Stephen Elop may be thrilled to have his first year as CEO of Nokia out of the way. After all, in the past 12 months, the struggling mobile-phone maker has seen its share price and market share plummet, and the bad news just keeps coming. But it's too soon to count Elop out.
Smartphone sales are expected rise 49% this year to 450 million units, according to a new survey from electronics research firm IDC.
In four months, CEO Stephen Elop has slashed its workforce and turned the company in a new direction. On Friday, he launched his gutsiest strategy yet -- dumping Nokia's ailing Symbian mobile operating system and betting the house on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS.
When Nokia's CEO presents the company's strategy to investors in London on Friday, it could announce plans to use an outside operating system -- namely, Microsoft's , Google's or both, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
In the latest round of a fight between two technology giants, Motorola punched back at Microsoft Wednesday with a patent infringement lawsuit. Its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility, filed 16 infringement claims against the software giant over its Windows mobile software, as well as its PC and server software and Xbox products.
Smartphones running Microsoft's new software, Windows Phone 7, are now available for customers of AT&T and T-Mobile. The first phones are made by Samsung Electronics and HTC, and more -- including a phone by Dell -- are on the way.
The chief software architect was the perfect visionary foil to strategy-obsessed CEO Ballmer. His entrepreneurial mind pushed the stodgy software giant to innovate in cloud computing and more. That's a role Microsoft will sorely miss.
Microsoft has unveiled the initial lineup of smartphones that will use its new mobile OS. Analysts seem impressed, but they warn that the software giant has a huge task ahead to lure consumers away from Apple iPhones and Google Android-powered handsets.
The investment firm wants to see Steve Ballmer & Co. jack up the dividend, design a coherent consumer strategy and lead in cloud computing. The launch of Windows Phone 7 will be a key indicator.
Microsoft is looking to recapture some of its mobile mojo -- which was virtually neutered by the iPhone three years ago -- with the debut of its operating system Windows Phone 7 on a slew of news smartphones later this month.