Silicon Alley Insider - Henry Blodget | October 27, 2008 3:15 PM

Dell Laptop with Linux courtesy of zdnet.com

Lost in the market panic last week were some critical details on Microsoft’s conference call. In our opinion, these offered tangible evidence that the Windows monopoly that has carried the company since its inception is beginning to erode.

While explaining why its Windows Client business grew only 2%, Microsoft noted a shift in the mix of the PC market away from “traditional PCs” toward “net books”. SeekingAlpha:
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Informationweek, Nov 7, 2008 02:57 PM

Photo: Ballmer about to launch into his “Web developers” rallying cry, courtesy of istartedsomething.

Posted by Serdar Yegulalp

First Steve Ballmer was scratching his head about Android; now he’s murmuring about the possibility of using open source components in Internet Explorer. Small wonder so many of us are scratching our heads, too, but there’s a consistency in there, amazingly.

Every single one of Ballmer’s (and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s) recent moves vis-a-vis open source come down to two things: a) it’s OK as long as we can make it serve Microsoft in some fashion, and b) it’s OK as long as it’s not Linux. It’s not open source per se that’s the big enemy for them any more, but a specific open source platform that they worry most about.

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Information - Nov 6, 2008 11:31 AM

Steve Ballmer courtesy of Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Posted by Eric Zeman

Speaking at an investor meeting in Australia, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Steve Ballmer said he doesn’t get the business model behind Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Android platform. Some might say the same thing about Windows Mobile at the moment.

Ballmer just has the best quotes. Nobody says the stuff he does in public. At the very least, it provides for some entertainment on an otherwise gray Thursday morning (in the NYC metro area, anyway).

Ballmer was speaking at the Telstra Investor Day conference in Sydney earlier today. Eventually someone brought up Android. Ballmer said, “This is [Google's] first phone, they’re not easy. Let’s see how they do.”

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Silicon Alley Insider - Eric Krangel | October 29, 2008 2:00 PM

That didn’t take long: Marc Andreessen — Netscape co-founder, board member of eBay (EBAY) and Facebook, and angel investor to numerous start-ups — already broke his May pledge to stop talking to the press. Specifically, he sat down with Portfolio mag.

Marc doesn’t pull any punches (does he ever?). Here are a few choice tidbits:
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Businessweek - Techbeat, on October 08

Posted by: Cliff Edwards

It’s official: the fledging WiMAX broadband network is finally getting rolling, with companies such as Lenovo, Toshiba and Nokia announcing a number of products (or extensions of previous products) that will take advantage of the competitor to cellular and home data-delivery markets.

The formal launch for Xohm, the service that is being offered by a merger of Sprint’s WiMAX assets and Craig McCaw’s Clearwire, is good news following months of delay. The network will expand throughout Baltimore and into Chicago and Washington, D.C. Other cities, including Dallas-Ft. Worth, Boston and Philadelphia, reportedly are running in test mode and should be accessible for those with a Xohm account and equipment—mainly laptops and data cards. (Oddly, one of the original WiMAX backers, Samsung, is not expected to offer support in its laptops until next year.)

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Fortune - September 23, 2008, 2:14 pm

NEW YORK - A brief hands-on experience with the Google (GOOG) G1 phone gives the impression that after a slew of touchscreen duds from other telcos, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone finally has a worthy rival.

The highly-anticipated HTC phone for T-Mobile (DT) was unveiled in New York Tuesday, and kiosks with technical experts were set up so media people could run the first Android-powered phone through some tricks. T-Mobile will start selling the phone Oct. 22 for $179 with a two-year contract.

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Sillicon Alley Insider - Dan Frommer | August 22, 2008 9:30 AM

Former foes Google (GOOG) and Verizon (VZ) are close to linking up in a wide-reaching search deal that would make Google the default engine on Verizon Wireless phones, and eventually on Verizon’s Web portal and FiOS TV service, the WSJ reports.

One interesting part of the pact: Verizon eventually wants to put a search bar on the home screen of its phones — a smart move, we think.

Why does this matter? Some 17 million mobile subscribers use mobile search, according to comScore M:Metrics. That’s a pathetic 7% of the U.S. mobile market — which means some 93% of mobile subscribers aren’t using mobile search. Why not? In part because carriers have made it so hard to find. In most cases, if you want to search for something, you have to boot up the mobile Web, then find your way to Google — especially annoying without a QWERTY keyboard — then enter a search.