MobileViews Blog

Category: Microsoft

  • Angry Birds Star Wars Edition for Windows RT 66% more expensive than iPad version

    Angry Birds Star Wars Edition for the iPad is as good or better than the original Angry Birds (I’m not a fan of the other versions). So, I was interested to see the game appear in the Windows RT app store. Unfortunately, the version for RT costs 66% more than the iPad version: $4.99 vs $2.99.

    While making more money per sale for developers is a good thing. I think Windows RT app prices need to be competitive with versions of the same app on other platforms.

    Note: Composed this app entirely using a Surface with Windows RT. The biggest problem was finding an image editor. None of the RT apps provided freehand cropping. Will discuss how I worked around this in a future blog item.

  • Microsoft says you can use Surface RT for work. But, Office RT license disallows work use

    Microsoft promotes the soon-to-be-released Surface RT by saying it can let you:

    Work anywhere, anytime with Windows RT and Office 2013 RT

    And, yet, on the same page it states this, it also says:

    Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview and the final version are not for use in commercial, nonprofit, or revenue generating activities. Commercial license options available (sold separately).

    AllAboutMicrosoft’s Mary Jo Foley explains the commercial license options:

    Microsoft Office for Windows RT: How to move to a commercial-use license

    However, you cannot use Office RT on a Surface RT for work related purposes out of the box without violating the Office RT license.

  • Three word response from Steve Ballmer to my recommendation to stop being nice to notebook/tablet partners

    I’m no Microsoft cheerleader or fanboi (though I am a former Microsoft MVP). But, after reading reports like this one in All Things D about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly trying to placate notebook and tablet hardware partners, I had to vent. And, since Ballmer often gives out his email address and tells people he reads his own email, I figured, why not send it to the man himself.

    Ballmer: “Surface Is Just a Design Point”

    I’m not convinced that the Surface RT (Windows 8 ARM based hybrid tablet-notebook) will be a success. But, it does look interesting and generated more buzz than Microsoft has seen in a long time. We still don’t know key information like availability date, price, performance, and battery life. However, none of Microsoft hardware partners seem to be producing anything half as interesting. So, I told him that it was the wrong message to send partners who had designed failures in the Tablet PC, UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC – aka “Origami”), and netbook categories for the past decade. I suggested these four points should be the message sent to these underwhelming hardware partners.
    (more…)

  • Why it doesn’t matter that Microsoft alienated its hardware partners with the Surface tablet announcement


    There was a lot of speculation about what Microsoft would announce on their June 18 mystery event. Some speculators dismissed the possibility that Microsoft would announce their own branded tablet as they ended up doing because of the belief that that Microsoft would not alienate their hardware partners. Yet, as Reuters reports, only a few big hardware partners were notified days before the event. And, some like Acer and Asus were left completely in the dark.

    Microsoft kept PC partners in dark about Surface

    Let’s take a look at a brief history of Microsoft and its touch screen mobile device hardware partners to understand why it doesn’t matter if the Microsoft Surface tablet alienate hardware partners.
    (more…)

  • MobileNote: Steve Ballmer’s March 2011 tablet comments reimagined…

    On March 1, 2011 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage of the conference center in Bellevue, Washington to address a bunch of Microsoft MVPs (enthusiasts). At one point he held up the tablet you see in the photo above and made some comments about it. I, quite honestly, can’t remember what he said that day. And, if I did, the information might still be covered by an NDA. So, instead, I will reimagine that day and theorize what may have been going through Mr. Ballmer’s mind as he addressed a gathering of Microsoft MVPs (enthusiasts).
    (more…)

  • New Microsoft PhotoSynth for Windows Phone app incompatible with 1st gen Windows Phones

    The first Windows Phone devices released in the fall of 2010 had hardware limitations imposed by Microsoft. Thus, the entire first generation of devices lacked components that were common even back then. Among the hardware missing from the reference design and the devices based on it is a gyroscope. This component has become increasingly important in games and motion based activities. Microsoft’s design shortsightedness has come back to bite it less than two years after the first Windows Phone devices were released. Its own recently released PhotoSynth panoramic camera app for Windows Phone (first released for the iPhone) won’t work correctly with the entire first generation of Windows Phone devices.

    Gee… Thanks, Microsoft, for not future proofing your smartphones! 🙁