We knew they were coming a while ago, but we didn’t know the pricing. Each game costs $8.99 and features upgraded graphics similar to those found on the Sony PSP versions released a couple years ago. Both titles debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 1980s.

Note that the App Store received the Japanese version ofFinal Fantasy II, not the American one. Japan’s Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II in the United States for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but this is the original Final Fantasy II that wasn’t released in the States until much later — confusing, we know.

If you’re not familiar with the Final Fantasy series, it’s one of the seminal franchises of Japanese role-playing games. Final Fantasy games involve a lot of random strategic battles with monsters in addition to some dialogue and exploration. They’re difficult, but they’re rewarding if you’re willing to invest some serious time.

Chances are these early titles won’t appeal to people who aren’t already fans. Developer Square Enix is banking on nostalgia here. Folks who aren’t fans might want to wait for the later, more accessible games in the series to hit the iPhone OS — not that anything’s been announced yet.

We’ve always wondered why Meebo, the king of in-browser IM, never released a native iPhone app. We do not have to wonder any longer as Meebo has just released a Native iPhone app.
Best of all, it’s free.

Our initial impressions of the app:
- It launches FAST. Faster than any other IM app.
- The interface is really nice and clean, although not better than BeejiveIM in my humble opinion. Still, it’s not ugly or bad by any stretch of the imagination.
- Push Notifications are supported, however Meebo does not state how long it will keep you signed in for.
- Works on Landscape!
- We haven’t seen any ads yet, which is pretty surprising since this is a free app.

I’m moving this to the front page and using it as my main IM app. And I think you should, too. Great, great job, Meebo. You are now the king of IM on the iPhone, too. Update: Okay, I have been using this app all day and I have a few more things to add. This app does not support file transfers. I had not realized that until I tried to send a picture to a friend, only to find out the app has no such feature. This might be a deal breaker for some. The app is still superb, but no file transfers is rather disappointing.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Designed for Life in Motion

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

Availability

Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft has just ended their press conference in Barcelona, Spain, And they’re taking a moment to do a Q&A session. I am transcribing these questions live for you to read them.

“With such a proliferation of platforms, all of which are free,  will microsoft will ever reconsider its policy of charging for licenses?”

“There’s something easy to understand about our model: We build a model, we sell them. We only have one or two competitors who are on a model of free, and that might work for them. Our model is clear and direct, we plan on staying on that model.”

“With windows phone 7 consistency, How are you going to allow your partners to differentiate themselves?”

“We make it so that the UI is extensible rather than replaced. The problem with replacing is that the UI ecosystem is fighting with each other. Having consistency provides an overall better user experience. But the UI is very extensible.” Surprising!

Ballmer: As an old-timer, let me remind you, maybe the first time I heard  this discussion is when we moved from DOS to Windows, there was consistency about windows that we didnt have in DOS, turns everybody wound up creating  a bigger pool of opportunity through that transition, I think when we look back 3 to 5 years from now we will see a lot of innovation and everybody will be pleased we could do that on top of a higher foundation instead of having everybody replumb the lower level guts of the user interface”

Are you going to support Adobe Flash in any way?

“We don’t have Adobe Flash support in Windows Phone 7 out of the gate.”

Steve Ballmer adds “We have no objection to Adobe Flash support ”

“Im afraid that’s all we have for time, thank you so much for attending!”

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

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Ralph De La Vega, CEO of At&t Mobility, just announced on stage that At&t will be the first carrier in the U.S. to carry a Windows Phone 7 Device . No firm dates for now, but we will let you as soon as we find out.

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

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[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

Customer Service (Or lack thereof)

Overall, We think Android as a platform is on the right track, but we think Google still has a way to go if it really wants to challenge the iPhone’s dominance.