microsoft

Microsoft and Nokia are planning to tackle the smartphone market and hit hard with new low-end hardware, according to a report by Reuters. With multiple high-end products from Nokia, HTC, and Samsung already available, the company is now looking at the cheaper price points that attract a large portion of consumers. The Lumia 521 is such a Windows Phone that Microsoft hopes will win over the minds of consumers.

I know what you're thinking, "Oh, not more patents!" Believe me, we wish we could simply forget about the business altogether and focus on technology and innovation, but we're talking about multiple corporations here. Microsoft is battling it out against Google and are currently in a strong position. This has been reinforced with ZTE becoming the 20th company to have taken a royalty-bearing Android license. 

Today the Munich Higher Regional Court rejected Google's (Motorola) appeal against Microsoft's injunction against Motorola, which was granted back in 2012. The patent in question is EP1304891 on "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface." The lower court's ruling has now been affirmed by the appeals court and so the injunction remains in place for the foreseeable future.

The next few months are shaping up to be super busy around here at Windows Phone Central. The Lumia 928 is right around the corner for Verizon. Then we have Catwalk in June, followed by EOS in July. And that’s all just from Nokia. We’ve got E3 in the first part of June and BUILD towards the end of that month. And on May 21st we’ll be learning about the next Xbox for the first time.

Over the weekend, we wrapped up our ‘How Microsoft can save Xbox games on Windows Phone’ series with a Microsoft video interview that we’d been saving for just such an occasion. That video focused exclusively on the Xbox Windows Phone issues raised in our editorial series, but it didn't exactly put our concerns to rest. All we Xbox enthusiasts can do is keep pushing the editorials and issues with Microsoft until finally the right people realize the need for improvement and start effecting changes.

And while many of those issues have yet to be resolved, I’d be hard-pressed to claim that Windows Phone gaming has not improved since the debut of Windows Phone 8. Game development is easier than ever, and many companies who ignored Windows Phone 8 are now onboard for 8. When we sat down to talk with Microsoft's Larry Lieberman, Senior Product Manager and Casey McGee, Senior Marketing Manager, our first subject of business was all those recent advances that make Windows Phone gaming better than ever.

Head past the break to learn just how things are looking up and see the second part of our video interview!

Microsoft has announced that chief financial officer Peter Klein will leave the company at the end of this current fiscal year. The news comes alongside the company's Q3 2013 earnings. Klein has been at his post for just four years, but has been at Microsoft since 2002. A new CFO will be named from the "finance leadership team" at Microsoft within the next few weeks.

Microsoft has announced on its official blog that a major upgrade will be rolled out for its account system, including optional two-step verification. We've lightly touched on this added layer of security recently, as well as looking at the Authenticator app that's available for Windows Phone.

Is there a need for a Microsoft Windows or Surface Phone?  Microsoft's Vice President of the Windows Phone Division, Terry Myerson, doesn't think so.  Speaking in an interview with AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile series, Myerson said there just isn't a need for such a device but left the door open should situations change.

"It would have to be something where Nokia or HTC was not providing the consumer experience we think is possible with our platform."

There has been speculation for sometime that Microsoft was leaning towards producing their own hardware. Myerson feels that Microsoft's partners are doing a good job of it and doesn't see the need for Microsoft to step in and start producing hardware.

We recently took a look at Microsoft planning to open a store in Salt Lake City with a special performance from Train. The company is looking to carry out a similar opening ceremony in Beachwood with Kelly Clarkson set to head up an appearance. So when's the store opening? Tomorrow, April 13th.