Microsoft has a relatively long history with mobile operating systems, stretching back to the mid-1990s and Windows CE.
Aug 052011
Posted on Windows 7 News & Tips
I’m sure many of our readers here own iPhones, and just because they’re built by Apple doesn’t mean we’re going to hold any grudges against you. But maybe from time to time you feel that there’s something missing from your iPhone? As you fly through the crisp and clean iOS interface, maybe you’re missing something familiar. Could it be that wonderful Windows logo?
Chances are it probably isn’t but maybe you just want to annoy Steve Jobs or do something new with your iPhone. Well I’ve got the solution for you, why not install Windows 7 on it?
Now I’m afraid this isn’t just a simple little app that you can download from the app store ( I can’t ever see Apple approving an app like that for it’s store) but it’s not too complicated to get Windows 7 running on your iPhone.
What you will need however is a jailbroken iPhone. Then there’s a free app on the Cydia app store called “iWindows” from the BigBoss repo. (So I guess you could say it is as simple as installing an app, it’s just not an official app) Then once you’ve installed it you’ll be presented with a familiar looking Windows 7 interface on your iPhone, as well as a “chrome” like web browser.
Now obviously this isn’t the full blown Windows 7 experience, it’s more an emulation of the real thing, probably more for entertainment purposes than anything else.
The built in web browser does work, but it’s nothing like the actual safari web browser than comes with the iPhone. Also due to the screen resolution of the iPhone you can get some rather odd looking pages and not everything will render very well.
Overall it’s more of a toy for you to show off to your friend, but if you’ve already got a jailbroken iPhone why not give it a shot? It’ll only take a minute or two to install.
You can read more about it at Redmond Pie – they’ll also tell you more about jailbreaking.
Get Windows 7 On Your iPhone is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips – Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.
Posted on Windows 7 News & Tips
How Much is Windows Phone 7 Worth? Microsoft released the mobile phone last November, and it didn’t expect it to change the world…and it hasn’t. Since its release Apple’s iPhone has sold over $13 billion worth of iPhones in the last quarter alone. So even Steve Ballmer acknowledged that their mobile phone entry would hardly raise any eyebrows in the area of technical innovation or sales.
600 Million
The latest estimates, and I mean estimates, are that the value of the Windows Phone 7 market for Microsoft is worth around 600 Million. This number comes from looking at one division in Microsoft, the Entertainment and Devices Division, which is worth around $8.716 billion. Then you subtract from that $8.103 billion of Xbox revenue. The remainder is everything else and that adds up to $613 million. These are estimates because Microsoft has not release actual sales figures about how their Windows Phone 7 has done.
The Nokia Element
While Microsoft is trying to get a handle on the market, one step in that direction came when it teamed up with Nokia as the OEM for the Windows Phone 7 market. Microsoft, in order to sweeten the deal, will let Nokia make adjustments to the mobile phone OS in order to enhance the experience for the consumer. Right now, it appears that the first Windows Phone 7 from Nokia may be similar to the N9 flagship handset.
The Update Problem
While Microsoft has made efforts to improve it’s phone system, it can’t have a repeat of the bricking debacle that occurred earlier this year. This was the update that occurred in May that left some users unable to work their phone. Microsoft finally fixed the problem, but it couldn’t undo the negative publicity that came from it. Indeed, even offering a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 didn’t change the market. People are very finicky about this, and apparently you only get one shot at success.
For Microsoft’s sake, the Nokia move had better work.
How Much is Windows Phone 7 Worth to Microsoft? is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips – Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.
Jul 312011
Posted on Windows 7 News & Tips
Earlier this week, Microsoft officially RTM’d Mango (Check out Mike Halsey’s post) and is currently shipping the OS to manufacturers and carriers for testing purposes. It’s widely felt that Windows Phone Mango is set to drop sometime in September, but Windows Phone is just an OS, the other half of the equation is the actual handsets that the OS runs on. We’ve heard and seen leaks and rumors that manufactures are gearing up for a big fall release of devices for the new platform, but a report by DigiTimes is citing sources that a number of Windows Phone device manufacturers are preparing for a September launch to likely go head-to-head with Apple’s rumored iPhone 5.
So far, we have seen actual devices from Samsung, HTC, Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu-Toshiba. And we have seen renderings from LG for a device to drop sometime in 2011. This is likely to be the lineup to launch against the very popular rumored next-iPhone, with insiders noting that manufacturers are preparing “a number of Mango phones, powered by Qualcomm 1.5GHz single-core CPUs with display sizes ranging from 3.8- to 4.7-inch.”
Then there’s Nokia, the proposed savior of the OS. And for that matter, Windows Phone is considered to be the savior of Nokia. After months of shedding mobile market share, Nokia hopes to tie its future to Microsoft and its emerging product. Nokia might be dwindling down in the mobile market, but their mind share in other countries is still very strong. Microsoft hopes to capitalize on this presence by combining the Nokia hardware with the Windows Phone OS. Nokia has now committed to releasing a device in 2011, “at a time when fellow vendors have already heated up the market for Mango phones.”
The latest report by Nielsen shows that Microsoft commands a 9% piece of the smartphone market. This includes both Windows Mobile and the Windows Phone OS and based on the speed at which old Windows Mobile has been ceding market share, the numbers are likely an indicator that Windows Phone is slowly growing and starting to eat up some of those previous users.
So, it’s an exciting time to be following the mobile market and with heavy hitters like Microsoft and Apple set to duel in the Fall, it should be something to watch. We know that hoards of Apple users will be lining up to hand over their cash to get a new iPhone because, well, that’s what they do, but will the rest of the world look to a new and exciting smartphone platform for their next device. We’ll have to wait and see.
I’m curious. I use a Windows Phone with the current Mango beta and love it. If you are not a Windows Phone user, let me know in the comments what’s keeping you from trying Microsoft’s mobile reboot. Is it a dislike of the Metro UI, a feature that’s lacking, stuck in a current contract, or just don’t trust Microsoft when it comes to mobile. I’d love to hear your thought’s on Windows Phone and what may be keeping you away.
Microsoft and Manufacturers Set to Do Battle In September with iPhone 5 is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips – Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.
If you haven’t seen or tried Bing Vision, it’s pretty cool stuff. Even though iPhone users have had the privilege for more than six months now, Windows Phone Mango users (in some regions) will soon too be able to search book, CD and DVDs by just scanning its cover.
In a presentation about computer vision, Rick Szeliski from Microsoft Research’s Interactive Visual Media group talks a lot about the advancements in computer vision technologies MSR has made in the last decade including but not limited to Kinect. One other recent project of note was called “Lincoln”, by Larry Zitnick, which formed the basis for Bing Vision.
Since Rick tries his best to generalize the algorithms involved, I’ve embedded a clipping of the video above if anyone’s curious about the technology behind it all. Apparently it involves “kd-trees”, not magic.
One other interesting tidbit Rick mentions during the presentation is the fact that whilst recognizing people en mass is hard, it’s already viable for smaller groups like families. The fact that he uses the example of logging in a PC in light of the rumors that Windows 8 will support such a feature is at least note-worthy evidence of the feature’s practicality.
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