Microsoft plans to pass wireless auction: CEO
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Microsoft Corp  said on Tuesday it will not participate in an upcoming U.S. mobile phone airwave auction despite speculation that Web rival Google Inc  will bid at least $4.6 billion on the wireless spectrum.
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Microsoft says it is on track to sell its millionth Zune music player, the software company's would-be challenger to Apple's enormously popular iPod.
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Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile are expected to be the most aggressive bidders for U.S. wireless airwaves in a January auction that analysts say could give them added resources to expand and improve service.
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A venture led by Microsoft Corp   co-founder Paul Allen has applied to bid in an  upcoming U.S. auction of coveted wireless airwaves, according  to auction documents released late on Tuesday.
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Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is expected to mark progress in the company's strategy to provide digital content...
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Microsoft Corp.  sees the shift  by business organizations to Web-based phone systems running on  its software to generate "billions" of dollars in revenue for  the company, a top executive said on Tuesday.
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Communications regulators have  cleared Google Inc  to bid in an upcoming auction of  coveted wireless airwaves, according to auction documents  released by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday.
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Microsoft&#39;s new Mobile Device Manager faces a shortcoming because it is exclusive to Windows Mobile devices, but that might change, an executive said on Tuesday.Scott Horn, general manager at Microsoft&#39;s mobile and embedded device group, left the door open to potential future support for non-Windows Mobile devices.&quot;Today, we have nothing to announce,&quot; he said. &quot;But we&#39;re looking at it, we&#39;re thinking about it. Who knows what the future brings?&quot; Horn spoke during a press lunch at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.He mentioned that Microsoft has in the past licensed ActiveSync as a way to extend services to non-Microsoft devices.Microsoft introduced System Center Mobile Device Manager&#160;at the conference. The software lets IT administrators manage and secure Windows Mobile phones. Unlike some other management products on the market, including Nokia&#39;s Intellisync, it is compatible only with phones running the Windows Mobile operating system.AT&amp;T, which is supporting Mobile Device Manager, said there is inertia among IT administrators. IT managers are worried about security and management issues, said Mike Woodward, vice business marketing for AT&amp;T. He thinks that the software as well as the services from a new company,&#160;Enterprise Mobile, will spur more enterprise use of mobile phones. Woodward could not offer specifics about how it will support Mobile Device Manager or how exactly it will work with Enterprise Mobile.For now, the new software and the services from Enterprise Mobile, which help enterprises deploy and manage mobile phones, are designed for large businesses. Mobile Device Manager, expected to come out next year, could support as many as 5,000 users. Enterprise Mobile doesn&#39;t expect to begin thinking about serving smaller businesses for another 12 to 18 months because it will be focused on making sure it knows what large enterprises need, said Steve Moore, president of Enterprise Mobile.
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REDMOND, Wash. - Microsoft Corp. plans a launch this spring of its next-generation operating system for wireless devices, Windows Mobile 6, which is important for the company's efforts to grab market share beyond the desktop.
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Microsoft Corp plans to invest heavily  in Web search to compete against Google Inc, even if it fails  to acquire Yahoo Inc, the company's chairman Bill Gates said on  Monday.
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Microsoft boss Bill Gates tells the BBC of his plans for the future of digital entertainment in the home
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(InfoWorld) - Louis Freeh, former director of the FBI, has endorsed a wireless spectrum auction proposal from Frontline Wireless, saying its plan represents the best chance for U.S. public safety agencies to get a much-needed interoperable communications system. Frontline's proposal would allow private investments to build a national wireless network for public safety agencies, such as police and fire departments, said Freeh, who served as head of the FBI from September 1993 to June 2001. Frontline is asking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â to require that the winner of part of the spectrum in the 700MHz band to be auctioned by early next year build a nationwide wireless network to be shared by public safety agencies and commercial providers. "This auction is just the last chance, at least in my time, for some effective plan to be implemented," Freeh said at a Frontline press conference Thursday. Freeh said he's been calling for a national, interoperable public safety network since the early 1980s, but the U.S. government hasn't made it happen. Following the terrorist attacks on the U.S., the national 9/11 Commission recommended that public safety should get additional spectrum for an interoperable network. Following a lengthy debate, U.S. television stations will abandon the 700MHz band in February 2009. In many cases, the emergency response agencies responding to the Sept. 11 attacks couldn't communicate with each other because their radios operated on different spectrum bands. There's a "critical need" for emergency response agencies to better communicate, Freeh said. "A private sector fix is exactly what's needed," he added. The Frontline plan, opposed by some U.S. lawmakers, wireless carriers, and think tanks, would take 10MHz from 60MHz to be auctioned and add it to 12MHz of a 24MHz block reserved for public safety. Frontline has called for the winner of the 10MHz to be required to offer the spectrum to wireless and broadband providers on a wholesale basis. Several lawmakers have questioned the so-called open access rules endorsed by Frontline and other groups. This week, 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the FCC, suggesting the open access rules would dictate how auction winners manage their networks and could reduce the value of the spectrum. Verizon also opposed open access, saying supply and demand should determine what the spectrum is used for. "The wireless industry has produced a steady stream of innovations ... that have given American consumers myriad choices about how they use their wireless service," said Steve Zipperstein, Verizon Wireless' vice president and general counsel, after a congressional hearing this week. "Consumer choice would be the casualty of policies that mandate that all companies do the same thing the same way." But the wholesale provision will allow new wireless broadband services across the U.S., and Frontline is asking for open access rules on 10MHz of the spectrum to be auctioned, said Reed Hundt, Frontline's vice chairman and former FCC chairman. The current crop of large wireless and broadband providers aren't interested in creating new networks or in fostering more competition, he said. Hundt and several Frontline allies said auction rules that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin endorsed this week appear to fall short of creating a third broadband competitor to the large cable and telecom providers. Martin, in media reports, called for a part of the spectrum auctioned to include rules that would allow customers to run the applications of their choice and to use the wireless devices of their choice. But without the wholesale rules, large companies that win the spectrum can stifle competition, said Ram Shriram, founder of venture capital firm Sherpalo Ventures. The new spectrum "should not have a gatekeeper for new applications to be offered," he said.
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Microsoft Corp. sees the shift by  business organizations to Web-based phone systems running on  its software to generate "billions" of dollars in revenue for  the company, a top executive said on Tuesday.
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Frontline Wireless, a startup that had planned to bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission&#39;s upcoming&#160;700MHz spectrum auction, has &quot;closed for business,&quot; a spokeswoman said Wednesday.Frontline, backed by veterans of the wireless industry and U.S. government, was one of the major advocates of a plan for the FCC to pair about 10MHz of spectrum set aside for emergency response agency communications to another 10MHz to be sold in the auction starting Jan. 24. The auction winner would then be required to build a wireless network that emergency responders such as police and fire departments could share with commercial interests.Frontline had also pushed the FCC to adopt so-called&#160;open-access rules&#160;on part of the 62MHz of spectrum to be auctioned.The FCC in July largely adopted the emergency communications auction plan advocated by Frontline and other groups, and it approved an amended open-access plan on 22MHz of the spectrum. The FCC required that the winner of the 22MHz allow any wireless devices to connect to the network, meaning wireless telephone customers could bring their handset devices from other carriers. The FCC also prohibited the winning bidder on the 22MHz block of spectrum from blocking or slowing wireless and Web content from competitors.Frontline spokeswoman Mary Greczyn said Wednesday the company would have no further comment beyond saying Frontline is &quot;closed for business at this time.&quot;Up-front payments for bidding in the 700MHz auction were due Jan. 4. The up-front payment for the D block, the spectrum for emergency communications, was $128.2 million, and the payment for the 22MHz C block was $282.1 million.Frontline, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, first made a splash in early 2007, when it&#160;proposed an open-access network&#160;that emergency responders would share with commercial providers. Frontline said then it planned to offer wholesale access to the network to other wireless providers.Frontline was backed by several heavy hitters in the wireless and tech industries, as well as former senior U.S. government officials. Haynes Griffin, founding CEO and president of Vanguard Cellular Systems, served as Frontline&#39;s CEO, and Janice Obuchowski, former head of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, served as the company&#39;s chairwoman. Reed Hundt, a former chairman of the FCC, served as Frontline&#39;s vice chairman.James Barksdale, former CEO at Netscape, and John Doerr, a partner in the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield &amp; Byers venture capital firm, were among the company&#39;s backers.
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Microsoft Corp. plans a launch this spring of its next-generation operating system for wireless devices, Windows Mobile 6, which is important for the company's efforts to grab market share beyond the desktop.
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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK  - Google Inc said on Friday it would take part in a major auction of wireless spectrum airwaves, meeting a minimum required bid of $4.6 billion, if U.S. regulators added a sale condition that Google said would promote an open wireless market.
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The head of the Federal  Communications Commission expressed concern on Tuesday that the  credit crunch could hinder bidders in an upcoming government  auction of wireless airwaves.