Microsoft

If you use Office you’d probably love a version for your iPhone. Sure you’d have to put up with the bloat that seems sytemic in Office applications but you could work on the Grunkel account spreadsheet while you were riding in the subway. Or waiting to pick up your kid. Or shipping fine champaign in betwixt polo matches. Whatever.

The bad news: no sign of a native Office app on the iPhone. Not surprising, iPhone apps are rapidly becoming either very cheap or very forgotten so expecting Microsoft to crank out an iPhone app for $.99 or even $49.99 isn’t realistic. On the bright side Microsoft is working on web based version of the Office Suite. And, according to Sarahintampa at on10 the web version will work with the iPhone. Let’s get a quote in here:

Q: Do the Office Web Applications require Internet Explorer?

A: No! Office Web applications will work across multiple platforms and browsers including Safari and Firefox, too.

Q: Will the Office Web Applications work on the iPhone?

A: Yes, in the Safari web browser.

That should… more...

Yesterday we noted how Microsoft won’t shut up about the iPhone. Mix in the G1 from Google and T-Mobile, upcoming releases by RIM and you’ve got to wonder if there is any room left for Microsoft in the mobile market. There’s only so much room in consumers minds for OSes and Android+OS X mobile+RIM doesn’t leave much room for Windows Mobile 7.

Quick digression: When IBM came out with a PC Apple took out a full page ad out in the Wall Street Journal welcoming them to the party. The reason wasn’t to promote IBM but because Apple wanted consumers to see Apple as the other major player even though there were still a few other serious computer makers around (Commodore, Radio Shack etc.).

How dark are things looking for Microsoft? Jack Shofield has posted a good over view of the situation at the Guardian. From the article:

But while Microsoft sold 18m smartphone licences in the year to June, 2m short of its target, Apple says it sold 6.9m iPhones during the last quarter alone. As the iPhone goes global, it’s… more...

You remember what your mother told you when you were a kid: “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, wait until they are out of the room”. Microsoft never got that message. It started with the Ballmer classic where he laughed at the iPhone before it came out. You’ve seen it, but can you see it too many times? No you can not.

Oh, Steve, man you kill me. 12 million iPhones later and that still cracks me up. Apparently Microsoft didn’t learn its lesson because Robbie Bach (if you’re over ten it should be Rob or Robert) said:

Apple had a big launch of a new product, and they launched at scale in a lot of new countries with a lot of new operators. This quarter, RIM is having its big launch, and at some point we’ll have our big launch. We’ll have to see where things normalize.

So Apple beating RIM is no big deal because Apple launched a new model in new countries. Hey, whatever makes you sleep… more...

In an interview published yesterday, Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates said that the software giant will not launch a product that competes directly with the iPhone.

“In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile programme”

It looks like this may be a good idea considering the partnerships Microsoft has with other phone manufacturers and Microsoft’s past run -ins with Apple products.

Although Microsoft’s Windows platform maintains a clear lead in the OS wars, their attempt to compete directly with Apple’s iPod fell way short. The success of the Zune portable music player, despite interesting features like song squirting, has not been able to break the global marketshare dominance of Apple’s iPod line.

[Via Guardian]

Things are looking promising for those of us who are waiting for Microsoft Exchange support on the iPhone. AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is seeking a “motivated, highly-technical Exchange test/sync engineer with excellent problem solving and communication skills.”

“You will join a dynamic team responsible for qualifying the latest iPhone products,” the company wrote. “Your focus will be testing Exchange and Outlook functionality with Apple’s innovative new phone.”

I personally, cannot wait for this to happen so I can finally ditch my second phone. I am currently lugging around my Motorola Q in addition to my iPhone with the sole purpose of syncing my work email and calendar.

How about you? Will you be able to use an Exchange sync on your iPhone?

[Via AppleInsider]

George Hotz, the 17 year old New Jersey hacker, who has become the darling of the blogosphere and beyond since the news broke last friday. But apparently, our friends down under got really excited and didn’t fact check their content.

The Herald Sun, Australia’s largest daily newspaper, published a news flash online this morning with the following subhead, “HACKERS have unlocked Microsoft’s new iPhone, allowing it to be used by any network.” No word on whether they called Microsoft for a comment!

Just in case, they realize the mistake and correct it, here is a screenshot.

There is nothing quite like summer carnivals and town fairs and all the carnival games that go with it. My personal fave? Whack-a-mole. You know the game: plastic mole pops up randomly out of holes and you..well..whack the heck out of its head.

So now imagine taking that carnival joy and shrinking it down to an iPhone screen-sized scale. Now imagine having some added incentive to whacking that mole. With iWhack that mole is none other than Steve Ballmer himself.

The game, released by myNuMo, can be played here. Start whacking! And if you need some added incentive, remember what Steve Ballmer said back in April,

Theress no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60 percent or 70 percent or 80 percent of them, than I would to have 2 percent or 3 percent, which is what Apple might get.

Enjoy.

Yes you must be asking just why virtualization Software would allow you to tack on another layer to access already redundant date. Unfortunately some of us use our iPhone in a Windows dominant world and are forced to adapt to Windows based tools for data management. This, as ironic and redundant as it sounds is incredibly useful for users stuck in a pro Windows business.

This feature is only available in the new beta which can be downloaded here.

Via: TUAW

Steve Jobs had a goal of reaching 10 million iPhone sales by the end of 2008, but according to SeekingAlpha analysts, Apple will reach 13.5 million units by the end of 2008.

SeekingAlpha also suggest that Apple will be releasing new iPhone products soon, with a 16GB version available at some point next year and a 3G enabled handset by Spring (but this particular writer is hoping that 3G reaches Europe before then).

Whilst market share will still be rather low after 13.5 million shipped units next year, it’s thought that this number will crush Microsoft’s Windows Mobile devices as last year only 4 million units were sold. Whether or not the iPhone trend will slowly come down to a calm next year is anyone’s guess but it appears that it’s selling like hot-cakes at th minute.

Looks like a bunch of smart folks in the U.K. have figured out a way for iPhone users to get their Exchange email on their iPhone. They are doing this without relying on enterprises to turn on IMAP access on the server side (which has security issues). How? By leveraging Outlook Web Access, the product included in Exchange that allows web access to email.

Commenting on the decision to support Microsoft Exchange synchronization with the Apple iPhone, Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica said, “The iPhone is a very attractive smartphone, appealing to both the consumer and prosumer market. However, IT Managers are not going to permit their executives to synchronize a device that requires them to punch holes in the corporate firewall. Mobile Gateway already supports synchronization with Microsoft Exchange, but does not require firewall modification or any software to be installed in the corporate network, so this won’t be an issue. From a carrier’s perspective, we are significantly expanding the reach of the iPhone into the business user and prosumer segments.”

What isn’t clear to me is what is required from the user standpoint. Does the corporation need to download something and install it? The… more...