Santa Ballmer? Steve Claus? Neither nickname has a great ring to it, but Microsoft’s CEO definitely deserves something similar this holiday season. Network World confirmed Thursday that Microsoft will be handing out free Windows Phone 7 devices to each and every company employee — that’s about 89,000 phones. Add to that another 1,000 free WP7 handsets that will be passed out to Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference attendees, and you’ve got quite an expense (likely over $20 million) that the Redmond giant is swallowing. You can’t put a price on publicity, however, and 90,000 free phones translates into a pretty huge amount of chatter. This is all well and good, but let’s hope the sizable stunt also ends up moving some product.

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Canesta, a company specializing in motion-sensing and 3D gesture controls, have just announced that they are being acquired by Microsoft; a deal that is expected to be finalized by the end of 2010. Canesta was founded in 1999 and they specialize in “NUI’s” or natural user interfaces. Their technology allows users to do away with the traditional mouse and keyboard combo for most of their computing needs. They are also experts in 3D tracking; a very useful purchase for the  future development of the Kinect platform. The Silicon Valley company holds 44 patents with regard to 3D sensing technologies, which will protect Microsoft in any patent litigation they may find themselves in. The acquisition could usher in a new revolutionary GUI/NUI for Windows 8. Minority Report computing might be around sooner than you think. Hit the break to watch Canesta’s technology in action.

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Fresh news out of Redmond. Software giant Microsoft has just posted earnings for Q1 of their fiscal year 2011, and the vitals all look good as Microsoft raked in $16.2 billion in revenues; a 25% increase from the same period in 2010. The company posted a net income of $5.41 billion which translated into $0.62 earnings per share; a 51% and 55% increase respectively when compared with Q1 of fiscal year 2010.

“This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games,” said Peter Klein, Microsoft’s CFO. “Our ability to grow revenue while continuing to control costs allowed us to deliver another quarter of year-over-year margin expansion.”

Although inconsequential on the balance sheet, this quarter did mark the first time in fifteen years that Cupertino, CA based Apple, Inc. outperformed Microsoft in revenue; Apple reported $20.34 billion in revenues during the same period. Regardless, Microsoft still — through its focus on highly profitable software (not hardware) — did generate more profit than the iPhone maker… and paid its shareholders a dividend.

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Microsoft announced Tuesday that its updated OS X productivity suite, Office for Mac 2011, is now available. Office for Mac consists of Microsoft’s class-leading productivity applications including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. For the first time, the suite also includes Microsoft Outlook, which replaces the less popular Entourage email client. Mac users have been waiting for Microsoft to replace Entourage with Outlook for years now, and this switch alone is likely worth the price of admission. And as far as pricing is concerned, Office for Mac 2011 breaks down as follows:

• Microsoft Office for Home and Student 2011 (single license): $109.99 – $149.99
• Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business (single license): $174.99 – $279.99

As is often the case, third-party retailers such as Amazon.com currently offer the best pricing on Microsoft’s new Office for Mac 2011 suite.

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Windows XP set the bar quite high when it was released back in August 2001. Barring a few security issues, XP was considered a success and is still the OS of choice for some PC users today. Microsoft followed this up with arguably their most criticised offering, Vista. Steve Ballmer, CEO of the Redmond outfit went as far as calling Vista “a work in progress” after its launch. 2009 marked the start of better days for Microsoft, a year in which they released Windows 7, a welcome refresh for PC users. Windows 7 went on to sell an impressive 240 million licences in its first year; a record for Microsoft. Today, in a blog post on Microsoft’s Dutch website, the company explained that it is working on Windows 8, however, the OS will not be due for another two years. Microsoft representatives failed to elaborate further when asked to comment by CNET. According to a leaked presentation earlier this year, Microsoft plans to introduce a native Windows app store akin to Apple’s recently announced Mac app store. Amongst other improvements, Microsoft is purportedly working on improving power efficiency and computer wake times. If you don’t believe in the Mayan calendar, 2012 should be an interesting year for Microsoft. What features are you guys pining to see in Windows 8?

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Following reports last week stating that Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac was nearing release, Microsoft today made its OS X connector software available to the public. The software, currently available as a beta, allows users to connect their Windows Phone 7-powered devices to Mac computers and synchronize multimedia content. To make the process as familiar as possible, Microsoft’s Connector syncs phones with music, videos and photos already present in users’ iTunes and iPhoto libraries, so no additional cataloging is necessary. Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac requires OS X 10.5 or higher and is available directly from Microsoft’s website.

[Via Mac Rumors]

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Microsoft confirmed on Thursday what the world has known for quite some time… Windows 7 is a hit. Gates’ legacy sold more than 240 million copies of its latest PC operating system in its first year of availability. The massive sales figure is confirmed to be a record by Microsoft, which currently holds over 91% of the PC operating system market according to Net Applications. Apple, owner of the second most popular PC operating system, holds approximately 5% of the market. The most lucrative PC segment, enterprise, also happens to be a hugely successful segment for Microsoft; Windows is currently used by 89% of businesses according to the Windows division’s financial head, Tami Reller. Mac might be gaining ground but it will be a long time before the pricey Apple PC brand puts any kind of significant dent in Microsoft’s market share.

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Microsoft announced last week that it would be giving away free 3-month Zune Passes to customers who sign up for Windows Phone 7 pre-order notifications and then go on to place pre-orders. AT&T apparently wants in on the action as well, as the carrier plans to give away a free “Entertainment Pack” with each Windows Phone 7 device purchase. The pack consists of a 1-month Zune Pass with 10 free song downloads, a month of U-verse Mobile service and a free copy of the 3-D puzzle game ilomilo. The deal sounds pretty sweet, though takers should note that unless the service is canceled, they will automatically get charged a $10 monthly subscription fee after their free 30-day U-verse Mobile trials expire. Ahhh… nothing like a good old fashioned Columbia House scam to welcome people to the new Windows Phone 7 family.

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What do you get when you combine Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online? According to Microsoft, you get the “next generation in cloud productivity.” The Redmond giant’s much awaited cloud-based Office suite launches today as a limited beta spanning 13 countries. Those lucky enough to sample the offering at this stage will enjoy much of the functionality that makes Microsoft Office the global standard with none of the local software keeping the rest of us tethered to our PCs. Kurt DelBene, president of the Office Division at Microsoft, had this to say:

Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service. With Office 365, your local bakery can get enterprise-caliber software and services for the first time, while a multinational pharmaceutical company can reduce costs and more easily stay current with the latest innovations. People can focus on their business, while we and our partners take care of the technology.

Microsoft’s Office 365 site will go live today at 3:00 p.m. EDT, and customers can sign up there to learn more. Microsoft hasn’t announced a firm public release date for Office 365, though it did say that the suite would be generally available in 40 countries next year. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Microsoft Announces Office 365

New cloud service brings together Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync for organizations of all sizes.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 19, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced Microsoft Office 365, the company’s next generation in cloud productivity that brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service. Office 365 makes it easier for millions more organizations to get and use Microsoft’s award-winning business productivity solutions via the cloud. With Office 365, people can work together more easily from anywhere on virtually any device, while collaborating with others inside and outside their organization in a simple and highly secure way. As part of today’s news, Microsoft is also opening a limited beta program for Office 365 in 13 countries and regions.

Office 365 is built on years of experience delivering industry-leading business cloud services ranging from the first browser-based e-mail to today’s Business Productivity Online Suite, Microsoft Office Live Small Business and Live@edu. Moving to the cloud with Office 365 means people don’t have to change the way they work, because Office 365 works with the most popular browsers, smartphones and desktop applications people use today.

“Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the Office Division at Microsoft. “With Office 365, your local bakery can get enterprise-caliber software and services for the first time, while a multinational pharmaceutical company can reduce costs and more easily stay current with the latest innovations. People can focus on their business, while we and our partners take care of the technology.”

Microsoft worked closely with existing customers to develop Office 365, resulting in a cloud service that is designed to meet a wide range of customer needs.

With Office 365 for small businesses, professionals and small companies with fewer than 25 employees can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online and an external website in just 15 minutes, for $6 or 5.25 euros per user, per month¹.

“For a small business, Office 365 is a perfect way to start,” said Rob Nichols, chief technology officer of Allovus Design, a graphic design firm and member of Microsoft’s Customer Advisory Board for Office 365. “It has all the features we need, and we can come out of the gate with the same tools the big guys have — on day one.”

Office 365 for enterprises introduces an array of choices for midsize and large businesses as well as government organizations, starting for as little as $2 or 1.75 euros per user, per month¹ for basic e-mail. Office 365 for enterprises also includes the option to get Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software on a pay-as-you-go basis, for the first time ever. For $24 or 22.75 euros per user, per month¹, organizations can get Office Professional Plus along with e-mail, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, voiceconferencing and videoconferencing, webconferencing, 24×7 phone support, on-premises licenses, and more.

Office 365 creates new growth opportunities for Microsoft and its partners by reaching more customers and types of workers and meeting more business IT needs — all while cutting costs for customers.

Product Availability

Office 365 will be available worldwide next year. Starting today, Microsoft will begin testing Office 365 with a few thousand organizations in 13 countries and regions around the world, and the beta will be expanded to include more organizations over time. Office 365 will be generally available in 40 countries and regions next year.

Later next year, Office 365 will expand to include Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to provide Microsoft’s complete business productivity experience to organizations of all types and sizes. In addition, Office 365 for education will debut later next year, giving students, faculty and school employees powerful technology tailored specifically to their needs.

Today at 12 p.m. PDT, Microsoft will launch http://www.Office365.com. Customers and partners can sign up for the Office 365 beta and learn more at that site, or follow Office 365 on Twitter (@Office365), Facebook (Office 365), or the new Office 365 blog at http://community.office365.com to get the latest information.

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Today, Microsoft announced that chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, would be stepping down from his CSA role as he transitions towards retirement. In a company-wide memo, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote:

He [Ray] will remain with the company as he transitions the teams and ongoing strategic projects within his organization – bringing the great innovations and great innovators he’s assembled into the groups driving our business. Following the natural transition time with his teams but before he retires from Microsoft, Ray will be focusing his efforts in the broader area of entertainment where Microsoft has many ongoing investments. We have tremendous opportunities in the entertainment space overall, and I’m excited about what we can accomplish. Beyond that, Ray has no plans at this time. While he’ll continue to report to me during the transition, the CSA role was unique and I won’t refill the role after Ray’s departure. We have a strong planning process, strong technical leaders in each business group and strong innovation heading to the market.

The rest of the memo gives thanks to Mr. Ozzie for his service and leadership at Microsoft; especially his work in cloud computing. Hit the read link to see the full memo.

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Remember that $100 million Verizon Wireless spent to introduce the world to its first Android phone, the Motorola DROID? Bush league. The New York Post reports that Microsoft is preparing to drop a cool $500 million marketing Kinect, its upcoming motion-based gaming controller for the Xbox 360. Add to that another estimated $500 million the Redmond giant is expected to spend on Windows Phone 7 and you’ve got yourself an even $1 billion worth of Microsoft marketing madness. Windows Phone 7 and Kinect clearly represent Microsoft’s two biggest product launches ahead of this holiday season, and now it’s safe to assume we can all be expected to be reminded of that fact constantly. Blitz or no blitz, neither launch can come soon enough if you ask us.

Read [Kinect] Read [Windows Phone 7]

Yesterday in New York City, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer officially unveiled his company’s next generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. The mobile device arena is a crowded space — with well established systems from Apple, Google, and Research In Motion already in the market — but Microsoft made a big splash by announcing nine new handsets that will be available in the coming months (both in the U.S. and abroad). Microsoft has posted the keynote presentation from yesterday’s event for those who want to see and hear, first hand, just what the Redmond company has been up to. If you’re interested in hearing every word from Steve Ballmer and company, hit the jump. The video is waiting for you.

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Earlier today, while speaking to a group of students and journalists at the London School of Economics, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that there will indeed be iPad-competing slate products running Windows by Christmas. The catch? Steve didn’t clarify whether these products would be shipping, or just announced, nor who would manufacture them. With HP most likely changing course to offer a webOS-based tablet as opposed to a Windows 7 slate, we’ve got to wonder who will end up being first in this category…

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Here’s an interesting development, it looks like AT&T and Microsoft will be holding a Windows Phone 7 event on October 11. Despite Microsoft’s own website billing the “Worldwide Launch Event” for 3:00 PM on October 11 with T-Mobile in tow, we’ve just been sent an invitation to a 9:30 AM October 11th event; complete with appearances by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega. Looks like AT&T may be the exclusive launch partner for Windows Phone 7 after all… even if it is only for a few hours.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, “Microsoft Corp. will unveil a lineup of smartphones using the revamped version of its mobile operating system on Oct. 11,” and that AT&T will begin selling said devices in early November. Microsoft does have an event planned for October 11 — Columbus Day — in New York City (which we will be at), but we’re not sure any significant announcements will be made at the open-house style event. Perhaps there is another, mysterious event planned for that day? We’ll try to dig up some more information and report back.

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