Microsoft is trying to persuade HTC to make new smartphones that run both Android and Windows Phone, and it’s willing to cut or eliminate its own license fee to make it happen. The software giant is hoping the move will encourage consumers to try out the Windows Phone platform and eventually make the switch to it — but could the scheme backfire?

Samsung’s chief product officer for the mobile division of Samsung Electronics, Kevin Packingham, has left the company after being a key player in the introduction of several of the past Samsung Galaxy devices.

Packingham’s reasons for leaving the company aren’t clear at this time, as the New York Times reports that Samsung and Packingham have declined to provide details about the departure. However, a Samsung spokeswoman did offer the following statement regarding the departure:

Samsung has today unveiled Shape M7, a $400 wireless speaker that hopes to compete with the Sonos. It connects to your smartphone, tablet, or computer via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or NFC, and there’s a handy companion app that makes setup easy on Android and iOS devices.

Had BlackBerry’s cross-platform BBM launch gone as originally planned, we’d all be BBM-ing each other on Android and iOS by now. Of course, that didn’t happen, and so we’re not. But the Canadian company is still working hard to deliver BBM to its rivals.

Earlier this week BlackBerry promised that it was “100% committed to bringing BBM to Android and iPhone,” and it just resumed beta testing on Android with a brand new release.

Retail giant Target confirmed Thursday that it will launch Brightspot, it’s own prepaid mobile service.

The service will use T-Mobile networks and will give customers unlimited talk and texting for $35 per month, with plans that include unlimited data for $50 per month. The unlimited plan will be similar to T-Mobile’s own service, which caps high-speed data use at 1GB per month.

Better yet? After six months of paid service, Target will give you a $25 Target gift card for your loyalty.