The release of Universal Windows Platform is one of hte most important&risky plans for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. UWP is a newly platform launched by Microsoft. This platform is made for developers to develop new apps on different devices.

UWP was mentioned a few times at Game Developers Conference held in San Francisco. It will be introduced at Microsoft Build developers conference later this month.

UWP allows the application that is edited by developer once to run on any Windows 10 devices, including desktop, iPad and smartphone. UWP will be soon compatible with Hololens and Xbox One.

Not every person loves UWP. Microsoft former CEO Steve Ballmer felt such platform isn’t practical. Tim Sweeney claimed that UWP is the most radical measure made by Microsoft. The developers are not so interested in UWP except Facebook and Uber.

Millions of developers are familiar with Microsoft’s old technology, but they are not considered to be accessed as the touch-screen devices.

If the developers are persuaded to use UWP on Windows 10 pc and iPad, it will be compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 smartphone then. Developers don’t need to make many changes for their applications.

To developers, the release of each new device means the selling opportunity for its related application.

There are not many Windows smartphone users, why Microsoft launchesthe universal platform for it? Here announced last week that it is not worthy spending time and vigor to develop new Windows 10 smartphone applications. It will totally give up Windows 10 smartphone business.

There will be limitation for the popularity of UWP as users could only download it from Windows Store. Microsoft will charge 30% as its commission.

Microsoft claimed that it will introduce more details at Build conference later this month.

Confirmed source from Chinese supplier, the upcoming 4-inch iPhone is officially named iPhone SE as a packing box data provided.

He previously posted that its has two settings for space storage: 16GB and 62 GB. There are four colors for options, including, silver, grey, gode and rose gold. China is one of the countries that sells the first round of iPhone SE.

The body design of iPhone SE is similar to iPhone 6s which is in accordance with the previous prediction by the experts.

There are not full details of iPhone SE except its body design and screen size. The previous reports indicated that iPhone SE might apply A9 processor and be compatible with NFC and Apple Pay. It has 2GB RAM and equips with 1642mAh battery.

In addition, its resolution ratio for screen might be 1136 x 640, does not support 3D Touch pressure-sensitive technology. The front camera is1.2 megapixel and rear camera is 8 megapixel.

RBC analyst predicted the iPhone SE has some completement value to Apple as it provides chance to upgrade for those fans who love smaller size of iPhone. Its sales might be conservative as he predicted its annual sales are between 10 million units and 15 million units.

Nomura Securities also assumed its sales come flat. It estimated its first annual sales volume is between 10 million units and 20 million units.

Apple will hold a spring launch event for new products at PT 10 AM on March 21. It is supposed to debut iPhone SE and smaller size iPad Pro to replace iPad Air.

The South Korean media reported that Samsung electronics cuts the R&D expense in order to get through a rough 2016. It is the first time that Samsung cuts R&D investment in 18 years.

Samsung made a great amount investments in research and development sections in the past. Samsung invested the largest amount of money in mobile business in 2015 regardless of its poor sales. It spent $14.1 billion for research and development, ranking second in global semiconductor industry.

It is reported taht Samsung electronics has cut 2,480 headquarter employees this year. It owned 99,382 employees by the end of 2015 which is down to 96,902 now.

Besides job cuts, Samsung closed some research & development centers, such as electronic materials research and development center and information application research and development center which locate in US.

The other offices also carried out the staff reduction plan besides the headquarter office. To improve its financial condition, Samsung cut the R&D costs.

Samsung has been attempting to increase revenue in order to get through financial difficulties. It applied Exynos 7420 processor for Galaxy 5 series to reduce the expense so that it increases the profit of components.

Samsung is exploring in VR industry and it launched Gear VR helmet. What’s more, it established the self-driving car technical apartment. It teams up with SEAT, SAP,BMW and Panasonic.

It also explored the oversea business by oversea mergers and acquisitions. Its oversea subsidiaries increased to 8 in 2015, 6 of them locate in US, 2 of them locate in Asia.

Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge made a hit when they were released lately. They were available in 50 countries last Friday. The statistics showed that their sales in South Korea reached 100,000 units two day ago.

Apple did not reveal much of the application of Apple News and it doesn’t even release how many users it obtained.Fortunately, Apple announced early this week that it will open Apple News application to all of the people.

Apple will allow all of people to post contents on News when it upgrades the distribution agreement. This act is similar to the adjustment of Facebook Instant Articles. Users could post or upload or sync the contents and videos from blogs to News.

In the meanwhile, Apple offers a newly webpage edit portal. This tool is available for small medium and independent developers. Apple hopes the News could attract more developers besides the early cooperative partners and well-known medium.

Apple will renamed News as News Format for this platform. Users only need to edit the contents for one time, then it will be displayed on all iOS devices. This platform is also associated with the current content managing solutions. Apple did not reveal the detailed information yet.

The News Format has different features with its previously tool News Publisher. News Publisher has been testing since its release. It is only available for Apple’s cooperative partners. But News Publisher will offer data analysis panel for publishers. Therefore, the publishers who post contents on Apple News could check some useful data, including independent reading section, page-views, shares,likes and reading durations.

It was reported that Apple News will display the native advertising that shares the same format with ordinary content.

Sony has world-class studio entertainment business in US besides its excellent consumer electronics business. It launched the internet tv service in some cities one year ago. Lately, Sony announced that it will promote this service across the United States. The monthly payment adjusted from $ 50 to $ 30.

As we all know, more and more consumers abandoned the cable television no matter in China or in US. Most of them prefer to watch videos or channels online. There are a great amount of internet tv service suppliers in United States, Sony included.

VentureBeat reported that Sony’s internet tv service “PlayStation Vue” will be available across the country in US soon. The bottom charge for monthly fee is $30, and 55 channels are available. If consumers pay $45 per month, they could access to 100 channels.

This service has been served for a year. It charged $50 for 50 channels per month. The public criticized that Sony charged too much. Most of US internet tv service suppliers charge from $15 to $30 per month and offer under 30 channels.

It is apparently that Sony noticed the public feedback. It decreased 40% of the charge for each month. It is worth noting that Apple is planning to launch its internet tv service. It claimed to charge $35 for 35 channels per month. Sony’s price-off promotion gave a hit for Apple’s plan.

The cable television is more expensive in US. The total fee could be accumulative to $100 each month. Some consumers feel unnecessary to use some binding services and unhappy with that.

The PlayStation Vue is available to record the shows and copy and save them into cloud service. The service is also compatible with PS4,PS3, Amazon Fire TV stick and Apple iOS devices.

15 years ago, Microsoft ex CEO Steve Ballmer claimed open Linux as “Cancer”. His attitude becomes softer with Linux recently.

At a dinner party organized by Fortune magazine, Steve Ballmer claimed that his standpoint was right then. Linux makes less threat to Microsoft now.

He added:” Microsoft obtained reasonable income through this competition. It consolidates the leading role of Windows system and means a lot to Microsoft’s revenue.”

Microsoft becomes softer with Linux recently. Last week, it even announced that it will sell the SQL Server which is compatible with Linux.

Ballmer is happy with this act. He emailed Satya Nadella for supporting this decision. He pointed out at the board last December that the company should carry out information transparency policy. He felt that the revenue and profit of each department should be transparent.

He was appointed as CEO in Jan, 2000. The scientific shares declined sharply in the following years due to the destroy of internet bubble. During his term, Microsoft stock price declined by over 40%.

While Microsoft share price increased by over 50% since Satya works as Microsoft CEO in Jan., 2014.

Satya made great achievement during his term. Ballmer considered one of the reasons for his success is change of market sentiment.

Ballmer admitted that the friendship with Bill Gates is no longer close. He enrages in doing yoga after he left Microsoft. He feel it is amazing to do workout, meditation and relaxation.

According the article posted on www.fool.com, it claimed that LinkedIn stock price declined by 40.8% in February. The investors found that its share price accumulative declined by 56 % in a year by the end of February.

LinkedIn released its Q 4 earnings at first week of February. It did not mention the WallStreet expectation though its revenue and profit was beyond the company expectation.

However, the management group submitted a disappointed 2016 fiscal prediction. Its stock price dropped 44% the next day.

Steve Sordello gave three explanation for the performance last May. First, the company faced the pressure of the change of exchange rate like any other US companies that expand in oversea. Second, LinkedIn made adjustment for its business pattern at that time, it took time for its sales team and clients to know the new products. Third, the company acquired Lynda.com at $1.5 billion. The acquisition made some impacts on the company’s overall business.

The management group did not take the exchange rate into consideration for the affected elements of its future performance in February. Sordello pointed out the current global economy makes great pressure for the revenues in European and Asian regions.

The operation condition of LindedIn sounds pretty well during the rough market. Its revenue increased by 25.5% in the past 4 quarters. The investors concern more about the profit, and its return keeps declining.

There will be bounce for its stock price, but we don’t know when. Its stock price dropped by a lot, however, the investors still should be cautions of bottom fishing.

The swap face filter of Snapchat is welcome by the youth. It once became fashionable for a time. Facebook recently acquired a well-known swap face app company. It will introduce some features for users to experience swap faces app.

According to the report of Engadget, Masquerade is one of the most popular swap faces app at Apple App Store. Facebook acquired Masquerade but it did not reveal the specific acquired capital.

The users could manage the selfies by using the filter tool and change their faces to stars’ or someone else. Users can share the modified photos with their friends for fun.

The specific facial features of Masquerade will be integrated to Facebook’s social networking platforms.

As reported, Masquerade will be run as an independent subsidiary after the acquisition has been completed. Its apps and features will be integrated to Facebook’s product besides offering the current independent app.

Facebook have acquired many companies for the enhancement of user social networking sharing, including emotion sticker company and photo filter company.

Facebook announced that the co-founders of Masquerade will be working in Facebook London office in the future.

Engadget claimed that the competitiveness will be enhanced a bit by acquiring Masquerade to rival Snapchat.

As far as the mobile chatting and photo sharing apps, Facebook has many shiny stars, such as Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. Snapchat attracts younger users. It is considered as the potential rival to Facebook in the future even though it has limited users at present.

The Lyft app develops better in this market. According to the statistics it provided, the quantity of drivers in New York city increased by 4 times, and its weekly active passengers increased by 6 times. Its total orders in Feb., 2016 was 6 times than the one in May, 2015.

Lyft did not reveal how many drivers it has in New York city and how many orders they have completed.

The figures could not exactly reflect the competition advantages between Lyft and Uber. It implied that even though Uber has the first chance to develop the business in New York, Lyft is also welcome by passengers and taxi drivers.

Lyft depreciated the charges in 33 cities in United States, including New York. It is also one of the reasons for its user growth. Uber also did the same measure in 80 cities in United States.

Lyft invested more on marketing, such as it enlarges the marketing team, offers more discounts and purchases more ads.

Some drivers registered both Uber and Lyft at the same tme. Evan Cohen, director of eastern coast district claimed that Lyft would invest more on drivers side. The commission it charges from drivers will depend on how long the drivers work. The longer they work, the fewer it charges.

Cohen admitted that Lyft invested a little in New York at the beginning when this app is available there. The company will make adjustment for its investments.

The competiton between Uber and Lyft keeps intense. They work hard to obtain more market share. Cohen mentioned a survey made by Harry Campbell that 80 % of drivers prefer to use Lyft rather than Uber.

Apple Pay was introduced to China last month and Samsung Pay is said to come to China soon. These two giants are competing to get more market share.

Samsung Pay released the earnings report and it indicated that PhoneArena reported that the company lost $16.8 million for this business, reports PhoneArena.

Samsung aquired startup company LoopPay at $229 million in Feb, 2015. It renamed the company as Samsung Pay Corporation then. LoopPay brought Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST ) for Samsung.

Samsung claimed that Samsung Pay gives superiority for Samsung mobile section, although its business did not perform as well as it expected. It added the Samsung Pay based on MST technology allows Samsung mobile to pay on most of credit cards terminals. This is one of the reasons that the sustainable growth of Galaxy series.

Samsung stated in the report that the users of Samsung Pay in South Korea and United States reached 5 million. It indicated that the sales volume of Galaxy S6, S6 edge+, Note 5, A5 and Galaxy A7 reached 5 million units in these two countries. According to its sales data for Samsung mobiles, Samsung Pay contributed to revenue of $ 2.49 billion.

As Samsung Pay doesn’t charge commission from merchants and consumers, Samsung could not make much profit from Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay also stimulates other business besides the promotion of mobile sales. Samsung could analyze the consumption models and adjust its strategy based on the figures.