AllThingsD » Windows Phone

Microsoft's Anti-Google Campaign Gets a Boost, From Google

Peter Kafka — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:37:05 +0000

For the last few months, Microsoft has been running a pointed PR and ad campaign against Google, where it accuses the search giant of screwing over consumers.

You gotta hand it to Microsoft: Yesterday they got Google to help promote their message for them.

On Wednesday afternoon, shortly after Google finished a marathon presentation at its I/O developer conference, reports surfaced that Google’s YouTube had sent Microsoft a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Redmond shut down a YouTube app it had built for its Windows Phone.

The issue, in a nutshell, is that the Microsoft app, built on YouTube’s public data feed, violates the video site’s terms of service, primarily because it strips out YouTube’s ads. Windows Phone users can still watch YouTube videos via their Web browser, but the experience isn’t as slick as a dedicated app.

So: Bad for Windows Phone users! But while it’s tempting to turn this into a he said/he said, there’s little to hash out, fact-wise.

There’s no dispute that Microsoft’s Windows app violates Google’s terms. And Microsoft, which has been complaining about access to YouTube for years, had to know exactly what it was doing. It also knows how to play nicely with YouTube, as it did with an Xbox app the two companies built together and launched last year.

The only question is why Microsoft went ahead and built the app anyway. Here we have to do some guessing, as both YouTube and Microsoft executives declined to comment.

So, okay, I’ll guess: Microsoft launched the YouTube app last week precisely because it hoped YouTube would make a fuss.

I’m also guessing that Microsoft is very happy that The Verge and Wired were able to “obtain” copies of the C&D letter.

I’ll keep guessing: I think Microsoft is ecstatic about the fact that Google sent the letter yesterday, on the same day it wanted all eyes on its new products and services.

And the fact that Larry Page closed the Google event by insisting that he’s got nothing but love for everyone, everywhere — even if they’re building rival technologies?

My guess is they have to be over the moon about that.

Nokia's Latest, the Aluminum-Clad Lumia 925, Heads for T-Mobile USA and Vodafone

Ina Fried — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:30:23 +0000

At a press event in London on Tuesday, Nokia is showing off the Lumia 925, a new variant of its flagship Windows Phone.

The aluminum-clad phone is similar to the Lumia 920 that has been sold for months at AT&T, as well as the just-introduced Lumia 928 for Verizon. The new phone, being introduced globally and headed here to T-Mobile, features a few new twists.

In addition to its different outer shell, the 925 features an improved camera with a sixth lens (other recent high-end Lumia models have five). The added lens helps better capture natural light.

On the software side, the company is offering what it calls Nokia Smart Camera — a feature that captures 10 images at once, offering the ability to choose the best shot or blend the results into an action shot or one with motion focus. Nokia said the software-based camera features would also be made available for all of Nokia’s other Windows Phone 8 products sometime in the third quarter.

The Lumia 925 is due to go on sale in Europe in June, with T-Mobile’s U.S. launch likely to be the following week. It is priced at 469 euros ($608), though Nokia U.S. head Matt Rothschild said he expected T-Mobile’s upfront price to be under $100.

“We expect really aggressive pricing,” Rothschild said.

With the launch of this phone, the recent announcement of the Lumia 928 at Verizon, as well as the entry-level Lumia 521, also headed for T-Mobile, Rothschild said that Nokia’s U.S. operation has plenty to keep it busy in the months ahead.

Nokia has struggled to make the same kind of inroads in the U.S. market that it has seen in some other places, but Rothschild said he is pleased with where the company finds itself.

“From where we were … basically starting from scratch with Lumia and Windows Phone, I couldn’t be happier with our progress,” Rothschild said.

Nokia Brings Updated Windows Phone, the $99 Lumia 928, to Verizon

Ina Fried — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:52:11 +0000

Nokia on Friday announced its long-rumored Lumia 928, a high-end Windows Phone model for Verizon.

The phone will go on sale May 16 for $99 (after a $50 rebate).

It’s a new take on the Lumia 920 that debuted last year. Though generally similar, it features a different screen technology, improved flash and audio recording, and is a bit thinner than the model that has long been on sale at AT&T.

The timing is a bit odd, coming on a Friday and ahead of an event Nokia has next week to talk about what’s next for the Lumia line.

Nokia and Windows Phone as a whole have been slower to bring models to CDMA carriers, focusing much of their time and energy on the more globally used GSM technology at the core of T-Mobile and AT&T’s networks.

Verizon has been selling the Lumia 822, a more midrange model, as well as Windows Phones from Samsung and HTC.

Sprint has said it will offer its first Windows Phone 8 devices this summer.

Meanwhile, two other Nokia models — on sale elsewhere — are just making their way to the U.S. T-Mobile is selling the entry-level Lumia 521 for $150 without subsidies, while AT&T’s new Aio prepaid brand is carrying the Lumia 620.

Verizon Chief: Mobile Industry Needs a Healthy BlackBerry

John Paczkowski — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:42:24 +0000

Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead is rooting for a BlackBerry comeback. In his view, the Android-iOS duopoly that Google and Apple have established is begging for disruption, and BlackBerry is potentially one company to provide it.

“We think that there is an important place for BlackBerry,” Mead told attendees of the Jefferies 2013 Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week. “Three to four operating systems is good for the industry and good for us,” he concluded, noting that Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS is another good candidate.

No disputing that; more diversity in the smartphone market would also benefit consumers. Trouble is, consumers seem pretty happy with the current duopoly. According to recent research from Canaccord Genuity, Apple and Android juggernaut Samsung captured about 100 percent of global smartphone industry profits in the March quarter.

Not that those companies’ domination of the market is unassailable. Mead said Verizon is seeing decent customer interest in BlackBerry’s new handsets and thinks it will only improve with the launch of the QWERTY-keyboarded BlackBerry Q10. “We have a lot of BlackBerry customers on our network,” he said. “There seems to be a hunger for the QWERTY keyboard.”

Nokia Upgrades Asha Line with $99 Phone in Effort to Combat Low-End Android

Ina Fried — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:07:28 +0000

Although its Windows Phone bid gets most of the attention in the U.S., Nokia has another effort to combat Android.

The company’s Asha line has grown up from a feature phone to something of an entry-level smartphone. On Thursday, Nokia added its most powerful model yet, the $99 Asha 501.

While it lacks as sophisticated an app marketplace as Android’s or even Windows Phone’s, it features other things popular in cost-sensitive markets, including low prices, long battery life, and the ability to access the Internet using a browser that minimizes data use.

The new model features a redesigned software interface that offers a traditional icon-based view and something Nokia is calling “Fastlane,” which organizes things by featuring recently used contacts, apps and social networks. The new-look Asha stems from Nokia’s purchase last year of Smarterphone.

Many key apps are already available for the new Asha, with others coming on board later this year. Among the apps not yet ready but on the way is Here, Nokia’s own mapping service. Also not yet there is popular messaging service WhatsApp.

“WhatsApp and other key partners continue to explore new Asha,” Nokia said in a statement.

Nokia is also partnering with operators in key regions to offer free and low-cost data plans for accessing Facebook and other apps.

CEO Stephen Elop introduced the phone at an event in India – -a key market for the new phone and for Nokia as a whole, which has been losing market share globally amid the rise of Android.

Time for Nokia to Switch to Android? CEO Stephen Elop Says It’s Windows Phone or Bust.

John Paczkowski — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:00:39 +0000

It has been well over two years since Nokia leapt from its burning platform into a Microsoft-designed lifeboat that CEO Stephen Elop said would carry it to shore. Yet today the company remains adrift with no sign of landfall in sight. And shareholder patience with its progress is wearing thin.

To wit, the fractious general meeting Nokia held Tuesday, which was reportedly peppered with calls for the company to reconsider its bet on Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. Why, when Samsung has had such success with Google’s Android OS, does Nokia insist on sticking with Windows?

With Android, Samsung is capturing 43 percent of the handset industry’s profits — the other 57 percent going to Apple. Meanwhile, with Windows Phone, Nokia is capturing nothing. Given that vast disparity in performance, isn’t it about time Nokia and its leadership reassess the company’s commitment to Windows Phone and take a good hard look at Android?

As one shareholder bluntly put it, “The executive team is doing its best. But it’s not enough. Are you aware that results are what matter? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Please switch to another road.”

Not an entirely unreasonable suggestion, considering Nokia’s downward trajectory the past few years. But evidently it’s not one CEO Stephen Elop is willing to entertain right now — even after a 60 percent decline in the company’s share price. Really, there’s no easy answer here: Windows Phone might be slow to ramp, but there’s no guarantee that Nokia would do any better with Android, a platform that Samsung has so thoroughly dominated.

“We’ve made a clear decision to focus on Windows Phone with our Lumia product line,” Elop said. “And it is with that that we will compete with competitors like Samsung and Android.”

In other words, for Nokia, Windows Phone is Plan A — and Plan B is that Plan A must succeed.

Windows Phone Boss Terry Myerson on Microsoft's Challenges, Android's Messiness (Video)

Ina Fried — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:00:16 +0000

Windows Phone head Terry Myerson is happy to talk about the limitations of his rivals.

From Microsoft’s way of thinking, the iPhone is too closed, and Android is too open.

Or, as Myerson puts it, Android “is still kind of a mess.” So why then is Windows Phone still struggling to expand beyond the single digits in market share?

Myerson did his best to address that, and more, while in the hot seat at D: Dive Into Mobile. He also foreshadowed more aggressive ads that take direct aim at rivals, as well as the need for Microsoft to better compete on price.

As for whether Microsoft needs its own phone, Myerson didn’t explicitly rule it out, but suggested that — for now, at least — Redmond is happy with the work being done by Nokia, HTC and others.

Here’s the full video of his chat with AllThingsD’s Ina Fried:

[ See post to watch video ]

iOS 7, Breaking the S4 and Teaching Kids to Code — 10 Things You Need to See on AllThingsD This Week

Eric Johnson — Sat, 04 May 2013 18:00:10 +0000

In case you missed anything, here’s a quick weekend roundup of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

Sources say that Apple is pulling engineers from the next version of OS X and assigning them to its mobile OS in order to get a preview ready in time for next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
By 2017, more than half of companies will require their employees to supply their own devices on the job, according to a new Gartner report.
A California court has ruled in Facebook’s favor versus “typosquatters” who benefited from registering domain names with misspellings like “gacebook” and “dacebook.”
Speaking of Facebook, it’s growing — but that growth rate has seen a slow decline over the past year.
As it tries to convince consumers that the iPhone and Android aren’t the only options, Microsoft released a hard-edged, humorous ad for Windows Phone.
Buying a laptop is all about timing; if you can, you might want to wait.
“This is just like another language, just a different set of life skills than if you learned French or Spanish.” That’s Krishna Vedati, CEO of Tynker, a platform aimed at teaching children to code.
Consumer electronics warranty provider SquareTrade says Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 is more breakable than both the S3 and the iPhone 5.
In AllThingsD Must-Reads, Bizo CEO Russell Glass writes, “There is a revolution brewing in the enterprise and it’s starting right at the desk of the chief marketing officer.”
To show off its ability to precisely move and manipulate individual atoms, IBM released the smallest movie ever made: An animated short called “A Boy And His Atom.”

To stay on top of the latest, follow AllThingsD on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our daily email newsletter.

Microsoft, Nokia Target Low End in Effort to Crack Tough U.S. Market

Ina Fried — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:00:53 +0000

For the most part, Windows Phone has found itself targeting the premium segment of the U.S. smartphone market.

That’s especially tough in a country like the U.S., where big phone subsidies mean that one has to compete against free iPhone 4 and Android devices. Even the top-end devices generally sell for under $200 with a contract.

However, with T-Mobile’s recent move away from phone subsidies, Nokia and Microsoft are pouncing on an opportunity to offer a new smartphone at a noticeably lower price.

The Lumia 521, which runs on T-Mobile’s network, sells for around $150 unsubsidized. That’s hundreds less than many other smartphones. It goes on sale at Walmart and Microsoft stores next week, after selling out during a run on HSN.

Speaking at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference earlier this month, Windows Phone boss Terry Myerson noted the difficulty that Microsoft and its partners have had in subsidized markets such as the U.S.

“If every phone is $200, we are the challenger at the same price,” Myerson said. “That’s a playing field that is a little harder.”

T-Mobile’s move away from subsidies could create more room for Microsoft — and for others targeting the low end of the market.

The Lumia 521 is a T-Mobile customized version of a low-end model that Nokia introduced back in February.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that Windows Phone needs to continue to come in less-expensive phones in order to effectively compete against Android.

“There’s definitely an opportunity to push to even lower price points,” he said.

Microsoft is also taking a harder line in its advertising, debuting an ad that goes directly after Android and the iPhone.

Facebook Timeline Makes Its Way to Windows Phone, at Least in Beta

Ina Fried — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:27:14 +0000

Although its iOS and Android apps have been getting most of the attention, Facebook is apparently still friends with Windows Phone.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that there is a test version of updated Facebook software for Windows Phone 8. The beta software adds support for high-res photos, post sharing and the Facebook Timeline.

However, the companies apparently mean it when they say beta.

“Don’t like it when apps crash?” Microsoft said in a blog post. “This probably isn’t the program for you.”

The app isn’t available in the Windows Phone marketplace, but is available via this direct link.

Separately, an app geared toward to making it easier for folks to switch from Android to a Windows Phone has made its way onto the Google Play and Windows Phone stores. Developed by Quixey, Switch to Windows Phone helps ease the move and allows one to see which of their apps are available for Microsoft’s operating system.

BlackBerry Q10 Is Fastest-Selling Ever Smartphone at Selfridges (Updated)

John Paczkowski — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:00:48 +0000

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized Selfridges & Co.’s smartphone selection as limited. That is not the case. Carphone Warehouse maintains a store-within-a-store at Selfridges & Co., offering a full selection of smartphones — though the department store’s website does not reflect that inventory.

Just you wait, BlackBerry is going to sell a ton of its new Qwerty-keyboard-equipped Q10 smartphone.

This according to Thorsten Heins, the struggling smartphone maker’s CEO, and early sales of the device seem to so far support that assertion. Speaking at the Milken Institute conference on Monday, Heins said the company has high hopes for the Q10. “We have very, very good first signs already after the launch in the U.K.,” Heins said. “This is going into the installed base of more than 70 million BlackBerry users, so we have quite some expectations. We expect several tens of million of units.”

Is that a reasonable expectation, or an unreasonable one?

Though it only began shipping in the U.K. a few days ago, the Q10 already seems to be in very high demand. Selfridges & Co., a British department store that had an early exclusive on the Q10, blew through its initial stock within two hours last Friday. And on Monday the store issued a press release declaring the handset its fastest-selling consumer electronics product ever. Said Selfridges exec Julian Slim, “The BlackBerry Q10 has been, without a doubt, the most highly anticipated smartphone we have ever sold and is already our most successful.”

Now, granted, we’re talking about one department store chain with four locations in a single country. Still, Selfridges & Co.’s experience suggests that are plenty of BlackBerry loyalists out there who have been waiting patiently for the company’s next Qwerty phone. And the Q10 has been garnering some great reviews that may push consumers looking for a serious smartphone with a physical keyboard to consider it.

Microsoft Takes Hard Edge Against Android, iPhone in Latest Windows Phone Ad

Ina Fried — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:00:01 +0000

One of Windows Phone’s biggest challenges remains convincing buyers that the iPhone and Android aren’t the only options.

With a new TV ad, Microsoft is trying a little humor to make that point.

The ad depicts a wedding filled with smartphone fanboys and fangirls who break into a fight over whose phone is best. Two staff members look on with their colorful Lumia 920s and wonder if the wedding guests might feel differently if they had tried their phone.

“We have our own fans, of course,” Microsoft’s Michael Stroh said in a blog post. “And while they may be outnumbered (for now), they’re no less proud and routinely urge us to do more to get the word out about Windows Phone … There are choices. iPhone and Android smartphones aren’t the only — or even best — options out there for all smartphone buyers.”

The ad, posted below, debuted during the “Today” show on Monday, and is due for a national TV run.

Nokia Plans May 14 London Event to Talk About Its Next Windows Phones

Ina Fried — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:14:13 +0000

Nokia is planning to hold a May 14 press conference in London to talk about where it is headed with its Lumia line of Windows Phones.

An invitation to journalists on Thursday offered few details.

The words “See What’s Next” are barely visible against the invitation’s blue background, alongside a promise that “The Nokia Lumia story continues.”

Nokia has bet its smartphone future on Windows Phone and the Lumia line. It has won critical praise, but Microsoft’s operating system as a whole has been growing slower than Nokia or Microsoft would like.

The Finnish phone maker chose a busy time to make its announcements as it comes at roughly the same time as both Google’s I/O conference and BlackBerry World.

Google Glass, Workday and "WTF, Firefox OS?" -- 10 Things You Need to See on AllThingsD This Week

Eric Johnson — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 19:00:05 +0000

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

It’s been a long, hectic week for news — so it’s understandable if you’ve missed a couple stories on the technology side of things. Here’s a quick weekend roundup of the news that powered AllThingsD this week:

In an essay in AllThingsD Voices, Jan Chipchase writes that Google Glass is the company’s “unintentional public service announcement on the future of privacy … it threatens surreptitious, unexpected or continuous recording from the perspective of the human-eye/ear view.”
At D: Dive Into Mobile, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum announced that his messaging app is now bigger than Twitter, which officially claims 200 million monthly active users.
Also announced at our mobile conference were Facebook’s updates to its iPhone and iPad apps to incorporate the “Chat Heads” from Facebook Home. As of Wednesday, those changes have started rolling out to users.
In an interview with Arik Hesseldahl, Workday co-CEO and Greylock Partner Aneel Bhusri said, “it’s the most disruptive time in 25 years” for enterprise, and that landing HP as a customer at Workday “gives people more comfort that the cloud is real.”
Peter Zatko, a computer hacking expert better known as Mudge, is leaving his post at DARPA, where he was tasked with helping government agencies fend off cyber attacks. Mudge’s next stop? Google.
If the netbook wasn’t dead already, it will be soon. New data from research house IHS iSuppli say shipments of the mini-computers will fall to zero by 2015.
Maybe you’ve heard of this small company called Microsoft? Windows Phone head Terry Myerson is casting his division as an underdog and going on the offensive against Google: “[there is] clearly mutiny in the Starship Android,” he said.
Facebook would love to put its new Home overlay on Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Apple almost certainly doesn’t want it there. In this interview, Kara Swisher asked Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and mobile head Cory Ondrejka to explain the two companies’ complicated relationship.
If you haven’t heard of Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi yet, you will soon. With 7.19 million handsets sold in 2012, Xiaomi president Bin Lin said the company expects to sell twice as many this year.
And finally, one of readers’ favorite quotes of the week came from AllThingsD’s own Walt Mossberg. He kicked off Dive Into Mobile by asking Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs about Firefox’s mobile operating system: “So … what the f**k?”

To stay on top of the latest, you should follow AllThingsD on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our daily email newsletter.

WhatsApp, Snapchat and the Real "Second Screen" — 10 Things You Missed at Day Two of Dive Into Mobile

Eric Johnson — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:13:50 +0000

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

And that’s a wrap! After Monday’s half-day kickoff to D: Dive Into Mobile — Global Edition, Tuesday saw a full day of great speakers on topics ranging from messaging to activism to driverless cars. In case you missed it, here’s a good place to start:

Starting at the end: “We’re big believers that this [phone] screen is the first screen,” said Bob Bowman, president of Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media, in the conference’s final interview. “Anybody that doesn’t believe that is living on another planet or doesn’t have children. Reality is the second screen.”
“Our goal with Android is to reach everyone,” Google chairman Eric Schmidt said. “We’ll cross one billion Android devices in six to nine months. In a year or two, we’ll hit two billion.” Schmidt also talked about Google’s self-driving cars and the company’s new gadgets.
Intel said it is getting the hang of mobile — which is good, because the company also reported bleak Q1 earnings today, with a 25 percent drop in profit as demand for PCs declines.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said his messaging app is now bigger than Twitter, which officially claims 200 million monthly active users. WhatsApp has eight billion inbound and 12 billion outbound messages per day, Koum said.
Meanwhile, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said his photo- and video-messaging app has grown by three times in four months, and that users are now sharing 150 million ephemeral photos per month, versus 40 million permanent pictures per month on Instagram.
A mobile app called Better launched onstage, promising to provide 24/7 concierge medical care to paying users. Better’s offerings include the ability to directly contact doctors and nurses, through a partnership with the Mayo Clinic.
Twitter’s VP of Product Michael Sippey said the site is heavily investing in and focusing on improvements to Twitter’s once-poor search and discovery experience.
Microsoft’s Terry Myerson said Windows Phone is a global competitor, because it has had stronger momentum in markets where carriers do not subsidize phones. He also aimed more than a few potshots at the likes of Android and Facebook.
Nonprofit activism organization DoSomething’s Nancy Lublin announced that the company had reached one million teens via weekly text messages, with a 97 percent open rate.
And lastly — mobile security provider Lookout demonstrated how phones can be hacked via phishing emails with phony app-download links, urging users to be wary of unfamiliar download sources.

These 10 blurbs only scratch the surface, though. For more, please check out our full list of stories from D: Dive Into Mobile.

Windows Phone Head Myerson: Android "Still Kind of a Mess"

Kara Swisher — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:55:06 +0000

Asa Mathat / AllThingsD.com

In an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference today, the leader of Microsoft’s Windows Phone division, Terry Myerson, said that the software giant’s mobile effort continued to cast it as a “challenger,” but that Google’s Android market was “still kind of a mess.”

Noting that Samsung is the only Android partner making money on the search giant’s platform, he added that there is “clearly mutiny in the Starship Android … as Chrome takes over Android, it’s going to be interesting.”

It was a deft dig by Myerson, whose company still plays the underdog in key mobile markets, which remain dominated by Google and also Apple’s iOS.

“We are in a challenger role,” he said. “Windows Phone is really an incredibly well-funded startup.”

It’s an image that works well, even if you do realize that Windows Phone is attached at the hip to a giant tech behemoth that simply has not kept up over the years as the ways consumers are computing have changed. When asked how much time Microsoft has to develop its business in the key arena, he added: “One of the elements of a startup is not only what you need to achieve, but some sense of urgency.”

You think?

To do that, Myerson noted that Windows Phone had to think more as a global competitor, because it had stronger momentum in markets where carriers were not subsidizing the phones, such as in Mexico, Poland and “even Finland, believe it or not.”

Oh, I believe it, but most focus remains on success in the key U.S. market, where Windows Phone has lagged behind.

Android and Google do better in markets, such as the U.S., where they put “their best innovation, but it sells at a volume of a $200 price point.”

Said Myerson: “If every phone is $200, we are the challenger at the same price; that’s a playing field that is a little harder.”

But Myerson said Microsoft’s Windows Phone efforts also had to differentiate to be successful. “I don’t want to come off too much on price,” he said. “The other part of it is the experience on the device.”

When asked later about whether Microsoft would allow Facebook, the social networking giant with which it has a close relationship, to put its recent Home phone layer on Microsoft’s phone platform, he did not rule it out.

He added, of course, that Google was probably trying to figure out a way to stop Home, which is built on top of Android. “There is probably a whole team [at Google],” said Myerson, devoted to trying to figure out a way to quash it.

When asked later about recent speculation that Microsoft was working on a smart watch as part of its offerings, Myerson declined to comment. But he joked, “You could strap the Surface [tablet] onto your wrist and call it is watch.”

BlackBerry Tops iPhone and Android … In a "Don't Want" Poll

John Paczkowski — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:30:21 +0000

Here’s a novel way of polling consumer sentiment in the smartphone market: Don’t ask people which handset they prefer to use; ask them which one they would never use.

That’s what research house Raymond James did in a recent survey of consumer smartphone purchasing intent. And the results are interesting — if only as a reflection of the platform partisanship that’s so rife within the smartphone space.

The details: As part of its survey,* Raymond James asked respondents what features would make them more likely to buy a new iPhone or an Android or BlackBerry device: Bigger screen? Lower price? Better functionality? But it also offered them the option of saying they would never use a particular device. And plenty of respondents availed themselves of it.

Of the consumers Raymond James surveyed, 20 percent said they would never buy an iPhone, 31 percent said they’d never buy an Android phone, and 71 percent said they’d never purchase a BlackBerry.

Not a particularly surprising breakdown, given the Google-Apple duopoly currently dominating the smartphone market. Android and iPhone captured more than 90 percent of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter according to IDC. So the sentiments reflected in this survey shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone.

Still, it’s interesting to see purchasing sentiment gauged in terms of what smartphones consumers are adamantly opposed to using. If the smartphone market is truly so factionalized that some consumers say that nothing could convince them to switch away from their preferred device, then upstart platforms like Windows Phone and the like have a steep uphill climb, indeed.

* Survey was conducted between March 14 – March 26. It polled over 250 consumers, so big grain of salt.

LucasArts Departs, Windows Phone Grows, and Why You Can't Resell Your MP3s: The AllThingsD Week in Review 3/31/13 -- 4/06/13

Eric Johnson — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 19:00:48 +0000

For our readers who are not inclined to constantly hit the refresh button, here’s a quick look back at the Top 10 stories that drove AllThingsD this week:

For more of the week in review, you should follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Windows Phone Gaining a Toehold in Some Markets

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:25:33 +0000

Microsoft’s new Windows Phone operating system has a lot of ground to make up if it’s ever to become a viable third mobile platform. But with some slick new handsets reaching the market, it appears to be making some noticeable gains in a number of countries.

New market share data from Kantar Worldpanel show Windows Phone seeing significant increases in adoption in a number of major markets for the three month period ending February 2013. Year over year, Windows Phone’s share of the U.S. smartphone market rose to 4.1 percent from 2.7 percent; in Great Britain, it rose to 6.7 percent from 3 percent; in Australia, it rose to 3.4 percent from 1.7 percent; and, in Italy, it posted a gain of 7.7 percentage points, rising to 13.1 percent from 5.4 percent.

Not tremendous growth by any means, but given the market and the chokehold that incumbents like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS have on it, it’s certainly worth noting.

Also worth noting: Windows Phone’s growth seems to be coming at the expense of BlackBerry and Nokia’s Symbian OS, which both lost significant market share during the period. In Great Britain, for example, BlackBerry’s share fell to 5.1 percent from 16.8 percent, an 11.7 percentage point decline (and that’s in one of BlackBerry’s strongest markets). In the United States, it fell to 0.7 percent from 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, Symbian’s share fell to 0.6 percent from 2.4 percent in Great Britain; to 0.1 percent from 0.5 in the United States; and to 3.7 percent from 17.6 percent in Italy — a staggering 13.9 percentage point drop.

Nokia: A Microsoft Surface Phone Could Screw Us

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:45:03 +0000

Jonas Daehnert

No one knows for sure yet if Microsoft is developing its own Windows 8 smartphone, but some of the company’s handset manufacturers clearly fear that it might. One in particular: Nokia.

Nokia bet the farm on Windows Phone back in 2011, committing to a broad partnership under which Microsoft’s mobile OS would be its primary smartphone strategy. Two years later, it continues to struggle toward what has so far been an elusive recovery. So it’s understandable that the Finnish handset maker might worry that Microsoft’s foray into the tablet world with Surface might herald a similar “exploratory” jaunt into the smartphone market. And, according to Nokia’s latest 6-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that is a very real fear.

Among the multitude of Microsoft-related uncertainties listed in the “Risk Factors” portion of Nokia’s 20-F is this one, helpfully flagged by Business Insider:

“Microsoft may make strategic decisions or changes that may be detrimental to us. For example, in addition to the Surface tablet, Microsoft may broaden its strategy to sell other mobile devices under its own brand, including smartphones. This could lead Microsoft to focus more on their own devices and less on mobile devices of other manufacturers that operate on the Windows Phone platform, including Nokia.”

It could indeed. And while Microsoft would surely insist that such a handset is — like Surface — simply a reference design meant to show other manufacturers what’s possible, that device would most certainly be — like Surface — a piece of go-to-market, Microsoft-branded hardware.

Which means it would put Microsoft between Nokia and its smartphone customers. And no good can come of that.

In other words, the real risk factor for Nokia in this situation isn’t losing Microsoft’s attention, it’s being forced to compete against it the way Redmond’s longtime hardware partners now must in the Windows 8 tablet market. Who wants to do that? Certainly not Nokia, which has its hands more than full with the likes of Apple and Samsung, HTC, Motorola and the rest of the Android armada.

How Apple Gets All the Good Apps

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:03:15 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Apple tightly controls its software and hardware, and is fiercely competitive in battling its rivals, especially in the mobile market. And yet, while the company never creates apps for anyone else’s mobile system or device, each of its major mobile-platform foes — Google, Amazon and Microsoft — make many of their apps available for Apple devices. That makes those devices the sort of Switzerlands of the mobile world.

If you buy an iPhone or iPad, you get Apple-written mobile apps and services like Siri, iMessage, iWork, iPhoto and FaceTime, which aren’t available on other phones and tablets. But you can get first-class versions of competitors’ official apps.

While there are no versions of Apple apps for other mobile platforms, its iOS platform draws many apps from rivals.

So, iPhone and iPad users who prefer apps from other big mobile-platform makers don’t have to switch to an Android or Windows Phone or an Amazon tablet. They have access right on their Apple devices to major apps from these competing platforms. But people with non-Apple mobile devices can’t get Apple’s mobile apps and services.

This is obviously a lopsided situation in Apple’s favor. But it stems from the different business models of the big rivals. Google, Microsoft and Amazon are primarily software and services companies, though each makes some mobile hardware (Google through its Motorola subsidiary). But Apple, while famous for making good software, sells that software almost entirely through iconic and expensive hardware, from which it makes the vast majority of its money.

Although Android devices are the most popular, Apple has sold over 400 million iOS devices. So the Apple market is too big to ignore, even for its direct competitors.

Apple’s major mobile-platform rivals — Google, Microsoft and Amazon — all have official versions of their apps for Apple devices.

Apple device owners can run official apps for Google Maps, Google Search, Gmail, Google’s Chrome browser, Google Drive and more. They can get Microsoft-written apps for its Bing search service, its SkyDrive cloud-storage service, its OneNote note-taking service and more. And they can get a host of Amazon’s apps, including several apps for Amazon’s online store and apps for Amazon’s cloud-based video and music steaming services.

Some examples: If you read digital books on your Apple device, you can use either Apple’s iBooks app, an official Kindle app, or the official Google Play Books app, among others. If you like asking your phone questions by voice, you can ask either Apple’s own Siri intelligent assistant, or the voice feature in Google’s search app. You don’t get either of those combinations on other phones because Apple doesn’t share its apps.

Even Samsung, Apple’s major hardware rival, makes a handful of iPhone and iPad apps for the electronics maker’s products, including one that turns an iPhone or iPad into a remote control for Samsung Smart TVs. Yes, that’s right, you can use an iPhone to control a Samsung TV, courtesy of Samsung.

In the case of Google Maps, the version for Apple devices is more modern, and sleeker, than the one for its maker’s own platform.

And these apps from Apple’s rivals keep coming. Google just released an iOS version of Field Trip, a location-based app that highlights points of interest; and Microsoft recently released an iOS version of its Xbox SmartGlass app, which links mobile devices to its game console.

Note that I am only talking about apps that are officially published by Apple’s rivals themselves, not those from other developers that may mimic or provide workarounds for an app from one rival for another’s platform. And I am not referring to services that can be accessed via the browser on mobile devices, only self-contained apps.

So, why do Apple’s rivals help make iPhones and iPads more versatile when Apple doesn’t return the favor?

Google said: “We want to make our products available to as many people as possible. Our goal is to offer the best possible Google experience across multiple devices and platforms.”

Amazon noted it has long had a public policy called “Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere,” that aims to make buying its digital content and physical goods easy on all hardware, not just its own Kindle devices.

And while Microsoft stresses it considers its software to be “first and best” on its Windows phones and Windows 8 tablets, it says: “We provide customers a quality experience across many devices.”

Apple, which years ago did put iTunes and its Safari browser on Windows PCs, had no comment on its policy of restricting its mobile apps and services to its own hardware.

There are some major caveats. If you want to live in a Google or Microsoft world, with a single sign-on to those companies’ services and all of their apps, an Apple device won’t cut it. Certain key apps from Google and Microsoft aren’t available on iOS. For instance, you can only get the official smartphone version of Microsoft Office on a Windows Phone (though there are rumors of an iOS version). Google’s artificial intelligence app Google Now and its payment app Google Wallet are AWOL on Apple devices. And there are many other reasons, including hardware and user interfaces, why smartphone buyers might prefer Android or Windows Phone devices.

Another caveat: Both Microsoft and Amazon make an array of apps for phones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system. But even so there are instances where Apple owners have a slight edge. Amazon’s video-streaming app is available for Apple devices, but not Android. And again, Android owners can’t run Apple’s official apps.

Owners of Windows Phones have much less of a choice in rivals’ apps: Only one from Google, three from Amazon, compared with a dozen or more from each on Apple devices. Owners of Kindle Fire tablets, which use a modified version of Android, have almost no choices from Amazon’s major rivals.

So what does this mean for you? It may not be enough to justify choosing an iPhone or iPad. But if you do, you can still enjoy many of the key apps from other big makers of mobile platforms.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

After Making a Business, Huawei Aims to Make a Name for Itself in Smartphones

Ina Fried — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:30:02 +0000

While most phone makers were trying to find ways to sell more devices, Huawei made several moves last year that actually cost the company business.

The Chinese phone maker said no to opportunities to build 30 million additional feature phones, as well as to do more work making phones sold under other companies’ brand names.

“A product without a brand means nothing,” Huawei Device unit Chairman Richard Yu said in an interview at last month’s Mobile World Congress. “It’s not sustainable for the future.”

Instead, Huawei has been focused on moving up the food chain, with high-end products like the Ascend line, which debuted a year ago. At the Barcelona show, the company unveiled a new campaign touting the Huawei brand and the “Make it Possible” tagline.

Building one’s image is an understandable urge. It’s a path blazed by HTC, and more recently by ZTE and others.

However, HTC’s stumbles could serve as a cautionary tale for phone makers seeking to take on Samsung and Apple at the high end of the market.

Yu said even some of his colleagues were questioning his strategy. But, a year later, he said the company has repositioned itself, and the higher-end products have gained traction.

“We are not dying,” he says. “We are still alive.”

Indeed, he notes that Huawei is one of the few companies in the industry that is both profitable and growing — albeit making far less money than Apple or Samsung.

“In the coming years, we will be better and better,” Yu said. “We will do better than last year, I believe.”

In the U.S., Huawei’s push upmarket is still at an earlier stage. The company still builds products under carriers’ brands, and its products tend to be more of the budget smartphone rather than high-end variety.

“In the U.S. market, we are still in the low end and middle tier,” Yu said.

Huawei isn’t tied to any one operating system, but Yu said that “Android is still the main action.”

The company is also dabbling in other areas, including Windows Phone and Firefox OS, but Yu said that it remains to be seen how well those challengers will do.

Regardless of what is running inside the devices, though, Yu wants more people to know — and appreciate — that it is Huawei making their phones. After all, he said, Huawei is a company with 70,000 people engaged in research and development, a firm with deep understanding of not only devices but mobile communications broadly, given that they also make a ton of the infrastructure on which devices run.

“In the past, everybody knows the best products are from Samsung or from Apple,” Yu said. “I want to let people understand the best products (are) from Huawei.”

Microsoft Is Still Writing Checks to Nokia, but Things Will Switch Soon

Ina Fried — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:49:33 +0000

As part of Microsoft’s deal with Nokia, both companies are paying each other billions over several years. However, the exchange is heavily uneven, with Nokia getting most of the cash early on and Microsoft getting more in the deal’s later years.

As we pointed out in January, Nokia has reached the point at which it owes Microsoft more in guaranteed minimum royalty payments than it is due in future “platform support payments” from Microsoft. Nokia has been getting $250 million per quarter from Microsoft since the deal took effect.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Nokia went into more detail on just where things stand.

Nokia noted that it now owes Microsoft more than 500 million more euros ($650.5 million) than it is due from Redmond. However, for the balance of 2013 it still expects to be getting a net payment from Microsoft.

Here’s the full text of what Nokia had to say on the matter:

Our agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft. Under the terms of the agreement governing the platform support payments, the amount of each quarterly platform support payment is USD 250 million.

We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes annual minimum software royalty commitments that vary over the life of the agreement. Software royalty payments, with minimum commitments are paid quarterly. Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US dollars. Over the life of the agreement the total amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitment payments.

As of the end of 2012, the amount of platform support payments received by Nokia has exceeded the amount of minimum software royalty commitment payments made to Microsoft, thus the net cash flows have been in our favor. As a result, the remaining minimum software royalty commitment payments are expected to exceed the remaining platform support payments by a total of approximately EUR 0.5 billion over the remaining life of the agreement.

However, in 2013 the amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitment payments, thus the net cash flows are still expected to be slightly in our favor.

Heads Turn as Microsoft Shows Off 3-D Scanning Techniques

Ina Fried — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:00:42 +0000

Scanning a three-dimensional image has been possible for quite a while now. The challenge has been doing so quickly, easily and inexpensively.

At Microsoft’s TechFest this week, the software maker is showing off several different methods, each of which is capable of producing a 3-D scan of a person or object in pretty short order.

While 3-D image capture is just one of dozens of areas being pursued by Microsoft’s 800-person research team, the company chose to highlight its work in that area as part of the public portion of the its internal science fair.

Having multiple projects — even competing efforts — in the same area is part of the culture of Microsoft Research, says corporate VP Peter Lee, who heads all of the company’s U.S. labs.

While 3-D scanning may not be a critical need for many users today, it is important to the future of gaming and augmented reality, along with business uses. Besides, Lee says, access to an easy means of scanning makes that MakerBot 3-D printer he has at home a lot more useful.

Three different means for creating 3-D scans were shown off at TechFest, but the lab is looking at even more options, Lee said. At the highest-quality end, the company demonstrated an impressive scan using a small green screen combined with an array of six digital cameras.

Two other research projects, meanwhile, produced pretty decent scans using even more basic gear.

The first method used the depth-sensing camera on the Kinect for Windows sensor, while another effort used only a custom app on a Windows Phone to gather the needed images.

Lee said that, internally, Microsoft seems to like the Kinect option, and plans to include the feature in the next version of the Kinect for Windows software toolkit for developers.

“We’ll see what our customers do,” he said.

Here’s a video showing all three projects in action:

[ See post to watch video ]

Huawei Plans Firefox OS Phone, but CEO Says Unclear How Consumers Will Take to It

Ina Fried — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:30:25 +0000

Although Huawei is among the manufacturers touted by Mozilla as committed to building Firefox OS devices, the Chinese company’s chief says he has doubts as to how successful the new operating system will be.

“Whether the consumers will accept it or not, it is difficult to say,” Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu said Wednesday during an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Carriers, he said, are eager to have alternatives to iOS and Android. It is easy to understand that, Yu told AllThingsD. “But whether this can be very successful or not, it is too early to say.”

It will take time, he said, and needs more than just devices and interest from carriers. “You need ecosystem support,” he said, adding that it is ultimately consumers who will decide if there is enough value there.

If it does find a home, it will probably be at the low end of the market.

Yu said that carriers are also encouraging Huawei to consider building devices based on the open source Tizen effort. Huawei has built experimental devices, Yu said, but hasn’t yet committed to bringing anything to market.

“We are watching,” he said.

Huawei has quietly become the third-largest maker of smartphones, behind Apple and Samsung, though Yu readily acknowledges that those rivals are far larger and more profitable.

While most of Huawei’s business is on Android devices, the company also has a Windows Phone model, the Ascend W1, which went on sale last year. The response has been strong enough that successor devices will come this year, he said.

“The W2 and W3 are in the works,” he said.

Yu had plenty more to say during our sit-down. In part two of the interview, we’ll hear how Yu plans to nearly double smartphone sales this year, and his thoughts on Samsung and Apple.