In the bubble of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference this week in Los Angeles, you wouldn't know that Windows Phone 7 badly lags the Apple iPhone and the Google Android platform in market share. Everywhere you looked around the LA Convention Center and in hotel meeting rooms and partner parties, people's small screens were filled with tiles.
If you're a Microsoft partner using Windows Phone 7, we want to hear your story. Why did you choose the platform? What were your tradeoffs in going with Microsoft's mobile OS versus the two dominant smartphone OSes or BlackBerry RIM? What do you like best and least? What do you recommend for customers? If you're a Microsoft partner and you went with an iPhone or Android, we'd like to hear why, as well. E-mail your story to [email protected] for an article in a future issue of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 14, 20114 comments
There are certain things you can expect on the main stage at every Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.
One is a high-energy Steve Ballmer keynote to kick things off. Another is some sort of parade involving partners crossing the stage from more than 100 countries. Third is a closing keynote from Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, in which he stirs things up with a bunch of crazy one-liner potshots at Microsoft's competition. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 14, 20110 comments
Microsoft will drastically expand the number of Microsoft Stores over the next few years, a senior Microsoft executive said Wednesday.
"We're going to open up to 75 more stores over the next two to three years, and continue to bring our stores outside the U.S. as well," said Microsoft COO Kevin Turner in a keynote Wednesday at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 14, 20110 comments
Scott's last day of live-Tweeting WPC keynotes was full of zingers from Microsoft COO Kevin Turner. Read all of his Tweets from WPC at @scottbekker, and keep updated on all WPC-related news on our WPC page here. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 20110 comments
For all the grief that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gets from Wall Street, he's extremely popular among Microsoft partners at the Worldwide Partner Conference. I regularly find myself in conversations with Microsoft partners who talk about the energy that they draw from a Ballmer keynote and tell me repeatedly that he "gets" partners.
During his WPC keynote earlier this week, Ballmer gave a refreshingly realistic description of the choices that partners have and did a nice job articulating the unique role partners play in Microsoft's product development and business decisions. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 20113 comments
Microsoft treated attendees at its 2011 Worldwide Partner Conference to a steady drumbeat of warnings that Windows XP's days are numbered.
"XP end of life is not that far off -- a thousand days to be exact," intoned Tami Reller, corporate vice president and CFO for Windows and Windows Live, during a WPC keynote on Monday. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 20112 comments
Toronto will be the host city for the 2012 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Jon Roskill, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, said Wednesday during the closing keynote of the 2011 event in Los Angeles.
The announcement marks a return to Toronto, where Microsoft held the WPC in 2004. It's the first time since that year that Microsoft has held the event, intended for partners from all around the globe, outside the United States. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 20110 comments
Every year at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft lays out the total it plans to invest in its massive channel for its coming fiscal year.
This year, that total will be $5.8 billion, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Worldwide Partner Group Jon Roskill said Wednesday during his WPC keynote. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 13, 20110 comments
Scott is still valiantly Tweeting his way through all of this week's WPC keynotes. Follow him at @scottbekker, and keep updated on all WPC-related news on our WPC page here. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 12, 20110 comments
Since the March launch of Windows Intune, Microsoft has allowed partners 10 internal licenses, known as Internal Use Rights (IURs), to try out the service for free. Microsoft normally charges $11 per user per month for Intune.
In an interview Monday, Alex Heaton, director of product management for Windows Intune, said partners in Microsoft's Cloud Essentials program will now get 25 IURs and partners in Microsoft's Cloud Accelerate program will get 100 IURs. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 12, 20110 comments
Microsoft posted a public beta on TechNet Monday of the next version of Windows Intune, the cloud-based systems management service. The beta version is currently expected to replace the current version of the service by the end of 2011, Microsoft officials said.
Tami Reller, a corporate vice president for Windows marketing and chief financial officer of the division, announced the Intune beta availability during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote Monday at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 12, 20110 comments
As cloud becomes more important to the Microsoft channel, Parallels is working under the hood to make cloud deployments smoother.
Parallels, a hosting and cloud services provisioning specialist, made a flurry of announcements at the start of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles this morning.
Two of the announcements relate to Microsoft Office 365, which Microsoft made generally available in 40 countries at the end of June and which figures to be a dominant theme at WPC this week. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 11, 20110 comments