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Microsoft Pays $44 Million To Samsung and Nokia For Mango Marketing
CSHARP123 writes "Ballmer opened up the company's coffers to Nokia and Samsung for a holiday blitz of Mango marketing. Hold onto your hats though, it's no carte blanche access to Redmond's Gringotts. According to a report on Mobile Magazine, inside sources claim MS has set aside £28 million (about $44 million) for the endeavor, with about £20 million of that reserved for Nokia's first Windows Phone 7.5 handset. This joint marketing effort is reportedly a broader extension of the cooperative agreements all parties agreed to, ensuring future WP devices get the media saturation they deserve. Samsung is also due to unveil a major Christmas ad push for the Omnia W with an estimated £8m spend. Maybe this is what Samsung gets for making a deal on patents to cover Android OS? Not a bad deal for Samsung."
Windows Phone 7.1 and later. And if you have looked at N9 from Nokia, you'd be ignorant to notice how great it is. Both at hardware side from Nokia, and from software side from Microsoft. I was going to buy iPhone before, but now I just want to wait for what Windows Phone 7 mobiles Nokia comes out with.
I have to agree. Despite the lackluster sales of WP7 devices, the OS is pretty nice. If I hadn't just bought an Android phone earlier this year, I'd be seriously considering getting one.
Presumably the Omnia W is a phone, which can be inferred from context. Gringotts is a Harry Potter reference for bank or vault, so that one's fairly hit or miss depending on your taste in books and/or films. Mango is Windows Phone 7.5, which you could have at least learned by reading the artic— bwa ha ha ha ha. Sorry, I couldn't keep a straight face.
I'll get off your lawn now.
Gringotts is the bank where Harry Potter's inheritance was deposited. It was run by gnomes or some such species of beings, to my best recollection.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
So you're saying that Microsoft has selling versions of Windows for smartphones since 2002, and you're hoping that maybe by next year they'll finally make a version that is good enough for you to buy?
I hope Microsoft doesn't pay you to shill for them. They're wasting their money.
Apparently the ? step for the underpants gnomes was to start a bank.
That's like a spam come true!
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Step 1. Collect patent royalties from every Android device that Samsung sells
Step 2. Turn around and give that money back to Samsung to push Windows Phone 7
Step 3. ???
Step 4. Profit
I actually have an HTC phone with the old Windows Mobile currently. Yes, after iPhone and Android it sucks ass, but they weren't available back when I bought it. But it sure as hell was better than Symbian and anything else we had back then.
Nokia isn't a newbie. They have a history of making the best mobile devices on the planet, hardware wise. They suck with software. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is actually great OS to new phones. Combined with Nokia's experience with hardware and their history in mobile technology, I think they will actually go far.
Of course this is Slashdot and people here generally hate Microsoft and want to see them fail just so they can post haha comments.. But I think the whole Nokia+MS partnership was great idea for two companies that weren't doing good, both in the different areas of the industry. They basically combined their good sides to let go off their bad sides.
So basically they milk money from Samsung for using Android but then bribe them into pushing WP7 by giving some of that money back? Would not make sense to at least tell them they don't have to pay the fee if they promote WP7 or is it that MS realises WP7 is going to tank and still wants that Android money.
I think of Mango on SNL
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Except for being effectively exclusive to Microsoft platforms. Mono is barely compatible with .NET, definitely not enough that you can take a binary targeting .NET 3.5 and run it on Linux (which is exactly how Microsoft wanted Java.)
Explain how it is different from Apple's walled garden?
Oh I know about Chevron WP7, it just legitimizes the jail.
I was setting up an Internet/Wi-Fi router for a friend this weekend to replace an old flaky DLINK, and I set it up with a hidden SSID as well as a moderately secure WAP2 PSK. Then I reconnected all their devices to the new setup WiFi access point (laptops, iPod, BlackBerry, my Android phone). All except for the phone running Microsoft Windows Phone 7, because apparently there is no way to specify an unadvertised SSID in WP7. Not even if you turn on advertising the SSID, connect the phone, a disable SSID advertising again. That might not be an issue for some people who don't run unadvertised Wifi at home or work, but I wouldn't want to invest in software that encourages less secure configurations.
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
It's about as likely as 2012 being the year Linux finally makes it mainstream on the desktop...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Umn.. both iPhone and Andriod pre-date Windows Phone 7+ .. maybe you had an older windows mobile version of a phone. Windows Phone 7 isn't bad.. I just don't trust MS with my networked data after various times they've dropped support for similar initiatives. I'm pretty happy with Android, and have been a user since the G1, not on Boost with a rooted Samsung Prevail... If MS is still supporting any infrastructure they have in 3-5 years, I may consider it again.
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
He's right on message with their marketing for the delayed Mango. Earlier articles that (I think) I saw on /. carried the same line: "Ok, really, this is the version that is going to fix all the problems and make it awesome."
I see the future of WP7... it looks like WebOS...
There are plenty of .Net binaries that run cross platform... Mainly those designed with portability in mind... I suppose you could list the number of gtk+ or qt based apps that are magically cross platform? Cross platform support for a complex application isn't always a simple thing... And in Java dependencies on on native libraries is even harder to support cross platform than with .Net.
That aside... I don't trust MS to keep supporting their phone platform infrastructure yet. It's outside their core structure, and MS has a history of dropping edge case support.
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
7.5 is the new release version of "Phone"... 7 is the current release of windows/phone. 8 is the next version (expected late next year) that will unify the API structures. Your comment doesn't make sense.
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
If you want your hottest new phone OS to seem like a half-measure, make sure it labelled 0.5 behind than your current OS.
Do you think that Windows Phone 8 exists yet? They're naming it 7.5 to AVOID naming it Windows Phone 8.
An unannounced phone with rumored specs? Going to buy an iPhone 5 too?
And to achieve this cross platform capability, how much did they have to give up in the Microsoft .NET libraries? Mono will forever be chasing .NET.
Which, obviously, defeats the purpose of Java.
Something tells me they're going to do with this that they did with the xbox: burn money until it takes hold. MS absolutely doesn't want to be pushed completely out of the smartphone space, which is a primary driver for them attacking Android.
Sorry, what? What "software side from Microsoft"? The N9 is a Maemo/Meego phone, which is not developed by Microsoft, but by Nokia and Intel.
I agree that the N9 seems a great device, that's why I'm saddened by the fact that they've given up on that product line and decided to go with MS' operating system.
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He's right on message with their marketing for the delayed Mango. Earlier articles that (I think) I saw on /. carried the same line: "Ok, really, this is the version that is going to fix all the problems and make it awesome."
Where's the news? That is what Microsoft has been telling people since Win 3.1.
> Something tells me they're going to do with this that they did with the xbox: burn money until it takes hold. MS absolutely doesn't want to be pushed completely out of the smartphone space, which is a primary driver for them attacking Android.
If Microsoft had any faith in their ability to make great products, they would have been one of the first to jump on Android and made a must-have Android phone that kicks the iPhones arse. It would have included all kinds of proprietary Microsoft secret sauce that made it integrate seamlessly with Windows desktops, which like it or not 90% of us have.
Many of us would have given it a chance because we wanted something that worked well with our desktops.
But instead Microsoft revealed their deepest fear that they cannot make a decent product and cannot compete on a level playing field against more creative companies. They invented their own and are trying to win by making deals with other companies to spread fear and doubt about patents and lawsuits.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Do they finally support native languages or Java there? Anybody?
Native code is not supported.
It might be possible to get Java to run with IKVM, I don't know. In terms of features, CLR is a strict superset of JVM, so it's always possible to convert Java bytecode to CIL; the question is the libraries. I don't think anybody tried though - why would they?
Microsoft never could have done this, as they have set themselves up as an insular platform vendor that not use outside technologies unless forced to. They absolutely would not release something with their name on it that ran something developed by Google, much less Linux.
Rather, they have placed a new UI on the Windows CE core and added all the proprietary goop you asked for. MS is doing exactly what you suggested, but doubling down on the FUD to try and drive other vendors off the platform of a competitor and on to theirs.
No, you tool. I was countering the point about .NET and Java. Things locked to one vendors platforms are hardly "superior."
Microsoft spends O(billions) on advertising. $44M on a single product that needs help with traction sounds kind of light, actually.
Apparently the ? step for the underpants gnomes was to start a bank.
It worked for the Gnomes of Zurich.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I have a question...has anyone here actually USED a Windows 7 phone? How does it stack up against Android?
Here is what I'm looking at: I have to help my dad get a new phone and here are the requirements, it has to ONLY use Wifi for web, as data plans here suck ass, it has to be easy to get pics off via BT or USB, and it has to be relatively simple to operate and reliable. I'm drawn to the HTC Inspire as i've heard good things about those but not really brand loyal so if a WinPhone will be easier for him to use and manage (He has Windows 7 HP BTW) then I'll get that. The main thing is the Wifi only and easy to drag off pics to his desktop.
So has anybody used both? How do they stack up? all the reviews i've found were all about specs which frankly doesn't tell me squat when it comes to ease of use or whether you can tell the thing to use Wifi only. remember this is for a dad here and NOT a geek, so tweaking/hacking/jailbreaking not an issue since it will run whatever comes default. if anybody has comments, suggestions, recommendations i'm all ears as i'll be the first to admit smartphones just aren't my thing.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I've heard it's even been dragged screaming into the 1990s with multitasking!
WTF is it with the above comment suggesting you look at a linux phone to see how good the next MS Windows phone is going to be? Do you really think there are drivers for MS Windows Phone 7.1 for the devices in that phone? I'll bet the next Nokia phone with MS Windows on it will have very different hardware because it's still too far off for them to announce it.
It's an OS playing catchup so I really have to question the motives of somebody pushing it this way - acting as if an impulse to buy an iphone has been stopped by an impuse to buy something a year or two away and pretending one system is just like a very different one that lags behind in all measures.
I know people that used to work at Nokia and would still have jobs in development (even on a different platform) if Nokia had any sort of plan for survival. It's being wrecked until it will be cheap enough for Microsoft to buy and have as their mobile phone division in a petty game of "me too" with Apple. If instead they put enough people into developing MS Windows Phone they could go beyond catching up and get phone vendors they don't have control over to put it on their devices by choice.
There were concerts, ads, product placements on popular TV shows, purchased "Likes" on Facebook and followers on Twitter - and of course astroturfers to beat all previous levels of astroturfing, including here in these comments by folk who've done no else but astoturf by their comment record. Ad placements on all prominent online venues ensured adoring reviews on those same sites. At best estimate they moved 2M phones, so the cost of marketing is more than the build cost of the equipment - which is not that odd in general but pretty weird in phones at this level. They'd have done better to buy some phones in bulk and give them away to likely influencers. They've not got great ROI for a company whose legions bear Return On Investment as a standard to sell their ware.
The money to Samsung is probably balanced against the patent licensing agreement so Samsung will continue to build new phones noone will buy. Nokia? Well, that's probably part of the $1B already well commented on. And they're not going to turn down any deal because they have the Manchurian CEO.
So now the news is they're stepping it down by 80% and hoping to do more with less. Good luck with that.
WP phones are single core at best. They have limited choice and old tech. At any one retail vendor there will be 0-2 Windows phones up against 0-5 iPhones and 19-30 Android phones. As soon as the customer says "what if..." the salesman is compelled to find the best fit, and the greater selection leads to better fits. Call it fragmentation if you want to. It works.
Nokia built their business on providing many slightly different options to fill the vendor's shelf, pushing out competing options from the shelf. Android vendors have learned from this, and are now out-competing Nokia for shelf space. If you want customers to buy it, it helps if they can fondle it.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
But I think the whole Nokia+MS partnership was great idea for two companies that weren't doing good, both in the different areas of the industry. They basically combined their good sides to let go off their bad sides.
I've been saying the same thing - it's not popular or well-understood here, but if you think long term Microsoft stands a very good chance to make a comeback in a way it would not have without Nokia. Nokia + MS is as close as MS can get to Apple-level tailored hardware for WP7.
And that growth will come mostly at the expense of Android, so it will be a very interesting year ahead...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Very much wrong. Even wikipedia lists it in the Windows CE family because as the GP stated... it is a fancy new UI and API set. You can even link against the older Windows CE libraries and they will run on the phone. Good luck getting it in the Marketplace though.
That M$ is giving Samsung money for what seems like nothing likely has more to do with them charging Samsung to use Android ie a quick 'mea culpa' and please don't do to use what you are going to do to Apple.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Since when was Meego a Microsoft product? Last time I checked Nokia N9 is the first, and probably, one of the last Meego handsets.
Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnête homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre.
OFFS what is it about fruit? Mangos, Apples, Lemons...
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Unfortunately I had the very same experience. Yesterday I walked down to the local T-Punkt here in Germany. They had many Androids on display. Checked out the Galaxy S2: beautiful! Disclaimer: I use an iPhone.
I noticed only three phones on display running WP7. Probably not Mango yet. The one with the biggest display was a HTC (I think) and I checked it out. But for not too long: Every other application displayed a cryptic error code. Something like 80070057. Is this some nostalgia for COM developers? Did not work for me.
Interestingly the other phones worked well. So I do not think it was a connectivity issue. But even if it was: The year is 2011 and I expect a reasonable error message.
Let me fix that last paragraph for you:
But instead, Microsoft realized they could do better than the "me-too" Google phones. Instead of coming up with another boring cluttered smart-phone to compete with everyone re-packaging Android, they hunkered down and proved themselves the more creative company. They came up with a clean new interface and worked tirelessly on building a solid base platform which could easily go head-to-head with anything available. They are trying to win by helping with advertising costs for their manufacturers, just as Google most assuredly does.
Disclaimer: I do work for Microsoft, though I am nowhere near the Windows Phone nor the marketing departments. I have no special non-public knowledge of the goings-on in either department. I am however a proud owner of a Mango phone (HTC Arrive on Sprint). For anyone who hasn't used Mango, it's an incredibly stable feature-rich platform which deserves a look.
I own a WP7 running Mango, It's a pretty decent device, which is fairly easy to use (i came from IOS). However, it's still a new OS with a few glaring omissions (no way to backup for example) and a not very full app-store. To answer your questions:
- Wifi works fine, though it switches off when you lock the phone. No you cant change this.
Getting pics off the phone is done by syncing with Zune via USB or over wifi. Bluetooth file transfers are not supported in the OS, so forget BT.
My girlfriend can use the phone fine and she's extremely non-techy. However, she finds the IPhone easier to use.
Windows Phone 7.1 and later. And if you have looked at N9 from Nokia, you'd be ignorant to notice how great it is.
I have an N9. It is the most beautiful phone I've ever seen and much of the software is great.
But it isn't running Mango. It's running Meego-Harmattan.
(The Mango phone will probably look very similar, so it'll be physically impressive, but the software won't be the same.)
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Some educational information on how to find mangos:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/mango/
(Careful: It's quite hard to get it out of your head afterwards, and sometimes I even find myself clicking the link again *shiver*)
Trolling is a art!
So you're saying that Microsoft has selling versions of Windows for smartphones since 2002, and you're hoping that maybe by next year they'll finally make a version that is good enough for you to buy?
They've been selling desktop operating systems since the early '80s, but Windows 2000 was the first one that I didn't hate. Then they had a small step backwards with XP, apparently a larger one backwards with Vista, and then 7 is good again (I've not used Vista or 7, I'm just going by my father's opinion there).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Disclaimer: I do work for Microsoft
Yeah, we can tell.
-- Linux user #369862
yep but .net devs are dumb. a qt and whatever dev can jump to it in few weeks. but if you have the silverlight is everything mindset.. then you can't jump anywhere.
the post is truthful.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Guys finally when you get to doing the "Will it blend?" test on Mango, please use some yogurt too, and make a Mango Lassi.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I have a question...has anyone here actually USED a Windows 7 phone? How does it stack up against Android?
Most people here wouldn't admit to using anything from Microsoft more recent than Windows 98.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
For anyone who hasn't used Mango, it's an incredibly stable feature-rich platform which deserves a look.
I have an HD7. It is a piece of shit and sits in my drawer at home. My Samsung Vibrant with Cyanogenmod walks all over it in functionality as well as aesthetics. Wake me up when Windows Phone Vista supports ad-hoc networking so I don't have to put my sim in it everytime I want to use that piece of shit. Also, nudge me when it supports text reflow when I zoom in with the browser. What a piece of trash.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
Wait, Microsoft named a phone OS "Mango"? Is it going to come with "Like the deserts miss the rain" as a ringtone?
1. Not broadcasting SSID is a false sense of security. Anyone sniffing will see your SSID since it's not encrypted.
Or you do not need to do that.
2. WP7.5 allows you to specify a SSID
A company that has been making smartphones with wifi longer than Apple, RIM, and Google put that feature in their latest update!
Mango doesn't seem bad but really Microsoft you have no excuse for not being the best out of the gate as this time. You are the worlds largest software company and have been in this market for a long time. To be playing catch up is just inexcusable.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Nokia isn't a newbie. They have a history of making the best mobile devices on the planet, hardware wise. They suck with software. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is actually great OS to new phones. Combined with Nokia's experience with hardware and their history in mobile technology, I think they will actually go far.
I really don't know where this story has come from. Nokia's hardware has almost always been second rate. Never bad, but never nearly the best (original 2110, 6310i as possible exceptions, but even then there were always models which were arguably better). What Nokia phone's had was good usability (that means software). They were the first ones that you could send a decent SMS with. Ones where sending an MMS became really easy. The menu was always intuitive compared to the other mobile phones. What Nokia as a company has had is good logistics, image and marketing.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
I had a windows mobile 6.5 phone, a Samsung intrepid. Ungodly piece of shit it was. Yeah, it worked pretty cool when I got it but the lack of updates, fixes, new bugs introduced in the one update it ever got, and utter lack of ease of use made it a huge loser for me. Using that thing was like trying to use a laptop for a phone. No ease of use, no polish, no intuitiveness anywhere.
My Evo 3d is about a thousand times better, if not more.
I will never, never, never, but a windows phone again.
pending committee review
Widespread depictions of Chris Kattan in gold Lamé hot pants, slapping his gluteus.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
DOS 5 wasn't bad. :) Especially if you replaced the shell with 4dos.
Win2k was the best version of Windows ever. That's a fairly low bar, but there you have it.
Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.
Windows Phone 7 is a completely different beast from WM. MS just released the major 'Mango' update for all Windows phones. The UI is also so completely different from WM that you'll wonder if they were even made by the same company.
This space for rent.
So, Mr. "I've been registered with the Linux Counter for 14 months, I'm so l33t"... I know it's made by the company everyone loves to hate, but have you actually tried out a Mango phone?
-- Linux user # 292874 (Believe it or not, it's possible for someone to like and use more than one OS.)
Shut the fuck up, whiney bitch.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
So it's a 'piece of shit' because it doesn't support adhoc networking?
That's one reason. Another reason is the constant need to orientate it between horizontal and vertical to enter in a url. Also, the shit performance of third party app scrolling. And on and on.
That's not the OS,
No, it's the browser that comes with the OS. Which is a piece of shit.
And the same as the fact that the Android browser's horrible implementation of text reflow that clips inline images and doesn't resize them is not the fault of Android itself.
So, Android reflows and IE on wp7 doesn't. Thank you for verifying how shit your precious is.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
I also own a WP7 running Mango. It's far easier to use than Android and is probably on par with iPhone, though more innovative than a screen of icons. The app store hasn't been a problem yet for me. You'll find all of the 90% apps (as in the ones that 90% of the people use). Where you can have some trouble are apps made for a specific companies services such as bank apps, though I use the mobile site instead. The wifi does switch off when the phone is locked but only when it's not plugged in. This is purely to save battery. You can turn the 3G off in the settings so that it never uses it, though being a smart phone, you have to have some data service or else the phone company won't hook you up. Getting pics is done through Zune which is fine, but not as straight forward as a mounted hard drive. There is a trick you can do to mount it as a hard drive, but I haven't tried it but supposedly once it's done, it's easy after that. I really like my phone (Samsung Focus). In fact, the only reason my wife (who is very non-technical) went from a feature phone to a smart phone was because she saw how easy mine was to use. Android intimidated her. I'm sure she would have been fine with an iPhone as well, I just hate the ecosystem that's thrust on you.
www.joshferguson.org
Also, I forgot to mention. Backups are automatically done to windowsphone.com. I've used it several times and it works great.
www.joshferguson.org
Hey, you piece of shit troll shill mother fucker. Fuck you. Eat shit and die. Choke on your own puke and die in a puddle of it.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
I didn't update my account for some time and it got deleted or I changed my email, I can't remember. I've used Slackware for a number of years before. Nice try though. Fucktard. If you hadn't used the same bullshit Apple spews when they talk about their shit, I might get interested, but that pile of pure bullshit you wrote up is just stupid. I've also never claimed to be "leet" so why don't you stick your fucking strawman arguments up your whiny bitch ass?
-- Linux user #369862