Sponsoer by :

Monday, September 26, 2011

Netflix snatches DreamWorks rights from HBO (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

Netflix snatches DreamWorks rights from HBO (AP) : Technet

Netflix snatches DreamWorks rights from HBO (AP)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 02:24 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Sep 26, 5:24 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Netflix unveiled a coming attraction its disillusioned subscribers might like: the Internet video rights to films and television specials from DreamWorks Animation.

The multiyear deal announced Monday will give Netflix Inc.'s streaming service the exclusive rights to show the latest content from DreamWorks, the studio behind a list of popular franchises that includes "Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar." It comes after weeks of disruptive changes that irked Netflix's 24.6 million U.S. customers and spooked its shareholders.

But even this bit of good news had a downside. The DreamWorks rights don't kick in until 2013, so the studio's material won't immediately placate Netflix customers who are clamoring for Netflix's streaming library to widen its selection of box office hits.

The complaints could escalate early next year when Netflix loses the streaming rights to Walt Disney Co. movies and other films that it got through a licensing deal it had with Starz Entertainment.

Still, the DreamWorks deal represents a badly needed coup for Netflix, which has been reeling from a customer backlash triggered by sharp price increases and an upcoming spin-off of its DVD-by-mail service into a website called "Qwikster."

Netflix snatched the DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. rights from pay-TV rival HBO, providing the latest sign that Internet video has emerged as a compelling — and lucrative — alternative for Hollywood movie and TV studios.

Although the financial terms weren't spelled out, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg left no doubt that Netflix is paying his studio more than Time Warner Inc.'s HBO currently is. "This arrangement allows us to get more value for our content while giving us a greater degree of flexibility in how we distribute it across multiple platforms in today's evolving digital world," Katzenberg said.

The rising cost for streaming rights is the main reason that Netflix recently increased its prices by as much as 60 percent for U.S. customers who want both DVDs and Internet video.

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., is counting on the higher prices, which kicked in earlier this month, to bring in the additional revenue it needs to keep adding more titles to its streaming library. The strategy could backfire if too many subscribers upset by the higher prices cancel their service; Netflix already has said it expects to end this month with 600,000 fewer U.S. subscribers than it had in June when the total stood at 24.6 million.

Locking in DreamWorks as an exclusive deal also was important to Netflix, too, because it's facing tougher competition in Internet streaming.

Amazon.com Inc. one of Netflix's most formidable rivals, expanded its streaming service Monday with the addition of TV shows and movies from News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox studio. Most of the TV shows that Amazon is picking up from Fox already are can be streamed through Netflix. In a notable exception, Amazon will have "The Wonder Years," a coming-of-age TV series from the 1980s and 1990s that is only available on DVD through Netflix.

Amazon says its streaming service now has more than 11,000 titles, doubling the total it had when it started seven months ago. Netflix's hasn't specified how many titles are in its streaming library, but an analysis done last month by another rival, Dish Network Corp., found nearly 32,000 selections.

Amazon includes unlimited video streaming as part of another service, called "Prime," that provides free and discounted shipping to the Internet merchant's customers. Prime costs $79 per year, slightly below the $96 annual subscription for Netflix streaming.

The next logical step for Amazon would be to buy Netflix's streaming service, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. He thinks Netflix is spinning off its DVD-by-mail service primarily to make its streaming service more attractive to Amazon.com. Netflix's plummeting stock price has made a takeover bid more affordable too. Since the company announced its higher prices in mid-July, Netflix's stock price has lost more than half its value.

In a Sept. 22 research note, Pachter predicted Amazon would pay up to $7.2 billion for Netflix's streaming business. That would translate into about $130 per share.

Both Netflix and Amazon declined to comment on the speculation.

Netflix shares gained $2.86, or about 2 percent, to close Monday at $132.22 while Amazon shares added $6.24, or nearly 3 percent to finish at $229.85.

Apparent pro-Syria group hacks Harvard website (AP)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 03:12 PM PDT

– Mon Sep 26, 6:12 pm ET

BOSTON – Hackers have briefly defaced Harvard University's website, replacing the home page with an image of Syria's President Bashar Assad together with a message accusing the U.S. of supporting the uprising against him and threatening retaliation.

Harvard spokesman John Longrake says Monday morning's attack appears to be the work of "a sophisticated individual or group."

The hackers posted a message claiming "Syrian Electronic Army Were Here," a reference to an apparent pro-Syrian government group that has conducted electronic attacks targeting opposition figures and their perceived backers.

Harvard took down the hacked website for several hours. The school is studying the attack to improve security.

The attack occurred the same day two online activist groups said they hacked several official Syrian websites in the latest tactic to oppose Assad's authoritarian regime.

Just Show Me: How to use AirPrint on your iPad (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:46 PM PDT

Man throws 4,800 bottled notes into the ocean, gets 3,100 replies (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:39 PM PDT

Facebook Changes in a Nutshell [COMIC] (Mashable)

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 11:44 AM PDT

Todd Wasserman Todd Wasserman – Sun Sep 25, 2:44 pm ET

Facebook's profound changes, outlined last week, are leaving many users scrambling to catch up.

[More from Mashable: Why I Love Facebook Timeline [OPINION]]

But, as the comic above points out, we've been through this before. Whatever the outcry this time, chances are things will settle down within a short time.

What do you think? Will we get used to the new Facebook in three weeks? Or has Mark Zuckerberg gone too far this time? Let us know in the comments.

[More from Mashable: No, Facebook Will Not Make You Pay to Get the New Profiles]

Comic courtesy of Endless Origami

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Newspaper, bloggers stunned by killing in Mexico (AP)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:32 PM PDT

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Mark Stevenson, Associated Press – 1 hr 14 mins ago

MEXICO CITY – The killing of a Mexican woman purportedly in retaliation for her postings on an anti-crime website has left stunned chat users and employees at the newspaper where she worked wondering who can still be safe in the violent border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Press freedom groups condemned the killing of Maria Elizabeth Macias, whose decapitated body and head were found Saturday next to a message citing posts she wrote on "Nuevo Laredo en Vivo," a website used by Laredo residents to denounce crime and warn each other about drug cartel gunfights and roadblocks.

Some bloggers vowed to keep up the fight against powerful drug cartels but warned users to trust no one.

"If we want to regain our peace and our freedom, we always have to fight on, I wouldn't ask anybody to take up arms, clearly, but with our reports, we can do them damage," said one poster logged on as "anon9113," who quickly added a note of distrust, "don't become friends with anybody on here ... we have to be careful with something as simple as giving out personal information."

Another poster agreed. "Exactly, this (Macias' death) should not be in vain, we should make it an example." Others said that despite the risk, they would continue reporting. One user posted that he had seen four drug-gang lookouts in a compact car near a gas station, and gave part of the car's license plate number.

Macias had previously been identified by an official in Tamaulipas state as Marisol Macias, who had worked as a newsroom manager for the Nuevo Laredo newspaper Primera Hora. But an editor at Primera Hora said Monday that Macias was the daily's advertising supervisor. The editor would not give his name for security reasons.

The editor said the killing apparently was not related to Macias' job at the daily, which, in the face of intimidation and threats by drug gangs, had stopped even reporting on drug violence two years ago.

"We were taken by surprise, because since about two years ago, we don't even do crime reporting," said the editor. "We don't have a crime reporter."

He said police have not talked to the paper, nor given it any information on the killing. The paper, according to weekend editions posted on its website, has not even reported on her death.

Nuevo Laredo, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, has been dominated for about the last two years by the violent Zetas drug cartel.

Mexico's Human Rights Commission says eight journalists have been killed in the country this year and 74 since 2000.

With local newspapers forced to avoid crime reporting by threats in many border cities Mexicans have increasingly turned to local online chat sites like "Nuevo Laredo en Vivo" to report and read about cartel activity. The site includes numbers to phone in tips to police and the military.

The message found next to Macias' body on the side of a main thoroughfare Saturday referred to the nickname she purportedly used on the site, "La Nena de Laredo," or "Laredo Girl." Her head was found placed on a stone piling nearby.

"Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I'm The Laredo Girl, and I'm here because of my reports, and yours," the message read. "For those who don't want to believe, this happened to me because of my actions, for believing in the army and the navy. Thank you for your attention, respectfully, Laredo Girl...ZZZZ."

The letter "Z" refers to the Zetas.

It was unclear how the killers found out her real identity; the newspaper editor said he did not know, but some posters suggested it could have been through someone she worked with.

The gruesome killing may be the third so far this month in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the internet.

Earlier this month, a man and a woman were found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a similar message threatening "this is what will happen" to internet users. However, it has not been clearly established whether the two had in fact ever posted any messages.

"As Mexican citizens, including journalists and media, are increasingly turning to new technology in the face of rampant censorship, drug cartels are using violence to control information on the Internet," Carlos Lauria, the Americas senior program coordinator for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote in a statement. "The stability of Mexico's democracy will ultimately depend on the restoration of the media's ability to report the news without fear of reprisal."

Asian tech firms face stiff challenge in mobile systems (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:26 PM PDT

By Melanie Lee Melanie Lee – 1 hr 20 mins ago

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Mobile operating systems developed by Asia's top technology firms will at best only chip away market share from dominant leaders Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

And such a scenario would only be possible if these companies, such as China's Baidu Inc and Alibaba Group are able to court enough application developers, analysts said.

"The challenge for Baidu, Alibaba, other firms looking to deploy their own mobile operating systems is how to develop and market one with sufficient appeal to users, app developers, device makers, and other parties," said Mark Natkin, Beijing-based technology consultant with Marbridge Consulting.

Baidu and Alibaba Group have launched mobile operating platforms named Baidu Yi and Aliyun respectively to capture a slice of the growing mobile Internet market.

Baidu is working with Dell to produce smartphones based on Yi, while Alibaba already has phones on sale running Aliyun.

China is home to more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers, the world's largest mobile phone market, but only about 10 percent are 3G users, highlighting the growth potential.

Media reports have said Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp has expressed interest in buying a mobile OS, while Samsung Electronics, which is heavily focused on Android software, is expanding features available for smartphones running on its own operating system, Bada.

Android users have more than 100,000 Android applications to choose from, while Apple's App Store has more than 425,000 applications. In comparison, Samsung's Bada has access to 13,000 applications.

It is still early to determine the attractiveness of the platforms based solely on the number of applications available, but technology companies going into the space are keenly aware of the importance of attracting developers to their platform.

Earlier this month, Baidu's Chief Financial Officer told Reuters in an interview that her company was looking at acquisitions in the cloud computing space to support its push into the mobile arena.

"We will continue to improve our technology and if there are teams or are technologies that help us, that will naturally be our target," said Jennifer Li.

"Ultimately, we want to build a platform that is easily accessible - where Baidu services and where good applications can be available," Li said.

Alibaba will hold a conference this year to show developers how to create applications for its phone and discuss industry practices, a company spokeswoman said. Its OS, the Aliyun, currently has about 30 applications but its platform is compatible with Android applications.

LIMITED IMPACT

Many analysts are skeptical that the new mobile operating systems will be able overtake Android or Apple even in the long term.

"I do not see any of these guys getting enough traction to get significant market share. None of them will be able to go from nothing to a third of the market in just three years the way Android has," said Pat Maloney, an analyst with technology consultancy RedTech Advisors.

The new platforms will be competing against four major mobile operating systems -- iOS, Android, and Microsoft's Windows and one by Research in Motion -- whose combined market share will continue to remain at more than 90 percent until 2015, according to research firm Gartner.

Google announced a deal in August to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, in a move to protect its Android platform from rivals such as Apple.

Any move by HTC to develop its own mobile OS is unlikely to have a big impact on Android, analysts said.

"In the long run, it gives HTC more flexibility; HTC can then revolve in its own pace, rather than being controlled by Android," said Richard Ko, a Taiwan-based analyst with KGI Securities.

"But it'll be very hard for HTC to compete with Android, which is such a large player and owns a complete ecosystem."

Android is expected to emerge as the top mobile operating system in China in the medium-term but the company's high-profile fallout with Beijing last year leaves the door open for Alibaba and Baidu, analysts said.

Many of Google's products such as YouTube, Blogger, Google Maps and Gmail are blocked or partially blocked in China following the dispute stemming from Google's refusal to self-censor searches.

"Apple and Google have said that the Asian market is important, that it is a key area of growth for them, so any competitors especially ones that have got specific regional focus and strong brands will be a kind of risk for them," said Nick Dillon, a London-based analyst with Ovum.

(Additional reporting by Clare Jim in TAIPEI, Lucy Hornby in BEIJING and Miyoung Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Kazunori Takada and Anshuman Daga)

Lenovo enters $300 million JV with Taiwan's Compal (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:22 PM PDT

– Mon Sep 26, 8:22 pm ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Lenovo, the world's No.3 PC brand, has entered into a $300 million joint venture with contract laptop PC maker Compal to manufacture computers.

Lenovo will own 51 percent of the joint venture company with Compal holding the rest, the PC brand said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

What can we expect from a new Amazon-based Android tablet? (Appolicious)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 02:30 PM PDT

Google+ gets a traffic surge of 1269 percent (Digital Trends)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 09:14 PM PDT

Jeff Hughes Jeff Hughes – 32 mins ago

google-plus-logo-640

If you've been thinking of trying out a new social network, you're not alone. Google Plus traffic has seen a sharp rise in traffic over the past week according to new data from Experian Hitwise.

Last week, right before the F8 conference, Google Plus was made open to the public and introduced a number of new features including stuff for Hangouts, Google Docs and some added search functions. Since then, Google's star social networking service has seen a traffic surge of 1269 percent, with U.S. visits at 15 million—significantly trumping the paltry 1.1 million U.S. visits from the preceding week.

That data doesn't even take into account mobile users, or those that wander over to Plus using the black bar. It's not exactly clear what caused the spike, though its possible to draw a correlation from the the drop of the invite feature or criticism over Facebook changes. Whatever the reason, Plus doesn't seem to be going the way of Orkut anytime soon.

graphs don't lie

Currently, Hitwise is ranking Plus at number 8 in the Social Networking and Forums category, just behind MySpace and way up from its former spot at 54. ReadWriteWeb also points out that Paul Allen's estimates have the Google Plus user count now at 43 million.

Further chipping at the rivalry with Facebook, CityVille, Zynga's most popular game on Facebook has recently come to Google's social networking site. Cityville currently has 72 million users.

Google also rolled out an interesting change for one of Plus' main features, Circles. Similar to Twitter lists, now Google Plus users will be able to share separate circles of friends with others. A share link will pop on the Google+ Circles page, which will allow you to share with your friends. The new feature doesn't allow others to see the title of the circle or if the circle creator updates members.

Is Apple Losing Its Death Grip on the Mobile Market ? (The Atlantic Wire)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 03:29 PM PDT

Adam Clark Estes Adam Clark Estes – Mon Sep 26, 6:29 pm ET

If you just read the headlines, Monday looks like a rare bad news day for Apple. A new batch of Nielsen data shows that twice as many new smartphone buyers have chosen Android phones over iPhones in the past three months. Apple stocks dropped three percent after an analyst reported an iPad supply shortage. Together, the two stories suggest that Apple is losing its footing on top of the mobile market--which isn't definitely not good news. Based on past trends, though, the news isn't quite as bad as it sounds.

Related: Android's Browser Leaves the iPhone's in the Dust

For the past decade and a half, Apple has become increasingly terrific at squeezing big profits out of a small share of the market. For the past year, the company's mobile division has been dominating with this strategy. At this point in time last year, Apple sold only 2.9 percent of the mobile handsets, but they managed to pull in a shocking 39 percent of the mobile profits, more than any other competitor. By this summer, Apple laid claim to half of profits earned by the industry's top eight manufacturers.

Related: Survey: iPhone Could Gain on Android, BlackBerry Very Quickly

Android is indeed growing, but there are also signs that the big manufacturers like Samsung and HTC that have been driving that growth are thinking of dropping Android in favor of their own operating system. Furthermore, statistics released this summer showed "the return rate on some Android devices is between 30 and 40 percent, in comparison to the iPhone 4′s 1.7% return rate as of Antennagate in 2010" to quote Jason Biggs at TechCrunch. "Also worth noting, but immeasurable," says Biggs's colleague Greg Kumparak. "How many would-be iPhone buyers held off with the knowledge that a new iPhone was not only on the way, but was actually behind its normal release schedule?" 

Related: You Can Stop iPhones from Spying on You, But Not Androids

As for the iPad news, many analysts aren't blinking about rumors of an iPad supply shortage. "The iPhone 5 launch is much more important than the iPad right now," BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis told Reuters. "Could the tablet market slow down? Yes absolutely, but data from factories is notoriously unreliable especially since Apple started diversifying their supplier base." Reuters also quotes other analysts report that "Apple remains the market leader that it created with the iPad" and "strong earnings growth for Apple due to … strong global demand."

Related: iPhone Location Tracking Gets Worse: Apple Saves the Data

All things considered, the numbers don't lie. Fewer people are buying iPhones and fewer iPads are on the market. But Apple has always sold fewer devices than their competitors but has dominated as a business for pushing technology forward. As Steve Jobs once said, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."

Top 39 local public transportation iPhone apps recommended by city residents & visitors (Appolicious)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 01:30 PM PDT

T-Mobile USA promises speed boost from new phones (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:46 AM PDT

– Mon Sep 26, 2:46 pm ET

(Reuters) – T-Mobile USA plans next month to launch two smartphones that double the speed of its wireless data service in the hope of attracting new customers to the No. 4 U.S. mobile provider.

The devices -- the Galaxy S II from Samsung Electronics Co and the Amaze 4G from HTC Corp --- will be the first phones to support T-Mobile's latest network upgrade which roughly doubles the data download speed for services such as streaming video or mobile Web surfing.

T-Mobile USA, which is hoping to win a battle with the U.S. government to gain approval to be bought by AT&T Inc, is looking for any selling points it can get over its rivals as it has lost ground to both bigger and smaller competitors.

In comparison to its current phones, which have data speeds of 3 to 4 megabits per second, the latest devices will download data at a rate of 8 megabits per second, T-Mobile USA marketing executive Andrew Sherrard told Reuters.

"It's a really a nice step change," said Sherrard, who added that the speed boost would help meet demand for services such as streaming video, which has been rising sharply.

According to Sherrard, about 75 percent of the phones the company has sold this year have been smartphones. He also noted that usage of its data services have been doubling every six months and that half T-Mobile USA's data traffic is video.

Sherrard said T-Mobile was not able to get an agreement from Apple Inc to add the next version of its popular iPhone to its product line up.

T-Mobile USA's bigger rival Sprint Nextel is expected by many analysts to start selling Apple phones.

But Sherrard said Samsung and HTC devices would make up for the lack of an iPhone.

"We're very confident we've a competitive line-up," he said. However, the phones are a little more pricey than most U.S. smartphones, which typically cost around $200 or less.

The HTC Amaze will cost $259.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate for customers who sign a two-year contract while the Samsung Galaxy S II will cost $229.99 after the same rebate and with the same conditions. The phones will be in stores October 12.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Richard Chang)

Netflix signs pay TV deal for Dreamworks animation (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:33 PM PDT

– Mon Sep 26, 8:33 pm ET

(Reuters) – Online video rental company Netflix Inc said it won pay TV rights to Dreamworks Animation movies starting in 2013, the first time a major Hollywood studio has chosen an Internet streaming player over a traditional cable channel.

News of the deal drove Netflix's stock up nearly 7 percent to a high of $137.88 in early trade on Nasdaq on Monday.

Netflix did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

However, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told The New York Times that the deal, worth $30 million per picture to Dreamworks over a number of years, was "game-changing" and represented a bet that viewers would soon no longer make distinctions between content streamed on the Internet or through cable.

The Netflix deal means Dreamworks -- the studio behind family friendly fare from "Shrek" to "Kung Fu Panda" -- is eschewing premium pay-TV operator HBO in favor of online streaming, the Times reported. HBO is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

"We are really starting to see a long-term road map of where the industry is headed," Katzenberg was cited as saying to the newspaper in an interview.

The content agreement comes days after Netflix, which has seen its share price decline sharply after a series of missteps, sealed an agreement to broadcast TV shows from Discovery Communications Inc.

Netflix needs to add more content to its streaming service to keep drawing in new customers and fend off competition from the likes of Amazon.com, Google Inc and Apple Inc.

Shares of the one-time Wall Street darling have fallen 50 percent in two months. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has apologized for failing to explain moves adequately, from a surprise price hike in July to a separation of its DVD-mail from streaming services, and the company is trying to win customers back.

But adding customers is suddenly proving difficult, with Netflix on the receiving end of heated complaints from customers still upset over the price hike announced in July.

It cut its subscriber forecast by 1 million, saying it now expected to have 24 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter. The last time Netflix reported a subscriber decline was the second quarter of 2007, when Blockbuster was aggressively pushing a DVD rental package called Total Access.

According to the Times, Netflix was quick to pump up the Dreamworks deal.

"This is one of the few family entertainment brands that matter," Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was quoted as saying. "It's also a signal to people that we are in no way moving away from movies. Our programing is just reflecting more and more what people want."

(Reporting by Edwin Chan in Los Angeles and Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Peter Cooney, Viraj Nair)

The iPhone 5 still isn't announced yet, but we already have an iPhone 6 rumor (Digital Trends)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 06:02 PM PDT

Mike Dunn Mike Dunn – Mon Sep 26, 9:02 pm ET

samsung-nexus-s-curved-glassAre you tired of hearing the endless rumors about the possible iPhone 5 launch next week? Then you are in luck since we have a rumor about the iPhone 6 or whatever the generation of iPhone coming out next year will be called. It is said that the iPhone 6 will have a curved glass display, and that Apple has already found the companies to make the glass displays for the iPhone 6 and next-generation iPad.

We first heard the curved glass display rumor in May, but at that time they were centered on the iPhone 5. As other rumors started coming in about every possible detail it seems unlikely that the next iPhone will have a curved display. Current rumors have two different models being announced, one that very closely matches the iPhone 4, and another slim-wedge shaped high end phone.

There are other devices currently on the market with curved displays, so the iPhone 6 screen most likely won't be something we have never seen before. One example of a phone with a curved display would be Samsung Nexus S which has a "contoured" screen to better fit the users face when making a call.

We are not able to tell at this point in what way Apple may be planning to curve the glass display. It could be a convex or concave style that would look drastically different than the current iPhone 4 model that is about as straight as a phone can get.

It does seem a little early to be reporting on iPhone 6 rumors, but we love our iPhone rumors so it's never too soon to start warming up the rumormill.

 

Speculation has Amazon launching a tablet on Wednesday (Appolicious)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:28 AM PDT

Oracle OpenWorld 2011 Showcases CRM Pavilion (NewsFactor)

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 04:16 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Mon Sep 26, 7:16 pm ET

Oracle will once again host an Oracle CRM Pavilion at its annual OpenWorld conference. The Pavilion will highlight what Oracle is calling a "select group" of independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs) focused on customer relationship management (CRM) system integration.

Oracle said it is only choosing the cream of the crop for its CRM Pavilion at OpenWorld, which runs Oct. 2-6 at Moscone Center in San Francisco. The Pavilion will showcase companies that have demonstrated proven customer success, traction with Oracle's sales organization, and synergy with Oracle CRM's product direction.

These companies will be on hand to demonstrate their solutions, discuss integration concepts, and show customers how to leverage Oracle CRM integration capabilities to make the most of their CRM deployments.

Meet the CRM ISVs

Anthony Lye, senior VP of CRM at Oracle, explained that the CRM Pavilion at OpenWorld is a great way for Oracle CRM customers to see what its partner solutions can bring to the table. "Working closely with these partners has led to many customer successes and product innovations that solve very complex requirements."

Oracle works with its partners to collaborate on product integrations that leverage domain expertise to create deep integrations that are ready to meet customer needs.

A few of the vendors that will be on hand at the CRM Pavilion include Buzzient, an enterprise-class social media analytics firm, Dun & Bradstreet, Fellow Consulting, which develops customizable mobile and offline solutions, Clicktools, Augme Technologies, and BigMachines.

Oracle's CRM Pavilion will also host system integrators who have worked with key CRM ISVs to deploy combined solutions, including IBizSoft and Wipro.

Making Social-Media Connections

Zeus Kerravala, vice president at Yankee Group, says the CRM Pavilion is one more proof point that demonstrates how large the ecosystem around CRM has become.

"CRM is not just contact management anymore. Social media is becoming a bigger and bigger part of this," Kerravala said. "CRM has really become, for a lot of companies, the central point of intelligence for customer-management relations."

As OpenWorld gets under way, Kerravala said he will be looking for any new products and services around automation of the various data silos associated with CRM. That's where he sees challenges.

"We have lots of information silos as far as CRM goes. The question is what do you do with that information? How do you mine the intelligence to learn something useful, particularly around social media? There's lots of social-media information," Kerravala said. "The difficulty is understanding what do to with it."

New details may also emerge around Oracle's acquisition of InQuira. Oracle recently announced that it could now provide customers with a complete CRM and knowledge-management offering that empowers integrated self-service support, online customer forums and agent-assisted CRM.
at 10:01 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

My Blog List