Company agrees to acquire Danger Inc., unveils additional industry
partnerships to heighten connected entertainment and information experience
for mobile customers.
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Taking steps to
place its technologies in the hands of an expanding mobile consumer
audience, Microsoft Corp. today announced the acquisition of Danger Inc.,
the company responsible for software and services powering popular consumer
handsets. Microsoft also announced that several additional cutting-edge
mobility companies worldwide will adopt and deploy Microsoft's software and
services.
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With the acquisition of Danger, Microsoft will benefit from the
company's nearly 10 years of expertise with mobile consumers. The Palo
Alto, Calif.-based company provides services that allow people to keep in
touch, stay organized and keep informed while on the go through real-time
mobile messaging, social networking services, Web browsing and personal
information management applications. Combining these services with
Microsoft's connected entertainment and mobile technologies will provide
Microsoft with the tools to accelerate its work to create industry-leading
entertainment and communication experiences for consumers.
In addition to the acquisition of Danger, Microsoft highlighted its
partnership with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB to make Windows
Mobile phones, announced extended reach of Windows Live and MSN Direct
services around the world, and demonstrated how the increased adoption of
Microsoft software is giving consumers more control over digital content.
Businesses including Brightstar Corp., Cbeyond, MTS (Mobile TeleSystems
OJSC), Omnifone Ltd., Orascom Telecom Holding, TechData, Telecom Italia,
Telefonica, Wind Greece and Wind Italy unveiled today plans to tap
Microsoft for its latest mobile innovations.
Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division President Robbie Bach
announced the news today in a keynote address at Mobile World Congress 2008
as he articulated a comprehensive vision for the capabilities that
Microsoft and its mobile partner network plan to deliver.
"We believe wherever you go, your phone should bring your world with
you," Bach said. "Microsoft will build upon our current offerings to
business users by delivering a whole new range of experiences to mobile
consumers. And we have the broadest partnerships, the finest people, and
the best software and services to get us there."
Today's announcements build on Microsoft's current partnerships with
nearly every device maker and mobile operator in the world. With
yesterday's addition of Sony Ericsson, Windows Mobile alone runs phones
from 50 device makers used by 160 mobile operators. Microsoft software and
services including Windows Mobile, Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail and
Windows Live Spaces, the world's most widely used blogging service, are
also used by device makers including HTC Corp., LG Electronics, Motorola
Inc., Nokia, Palm Inc., Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) and Samsung.
Creating New Experiences for Mobile Consumers
Part of Microsoft's focus to help more people worldwide take advantage
of increasingly powerful mobile technology is to enable new entertaining,
informative and interactive experiences.
At 3GSM 2007, Microsoft unveiled PlayReady, a new content access
technology that enables content owners and service providers to deliver and
manage virtually any type of digital content using a wide range of business
models. In just one year it has gained significant industry momentum,
including a recently announced collaborative effort with Nokia to build
support for PlayReady technology into the Nokia S60 and Series 40 mobile
device platforms.
Today some of the world's leading mobile carriers and service providers
announced plans to deploy PlayReady, including Telefonica Espana, Telecom
Italia, Omnifone Ltd., and Weather Investments SpA, which has more than 100
million customers across nine countries through its Orascom Telecom
Holding, Wind Italy and Wind Greece mobile operators. Designed for digital
entertainment services, devices and applications, with a specific focus on
meeting the needs of the mobile industry, PlayReady provides significant
improvements in ease of use for consumers looking to access, manage and
enjoy content on a variety of devices.
Further adding to new mobile experiences, Microsoft announced its first
public technology preview of an application that lets users access MSN
Direct content on Windows Mobile phones. The new downloadable application
gives Windows Mobile customers instant access to information such as
weather and stock updates; top news stories; entertainment, sports and
business news; and more directly on their Windows Mobile phone. Information
is presented in a glanceable format and is easily accessible directly from
a phone's home screen, and content is automatically updated so customers
have immediate access to the content that matters most to them.
In addition, Telefonica, one of the world's leading integrated
operators, announced today that it has adopted Windows Live Services for
all its WAP-based handsets in 12 countries in Latin America, specifically
on those where the company operates its cellular services under the brand
Telefonica movistar. Telefonica movistar customers throughout Latin America
will have access to Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and
Windows Live Spaces from their phone, enjoying some of the leading
communication and sharing services worldwide.
Leading Partnerships to Create the Right Phones and Services for a
Broad Audience
Solidifying Microsoft partnerships with all of the largest handset
makers in the world, Microsoft yesterday announced that Sony Ericsson will
deliver a Windows Mobile phone, the XPERIA X1, an arc slider phone that
blends mobile Web communication and multimedia entertainment to meet
consumer demand for a premium, converged mobile experience.
Deepening developer partnerships, Microsoft today released several
updates to its Windows Live Mobile Developer Program including a new SDK
and platform, the Microsoft Mobile Services Protocol, providing developers
with additional capabilities to deliver Windows Live for mobile services
and utilize the platform to innovate on top of those services.
Microsoft also announced today it is increasing offerings for its
mobile operator partners by launching Windows Live @mobile, a global,
standardized program to enable mobile operators to deploy a set of standard
Microsoft mobile services such as Windows Live and MSN Mobile to their
customers more quickly. By deploying services more quickly, Windows Live
@mobile gives Microsoft mobile operator partners additional revenue
opportunities.
In addition, Microsoft announced today the expansion of its mobile
advertising syndication client portfolio with major French mobile
publishers including L'Equipe, Boursier.com and Autonews. Orange, a leading
mobile operator in Spain, has also chosen Microsoft as its ad serving
partner for mobile display advertising in Spain. Through mobile advertising
technology created by Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group
and its ScreenTonic SA subsidiary, a leader in mobile advertising in
Europe, Microsoft is able to deliver advertising experiences globally that
map to the opportunities that are evolving in the mobile handset market.
This follows the recent launches of advertising on Microsoft's MSN
properties in the U.S., U.K. and France.
Bringing Mobile Opportunities to More Businesses and Consumers
Worldwide
Global companies joined Microsoft today for announcements that will put
Microsoft mobile technology into more hands in Asia, Europe and the U.S.,
demonstrating Microsoft's versatile array of offerings that deliver the
mobile experiences people want in a range of scenarios.
Announced today, Microsoft has partnered with Brightstar Europe, a
joint venture between Tech Data Corp. and Brightstar Corp., providers of
technology and support for resellers and solution providers serving small
and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Through this partnership, Brightstar
Europe will promote Windows Mobile with training and support, and TechData
and Brightstar reseller networks throughout the region will offer Windows
Mobile phones. This is the first agreement of its kind between Microsoft
and Brightstar Europe, and it will provide SMBs in the European Union with
a complete mobility offering, including servers, devices, services and
support.
In addition, Microsoft and Russian mobile operator MTS today announced
their cooperation to deliver new mobile communications services for MTS
customers. Through this agreement, MTS and Microsoft will collaborate and
create a road map for delivering innovative services to satisfy rising
demand for data products and services for MTS's 85 million subscribers. The
first joint offering will be Windows Vista-based notebook PCs, with
built-in mobile broadband access, available to customers through a
subscription payment model. At prices substantially less than current
laptops with embedded 3G technologies, MTS will bring to market a
best-in-class proposition featuring an innovative laptop design, a variety
of tariff plans suited to a wide array of users, customer service support
and equipment fully tested and certified to meet MTS customers' high
expectations. The subscription PC program should be available to MTS
consumers in June 2008.
Hosted Microsoft Exchange forms the foundation of a new service from
Cbeyond, a U.S. provider of cutting-edge communications for small
businesses. Microsoft and Cbeyond announced today a new e-mail service,
including support for mobile devices, that is available as part of a
communications package specifically targeting SMBs. The Cbeyond package
includes hardware and airtime for mobile phone service, local and
long-distance phone service, T-1 broadband Internet access, and now
enterprise-class e-mail based on hosted Microsoft Exchange. With hosted
Microsoft Exchange from Cbeyond, users can now get all the capabilities
offered through an enterprise-class e-mail solution, including appointment
scheduling, shared contact information and task management, and
over-the-air syncing of all this information, all accessible via Microsoft
Office Outlook on the desktop, a Web browser or a smartphone.
More information about Microsoft's mobile strategy and efforts to help
an expanding mobile audience take advantage of advanced technology is
available at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/mobileworldcongress/default.mspx.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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