The U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled that Motorola violates one of Microsoft's patents in some of its Android products and has prohibited the import of those products into the U.S.
There will be little immediate effect, as there is a 60-day presidential review period, during which the ban will not take place.
After that, Motorola presumably would either have to stop importing those products, take out a licensing deal with Microsoft, or use a work-around so it won't have to use the Microsoft technology in its Android products.
Motorola said it may appeal the decision.
Today's ruling stems from a case that Microsoft filed with the ITC in October 2010, alleging that Motorola violated nine of its patents. Microsoft eventually dropped two of those patents from the case, so the ITC considered seven, saying today that Motorola violated one of them.
The patent that the ITC says Motorola infringed upon is related to calendaring in Microsoft's ActiveSync technology.
Motorola issued a statement, saying:
Microsoft started its ITC investigation asserting 9 patents against Motorola Mobility. Although we are disappointed by the Commission's ruling that certain Motorola Mobility products violated one patent, we look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning. Motorola Mobility will not experience any impact in the near term, as the Commission's ruling is subject to a $0.33/per unit bond during the 60 day Presidential review period. We will explore all options including appeal.
Microsoft issued a statement as well, saying:
Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft's efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We're pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft's intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.
This case is one of many patent cases that Microsoft and Motorola -- which is being acquired by Google -- are fighting in courtrooms from Seattle to Washington, D.C. to Germany.
This case is separate from another ITC case that Motorola had filed against Microsoft, alleging that Microsoft's Xbox gaming console infringes on five of Motorola's patents.
In that case, an ITC judge ruled last month that Microsoft infringes on four of those Motorola patents. That judge's decision is subject to a full six-member commission review before any import ban might be imposed.
Though the judge in that case had ruled that Microsoft infringed, he also said that Motorola's reassurances that it would license some of those patents -- which are industry standard patents -- on fair and reasonable terms were misleading.
The two companies are battling over industry-standards patents in several courts, including a federal court in Seattle.
(This article is running in the print edition of The Seattle Times May 17, 2012. - Janet I. Tu)
When Facebook completes its initial public offering this week, Microsoft certainly will benefit financially.
At the high end, Facebook could be valued at up to $104 billion, which means Microsoft could see its original investment in Facebook grow in value from $240 million to up to $1.6 billion.
Microsoft, which now has a 1.8 percent stake in Facebook, is also planning to offer 6.6 million of its 33 million shares in the IPO. If valued at the high-end estimate of $38 per share, that means Microsoft would make some $250 million.
Not bad for what was a relatively small investment, for Microsoft, back in 2007.
But probably more important to Microsoft than the money is the partnership the two companies have built over the past six years. They've made mutually beneficial moves in the fight against their common competitor, Google.
"Facebook has been really valuable as a way for Microsoft to reach customers it couldn't get to otherwise," said Rob Helm, an analyst at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. "It's an asset for Microsoft's business products as well."
The relationship between the two companies started with a 2006 deal in which Microsoft would sell banner advertising and sponsored links on Facebook. The two companies also agreed to work together on future technology initiatives.
Then, in 2007, Facebook accepted Microsoft's offer of $240 million to buy a 1.6 percent stake, reportedly choosing it over competing offers from Google and Yahoo.
That year, the partners expanded their advertising relationship, with Microsoft selling banner ads for Facebook overseas.
In 2010, Microsoft and Facebook announced a partnership to build social search in Bing. Since then, Microsoft has added Facebook features to Bing, including indicating when websites in search results are "liked" by the searcher's Facebook friends, indicating which pages within popular websites are "liked" by friends, and allowing users to link websites related to them in Bing search results.
In addition, Skype, a division of Microsoft since October, last year started allowing its users to conduct video chats with Facebook friends both on Skype and on Facebook.
Facebook, and other social networks, are also deeply integrated into Windows Phone.
Last month, Microsoft sold 650 patents that it had bought from AOL, along with rights to 275 more, to Facebook, a move thought to benefit Facebook in its patent battle with Yahoo, and to be boon for both Facebook and Microsoft in their fight against Google.
And last week, Microsoft announced its biggest-ever overhaul of Bing, which is slowly making inroads on the dominant Google. A major part of that overhaul? Facebook, one of several social-media networks whose content will be included in one of three columns in Bing's revamped search results page. (Google does not have Facebook data in its search results page, although it does include content from Google+, its own social-networking site.)
"Microsoft deserves some credit for recognizing pretty early on how important Facebook would be and maintaining that partnership for a long time," said Helm, the Directions on Microsoft analyst. "Business partnerships are like mayflies. This one has held up really well."
What makes Facebook such an enticing partner, Helm said, is that there are so many Facebook users out of reach to Google, Microsoft and others because certain privacy settings can make Facebook user information invisible on the public web.
Being able to get behind that Facebook "wall" to reach those users -- either for advertising or to engage them in trying products -- is what makes such a partnership so alluring.
There are also more subtle ways that the partnership has benefitted Microsoft, Helm says, citing technologies that Facebook has pioneered that are finding their way into Microsoft's business offerings.
For instance, although SharePoint, Microsoft's collaboration software for businesses, doesn't include Facebook itself, it has Facebook-like features, including activity feeds and status updates for co-workers.
"This is speculation but I think it's likely, in the future, there might be closer links," Helm said.
Though the two companies have had a close partnership so far, Microsoft -- and other Facebook partners -- may have to pay even more attention to what Facebook says once it goes public.
"Once Facebook has a $96 billion capitalization or whatever," Helm said, "it's going to be in a different weight class in terms of how it deals with all of its partners."
The Internet Explorer folks have teamed up with Fox Studios to create an interactive "training center" tied to the upcoming film "Prometheus."
"Prometheus," which hits theaters June 8, is set in the "Alien" universe and is directed by "Alien" director Ridley Scott. It centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus and clues to to humankind's beginnings.
The Internet Explorer team has created what it calls the Project Prometheus Training Center, "giving fans the chance to demonstrate they are capable of being a crew member on the Prometheus ship," according to the official Exploring IE blog.
The training center, designed entirely in HTML5, includes physical and cognitive assessment tests and the site will feature the tests' top performers each day.
The site can be accessed using any modern browser, though IE (of course) recommends IE 9.
A promo for "Prometheus," by the way, featuring actor Michael Fassbender as the robot David, is one of the most wonderfully creepy trailers I've seen this year. Have a look:
(Photo of Project Prometheus Training Center from Microsoft. Video of "Prometheus" promo from YouTube user Prometheus6812.)
Your living room television is becoming one of the most important sites in the next big consumer platform battle -- a battle that Microsoft is winning, according to research firm Forrester.
James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst, writes in his blog:
The TV battle is important for reasons you already know: TV consumes more time than anything else and it generates annual revenues from $140 to $160 billion each year in the US alone.
But the stakes of the battle have risen sharply. The fight over the TV is really a fight over the next massive consumer platform that is coming up for grabs.
Microsoft has more than 70 million Xbox consoles in households worldwide and its Xbox 360 is the most-watched Internet-connected TV device in the U.S., McQuivey notes, adding that, with so many consoles in households, "Microsoft can rapidly drive new video services into tens of millions of households."
He found that, currently, 32 million U.S. households watch online video on a TV set, up from 25 million last year -- many of them via a game console, especially the Xbox 360. More people use a game console to watch online video than use a set-top box that connects the TV to the Internet such Roku or Apple TV, he said.
McQuivey's full report can be found here (fee required).
The worldwide market share of Windows Phone, which has struggled to gain traction, fell in the first quarter this year, putting it behind Samsung's Bada operating system, which runs phones sold in international and emerging markets.
That's according to research firm Gartner, which says the share of smartphones running Microsoft's operating systems -- including Windows Phone and the outdated Windows Mobile -- fell from 2.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011 to 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
That puts Microsoft's smartphones in sixth place behind market leaders Android with 56.1 percent and Apple's iOS with 22.9 percent.
Here's Gartner's chart:
Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users declined 2 percent from a year ago to 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012. But sales of smartphones grew 44.7 percent to 144.4 million units.
Among vendors, Nokia, which has a partnership with Microsoft in which the Finnish phonemaker uses primarily Windows Phone on its smartphones, saw its share of the smartphone market drop to 9.2 percent. (Its mobile handset sales decreased 22.7 percent from a year ago.)
Samsung was the No. 1 mobile handset and smartphone vendor, with 86.6 million units of mobile handsets sold and 38 million smartphones sold. Samsung's Android-based smartphones represented more than 40 percent of all Android-based smartphones sold worldwide, according to Gartner.
Some of the nation's highest profile CEOs are gathering in Redmond this week for Microsoft's annual CEO Summit, where they will talk about emerging trends shaping global business.
More than 130 CEOs and business leaders are attending this year's summit, which runs Tuesday through Thursday and is closed to the news media. Among them are Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post Media Group, Alan Mulally of Ford Motor, Jeff Immelt of General Electric and Mike Duke of Wal-Mart Stores.
This is the 16th year for the summit, which began in 1997 when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recognized a need for business leaders to gather, share experiences and learn about new technologies, according to the company.
Among the topics on this year's agenda are moving beyond the age of personal computers and into the world of personal computing, building brands in the 21st century, and the changes taking place in China.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the summit. According to the company, here's what he'll be speaking about: "Periodically, a company will break through with a new product or service and captivate the hearts of the masses. Breaking through repeatedly requires focus coupled with discipline, passion and tenacity. Steve will explore these principles and discuss Microsoft's journey pursuing a new phase of growth."
(This post has been updated to include the names Microsoft uses to refer to the columns in the new Bing search results page.)
The dramatic overhaul of Bing, in which results from a user's Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks are featured in a column on the search results page, is expected to go live shortly after 3 p.m. today for U.S. users to try out at www.bing.com/new.
Microsoft announced last week that the new Bing search results page will be divided into three columns.
The column on the left displays standard search results.
The middle column -- which Microsoft refers to as "snapshot" -- displays tasks or possible actions associated with the search (for instance, pulling up a map and reviews of a restaurant or the option to make a restaurant reservation if you searched for local restaurants).
The column on the right -- which Microsoft is dubbing the "sidebar" -- shows actions your friends have taken related to the topic you queried: liking a particular restaurant, for instance, or offering an opinion on best restaurants in the city. And users can post questions and friends can respond from either Facebook or Bing. The sidebar will also list experts and enthusiasts in areas related to the search topic.
Here is a video from Microsoft about the new Bing:
Customer satisfaction with Microsoft software fell this year amid an overall dip in satisfaction with computer software, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which released its annual survey today.
Microsoft's customer satisfaction score dropped 3.8 percent from a high last year of 78 (out of a possible 100) to 75 this year.
"The lessening of customer satisfaction may prove challenging for Microsoft as sales of its Windows software stall amid a shrinking PC environment and a growing mobile computing market," the ACSI said.
Overall, customers continue to be more satisfied with computer software compared to other information industries, according to the study, but it too dipped in the customer satisfaction score -- down 1.3 percent from 78 last year to 77 this year.
The ACSI, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., surveys thousands of customers annually to measure customer satisfaction. Its May report covered eight industries: cell phones, computer software, fixed-line and wireless telephone service, motion pictures, newspapers, subscription TV service, and TV news.
Customer satisfaction with the cell phone industry dipped 1.3 percent to 74, and satisfaction with wireless services dropped 1.4 percent to 70.
Among cell phone manufacturers, Apple's iPhone scored 83 in the survey; Nokia, HTC and LG Electronics scored 75; Samsung scored 71 and RIM brought up the rear at 69.
Viewer satisfaction with network and cable TV news programs dropped 3.9 percent to 74. The newspaper industry fared worst, with a 1.5 percent drop in score to 64 this year.
A federal judge in Seattle who last month temporarily prohibited Motorola from enforcing any injunction against the sales of Microsoft products in Germany has converted that temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction.
Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court in Western Washington wrote in today's order granting Microsoft's request for a preliminary injunction that:
Based on the evidence before it, the court finds that Microsoft has shown that a German injunction enjoining the sale of Microsoft Software and the Microsoft Xbox in the country of Germany will result [in] irreparable harm. Microsoft has provided this court with convincing evidence that it will lose market share, which will be difficult to regain, and suffer harm to its business reputation.
Judge Robart also wrote that "Motorola faces little injury by an anti-suit injunction. By issuance of an anti-suit injunction, this court is in no way stating that Motorola will not at some later date receive injunctive relief, but only that it must wait until this court has had the opportunity to adjudicate that issue."
While this decision has little immediate practical effect to speak of -- Microsoft currently can sell and will be able to continue selling Xbox and Windows in Germany -- it does mean the prohibition against Motorola remains intact until the U.S. District Court here makes a decision on the case. (That's because the TRO is supposed to be a short-term solution, after which it is dissolved or turned into a preliminary injunction.)
Two related court cases -- one in the U.S. District Court here and one in Mannheim, Germany -- are at issue in this patent battle between the two companies.
Judge Robart's decision today stems from a case Microsoft filed in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in November 2010. That lawsuit claims Motorola breached its contract to provide, at reasonable rates, use of its patented technologies that have become standard in online video viewing and wireless usage.
Motorola's case in Germany, filed there in July 2011, claims Microsoft violates some of Motorola's patents involving those same technologies. That court decided earlier this month that Microsoft does indeed infringe on those Motorola patents and issued an injunction. But because of the Seattle judge's ruling, Motorola is unable to enforce that injunction.
Last week, a funny tidbit made the tech blog rounds about Apple's iPhone voice assistant, Siri, responding to the question "What's the best smartphone ever" with the answer of the Nokia Lumia 900 -- a Windows Phone.
(That's because the iPhone relied on Wolfram Alpha for its answer. Wolfram Alpha has the Lumia 900 as the best smartphone, based on customer reviews.)
Well, it seems Apple has put an end to that bit of fun.
Today, blogs such as Apple Insider and The Verge are reporting that, now, when you ask Siri what the best smartphone is, she gives answers such as: "The one you're holding," "Wait...there are other phones?" and "You're kidding, right?"
(Ha - Looks like the Windows Phone folks are starting a #freesiri hashtag on Twitter in response to the news.)
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee staffers plan to look into Mozilla's allegations that Microsoft is hindering efforts for competing Web browsers -- such as Mozilla's Firefox -- to run on Windows RT, a version of the upcoming Windows operating system designed to run on ARM devices.
That's according to The HIll, which cites an aide to Antitrust subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).
Mozilla had complained last week that Microsoft had prohibited any browser except its own Internet Explorer from running in the "Windows Classic" mode of Windows RT. (Windows RT reportedly has two modes it will run in: the new touch-based Metro style and, for certain programs, the more familiar, classic Windows style. Mozilla is complaining about not being able to run its browser in the classic style. It and other companies can design browsers to run in Metro mode.)
"In practice, this means that only Internet Explorer will be able to perform many of the advanced computing functions vital to modern browsers in terms of speed, stability, and security to which users have grown accustomed," Harvey Anderson, Mozilla's general counsel, wrote in an official blog post. "Windows on ARM -- as currently designed --restricts user choice, reduces competition and chills innovation. By allowing only IE to perform the advanced functions of a modern Web browser, third-party browsers are effectively excluded from the platform."
Some writers have said they think it's hypocritical for Congress and Mozilla to single out Microsoft on the issue when Apple, too, restricts browser access for its tablet -- the market-dominating iPad.
Anderson, Mozilla's general counsel, said "the similarities to iOS don't justify an outcome on Windows that deprives users of choice, reduces competition and hurts innovation," according to an article in Computerworld. "The difference here is that Microsoft is using its Windows monopoly power in the OS market to exclude competition in the browser market."
Microsoft today announced that the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), the largest community college district in the U.S., has chosen Microsoft Live@edu over Google Apps for Education.
Microsoft and Google have been battling intensely for some of the same government and education clients. Just last month, the U.S. Department of Interior chose Google Apps for Government over Microsoft's offerings to provide email and other cloud services.
The LACCD will use Microsoft Live@edu to provide cloud communication and collaboration services to its students, faculty and alumni, according to the Microsoft news release.
Live.edu is Microsoft's hosted platform for student communication and collaboration. Its feature set includes email and calendars, file storage, document sharing, instant messaging, video chat and mobile e-mail, accessible through many Web browsers.
More than 10,000 schools in some 130 countries have enrolled in Live@edu, serving 22 million people worldwide, according to Microsoft.
In addition, over the next several months, Live@edu will be deployed to Microsoft's largest cloud customer: The All India Council for Technical Education, which will use Live@edu for its 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India, reaching 7.5 million users.
(In case you missed it, this story ran in the print edition of The Seattle Times May 13, 2012. - Janet I. Tu)
Even as positive reaction rolled in for the Lumia 900, the flagship fruit of Microsoft and Nokia's smartphone partnership, reviewers repeatedly mentioned one point: the lack of apps for Windows Phone compared with its rivals.
The Windows Phone Marketplace has 80,000 apps -- a big number but one that pales compared with the half million each Apple has for its iPhone and Google has for Android devices.
The problem is chicken-and-egg: Because there now are so few Windows Phone users, developers are reluctant to sink resources into creating a product that will reach such a limited audience.
Windows Phone holds less than 2 percent of the worldwide smartphone market and less than 4 percent of the U.S. market.
Microsoft recognizes the problem and is paying creators of popular apps to develop versions for Windows Phone, as well as offering incentives such as free phones.
The company is also hosting a two-day Windows Phone Developer Summit next month in San Francisco to help mobile app developers learn more about the platform.
If Windows Phone is to succeed as a platform, a lot depends on how those developers think about it. Here are some of their thoughts about Windows Phone:
The hobbyist developer
Hadi Partovi is a Bellevue-based angel investor and prominent tech figure in the Seattle area. He also happened to become a mobile app developer on the side.
When the iPhone came out, he decided to create an app called Toddler Flashcards for his 2-year-old son.
"We are king of the kids' flashcard-app business," he jokes. "It's not the world's largest business but we dominate it."
Partovi, who had worked at Microsoft as MSN.com general manager and has played major roles at several other tech companies, still has friends at Microsoft.
One asked to build a Windows Phone version of the app. Partovi agreed and said his friend could get 50 percent of any revenue generated.
"Sadly, the 50 percent cut he gets is effectively paying for him to get a latte a day," Partovi said.
That's because Toddler Flashcards on Windows Phone makes its developers about $2,000 a year. That's a far cry from the $100,000 a year the app generates from the iPhone.
"And this is for the exact same app," Partovi said. "In both cases, we did no marketing."
Partovi attributes the stark difference to, most obviously, the difference in the number of people using the platforms. But he also says Apple has done a better job of marketing apps as an important part of the smartphone experience.
"There are more Android phones out there than iPhones," he says. "But the smaller group of people with iPhones buy more apps than Android users."
Partovi credits Microsoft for making it easy to build a Windows Phone app.
The problem continues to be that even making it easy isn't enough to entice developers if potential buyers aren't there.
He cites Dropbox, which he invests in, as an example. Some 50 million people use the online storage service. But how many of them have Windows Phones? he asks.
"It's less about 'you don't know what kind of person uses a Windows Phone,' " he says. "It's more 'you don't know anybody.' "
Microsoft has enough apps now, he thinks, to get users. "Now, it's really a marketing challenge," Partovi said. "If they don't figure out the marketing problem, it's over."
The business app developer
For David D'Souza, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Moprise, the problem is not just the relative lack of users, but that he doesn't know who the users are.
D'Souza who worked at Microsoft from 1988 to 2009 on Windows and Silverlight, co-founded his app development company with another former Microsoft employee.
Moprise makes Coaxion, an app allowing people to share documents on their iPhone or iPad via the app's integration with services like Office 365, SharePoint, Dropbox and Box.net.
For now, at least, they make apps only for the iOS platform.
"We say we'll do Android if there's demand," D'Souza said. "And we're not finding that demand."
That's largely due to demographics, he believes.
Android seems to resonate the most with 15- to 35-year-olds who tend to be hip and irreverent, more interested in connecting with their social and peer group, he says.
Apple's iOS, on the other hand, he believes, seems to attract those from ages 25 to 55, higher income, trying to get ahead in their careers while keeping their families together and happy.
Windows Phone users? D'Souza has no clear picture.
"What do they stand for? What do they like? Why do they buy Windows Phone?" D'Souza asks. "Windows Phone lacks that identity."
That's partly because there aren't enough buyers to form a solid picture, he says. But equally important is that Windows Phone does not seem to target any specific demographic. It's "trying to be everything to everyone," D'Souza said.
"If we knew the demographics of Windows Phone users -- what they like to do, what interests them -- and we saw an alignment with our product, we would go there -- very naturally," he said. "But we don't know."
A Microsoft spokeswoman said she did not have current demographics of Windows Phone users to share. Microsoft, she said, offers "the Windows Phone experience on a range of devices at multiple price points to ensure we appeal to different types of customers -- whether they're buying their first smartphone or their fifth."
The app developer who subcontracts
Brian Greenstone, president and CEO of Austin, Texas-based Pangea Software, has several games running on Windows Phone, including "Enigmo" and "Cro-Mag Rally."
But Pangea doesn't actually produce the Windows Phone version. Subcontractors do.
Pangea, perhaps best known for developing games for the Mac, started focusing on iPhone games a few years ago.
Then, as Android began taking off, Pangea decided to subcontract with other companies to develop Pangea games for the platform.
"Frankly, Android is a pain in the ass to develop for," Greenstone said. "The tools are terrible, the whole programming environment is terrible."
More recently, Microsoft came calling, asking to put Pangea's games on its Windows Phone platform. Greenstone turned again to subcontractors. His math is this: "It costs me nothing to have someone else do it -- the printer ink to print out the contract and that's it."
Pangea basically gets a percentage of what the subcontractors get. It doesn't amount to much, frankly. "We make so little money off of Android and Windows Phone stuff," he said.
Still, Greenstone sees more enthusiasm among developers for Windows Phone than Android -- at least on the programming front.
"Android is truly just anarchy," he said. "My understanding is the Windows Phone programming environment, the software-development kit -- everything is better. There's a more controlled environment."
The simultaneous app launcher
When Sean Mortazavi and his colleagues at Bellevue-based Readabl launched their PaperKarma mobile app in January simultaneously on iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, they didn't know how unusual that was.
"Not having launched an app before, we thought it was the normal thing to do," said co-founder and CEO Mortazavi.
Their app helps people stop paper junk mail. When users get it, they use their mobile phone to take a photo of the unwanted catalog or offer and then click a button.
PaperKarma then matches the image to the tens of thousands of companies listed in its database, helping users get off the companies' mailing lists.
Mortazavi, a Microsoft employee working on open-source projects in the company's Server and Tools business, told some of his Microsoft colleagues about the app he was developing. They offered to create a Windows Phone version.
Since launch, thousands of users have downloaded the app, said Mortazavi, who declined to give more specific numbers but said it was "way, way more than we imagined would sign up."
At this point, about 80 percent of those registered are iPhone users, with the rest using mainly Android and some, Windows Phone.
Mortazavi said the heavy tilt toward iPhone users is likely because Apple featured PaperKarma twice recently on its app store's home page, including as an "App of the Week" and on its "Go Green" initiative.
The discrepancy among the three platforms wasn't quite as large before that, and Mortazavi predicts that gap will narrow in the future.
"The new guys on the block is obviously Windows Phone. We knew they didn't have a lot of users," Mortazavi said.
"But we love the platform. It has a wonderful UI. And better and better phones are coming into the channel. We think it's going to do well later on."
(Photo of Nokia Lumia 900 from Microsoft. Photo of David D'Souza and Russell Williams, co-founders of Moprise, by Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times. Photo of Sean Mortazavi and Brendan Ribera, co-founders of Readabl, creator of the PaperKarma app, by Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times.)
The Internet Explorer folks have teamed up with Fox Studios to create an interactive "training center" tied to the upcoming film "Prometheus."
Even as positive reaction rolled in for the Lumia 900, the flagship fruit of Microsoft and Nokia's smartphone partnership, reviewers repeatedly mentioned one point: the lack of apps for Windows Phone compared with its rivals.
For David D'Souza, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Moprise, the problem is not just the relative lack of users, but that he doesn't know who the users are.
When Sean Mortazavi and his colleagues at Bellevue-based Readabl launched their PaperKarma mobile app in January simultaneously on iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, they didn't know how unusual that was.
