R EDMOND , Wash. — Feb . 13 , 2013 — Today the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) and Microsoft Corp. announced the successful implementation of the Offender-360 project, a cloud-based criminal justice information system built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The solution directly supports legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn that aims to improve Illinois public safety and criminal justice for the future.

“This cutting-edge technology will give Illinois one of the most advanced criminal justice information systems in the country,” Quinn said. “It will save Illinois’ taxpayers millions of dollars while increasing public safety throughout the state.”

In 2010, the state evaluated its technology landscape for managing its 49,000 inmates and 28,000 parolees with the goal of transforming the Illinois DOC by improving efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring unwavering corrections operations. As a result of the evaluation, Illinois charted a course toward replacing a large 1980s mainframe system and 41 disparate offender management applications that had become outdated and costly to use and maintain.

After evaluating 20 possible solutions — including an option that would have cost taxpayers upward of $100 million — Illinois DOC selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM to manage its statewide criminal justice population as a modern case management solution that will transform DOC business and extend the mission of citizen safety. Illinois DOC is undergoing a phased rollout, anticipating 5,500 users of Offender-360 by the summer of 2013. The solution centralizes all information and intelligence on offenders to help staff make more effective and informed decisions regarding placement, rehabilitation and release.

“The open architecture in Microsoft Dynamics lets us create a solution that enables analysis to more effectively serve our offender population,” said Steven Matthews, chief information officer, Illinois DOC. “Because of budget constraints and a shortfall of infrastructure and personnel resources to support this enterprise-level application, we launched the state’s first cloud initiative. This allows us to cut costs while continuing to achieve the mission with a security-enhanced solution.”

With guidance from Tribridge, 2012 Microsoft Dynamics State and Local Government Partner of the Year, the Illinois DOC was able to configure, develop and deploy the robust and flexible architecture of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online through trained and certified union members, significantly reducing the Offender-360 solution cost and deployment timeframe. The use of union workers helped Illinois avoid hiring contractors, gave union employees advancement opportunities and drove revenue back to the state by using an Illinois-based union workforce.

“Illinois is leading the nation in adopting a statewide, cloud-based solution that will effectively manage the offender population and ultimately better protect its citizens,” said Amir Capriles, general manager, U.S. Public Sector Dynamics at Microsoft. “Illinois is a leader among its peers, demonstrating that criminal justice programs across the country can be transformed by modernizing legacy systems with cloud-based solutions while supporting necessary security, business processes and legislation.”

Faced with fiscal challenges and resource constraints, federal agencies, state governments, localities and education institutions throughout the U.S. are looking for alternatives to high-cost legacy systems. The Illinois DOC cited the Microsoft Dynamics CRM offering as an application platform that can support modernization initiatives and still achieve impactful, low-cost results.

Adopting a next-generation enterprise-ready application platform is becoming increasingly common among criminal justice agencies seeking to transform and modernize their operations. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania is following the example of Illinois DOC with a similar modernization approach on behalf of that state’s 67 counties, while INTERPOL Washington is more effectively investigating fugitives, financial fraud, drug violations, terrorism and violent crimes.

More information about Illinois DOC can be found at http://www.illinois.gov/idoc. More information on Microsoft corrections solutions is available at: http://microsoft.com/corrections.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 11, 2013 — More than 75 percent of midsize to large businesses are implementing big data-related solutions within the next 12 months — with customer care, marketing and sales departments increasingly driving demand, according to new Microsoft Corp. research released today.

Big Data Infographic February 10, 2013 The explosion of devices, apps, the cloud and the Internet has ushered in the era of big data. Survey results uncover several key trends as companies grapple with big data and start to use it to gain a competitive advantage.

Downloads: Web | Print

According to Microsoft’s “Global Enterprise Big Data Trends: 2013” study of more than 280 IT decision-makers, the following trends emerged:

• Although the IT department (52 percent) is currently driving most of the demand for big data, customer care (41 percent), sales (26 percent), finance (23 percent) and marketing (23 percent) departments are increasingly driving demand.

• Seventeen percent of customers surveyed are in the early stages of researching big data solutions, whereas 13 percent have fully deployed them; nearly 90 percent of customers surveyed have a dedicated budget for addressing big data.

• Nearly half of customers (49 percent) reported that growth in the volume of data is the greatest challenge driving big data solution adoption, followed by having to integrate disparate business intelligence tools (41 percent) and having tools able to glean the insight (40 percent).

The company published its findings to the Microsoft News Center this morning, kicking off a week of announcements focused on the company’s big-data customers, products and future investments.

Microsoft “Big Data Week”

“Big data can be large tables of structured data, huge files of complex unstructured data, or small amounts of machine-generated data that pile up faster than you can make sense of it,” said Eron Kelly, general manager of SQL Server at Microsoft. “Microsoft’s goal is to help everyone make better, faster decisions by providing tools that make it easy to find insights in big data, small data … any data.”

Big data is changing the way organizations and people do business, discover insights and interact with one another. This week Microsoft will embark on a week of digital storytelling that showcases what customers, partners, the industry and Microsoft are doing to bring this vision to life:

• Today: “Global Enterprise Big Data Trends: 2013” and insight from big data executives and analysts

• Tuesday, Feb. 12: Spotlight on big data early adopters, including a Q&A with The Weather Channel Chief Information Officer Bryson Koehler on how big data is transforming his company

• Wednesday, Feb. 13: Microsoft’s big data approach, investments and products

• Thursday, Feb. 14: Silicon Valley big data event highlights

• Friday, Feb. 15: The future of big data and machine learning within Microsoft Research, including a Q&A with MSR Researcher Eric Horvitz

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 11, 2013 — For the millions of Americans waiting in anticipation for the president’s State of the Union address on Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. EST, Bing and FOX News Channel have partnered to launch the first-of-its-kind Bing Pulse online voting tool, which enables Americans to track and share opinions in real time during the president’s State of the Union speech. The Bing Pulse is part of a comprehensive State of the Union experience at Bing.com/Politics. The site provides a single destination for up-to-the-minute political news, expert information, real-time conversations and social sentiment on major policy issues.

The number of Americans who crave a more interactive political experience is growing, according to a recent Bing survey showing that nearly 75 percent of people identified themselves as active participants or observers in online political discussions.* Powered by Bing search technology and its unique social search experience, Bing’s State of the Union site is a nonpartisan online destination that was launched to meet this growing need for up-to-the-minute political information and second-screen experiences that are a great companion to political broadcasts.

Bing.com/Politics will keep people in the know from a vast number of news sources and social feeds, including a live stream of the State of the Union address, expert commentary, real-time social media sentiment tracking and more, such as the following:

• A live feed of President Obama’s State of the Union address at Bing.com/politics, including commentary from FOX News Channel political experts. FoxNews.com will also feature additional analysis and commentary including multiple live video streams along with photo galleries from the event. Viewers can log on at http://www.foxnews.com/sotu.

• The Bing Pulse online poll, which will feature updated results every few seconds throughout the speech. Unlike typical polls, Bing Pulse will allow people to self-identify as male or female, register their party affiliation, and join the conversation. It will feature a live count of the number of “pulses,” or votes, along with a line graph of how users react to language and issues throughout the speech. Data will be split by gender and political affiliation.

• Real-time news results using the Bing news selector that helps people navigate the news by filtering coverage from left-leaning and right-leaning sources.

• Live sentiment analysis via Bing Beat, which will focus on real-time social sentiment across major issues, such as immigration, gun control and the fiscal cliff.

• Original videos of former President Jimmy Carter and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich offering commentary on the State of the Union address.

• A live feed of social conversations on Twitter so people can stay informed on what leading political pundits are saying about the speech.

“Bing.com/Politics is the best second-screen viewing companion for the State of the Union address,” said Mark Penn, corporate vice president, Microsoft. “Bing uniquely offers a holistic view of information, reaction and even sentiment during this key political moment in America. Our strategic partnership with FOX News Channel allows us to provide the data Americans want to see most, and Bing Pulse will set the bar for live polls of the modern age.”

Bing.com/Politics is the place to join the conversation and see another reason for people to choose Bing over Google.

About Bing

Bing is the search engine from Microsoft. It was introduced in 2009 with a mission to empower people with knowledge — to answer any question and provide useful tools to help you best accomplish your goals, from the everyday to the extraordinary.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* The Bing research was based on a survey by Impulse Research Corp., an independent research company based in Los Angeles, Calif. The survey was conducted online in October 2012 with a random sample of 1,005 men and women, ages 18 to 34, who use the Internet for information on a regular basis — all members of the Impulse Research proprietary online panel. The Impulse Research proprietary online panel has been carefully selected to closely match U.S. population demographics, and the respondents are representative of American men and women, ages 18 to 34.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

NEW YORK — Feb. 8, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. announced the Microsoft Surface family of PCs is growing with Surface Pro, the newest member of the Surface family, along with a number of new products and accessories available tomorrow. Surface Pro with Windows 8 Pro is perfect for customers and businesses looking for the power and performance of a PC in a tablet package, and, starting tomorrow, it will hit physical and virtual shelves in the United States and Canada at all Microsoft retail stores and microsoftstore.com and at Staples and Best Buy in the United States and Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada.

New Products

Also starting tomorrow, customers will be able to purchase several new Surface products and accessories, letting them further personalize their computing experiences and be more productive.

• Surface RT with Windows RT will be available in a new 64GB(1) standalone version for an estimated retail price of US$599 to allow customers the option of selecting a cover of their choice.

• Customers will be able to purchase a Wedge Touch Mouse Surface Edition for an estimated retail price of US$69.95 in all markets where Surface is currently sold,(2) with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks.(3)

• Three new Touch Cover Limited Editions in red, magenta and cyan will be available for an estimated retail price of US$129.99 in all markets where Surface is currently sold.(2)

Market Expansion

Microsoft also confirmed today that a substantial increase in market availability of Surface RT will take place on Feb. 14, bringing Surface RT to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

“We are thrilled to expand the Surface family with the release of Surface Pro,” said Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Surface. “The launch of Surface Pro marks a pivotal moment for customers who can now do more with their machines than ever before. Within the Surface family, customers will be able to choose a combination of devices that best suit their needs: Surface Pro, which provides the power and performance of a laptop in a tablet package, or Surface RT, which offers the convenience of a tablet with some laptop capabilities so you can get things done.”

On Oct. 26, Microsoft released Surface RT — a device representative of a tablet with some laptop capabilities that weaves productivity and mobility into one beautiful product. Surface RT is great for people looking for all-day battery life (up to 8 hours battery life) and an entertainment-first experience with the ability to still get some work done. The newest addition to the Surface family, Surface Pro, is more like a full-blown Windows 8 Pro laptop that also boasts tablet capabilities. Now, customers can have a fully functional PC that looks, feels and acts like a tablet. With Surface Pro, customers can do virtually everything they’ve ever done on a PC, ranging from using traditional desktop applications to enjoying the protection of world-class safety and security technologies.

The Surface family of PCs represents an extension of the Windows experience, letting customers work, play and connect with others. From an ultralight durable casing, integrated kickstand and covers that allow customers to be productive anywhere to a full-sized USB port, 16:9 widescreen, high-definition display and 22-degree angle that make it optimal for viewing and sharing content easily, the Surface products let customers seamlessly transition between entertainment and creation.

Additional details on Surface are available at http://www.Surface.com, the Surface Blog and Surface on Facebook. Those interested can follow Surface or Panos Panay on Twitter for additional updates.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

(1) System software uses significant storage space; your storage capacity will be less. See surface.com/spec. 1GB equals 1 billion bytes.

(2) Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States

(3) Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb . 6 , 20 13 — Today, Outlook.com launched Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail, a national campaign at http://www.scroogled.com to educate Americans about Google’s practice of going through the contents of all Gmail emails to sell and target ads. According to a public GfK Roper study, commissioned by Microsoft Corp., 70 percent of consumers don’t know that major email providers routinely engage in the practice of reading through their personal email to sell ads — something that 88 percent of people disapprove of once they are informed. Unlike Gmail, Outlook.com doesn’t go through the content of users’ emails to show ads. Outlook.com hopes this campaign will help educate consumers about Google’s email practices and promote Outlook.com’s policy of prioritizing the privacy of its users’ emails.

To help consumers have their voice heard, today Outlook.com launched a petition to help them get the message to Google that going through personal email messages to sell ads is unacceptable. Outlook.com encourages consumers to sign the petition at Scroogled.com and tell Google to stop going through their emails to sell ads. Outlook.com encourages consumers to prioritize their privacy by switching to Outlook.com.

How Google Uses Personal Email Content to Sell Ads

Google goes through every single word of personal Gmail messages and uses that information to sell and target ads. As Google explains on its website, “In Gmail, most of the ads we show appear next to an open email message and are related to the contents of the current email conversation or thread.” For example, if you write a friend to let her know you are separating from your husband, Google sells ads against this information to divorce lawyers, who post ads alongside it. Or if you ask a friend for vacation suggestions, Google uses this information to target you with ads from travel agencies or airlines that want your business.

Google even goes through emails from non-Gmail users to generate advertising income. Gmail goes through all incoming email messages, from any email provider, and sells ads based on the content of those emails — a practice that nearly 90 percent of Americans agree should end.

Unfortunately even if they try, consumers cannot stop Google from going through their personal email for the purpose of showing them targeted ads. Google does not enable Gmail users to opt out of seeing ads based on the content of emails.

There are currently six active class action lawsuits against Google, all alleging illegal eavesdropping or interception under federal and state wiretapping laws, related to Google’s scanning of emails.

“Emails are personal — and people feel that reading through their emails to sell ads is out of bounds,” said Stefan Weitz, senior director of Online Services at Microsoft. “We honor the privacy of our Outlook.com users, and we are concerned that Google violates that privacy every time an Outlook.com user exchanges messages with someone on Gmail. This campaign is as much about protecting Outlook.com users from Gmail as it is about making sure Gmail users know what Google’s doing.”

New GfK Roper P oll: Public L argely U naware and S trongly D isapprove s of the P ractice

A new GfK Roper poll, commissioned by Microsoft, shows that only 30 percent of Americans are aware that any email service goes through the content of personal emails to sell ads, and 88 percent of consumers disapprove of this practice.

Key results from this survey include the following:

• 88 percent of Americans disapprove of email service providers scanning the content of their personal emails in order to target ads, and 52 percent disapprove strongly.

• 89 percent of Americans agree that email service providers should not be allowed to scan the content of personal emails in order to target ads.

• 83 percent of Americans agree that email service providers scanning the content of their personal emails to target ads is an invasion of privacy.

• 70 percent of Americans didn’t believe or didn’t know that any major email service provider scans the content of personal emails in order to target ads.

• 88 percent of email users believe that email service providers should allow users to “opt out” if they prefer that the content of their emails not be scanned in order to target ads.

Outlook.com believes users should be informed about Google’s email privacy intrusions and consumers should know they have a choice to switch to Outlook.com.

About the Don’t Get Scroogled Campaign

With the Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail consumer education campaign, Outlook.com is doing two things: First, it is highlighting Google’s practice of going through the personal contents of emails to benefit Google’s bottom line ahead of the user. Outlook.com has launched this education campaign and petition to help consumers get the message to Google that going through personal email messages to sell ads is unacceptable. Second, Outlook.com wants to highlight that it is an email service that puts consumers’ privacy first.

Beginning today and continuing for the next few weeks, the Outlook.com-sponsored Don’t Get Scroogled activities will appear online and offline, demonstrating why consumers should be concerned and helping them take action. Outlook.com is also calling on consumers to join the petition drive to tell Google to stop going through their users’ email to sell ads. Consumers can also visit http://www.scroogled.com to get information about Google’s practices and updates on the situation.

“Outlook.com believes your privacy is not for sale,” Weitz said. “We believe people should have choice and control over their private email messages, whether they are sharing banking information or pictures of their family or discussing their medical history.”

Weitz added, “Outlook.com does not scan the contents of your personal email to sell ads. Outlook.com is an email service that prioritizes your own and your family’s privacy. You wouldn’t let the post office look inside your mail, so why would you let Google?”

More information about how Outlook.com prioritizes your privacy can be found at http://www.scroogled.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About this study: The RDD telephone survey was conducted Feb. 1-4, 2013 by GfK’s Public Affairs & Corporate Communications division, among a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults ages 18 or older. Interviews were conducted with 753 respondents on landlines and 253 respondents on cellular telephones. The data were weighted on age, sex, education, race and geographic region. The margin of error on results based on the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. - Feb. 5, 2013 - “Microsoft has provided a $2 billion loan to the group that has proposed to take Dell private. Microsoft is committed to the long term success of the entire PC ecosystem and invests heavily in a variety of ways to build that ecosystem for the future.

“We're in an industry that is constantly evolving. As always, we will continue to look for opportunities to support partners who are committed to innovating and driving business for their devices and services built on the Microsoft platform.”

NAIROBI , Kenya — Feb . 5, 201 3 — Microsoft Corp., in collaboration with the government of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications and Indigo Telecom Ltd., today announced the launch of a pilot project delivering low-cost wireless broadband access to previously unserved locations near Nanyuki and Kalema, Kenya. The network utilizes TV white spaces and solar-powered base stations to deliver broadband access and create new opportunities for commerce, education, healthcare and delivery of government services.

This pilot is part of Microsoft’s broader 4Afrika Initiative (see related release), to help improve the continent’s global competitiveness. A core goal of the 4Afrika Initiative is to facilitate access to technology for the masses and to empower African students, entrepreneurs, developers and others to become active global citizens.

TV white spaces, the unused portions of wireless spectrum in the frequency bands generally used for television, are particularly well-suited for delivering low-cost broadband access to rural and other unserved communities. Radio signals in the TV bands travel over longer distances and penetrate more obstacles than other types of radio signals and, therefore, require fewer base stations to provide ubiquitous coverage. Microsoft intends to use this pilot and other similar initiatives to encourage African governments to make the needed legal and regulatory changes that would allow this type of technology to be deployed continentwide.

“Microsoft was built on the idea that technology should be accessible and affordable to the masses, and to date, this promise has remained unfulfilled in Africa,” said Louis Otieno, Legal and Corporate Affairs director for Africa initiatives at Microsoft. “This technology has the potential to deliver on the promise of universal and affordable high-speed wireless broadband for Africa, and we are proud and humbled to be part of this important effort.”

The project is the first deployment of TV white space technology in Africa targeted at communities without access to broadband or electricity and is a result of a memorandum of understanding that presents a framework of cooperation between Microsoft, the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications and industry partner Indigo Telecom. To date, work in this space in Africa has exclusively focused on demonstrating the technical feasibility of using TV white space technology. This project takes an important next step forward by instead focusing on assessing the commercial feasibility of delivering low-cost access using TV white space technology.

The initial installation near Nanyuki includes five customer locations: the Burguret Dispensary (healthcare clinic), Male Primary School, Male Secondary School, Gakawa Secondary School and Laikipia District Community Library. The installation in Kalema will begin with a base station that connects to a government of Kenya agricultural extension office. Fourteen more locations on the network will be added in the coming months. The network will also feature white space radios manufactured by Adaptrum.

Utilizing the latest Window 8 tablets, Windows 8 applications and Microsoft Office 365, Indigo will provide computer labs and instruction to each school and the library and work with community leaders and local companies to identify the most beneficial services and applications for each location, including in the agriculture and education spaces.

“Indigo is committed to finding and deploying the best solutions for our customers’ needs, which in this case means bringing broadband access to previously unserved communities,” said Peter Henderson, chairman of Indigo Telecom, the local Internet service provider partnering in the project. “Beyond simply providing access, we have given the community a real stake in the pilot’s success by creating a cooperative to manage the project, an effort that included hiring and training a local community member to serve as the lab technician.”

“TV white spaces and efficient spectrum management represent a creative, tested and affordable way of extending broadband access to unserved communities,” said Paul Garnett, director in Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group. “Kenya is one of the countries leading the way in using this innovative solution, and we hope regulators around the world take note and develop legal frameworks that support broader commercial deployment of TV white space technology in their own jurisdictions.”

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, W ash. — Feb. 4, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today introduced the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, a new effort through which the company will actively engage in Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness. By 2016, the 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) online, upskill 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop employability skills, 75 percent of whom Microsoft will help place in jobs.

“The world has recognized the promise of Africa, and Microsoft wants to invest in that promise. We want to empower African youth, entrepreneurs, developers, and business and civic leaders to turn great ideas into a reality that can help their community, their country, the continent and beyond,” said Fernando de Sousa, general manager, 4Afrika Initiative. “The 4Afrika Initiative is built on the dual beliefs that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world.”

As a first critical step toward increasing the adoption of smart devices, Microsoft and Huawei are introducing the Huawei 4Afrika, a full-functionality Windows Phone 8, which will come preloaded with select applications designed for Africa. The phone will initially be available in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa later this month. The Huawei 4Afrika phone, which is the first in a series of smart devices designed “4Afrika,” will be targeted toward university students, developers and first-time smartphone users to ensure they have affordable access to best-in-class technology to enable them to connect, collaborate, and access markets and opportunities online. (See related release and blog.)

To improve technology access, Microsoft also announced the deployment of a pilot project with the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications and Kenyan Internet service provider Indigo Telecom Ltd. to deliver low-cost, high-speed, wireless broadband and create new opportunities for commerce, education, healthcare and delivery of government services across Kenya. The deployment is called “Mawingu,” which is Kiswahili for cloud. It is the first deployment of solar-powered base stations working together with TV white spaces, a technology partially developed by Microsoft Research, to deliver high-speed Internet access to areas currently lacking even basic electricity. Microsoft hopes to implement similar pilots in East and Southern Africa in the coming months to further explore the commercial feasibility of TV white space technology. These pilots will be used to encourage other African countries to accelerate legislation that would enable this TV white space technology to deliver on the promise of universal access for Africa. (See related release and blog.)

To help empower African SMEs, Microsoft announced a new SME Online Hub through which African SMEs will have access to free, relevant products and services from Microsoft and other partners. The hub will aggregate the available services, which can help SMEs expand their businesses locally, find new business opportunities outside their immediate geographies and help increase their overall competitiveness. As a welcome offer, Microsoft will provide free domain registration for one year and free tools for SMEs interested in creating a professional Web presence. The hub is expected to initially open in April in South Africa and Morocco and will expand to other African markets over time.

To accelerate capacity building and skills development, Microsoft has established the Afrika Academy, an education platform leveraging online and offline learning tools, to help Africans develop both technical and business skills for entrepreneurship and improved employability. Training through the Afrika Academy will be available starting in March at no cost to recent higher education graduates, government leaders and the Microsoft partner community. One of the first offline training sessions will take place with Microsoft-managed partners in Ivory Coast in the coming months, focusing on capacity building in business and technical skills for Microsoft’s partners in Francophone West Africa.

The 4Afrika Initiative will be tightly connected to Microsoft’s network of more than 10,000 existing partners in Africa today, a network it has built through more than 20 years of investing and operating in the continent. The 4Afrika Initiative will leverage these existing partnerships and create new ones across the public and private sectors to help advance common goals and to create value for Africans. Together with its partners, Microsoft has initiated various other efforts in recent months as part of the 4Afrika Initiative:

• AppFactory (South Africa and Egypt). Microsoft is hiring 30 paid student interns to staff the AppFactory — centers to which the public can submit requests for Africa-relevant Windows applications (Windows 8 or Windows Phone). These requests are being crowdsourced for voting, and the most popular ideas are assigned development resources to build and launch the apps in the Windows Store. Already, the AppFactory teams have built 73 Windows apps and 39 Windows Phone apps, and at full capacity, the teams plan to contribute approximately 90 new apps to the Windows Store per month.

• Nokia and Windows Phone user training (Kenya and Nigeria). Microsoft has established agreements with Safaricom in Kenya and Bharti Airtel in Nigeria to accelerate local adoption of the Nokia Lumia 510 and Nokia Lumia 620 Windows Phones. In Nigeria, 95 percent of phones sold are feature phones. Through these agreements, Microsoft is funding in-store training for consumers who purchase these Nokia models with a data plan. The training explains the benefits of owning a smartphone, helping make these smartphones better understood and, therefore, more desirable for consumers.

• Female empowerment portal (North Africa). This portal targeted at North African women will launch in March as an offshoot of the MasrWorks IT skills portal. It is designed to empower young women to play a leadership role in their communities, build their skills and self-esteem, and introduce new models for self-employment. It will provide IT skills training and softer-skills training on topics including leadership, self-confidence and interviewing, as well as the mentorship needed to build a long-term career in technology. The mentorship will be provided via a sustained engagement between Microsoft, its partners, a local NGO and the beneficiaries to support them in career building and to plan their role in society as female leaders.

“We believe there has never been a better time to invest in Africa and that access to technology — particularly cloud services and smart devices — can and will serve as a great accelerator for African competitiveness,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International. “The launches of Windows 8 and many other new products in the coming months represent a new era for Microsoft, which we believe will redefine the technology industry globally. These additional investments under the 4Afrika banner will help define our company’s new era in Africa.”

Simultaneous launch events to kick off this new era in Africa are taking place today in five locations spanning the continent: Cairo; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; and Johannesburg. In all locations except for Cairo, Microsoft will also be hosting separate developer workshops in the coming weeks to facilitate and accelerate the development of new and innovative Windows applications for Africa, by Africans.

More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/4Afrika.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 4, 2013 — Today on international Safer Internet Day, Microsoft Corp. released the results of its second annual Microsoft Computing Safety Index (MCSI), revealing that more than half (55 percent) of global respondents are experiencing multiple online risks, yet only 16 percent say they take multiple proactive steps to help protect themselves and their data. This year the MCSI also examined mobile safety behaviors, uncovering that although less than half of respondents (42 percent) run software updates on their personal computers, only 28 percent run regular updates on their mobile devices, potentially compounding their risk.

“Mobile devices often have just as much, if not more, valuable personal information stored on them as a home computer, making mobile devices equally attractive to data-stealing criminals,” said Jacqueline Beauchere, Microsoft’s incoming chief online safety officer. “The latest MCSI results demonstrate that no matter where or how people access the Internet, exercising safer online habits is essential. There are steps that people can take and technologies that they can employ to help prevent them from becoming a victim.”

The MCSI surveyed more than 10,000 PC, smartphone and tablet users in 20 countries and regions about their personal approach to online safety and assigned a point scale of 0 to 100 based on their answers. The global average score was 34 for PC online safety and 40 for mobile. An abbreviated version of the MCSI is available at Microsoft Computing Safety Index Survey for people to check how savvy they are when it comes to online safety.

Other key worldwide findings from the MCSI include the following:

• Theft of password or account information was cited as a concern for 47 percent of respondents, with 33 percent saying they use secure websites and 28 percent saying they avoid using open Wi-Fi spots on their mobile devices.

• Forty-eight percent of respondents said they worry about computer viruses, with fewer than half (44 percent) turning and leaving on firewalls, and just more than half (53 percent) installing antivirus software on their PCs.

• Forty-five percent of those surveyed said they worry about having their identity stolen, yet only 34 percent have a PIN (personal identification number) to unlock their mobile device, and just 38 percent say they educate themselves about the latest steps to help prevent identity theft.

Microsoft offers a range of online safety tools and resources at http://www.microsoft.com/security, including the following practical steps consumers can take to stay safer online:

• Lock your computer and accounts with strong passwords and your mobile phone with a unique, four-digit PIN.

• Do not pay bills, bank, shop or conduct other sensitive business on a public computer, or on your laptop or mobile phone over “borrowed” or public Wi-Fi (such as a hotspot).

• Watch for snoops. People scouting for passwords, PINs, user names or other such data may be watching your fingers or the screen as you enter that data.

• Treat suspicious messages cautiously. Avoid offers too good to be true and be wary of their senders, even if the messages appear to come from a trusted source.

• Look for signs that a Web page is secure and legitimate. Before you enter sensitive data, check for evidence of encryption (e.g., a Web address with “https” and a closed padlock beside it or in the lower right corner of the window).

• Reduce spam in your inbox. Share your primary email address and instant messaging name only with people you know or with reputable organizations. Avoid listing them on your social network page, in Internet directories (such as white pages) or on job-posting sites.

Countries surveyed in the MCSI were Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 4, 2013 — Tired of being let down in love on Valentine’s Day? According to a recent survey from Bing and Impulse Research Corp., a surprising one in 10 people have ended a relationship on arguably the most romantic day of the year. This year Bing is challenging people to reconsider their search habit and break up with Google. You wouldn’t keep dating someone who isn’t trustworthy, so why use a search engine known for serving its interests over your own? In fact, a whopping 85 percent of people report that trustworthiness is the most important trait in a mate, beating out good in bed, sense of humor and wealth.

85 percent of respondents in a recent survey report that trustworthiness is the most important trait in a mate.

Bing treats you right. Whether you’re shopping for gifts for your sweetheart, looking to plan a singles night out or finding tips for a great date night, try Bing this Valentine’s Day and avoid getting burned.

• Not all is fair in love and search. Whether you’re searching for a cuddly teddy bear or a diamond bracelet for your sweetheart, Google Shopping displays ads only from merchants that pay for ranking. Bing offers honest results so you get the best deals from across the Web.

• Bing takes the initiative. Bing’s Snapshot feature includes one-click access for booking reservations or buying tickets so you have more time for doing and spend less time searching.

• Bing keeps you and your friends connected. Skip search engines that keep you locked in their system and isolated from your friends. Bing brings all your friends from Facebook into its social search and leverages experts and enthusiasts from Twitter. Just last month there were new updates to the social sidebar, which mean even more available content from your Facebook friends right within your search. Looking for a fun, new restaurant for a night out with your single friends? A quick search on Bing will show you not only great Web results but also which friends have liked those search results and posted status updates, comments, photos and more about them, so you can easily find out if they are right for you.

• Bing won’t spoil your sweetheart’s surprise. Just one click on “History Off” allows you to search in peace while you’re looking for gift ideas and more. Bing gives you the same trust you give it.

• Bing showers you with tokens of affection. Just for searching, Bing Rewards lets you earn Amazon and Starbucks gift cards, free Xbox LIVE and Hulu Plus subscriptions, and even donations to charities. How can you say no to that?

Let Bing show you the love this Valentine’s Day. Need more convincing? Click and choose which Web results you prefer by participating in the Bing It On Challenge, available at http://www.bingiton.com.

About the Survey

The survey was conducted online with a random sample of 1,017 men and women, ages 18–34, who use the Internet for information on a regular basis. All respondents are members of the Impulse Research proprietary online panel. The Impulse Research proprietary online panel has been carefully selected to closely match U.S. population demographics, and the respondents are representative of American men and women aged 18–34.

Research was conducted in January 2013. The overall sampling error rate for this survey is +/- 3 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.

About Bing

Bing is the search engine from Microsoft. It was introduced in 2009 with a mission to empower people with knowledge — to answer any question and provide useful tools to help you best accomplish your goals, from the everyday to the extraordinary.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.