| WindowsForDevices year-end review: Top business stories of 2006 |
(Dec. 21, 2006)
JANUARY
MICROSOFT'S GADGET OSes TURN A PROFIT
Microsoft released financial results for the fiscal quarter ending December 31st. Overall revenue was $11.84 billion, a 9 percent increase over the same period in the prior fiscal year and the highest quarterly revenue in the company's history. Of note, the Mobile and Embedded Devices segment accounted for $101 million, compared with $72 million in the same quarter of the prior year, and generated $20 million net income, compared with a $12 million loss in the same quarter last year. Details
NTT DOCOMO ADDING WINDOWS MOBILE PHONES
Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo announced this week that it plans to add Windows Mobile 3G handsets to its phone lineup during the second half of this year. The move will add a third OS option to DoCoMo's mobile phone product family, alongside Symbian and Linux. Details
APRIL
WINDOWS MOBILE NETS HUGE U.S. CENSUS DEAL
The U.S. Census Bureau reportedly plans to purchase upwards of half a million handhelds running Windows Mobile 5.0, to equip its door-to-door data collectors for the 2010 U.S. census. Although Microsoft has yet to make an official announcement to this effect, its executives and others involved have commented on it widely over the past two weeks. "This is the largest-ever win for Microsoft. And we believe this is the largest win for the industry, ever," a Microsoft official reportedly said. Details
OLPC $100 LAPTOP PROJECT MULLS WINDOWS CE
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which aims to provide between five and 15 million $100 laptops to children in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, and other countries, reportedly is helping Microsoft add Windows CE to the OLPC's operating system options. Details
R.I.P. GIZMONDO GAMING GADGET
Gizmondo Europe, maker of the eponymously named Windows CE-based Gizmondo gaming device, and parent company Tiger Telematics, reportedly have closed up shop. First announced in November of 2003, the heavily-promoted Gizmondo game console was a multifunction entertainment device incorporating GPRS wireless communications, an MPEG4 decoder, a digital camera, and GPS, among other features. Details
MICROSOFT MOBILE/EMBEDDED REVENUE JUMPS 46%
Microsoft has released financial results for its third fiscal quarter ending March 31, showing corporate revenue of $10.90 billion, 13 percent above the corresponding quarter last year. Quarterly revenue for the Mobile and Embedded Devices (MED) group was $89 million, up a whopping 46 percent over the same period last year. Our news item includes charts showing the MED group's revenue and profit/loss trends over the past nine quarters. Details
MAY
MICROSOFT/MIPS SUMMIT PONDERS HIGH-GROWTH CE OPPORTUNITIES
Some 25 executives from "major" semiconductor vendors attended the fourth annual Microsoft & MIPS Executive Summit in Redmond, Wash. April 19-20. The summit reportedly reviewed the latest Windows CE and MIPS technology roadmaps and business strategies, and explored consumer electronics (CE) product opportunities based on the combined technologies. Details
WINDOWS EMBEDDED STUDENT CHALLENGE FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
Thirty teams from universities around the world have been named as finalists in Microsoft's Windows Embedded Student Challenge. These 30 teams will take part in the Windows Embedded Student ChallengE 2006 World Finals on Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Wash. June 23-24, and will compete for $24,000 in cash prizes. Our news item includes a link to where you can download all of the finalists' project description papers. Details
MICROSOFT AND CHINESE ODM TEAM UP ON WINDOWS MOBILE
China TechFaith Wireless Communication, a supplier of mobile phones and related application software, and Microsoft China have entered into a "strategic collaboration" aimed at promoting the use of Windows Mobile and Windows Media technology. Details
WINCOR NIXDORF ADOPTS POS FOR .NET
Point-of-sale vendor Wincor Nixdorf plans to enhance its Windows Embedded for POS (WEPOS) implementation by adding support for "POS for .NET" to its Beetle POS platform. As a result, the company expects to be the first major European OEM to offer plug-and-play functionality for retail peripherals. Details
LG-NORTEL, MICROSOFT TEAM UP ON WINDOWS CE 6 VIDEOPHONE
LG-Nortel and Microsoft have agreed to cooperate in a "broad range" of VoIP (voice over IP) areas, including the development of a new LG-Nortel videophone based on the recently announced Windows CE 6. The collaboration covers joint R&D, cooperative marketing, and licensing of Windows CE 6. Details
JUNE
HTC ACQUIRES WINDOWS MOBILE DEVICE VENDOR DOPOD
High Tech Computers (HTC), the well-known Taiwanese manufacturer of Windows mobile Smartphones and Pocket PCs, announced June 2 that it would be purchasing the popular Asian phone brand, Dopod. HTC already builds phones for Dopod. The acquisition of Dopod "successfully launched six Smartphones and nine PDA phones" in Asia, is clearly an effort by HTC to strengthen its market position in Asian markets. Details
BILL GATES PLOTS RETIREMENT FROM MICROSOFT
Bill Gates has begun a two-year transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft, the company announced June 15. Chief Technical Officers Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie will step up to new roles immediately, and will be working closely with Gates to ensure a smooth transition, Microsoft said. Our news item includes links to nine different perspectives on this significant change at the top of Microsoft. Details
STUDENTS AIM TECHNOLOGY AT A BETTER ENVIRONMENT
Representatives of 30 student development teams from seven countries converged on Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. campus June 23-25, to compete in the third annual Windows Embedded Student ChallengE, which featured the theme, "Preserving, protecting, and enhancing the environment." Five winning teams collectively were awarded $24,000 in cash. Our feature article provides a profile of each of the five winning projects, a list of all 30 finalists, and pointers to where each project's complete final report can be downloaded. Details
INTEL DITCHES MOBILE PHONE PROCESSORS
Intel will sell its XScale PXAxxx applications processor and 3G baseband processor businesses to Marvell for $600 million, plus existing liabilities. The deal could make Marvell the top supplier of 3G and later smartphone processors, and enable Intel to focus on its core x86 and wireless LAN chipset businesses. Details
MICROSOFT DEBUTS ITS ANSWER TO SOURCEFORGE: CODEPLEX
Microsoft unveiled an online collaborative software development and source code sharing portal at the Open Source Business Conference in London on June 17. CodePlex, which aims to offer capabilities similar to those provided by SourceForge, already hosts more than 30 collaborative development efforts, according to Microsoft. Details
MICROSOFT OUTLINES UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
Microsoft on June 26 outlined its "unified communications" strategy, which aims to seamlessly interconnect email, instant messaging, and cellular and VoIP (voice-over-IP) telephony, along with audio, video, and web conferencing. Additionally, Motorola and LG-Nortel announced plans to develop fixed and mobile devices supporting the unified communications platform. Details
JULY
AMD BURYING GEODE?
AMD will soon close its Geode embedded processor design center in Longmont, Colo. Although the plant closure appears to be AMD's second move away from the embedded market this summer, the company assures us that they remain "committed to the embedded market." Read this informative news item for more about the popular Geode's future. Details
MICROSOFT'S GIZMO-WINDOWS TURNS IN FIRST PROFITABLE YEAR
Microsoft's overall corporate revenue in its just-completed 2006 fiscal year was reportedly up 11 percent from the prior year. Significantly, the Mobile and Embedded Devices (MED) segment showed $2 million income on revenue of $377 million for the fiscal year, marking the first time in Microsoft's history that its mobile and embedded OSes have turned in a year with positive net income. As usual, our news item includes colorful charts of MED's top line and bottom line trends. Details
MICROSOFT DEMOS MYSTERIOUS FONEPLUS CELLPHONE OS
Microsoft reportedly demonstrated some sort of prototype cellphone software platform during its Financial Analyst Meeting in Redmond July 27. The concept demo gave a glimpse of how ultra-low-cost cellphones might in the future bring connected, computer-like experiences to hordes of otherwise computerless people in developing areas of the world. Details
RIVAL FLASH MEMORY PIONEERS MERGE
Two flash memory pioneers and technology innovators will soon merge, with the acquisition of M-Systems by SanDisk. SanDisk was the originator of CompactFlash, while M-Systems spawned a broad array of "flash disk" module formats and form-factors, including the highly popular DiskOnChip. Both are commonly used in devices based on Windows CE, Windows Mobile, and Windows XP Embedded. Details
AUGUST
SPECIAL REPORT: WINDOWS CE SHARED SOURCE CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
The first-ever Windows CE Shared Source Contest has drawn to a close, and three winning submissions have been awarded Xbox 360 game consoles and other goodies. The winners are briefly profiled in this news item on WindowsForDevices. Additionally, links are provided to articles published by WindowsForDevices that provide more details on each project, including photos and diagrams, as well as links from which you can download each winning project's complete whitepaper and demonstration video. Be sure to read all about these exciting projects! Details
SEPTEMBER
MOTOROLA GOBBLES UP SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES
Motorola announced on Sept. 19 that it is acquiring Symbol Technologies, a major supplier of mobile computing products for advanced data capture, RFID, wireless infrastructure, and mobility management -- many of which are based on Microsoft's Windows CE and Windows Mobile operating systems. Details
FREESCALE BOUGHT FOR $17.6B
Freescale, one of the world's largest device-oriented semiconductor manufacturers, is being acquired by a private equity consortium in a transaction valued at $17.6 billion. The company was formed in 2004 when Motorola spun out its semiconductor division, and is a leading supplier of silicon to Motorola and other cellphone manufacturers. Details
OCTOBER
EMBEDDED DEVELOPMENT STUDENT CONTEST OFFERS $15,000 IN PRIZES
Microsoft's annual Windows Embedded student competition, previously known as the "Windows Embedded Student ChallengE," has been integrated into a broader student competition: the Imagine Cup. The event, also sponsored by Microsoft, offers $15,000 in cash prizes to student teams that enter the Cup's Embedded Development category. Details
MICROSOFT Q1 EDD REVENUE UP 70 PERCENT YEAR-OVER-YEAR
Microsoft on Oct. 16 released financial data for the first quarter of its 2007 fiscal year. While revenue for the company overall grew 11 percent year-over-year, the Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD), which contains the company's Mobile and Embedded Devices (MED) software products, grew a whopping 70 percent year-over-year. Details
NOVEMBER
VODAPHONE STANDARDIZES ON WINDOWS MOBILE
Vodaphone on Monday announced that it plans to streamline its mobile phone platform portfolio, in order to increase cost efficiencies. The company says that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft, and that it plans to standardize on three mobile phone platforms going forward: Windows Mobile, Symbian/S60, and Linux. Details
AMD QUIETLY KILLS THE PIC
AMD has stopped producing its Windows CE-powered Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a low-cost computer intended to help equip 50 percent of the world's population with Internet and computing capabilities by 2015. The news was contained in an obscure paragraph of the company's quarterly SEC 10-Q filing. Details
ZUNE PMP HERE; ZUNE CELLPHONE COMING?
Zune, Microsoft's challenge to Apple's iPod PMP (portable media player), is now available at "more outlets than any other Microsoft product" -- some 30,000 U.S. retailers -- according to the company. Zune allows users to wirelessly download and share music files, a feature the iPod lacks. Details
(Click here for further information)
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