I started this series a year ago, and a number of things have changed since then. However, my last analysis on Microsoft that I published on VentureBeat sums up the series pretty well.

Here are previous parts and their respective scores. (more…)

Microsoft is on a roll: Its newly launched Windows Phone 7 is gaining momentum, and Kinect, its motion controller response to the Wii, could very well sell out before the end of the year. If there was ever a time for Microsoft to get back on its feet and stand shoulder to shoulder with Apple and Google, this would be it. (more…)

Last year, I reviewed location-based networks, concluding: “Facebook, if it decides to turn on location-based capabilities, can be a formidable player because of its huge scale and user base.” My expectation was that Facebook could easily trump over any smaller competitors if it chose to do so. (more…)

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg met a couple of weeks ago, and rumor has it that Apple is still trying to convince Facebook to allow iTunes Ping, its recently launched music-oriented social network, to work with Facebook Connect. If negotiations succeed, the partnership could be a stepping stone towards a solid partnership. Apple and Facebook could (and should) do a lot more together. (more…)

Tired of all the buzz surrounding iPad, iPhone, and iPod events? Relieved to hear that next week’s event takes a nostalgic leap “back to the Mac” from the rampantly discussed iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system? Well, prepare to be disappointed, because “Lion”, the new version of OS X, might actually take the OS X closer to the iOS — the operating system for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. (more…)

Apple’s much anticipated press event is only less than 24 hours from now, and I’m looking forward to several potential announcements: iTunes in the cloud, TV show rentals, a redone Apple TV (renamed iTV), and a revamped iPod Touch.  However, I’m eyeing two markets in particular where Apple can make significant inroads: Video calling and console gaming. (more…)

There’s little doubt that TV and the internet world will eventually merge, and Google and Apple are both making efforts in that direction. Devices based on Google TV are launching this fall, and Apple is expected to launch a new, stronger version of its Apple TV (now dubbed iTV) sometime next year… (more…)

Apple likes to control the end-to-end user experience by integrating hardware and software. A good example is the iPhone (contrast this with Android-powered phones, for which Google only makes the operating system but third-party manufacturers such as Motorola and HTC make the devices). The home entertainment space poses a potential problem for Apple because in order to integrate vertically, Apple needs to make the TV itself. Techcrunch has even suggested that Apple would launch its own TV (as opposed to a set-top box) at some point and thus bypass the problem of fragmentation altogether… (more…)

Many pundits have written Microsoft off in the mobile platform wars, but based on what I heard during a Windows Phone 7 session at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2010 conference in San Francisco at the beginning of the week, I am here to tell you that Windows Phone looks promising.

First and most importantly, Microsoft has learned lessons from its Windows Mobile strategy. In allowing several device makers to develop devices for Windows Mobile, it made the… (more…)