Verizon), and S 2 Within (on Sprint). Need a refresher on what’s inside? It may vary a bit from carrier to carrier, but here are The Galaxy S II Specs:
Samsung is one of the largest super-multinational companies in the world. It’s possibly best known for it’s subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics company in the world.
  |
| The Battle Continues: Samsung To Appeal Apple’s European Injunction Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:11 AM PDT  As expected, Samsung has decided to fight back against Apple's preliminary injunction to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the European Union (excluding the Netherlands). On August 25, the rumble continues, as Samsung will go to court in Dusseldorf, Germany to appeal the court's decision, reports the Wall Street Journal. It's been a long and bloody fight so far, with both sides losing quite a bit of ground. In Samsung's case, the European injunction is by far the greatest setback. But the GalTab has also been put on hold in Australia, with decisions pending here in the U.S. That's a pretty big hunk of the global market to lose, and if these preliminary import bans become permanent ones, it could change the tablet game considerably. The GalTab is widely regarded as the strongest competitor to the iPad, and Apple's widespread control of the tablet market is certainly threatened by this new Samsung slate. But what's worse is that Apple's reputation is also at stake. While there are innumerable complexities to consider going into these patent brawls, the majority of the general public doesn't really have access to the nitty gritty details of the court proceedings (details on the trade-dress violations, the in's and out's of this extremely complex legal process across multiple court systems, etc.). I whole-heartedly believe that Apple has every right to defend its trade dress, and I also believe that some of Samsung's new products (the GalTab 10.1 and Galaxy S II smartphone, included) very closely resemble the look and feel that Apple has spent so much time establishing. The appearance of Apple products is just as important as what they do, and Apple knows this. At the same time, Apple tends to overreach. Once the complaints start moving into the software arena, things get really blurry. Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7 all share quite a few different features, yet the patents related to software are so general and broad that it hardly seems fair. Every time Apple pushes hard against Android, whether it be with Samsung's smartphones or HTC's, Apple ends up looking entitled and desperate to premptively squash competition. In any case, we're the ones with the most to lose. Apple and Samsung will both survive this fight, albeit with a few bumps and bruises. But end-users are getting screwed out of fun new toys, and that's what hurts the most. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...
  |
| Google Videos Brings Movie Rentals to Android Phones Posted: 12 Aug 2011 06:42 AM PDT  Google’s Videos app, the official video player for Android Market movie rentals, has been updated to work on Android smartphones. Previously, the app was only supported on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), the Android tablet operating system. The latest update is not compatible with all Android phones, however, only those running the two latest versions of Android for smartphones: Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Once the app is installed on your Android phone, you will have access to both your own rentals from the Android Market as well as any personal videos stored on your phone. In my case, as I don’t currently have any rentals on my device, the “My Rentals” section included a list of “Top Rentals” instead. It appears that this app is designed to work with the updated version of the Android Market. When you’re in Google Videos, a tap on the small Market icon on the top right on the main screen automatically opens up the Movies section within the full Android Market app, assuming you have the newest version. This version has not made it to all Android phones as of yet, we hear. (For what it’s worth, I got the update via a standalone APK via the XDA Developers forum sometime ago. Another reason why I love Android!). If you don’t have the updated Market app yet, and you don’t want to dig around for a hacked APK file, you can just rent videos from the online version of the Android Market instead. As it did on tablets, the updated smartphone app lets you stream movies over Wi-Fi or “pin” them, which allows you download the movie to your handset for offline viewing. Movie rentals are good for 30 days, but once you start playing the rental, you only have 24 hours to finish it.
  |
| Windows Phone VP Debunks Mango’s Sept. 1 Release, We’re Still Not Convinced Posted: 12 Aug 2011 06:20 AM PDT  If you’re keeping up with Windows Phone Mango (which you totally should be because it looks pretty awesome), you’ll remember that we reported on a possible September 1 release for the update. Trusted, yet unnamed, Pocket-Lint sources had confirmed the rumor. Well, here’s the thing. We were totally right. We’re just not sure which part we were right about yet — that its a rumor, or that we’ll see Mango on September 1. Microsoft VP of Windows Phone Joe Belfiore sent out a tweet debunking the September 1 claims. “#mango Sept 1? Just a rumor,” he tweeted. We want to believe you, Joe. Really we do. But Pocket-Lint tends to be pretty solid with their rumors and the timing couldn’t be more perfect, with IFA the next day. IFA is the largest gadget show in Europe, and Windows Phone also happens to be incredibly popular in Europe. Connecting the dots? Companies often walk an awkward line between teasing out secrets and keeping them closely guarded. They want us to know that something totally amazing is going to go down, but they don’t want us to know the where, when, or what of the situation. In this case, it would be pretty shocking if Microsoft didn’t use IFA to show off its latest and greatest OS. But it’s pretty understandable that Belfiore wants to get the cat back in the bag, at least for now. Company: MICROSOFT Website: http://www.microsoft.com Launch Date: 4/4/1974 IPO: 13/3/1986, NASDAQ:MSFT Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of...
  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch » Mobile To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
