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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Microsoft CEO sees Windows as key to growth plan (AP) : Technet

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Microsoft CEO sees Windows as key to growth plan (AP) : Technet

Microsoft CEO sees Windows as key to growth plan (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 06:09 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Sep 14, 9:09 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer assured analysts on Wednesday that Windows remains the software maker's financial foundation, even though slowing personal computer sales are raising worries about the operating system's ability to adapt to the new ways people and business are using technology.

"Windows is at the center of our `go-forward' strategy," Ballmer said during a presentation held in Anaheim, near Disneyland. "We feel very comfortable that this is a smart thing to do for our customers and the smart thing to do for our shareholders."

The Associated Press monitored Microsoft's analyst meeting via webcast.

Ballmer's upbeat tone reflected a positive buzz surrounding Windows 8, a version due out next year that Microsoft is touting as the most radical makeover of its lucrative operating system since 1995. Windows 8 is being designed to run on devices that boot up faster and work on touch-screen computer tablets, as well as on PCs that depend on keyboards and mice.

The overhaul is Microsoft's most aggressive response to the tablet craze that Apple Inc. set off with its release of the iPad in 2009.

Since then, Apple has sold more than 28 million iPads and analysts expect tens of millions more to be sold by the time Windows 8 is ready to be shipped. Microsoft isn't saying when Windows 8 will go on sale, but analysts expect it to hit the market at some point between July and the 2012 holiday shopping season.

In the meantime, Microsoft is still promoting Windows 7, which has sold nearly 450 million copies since its 2009 release. It just recently surpassed Windows XP — a decade-old operating system — as the most widely used version of Microsoft's operating systems, according to company estimates.

To build the excitement for what's coming next, Microsoft provided its most extensive demonstration of Windows 8 so far Tuesday during a packed meeting with applications developers. It gave away 5,000 Samsung tablets running on a preliminary version of Windows 8 and also is allowing anyone to take the software for a test spin if they want to install it on their own machines. By Wednesday morning, Ballmer said more than 500,000 copies of Windows 8 had been downloaded.

"The initial reaction has been all we have been hoping for," Ballmer told analysts.

That may be so, but Microsoft still appears to have work to do to win back investors who have become increasingly convinced that the company has lost its competitive edge as Google Inc. emerged as the Internet's most powerful player and Apple Inc. shaped mobile computing trends with the iPhone and iPad tablet.

The Internet and mobile devices are now seen as more compelling franchises with greater future potential than the PC business that Microsoft has milked since the 1980s with Windows and its Office suite of software.

Since Google went public in August 2004, its stock has increased by more than six fold while Microsoft's shares have dipped 2 percent. And since Apple released the first iPhone in June 2007, its stock has more than tripled while Microsoft's shares have backtracked 11 percent. That shift enabled Apple to surpass Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company.

Microsoft shares closed Wednesday at $26.50, up 46 cents.

The lackluster performance of Microsoft's stock has intensified the pressure on Ballmer, an exuberant leader who succeeded company co-founder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000. With Microsoft's revenue growth slowing, Ballmer has curbed spending and even laid off workers to save money. The penny-pinching helped Microsoft boost its revenue to $774,000 per employee in its last fiscal year ending in June compared with $622,000 per worker in fiscal 2006, Microsoft boasted Wednesday.

Ballmer, 55, is betting Windows 8 will help Microsoft catch up in tablets and renew demand for PCs that can be operated with a touch of the finger as well as with the traditional navigation tools.

Microsoft is also scrambling to build a mobile version of Windows that will be more widely embraced in the smartphone market, where it has fallen behind Google's Android operating system as well as Apple's iPhone system. "I don't love where we are now, but I am very optimistic of where we can be," Ballmer said.

The company's proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of Internet phone and video service Skype is expected to become a key part of Microsoft's mobile strategy. Microsoft is hoping to gain regulatory approval to close the Skype deal before January.

After losing billions of dollars investing in Internet search technology during the past five years, Microsoft believes it's in a better position to gain ground on Google — a name synonymous with looking things up online. Microsoft's Bing search engine has been steadily picking up market share since its 2009 introduction but the gains have mostly come at the expense of Yahoo Inc.

Deciding to rather save money than fight Google, Yahoo last year began relying on Microsoft's technology for most of its search results. That alliance has enabled Microsoft to process about 30 percent of the search requests made in the U.S. compared to about 65 percent at Google.

Yahoo has been struggling far more than Microsoft in recent years. The ongoing problems prompted Yahoo's board to fire Carol Bartz, the CEO who negotiated the Internet search partnership with Microsoft.

Since Bartz's unceremonious departure last week, there has been mounting speculation that Yahoo might put itself up for sale rather than hire a permanent CEO. Either way, Ballmer said Microsoft's 10-year contract with Yahoo won't be affected.

SAP to pay $20M to settle criminal charges (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 05:05 PM PDT

– Wed Sep 14, 8:05 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Business software maker SAP AG on Wednesday said it agreed to pay $20 million to settle criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice against a now-defunct subsidiary, TomorrowNow.

The subsidiary was accused of 12 counts of fraud and copyright infringement for stealing documents from rival Oracle Corp.'s password-protected websites. SAP had earlier acknowledged the theft and shut down the division. The $20 million penalty is twice what SAP had paid to acquire TomorrowNow in 2005.

The settlement, however, does not resolve a bigger problem for SAP in the case.

A jury awarded Oracle $1.3 billion last year in a verdict against SAP in a civil lawsuit. But on Sept. 1 a judge threw out the award, calling it "grossly excessive." Oracle said it will reject the judge's recommendation for a $272 million award, setting the stage for a new trial.

Walldorf, Germany-based SAP said Wednesday that it is "pleased to have come to an appropriate conclusion" of the criminal case. It added that SAP itself was not charged. The plea deal involved TomorrowNow pleading guilty to the charges.

Redwood Shores-based Oracle said in a statement that it has "spent the last four years uncovering SAP's massive copyright theft and SAP finally pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges for its illegal scheme."

U.S.-traded shares of SAP shares rose 24 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $50.53, in extended trading Wednesday. Oracle shares rose a penny to $28.16.

Apple cuts French App Store's 'Jew Or Not Jew' App (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:08 PM PDT

– Wed Sep 14, 6:08 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc. has removed a mobile app, called "Jew or Not Jew?", from its online App Store in France.

The app let users consult a database of celebrities and public figures to determine if they are Jewish or not. Its removal follows a complaint from a French anti-racism group that threatened to sue the iPhone and iPad maker.

The app, "Juif ou pas Juif?" in French, was selling for 0.79 euro cents ($1.08) in France until it was cut on Wednesday. SOS Racisme had argued that the app violated France's strict laws banning the compiling of people's personal details without their consent.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said the app did violate local law, so it was removed from the French App Store. It is still available outside France, however, and currently sells for $1.99 through Apple's U.S. App Store.

Under the French penal code, stocking personal details including race, sexuality, political leanings or religious affiliation is punishable by five-year prison sentences and fines of up to euro300,000 ($411,870).

Such laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust, which saw some 76,000 Jews deported from Nazi-occupied France to concentration camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive.

In a statement, SOS Racisme had called on Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to remove the app from its online store and be more vigilant about the applications it sells.

In an interview, published Wednesday in Le Parisien newspaper, app developer Johann Levy said he developed the app to be "recreational."

"I'm not a spokesman for all Jews, but as a Jew myself I know that in our community we often ask whether a such-and-such celebrity is Jewish or not," Levy, a 35-year-old Franco-British engineer of Jewish origin, is quoted as saying.

"For me, there's nothing pejorative about saying that someone is Jewish or not," he said. "On the contrary, it's about being proud."

He said he compiled information about famous people around the world from various online sources.

Developers that offer apps through Apple's App Store are responsible for making sure their apps are in line with local laws.

Apple has removed numerous apps from the App Store since it launched in mid-2008 for violating myriad restrictions it imposes on developers. In June, it shunned an app called "ThirdIntifada" following complaints that it glorified violence against Israel. Apple said it violated developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people.

Just Show Me: How to use Google Docs (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 06:31 PM PDT

Surf the web and fry an egg on this futuristic computer (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 04:03 PM PDT

4 Considerations for Expanding Your Startup to International Markets (Mashable)

Posted: 13 Sep 2011 04:34 PM PDT

Miguel Valdes Faura Miguel Valdes Faura – Tue Sep 13, 7:34 pm ET

Miguel Valdés Faura is the CEO and co-founder of BonitaSoft, a France-based company that produces business process management software, and provides commercial services and support for the open source Bonita project, of which he is also co-founder. BonitaSoft has offices in France, the U.S. and China, and recently recorded their 1,000,000th download of Bonita Open Solution. Follow Miguel on Twitter @MiguelValdes. Amidst an increasingly connected world, globalization is the order of the day. The concept poses both great benefits and significant challenges to entrepreneurs. However, while the benefits are many (including more efficient communication and greater potential for collaboration), today's digital age can put increased pressure on young businesses to expand globally -- and to do so quickly.

[More from Mashable: CTRL + C Your Way to Instant Search Queries & Social Sharing]

There is something to allowing your business to grow organically and not to push expansion too rapidly. On the other hand, it's important to consider the realities of today's business environment. If you're a startup entrepreneur, you risk facing a competitive disadvantage if you wait too long to expand your operations.

The first step in the process of expansion is identifying which markets are of the most strategic significance to your business. Once you've targeted a market, however, things can quickly become convoluted and overwhelming.

[More from Mashable: 13 Branded iPhone Apps That Enhance Their Company's Products]

With that in mind, here are four tips for entrepreneurs looking to expand globally.

1. Clearly Define Your Business Model

While this may sound like a trivial task, young startups often have an exciting and innovative product, but no real plan for monetizing it. If you're working with an open source project, for example, it's important that you have a definitive business model to drive revenue -- though not at the cost of alienating your community of core contributors.

To that end, companies will offer enterprise-ready software that comes with additional features, services and support. They may also contribute code to the community that comprises the backbone of their technology.

While the aforementioned example may not fit every startup, regardless, you need to have an actionable, scalable business model with measurable metrics (downloads, customers, etc.) in place before you expand. It's critical to establish this component of your business before thinking seriously about growth.

2. Build and Foster Your Community

It's also important to identify and engage with your community from the beginning. In today's connected world, your community can be one of the most effective methods of spreading awareness, whether it be your company's value proposition or evangelizing your product and/or services. Building and engaging a community through online forums and email lists is often a common first step. Now more than ever, social media channels are increasingly the norm, so further investing in community activities like meet-ups and workshops can add a face-to-face element -- one that is extremely valuable.

3. Relocate to Your New Market

If you're the CEO of a young startup looking to establish a footprint in a new market, you should consider relocating to help grow the new office and engage directly with new customers. Managing employees and tasks remotely can be a recipe for disaster when you're building a nascent operation. It's best that you personally oversee operations to ensure that they're in line with your broader business vision.

You'll also likely be hiring local staff for your new office. Since these early individuals will be critical to the success of your business, being present and managing them firsthand will effectively establish a precedent, not to mention, align them with the overall culture and vision of your company.

Also consider an area for its potential business partners (software integrators, resellers, etc.) as well as key influencers for your community (well-read bloggers and analysts).

4. Understand the Investor Community

It's important to understand investor tendencies and trends of the market you're targeting. For example, angel funding is more prevalent in the United States than in Europe. Also make sure to research which type of investors fit your business. In other words, angel investors and early stage venture capital (VC) firms will have different expectations than late stage VC firms.

In addition, investors typically like to target a specific set of market segments in which they envision high growth. For example, some investors embrace consumer applications but shun enterprise applications, and vice-versa. Generally speaking, the European venture capital community is more likely to commit larger investments in more mature companies. While the same can be said of the American VC community, there's also a sizable community of angel investors willing to invest smaller funding rounds in promising, albeit fledgling, startups. This trend is evidenced by the rise of firms like YCombinator, which focus on seed rounds for nascent startups.

While I would hesitate to advise companies to expand internationally before closing their first funding round, the move is not unprecedented. Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is witnessed in DotCloud, which closed a $10 million funding round from Benchmark Capital after relocating to the U.S. from France.

Consider these steps a necessary deep breath before taking the dive into startup globalization. The better you plan, the better your business has a chance at survival.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, courtneyk, Flickr, Shenhung Lin

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Third Point appeals to Yahoo founder Yang for change (Reuters)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:31 PM PDT

– Wed Sep 14, 6:31 pm ET

(Reuters) – Yahoo Inc shareholder Daniel Loeb appealed to the company's co-founder Jerry Yang to fire Chairman Roy Bostock and several other directors to revive the Internet media company after years of poor performance.

The letter comes as the Yahoo board prepares to discuss a variety of options facing the troubled Internet firm during an all day meeting on Wednesday.

Loeb heads hedge fund Third Point LLC, which holds a 5 percent stake in the company.

After calling for Bostock's resignation last week, Loeb spoke on the phone with him and Yang on Monday, urging for a "desperately needed leadership change."

During the phone call Bostock did not "acknowledge any responsibility" for the company's problems and said that he was "not likely" to step down from the board, Loeb said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bostock then hung up on Loeb, according to the filing.

Loeb then fired off a letter to Yang, issued on Wednesday, expressing support and offering a list of candidates "who could help bring Yahoo back to its rightful place among the world's top digital media and technology companies."

"As a Founder and major shareholder of the Company, the abysmal record of the current leadership must be heart-rending to you personally, as well as damaging to your net worth. We urge you to do the right thing for all Yahoo shareholders and push for desperately-needed leadership change," Loeb wrote to Yang.

Yahoo declined to comment on Loeb's SEC filing.

Third Point's call for ousting members of Yahoo's board follows the firing of Chief Executive Carol Bartz last week.

Yahoo has gone from one of the hottest Internet companies two decades ago to one mired in challenges for the last several years as it tries to hang on to its share of online advertising revenue, which is being siphoned away by larger and more nimble rivals such as Google and Facebook.

Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL are reportedly teaming up to form an ad partnership, selling each others' inventory in order to shore up their position against Google, according to AllThingsD.

Yahoo's share of the U.S. online display market is expected to decline to 13.1 percent this year from 14.4 in 2010, according to research firm eMarketer. Along with Microsoft and AOL, the combined estimated share is about 22 percent.

Meanwhile, Google's share of the online display market -- representing big splashy ads that appear on webpages -- is growing and is forecast to reach 9.3 percent this year, up from 8.6 percent in 2010.

By 2012, eMarketer estimates that Google and Yahoo will be in a "dead head" for online display ad share.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Derek Caney and Tim Dobbyn)

Report: Yahoo, AOL Microsoft plan ad sale deal (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 02:44 PM PDT

– Wed Sep 14, 5:44 pm ET

NEW YORK – Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft are joining up to sell each other's advertising inventory, according to published reports.

Citing unnamed sources, the tech blog AllThingsD reported earlier Wednesday that executives from Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc. and Microsoft Corp. told Web publishers and ad buyers about the plan at a presentation on Tuesday.

The deal could help the companies slow the fast growth of Google and Facebook in the lucrative online display advertising market.

Under the plan, the companies will sell each other's "Class 2 display" ad inventory, that is, ads they can't sell themselves and would normally hand over to ad networks, the report said. By selling the ads on their own, the three companies will be able to get back some of the money that has ended up in the hands of the advertising networks.

Yahoo and AOL declined to confirm the report. A Microsoft representative did not immediately respond to messages for comment.

In a statement, however, Yahoo said it has "longstanding relationships" with AOL and Microsoft and will continue to work and compete with them in years to come.

AOL said it is fortunate to have long-standing relationships with a large number of premium publishers, including Yahoo and Microsoft.

"We're excited to continue to explore opportunities to expand our relationships," said spokeswoman Caroline Campbell in a statement, adding that the company will share more information "when it's available."

Western Digital's Mobile Apps Access Personal Cloud (NewsFactor)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 05:03 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Wed Sep 14, 8:03 pm ET

Western Digital has launched two new personal-cloud apps for mobile devices running iOS or Android. The apps provide mobile users with direct access to the personal digital content they've stored at home on one of Western Digital's My Book Live network-attached storage (NAS) drives.

Available for download from Apple's iTunes Store and Google's Android Market, the new WD 2go and WD 2go Pro apps combine the benefits of both public and private cloud solutions -- but without their drawbacks, said Western Digital Executive Vice President Jim Welsh.

"Consumers demand the anywhere, any-device access they can get from 'the cloud,' but don't want to pay monthly fees or lose control of their personal data," Welsh said.

"With the new WD 2go mobile apps and WD's My Book Live personal cloud storage, consumers now have a simple and fast way to securely store, share, and access all their digital content from their mobile devices wherever they are," Welsh explained.

Anywhere Access

On the home front, the My Book Live drive serves as the central storage facility for the entire family's multimedia content library. From there movies, music, photos and home videos can be streamed to a variety of devices located throughout the home -- including DLNA-certified television sets and game consoles as well as compatible HD media players and Blu-ray Disc machines.

Connected laptops on the go as well as remote PCs with an Internet connection also can access the home's My Book Live drive over a standard browser link that is password protected. WD 2go and WD 2go Pro extend the same personal cloud experience to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch as well as mobile devices running Android 2.1 or higher.

The free WD 2go app supports a variety of file formats for streaming movies and music tracks. Moreover, users will be able to view their Microsoft Office documents as well as other files produced in alternate formats such as Apple Keynote.

Also on tap is a free WD Photo mobile app for viewing any photo or video clip that resides on the user's My Book Live drive. What's more, the software enables any video clips or photos produced by the user's smartphone or media tablet to be uploaded directly to the My Book Live drive back home.

A Premium Mobile Offering

Priced at $2.99, WD 2go Pro provides mobile users with additional features, such as the ability to download digital content to the mobile device for later viewing in an offline mode. The premium offering also enables users to privately share My Book Live content with friends, family and colleagues -- either as email file attachments or by establishing a special link for the files to be shared.

Any new or modified files that become added to the household's My Book Live platform will automatically sync to the mobile devices running the premium edition of WD's new app. Mobile users "want access to all their files without worrying about what files are synced to what device," Welsh said.

Moreover, WD 2go Pro users can choose to activate a four-digit passcode to further enhance their My Book Live drive security. Additionally, the new premium mobile offering gives users the ability to print and open files with third party apps.

Western Digital's My Book Live personal cloud drives are compatible with machines running Microsoft's Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems as well as the Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion releases of Apple's Mac OS X. The company's 1TB, 2TB and 3TB models are priced at $159.99, $199.99 and $249.99, respectively.

Letting children have the phone is now a safe call with KidsProof Launcher (Appolicious)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 04:30 PM PDT

Secure your internship with these iPhone apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Review: Livescribe smartpen is iPad's opposite (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 01:52 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Sep 14, 4:52 pm ET

NEW YORK – Here's a consumer electronics riddle: What's the opposite of the iPad?

Answer: the Livescribe Echo "smartpen." It's as if Livescribe and Apple both looked at the old pen-and-pad combination, but completely disagreed on how to take it into the digital age.

Apple put all the smarts into the pad. Livescribe put all the smarts in the pen.

I don't have to tell you which is the better idea — iPad sales have helped make Apple Inc. the most valuable company in the world. Livescribe is tiny.

But the Echo is interesting enough to be worth a look, particularly with some recent software updates. It starts at $100, making it more affordable than the iPad, and it could be a good tool for a student.

The Echo is a fat, cigar-like pen with a small screen near the top. It works as a regular ball-point pen, leaving ink marks on paper. But its reason for being is that it records what you write, and its microphone records what you're hearing at the same time.

It matches up the audio recording with the recorded writing, so that if you tap the pen on something you've already written, it will play back the audio recording, either through its built-in speaker or through headphones. This is useful in almost any situation where you want to record something for future reference, be it a lecture or an interview.

Certainly, you can do the same thing on the iPad, with apps that match up audio and writing. But writing on the iPad isn't easy. Styluses are awkward, and typing on the screen is not much better. You can use a PC instead — Microsoft's excellent OneNote application records audio and typing — but you need to sit down to use a PC, and their microphones can be iffy.

So, the Echo is still the best tool for note-taking, particularly when you're standing or when hammering away at a PC would seem rude, like in a meeting. I used Livescribe's earlier model, the Pulse, quite a bit in my reporting job, and found the ability to tap back into a conversation to get a verbatim quote useful on several occasions. (In the old days, reporters used to learn shorthand. Today, we scribble furiously.)

The Echo improves on the Pulse by replacing proprietary audio and data ports with a standard headphone and micro-USB port. The USB port also charges the pen.

On the software side, the pen now "talks" better to other programs. For instance, you can mark pages and have them sent in an email as soon as you connect your pen to your computer. You can also send them to Google Docs, for sharing, or to OneNote, to keep your notes tidy. You can also post them on Facebook, perhaps for sharing lecture notes with friends. The writing looks good on screen — much better than it would look if you simply wrote on a pad, then scanned or photographed it.

There's also an "app store" where you can buy little programs to download to the pen. One lets you measure the distance between two points on the pad, or compute the area of an enclosed space.

The coolest app, by far, is a version of the classic text-based adventure game "Zork." It's a pretty magical experience to write commands like "go north" and see replies like "You are in a clearing ..." scroll by on the pen's screen.

Another app lets the pen control your PC's cursor when connected by cable. Hover over the pad, and the cursor moves. Press down, and you register a click, or draw on the screen. It's equivalent to Wacom's PC input tablets, but it doesn't register different degrees of pressure, so it's unlikely to be useful to artists.

Speaking of pads, you do need a special pad to use the Echo. It works only on paper that's preprinted with a pattern of dots that looks like a faint speckling of the page. The dots are picked up by a small camera in the pen and allow it to figure out where it is on a page. You can buy a four-pack of additional notebooks from the site for $19.95 (one small notebook comes with the pen). It's also possible to print your own dotted paper if you have a color laser printer.

The biggest drawback to the pen is its tiny screen. It's not that hard to control this "pen computer" — you write things, and it responds. But it has a really hard time communicating anything back, since its screen shows less than 25 characters at time, in monochrome. It can also talk to you through its little speaker, but that's not a medium that can convey the complexity of a Web page. Even a phone screen can communicate a lot more.

The other big shortcoming is that the pen needs to be physically connected to your computer to send email, upload notes or control your cursor. A short-range wireless link like Bluetooth would be neat, but might not be fast enough to transfer notes. Wi-Fi would be better, but getting a pen to work well with Wi-Fi would be a big challenge, both in terms of the user interface and battery life.

I like the Livescribe pens and find them useful. But as computers, they are a dead end. They're just not flexible enough to be general-purpose devices, like tablets. An iPad that worked well with pen input would make me drop the Echo. Apple's competitors already have rudimentary pen-based tablets out, and who knows, maybe the iPad 3 will have some surprises for us.

___

Peter Svensson can be reached at http://twitter.com/petersvensson

What Android can learn from Windows 8 (Appolicious)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT

Motorola CEO Jha getting $66M in Google deal (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 11:49 AM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Sep 14, 2:49 pm ET

NEW YORK – Cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. on Wednesday revealed that CEO Sanjay Jha stands to get $66 million if the deal to sell his company to Google Inc. goes through.

A regulatory filing by Motorola shows that Jha will get $13.2 million in cash and $52.4 million for his stock options and shares if the $12.5 billion acquisition is completed.

The deal was announced a month ago. The companies expect it to close by the end of the year or early next year, after getting antitrust approval.

Shareholders of Motorola will vote at a special meeting on the deal and the "golden parachute" payments to executives. The date has not been set yet.

Jha was hired by the old Motorola Inc. in 2008 to be co-CEO and guide its cellphone unit to independence. When the split-up from the rest of Motorola (now called Motorola Solutions) finally took effect in January, Motorola Mobility's board granted Jha enough stock and options to give him 1.8 percent of the company, when fully vested. The grants are supposed to vest over several years, but they will vest immediately if the company is sold.

The cash portion of the golden parachute is equal to three times Jha's base salary and bonus.

A filing by Google on Tuesday revealed that it raised its purchase offer for Motorola Mobility by 33 percent during negotiations.

Daniel Moloney, Motorola's president stands to gain $15.7 million from the acquisition.

Getting online in Idaho is a slow crawl, residents blame bears (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 02:02 PM PDT

iPad Success Floating Other Tablets To Sales Boom, IDC Says (NewsFactor)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 05:30 PM PDT

Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com – Wed Sep 14, 8:30 pm ET

Could Apple's utter domination of the tablet market actually be good for the competition in the long term?

Market research firm IDC believes so, raising its forecast of tablet shipments for the year to 62.5 million units, up from 53.5 million units, based on global media tablet shipments rising 88.9 percent on a sequential basis and 303.8 percent year over year in the second quarter to 13.6 million units.

That demand was heavily fueled by the release of Apple's iPad 2 in February, which saw shipments reach 9.3 million units, or a whopping 68.3 percent share of the worldwide market, up from 65.7 percent the previous quarter.

Solid Pace

"Media tablet shipments grew at a solid pace in the second quarter, led by continued strong demand for Apple products," said Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for mobile connected devices. "We expect shipment totals to continue to grow in the third and fourth quarter, as additional vendors introduce more price-competitive Android products into the market and Apple works to maintain its dominance in the category."

Putting more iPads in the hands of consumers and businesses is building a market that will ultimately be more open, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

"Right now, tablets are virtually an 'all-Apple' market," King said. "But as people and companies become more used to tablets -- both their inherent benefits and limitations -- that familiarity creates opportunities for others.

"We've seen this happen with other products that began as specialty items, PCs and smartphones among them. It seems counter-intuitive but sometimes a successful trailblazer can help pave the way for those who follow."

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker also noted that Research In Motion entered the media tablet market in the second-quarter with its PlayBook, picking up 4.9 percent share of the market. But the share of tablets running Google's Android from a variety of manufacturers slipped to 26.8 percent, down from 34 percent the previous quarter.

Android Slippage

In the second half of the calendar year, Android will further lose share, dropping to 23 percent, but will gain some momentum in the fourth quarter, IDC predicts. And nearly a million of Hewlett-Packard's discontinued TouchPad tablets, which run webOS, will ship into the channel by year's end, boosting that operating system's market share to 4.7 percent in the third quarter, IDC said. That device is being sold at the bargain price of $99.

IDC said the second quarter saw a 9 percent "seasonal dip" in eReaders, to 5.4 million units, although year-over-year growth was 167 percent. The most popular eReader was Amazon's Kindle with a 51.7 percent share of the market, compared to 21.2 percent for Barnes & Noble's Nook, with 21.2 percent.

Since eReaders make great holiday gifts, shipments will grow substantially through the coming Christmas season, IDC said, reaching a total of 27 million units for the year, up from the 16.2 million the company previously projected.

Summary Box: Microsoft CEO stands by Windows (AP)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 06:15 PM PDT

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Wed Sep 14, 9:15 pm ET

BRIGHT FUTURE: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tried to counter perceptions that the software maker's lucrative Windows franchise is in trouble because people aren't buying as many personal computers as smartphones and tablet devices reshape technology trends.

THE MESSAGE: Ballmer assured industry analysts during a Wednesday presentation that Windows remains the foundation of Microsoft Corp.'s growth strategy.

THE KEY: Microsoft is working on the most radical makeover of its Windows operating system since 1995. Windows 8 is designed to run on touch-screen tablets as well PCS.

THE PROBLEM: Windows 8 isn't expected to hit the market for at least nine more months.

Huawei targets enterprise deals at $7 billion by 2012 (Reuters)

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 08:48 PM PDT

By Lee Chyen Yee and Huang Yuntao Lee Chyen Yee And Huang Yuntao – 1 hr 11 mins ago

DALIAN, China/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No.2 network equipment maker, expects its deals in the enterprise sector to total more than $7 billion by next year, banking on demand from key markets such as China, a senior executive said.

Huawei also plans to triple staff numbers at its enterprise unit to about 30,000 in the next three years from 10,000 expected by the end of this year, to compete with the likes of Cisco Systems Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co, with half in research and development.

The enterprise unit provides equipment such as hubs, routers and switches that run networks transferring data across corporations.

Huawei signed contracts worth $2 billion last year and aimed to double that figure to $4 billion this year and $7 billion next year, William Xu, president of Huawei's enterprise business group division, told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian.

The Shenzhen-based company aimed to expand its enterprise business aggressively in coming years, targeting contract sales worth $15-20 billion by 2015, Xu said.

"Cloud computing is a revolution in the IT sector and gives information and communications technology suppliers such as Huawei new opportunities to get into the enterprise sector," the Shenzhen-based executive said.

"Our key clientele used to be network carriers, but we're expanding into vertical markets in various sectors," he said, adding that Huawei would actively target sectors such as energy and transport, in which China is actively investing.

Huawei was restructured this year into three main units - one that supplies equipment to network carriers, another that makes consumer devices such as cell phones and tablet PCs and the third, the enterprise division led by Xu.

In the telecommunications sector, Huawei competes with market leader Ericsson and smaller local rival ZTE Corp in providing infrastructure equipment to network carriers.

Huawei derives its revenue, which totaled 185.2 billion yuan ($28 billion) in 2010, mainly from network equipment sales, but has been actively marketing consumer devices because of growing global demand for smartphones and tablet PCs.

Although Europe, one of its key markets, is embroiled in debt problems, Xu said the crisis had little impact on Huawei's revenue.

"We didn't see reduced spending in the ICT sector as corporates are investing in cloud computing," Xu said. "Some chief information officers, such as those in the financial sector, prefer to spend the same amount, but they are now demanding more for their money, especially since the economic climate is tough."

However, the United States has been a difficult market for Huawei to crack as some politicians are wary of the company's secretive founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei, a former military officer.

But Xu said it was more an issue of familiarity that hampered Huawei from clinching deals in the United States.

"Clients in the North America are not familiar with the Huawei name. In the enterprise sector, many people haven't heard of Huawei, so that is something we have to work on with our partners," he said.

(Additional reporting by Li Ran; Editing by Chris Lewis)
at 10:00 PM

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