Nicholas Kolakowski

A new report from research firm NPD Groups’ Connected Intelligence service could give Microsoft some reason to hope for its Windows Phone franchise. According to Connected Intelligence, which NPD Group bills as a service that “analyzes the confluence of connected devices, access, and content,” some 44 percent of smartphone owners are considering the purchase of […]

Can Windows 8 challenge the iPad’s dominance of the tablet market? Microsoft certainly hopes so. As the market for mobile devices expands at a rapid clip, amid anemic sales for traditional PCs, the need for Windows to carve new franchise territory is greater than ever. The question is whether Microsoft can leverage Windows’ two decades […]

Apple’s iPhone 5 may still be weeks away from being unveiled, but that hasn’t stopped Samsung from filing a lawsuit to have the as-yet-unrevealed device banned in South Korea. The Korea Times’ Sept. 18 article quotes an unnamed source, apparently a Samsung senior executive, as saying Samsung will “take Apple to court” to block Korean […]

Apple will continue to dominate the tablet market this year, with or without an iPad 3 entering the market, according to an analyst. “We do not expect iPad 3 this year, but there’s no rush,” J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a Sept. 19 research note excerpted by Fortune. “The other tablet entrants have […]

Lock Screen The Windows 8 lock screen: use your mouse or finger to drag it upward and reveal the login interface. Security features include picture lock, where you tap certain parts of an image to unlock the device. Login The login screen, one of the first glimpses of Windows 8s Metro interface. Tile Interface Windows […]

Microsoft’s Windows 8 could offer some baked-in calling capability. The blog istartedsomething managed to take some interesting screenshots of a Windows 8 phone feature during Microsoft’s BUILD conference (which ran from Sept. 13-16). The next-generation operating system will reportedly arrive sometime in 2012. Those screenshots included a “Missed Calls” tile on Windows 8’s user interface, […]

Microsoft’s week was all about Windows 8. Windows and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky used his Sept. 13 keynote at Microsoft’s BUILD conference to drill down into Windows 8’s user interface and features. Microsoft is counting on the next-generation platform to not only reaffirm its hold on the desktop operating system market, but also […]

So much for the veil of secrecy: While other tech products are kept assiduously under wraps until the moment of their official release-and others are revealed only in beta-Microsoft seems determined to show off the upcoming Windows 8 early and often. This willingness to offer a trickle of details about Windows 8, expected to release […]

Apple’s iPhone 5 will almost certainly make its debut within the next few weeks, if you take heed in the reports drifting around online. However, another source suggests the next-generation device could run into delays and shortages. Much of the chatter erupted after Case-Mate, which manufactures cases and holsters for smartphones and tablets, posted-and then […]

Research In Motion’s executives are intent on selling a story of a company in transition. Sure, the BlackBerry maker faces significant competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Google Android, both of which are making substantial inroads into the business space that’s served as RIM’s traditional stronghold. But RIM’s upcoming QNX “superphones,” and a […]

Microsoft has been very public about its plans for Internet Explorer 10, which will arrive on the upcoming Windows 8 in two flavors: a “Metro”-style application and a desktop application. According to a recent post on the official Building Windows 8 blog, the desktop version will fully support plug-ins and extensions. But the Metro-style browser […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took a few moments during his company’s financial analyst meeting to put a brave face on its smartphone efforts. “It was under a year ago that we launched the first Windows Phone,” he told an audience of media and analysts gathered to hear Microsoft executives run down the company’s financials and […]