Author: Microsoft Stories

The research firm,IDC, revealed that political stability and improving economic sentiments helped the software market in India grow by 10.7% in January-June 2014 period as compared to the first half of the previous year. During the period, Microsoft led with 31.8% share of the software vendor market, followed by Oracle at 12%, SAP (6.5%), IBM (5.5%) and Synopsys (4.2%).”There has been a shift in the mindset of users across these industries. IT investments are now made not only for process improvements but also for growing business opportunities and improving customer experience,” it stated.

Celkon Mobiles, one of India’s leading mobile brands launched WIN 400 – it’s first-ever Windows based phone. Y Guru, Chairman and Managing Director, Celkon Mobiles, stated, “We are happy to announce our association with Microsoft and Qualcomm, a new milestone for Celkon.” By launching the Win 400, Celkon has joined domestic handset makers such as Karbonn, Micromax, and Xolo, who have already launched their Windows Phone handsets in the market. “Our deep engagement with local OEMs is one of the engines of growth for the Windows ecosystem and we are proud of our partnership with Celkon. With Celkon’s WIN 400, Windows is now available to a whole new group of consumers in India, who are looking for innovation and value,” said Rajiv Ahlawat, Director, Mobility, Microsoft India.

Microsoft officially announced the acquisition of Accompli -the mobile email management application. The deal enables Microsoft to help people manage their mail on handsets more easily using Google Android or Apple iOS operating systems. “In a world where more than half of email messages are first read on a mobile device, it’s essential to give people fantastic email experiences wherever they go,” said Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Rajesh Jha, in a blog post.

With the Union Government underlining its commitment in the 2014-15 Budget to setting up 100 ‘smart cities’ across the country, sustainable urban renewal powered by citizen-friendly technology is back in the forefront of the national agenda. This edition of Microsoft’s Perspective magazine therefore couldn’t have been timelier, for it takes a bird’s eye view of how smart technology is empowering cities, in India and around the world, to take on urban challenges that have snowballed because of population pressures and over-consumption of our planet’s infinite resources.

In an interview, Raghuvesh Sarup, Director-Marketing, Microsoft Mobile Devices, talked about the take-over of Nokia by Microsoft and what the marriage of hardware and software companies has meant for the brand. Talking about the transformation from Nokia to Microsoft in the retail space, he said, “In the digital space, the transformation is happening already. The website is no longer nokia.com it is microsoft.com, and our websites have only Microsoft logos. Digitally, the transformation has happened faster but in brick and mortar stores it will take longer as it is a physically harder task.”

Microsoft has launched its first non-Nokia Lumia phone in India. Lumia 535 is the first Microsoft branded smartphone, the company launched the device in India for Rs 9,199/- This budget smartphone however sports all the features and functionality of high-end phones. Microsoft Lumia 535 runs on Windows Phone v8.1 update 1. The latest update 1 has brought many new features such as Live folders, SMS merge and forwarding, VPN, Internet Explorer.

Xbox One is made for the users who are looking for ultimate gaming console that also satisfies entertainment needs. Tons of upcoming games will be soon launched on Microsoft Xbox One. Game vendors are going to ship all upcoming games to Xbox One platform as well. This is a list of 5 top games that you must buy if you own Xbox One.

Microsoft has introduced Microsoft HCS an automated off-site data protection service based on cloud snapshot. Historical versions and point-in-time of data can be restored using snapshot technology. The system performs backup on short daily interval to avoid errors. In case of a disaster, Microsoft HCS solution forms hybrid cloud management system which provides functionality of virtual tape technologies for the data backup. Microsoft HCS solutions is the great one stop solution for all data backup necessities.

Skype for Android, as a part of the update, now opens chat windows much faster, especially when opened from a notification. The improved window opening time was already introduced last month for iPhone users as a part of its 5.7 app version. Picture-in-picture feature in Skype, which has been available for tablet devices for a while, will also Android smartphones.

Speaking at the launch of the Microsoft Lumia 535, Raghuvesh Sarup, Head of Sales at Microsoft Mobile Device Sales, said, “Younger tech-involved audiences are increasingly looking at an uncompromised experience on their smartphones. With access to the best services right out of the box at a price they can afford, we believe the Lumia 535 is an ideal solution to offer young India. This carries forward our promise to bring alive Microsoft services on Lumia devices across price points.”