Microsoft also announced the reduction of up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business.

Shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are up 7 cents, or 3%, at $2.41, after PC and gaming gear enthusiast site KitGuru this afternoon said the company is attracting buyout interest from Microsoft.

Samsung Electronics recently signed a new SSD supply contract for its 256GB SSDs to be used in the laptops of major suppliers such as Apple and Microsoft.

Microsoft is shutting down its Web display advertising business and handing operations over to AOL and AppNexus, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Samsung has been accused of disabling Microsoft's software in preference for its own, leaving computers insecure.

Fitbit claims to currently own up to 68% of the market in fitness trackers . But Jawbone, Under Armour, Garmin, Google, Samsung , Microsoft and others are all jostling for a slice of the pie.

Microsoft on Wednesday announced the departure of former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop as part of a broad restructuring at the company, one that will see its Operating Systems Group and Microsoft Devices Group merge into one unit.

Toshiba and Microsoft have announced that the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Microsoft has lost the first round in a patent battle that could see its handsets banned from import into the US.

Microsoft's Outlook email service was subject to a cyberattack over the weekend, just weeks after Google's Gmail service was blocked in China.

Windows Phone has never paid off for Microsoft's hardware partners, Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has claimed.

Nokia is launching an Android-powered tablet, marking the Finnish company's return to consumer electronics. The surprise launch pits the firm against Microsoft, which completed its takeover of Nokia's previous mobile-devices business in April.

At its analyst meeting today in London, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri detailed where the company's focus will be for the next few years for its Networks unit, the Here mapping subsidiary, and its Technologies business.

The new smartphone, set to debut on November 11, drops the Nokia logo and marks a new chapter for the Lumia family of mobile devices.

Microsoft is ditching the Nokia brand name from new devices, less than a year after acquiring the Finnish mobile firm.