Recent News

With sitting for long periods at work becoming a health hazard, the ‘standing at work’ culture is quickly catching on. At Microsoft India’s Gurgaon and Hyderabad offices, a flexible desk arrangement allows employees to work in spaces to suit their preferences. Rohit Thakur, head of HR at Microsoft India said, “We believe office design and support services need to keep pace with today’s dynamic work environment. This includes the practice of standing and working, which has a positive impact on an individual’s health and state of mind.”

From business software to gaming and entertainment, Microsoft has been at the forefront of innovation and disruptive technologies. In an interview, General Manager, Advertising and Online, Asia Pacific at Microsoft, Adam Anger talks about the company’s new digital advertising strategy, the future of the revamped MSN, the state of the current search partnership with Yahoo, among other things. About Microsoft’s plans in the digital market space for India, he said, “We prioritize India as one of the geographies where we expand our advertising portfolio for brands.”

Microsoft’s feature phones, the Nokia 130 and Nokia 130 Dual SIM, launched last month at a recommended retail price of approximately Rs 1,500, are now being rolled out globally. The company announced that the handsets will first be available in countries including China, Pakistan, and Nigeria before being rolled out to more markets over the coming weeks. Microsoft noted, “The Nokia 130 is a perfect device for people young and old alike who are looking for their first mobile phone, or for those looking for a rock-solid backup phone to use alongside their smartphone.”

Microsoft will acquire Stockholm-based games developer Mojang and its popular Minecraft video game franchise for USD 2.5 billion—to woo more users to Xbox. ‘Minecraft’ is one of the most popular video games in history, with more than 100 million downloads on PC alone, since its launch in 2009. The acquisition is expected to close in late 2014 and breakeven in FY15. Microsoft plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is currently available—PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.

General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India Joseph Landes claims that Microsoft isn’t far behind competitors in the app ecosystem. He acknowledged that Microsoft has less apps when compared to Google Play Store or iOS, but according to him not every app solves problems. He says the most important aspect of Microsoft’s apps is that they are malware free. Landes adds that when it comes to apps from Indian developers, Microsoft is at par both with Google and Apple.

iBall has announced Slide WQ32, an 8-inch Windows based tablet priced at INR 16,999. The device that comes equipped with Microsoft 365 Office having a year’s validity and impressive 1 TB OneDrive storage is arguably the lowest priced Windows tablet. The gadget supports 16 GB inbuilt storage, which can be expanded to up to 64 GB. It sports a 5 MP primary camera accompanied by a flash and also houses a 2 MP front camera, one of the best options provided by gadgets in this category.

Microsoft has unveiled a first look of the new MSN for Asia Pacific including Australia, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. The new MSN combines content from various media outlets with personal productivity tools to help consumers do more at every moment. From September 8, 2014, Microsoft has been inviting people around the globe to try out the new web experience at preview.msn.com, with the new-look MSN officially launching in the coming months.

A new range of media services has been started by Microsoft Azure, including one that makes it possible to conduct text searches of audio and video content. Encoding and streaming services are provided by the new Azure Media Services and these facilities are backed by a content distribution network. Another feature called ‘Advanced Content Indexing’ is based on a research project, which is called MAVIS or Microsoft Audio Video Indexing Service.