KIN

T-Mobile Killing Off Microsoft’s Danger Servers Ahead of Android-based Sidekicks

Ina Fried in Mobile on February 28, 2011 at 9:00 pm PT

After May 31, owners of the once-hip smartphones will find themselves proud owners of a cloud-based device without benefit of said cloud. T-Mobile said it will offer tools to allow users to export all of their data and will make various offers to transition Sidekick owners to a new device. The closure marks an unceremonious end to one of the first smartphones and also means the end to the last product on the market from Danger, a company that Microsoft spent $500 million to acquire back in 2008.

Windows Phone 7 Update Is No iPhone Killer

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 1, 2010 at 2:09 pm PT

Since it is bubble-bursting Wednesday here at Mobilized, let me assure you that the forthcoming update to Windows Phone 7 is neither “massive” nor an iPhone killer, despite some reports to the contrary. On the other hand, the software update, which could come as early as January, will add two things that are very important for Microsoft. First and foremost, the update will pave the way for Windows Phone 7 devices that work on Sprint and Verizon’s networks. It will also add copy and paste, an omission for which Microsoft has received no shortage of grief.

Windows Phone 7 Meets His Kin.

Nitrozac and Snaggy in News on October 13, 2010 at 2:58 pm PT

Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.)

Yahoo CEO's "Over" Pay Puts Spotlight on Performance

Kara Swisher in News on October 12, 2010 at 5:12 am PT

Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz has been under pressure of late, due to everything from executive turmoil to flat revenue to a flaccid stock price. And, as of yesterday, you can add excessive pay to the pile.

Microsoft Kin: First. Last. Always.

John Paczkowski in News on September 17, 2010 at 6:10 am PT

Microsoft’s Kin social media phone was the first and last of its kind–as far as Redmond is concerned, anyway.

Microsoft Has No Plans To Make Another Smartphone, Exec Says

Jeanette Borzo, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on September 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm PT

Microsoft Corp. is going to stick to core businesses and has no plans to develop a new smartphone device, such as its ill-starred Kin handsets, the chief financial officer of Microsoft’s mobile-communication business said Thursday. “We are in the software business and that is where our business will be focused,” Tivanka Ellawala told investors at a conference in San Francisco.

Another Former Microsoft Exec to Yahoo, Joining Other Ex-Softies

Kara Swisher in News on September 9, 2010 at 4:44 pm PT

Is it just BoomTown, or is it odd that the new leaders of Yahoo are suddenly all the old Microsoft guys whom once high-flying Yahoo execs bested soundly back in the day? I love digital irony! In any case, Yahoo just hired yet another former Microsoft exec–this time, John Matheny, whose last job at the software giant was as the GM of its Windows Phone App Studio. He is now SVP of Yahoo’s communications products and communities unit.

LG Goes With Nvidia Chip in New Smartphones

Roger Cheng, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on August 19, 2010 at 8:00 am PT

LG Electronics on Thursday confirmed that it would be using a dual-core processor manufacturered by Nvidia for its line of Optimus smartphones later this year. That’s a coup for Nvidia, which has been pushing to enter the smartphone market with its Tegra chip and expand beyond its traditional business of providing graphics chips for PCs.