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Microsoft has launched its new web browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).The product was first released to the public in beta form a little over a year ago, and the company claims that the new program’s speed and security will change users’ perception of the web and even foster the creation of a more “beautiful” internet.

Accompanied by a £6 million advertising push, Microsoft hopes that IE9 will help stem the rise of rival browsers such as Google Chrome.

More than 40 million people have already downloaded the beta version of IE9, giving the product a small percentage share of the global web browser market before it has even officially launched. Microsoft says it has had the highest and fastest adoption rate of any beta product it has ever launched.

Microsoft claims that using the hardware acceleration software makes IE9 a faster browser than any other on offer,

The new browser also effectively allows web sites to look far more like applications than web sites. “Jump lists” allow bookmarks to offer enhanced features if they are added to a user’s tool bar. Music sites, for instance, can include play and pause functions on a menu that appears directly above the site’s icon.

Adopting a cleaner interface, IE9 now uses a single box for web addresses, searching and users’ web history. Since the release of the beta, Microsoft has also improved how IE9 allows users to protect themselves from tracking, and adjusted which notifications pop up.

However the biggest drawback for it’s future adoption is that IE9 will only run on Windows 7 and Vista operating systems. Which is a crucial problem for  the vast majority of corporate IT managers and their users largely because IE9 does not run on Windows XP – the operating system running on 67% of corporate desktops.

Nokia has joined forces with Microsoft in an attempt to regain ground lost to the iPhone and Android-based devices.
The deal will see Nokia use the Windows phone operating system for its smartphones, the company said.

It means that Nokia’s existing operating systems will be sidelined.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop revealed that there would be “substantial” job losses as a result of the tie-up.

Nokia will remain “first and foremost…a Finnish company. Finland is our home and will remain our home,” he said.

But job losses around the world, including in Finland, will be inevitable, he added.

His chosen lifeline is Windows Phone 7, a new smartphone operating system that has won critical praise but, so far at least, only a tiny share of the market.

So Nokia is moving from an ailing system Symbian – which still has a large chunk of the market – to a fledgling which has yet to prove itself, made by a firm with a poor track record in mobile.

Why then, did Mr Elop not opt to go with Google’s Android, the operating system with momentum behind it? Perhaps he feels more comfortable with the culture of Microsoft, where he worked until joining Nokia.

The cruel verdict from some is that two turkeys don’t make an eagle – but you can’t fault Mr Elop for his audacity. This is a huge moment which could shape the future of an industry.

Speaking about the new partnership with Microsoft, Mr Elop said that “the game has changed from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems”.

“An ecosystem with Microsoft and Nokia has unrivalled scale around the globe,” he said.

Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer was also present at the launch, underlining the importance of the deal to the computing giant.

“Nokia and Microsoft working together can drive innovation that is at the boundary of hardware, software and services,” he said.

Microsoft’s Bing will power Nokia’s search services, while Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services.

The new strategy means Nokia’s existing smartphone operating systems will be gradually sidelined.

Symbian, which runs on most of the company’s current devices will become a “franchise platform”, although the company expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in future.

“It is a transition from Symbian to Windows phone as our primary smartphone platform,” said Mr Elop.

Windows may not be the exclusive operating system for Nokia tablets though.

Gamers around Europe have queued overnight to get their hands on the Xbox Kinect, a new hands free motion control system for the Xbox 360 console.Stores opened at midnight for fans to buy the £130 controller, which Microsoft claims is a revolutionary new approach to gaming.

It uses a camera, motion sensors and a microphone to allow users to control the Xbox 360 without holding a device.

Kinect faces a battle with Nintendo’s Wii Plus and Sony’s Playstation Move.

Nintendo is launching a 3D version of its popular handheld DS console but that is not scheduled for release until March 2011.

Microsoft hopes Kinect and its stable of family friendly games will win the company a dominant share of the lucrative Christmas market.

Stephen McGill, Microsoft’s director of Xbox for the UK and Ireland, said Kinect would “revolutionise” home entertainment and communications.

“It’s about technology getting out of the way, being incredibly invisible.  So you just stand in front of the TV, or sit down, however you want to play, and you just move your body, the game responds to you. It’s incredible.

Dr Search Prinicpal Consultant at the Search Clinic remembers Microsoft saying something similar in 1995 when they launched the Windows 95 operating system.

Kinect-compatible games available in time for Christmas include Dance Central, in which players try to match moves they see on screen, as well a number of other titles suitable for children.

Kinect, which launched in the US a week ago, is now on sale in 23 European countries.

Microsoft has launched Windows Phone 7, its latest attempt to break into the fast growing smartphone market.

Until now the company has failed to provide a credible challenge to rival operating systems from Apple, Google, Research in Motion and Nokia.

Mobile phone operators predict smartphones will have a 70% mobile phone market share in just three years.

Microsoft says it has made Windows Phone 7 more user-friendly, rebuilding the operating system from bottom up.

The phone system’s experience is built around so-called hubs that aggregate content like contacts, pictures, documents, and music and video. The content on the phone is then synchronised both with storage services on the internet and the owner’s computers at home.

At launch Microsoft’s new phone system will be available on nine phones, and with 60 operators in 30 countries. In the UK the phone will launch on 21 October, while the US launch will be in early November.

Previous mobile operating systems from Microsoft have failed to make an impact with customers; their limited functionality, fiddly user interface and lack of applications to customise the phones had resulted in a steady loss of market share.

The new mobile phone software is indeed startlingly different from Microsoft’s previous attempts. This is probably most highlighted by the disappearance of the menu button; the company’s old “Windows Mobile” software was notorious for leading users into increasingly technical sub menus to execute even simple tasks.

Using the new software has a much more natural flow to it, although some key functions – like “cut and paste” – are missing, but promised to arrive as a software update in early 2011.

However, key apps like Twitter, Facebook, eBay and railway timetables have been fast-tracked to be ready for launch.

While Nokia’s Symbian operating system is still the smartphone market leader, Apple has rapidly gained market share with its iPhones, while phones using Google’s Android software are forecast to overtake Apple soon.
Research in Motion, meanwhile, has seen its Blackberry phones gain popularity beyond its stronghold of business users.

Microsoft is pitching the phone firmly at consumers, integrating it with its popular XBox live service for video games, and the much less popular Zune music service.

In the UK seven of the new phones will be launched on 21 October, while the US line-up will include nine phones that will hit the market in November.

The software will be launched with established partners like HTC, Samsung and LG – three phones makers who have experience building phones for the Windows mobile platform. Another launch partner is computer maker Dell.

Crucial for Microsoft’s success will be whether the new phone software manages to surpass rivals in terms of usability.

In the US the Windows phones will first launch on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, while around the world Microsoft has signed up partners like Telefonica, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and SingTel.

Microsoft hopes to build on the recent success of its Windows 7 operating system for desktop computers, the revamped search engine Bing, and the broadly positive review for its new browser, Internet Explorer 9.

Microsoft’s once dominant Internet Explorer browser now accounts for less than half the web browser market, according to recent figures from StatCounter.
Microsoft’s share of the browser market has dipped below 50 per cent for the first time, according to the latest figures from StatCounter

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer now has a 49.87 per cent share of the global browser market, the first time it has fallen below 50 per cent.

Although Microsoft’s browser remains the dominant browsing platform, rivals such as Google and Mozilla are snapping at it heels.

According to the latest figures from StatCounter, Mozilla’s Firefox web browser now has a 31.5 per cent market share, while Google’s Chrome browser accounts for 11.54 per cent of the market, up from 3.69 per cent in September last year.

The decline of Internet Explorer in Europe – where Microsoft’s browser now accounts for 40.26 per cent of the market, compared to 46.44 per cent last year – could be due in part to the browser “ballot box” Microsoft is compelled to offer computer users in the wake of a European Commission ruling.

The Commission order Microsoft to roll out the ballot box after deciding that the company’s practice of pre-installing Internet Explorer on Windows machines could be viewed as anti-competitive.

The ballot allows computer users to choose from a list of 12 web browsers, and is pre-installed on new computers running Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, and is pushed to computers running Vista or Windows XP via a software update.

Microsoft is bound to observe the Commission’s ruling for the next five years. The ballot system is available in all EU member countries.

comScore, Inc.  has released May 2010 data showing that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online videos during the month.
YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity in May with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time.
U.S. Internet users watched nearly 34 billion videos in May, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 14.6 billion videos, representing 43.1 percent of all videos viewed online.

YouTube accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 1.2 billion videos, or 3.5 percent of all online videos viewed.

Microsoft Sites ranked third with 642 million (1.9 percent), followed by Vevo with 430 million (1.3 percent) and Viacom Digital with 347 million (1.0 percent).

The research reinforces the need to be on YouTube.

Tomorrow’s blog post by Dr Search will give you more reasons to raise your personal profile to increase your online sales.

comscores’s youtube delivers 14.6 billion videos in May research by click here.

Google is ending the use of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems claiming security concerns.
The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked, and could effectively end the use of Windows at Google, which employs more than 10,000 workers internationally.

“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” said one Google employee.  “Many people have been moved away from Windows PCs, mostly towards Mac OS, following the China hacking attacks,” said another.

New hirees are now given the option of using Apple’s Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system. “Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee. “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.”

In early January, some new hires were still being allowed to install Windows on their laptops, but it was not an option for their desktop computers. Google would not comment on its current policy.

Windows is known for being more vulnerable to attacks by hackers and more susceptible to computer viruses than other operating systems.

The greater number of attacks on Windows has much to do with its prevalence, which has made it a bigger target for attackers.

Employees wanting to stay on Windows required clearance from “quite senior levels”, one employee said. “Getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO approval,” said another employee.

In addition to being a semi-formal policy, employees themselves have grown more concerned about security since the China attacks. “Particularly since the China scare, a lot of people here are using Macs for security,” said one employee.

Employees said it was also an effort to run the company on Google’s own products, including its forthcoming Chrome OS, which will compete with Windows. “A lot of it is an effort to run things on Google product,” the employee said. “They want to run things on Chrome.”

The hacking in China hastened the move. “Before the security, there was a directive by the company to try to run things on Google products,” said the employee. “It was a long time coming.”

The move created mild discontent among some Google employees, appreciative of the choice in operating systems granted to them – an unusual feature in large companies. But many employees were relieved they could still use Macs and Linux. “It would have made more people upset if they banned Macs rather than Windows,” he added.

Google and Microsoft compete on many fronts, from search, to web-based email, to operating systems.

While Google is the clear leader in search, Windows remains the most popular operating system in the world by a large margin, with various versions accounting for more than 80 per cent of installations, according to research firm Net Applications.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d2f3f04e-6ccf-11df-91c8-00144feab49a.html

Apple has overtaken arch rival Microsoft to become the world’s biggest technology company by stock market valuation.Changes in the share price values of the two companies in this week’s fluctuating trading conditions left the total value of Apple at £154 billion. Microsoft is now valued by investors at £151 billion.

However, Microsoft still enjoys far higher profits than Apple. Its most recent annual net profit was £10 billion, compared with £3.9 billion for Apple.

Microsoft also reported bigger annual revenues of £40.3 billion compared with Apple’s £25.2 billion.

Apple’s shares closed Wednesday trading down 0.4%, while Microsoft fell by 4%.

The big popularity of the iPhone, which has become a big seller since it was first released in 2007, has further boosted Apple’s profits and revenues.

The handset has brought internet access on the move to the mass market, and led to an explosion in downloadable mobile “apps” – applications that enable a huge range of activities, from map reading to booking restaurants.

Meanwhile, this week saw the launch in the UK and eight other countries of Apple’s controversial iPad tablet- as 10 people has already killed themselves whilst making the product- see yesterday’s post below.

Apple has to look back to late 1989 to see the last time it was a bigger company than Microsoft.

Microsoft, whose operating system still run on more than 90% of the world’s personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its heyday of the 1990s.

Microsoft continues to make the majority of its earnings from its software and operating systems, and has struggled to successfully diversify into other products.

The spate of suicides at the factory making iPhones and iPads moved closer towards epidemic levels yesterday as a 23 year old man became the tenth worker to leap to his death at the same Foxconn plant.
Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk openly of “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the vast factory in Shenzhen, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs.

The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant in southern China and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.

The latest victim, like the nine other young employees who have committed suicide at the plant since January, leapt from the seventh floor of his dormitory.

The company has made hastily contrived efforts to improve conditions for its workers, the majority of whom stand in the same position for 12-hour shifts and receive the equivalent of about £90 each month in salary. Those measures include the use of “soothing” music on the factory floor, the recruitment of hundreds of dance instructors and the establishment of a suicide hotline.

The plant’s astonishing productivity levels have attracted global clients such as Samsung, IBM and Sony, but labour activists have long alleged that the famous efficiency comes at too high a cost.

The attention given to Foxconn suicides relates less to the actual numbers and more to the apparent pace at which they have risen and that the victims have taken their lives in the same “copycat” way. If the suicide rate at the Foxconn factory matched the Chinese national average (which they do not because most Chinese suicides happen in the country), the sheer size of the 300,000 workforce there would imply around 45 deaths per year.

The steep rate of increase in Foxconn suicides over recent weeks, though, has challenged the business model on which China’s manufacturing industry has grown. The company’s plant in Shenzhen is a city-sized complex set up with the sole purpose of feeding the global appetite for cheap technology.

Speculation that big brands might take their business away from Foxconn to protect their image are unrealistic, said one Tokyo-based electronics analyst. He said that consumers were no longer prepared to pay the sort of money it would cost to build computers, digital cameras and iPods without the productivity of companies such as Foxconn.

An increase in online advertising helped profits at Yahoo almost treble in the three months to the end of March.

Net profit rose to £200m from £79m in the same period a year ago.

The company’s takings were helped by its search and advertising partnership with Microsoft and sake of the Zimbra email service.

But after subtracting commissions paid to its advertising partners, Yahoo’s revenue slipped slightly to £750 million.

This was below analyst’s estimates – pushing Yahoo shares about 3% lower in after hours trading.

The firm’s chief financial officer, Tim Morse, said that its search advertising business “just didn’t seem to grow at the pace they had previously”.

However its display advertising business was strong, growing 20% year on year.

“High quality advertisers are coming back,” Mr Morse said. “We are still in the very early innings of this turnaround.”

Earlier this year, Microsoft’s plans to buy Yahoo’s internet search and search advertising businesses were been cleared by both European and US regulators.

The European Commission ruled that the deal “would not significantly impede effective competition”.

Under the deal, Yahoo’s website uses a Microsoft’s Bing search engine, and the two firms share the revenues.