IBM, Microsoft, Google, Verizon

Microsoft to Sell Phone on Verizon by Summer: Source

March 5, 2010

Reuters - Microsoft Corp is aiming to launch two phones that will be sold by top U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless in late spring or early summer, a person briefed on the matter said on Thursday.

The phones would be targeted at heavy users of social network sites, according to the person who asked not to be identified as the devices have not yet been announced.

The phones are being developed by Microsoft under the code name Project Pink, the person said. Representatives for Microsoft and Verizon Wireless declined comment.

Microsoft primarily competes in the wireless industry by selling its Windows mobile software to multiple handset makers, but it has been losing market share to Apple Inc, Google Inc and others.

The software company also sells the Sidekick phone, which is manufactured by Sharp Corp. The Sidekick came from its acquisition of start-up Danger Inc.

Microsoft has long denied rumors that it is developing new cellphones beyond the Sidekick, but talk about Project Pink has persisted.

Technology blog Gizmodo on Thursday posted photographs (see next post) of a black phone with rounded edges that slides open and includes a mini-keyboard.

Gizmodo said the photographs, which show Microsoft branding and the Verizon Wireless logo, were part of marketing materials that a tipster had sent to the blog.

Leaked Documents: Microsoft's Secret Phones Coming to Verizon

March 4, 2010

Gizmodo - After the Windows Phone 7 launch passed without so much as a mention of Project Pink, Microsoft's other new phone project started to fade into memory. Today, we can confirm: Pink's coming, and Verizon's the carrier. UPDATE: First live shots.

A tipster passed us a load of 3rd-party marketing materials, in which a promotional plan for Pink is laid out in detail. (Campaign specifics and most graphics have to be witheld to protect the innocent, but rest assured, they're legit.) The documents don't talk about specs or software details, or more importantly why the hell Microsoft thinks this weird little pebble is a good idea, but there's plenty we can learn:

• The early Pink renders leaked to us back in September? Those are exactly the same ones included in the proposal.

• Of the two phones in prior leaks, only one shows up here: The Turtle vertical slider. It's a messaging phone, basically—one part Pre, and two parts Sidekick. (Or maybe three.)

• Verizon is a launch partner for the device, and probably an exclusive carrier. The branding and marketing in the documents suggests a joint Microsoft/Verizon launch, but another carrier isn't completely out of the question.

• The phones aren't running Windows Phone 7, unless it's hidden behind a different interface. Virtually all rumors around the Pink platform implied as much, and again, this appears to be something fundamentally different.

• Social Networking! It's all over the proposal, and presumably, the phone.

• It's suggested that the platform has apps of some sort. For a phone like this to share apps with Windows Phone 7 is pretty much impossible—the minimum hardware requirement for a Windows Phone look out of reach for this little black lump—so this one's a big question mark. Is it another SDK? Or closed app development like we've seen on the Zune HD? Web apps?

Since the documents come from a party working with Microsoft, and not Microsoft itself, a few things are missing: there's no mention of a release name for the product (Pink is the codename we've been using, but the launch title could be different.); stil no sense at all as to how the interface works; and no announcement or launch date. The documents are just days old, and hint at a near-term launch, which would be inline with what we've been hearing about a second Microsoft phone launch at or around CTIA at the end of this month. And remember, this are marketing materials, designed to promote a launch, not just an announcement. In other words, Pink, or whatever the hell it is, will likely beat Windows Phone 7 to market. So that explains all those Tweets, I guess.

All these missing pieces add up to a massive gap, not just in the phone's feature sheet, but in our understanding of what it's supposed to be. If it's a replacement for the Sidekick, the obvious question is, is anyone asking for a replacement for the Sidekick? If it's just a Microsoft-branded feature phone, er, why? Doesn't the future of youth/budget phones all about scaled-back smartphones (see: Pixi, Backflip), and not glorified feature phones?

UPDATE: More insiders have come forward, and now we have a possible timeframe: Late April. Oh, and there are two phones, as implied by the original leak. The second, according to our tipster, is the Pure horizontal slider, pictured below:

So these two phones - the Sharp PB10ZU and the PB20ZU - there are names for them but I can't tell you what they are, cause Verizon may just put out different code names in order to find out where any leaks occur. And frankly the names are really really awful sounding so I hope what I've been told aren't the final names anyway...

Apparently the interface shares some aesthetic elements with Windows Phone 7, albeit with "some sort of UI skin/more of a social-networking edge to [it]." As for release, apparently Verizon is "looking at a late April launch date," though this isn't set in stone. [Thanks, Tipsters!]

IBM Banks on China for Growth in Energy Division

March 4, 2010

Reuters - IBM sees strong market potential for "smart grids" power distribution systems in China as the country seeks ways to use energy more efficiently.

Technology giants including Google, Cisco and Microsoft are investing heavily in smart grids, intelligent power-distribution systems designed to be more responsive and interactive than today's traditional power grids.

In terms of countries, China, the world's biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, is investing the most. Beijing plans to invest $7.3 billion in smart grid projects in 2010, more than the United States, according to Zpryme, a market research firm in Austin, Texas.

China is far behind the United States and Japan in terms of its smart grid development.

"China is pursuing smart grids as aggressively or more aggressively than any other country in the world right now," Brad Gammons, vice-president of IBM's Global Energy & Utilities Industry, told Reuters in an embargoed interview last week.

"They're very focused and have a very strong commitment to move in that direction," he said.

IBM -- which counts State Grid Corp. of China, the nation's leading power grid operator, as one of its customers -- unveiled its Energy & Utilities Solutions Lab in Beijing this week.

Smart grids include computerized monitoring of the electricity flowing though a power grid and allow utilities to manage electricity usage automatically.

IBM's products span the range of smart grid systems, including the automation of power stations and electricity distribution networks with the use of digital sensors and communication networks.

CHINA GROWTH

China's smart grid could take five to 10 years to fully develop, said Wendy Wang, an analyst with Yuanta Securities, adding the nation is still trailing the United States and Japan.

"China offers huge growth opportunities for investors in smart grids given increased spending in the sector," she said.

"Investors will benefit from the transformation of the country's grid infrastructure and we will see opportunities from the building of the ultra high-voltage grid down to the development of meters and software."

IBM expects the China revenues of its energy and utilities division to grow by $400 million from now until 2014 as Beijing banks on "smart grids" to make the country more energy-efficient, Gammons said.

While the company gave no detailed breakdown, a report from Macquarie Equities Research puts IBM's China revenue at $2.6 billion in 2008. IBM saw total revenue of $95.76 billion for all of 2009.

"We're looking at $400 million in incremental revenue over our base revenue in China over the next four years," he said. "We're making investments in China based on the grid opportunities we see."

IBM is eyeing partnerships with local companies as it seeks to expand its business in China, Gammons added.