Microsoft Lost $900 Million Last Quarter From Surface RT

Microsoft has released its latest earnings report for the last quarter which has missed analyst’s expectation.

The most prominent thing in the whole of it is the fact that the company has lost a mind-blowing $900 million from the failure of Windows RT. Up till now, it hadn’t remained a secret that the Surface RT was selling abysmally but the graveness of the situation just couldn’t have been imagined.

In all, Microsoft still managed to churn out a revenue of 19.9 billion dollars which was a bit below analysts’ expectations of 20-odd billion dollars, resulting in the dropping of shares by 4%. This meant a net income of $4.97 billion.

What might be pleasing for some people is that Microsoft actually benefited from Windows Phone division by $222 million. That, however, is most-possibly due to the licensing of patents rather than increase in sales (but you can’t deny that they are increasing).

Also the Business and Entertainment & Devices divisions showed promise thanks to the success of the new Office products and Xbox.

The Windows division, however, also saw the revenues decline, by a distressing $281 million, mainly due to the plunging of the PC, and the fledging of the tablet markets. The poor sales of Windows 8 have also fuelled the loss.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own performance in the tablet market, the Surface RT has been a failure, from head to toe, mainly due to the lack of apps and the buggy software. Even Microsoft’s recent $150 price drop couldn’t do much to aid the virtually non-present sales.

The time has come for them to realise their mistakes and go back to the drawing board, otherwise, the tablet will go down in history as yet another failed Microsoft product.

Nokia Chief Reveals Why Nokia Didn't Go Android

A lot of harsh words and bashing (including from this author) followed the moment when Nokia told the world that Windows Phone was its future. Two years later, Stephen Elop, the Nokia chief has shown that he is a man of his words. After the Lumia 1020 announcement last week, he told the press why Android isn’t an option.

What’s ironical, however, is that his judgement that Android will end up benefiting one manufacturer was somewhat true, as clear by the case of Samsung.

“What we were worried about a couple of years ago”, he said, “was the very high risk that one hardware manufacturer could come to dominate Android. We had a suspicion of who it might be, because of the resources available, the vertical integration, and we were respectful of the fact that we were quite late in making that decision. Many others were in that space already”. And that’s where Samsung exactly is.

“Now fast forward to today and examine the Android ecosystem, and there are lot of good devices from many different companies, but one company has essentially now become the dominant player.”

While it’s true that other manufacturers have been cashing in from Android quite a lot lately, it’s Samsung which stands atop everyone else, and that too by a monstrous margin.

You look at a number of other Android providers right now and they’re in a tough spot.

This compelled Nokia to look for a third alternative to the competition. The deal with Microsoft has also granted Nokia some exclusive rights and perks, the most prominent among which is the $250 million quarterly payments. They wouldn’t have gotten so much by Google.

While, arguably, Nokia has lost the smartphone race already, but they are still making sufficient enough to keep the ball rolling. And who knows if there might come a time when Windows – backed by mighty Microsoft – outshine other operating systems (in terms of features, performance and apps) and that is when Nokia will have the chance to get crowned again.

Android Reaches 1.5 Million Daily Activation, 900 Million Active Devices, 50 Billion App Downloads

Google’s iconic CEO,Larry Page, took to Google Plus today to announce the new achievements of his company’s platforms, most prominent among them being Android and Chrome.

One of the most important things he told was that the number of daily activations of Android have reached 1.5 million per day. The total number of devices running on the platform has also reached 900 million.

That, he says, is incredible for a platform which was founded less than five years ago. In it’s current pace, Android will reach a billion activations in this very year.

“We’ve now activated more than 900M Android devices worldwide–and we’re lighting up over 1.5M devices every day.  That’s pretty amazing given the first Android phone launched less than five years ago.”

Regarding apps, he said that the total number of apps downloaded via Google Play has reached 50 billion, a mind-boggling figure considering the fact that the figure stood at 25 billion in March when Andy Rubin stepped down about 4 months ago.

He also took time to announce that Google Chrome has reached 750 million users. He boasted proudly that his company has been taking challenges & risks throughout his history, while also expressing his excitement for Motorola’s upcoming new device.

Whatsapp to Goes For a Subscription Model on iOS

Whatsapp, the popular instant messaging service won’t be charged at USD 1 on app store from now onwards, instead it has become free of charge for the downloading and first 12 months usage.

After first year, iOS users will have to pay a subscription fee of USD 0.99 per year, for rest of the life.

This is inline with Android and other platforms, where Whatsapp was already free for download and for first year usage.

Giving $1 yearly is a pretty good deal for a nice, little app but a lot of people among 250 million or so users of the popular service surely won’t be too happy.

Still, if you find it difficult to pay that amount, you can look at the countless no. of similar services available right now including Viber, Nimbuzz, Google Talk and BBM (if you already have a subscription because that one is also paid) which is coming to Android and iOS soon.

But still, almost none of them is available on as many platforms as Whatsapp which is available on Symbian, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BB10 and Symbian S40 and S60.

Whatsapp recently announced that its 200 million active users send 10 billion text messages every day, while 17 billion messages are received by users.

Apple Unveiled Logic Pro X, iPad Integration

Apple announces to launch the Logic Pro X its upgraded version of musician tool, in the new version includes the stunning features of drumming style and various techniques. Flex pitch which supports the integrated pitch editing facility for audio recording, track stacks allows the users to manage multiple tracks within the single track and Arpeggiator MIDI plug-in.

In this regard Apple also announces to launch logic remote with iPad app which amazingly allows users to play and control the Logic Pro X.

Additionally Apple brings MainStage 3, which is live show friendly app for Logic Pro X; its new version of app includes the exciting new user interface and compatible with new Logic Pro X plug-in.

So users can purchase the new Logic Pro X from Apple Store and price is $199.99.