Microsoft: We'll Sell 30 Million Phones in 18 Months

Microsoft has great expectations for Windows Phone 7.

With the Kin One and Two impressing approximately no one, the world is looking to Windows Phone 7 to see what Microsoft is really bringing to the table in terms of competition for Apple and Google.

The first WP7 consignment is due in the fall of this year. Ballmer says in time for the holidays but several reports suggest some manufacturers will get their ducks in a line in time for a September launch. Despite a launch that is no where close to the Windows Phone 7 announcement (which was back in March), Microsoft is extremely optimistic about the OS and how many phones the company will shift.

Microsoft is estimating they'll sell 30 million Windows Phone 7 devices by the end of 2011, or in the next 18 months. When you take away the three months between now and September, that gives Microsoft just 15 months to sell 30 million units. That's 2 million phones per month.

At a ReMix conference in France yesterday, Microsoft said it expects 40 percent of the phones sold in 2011 to be smartphones. This is compared with just 14 percent of phones this year. It seems the company believes that with this high number, the company believes it can shift 30 million devices by the end of 2011.

MobileTechWorld, which attended the conference, reminds us that to date, Apple has sold 51,234,000 iPhones.

HP Tries to Explain Why Printer Ink is So Expensive

It's a lot of money for a little liquid.

You've been able to buy an ink jet printer for close to a song these days, especially when they go on sale. But when the inexpensively priced printer stops printing things with the same sort of graphical fidelity as it did out of the box, things can get expensive from there.

That's the thing with ink jet printers – the hardware itself is cheap, but the ink refills will get you in the end. But have you ever asked yourself why the ink is so expensive? Sure, it may be the razor and blade model, but it's still an awful lot to pay for just 10 to 20 milliliters of liquid. In comparison, a Heinz ketchup dipping pack contains 27 ml of ketchup, while the older single packets held 9 ml.

The difference between ketchup in printer ink, however, is vast. HP claims that it spends $1 billion a year on ink research and development – that's some high-tech ink.

"These liquids are completely different from a technology standpoint," said Thom Brown, marketing manager at HP, in a Computerworld story.

HP's first ink jet printer in 1985 had 12 nozzles in the print head and fired droplets at a rate of 10,000 per second, which doesn't even compare to today's Photosmart ink jet that uses 3,900 nozzles that fire 122 million drops per second.

Still, that won't help consumers feel better about paying lots for a little ink cartridge. Computerworld suggests that it may help consumers decipher ink jet cartridge replacement value to list the liquid volume inside each cartridge.

Brown, however, said that doing so would just confuse the customer. "Each system has a different way it uses ink or the drop size is different. If you looked strictly at volume you wouldn't see those differences and it would be confusing to the customers."

To HP's credit, it does list the maximum page yield, but that's only for black and white text and it's from a non-standardized measurement.

For now, it seems that consumers will either have to look at more economical, aftermarket, but perhaps less satisfactory ink replacements. There's always laser too.

Unhappy AT&T Customer Shoots AT&T Employee

An AT&T customer yesterday entered a New York store and shot one employee before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer who happened to be in the store.

Abraham Dickan, 79, was a very unhappy AT&T customer. Dickan had reportedly been abusive and angry toward employees at the New York Mills store on several occasions before. He had even had police reports filed against him for brandished weapons at the staff there, though Lt. Troy Little says he had no priors.

Yesterday, Mr. Dickan entered the store with a .357 magnum in his hand, and a list containing the names of six employees he intended to shoot. The senior citizen shot at the first AT&T worker, Seth Turk, but was gunned down by an off-duty police officer. WKTV reports that Rome Police Officer Donald J. Moore saw and heard the gun and shot at Dickan right away.

Dickan was killed by Officer Moore's shots but Seth survived and was transported to St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica for surgery, where he remained Thursday evening in critical condition.

A letter was found on Dickan's person, which apparently showed he was upset by previous incidents at the store. He had been banned from the store (presumably after he waved a handgun around the first time), but no court order had been filed to keep him off the premises.

Mobilink Infinity Launches WiMAX Dongle in Karachi

Mobilink Infinity has introduced WiMAX dongle for its WiMAX broadband subscribers in Karachi. With WiMAX dongle, Mobilink Infinity subscribers will be able to enjoy the broadband internet while on the go.

Mobilink Infinity WiMAX dongle gives its customer the freedom of getting connected to internet anywhere anytime. Infinity WiMAX dongle offers Plug & Play feature with maximum portability and mobility. Infinity WiMAX dongle is particularly useful during the power cuts, as it is power independent and does not requires external power.

Mobilink Infinity WiMAX dongle is offered in four different packages depending upon your monthly Internet usage and Internet speed requirements and it is currently available in Karachi only.

Tariff for Mobilink Infinity Dongle

• Additional Data rate will be Rs. 30 per 100 MB.
• WiMAX Dongle rental Rs.100 applies on all packages.
• Activation charges will be Rs.3,999 for all packages.

Terms and Conditions:

• WiMAX Dongle will remain the property of Mobilink.
• Refundable security deposit will be Rs.2,000 for Basic and Rs.2,500 for Optimum packages.
• Infinity voice services are not available with WiMAX dongle.
• The service is currently available in Karachi only.
• Mobilink Jazz customers will be charged Rs. 1 + tax for calls on 369.

Warner Bros. Accused of Pirating Anti-Pirating Tech

A Hollywood studio notorious for pursuing movie pirates is accused of pirating. The irony!

Now here's an ironic twist: a major Hollywood studio--one of many that have diligently pursued movie pirates for years under the MPAA's wing--is now accused of piracy. A complaint (pdf) filed in the court system states that Warner Bros. stole an anti-piracy technology patent from German company Medien Patent Verwaltung (MPV). The lawsuit also lists Technicolor and Deluxe in New York and Germany, and says that all three studios are infringing on patent 7,187,633 called "Motion Picture and Anti-Piracy Coding."