Reading Microsoft's announcements today made me recall last April's press release in the strategic relationship Microsoft entered with Spyglass to develop Windows CE products. What follows are some excepts:
spyglass.com
Naperville, Ill., -- Wednesday, April 7, 1999 -- Spyglass (Nasdaq: SPYG) announced today a new strategic agreement with Microsoft Corp. which provides Spyglass a minimum of $20 million in revenues over a three-year period. Spyglass will license technology and provide services to Microsoft that will help to accelerate the development and deployment of Windows CE-based products.
Spyglass will work directly with Microsoft to develop and integrate multiple Windows CE-based applications for Internet device manufacturers that are developing products utilizing the Windows CE operating system. In addition, Microsoft has licensed Spyglass technology and is exploring ways to utilize this technology to enhance the Windows CE experience.
"Spyglass continues to strengthen its ability to use key technologies and platforms, such as Windows CE, to help our customers deliver state-of-the-art products and services," said Doug Colbeth, Spyglass president and CEO. "We assist customers in developing Web-enabled products and services by supporting 'best of breed' technologies and platforms. By working directly with Microsoft to enhance Windows CE, we will be in a position of leveraging our expertise to provide our customers unique advantages when they choose to utilize Windows CE in their products and services."
"Working with Spyglass to build Internet device solutions is a strategic move to extend the success of the Windows CE platform," said Harel Kodesh, vice president, information appliances division, Microsoft Corp. "Microsoft chose Spyglass to provide development services and technology due to its long-standing leadership in providing Internet solutions to device manufacturers and service providers. Spyglass' extensive customer and project management experience, in support of the Windows CE platform, will help enable the development of a broad variety of products and services for intelligent connected appliances."
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Today, Microsoft announced that it will modify its existing Windows CE products. When the dust settles, I wonder what Spyglass' role will be; I am hoping it will be sizable and positive.
All my best,
Osman.
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Gates Shows Off 'Pocket PC' Gadgets
.c The Associated Press
SEATTLE (Jan. 6) - Microsoft wants to put computing power in your pocket instead of your Palm.
In an attempt to revive its sagging share of the handheld computing market, Microsoft will redesign and rebrand its Windows CE handheld devices in hopes of staging a comeback against market leader Palm Computing.
In a Wednesday evening speech at the 2000 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said a new series of handheld devices called 'Pocket PCs' will debut in late spring.
The new handhelds will run on a new version of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system and will replace the company's previous software offering for handhelds and personal digital assistants, or PDAs.
Earlier versions were criticized for being too bulky, and for including functions that, while common to personal computers, were not necessary or useful on handheld devices.
'Consumers don't care about the underlying technology, they just want something that's fast and reliable and gives them the information they need,' said Phil Holden, group product manager at Microsoft. 'We did some fundamental engineering stuff to focus on performance and stability.'
The biggest difference between the Pocket PC and its predecessors is that the new devices will be more oriented towards storing and using different kinds of media, from electronic books with easy-to-read type to video and audio clips in Windows Media and the popular MP3 digital formats.
The devices will continue to retain their organizational capabilities, such as address and date books, expense reports and e-mail.
The new Pocket PCs will be produced by manufacturers such as Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Casio Computer Co. and Siemens AG, according to Microsoft senior vice president Craig Mundie.
Some new Pocket PCs will have wireless Internet capability, Mundie said, depending on the manufacturer. The Palm VII was the first PDA to have a wireless antenna built in, while some current Windows CE offerings can be used in conjunction with cellular or digital wireless phones.
Microsoft is hoping that a new deal with Barnes & Noble, in which the bookseller will distribute electronic books using Microsoft's technology, will also boost Pocket PC sales.
'When it comes to the Pocket PC, the Barnes & Noble agreement will be great for consumers,' said Mundie, who is in charge of consumer strategy at Microsoft. 'The Pocket PC will let people bring a number of books with them wherever they go in this portable, easy-to-carry form.'
Barnes & Noble's bookstores, along with the barnesandnoble.com Web site, will begin offering e-books starting in the middle of this year, said Barnes & Noble vice chairman Steve Riggio at a press conference in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will have included its Microsoft Reader software, under development for more than a year, in most of its operating systems by mid-2000 as well.
'This technology is revolutionary,' said Dick Brass, Microsoft vice president of technology development, during a press conference Thursday at the 2000 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 'But without a good vendor, a retailer to bring this technology to consumers in both the retail stores and online, our reading technology is not enough.'
New York-based Barnes & Noble, for its part, will market the Microsoft Reader e-books aggressively, both in stores and online.
'We're going to hit them over the head with this thing,' Riggio said.
For example, major book releases could have entire chapters available for preview online, Riggio said, giving Internet users the feeling of browsing a bookstore and reading a few pages.
The Microsoft Reader uses the company's 'ClearType' technology, which creates brighter, easily read text by splitting individual pixels on a computer screen. That makes individual letters less blocky and easier to read.
AP-NY-01-06-00 1458EST |
