Google’s AdMob Now Ready To Serve Ads To Windows Phone 7 App Developers

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is getting a vote of confidence from a company not usually counted among its allies.

Google’s AdMob mobile advertising division is ready to introduce a software development kit that will let mobile application developers put AdMob ads in applications designed for Windows Phone 7 for the first time, the company plans to announce Tuesday. AdMob also plans to take the wraps off new SDKs for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android developers that brings their ads closer to HTML5 compliance, said 
Mark Schaaf, engineering director for AdMob and one of the company’s earliest employees.

Mobile advertising is still pretty small compared to Google’s desktop-Web advertising juggernaut, but it’s a more and more attractive way for mobile developers to make money on their games and news applications without having to charge for the app. AdMob has been serving Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Android developers for years now, but started to receive more and more requests from those developers for Windows Phone 7 support, since many of the larger developers want to get their apps onto as many platforms as possible, Schaaf said. Microsoft’s new partnership with Nokia also stands to open up those developers to a host of new devices, although the details of that plan will take some time to unfold.

AdMob also supports WebOS applications, and with the move to support Windows Phone 7 that leaves RIM’s BlackBerry software as the lone holdout among the major mobile operating system companies. Despite the fact that BlackBerry remains one of the most popular operating systems in the U.S., Admob hasn’t gotten the same level of demand from its customers for BlackBerry support as it has other platforms, Schaaf said.

“We’ve talked a lot about BlackBerry,” he said. “We’ve had some projects we’ve started on the blackberry side, and will (provide support) if it starts to make sense for our developers.”

Schaaf said the HTML5 enhancements could allow advertisers and mobile developesr to incorporate richer ads into their apps, such as, for example, an ad for a gas station that integrates with a phone’s compass to point the way toward the closest station.

Is Windows Phone 7′s Copy & Paste Update Delayed?

With March 14th just days away, we’re nearing the end of the “first two weeks of March” window that Microsoft had promisedwould bring Windows Phone 7′s long-awaited Copy & Paste (Codename “NoDo”) update.

After word got out that Microsoft’s Pre-Update Update (the one intended to do little more than prep handsets for the big update on the way) was bricking handsets, folks started wondering if the dates might slip back — and if Microsoft’s French PR blogis to be believed, that’s exactly what has happened.

From their blog (Translated with Google Translate):

We are delighted to share with you that this update will be available in the second half of March through your Zune software. A notification will be pushed on all the Windows 7 Phone, allowing you to perform the update in the best conditions.

I’m no mathematician, but I don’t think the “first two weeks of March” ever falls in the “second half of March”. In the meantime, go watch this incredible fan-made WP7 commercial.

Microsoft Now Seeding Windows Phone 7 On Nokia With A Billion Dollars Up Front

The strategic partnership between Microsoft and Nokia,announced in February, was regarded as auspicious by some and desperate by others, yet some specifics of the agreement were largely a mystery until today. Most notably, Microsoft was rumored to have led the partnership with hundreds of millions of dollars, outbidding Google (!) to woo the once-magnificent Finnish giant. Considering Google’s sights are increasingly set on the low-cost phone market, it’s interesting that they didn’t just write a blank check. Or maybe Nokia didn’t want to appear to be flattened underneath the Android machine. Either way, Microsoft won out in the end, and the settlement paid has been reported by Bloomberg to be over a billion dollars.

Considering the sums involved in control of even a small segment of the mobile world, a billion doesn’t even seem like much. But it is, of course, a billion dollars. The question is: even at that price, did Nokia sell itself short?

Nokia still has an impressive amount of brand strength, though nonstarters MeeGo and Symbian 3 have made that remaining brand an exceedingly precious resource. To be sure, as was discussed after the partnership was announced, a complete outsourcing of the OS to Microsoft sacrifices some of their brand, but in the end Nokia needed a competitive product, something they haven’t had for years. Strange, then, that they went to Microsoft, whose own mobile brand has been practically effaced from the earth, instead of the all-conquering Android. I’m sure they had their reasons. A billion of them, actually.

The upfront price being paid by Microsoft is an investment by a still-rich company that could pay itself off fairly quickly. A billion dollars is a lot of money, but it’s defraying the cost of R&D at Nokia, who then will pay Microsoft a license fee for every copy of Windows Phone 7 they ship. The agreement, according to the source (who cautions that it is not finalized), runs for five years.

Think about it. A billion dollars for a five-year partnership with Nokia? I think Microsoft is taking Nokia to school here.

Yet it’s a good thing for both, since by hitching their ships together, only one has to turn around to make it worth it for the other. On the other hand, the investment is lopsided in that if Nokia keeps going down, it’s still a coup for Microsoft, who will at the very least have shipped a few million more WP7 handsets than they would have otherwise. Microsoft loves to spend money on presence like that, and this billion-dollar purchase, while bigger than others it has made, is just the latest in a long line of similar moves.

There are some other provisions, less clear from this source, suggesting Microsoft is acquiring a number of patents and using some Nokia services in WP7. I’m afraid with Bing, Live, and Ovi, there might be too many cooks in the kitchen, but they’ve got time to work that out.

I’m hopeful, personally — not to say optimistic. Nokia just has so much inertia, and their mobile vision has always been so much different from Microsoft’s (both from WinMo and WP7), that I fear the product created will be a sort of worst-of-both-worlds monster. But with the wolves shooed from the door by this cash infusion and a little fire in the veins courtesy of executivemea culpas, they might just make something exciting happen. And if it doesn’t work out, hey, I can think of worse ways to spend a billion dollars.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Dealing With Nokia Comes At $1 Billion Price

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) won a huge new partnership with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) that could light a fire under its mobile division, but it will come at a price: over $1 billion.

The five-year agreement between the two companies—which somehow still hasn’t been signed—will see over $1 billion transferred from Microsoft to Nokia to encourage the production of Windows Phone 7 handsets, although it’s not all one-sided: Nokia will pay a licensing fee per handset to Microsoft that could eventually make the deal profitable for Microsoft, according to a report from Bloomberg. Still, the payments will start before the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 handsets arrive, which means that they’ll have to sell in decent volume for Microsoft to eventually see a payout.

It was pretty clear that Microsoft was going to have to pony up for Nokia’s business, as it competed with Google’s Android operating system business to score the largest phone design win on the planet. Nokia’s fortunes have waned of late against upstarts like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG), but it still sells more phones than anyone and retains a well-known brand.

Another reason Microsoft was persuaded to make a deal was because of Nokia’s deep patent pool, which it is not shy about using. Practically everyone is suing each other these days in the mobile market, with Nokia targeting Apple and Microsoft targeting Android market Motorola (NYSE: MMI), and according to the report Microsoft’s $1 billion investment will give it access to Nokia’s pool of patents.

Seems like a lot of money, but as GeekWire’s Todd Bishop notes, it’s 5 percent of Microsoft’s profits from the last year. That’s a small price to pay if Nokia and Microsoft can turn their deal into a winner in the smartphone market.

Sony Ericsson & Windows Phone 7 prototype caught in the wild?

Sony Ericsson was named a Windows Phone 7 partner a year ago, but -- like another we could name -- seemingly scrapped plans to produce a device and chose another OS instead. Or did it? Pictures of what looks to be a Sony Ericsson prototype running Windows Phone 7 recently surfaced at Lizhecomb, and it could be that SE's looking to try again... but probably not. You see, rumor had it that Sony Ericsson did produce a prototype sliding WP7 handset -- the Julie -- much like the one above, and this one certainly looks a little prototypical compared to contemporary designs. What it may add up to is Sony Ericsson and ASUS in the same boat -- two WP7 launch partners that failed to launch, but each with hardware to show for it.

Windows Phone 7′s Pre-Update Update Starting Hitting Samsung Handsets Again

A bit over a week ago, Microsoft sent out an itty-bitty software update to Windows Phone 7 handsets. Intended as sort of a “Pre-Update” update, it was intentionally light on the features. In fact, it really only had two:

1. It patched up a few bugs in the update system to make way for the impending Copy-And-Paste update would go smoothly.
2. It randomly turned select Samsung WP7 handsets into paperweights.

Back when word broke that certain Samsung handsets were having issues (read: being bricked) by the update, Microsoft blocked all affected handsets from receiving the update and promised a second, less-dangerous update would be on the way in a few days. Sure enough, Samsung handsets have just started gettin’ the patch for the second time — and so far, so good. Got a Samsung WP7 handset, and a willing to test the waters? Let us know how it goes.

Fogale Nanotech taking the 'touch' out of 'touchscreen smartphone' at CeBIT

French sensor manufacturer Fogale Nanotech -- historically more of an industrial supplier than a consumer-facing one -- was demonstrating its non-contact capacitive sensors at CeBIT this week and how they might be used for the most consumer-facing application of them all: smartphone interfaces. Fogale had two stations set up, PCs running Windows Phone 7 emulators with the sensors attached out front (oriented like you might place a trackpad on a desk). Though they didn't have any actual phone prototypes on hand with the technology integrated, it's clear that they're trying to drum up support with a manufacturer partner or two; in the meantime, you can get a sense of what's going on by waving your hand over the phone-shaped sensors at the stations. We found that as long as you're within about half inch of the pad, the on-screen cursor flys by in perfect harmony with your finger. Of course, there are plenty of unanswered questions here: deciding on the best user experience for actuating taps is key... but perhaps more importantly, we're not certain that you need your hand waving slightly above your phone while using it anyway. Don't get us wrong, it's super cool -- but are you really that worked up over smudges? Follow the break for a quick video of Fogale's recorded demos plus some time at the live kiosk.

Fogale Nanotech takes the 'touch' out of 'touchscreen smartphone' at CeBIT

ShoppingKoo Report: Tablet-Optimized Version of Windows Not Ready Until Mid-2012

The company that practically invented the tablet is taking its sweet time getting back around to it now that people are actually interested.

Bloomberg reported late Thursday that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) doesn’t plan to release a version of Windows specifically for tablets until “the 2012 back-to-school season,” which is generally considered July or August. Apparently Microsoft is planning to develop a tablet-suitable version of Windows 7, rather than Windows Phone 7, and it’s going to take some time to make the PC operating system ready for tablets with smaller screen sizes, gesture-based interfaces, and long battery life requirements.

It’s not clear from the report whether or not the software is really a version of Windows 8, which according to Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley is on a similar mid-2012 release schedule. In the meantime, Microsoft and some partners have been showing off Windows 7-based tablets, and talking about a version of Windows 8 that will run on the ARM processors used in just about every tablet currently on the market or planned for this year.

But by then, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will have had over two years in the tablet market and Google’s Android partners will have been shipping devices for over a year. HP (NYSE: HPQ) and RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) are expected to launch tablets later this year running their own software as well.

MIcrosoft may be able to string things along for a while with Windows 7 tablets, but it doesn’t seem like too many hardware manufacturers are betting on Intel’s low-power x86 chips, meaning that Microsoft could have trouble gaining traction for those devices until that ARM-based version of Windows is ready. Considering that Microsoft founder Bill Gates considered the Tablet PC software Microsoft developed in the early past of last decade to be one of the company’s more important projects, it’s kind of amazing to see how far behind its rivals Microsoft has fallen.

A Microsoft representative declined to comment on the report.

Crazy, Fan-Made Windows Phone 7 Commercial Is Inspiring, Really Nice

Created by Brandon Foy, this demo reel shows what can be done if someone loves their Windows Phone 7 phone and is willing to go a little bit crazy. The music, the lights, the graphics all build up to a delightful crescendo, reminding us that people who love gadgets are the happiest people in the world.

Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace Surpassing 9,000 Applications

(Okay, Greg. Don’t make an “Over 9000!?” reference. Come on; you can do this.)

Microsoft might have made some silly choices with regards to getting people to develop for Windows Phone 7 early on, but it doesn’t look like they’re having too much trouble on that front.

Early this morning, the WP7 Marketplace surpassed 9,000 applications — which, as MobileBurn points out, is more than HP/Palm’s webOS (which got a much earlier start) offers up, and quickly approaching the 15,000 mark that RIM announced a few months back.

WHAT?! OVER 9000?! THAT’S IMPOSSIB — Crap.

Microsoft details Windows Phone 7 updating problem, 'small number' of Samsungs affected

Redmond is opening up and offering a few facts, stats, and tips around its first update to Windows Phone 7 -- an update that didn't go smoothly for everyone -- and it sounds like there are at least three distinct failure modes, two of which are pretty simple to fix. The company figures that somewhere around 10 percent of users attempting the upgrade encountered a problem, but of those, "nearly half" failed because they lacked a proper internet connection or enough disk space (turns out the update process takes a backup of the phone's contents just in case something goes horribly awry). Most of the remainder may have been swept up in the issue affecting "a small number" of Samsung devices, an issue that the company says it's working to fix as quickly as possible -- and in the meantime, they've turned the update off for those models. 

Put simply, when you get prompted to install the update, Microsoft simply recommends that you've got plenty of hard drive space on your PC (you can't do this one over the air) and a solid connection to the interwebs; some 90 percent succeeded in installing the new code, which isn't too shabby considering this is the very first update to the platform they've attempted so far. Let's just hope that brick rate is down to zero by the time the good stuff comes, right?

HTC Arrive is Sprint's first Windows Phone 7 device, launching March 20th for $200

Teased since Microsoft's launch event for Windows Phone 7 back in October of last year and recently launched in Europe as the 7 Pro, HTC's Arrive today becomes the very first CDMA device for the platform to be announced with a date and a price. Sprint picks up the QWERTY tilt-o-matic this coming March 20th for $199.99 on a two-year contract after $100 mail-in rebate, featuring a 3.6-inch WVGA display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with flash and 720p video capture, 16GB of internal storage, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi -- oh, and Sprint is quick to remind us that the phone will be launching with Microsoft's anticipated copy and paste update, too. In-store pre-orders begin today with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card; follow the break for the full press release.

Angry Birds Now Coming To Windows Phone 7 On April 6th

If your Windows Phone 7 handset was one of the unfortunate few that got bricked by Microsoft’s little-update-that-couldn’t, you’re going to want to get that fixed quick. At the very latest, you’re going to want to have things all patched up by April 6th. Why? Because it’s Angry Birds Time!

Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka confirmed last week at Mobile World Congress that the Birds were comin’ to Windows Phone 7, but he couldn’t get too specific about the launch date. Microsoft went ahead and filled in the gaps, with this post on the Windows Team Blog promising that Angry Birds and 5 other big-name titles (Doodle Jump, Plants Vs Zombies, geoDefense, Sonic The Hedgehog Ep: 1, and Hydro Thunder Go) will be hitting on April 6th.

For those new to Angry Birds, just remember: Take a break every 15-30 minutes to stretch your legs, rehydrate, and rest your eyes. If you start to feel cold when you’re not playing Angry Birds, it’s important to get help.

Microsoft pulls Windows Phone 7 updating from Samsung phones until it can resolve issues

Such a big load of trouble for such a small update. Microsoft's first WP7 firmware refresh has been causing some unfortunate brick-like behavior in Samsung Omnia 7s and the company has wisely decided to pull the new software back until it can correct whatever's going wrong. An official communiqué toWinRumors says Microsoft has identified the issue at hand and is working to correct it and redistribute the update as soon as possible. For any Samsung WP7  phone owners who haven't been able to resuscitate their device yet, the advised course of action is to go back to the store and swap it for a livelier one.

Sprint To Announce Their First Windows Phone 7 Device, The HTC 7 Pro, Really On 2/24?

With all this talk of copy-and-paste (or, more recently, talk of failed updates bricking handsets), it’s easy to forget about the other feature of Windows Phone 7′s first big update: CDMA support. In other words, it opens the door to Windows Phone 7-ville to Sprint and Verizon.

Based on a handful of tweets out of Sprint and the discovery of a page lingering around on Sprint’s own server, it looks like they’re planning to hop onboard right quick.

Back on Monday, Sprint teased an impending phone announcement coming up on February 24th, saying:

What do you think the next new Sprint phone will be? Find out Thursday! #comebackfeb24

Shortly thereafter, they followed up with:

If you could design a brand new phone, what would it have? Ours will have a hub for gaming, music, pictures and video. #comebackfeb24

Gaming, Music, Pictures, and Video “hubs”? Given that Windows Phone 7 is the only OS that uses the term “hubs”, that narrows it down a bit. Then:

Wouldn’t it be great to have your phone integrated with your home game console, like Xbox? #comebackfeb24″

Xbox integration? Yeah, it’s Windows Phone 7.

To bring everything together, Engadget found a tipster claiming that the 24th would bring a Windows Phone 7 device called the “HTC Arrive” — and sure enough, heading tosprint.com/arrive brings you to a page that’s obviously more than the standard 404-Page-Not-Found error. The same tipster claims that the mystery phone is none other than HTC’s absolutely gorgeous QWERTY-slidin’ HTC 7 Pro, though it’ll be known around these parts by the aforementioned “Arrive” name.

What do you think, Sprint fans Sprintsters Sprinters? Is the HTC 7 Pro/Arrive enough to pull you away from your Pre, or EVO 4G, or whatever else you may be carrying?

First Windows Phone 7 updating not going smoothly for some Samsung handsets (update: Microsoft suggests temporary fix)

So this is why they do phased rollouts, eh? If Twitter is the font of truth and reality that we suspect it to be, it sounds like users of some Windows Phone 7  models by Samsung are struggling with that minor first update that Microsoft started pushing this week. Basically, it sounds like the update isn't consistently completing; it some cases, users get an error message, and there doesn't appear to be any way to roll back or restore the prior firmware and get the phone back to a working state. Mass bricking is probably the greatest fear of software engineers before deploying handset updates to the field, so it's a good thing they're taking it slow; of course, that's not much consolation to the folks who are stuck making a call (on someone else's phone) to Samsung support.

Update: the::unwired is reporting information straight from Microsoft on how to fix a "bricked" device that doesn't complete the update, and it's deceptively simple: just pull the battery, put it back in, and turn the phone on. Failing that, perform a hard reset. Either way, the company is recommending you don't attempt the update again until the phone reminds you, which it says will happen in about three days.

Look out: That Windows Phone 7 Update Now Is Bricking Handsets

Uh oh! Remember that itty-bitty update that Microsoft sent out yesterday to make sure next month’s big update would go smoothly?

Looks like the itty-bitty update itself might not be going so smoothly.

It started early this morning, with a handful of folks turning to Twitter to report that the update process had failed them. In most cases, the update would reach either step 7/10 or 10/10… and then stop. The handset would then be in a bit of an odd, unusable state, but a quick battery pull (or in extreme cases, a hard reset) would have things in working order again.

Then it got worse. Other users started seeing it fail on Step 6/10, which seems to be a pretty crucial one. Unlike the first reports, a battery pull/hard reset isn’t fixing the issue here. In fact, even trying to hard reset the handset returns:

RESTORATION ERROR

An error prevented the restoration of your phone to its previous version. Your phone cant be used in its present condition and there are no restore points for it on this computer. The phone might restart and return to normal if you disconnect it. For further assistance, contact your mobile operator.

In other words: Uh oh, your phone is bricked. Better call your carrier!

So far, nearly every report we’ve seen involving failed updates involves the Samsung Omnia 7 (known here in the states as the Focus). We’re not seeing any reports of issues for other handsets, though it’s not clear how many of these other handsets have been flagged to receive the update.

Microsoft seems to be aware of the issue, having indicated that a second, less-handset-destroying update should ship in a few days:

While we continue to investigate the issue, we would ask that you not attempt the update until your device alerts you of another update opportunity, in approximately 3 days’ time.

At the very least, take this all as a word of caution: if you’re rockin’ a Windows Phone 7 handset, you might want to wait 3 or 4 days before you poke that update button. In this case, the update doesn’t really bring any user-visible changes anyway, so it’s not as if you’re missin’ out on playin’ with any shiny new features.

Microsoft Rolling Out A Pre-Update Update For Windows Phone 7

Whoa, whoa, whoa — I just realized how long it’s been since we’ve done our once-regular segment, Good News/Bad News. With that said, you can probably assume what’s coming next: It’s Good News/Bad News time!

The Good News: Windows Phone 7 handsets are getting their first software update today!

The Bad News: It’s not the update you’re waiting for.

According to Microsoft, this update is more of a primer than anything else. They’re patching up a few bugs in the update process itself, as well as putting some polish on some smaller bits that will make the big update that much less complicated to pull off.

Once you’ve received the alert saying your phone is ready for update, you’ll have to plug it into either the Zune software (PC) or Windows Phone 7 Connector (Mac) and let it do its thing.

Once that’s done, it’ll just be a few more weeks before the long-awaited copy-and-paste update starts hittin’ handsets near and far. Unless there’s another update before that, which will probably require at least two more pre-update updates.

Sprint tweet making February 24th launch sound like Windows Phone 7 -- is the HTC 7 Pro ready?

Announced late last year, Sprint's version of the HTC 7 Pro has been stuck in a holding pattern (along with Verizon's Trophy) while waiting for Microsoft to wrap up its first big software update for Windows Phone 7, which includes copy and paste functionality along with -- you guessed it -- CDMA support. Steve Ballmer's keynote address at MWC last week nailed down said update for launch in the first part of March, which means that there shouldn't be much else holding up Sprint and Verizon from getting their first WP7 devices out of the door. A follow-up tweet to an earlier teaser posted on Sprint's official Twitter account says that a device being announced on February 24th "will have a hub for gaming, music, pictures, and video," which sounds an awful lot like Windows Phone 7's hubs to us -- and we're not aware of anything but the 7 Pro in Sprint's Microsoft-flavored pipeline, so it's starting to feel like a lock. Who's buying?

Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac OS goes gold, hits the Mac App Store

It's been available since October in beta form, but Microsoft has just turned its Windows Phone 7 Connector product to a shiny shade of gold, giving Mac owners a solid (if not Zune-free) option for hooking up their Windows Phones without firing up Boot Camp. We're told there aren't any new features in the latest build worth noting, so you'll get the same options as before: media synchronization, iTunes compatibility, and support for Windows Phone firmware updates. A full Zune client would be choice, of course -- but we'll take it. And you can take it, too: it's now in the Mac App Store.