The HTC 8XT will cost $99.99, while the Samsung ATIV S Neo will be available for $149.99. Both prices assume a new line or eligible upgrade, standard two-year contract, and the use of a $50 mail-in rebate. If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Windows Phone 8, which won this year’s PC Magazine Readers’ Choice Award for best mobile operating system, you can register for news and email updates at www.sprint.com/windows8, so you’ll know as soon as they’re headed to stores.

For more information, check out the Windows Phone blog and Sprint’s official release.

Telefónica is reinforcing its commitment to pave the way for a more competitive market to benefit customers by offering additional options and a more personal smartphone experience with Windows Phone 8 devices.

In addition to Windows Phone 8 devices, Telefónica plans to offer its customers enterprise-class productivity and collaboration services with Microsoft Office 365, as well as consumer-facing features such as Skydrive and Xbox in a mobile environment connected to the Internet.

For more information, check out the full press release, and for additional information about how Microsoft is helping operators like Telefónica grow & differentiate their businesses, please visit www.microsoft.com/oc 

After investigating its options, Playgroup chose Telstra to deploy Microsoft Office 365, an integrated, cloud-based suite of Microsoft Office applications based on familiar Microsoft technology the staff knew and trusted. Telstra, Australia’s leading telecom and information services company, made it possible for Playgroup Queensland to deploy Office 365 quickly and without issues—allowing the organization to focus on families in need, rather than the new technology.

By deploying Office 365, Playgroup avoided upfront server expenditures, reducing annual IT costs by more than one third by the company’s estimation. Over the long term, Playgroup stands to benefit from Telstra’s single-provider services and easy monthly payment, which helps minimize costs and simplify management. And with the easy to use Office 365 online admin console, the solutions will scale alongside the organization’s growth.

For more information check out the case study, and look for more Office 365 syndication success stories in the coming weeks on Telco Insights.

South Africa’s burgeoning IT market is one of the largest in Africa. New technologies are creating new ways of doing business, and IT service providers are looked at as trusted advisors to many small and midsize businesses. Such was the case with Tenth Street Technology, which needed a more reliable and scalable infrastructure to develop customer solutions cost-effectively. After researching solutions and telecom operators, Tenth Street Technology engaged with Vodacom to implement Microsoft Office 365.

The implementation was done in two weeks with zero server downtime, with Vodacom helping Tenth Street Technology deploy a comprehensive cloud solutions based on Office 365. The company moved from a traditional telecom system to VoIP and upgraded from on-premises Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange Online and Windows Server 2012, with Nokia smartphones running on Windows Phone software.

With its updated infrastructure, Tenth Street Technology is positioned to make the most of rising opportunities. Improved collaboration and productivity, along with simplified management, provide a solid platform for growth. And Tenth Street Technology sees the low Office 365 monthly fee as a clear bonus for prospective small and midsize business customers.

For more information check out the case study, and look for more Office 365 syndication success stories in the coming weeks on Telco Insights.

Today we continue our series highlighting operator partners who are syndicating Microsoft Office 365 to their customers by highlighting Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company which is enabling greater productivity for its SMB customers by offering Office 365.

Four years of steady growth gave Brisbane-based Calibre Real Estate a promising outlook. The company had added 20 new employees and two branch offices. But continued growth and future profitability also meant the need for better IT. Calibre needed a cost-effective way to ensure productivity for its growing, largely mobile staff. Telstra supplied the solution with Office 365—bringing increased reliability, cost savings, and a scalable platform for growth.

Calibre engaged Telstra to provide Office 365, an integrated, cloud-based suite of Microsoft Office applications based on familiar Microsoft technology. The solution included Microsoft Exchange Server for email, Microsoft Lync for instant messaging and web conferencing, and Microsoft SharePoint for secure file access.

Realtors are tied to their mobile devices for communications and transactions, and IT needs to function seamlessly. With Office 365, Calibre gets 24/7 reliability with cloud-hosted email and file-sharing, using almost any Internet-connected device. Whether workers are at the headquarters office, a branch office, or in the field, they can collaborate, hold meetings, and send large files without delay.

If business continues to expand for Calibre, Office 365 is ready to grow along with the company. The infrastructure can be extended to a new office location in as little as one day, with no additional overhead.

For more information check out the case study, and look for more Syndication success stories in the coming weeks on Telco Insights.

UK-based sportswear retailer Musto Limited was looking to capitalize on a market that was finally crawling out recession, but its communication efforts were continuously undermined by an inefficient email system and spotty mobile collaboration between its 250 employees.  All of Musto’s customer orders, invoices and credits, and collaboration with a global network of partners take place via email, and Mustro works with manufacturers all around the world sending large files and drawings back and forth between factories and designers.

Musto was using a diverse IT infrastructure including Exchange Server 2003, Apple with Entourage, and Blackberry suite of phone services and handsets backed by a BlackBerry Server. The biggest problems were happing with its Email server, which was unstable and had limited storage capacity - the occasional deletion meant resynchronizing heavily used mailboxes and dropping time on the sales clock. In addition, in order to offer secure data access for their large mobile workforce, Musto resorted to providing employees with USB flash drives in order to cover for email outages and remote access issues.

Musto contacted its telecommunications provider, Vodafone UK, and were surprised to learn that Vodafone and its partner D R Communications LTD offered an ideal business solution to their email and collaboration problems: Office 365 and Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones running on the Vodafone Network.

After a smooth implementation of Office 365, Musto had a reliable, user friendly webmail system and the 25 GB storage capacity for each email account gave employees the flexibility needed to send, receive, and manage larger files without problems.  Without the need for a virtual private network to access email, Musto’s global workforce became more stable and quickened its response times.

This process also simplified and reduced Musto’s costs; it only pays one monthly fee for both telecommunications and Office 365 services, reducing their IT spending by 50 percent.

The change has been so beneficial that Musto is looking to amplify its new infrastructure by implementing other Office 365 collaboration tools like Lync Online, SkyDrive Pro, and SharePoint Online.

For more information check out the case study, and look for more Office 365 syndication success stories in the coming weeks on Telco Insights.

Similarly, telecom respondents were among the most likely – 45 percent – to feel that their company understands the benefits of social tools. They were also the least likely of all industries surveyed – 30 percent – to feel that their management underestimates the benefits of social tools in the workplace.

These data points illustrate how important social tools can be to the telecom industry, but to take things a step further, it’s also important for operators to use these social tools because they are often providing them as a service to their business customers. For example, many of the world’s top operators are syndication partners for Office 365, which includes SharePoint, Lync, and Exchange email. Syndication partners sell, bill, and support Office 365 cloud services, bundled with their existing products to SMB customers. As service providers, they are looked to as trusted advisors to help their customers collaborate and work more effectively, so it only stands to reason that they would be among the leaders in implementing these tools themselves. In fact, earlier this month Telefónica announced that it is deploying Microsoft Office 365 and Yammer as part of a strategic initiative utilizing IT for better business results and a competitive edge.

In all, undertaking this research has uncovered some compelling insights in to enterprise social tools across industries, and at Microsoft we look forward to working with our customers and partners to help companies transform their businesses and achieve their strategic goals.

Head over to the Microsoft Vertical Industries blog to see how workers in the media & publishing and manufacturing industries responded to the survey.

Clifton Trends, a manufacturer of western-influenced casual attire, had grown sales by more than 30 percent since the company’s founding in 2010 with an emphasis on high quality and affordable prices. But with half of its 25 employees travelling frequently, and partners and customers located throughout India, the company needed a reliable platform for communication and collaboration. Its original system was not no longer sufficient. Access to key business information such as inventory and financial data, customer information, and order status, was hindered by having data stored on individual clients and was putting sales at risk.

Clifton turned to Bharti Airtel, which it had worked with before, to implement Office 365. Clifton wanted to take advantage of Airtel’s broad geographic reach, and was confident in the operator’s ability to provide excellent service at a competitive price.

The implementation was complete in only 15 days with no server downtime, and within a month, Clifton noticed an increase in productivity related to more reliable communications and access. Employees could now using their handheld devices from any location, helping them to close deals faster and more easily. Since Airtel administers email remotely, it simplifies the IT for Clifton so employees can focus on sales.

Thanks to Airtel, Clifton was able to implement enterprise-class email without an enterprise-class budget. It got the solution it needed at an affordable monthly subscription rate, with no upfront infrastructure costs.

For more information check out the case study, and look for more Office 365 syndication success stories in the coming weeks on Telco Insights.

As with many telcos, the company is looking to enhance their digital capabilities as the industry races to provide new services to a global customer base. According to Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division, “Telefónica is a great example of a forward-thinking organization that understands how the cloud can power its business.” The company announced today that they are deploying Office 365 and Yammer to employees worldwide.

Telefónica was looking for a way reduce IT costs and increase agility, enabling employees to focus on development of new products and services instead of IT administration and maintenance. By moving to the cloud with Office 365 and Yammer, Telefónica is providing employees with a much faster, intuitive collaboration experience.

In addition, employees can instantly translate conversations into their native language using Yammer’s Translator functionality. Adrian Steel, European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica, calls this functionality “a massive benefit.”  Steel says that “by automatically converting conversations to a person’s native language, Yammer will help our people work more efficiently than ever and focus on delivering superior value to our customers.”

For more information about Office 365 and Yammer, visit the Office 365 blog.