Michelle Maisto

Microsoft co-founder and current Chairman Bill Gates sat down with some cameras rolling for the Next at Microsoft blog to discuss the opportunity of the week—and months—ahead for Microsoft. On Friday, Oct. 26, Microsoft will launch its Windows 8 software and Surface RT tablet and three days later its Windows Phone 8 (WP 8) mobile […]

Microsoft is now accepting preorders for its Surface with Windows RT tablet, which will officially become available Oct. 26 with the launch of its Windows 8 operating system. Models in 32GB (for $599) and 64GB (for $699) with black Touch Covers can be preordered for delivery by Oct. 26, but anyone wanting a 32GB model […]

Making “robocalls” illegal hasn’t been enough to stop them, so the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is appealing to the public to come up with a technical solution to put an end to the annoying, pre-recorded, unsolicited sales messages that are too often on the dialing end of a phone call. If being hailed a hero […]

For Android device owners running Firefox’s Aurora browser, Mozilla has launched a Firefox Marketplace app store. As most Aurora users are developers and early adopters, the goals of the Marketplace are to provide developers with feedback on their apps and for Mozilla to collect feedback on the store’s “design, usability, performance, reliability and content,” Mozilla […]

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is having a bad week—a week that epitomizes its struggle to hold on to users amid the growing popularity of Apple’s iPhone and Android-running devices. On Oct. 15, The New York Times ran an article airing the grievances of some BlackBerry users who wish they were iPhone or Android users. […]

Sprint and partner Clearwire have filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that seeks to change the terms of their arrangement and give Sprint the majority share of the wireless company, the Associated Press first reported Oct. 18. Sprint would like to buy Clearwire co-founder Craig McCaw’s stake in the company for $100 […]

Nokia anticipated a difficult third quarter, and it got one. The ailing Finish smartphone maker, pushed from its position as the global mobile phone market leader by Android-running smartphones and the Apple iPhone, switched to the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system in a tactic to turn things around. During its 2012 financial third quarter, however, […]

Verizon Wireless saw double-digit earnings growth during a third quarter that was helped by sales of 6.8 million smartphones, 3.1 million of which were iPhones from Apple. The nation’s largest carrier also added 1.5 million retail postpaid subscribers, surpassing Wall Street estimates and leading it toward revenue of $19 billion, which was up more than […]

The U.S Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Oct. 17 to free up 30MHz of Wireless Communication Services (WCS) spectrum for use with mobile broadband and specifically Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. The vote is a win for AT&T and Sirius XM, which in June submitted a proposal outlining how, were it made available, they would […]

Huawei, the leading Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, doesn’t expect a U.S. government warning to potential customers to affect its business, according to an Oct. 17 report from Reuters. Zhang Chunxiang, Huawei’s senior vice president, told a Reuters reporter at a business event in Hangzhou, China, that the United States and Huawei were still in talks, […]

Worldwide smartphone shipments passed a new milestone during the third quarter of 2012, with shipments surpassing 1 billion units on the way to total of 1.038 billion. “It has taken 16 years for the smartphone industry to reach this historic milestone,” Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics’ Global Wireless Practice, said in an Oct. […]

Asus and HTC have introduced new smartphones that show what it takes to get noticed in a market dominated by Samsung and Apple. Neither smartphone—in fairness, the HTC may be better described as a phablet—was introduced immediately for the U.S. market, but there’s hope. From Milan, Asus introduced the PadFone 2, which consists of a […]