Microsoft, At&t | featured news

Google once was seen as such a ripe target for investigation that the nation’s antitrust enforcers battled over the right to claim it as their own, as a potential high-tech pelt to be posted on the wall alongside Microsoft and AT&T.

One of the bigger, if expected, events at today’s CES Press Day was the announcement (three times) that AT&T will offer the Microsoft Windows-based Nokia Lumia 900 smart phone. AT&T announced the news Monday morning at a meeting for developers – with a hand from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; Nokia then discussed it at their own event; and then Ballmer discussed the launch again at his keynote Monday night.

As far as years in technology go, 2011 was one for the record books. It wasn’t just about big battles like Apple vs. Samsung, Microsoft vs. Google, AT&T vs. the world, or Hewlett-Packard vs. itself. It wasn’t just about the growth of apps and the ever-increasing pervasiveness of the Web in our daily lives, though there were plenty of amazing developments both these realms. It wasn’t just about hardware or software. And it wasn’t just about towing the line or trying to hold onto it.

The first three US phones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS go on sale today, with the Samsung Focus (4 stars) and HTC Surround (3 stars) debuting on AT&T and the HTC HD7 (3.5 stars) becoming available on T-Mobile. All three phones cost $199 with ...

AT&T demonstrated its support of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) at the software’s official launch on Oct. 11. The carrier will introduce four different WP7 phones before the end of the year, making it Microsoft’s chief launch partner in the U.S.