TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 4, 2014 — Wednesday during a keynote address at Computex, Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president responsible for Microsoft Corp.’s device partnerships, demonstrated the breadth of innovation happening across Windows and the Windows device ecosystem. He was joined during his keynote by Tony Prophet, corporate vice president of Windows Marketing, and Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon, managing director of Microsoft Research Asia and distinguished scientist at Microsoft, who provided evidence of how Microsoft is innovating to deliver opportunity for partners and value to customers in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Parker opened the keynote talking about Microsoft’s vision for devices in a rapidly changing market and how Microsoft is innovating across its products, partnerships and business model to create opportunity for partners. Parker also talked about Microsoft’s device partner strategy to drive scale and innovation with Windows, through new partnerships and new technology that delight customers.

To talk about how the Windows team is operating with new speed and agility to deliver enhancements to customers and partners, and how Microsoft and its partners can build the next 1 billion devices together, Parker invited Tony Prophet to the stage. Prophet talked about how recent Windows enhancements including $0 Windows for devices smaller than 9 inches, relaxed certification requirements, the release of Windows 8.1 Update, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows universal apps all make building incredible Windows devices easier for a broader ecosystems of hardware partners and ultimately more valuable and affordable for customers. He talked about the value of Microsoft cloud services across devices and shared the latest momentum:

• 2 billion Skype minutes per day

• 4.4 million Office 365 Home subscribers

• 400 million active Outlook.com users

• 250 million OneDrive users

• 48 million Xbox Live members

• 18 percent share of U.S. search market for Bing
  

He also shared momentum on apps and announced that Kabam, a leader in free-to-play games, will deliver its lineup of hit games to Windows tablets and phones over the next year, including “Fast & Furious 6: The Game,” “Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon” and “The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth.” Moving forward, Kabam games will be available for Windows in the same timeframe as for other platforms.

Prophet was joined on stage by Nick Hedderman, group manager in the Windows Product Management team. Hedderman demonstrated the latest capabilities in Windows 8.1 Update and Windows Phone 8.1, showing a number of new experiences that were built based on customer and partner feedback, including improved mouse and keyboard navigation in Windows and enhanced notification, personalization and file management options in Windows Phone. He finished the demo with a look at Cortana, Microsoft’s new personal assistant on Windows Phone, and spoke about its upcoming availability in both China and the U.K.

Microsoft and its hardware partners announced new designs, price points and markets for Windows devices. Parker had nearly 40 brand-new devices on stage, including all-in-ones, laptops, 2-in-1s, tablets and smartphones. He gave the first sneak peek of Toshiba’s 7-inch tablet that will be available in the coming months at a value-driven price point that is very competitive to any other 7-inch-class device and unveiled the HP Pro x2 612 2-in-1 that is packed with business-ready capabilities including security features, a Wacom stylus, and dual batteries in the tablet and the power keyboard. He demonstrated an expanding ecosystem with new partner devices including numerous tablets from partners in the China technology ecosystem in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai, including Haier, VIDO and Luckystar. Parker also showcased a breadth of smartphones from value to premium from new partners including BLU, InFocus Corp., Prestigio and Yezz. These new devices are the result of Microsoft’s expanded collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. on its reference design program, which enables device manufacturers to quickly and efficiently broaden their portfolio with Windows Phones.

Dr. Hon joined Parker on stage for a discussion about the future of computing and key areas of investment for Microsoft Research that include big data, machine learning, datacenter, sensors, computer vision and natural user interface. Dr. Hon talked about advancements in computer science and provided examples of how technology coming out of Microsoft Research ends up in products such as Xbox, Bing and Skype. He concluded by sharing his thoughts on how computing is evolving to become more human-centric, which provides a more personal and contextual user experience for people to do more, know more and be more.

Computex is the second-largest computer exhibition in the world, drawing a range of manufacturers and developers each year for a look at the latest upcoming devices and technologies. Microsoft products and partner devices can be seen on display in the Microsoft booth in Nangang Exhibition Hall, L Area-#0110. More information is available at http://www.computextaipei.com.tw/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices 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. — June 3, 2014 — Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest school district in Texas — seventh largest in the U.S. — has purchased Microsoft solutions to help prepare students for the digital world. With a large majority of students from low-income families, HISD is making strides in improving the broader community by transforming each student’s learning experience and providing technology to students who otherwise couldn’t afford it. Microsoft technology helps HISD improve student outcomes, solve privacy concerns and amend manageability worries that plague many other education technology implementations. Microsoft Office 365 and HP Elitebook Folio 9470m Ultrabooks running Windows are helping to support HISD’s more than 14,000 students and 1,200 teachers in the first phase of its PowerUp initiative to transform how teachers teach and how students learn.

“Educating our kids is important, but having our parents and community understand digital awareness is imperative to their success,” said Lenny Schad, chief information technology officer at Houston Independent School District. “The entire community is behind our PowerUp initiative; we’re partnering with restaurants, churches, YMCAs and apartment complexes to install wireless infrastructures so students can access the network from anywhere, since we know many of our students do not have Internet access at home. Meeting our goal is all about community participation.”

HISD is providing Office 365 to faculty and staff, and planning to roll it out to students at no additional cost using the Student Advantage benefit. This will help to improve communication and collaboration across the district. In addition to the Office productivity suite, as part of the PowerUp initiative, 65,000 high school students will receive HP laptops running Windows once the devices have been fully implemented over the next three years to further enhance personalized learning for students. Microsoft’s commitment to student data privacy and belief that student data should not be mined by second parties for ads helped HISD meet federal and state requirements, and feel confident the technology they are providing students uses sophisticated safety and security technologies and is easy to use virtually anywhere, anytime.

HISD has taken a unique and deliberate approach to its deployment. In the adoption year, the curriculum leads, campus leadership and professional development teams were first to receive the devices so they could implement technology strategies for the upcoming year. Three months later, all teachers received their devices and became familiar with them for a full semester before the district provided devices to all students. After the holiday break, the digital environment and culture had taken shape, and students at 11 high schools in the district were given the laptops, allowing them to engage in a more meaningful and 21st-century way for everyday learning.

“This deployment process was unique because teachers were given the opportunity to teach their students with just pen and paper during the first semester, and then see them the second half of the year on a digital platform,” Schad said. “Teachers tell us that students are blowing them away; artistic, writing and other skills come out of the woodwork when you allow students their own path to learning.”

After just one year of transformation, the district is optimistic about the future and is confident students are gaining new skills and experiencing new opportunities that will help them excel in their path from graduation into college or career.

“You can’t help but feel good when you see students’ faces as they open their laptops, or when you hear from parents and grandparents how grateful they are that this technology — something they’d never be able to afford on their own — has been provided, because it’s so important to their students’ futures and education,” Schad said.

Other districts in the Houston area using Microsoft solutions to improve student outcomes include Clear Creek Independent School District, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, and Klein Independent School District.

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

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.