Daily Update: Angry Birds on Windows Phone, Microsoft's Rumored Set-Top Box, More

Good morning.

I've known all along that, despite the silliness and Rovio's weird (and, I think, staged) indignation about being included in a Windows Phone 7 graphic with their consent, that Angry Birds was indeed coming to Microsoft's new smart phone platform. It always was. So now that the company has finally confirmed this, the only logical headline would be something along the lines of Confirmed: Angry Birds is Coming to Windows Phone. Right? Maybe not: Angry Birds for Windows Phone 7 won’t launch for months. Sigh.

Microsoft may compete with Apple TV, Google TV at CES. Oh, are they re-releasing Media Center (still around, in market since 2002) or re-lauching the Xbox 360 (still around, in market since 2005)? Maybe this could/should have been written as Microsoft Allegedly Developing Media Hub. Or maybe I'm just a fanboy because I didn't construct that in way that makes Microsoft look late to some party.

Apple's market cap hit $302.32 billion on Monday, well ahead of Microsoft, which is valued at a paltry $239.38 billion. Yikes!

Busy day today: Some tech edits to finish, and early Windows Weekly, and prepping for this weekend's focus group. Off for a bit...

Discuss this Article 3

andlewis
on Jan 4, 2011
Microsoft already has a set-top box. In my town it's called Optik TV, a rebranding of Microsoft Media Room. Streaming HD TV from the cable provider to an XBOX.

http://archive.getconnectedmedia.com/radio/microsoft-and-telus-do-tv-opt...

http://www.microsoft.com/mediaroom/



Waethorn
on Jan 5, 2011
Microsoft Media Center box? I doubt it!

Microsoft already has a dedicated Media Center installation option for Windows Embedded Standard - just choose "Set-top box" during install. Windows will boot directly into Media Center and there is no option to close Media Center because it's a dedicated application.

Mustang17
on Jan 8, 2011
Just a thought on Mac's App Store. PC have had things like that for years. Just about every computer store has had apps for sale. Fair enough you had to actually go the store physically and browse or order them online. Even PC World has plenty of shelf space filled with PC applications. However I don't recall there being many Apple apps for sale. Though this is slowly changing. The one Mac store in the whole of Scotland concentrates more on hardware. One of the plus points of the PC was the freedom to select apps from a huge variety of sources and suppliers. They may or may not reach Apple's 'approval', but the variety of software is astounding.



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