Windows 8 Enters the Final Phase Before Release

Microsoft announced Wednesday it was releasing Windows 8 to its manufacturer partners. That means it’s all done tweaking and finalizing the operating system, which is now ready to be incorporated into products.

PC makers such as Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba will certainly be happy to get their hands on the final build of Windows 8, which will let them put the final touches on the first round of PCs that will ship with the new OS when it goes on sale Oct. 26.

It’ll also let them create proper drivers and software for existing Windows 7 machines, most of which will be able to run Windows 8.

In a blog post, Microsoft’s Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, lauded his team for the work they’ve put into Windows 8.

“Back when we first demonstrated Windows 8 in May 2011, we described it as ‘reimagining Windows, from the chipset to the experience,’ and that is what Windows 8 (and Windows RT) represents for both Microsoft and partners,” he wrote. “Together we are bringing to customers a new PC experience that readies Windows PCs for a new world of scenarios and experiences, while also preserving an industry-wide 25-year investment in Windows software.”

Sinofsky also said the most exciting innovations were “yet to come” referring to the work developers will soon begin crafting Windows 8 apps. Developers will be able to download the final build of Windows 8 on Aug. 15, and the following day (Aug. 16), business customers will be able to download the Windows 8 Enterprise edition so they can run pilot programs with it and start testing.

More than 16 million PCs participated in the pre-release testing of Windows 8, Sinofsky revealed, installing some version of the pre-release software the most participants ever for a pre-release of any software Microsoft has ever done. The most recent publicly available build, the Release Preview, was downloaded 7 million times in just eight weeks.

Windows 8 completely re-imagines the Windows to be friendly to both traditional PCs and toucscreen devices like tablets. In doing so, it borrows the minimalist design aesthetic of Windows Phone, called Metro.

Sony’s Microsoft Surface Rival Revealed in Leaked Slideshow

It looks like Sony may be giving Microsoft’s Surface tablet a run for its money. Leaked internal slides suggest the company is working on a new Xperia tablet that would have an optional keyboard cover/kickstand similar to Microsoft’s Surface.

Thinner and lighter than Sony’s Tablet S  the company’s current top-of-the-line tablet the new Xperia tablet would also reportedly come packing a Tegra 3 quad-core processor (the same chip as the one in the Google Nexus 7), Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or later, and 3G data connectivity.

Discovered by German tech site Mobiflip, the leaked internal slideshow provides a good deal of what we might be able to expect from the next-generation tablet.

Sporting “Xperia Tablet” branding, it will have a 9.4-inch TruBlack display, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, and will have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera as well as a 1-megapixel forward-facing cam.

The tablet will also have a guest mode, allowing you to share the tablet with a guest or family member such as a child without giving that person full access to all of the apps or content stored on your tablet.

“Tentative suggested retail prices” on one slide in the presentation suggest that tablet will be available in three different sizes and at three different price points; 16GB/$449.99, 32GB/$549.99, and 64GB /$649.99. Those price points are $50 less than the iPad for each storage size.

Optional accessories for the tablet include several covers and stands, including one with a built-in keyboard as well as another with built-in speakers.

Sony has not officially announced or commented on the tablet. The company is set to attend IFA, a European electronics show next month  where it announced the Tablet S and where it might potentially reveal the tablet.

Microsoft Admits Surface Annoys Windows 8 Tablet Makers

Microsoft admits that its own-brand Surface tablets could affect the firm’s relationship with some of its Windows 8 tablet OEM partners.

The Redmond software giant conveyed these thoughts via an annual report submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday afternoon.

“Our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform,” wrote Microsoft, on page 14 of the document.

The firm went onto admit that it might struggle to attract developers to build apps for Windows 8.

“Even if many users view these devices as complementary to a personal computer, the prevalence of these devices may make it more difficult to attract applications developers to our platforms.”

Microsoft first unveiled the own-brand Surface tablets in Los Angeles last month, with the ARM-powered Surface and Intel-backed Surface Pro expected to reach the market in October. This may well coincide with the launch of Windows 8, with the new operating system due to launch on Oct. 26.

Despite at first being heralded as just a vehicle for driving Windows 8 adoption, the Surface has been heavily promoted by senior Microsoft execs in recent weeks.

Steve Ballmer vowed that Microsoft will use the Surface to do battle with Apple, while Microsoft founder Bill Gates claimed that the tablet could be a real game changer in the tablet market.

Microsoft Reports First Loss in History

As expected, Microsoft reported a quarterly loss for the first time in its 26 years on the market on Thursday afternoon. The tech giant had warned previously that it would be taking a $6.19 billion write-down its 2007 acquisition of aQuantive, which Microsoft once hoped would help it break into the display market that continues to be dominated by Google.

Total losses for the quarter amounted to $492 million, or $0.06 per share a far cry from the $5.9 billion in net income, or $0.69 per share, the company reported for the same period a year ago.

Still, it wasn’t all bad: Revenue increased 4% year-over-year to $18.06 billion. That figure might have been higher, if declining PC sales weren’t damaging sales of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The Windows & Windows Live Division reported a 13% decline in revenue for the fourth quarter and 3% for the full year. The Entertainment and Devices Division saw the biggest growth: Revenue there grew 20% for the fourth quarter and 8% for the full year.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft: Windows 8 to Go On Sale Oct. 26

In the earning release, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reminded investors that there was much to look forward for the rest of the year, including the high-profile lalunches of Office 15 and Windows Phone 8.

Microsoft: Windows 8 to Go On Sale Oct. 26

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a release date of Oct. 26 for the consumer release of Windows 8.

The company had previously announced a “late October” launch date for the new OS, but Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live unit at Microsoft announced the more specific date at the company’s annual sales meeting.

The date was updated on Windows 8′s Wikipedia page within minutes of the announcement.

Meanwhile, the “RTM” (Release to Manufacturing) version of Win 8 is set to hit the first week of August.

The dates are not particularly surprising, since the Redmond software giant typically delivers operating system updates in October. Still, there was always the worry, especially among Microsoft partners that are anxious to bundle the latest OS in their new computers and tablets, that the Metro-design-sporting update could ship too late for inclusion in holiday-buying-season systems. Microsoft revealed its schedule during its annual Windows Partner conference in Toronto.

SEE ALSO:  Microsoft Faces Fresh Antitrust Investigation in Europe

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an aggressive upgrade pricing model. Users running Windows XP,
Windows Vista or Windows 7 can upgrade to Windows 8 Professional for just $39.99 via an online download. Some earlier reports indicated that Microsoft would no longer provide retail box copies of Windows 8 (aside from some upgrade DVDs), but Microsoft didn’t address store availability in its blog post on the subject.

Microsoft Faces Fresh Antitrust Investigation in Europe

Microsoft is under the lens of European Union antitrust investigators once again after failing to offer up to 28 million Windows users a “browser choice screen” (BCS) that was required for the company to avoid potentially painful fines.

In Europe, users setting up Windows for the first time should have been greeted with a browser choice screen since 2009. The BCS offers users a choice between Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer browser and competing products, such as Mozilla’s Firefox browser.

The browser options were set up to avoid European charges that Microsoft was leveraging its dominant position in the world of operating systems to gain an unfair advantage in the browser market.
However, the EU’s Competition Commissioner announced Tuesday that the EU discovered the BCS had not been appearing as required, prompting the EU to launch a new investigation, according to Reuters.

Microsoft quickly confirmed that the BCS wasn’t being delivered as required and blamed the problem on a “technical error” affecting copies of Windows 7 that came pre-loaded with Service Pack 1, which were available beginning in February of 2011.

“. . . While we believed when we filed our most recent compliance report in December 2011 that we were distributing the BCS software to all relevant PCs as required, we learned recently that we’ve missed serving the BCS software to the roughly 28 million PCs running Windows 7 SP1,” reads Microsoft’s statement. “While we have taken immediate steps to remedy this problem, we deeply regret that this error occurred and we apologize for it.”

 SEE ALSO: Apple Perched, Microsoft Hangs, Intel And IBM Look Ugly

Once notified of the problem, Microsoft took several steps to fix the issue and placate the EU’s antitrust team: it designed and began issuing a patch (which should be fully rolled out by the end of the week), it launched an outside investigation into the problem and it offered to extend the BCS compliance period for a little more than a year beyond the currently required 2014 cut-off date.

Apple Perched, Microsoft Hangs, Intel And IBM Look Ugly

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Big banks that have reported second quarter results so far have been big crowd pleasers. Last Friday it was JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo rising sharply after their reports, and Citigroup made bulls smile on Monday with better than expected earnings. Goldman Sachs did it on Tuesday.

Still ahead, Bank of America on Wednesday, and Morgan Stanley on Thursday.

Some of the biggest names in the technology sector are reporting this week.  Intel comes out after the close on Tuesday, IBM reports on Wednesday and Microsoft on Thursday. Out of those three, Microsoft shares are looking the strongest.

Both IBM and Intel have slipped below their 200-day moving averages, a rather bearish technical
development. Microsoft has held its 200-day and is making a run back to its 50-day at $29.80.

New product launches, like the Surface tablet, Windows 8 Office and a line of smartphones with Nokia could help ‘Mister Softee’ reinvigorate its growth.

The biggest of the large cap tech stocks actually reports quarterly earnings next Tuesday, July 24.  Apple also paints the most impressive technical picture.

The stock got down to $530 on May 18 but has chugged 14.5% higher since then, blasting through its 50-day and 10-day moving averages at the end of June.

With a gain of 6.1% from Monday’s close of $606.91, Apple would surpass its all-time high of $644 hit on April 10.  Analysts look for Apple earnings per share to rise 33% and revenue to tick higher by 31% in the second quarter of 2012 versus the same period in 2011.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft Set to Make Next Big Announcement Today

Apple stock trades for 12.9 times expected 2012 earnings.  Benjamin Graham might have been a nibbler at these levels, had he not died in 1976. Graham, the father of value investing and teacher of Warren Buffett, advised in the Intelligent Investor to buy stocks trading at a P/E ratio no more than their long-term growth rate, and ideally not much more than half of the growth rate.  Expressed as a price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, that means less than or equal to 0.5.  Apple has that licked with a 0.59 PEG ratio based on a trailing P/E of 14.8 and a 22.7% consensus 5-year annualized pace of growth.

Check out the Market Blaster video for more on the nascent earnings season, as well as what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will have to face on Tuesday and Wednesday as he gives his semiannual monetary policy address to House and Senate committees on Capitol Hill.

Microsoft Set to Make Next Big Announcement Today

Another week, another big Microsoft announcement.

The tech behemoth has scheduled a press event for 3 p.m. ET on Monday featuring CEO Steve Ballmer. The event will be live-streamed here. A media alert announcing the event was scant on details. However, the smart money is on an Office 15 announcement. The 15th version of Microsoft’s venerable suite of products will dovetail the fall release of Windows 8. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been quietly countering Google’s threat to the franchise by boosting commissions to resellers and cutting Office 365′s prices 20% in March to large companies and universities, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

 SEE ALSO: Microsoft Pulls Out of MSNBC

Apparently learning a trick from longtime rival Apple, Microsoft scheduled mysterious press events last month designed to wring maximum press coverage. Like Apple, Microsoft has tried to keep the content of the announcements secret, though details inevitably leak out.

Microsoft Pulls Out of MSNBC

Microsoft has cut its last ties with MSNBC, dissolving its affiliation with the brand’s website.

The breakup, announced Sunday night, comes after a 16-year partnership between the company and NBC. The latter is buying back its 50% share of the site for an undisclosed sum, according to numerous reports. The website will now move its headquarters from Redmond, Wash., to New York.

The move, which was reported earlier by Adweek and The Daily Beat, among others, comes after unnamed NBC executives cited in the reports have complained about the dissonance between the left-leaning MSNBC TV network and the MSNBC website. The latter attempts a more middle-of-the-road approach and aggregates content from other news outlets. About two years ago, there was a plan to rebrand the website to alleviate the confusion, according to The Daily Beast.

 SEE ALSO: Microsoft aQuantive Buy Leads to Profit-Sucking $6.2 Billion Write-Down

Microsoft and NBC formed the partnership in 1996. NBC bought back its share of MSNBC’s TV operations in 2005, but the two have remained equal owners of the website, which is among the most-visited in the U.S. Though it doesn’t break out MSNBC.com’s figures, comScore in May recorded 170.4 million unique visitors for the month for “Microsoft Media Network,” making it the number 10 web property in the U.S.

Microsoft Buys Perceptive Pixel

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced during the its Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto on Monday that the company is acquiring Perceptive Pixel, a multi-touch interface provider for workstations and walls.

“The acquisition of PPI allows us to draw on our complementary strengths, and we’re excited to accelerate this market evolution,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the office division for Microsoft, in a statement. “PPI’s large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful

Windows 8-based PCs and open new possibilities for productivity and collaboration.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2006, New York-based Perceptive Pixel has long been at the forefront of developing large-scale, multi-touch devices that allows professionals to get closer to digital content. The technology played a prominent role in media during the 2008 U.S. presidential elections when news organizations such as CNN used it to track results.

Meanwhile, Microsoft famously partnered with the company in March to turn a giant HD display into the world’s largest touchscreen at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

It used an 82-inch panel of optically bonded Gorilla Glass, which surpassed the previous optically-bonded Gorilla Glass leader.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft: Windows 8 Shipping at the End of October

Now, Microsoft which has more than 640,000 partners is bringing Perceptive Pixel in house, which will open the doors to greater collaboration in the future.

Microsoft also announced that Windows 8 will launch to manufacturers in August and be available for shipments and upgrades in October.

Microsoft: Windows 8 Shipping at the End of October

Microsoft has finally set a date actually a couple of dates for delivery of Microsoft Windows 8 to customers. The eagerly anticipated operating system overhaul is set to “RTM” (Release to Manufacturing) the first week in August and then ship at the end of October.

These dates are not particularly surprising, since the Redmond software giant typically delivers operating system updates in October. Still, there was always the worry, especially among Microsoft partners that are anxious to bundle the latest OS in their new computers and tablets, that the Metro-design-sporting update could ship too late for inclusion in holiday-buying-season systems. Microsoft revealed its schedule during its annual Windows Partner conference in Toronto, Canada.

Not only will Windows 8 ship on partner devices in late October, but the company revealed that Windows 8 will, at the same time, ship in 109 countries and 231 languages.

With almost four months between now and the Windows 8 ship date, though, Microsoft is trying to ensure that people don’t stop buying Windows PCs and announced that any Windows 7 PC purchased between now and October is eligible for a $14.99 upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. This is the second upgrade deal Microsoft has announced in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Microsoft introduced a $39.99 upgrade program for Windows versions going back to Windows XP.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft aQuantive Buy Leads to Profit-Sucking $6.2 Billion Write-Down

What’s unclear right now is if Windows 8′s new delivery timeline also includes the tablet-friendly Windows RT edition. That timing will also likely trigger availability of the Microsoft-built Surface Tablet.

Microsoft also revealed Monday that the Commerce Engine for Windows App store goes live at RTM in August, which means developers can sell and consumers can buy apps in the app store.

Microsoft aQuantive Buy Leads to Profit-Sucking $6.2 Billion Write-Down

Microsoft is paying dearly for its 2007 aQuantive acquisition, taking a $6.2 billion write-down on the purchase that will likely erase its fourth-quarter profit.

The company announced the move on Monday, right before the July 4 holiday in the U.S., reasoning that “the acquisition did not accelerate growth to the degree anticipated.”

In a press release, the company contrasted its success with its search engine Bing with aQuantive, which was absorbed into Microsoft’s overall advertising unit and focused on online display ads. While Microsoft is pleased with Bing’s success, “the company’s expectations for future growth and profitability are lower than previous estimates” for its Online Services Division.

In its third-quarter earnings, Microsoft reported that the Online Services Division lost $1.4 billion on revenues of $2.1 billion for the previous nine months. The unit has lost money since fiscal 2006.
Despite Microsoft’s troubles with aQuantive, display advertising is a solid business. Revenues for the category rose 15% in 2011 versus the previous year, to $11.1 billion, according to the IAB.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft’s Smartphone Marketshare Down 0.4% Since January [REPORT]

However, the $6.3 billion aQuantive purchase  its second-largest next to its $8.5 billion Skype acquisition last year, suffers by comparison to Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick the month before in 2007. That purchase has been more successful, propelling Google to a projected $2.54 billion in display revenues for 2012 vs. $800 million for Microsoft, according to eMarketer.

The write-down, which comes amid a turnaround year for the company as its Windows 8 release looms this fall, will likely lead to a nearly profitless quarter for Microsoft. The company is expected to announce its fiscal fourth-quarter results on July 19.

So far, the market has shrugged off the news the company’s share price is down just 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. For the year, Microsoft’s stock is up about 17%.

Microsoft’s Smartphone Marketshare Down 0.4% Since January [REPORT]

Microsoft’s Windows Phone is shaping up to be the tech equivalent of a Wes Anderson movie: Well-reviewed by critics, but mostly ignored by the general public.

That, at least, is the takeaway from comScore MobiLens’s report for the three months between February and May. The researcher found that Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market grew just 0.1% over that time to 4%. That’s also a 0.4% drop since January. Year-over-year, Microsoft’s share fell 1.9%, according to comScore.

The metrics come despite glowing reviews for Windows Phone 7 from our editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff, among others. Microsoft has also given Windows Phone 7 a respectable amount of marketing support, including a TV campaign in February featuring Ben “The PC Guy” Rudolph, an evangelist for the platform, who has set up challenges pitting Windows Phone 7 models against the competition.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft Reveals Windows Phone 8

While it appears that none of this has done much to move the needle on sales, it should be noted that comScore doesn’t break out figures for Windows Phone 7, which means that much of the activity may have been driven by Windows Mobile users dumping their old phones for Android-based phones and iPhones.

The introduction of Windows Phone 8, which was announced last week, might also be depressing sales of the legacy OS as consumers wait for a big upgrade in the fall. Reps from Microsoft could not be reached for comment.

Gunmen Set Fire to Microsoft’s Greek Headquarters

Armed man have crashed a van full of gas canisters into Microsoft’s headquarters in Athens, Greece at approximately 01:45 GMT Wednesday, Reuters reports.

According to the police, at least two men armed with pistols and a machine gun had kept security guards at bay while another man rammed the van through the entrance, setting the building on fire.

No one was injured in the attack, but the van was destroyed and the ground floor of the building was badly damaged.

“There was extensive damage on the ground floor. Microsoft will not operate today,” said police spokesman Thanasis Kokkalakis.

The motives behind the attack are unknown, and a police investigation is underway

Microsoft Confirms $1.2 Billion Yammer Acquisition

Microsoft on Monday confirmed its rumored $1.2 billion acquisition of B2B social networking firm Yammer.

Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division, which is led by division president Kurt DelBene, according to Microsoft. The team will continue to report to current CEO David Sacks. Microsoft added that Yammer will bolster its growing portfolio of cloud services. Yammer will “continue to develop its standalone service and maintain its commitment to simplicity, innovation and cross-platform experiences,” according to a press release form Microsoft. The statement adds that Microsoft plans to “accelerate Yammer’s adoption alongside complementary offerings from Microsoft SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.”

 SEE ALSO: Microsoft Surface to Be Wi-Fi-Only at First [REPORT]

Reports of Microsoft’s intended acquisition have been kicking around for the past two weeks since Sarah Taylor, an administrative manager at Ignition Talent Group, tweeted that she overheard the rumor from at the Creamery, a café across the street from Yammer’s San Francisco office.

The reported deal comes after some very recent industry consolidation. Over the past month, Salesforce.com bought Buddy Media for $689 million on June 4 and Oracle bought Vitrue for $300 million on May 23.

Launched in 2008, Yammer provides a Facebook-like platform for businesses that lets employees post news and links and ask questions. Using a model of providing a basic version of its software to bait users into stepping up to premium, Yammer built a successful business, snagging 80% of the Fortune 500 by October 2010. In February, Yammer , which now has 5 million corporate users, raised $85 million in a fifth round of funding led by Daper Fisher Jurvetson that gave the company an implied value of $1 billion.

Microsoft Surface to Be Wi-Fi-Only at First [REPORT]

The initial version of Microsoft Surface will only work with Wi-Fi and not with mobile phone networks according to a report.

Citing “two people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is equipping the phone with a short-range Wi-Fi connection. Microsoft could not be reached for comment on the report.

Microsoft introduced Surface, its latest tablet, on Monday. The company has been guarded about details for the product, withholding its release date and pricing. Details about connectivity has also been scant, but offering a Wi-Fi-only device would put Surface at a disadvantage against the iPad, whose latest iteration connects to LTE networks. However, Apple also sells a Wi-Fi-only device and not offering mobile network connectivity may be a way for Microsoft to keep costs down.

Microsoft Building Its Own Phone? Not So Fast

 

An analyst says Microsoft may be building its own phone. Microsoft says “not so much.”
How did we get here? Let’s just say: Microsoft started it.

This week, Microsoft did the unthinkable: It struck out on its own and introduced Microsoft-designed and -built tablet hardware, the Surface. It was a move that surprised many (including some Windows PC hardware partners), and got people speculating about Microsoft’s other big move this week: unveiling Windows Phone 8.

This mobile OS overhaul will eventually come to partner devices from Nokia, Samsung, HTC Corp and Huawei.

Still, Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund’s assertion that Microsoft is busily lining up contractors to build its own hardware is not unreasonable in light of recent events. It’s just that there’s no indication it’s true.

Look at how the handset maker reacted to the fact that its newest hardware, the lovely large-screen Nokia Lumia 900, is not eligible for the Windows Phone 8 upgrade. It happily embraced the Windows Mobile tributary OS Windows Phone 7.8 for its current devices and will just as eagerly build new Windows Phone 8 devices.

Nokia’s not mad. Why? For one, it gets Microsoft’s strategy; and two, well, it does not want to upset Microsoft.

Nokia is clearly committed to Windows Phone. And yet, as soon as Sherlund wrote clients, according to Reuters, that “Our industry sources tell us that Microsoft may be working with a contract manufacturer to develop their own handset for Windows Phone 8,” the rumor mill was in full swing.

Pretty soon, headlines went from saying Microsoft was considering building its own handset hardware to it was probably doing so. 
 
“That’s where we’re focused right now. Nokia, HTC, Samsung, Huwaei, Windows Phone 8 this year we’re stoked.”

SEE ALSO: Gabi Is a New Way to Visualize and Interact With Facebook

Now if you’re parsing words, the “right now” qualifier in there could leave the door open for a change in strategy down the road. But that would be a possibility whether Sherlund said it was imminent or not. Certainly, Microsoft’s recent activities with the Microsoft Surface tablet prove that.

Microsoft Reveals Windows Phone 8

Microsoft just unveiled the next big step in its mobile software, Windows Phone 8. Codenamed “Apollo,” Windows Phone 8 brings the platform in line with other mobile OSes by adding support for muti-core processors, higher screen resolutions and newer wireless technologies like near field communication (NFC).

Importantly, Microsoft has re-coded Windows Phone from the ground up for the new version. Previous versions of Windows Phone were based on Microsoft’s old mobile OS, Windows CE, but now the platform will share the same source code as the company’s coming desktop OS, Windows 8.

That has big consequences for developers and consumers. For developers, it will be extremely easy to create a Windows Phone app if they already have a Windows 8 app that runs in the Metro environment (and vice versa). For consumers, it means more apps and better hardware to run them.

It also has the effect of rendering every current Windows Phone obsolete, since those phones won’t be able to run the new software. They will, however, get an upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft’s Surface Tablet RT: How it Compares to the iPad

Windows Phone 8 adds support for many new hardware features. The most anticipated is support for multi-core devices, which have become common on both Android and iOS platforms. There’s also support for better screen resolutions, including 720p and 1,280 x 768 (WXGA). That’s not quite retina, but it’s better than the 800 x 480 screen of the Nokia Lumia 900, one of the current leading Windows Phones.

On top of that, the new Windows Phones include support for external storage in the form of microSD cards as well as NFC.

NFC support opens the door for mobile payments, of course, and Microsoft is way ahead of you. The company says it’s created the “most complete” mobile wallet solution, working directly with carrier partners to implement it. In the U.S., that means working with ISIS, a mobile-payments collaboration between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, though Microsoft says consumers won’t see the fruits of that partnership until next year.

Windows Phone 8 puts Nokia Maps front and center, removing the redundancy between that service and
Microsoft’s own Bing Maps service. It will support offline viewing of maps.

In the biggest cosmetic change, the dynamic “live tiles” on the home screen in Windows Phone 8 have been given an extreme makeover. They’re now much more customizable, giving users many more options for colors and sizes. The idea is you can tailor your home screen in much more detail  for example, if you’re a sports nut, you can decorate it with sports apps that update on the fly with scores and photos.

Microsoft also has much more to offer IT departments with Windows Phone 8. The new OS supports encryption, secure boot and device management, and it includes mobile versions of Microsoft’s popular Office apps.