news and knowledge from around the globe compiled by Global EDD Group
Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone running Android, according to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, who released a big report on Microsoft this morning.
Microsoft is getting that money thanks to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement.
Microsoft is suing other Android phone makers, and it’s looking for $7.50 to $12.50 per device, says Pritchard.
Microsoft’s bid for Skype follows a long series of moves the software giant has been executing to cater more to consumers than corporations.
It’s $8.5 billion bid for the Voice over IP market leader comes after reports last week that Skype was entertaining offers for a buyout or joint venture from Google and Facebook.
The value for Facebook: it could instantly supply premium voice and video conferencing to its 500 million users.
Google already has Google Chat, a voice and video chat service, that hasn’t generated much of a following. Part of Microsoft’s bid might have been to keep its rival from the grabbing the top VoIP player.
“Microsoft doesn’t want Google to get Skype,” says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. “It would much rather grab the technology and share it with Facebook.”
IDC analyst Al Hilwa says the defensive element helps explain the steep price. “If Skype ended up in the hands of Google, it might have been able to use it to strengthen its ecosystem at the expense of Microsoft,” says Hilwa.
Skype could help Microsoft achieve its much coveted goal to become a big player in the consumer market. Microsoft has come to the realization that it must do more partnering with the suppliers of popular technologies to reach that goal, says Gartner analyst Lief-Olaf Wallin.
via Analysis: Microsoft’s Skype deal aims at consumer market – USATODAY.com.
HEADSETS are staples for call-center workers, travel agents and many other people who have to talk frequently on the phone. With a headset to listen and speak through, both hands are free to work, and a shoulder needn’t stiffen to cradle the phone.
Now, headsets could make many office landline phones unnecessary, as businesses decide to route calls through their office computers.
Companies can save money by simply buying employees headsets instead of desktop phones, said Tavis McCourt, a managing director and analyst at Morgan Keegan, who follows the Internet telephony market. Software like Lync from Microsoft makes it possible to use the Internet and your computer to make phone calls.
The computers common in most offices aren’t ideal for conducting a conversation, said Gregory Burns, a telecommunications analyst at Sidoti & Company, an equity research firm in New York. Desktop computers can have built-in microphones and speakers, but the conversations can distract people in nearby cubicles, just like those on speaker phones.
via Headset and Computer, in Place of an Office Phone – NYTimes.com.
Improving Document and Records Management
Let’s talk enterprise content management capabilities for a minute. SharePoint continues to make all the analyst lists for Enterprise CMS, but in pretty much all cases, is considered a departmental solution. That being said, there have been a number of improvements in this area, including a new metadata structure and term store, the idea of document sets (a way to organize and manage a related set of documents) and in place records management.
There is still much that can be improved, and there are a number of Enterprise Content Management vendors ready and willing to provide that additional functionality:
In January, a Smith & Wesson sales executive was swept up in a massive FBI undercover investigation of bribery in the small arms industry and charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The sales executive allegedly attempted to bribe the representative of an African country that was taking bids for a $15 million deal to outfit that country’s presidential guard. The representative was an undercover FBI agent.
FCPA investigations have become a growth industry for the legal community, particularly those in the business of suing companies for shareholders; after filing a handful of lawsuits per year at the beginning of the decade, the Department of Justice now has about 240 such investigations underway. Win, lose or draw, they are expensive cases to sort out. In its earnings release this September, Smith & Wesson reported the investigation had already cost it a few million dollars and was hampering “international shipments” of its handguns.
Worse for shareholders is that nobody knows how expensive Smith & Wesson’s case will eventually become. Responding to analyst questions following the earnings release, CEO Golden said he couldn’t give any guidance on whether it would keep costing a few million bucks a quarter. And the company’s financials don’t paint a rosy picture were other shoes to drop.
A Smith & Wesson spokeswoman did not return requests for comment. But, while the company says it is cooperating fully with DOJ investigators and has not been charged with any violations, company filings note that this remains a possibility. “If the DOJ determines that we violated FCPA laws, or if our employee is convicted of FCPA violations, we may face sanctions, including significant civil and criminal penalties. In addition, we could be prevented from bidding on domestic military and government contracts and could risk debarment by the U.S. Department of State,” Smith & Wesson wrote in its most recent quarterly financial statement.
via Smith & Wesson lost its apocalypse opportunity – Nov. 17, 2010.
Microsoft today launched Office for Mac 2011, the newest version of its application suite designed for Mac OS X.
One analyst immediately dubbed it “the best Office ever.”
Office 2011 is Microsoft’s first for the Mac since January 2008. Microsoft added the once-scorned “ribbon” interface that debuted in Windows’ Office 2007, dropped the Entourage e-mail client in favor of a Mac flavor of Windows’ Outlook, and restored Visual Basic-based macros.
Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said the new suite is Microsoft’s most impressive suite effort to date.
“This is the best Office ever, not just on the Mac,” said Gartenberg. “It brings the Mac version to parity with the Windows version, but it still feels like Mac software, not a Windows port. Mac Office doesn’t feel like you walked into your house in the dark and someone rearranged all the furniture.”
Several new or restored features in Office for Mac 2011 were long requested by veteran users, particuarly a closer cousin to Windows’ Outlook and the return of macros. Both were especially important for IT staffers who had to figure out how to integrate Macs into their organizations and users bent on having tools equal to their Windows brethren.
via Microsoft’s Office for Mac 2011 ‘best Office ever,’ analyst says – Computerworld.
In a report released on Friday, analyst firm Gartner predicts Symbian and Android will become the dominant mobile operating systems by 2014, with both RIM and Microsoft’s Windows Phone OSes trailing off into relative irrelevance.
All of the major OSes will decline in market share in terms of units sold by 2014 except for Android, which will steadily climb, Gartner predicted. The firm also predicted a steady climb for Apple’s iOS through 2011, and then a drop thereafter.
via Gartner: Android, Symbian Will Win Mobile OS Wars | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Apple could sell 28 million iPads in 2011, perhaps affecting sales of lower-end PCs, according to a new research note from UBS Investment Research.
“Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets,” UBS Investment Research analyst Maynard Um wrote in that note, excerpted on the blog Apple Insider. “We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.”
In addition, Um reportedly suggested that “consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PCs,” although he stopped short of suggesting the iPad has started to cannibalize the notebook market.
via Apple iPad Could Sell 28 Million Units in 2011: Analyst – Desktops and Notebooks from eWeek.
A Verizon iPhone has topped iPhone wish lists since the popular smartphone‘s 2007 debut, but AT&T has thus far held on to its exclusive contract. A new report suggests, however, that when Apple decides to branch out, it might be T-Mobile that becomes the iPhone’s second U.S. carrier, not Verizon Wireless.
Shaw Wu, an analyst with Kaufman Bros., put out a report Thursday that said his discussions with industry and supply chain sources indicate that a non-AT&T iPhone is “becoming closer to reality than ever [and] could happen as early as this fall” or by the first half of 2011.
When that does happen, meanwhile, the iPhone is more likely to end up on T-Mobile’s network than Verizon’s, Wu wrote.
His reasoning for this is the current setup of mobile networks – AT&T and T-Mobile’s 3G services are both on UMTS/HSPA, while Verizon is on the CDMA network.
“Interestingly, both the new iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS support 3G at the 2100 MHz frequency and, from our understanding, the technical hurdle to support T-Mobile is minor compared to supporting CDMA technology at VZ and Sprint,” Wu wrote.
via T-Mobile Might Get iPhone Before Verizon, Analyst Says | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Saturday’s botched bombing attempt in New York City provides an example of why the use of data mining approaches to uncover potential terrorism plots is a little like weather forecasting.
“You definitely need to do it, because it gives you warning of major storms,” said John Pescatore, an analyst with Gartner Inc. and a former analyst with the National Security Agency. “But it’s not going to tell you about individual raindrops.”
Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent was arrested Monday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport in connection with an attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square. Shahzad, who is scheduled to be indicted on terrorism-related charges in Manhattan today, was pulled off a plane bound for Dubai, minutes before the jetliner was scheduled to take off.
Shahzad is alleged to have parked an explosives-laden vehicle in Times Square, apparently with the intention of blowing it up. Media reports quoting the FBI and other authorities said the bomb could have caused a substantial number of deaths and injuries had it detonated.
The anti-terrorism task force was quickly able to identify Shahzad as the prime suspect in the case thanks to a series of mistakes the would-be bomber made. But for the moment, there is little to show that authorities had any inkling of either Shahzad or of his plot beforehand.
via N.Y. bomb plot highlights limitations of data mining – Computerworld.
