Desperately trying to stay relevant in an industry that is doing its best to leave them behind, Microsoft is set to hold an event on June 18th for what is being called a 'major new announcement' from the company.
Microsoft will be, as promised, delivering consumers a preview of what they can begin to expect with the upcoming Windows Phone 8 next week, but with WWDC now firmly in the past, it appears as though the tech world has already begun to focus its attentions on what the Redmond-based software maker has in the pipeline.
With Apple's big iOS 6 reveal done and dusted, we can now focus our attentions on what Microsoft has in store with its ever-advancing Windows Phone platform. The Redmond-based outfit has been steadfast in its progress of Windows 8, and the mobile version will play a key role in its eventual success.
Microsoft has been somewhat coy with regards to Office 15, or Office 2013, but towards the end of its Tech-Ed 2012 keynote, it gave a little more insight into the upcoming version of Office. Set to be called Microsoft Office: Office 2013 RT, it was demonstrated only very briefly, but did appear to serve to confirm the rife rumors that it will indeed be landing next year.
Missed the recent media event in which Microsoft detailed SmartGlass, Kinect Voice, Internet Explorer and much more for the Xbox 360? Well, if you weren't around for the live stream, you'll be pleased to know that replays of the event are now available to view online.
While Microsoft's E3 media event may not have satisfied those with an incessant craving for new, power-laden hardware, the were still plenty of presentations to arouse the interest of us tech fans, and none perhaps were more exciting than the software maker's SmartGlass.
On top of debuting one rumored product - SmartGlass - the company also dropped news of yet another pretty major service: Microsoft's rumored "Woodstock" music streaming service is real, and it's called Xbox Music. Announced by Yusuf Mehdi at the E3 stage, Xbox Music is a service that will be available not just on the console, but on Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices as well. Without delving into too many details, Microsoft did share that the service will offer 30 million tracks to boot. The Smart DJ service that is available on the current Zune service will also live on within Xbox Music. Again, not much details were revealed during the demo - or teaser, rather - or even now after the show, but all that could be seen is a Metro-styled music service that looks rather similar to the Zune.
Being big fans of technology, we were somewhat hoping for a big announcement of some juicy new hardware at E3, but just because Microsoft didn't unveil anything gadgety, that doesn't mean to say there wasn't anything on show of significance.
As well as concentrating on bringing a host of new services and products to consumers, Microsoft has been placing a lot of emphasis in improving what it already has. The lack of progress of Internet Explorer over the years has seen the likes of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome become the front runners - despite the fact that 90 per cent of computer users run Windows, and thus have Internet Explorer installed by default.
Microsoft’s Don Mattrick has kicked off Microsoft E3 event today by announcing its flagship Xbox 360 console has gone from being the biggest selling console in North America to the most popular console worldwide.
