For Microsoft, the year 2012 was a very dynamic one. It became really tough to keep up with it.
Windows Surface, Windows Phone 8, Xbox Music and Outlook.com were launched. Some more announcements were also heard: SkyDrive for Xbox, Halo 4, updates to Skype, the autumn Xbox dashboard update, ramping up Surface production and a quick attack on Google for turning its shipping section into a set of paid ads rather than an actual search.
It is said that the company is not slowing down even for the holidays. So, what’s in store in 2013? There are quite a few, including the perpetual rumors about a new Xbox – or two or maybe three.
1. Windows Phone 7.8 and 8.5 – Despite of the multiple rumors, the Windows Phone 7.8 update won’t come out until early 2013. For the Windows Phone 7 users, Start screen will now have three sizes of tiles, a version of the Kids Corner child lock, 20 new accent colors and dynamic lock screen wallpaper (with at least the Bing image of the day). Nokia phones will have additional features such as a ringtone maker, Bluetooth sharing and lenses for the camera that can remove unwanted objects and make partly animated GIFs.
2. Office 2013 – Office 2013 is already finished and available for businesses, as well as on Surface RT, but it will go on sale by this month or in February. There is another persistent rumor that will we see Office for the iPad in 2013 as well? This rumor doesn’t necessarily add up as Office isn’t the only advantage of Windows RT but also a key feature. If at all Office for iPad comes in being it might only be the OneNote and Lync tools, as the Word, Excel and PowerPoint Web Apps were rewritten this year to run on iPad and Android tablets
3. No more Messenger – As expected, Microsoft will shed off its Messenger IM service in favor of Skype in the spring (except in China). User can merge their Microsoft and Skype accounts by logging into Skype with their Microsoft account (and they can still send messages to friends on Messenger and Facebook) but at some point that will become the only option.
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