Microsoft says it has sold 1 million Xbox Kinects in 10 days, giving the company a badly needed hit in the consumer electronics market as the holiday shopping season approaches.
The company reported Monday that it was on track to sell 5 million units of the hands-free, motion-sensing controller by the end of the year. Microsoft this month raised its original sales forecast of 3 million units to 5 million.
Microsoft launched the Kinect Nov. 4 in North America, and six days later in Europe. The company plans to release the device in Asia Nov. 18 and in Japan Nov. 20. By the end of the holiday shopping season, the Kinect will be available through 60,000 retailers in 38 countries, with up to 17 Kinect games also available, according to the company.
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Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Microsoft try to make up ground in the Mobile market
Microsoft is trying to get back to being a top-dog in the mobile arena. Not more than six years ago, Microsoft was running more than 25% of all smartphones and was expecting their market share to continue to grow. Apple and Blackberry far out-paced Microsoft since then. Apple dominates the consumer segment and Blackberry has a stronghold on business tech segment
I am not surprised. I have had two phones that ran various versions of the Window Mobile Operating System (WMOS) and I am not impressed! I find that WMOS is slow, compared to Apple and Blackberry OSs and seems to be more 'buggy'. It seems that you have to restart Windows powered devices more often to 'unfreeze' an application and I have also experienced 'restart loops', where the battery has to be removed, replaced and the device restarted; multiple times! I do prefer the WMOS handling of documents (including pdfs) and the fact that it is a lesser transition from working on my PC at work and home to completing tasks on my device.
Microsoft has a plan.
I am not surprised. I have had two phones that ran various versions of the Window Mobile Operating System (WMOS) and I am not impressed! I find that WMOS is slow, compared to Apple and Blackberry OSs and seems to be more 'buggy'. It seems that you have to restart Windows powered devices more often to 'unfreeze' an application and I have also experienced 'restart loops', where the battery has to be removed, replaced and the device restarted; multiple times! I do prefer the WMOS handling of documents (including pdfs) and the fact that it is a lesser transition from working on my PC at work and home to completing tasks on my device.
Microsoft has a plan.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Woman love their tech too!
I would never claim to be an expert on what woman want, no matter what the topic was... but the statistics paint a picture of what the 'average' woman looks for when it comes to her tech.
What technology brands are most admired among women? Apple and Sony take the prize with Microsoft and Dell tying for third place, according to a recent "Women & Digital Life" study conducted by the Solutions Research Group.
About 20 percent of women reported that Apple was the technology brand or company they admire most, followed by Sony at 14 percent, and Microsoft and Dell at 10 percent. Hewlett-Packard came in at 6 percent, followed by Verizon and Google, which each earned 2 percent of the vote.
SRG polled 2,000 women ages 12 and up on six areas: attitudes/use of technology, TV and entertainment, gaming, wireless/mobile, broadband and social media.
When asked about the technology that has had the biggest impact on their lives in the last two years, 26 percent of women said the Internet, followed by computers at 22 percent, and cell phones at 18 percent.
Women polled said they spent an average of 22.9 hours per week online. When asked what they did online in the last month, 61 percent of women said they watched short video clips, 58 percent said they surfed the Web with their kids, and 57 percent said they purchased items online.
About 50 percent used social media Web sites like Facebook and MySpace.
About 17 percent of women are using smartphones, and 18 percent have regular mobile phones. LG was the top brand choice, with 20 percent of the votes, followed by full keyboard BlackBerry devices at 15 percent and the BlackBerry Pearl at 13 percent.
About 12 percent of respondents used the iPhone, and 7 percent were on Palm devices.
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Overall, mobile activity has increased since SRG conducted a similar poll in 2007. Texting has increased from 49 percent to 61 percent, as has taking photos on mobile phones, which jumped from 46 percent to 55 percent.
About 36 percent of women have bought a new gadget like a computer, cell phone, or digital camera in the last six months. About 42 percent of women 25 to 39 have made such a purchase, eclipsed only by the 44 percent of women with kids aged 12 and under.
On the video game front, Sony's high market share among the tech brands most admired by women was largely due to the popularity of its PlayStation 2 gaming systems. Of the women with gaming consoles, 49 percent had the PS2, followed by the Nintendo Wii with 40 percent, and the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360, both with 30 percent.
Wal-Mart's effort to buoy its electronics department has apparently paid off among women. About 32 percent said they used the retailing giant to make their technology purchases, followed by Best Buy at 29 percent, and the now defunct Circuit City at 7 percent. Also on the list was Target at 7 percent, the Apple Store at 5 percent and K-Mart at 4 percent.
SRG also asked women about their thoughts about ease of use and purchase. About 59 percent of those polled believed that today's technology is easier to use, compared to 18 percent who felt the opposite. About 32 percent of women found the number of choices intimidating, but 47 percent were comfortable with the selection.
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The women were also asked if technology was a "guy thing" - to which 77 percent overwhelmingly replied that it was not.
What technology brands are most admired among women? Apple and Sony take the prize with Microsoft and Dell tying for third place, according to a recent "Women & Digital Life" study conducted by the Solutions Research Group.
About 20 percent of women reported that Apple was the technology brand or company they admire most, followed by Sony at 14 percent, and Microsoft and Dell at 10 percent. Hewlett-Packard came in at 6 percent, followed by Verizon and Google, which each earned 2 percent of the vote.
SRG polled 2,000 women ages 12 and up on six areas: attitudes/use of technology, TV and entertainment, gaming, wireless/mobile, broadband and social media.
When asked about the technology that has had the biggest impact on their lives in the last two years, 26 percent of women said the Internet, followed by computers at 22 percent, and cell phones at 18 percent.
Women polled said they spent an average of 22.9 hours per week online. When asked what they did online in the last month, 61 percent of women said they watched short video clips, 58 percent said they surfed the Web with their kids, and 57 percent said they purchased items online.
About 50 percent used social media Web sites like Facebook and MySpace.
About 17 percent of women are using smartphones, and 18 percent have regular mobile phones. LG was the top brand choice, with 20 percent of the votes, followed by full keyboard BlackBerry devices at 15 percent and the BlackBerry Pearl at 13 percent.
About 12 percent of respondents used the iPhone, and 7 percent were on Palm devices.
Overall, mobile activity has increased since SRG conducted a similar poll in 2007. Texting has increased from 49 percent to 61 percent, as has taking photos on mobile phones, which jumped from 46 percent to 55 percent.
About 36 percent of women have bought a new gadget like a computer, cell phone, or digital camera in the last six months. About 42 percent of women 25 to 39 have made such a purchase, eclipsed only by the 44 percent of women with kids aged 12 and under.
On the video game front, Sony's high market share among the tech brands most admired by women was largely due to the popularity of its PlayStation 2 gaming systems. Of the women with gaming consoles, 49 percent had the PS2, followed by the Nintendo Wii with 40 percent, and the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360, both with 30 percent.
Wal-Mart's effort to buoy its electronics department has apparently paid off among women. About 32 percent said they used the retailing giant to make their technology purchases, followed by Best Buy at 29 percent, and the now defunct Circuit City at 7 percent. Also on the list was Target at 7 percent, the Apple Store at 5 percent and K-Mart at 4 percent.
SRG also asked women about their thoughts about ease of use and purchase. About 59 percent of those polled believed that today's technology is easier to use, compared to 18 percent who felt the opposite. About 32 percent of women found the number of choices intimidating, but 47 percent were comfortable with the selection.
The women were also asked if technology was a "guy thing" - to which 77 percent overwhelmingly replied that it was not.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Windows 7 : Release Date
Microsoft has finally announced the official release date of their new operating system (OS). Members of the public will now be able to buy Windows 7 from 22 October 2009. Users of the new OS will not have to pay for new hardware as it will be compatible with its predecessor (Windows Vista). In addition, customers who purchase a new Vista computer after the official release date will be offered free upgrade to the new OS in order to compensate Microsoft retail partners and computer manufacturers’.
Furthermore, in a bid to limit compatibility problems, Windows Vista will be directly compatible with the new OS and possess similar system requirements that will be attuned to existing hardware and software programs. The operating system has been described as simpler and easy to use by most of its beta testers across the globe. The final stage in the build up to the official release date is the “release-to-manufacturing (RTM)” phase expected to start between July and August 2009.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Elevate America
I applaud Microsoft for this. I believe that we all need to be a bit more technically savvy because technology is not going away and it is being integrated to a greater extent each month. Every one should try and learn basic computer skill, like internet browsing, email and basic functions like saving a file or attaching a file to an email.
At the National Governors Association conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Microsoft announced a program to teach basic and intermediate computer skills to, potentially, millions of Americans. The three-year Elevate America program will include one million vouchers for Microsoft eLearning courses as well as for select certification exams.
The vouchers will be distributed through state and local governments' workforce development programs. Microsoft originally planned to launch the initiative in three states -- Washington, New York and Florida -- but by the end of the day Sunday California, Colorado, Delaware, Minnesota and Virginia had climbed aboard too.
Microsoft says it expects to reach approximately 2 million citizens with Elevate America over the next three years.
Interested parties can also get online, if they are able to get themselves online, and check out a new Microsoft mini-site with information on basic computer skills (e.g., sending email or creating a resume) and resources for picking those skills up. The Elevate America site also has information for students and -- perhaps more to the taste of Betanews readers -- information on various intermediate-level certification programs, including the Second Shot do-over option.
That site is online now. The rest of the program will begin in the various states over the next few months.
Washington governor Christine Gregoire, taking an opportunity to cheer on the home team, praised Microsoft for stepping up during tough times as what the company is describing (without releasing specific numbers) as "significant cost."
"Elevate America is a great example of Microsoft's leadership on education and workforce development -- issues that bring us a step closer to recovery by helping us provide critically important help to our citizens," said Gregoire. "Washington state is pleased to be one of the first states to partner with Microsoft to provide Elevate America to our residents."
Microsoft will post updates on Elevate America -- including news of the addition of more states to the program -- to its Twitter account.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Vista Fixes
Wednesday - June 13, 2007
Microsoft has released its latest batch of fixes in this month's Patch Tuesday announcement, employing a new format that makes it easier for IT administers to single out areas of risk, according to Amol Sarwate, research manager of the vulnerability research lab at Qualys.
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