Tech news from around the web:
Microsoft is planning an iPad version of its popular Office software suite, The Daily reports.The product is set to cost around $10 – about the same price Apple charges for its Pages, Numbers and Keynote products.
Sony, Microsoft report Black Friday boom
The Black Friday glad tidings from consumer electronics makers continued on Tuesday, with Sony announcing a big rise in US sales and Microsoft reporting a record week for its Xbox 360 console and Kinect controller.
The news followed Nintendo’s announcement on Monday of record sales of its Wii and 3DS gaming machines.
Tech news from around the web:
China has overtaken the US as the world’s biggest smartphone market by volume in the third quarter, Reuters reports. According to research company Strategy Analytics, smartphone shipments grew 58% to reach 23.9m units in China during the quarter, while US shipments fell 7% from the second quarter to reach 23.3m devices.
Steve Ballmer’s report card: “Could do better”
Steve Ballmer received only half the potential bonus he stood to make in Microsoft’s latest fiscal year, though the pay-out was still in line with the “target bonus” the company had set for him.
The message from the Microsoft board: despite successes like the Kinect and a breakthrough deal with Nokia, under Mr Ballmer’s leadership the company is still falling short in the all-important smartphone and tablet markets.
Tech news from around the web:
Chrome, Google’s web browser, is on the brink of replacing Firefox as the second-most-popular browser after Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, ComputerWorld reports. Chrome’s global average user share for September was 23.6%, while Firefox’s stood at 26.8%. IE, meanwhile, was at 41.7%, according to data from StatCounter, which predicts that Chrome will overtake Firefox by December.
Things are heating up again in the world of tablets. While talk of a tablet war is buzzing, with the latest player soon to be Microsoft, existing tablet makers are struggling to catch up with the iPad.
This week, Microsoft showcased its Windows 8 operating system on tablets at the Build conference and RIM announced its Playbook tablet sales had fallen far below expectations.
Here is some unexpected news from the frontline of the tablet computing revolution: the screens full of “apps” that have achieved an almost iconic status thanks to the success of the iPad, may not be the be-all and end-all of touchscreen computing.
The unlikely prompt for this thought is none other than Microsoft. The PC software leviathan has hardly been known for its pioneering ways with computer interfaces, let alone for design flair. Nevertheless, it looks set to add an interesting new twist to tablets.
Tech news from around the web:
Club Penguin, the Disney-owned social network for children, is to make its debut on mobile devices with the release of Puffle Launch for iOS, Mashable reports. Puffle Launch for iOS is a replica of an existing Club Penguin web game which is played by 150,000 children each day.
Yahoo teams with Microsoft and AOL on ads
Yahoo which is expected to lose its US display-advertising leadership this year to fast-growing Facebook, is trying to shore up its position by striking a mutual selling agreement with rivals Microsoft and AOL.
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