Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's phone business gets Chinese approval

Nokia has received approval from Chinese authorities to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft Corp, it said on Tuesday, and added there had been no request for it to change its patent practices.

Nokia agreed in September to sell the business to Microsoft in a 5.4 billion euro deal. However, the Finnish company kept its patent portfolio, which is seen by analysts as a promising source of future growth.

Nokia said that it still expected the Microsoft deal to close in April.

"Nokia and Microsoft have now received regulatory approvals from the People's Republic of China, the European Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous other jurisdictions," Nokia said in a statement.

Nokia shares rose 2.9 percent to 5.48 euros after the approval was announced.

As a phone maker, Nokia has paid rivals for the use of their technology licences as well as charging for its own. A newly restructured Nokia would be freer to push up those fees, analysts say.

Google and Samsung had asked Chinese regulators to ensure that the deal with Microsoft would not lead to higher licensing fees, according to media reports.

But Nokia said that it had not been accused of unfair practices regarding its patents.

"No authority has challenged Nokia's compliance with its undertakings related to standard-essential patents or requested that Nokia make changes to its licensing programme or royalty terms," it said in the statement

Microsoft Office for iPad may be unveiled by Nadella on March 27

Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella may unveil an iPad version of the company's Office software suite on March 27, a source familiar with the event told Reuters, and use his first big press appearance to launch the company's most profitable product in a version compatible with Apple Inc's popular tablet.

Nadella, who replaced longtime CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this year, will address the media and industry executives in San Francisco on March 27.

Investors for years have urged Microsoft to adapt Office for mobile devices from Apple and Google Inc, rather than shackling it to Windows as PC sales decline. But the Redmond, Washington-based software giant has been reluctant to undermine its other lucrative franchise, its PC operating software.

Microsoft gives up some $2.5 billion a year in revenue by keeping Office off the iPad, which has now sold almost 200 million units, analysts estimate.

Tech blog Re/code first reported news of Nadella's event. Microsoft said in an invitation to reporters that Nadella will discuss "news related to the intersection of cloud and mobile" but declined to comment on the specifics of the CEO's appearance.

Microsoft has had iPad and iPhone versions of Office primed for several months now, sources told Reuters, but the company has dallied on their release due to internal divisions, among other things.

Although Nadella is expected to discuss his thinking in depth next week, the company has already signaled that it will adopt a more liberal attitude toward putting its software on different platforms.

Microsoft said earlier on Monday that it would make OneNote, its note-taking software, available on Mac, a move interpreted by observers as a shot against Evernote, the popular note-taking application that has both Mac and Android compatibility.

Aside from Evernote, Microsoft also faces budding challenges from startups that have released mobile-friendly alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Microsoft announces cheaper Office 365 Personal for individuals

Microsoft on Thursday announced a new Office 365 subscription meant for individuals, dubbed Office 365 Personal. The company says it recognizes there are "households of all shapes and sizes", whether one person or an entire family.

Office 365 Personal will be available to individuals at a lesser price than Office 365 Home Premium, which now as the company identifies, is meant for households. The company is charging $6.99 per month, or $69.99 annually, for the individual subscription.

The Office 365 Personal subscription allows access to Office apps on one PC or Mac computer, and one tablet. To put that in perspective, Office 365 Home premium is a $99 annual subscription package ($9.99 monthly) and gives online access on up to five PC or Mac computers.

While Microsoft will continue to offer Office 365 Home Premium subscription for households, it is changing the name to Office 365 Home.

Users will see this change when Office 365 Personal becomes available. Although Microsoft hasn't given an exact date of the release, it has announced a US Spring release.

The company also said that whichever Office 365 subscription users choose, they will "get all of the subscription benefits including 60 minutes of Skype calling per month, 20GB of additional OneDrive storage" and updates for the most recent version of Office.

Earlier this month, in an attempt to enhance the Office 365 experience and further increase productivity, Microsoft had announced a new feature called Office Graph.

Office Graph evaluates users' Web searches and online interactions by mapping likes, posts, replies, shares, and uploads by an Office 365 user. Microsoft's new Office Graph is based on Yammer's concept of the Enterprise Graph across Office 365

Microsoft's Nadella confirms Bates, Reller departures in restructuring drive

Microsoft Corp on Monday put pugnacious pollster and political adviser Mark Penn in charge of strategy but left company watchers uncertain what exactly his new role will entail.

In the newly created job of chief strategy officer, Penn's "blend of data analysis and creativity" will be applied across new product areas and strategic investments, not just marketing, new Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella told employees in a memo.

The shift for 60-year-old Penn, who made his name advising President Bill Clinton, theoretically gives him more power to sway Microsoft's direction. But it also means he relinquishes direct control of marketing, which will be taken over by Microsoft veteran Chris Capossela.

It is not clear if the new job is a promotion or a sideways move for Penn.

"I would say both," said Ted Schadler, an analyst at tech research firm Forrester. "He doesn't own the advertising budget as Chris Capossela as chief marketing officer now does. But he, along with Eric Rudder, will chart the future of the company, Mark using market evidence and Eric using developer and business development."

Rudder, another longtime Microsoft executive who runs the company's technology strategy, is to take over business development from Tony Bates, who Nadella said would leave the company.

(Also see: Nadella in early Microsoft shake up as two executives prepare to leave: Report)

Bates was an internal rival to Nadella in the five-month race to succeed previous CEO Steve Ballmer, which was wrapped up in February with Nadella's appointment.

Scroogled
Penn, who has advised co-founder Bill Gates for two decades and joined Microsoft full time in 2012, is best known in the company for the 'Don't Get Scroogled!' campaign, which aims to make consumers wary of Google Inc's use of personal information but has not dented the search engine leader's global dominance.

(Also see: Microsoft's new Scroogled ad takes on Google's disguised Gmail ads)

Penn, who pioneered rapid-feedback polling of voters in elections and policy setting in the 1990s, has a history of hard-hitting tactics. In 2008 he caused a stir with a doom-laden ad casting doubt on Barack Obama's ability to handle the "3 a.m. phone call," which aired in support of his Democratic presidential primary challenger, Hillary Clinton.

Previously CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, Penn has also advised Ford Motor Co Chairman Bill Ford, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Penn will remain a member of Microsoft's 14-person senior leadership team, reporting directly to Nadella, but it is unclear exactly how his advice will be put into practice.

Previously, Penn shared leadership of Microsoft's centralized advertising and media operations with marketing chief Tami Reller. Nadella said Reller is set to leave the company in the coming months after handing over the marketing group to Capossela