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Microsoft and Nokia announce plans for a broad strategic partnership on Windows Phone

Microsoft and Nokia Announce Broad Strategic Partnership

Fresh from the Microsoft Windows Phone Newsroom today, the details on the deal with Nokia…

"Nokia and Microsoft today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem.

"Nokia and Microsoft intend to jointly create market-leading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity. As each company would focus on its core competencies, the partnership would create the opportunity for rapid time to market execution. Additionally, Nokia and Microsoft plan to work together to integrate key assets and create completely new service offerings, while extending established products and services to new markets."

Under the proposed partnership:

  • Nokia would adopt Windows Phone as its principal smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.
  • Nokia would help drive the future of Windows Phone. Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.
  • Nokia and Microsoft would closely collaborate on joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
  • Bing would power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter would provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.
  • Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience
  • Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements would make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.
  • Microsoft development tools would be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.
  • Nokia’s content and application store would be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

More information is available here

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, Nokia, Windows Phone 7.

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Your questions: “Where do I go for help with my Windows Phone?” Here’s a link

Windows Phone logoWondering where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support? See my post on where to turn to contact Microsoft Customer Support.

But if you’re looking for support on Windows Phone, first visit the http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/default.aspx, as I noted in my post with tips on moving from an iPhone to a new Windows Phone.

There’s also the customer facing site on Microsoft Answers site for Windows Phone at http://answers.microsoft.com/phone/ where you can search, browse, and post questions and answers about Windows Phone. 

These and several other options are noted on the Windows Phone Support page.

Added 12/17: There is also this review noted earlier, with great advice and prep details for your new phone: http://www.winsupersite.com/mobile/wp7.asp

 

Tags: Microsoft, how to, customer support, Microsoft Product List 2010, feedback, customer service.

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Dude, where’s my Windows Phone? Found it, with Windows Live

My favourite feature in Windows Phone is actually more than one feature: the features to help you find a lost phone.

Tonite I misplaced my phone. You have kids, you know what I’m talking about, dragging who-knows-what in from who-knows-where. And invariably, the phone gets misplaced or set somewhere in the mad dash of being a parent. BTW, this can apply to those without kids as well, given the demands of groceries, holiday shopping, getting around the office or whatever your schedule presents in a hectic day.

Did I leave it at the smoothie place? Could I have left it at my son’s drum lesson? Did I leave it on the counter at home, or on my desk at the office?

Enter Find My Phone from Windows Live. This free service was able to not only locate my phone on a map (reassuring me I hadn’t left it at the drum shop) but it was able to ring it even though it was set to vibrate only. CHecking the house and then the car: having slipped from my pocket, I heard the phone ringing under the driver’s seat. If I hadn’t tracked it down, Windows Live could also lock the phone remotely (and even put a “please return” note on the screen) or if all else failed, erase my phone.

Did I mention the features are free?

I. Absolutey. Love. It. And I’d say that even if I didn’t work at Microsoft.

To use Find My Phone, visit windowsphone.live.com and log in with the same Windows Live ID you registered on your phone. (See What is a Windows Live ID? and Which Windows Live ID should I use? to learn more about setting one up.)

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, travel tips, Windows Phone 7.

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Dude, where’s my Windows Phone?  How to locate your Windows Phone 7. How to find your Windows Phone 7.

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How to access your bookmarks on Windows Phone 7

As I noted in my post with tips on moving from an iPhone to a new Windows Phone 7, I also touched on how to sync several files, including the backing up of my iPhone’s browser bookmarks. I failed to note how I access my favourites on Windows Phone 7, which I do via the power of Windows Live. (There are different ways to sync files on your phone, depending on the type of file and where it’s stored. To learn more, take a look at the article on syncing files with your phone.)

One easy way I’ve found to use the list of my favourites (sorry, in the US it’s favorites 😉 I use OneNote Mobile. As I noted previously, OneNote lets you take notes and sync notebooks with your new Windows Phone 7 and integrates easily with Windows Live SkyDrive.

Internet Explorer Favorites are Internet bookmarks, simply web URLs (such as http://blogs.msdn.com/mthree) along with the friendly names for them (“M3’s blog”).  Surprisingly, I found that I had relatively few iPhone bookmarks saved on my device, likely a testament to how I used the phone: often, I linked to sites from an email or app. As noted in my previous post, since Apple’s iOS v3 release, bookmarks can be backed up in iTunes.

When you connect your iPhone to iTunes, you’ll see an option to “Sync bookmarks with Internet Explorer”. This will enable iTunes to save your bookmarks and have them appear in your IE Favorites list.

Now, with my bookmarks all loaded into IE’s Favorites, I exported my favorites from IE as noted in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211089 – you can select which folder to export (if you have many, as I do) or just export them all.

Once I exported the Favorites file (as “bookmarks.htm”), I opened this file in IE. Using cursor I selected the bookmarks displayed in the browser window that I wanted to reference on my phone. I then copied and pasted the selection into a new OneNote document right in Windows Live (I use Office 2007 at home — shame on me — and Office 2010 at the office, which with OneNote 2010 can be linked directly with Windows Live — very slick).

You can also use the quick and dirty method by copy and pasting the Favourites directly into an email and send it to yourself (a tip I use from time to time to remind myself of other important items ;).

Click here to learn more about using Favorites and history in Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Phone 7.

Additional resources

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, travel tips, Windows Phone 7.

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How to access iphone bookmarks on Windows Phone 7, How to access IE favorites on Windows Phone 7, How to access IE favourites on Windows Phone 7

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How to sync files like notes and tasks on your Windows Phone 7

As I noted in my post with tips on moving from an iPhone to a new Windows Phone 7, I also touched on how to sync several files – namely notes. A number of folks asked how to sync notes and files with your new Windows Phone 7.  There are different ways to sync files on your phone, depending on the type of file and where i’s stored. To learn more, take a look at the article on syncing files with your phone.

I’m a huge OneNote fan and OneNote Mobile lets you take notes and sync existing OneNote notebooks with your new Windows Phone 7. It integrates easily with Windows Live SkyDrive (I love having 25GB of free online storage in the cloud).

To sync a notebook on Windows Live SkyDrive for the first time

  1. On Start, flick left to the App list, and then tap Office.
  2. Flick to OneNote, and then tap All .

  3. Tap Refresh.

  4. Tap Yes in the Sync with SkyDrive? message box. Wait while you’re signed in with your Windows Live ID.

  5. Afterward, a personal notebook named Personal (Web) will be created in your My Documents folder on Windows Live SkyDrive and synced on your phone.

  6. Type your notes.

For more info about saving Office documents to Windows Live SkyDrive, see Save a document to Windows Live from Office 2010 on the Microsoft Office website. For more info about getting started and using OneNote Web App, see Introduction to OneNote Web App on the Microsoft Office website.

You can also read Notes on Office.Live.Com – there’s more than one way to skin a cat (so to speak). An easy way to view Outlook Notes on my Windows Phone is by using my folders on office.live.com. In Outlook, I can click on a Notes file and save as a .txt file, which in turn I can post to my SkyDrive (aka, office.live.com) and view on my phone.

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For information about syncing notes between your phone and SkyDrive, see Use Microsoft OneNote Mobile.

Also see this post from Julie, one of our MVPs, on pocketprimer.com on sync’ing tasks with Remember the Milk.

Windows Phone 7 does not include a tasks application and there’s no way to sync Outlook tasks to the device.  Even if there were a way to sync tasks, there’s no place to store them once they get there.  This to me is one of the greatest deficiencies of windows phone.

A few years ago I signed up for a free “Remember the Milk” (RTM) account.  At the time I didn’t have a prevailing reason to move my tasks to the cloud and there was no windows mobile support for RTM, so I didn’t seriously consider using it. 

But now with windows phone 7, I had a strong incentive to find a different way to work with tasks on my phone, so I rummaged around and found my RTM login credentials and took another look at this well known, well regarded, cloud-based tasks application.  I figured I could at least have access to my tasks through RTM’s mobile website.

Then last week, I discovered WinMilk in the Marketplace (in the Productivity category). I downloaded it to my phone, set up my Remember the Milk login credentials and all my tasks information synced beautifully to my phone.

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, Microsoft, travel tips, Windows Phone 7.

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