Nicholas Kolakowski

Microsoft’s week was marked by the largest deal in the company’s history: $8.5 billion for Internet communications provider Skype. Should regulators sign off on the acquisition, Skype will become a business division within Microsoft, headed by current CEO Tony Bates. Skype in its new form will support Microsoft products such as Windows Phone and Xbox […]

Apple’s next iPhone could feature only incremental upgrades, but appear on a broader set of carriers, according to a new research note from Jefferies & Co. “We believe the likelihood of the iPhone 5 launch in September including LTE [Long-Term Evolution] is now remote,” Peter Misek wrote in the co-authored research note, issued May 13. […]

The battle over “App Store” continues, with Microsoft and Nokia filing requests with the European Union’s trademark agency to invalidate Apple’s trademark claim to the term. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB and HTC have joined with Microsoft and Nokia in filing separate counterclaims, according to Bloomberg. Both “App Store” and “Appstore” are in the companies’ […]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is known for his public exuberance, punctuating keynote addresses with the sort of high-decibel verbal fireworks commonly associated with high-school coaches trying to goad a touchdown. “Developers! Developers! Developers!” is one of his more famous refrains. As Microsoft headed into the final stages of its acquisition negotiations with VOIP (voice over […]

Does Google’s Chromebook threaten Windows’ lock on enterprise computing? As revealed at Google I/O in San Francisco this week, Samsung and Acer will produce cloud-centric notebooks running the lightweight, Web-based Chrome OS. The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook will retail for $429 for the WiFi-only model, and $499 for a version with a 3G radio. Acer’s […]

Apple is facing another lawsuit over location data, this time from a filing with the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. According to The Loop, the action filed by one Lymaris M. Rivera Diaz accuses Apple of transmitting users’ location information to third-party advertisers. Charges include fraud, unfair trade practices and […]

The U.S. Department of Justice is declaring an epic win in its long-running antitrust case against Microsoft, which expires May 12. “As a result of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s efforts in the Microsoft case and final judgment, the competitive landscape changed allowing the marketplace to operate in a fair and open manner,” reads […]

The day after Microsoft announced it would acquire Skype for $8.5 billion, bloggers and pundits continued to dissect the deal’s ramifications for both the companies involved and the tech industry as a whole. Once the deal is closed, Skype will become a Microsoft division headed by Skype CEO Tony Bates, its services will be meshed […]

Apple experienced weaker-than-average supply-chain sales in April, according to a new analyst report. “For the [Taiwanese] suppliers that make up our Apple Barometer, March is typically the strongest month of the year, and this has generally been followed by a muted April,” Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities, wrote in a May 11 research […]

A small but well-publicized set of research notes has predicted that Windows Phone will come to dominate the smartphone market in coming years, fighting Google Android to a standstill and forcing Apple’s iOS onto a long, slow decline. One such note, from Pyramid Research, features Windows Phone scratching out a narrow lead in the global […]

Should Microsoft make good on its intentions to acquire voice over IP provider Skype for $8.5 billion, it will surely boost the company’s competitive stakes with both Google and Apple. Under the terms of the agreement, Skype will become a business division within Microsoft, headed by Skype CEO Tony Bates. Skype’s services will be meshed […]

For quite some time, Apple’s iTunes held considerable sway over digital music: how you shopped for it, downloaded it, stored and played it. However, that long-held dominance might be giving way. On May 10, Google unveiled its Music Beta streaming-music service, following in the steps of Amazon’s Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. Google’s offering lets […]