Channel Beat: Lenovo Crushes Q4

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In this week’s top stories, Lenovo reported a 25 percent revenue increase in its fourth fiscal quarter, thanks to PC and smartphone sales.

The Chinese company said net profit jumped to $158 million, up from $127 million last year. While worldwide PC shipments have declined nearly 2 percent within the first quarter of 2014, Lenovo has grown sales by 11 percent.

Microsoft says it will let partners resell Azure cloud services through its Open Licensing programs starting August first, in what could be an attempt to keep SMBs from moving to Amazon and Google.

Under Open Licensing, partners will be able to buy Azure services from distributors and resell them to customers. Previously, customers could only buy Azure direct from Microsoft or get them as part of an enterprise agreement. SMBs are one of the largest untapped markets for cloud services.

Microsoft reportedly nixed plans to unveil a Surface ’Mini’ earlier this week, because it was too similar to other vendors’ tablets.

Microsoft was rumored to be debuting the Surface Mini earlier this week, but CEO Satya Nadella and Executive Vice President Stephen Elop reportedly decided not to unveil it alongside the new Surface 3.

Microsoft insiders say the company continues to work on smaller versions of the Surface, but will not confirm whether they will ever come to market.