News Corp enters Yahoo discussions

RUPERT Murdoch’s News Corporation has entered discussions with Yahoo about an alliance that would combine the News-owned MySpace with the internet giant, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The talks add both flavour and drama to what is becoming a fight for Yahoo. The WSJ says the discussions are part of a strategy to thwart Microsoft’s US$45 billion (A$49.9 billion) unsolicited bid for Yahoo.

According to unnamed sources, the deal would involve News Corp getting a stake of 20 per cent or more in Yahoo. The IT industry blog TechCrunch is also reporting the discussions.

News and Yahoo have held discussions about a tie-up in the past that focused on the MySpace property being used to swap for Yahoo equity, but those talks have previously broken down over the valuation of MySpace.

But since Microsoft’s hostile takeover bid earlier this month, Yahoo has aggressively pursued other strategic alliances that would keep the company outside of Redmond’s grip.

The Yahoo board formally rejected the Microsoft earlier this week saying it undervalued the company. But Microsoft responded saying it would take all necessary steps to consummate the deal, and is likely to come back with a revised offer.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch is reporting that the first of the “inevitable” lawsuits have started to be filed against Yahoo from shareholders unhappy that the company rejected the Microsoft offer.

The web site reports that more shareholders are expected “to pile on board” legal actions as Yahoo further resists the Microsoft overtures.

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Opel funding may be at risk: IDC

THE $900 million in Federal funding for the Opel consortium to build telecommunications infrastructure in the bush may be at risk of being cut because of Telstra’s plan to switch on its ADSL2+ network, according to research group IDC.

The group says that inflationary pressures, and the Rudd Government’s commitment to trimming Federal budgets, means the Commonwealth might decide against going ahead with the funding plan.

It says that the Telstra decision to switch on ADSL2+ in 900 exchanges nationwide means that rural and regional telecommunications will be substantially improved regardless of the Opel funding plans.

“We believe that the announcement from Telstra to activate their remaining ADSL2+ ready exchanges as a result of Ministerial assurance and the Government’s requirement to cull more than $10 billion dollars of funding are related,” said IDC telecommunications program manager David Cannon.

“As a result the Opel Pty Ltd funding will potentially be a casualty of larger macro economic inflation management processes,” he said.

“The activation of the ADSL2+ exchanges gives regional and rural communities metro-like broadband services and will counterbalance any negative public sentiment should the Opel funding be withdrawn,” said Cannon.

Opel is a joint-venture between Optus and Elders.

But with Optus already saying will not build its 3G network to cover 96 per cent of the population – instead rolling out only to major metropolitan and regional areas – and Vodafone apparently under pressure to reassess its own 3G plans, IDC says a lack of competition in the bush will mean continued higher prices for regional and rural Australia.

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LiMo’s Lino announced on 18 phones

THE LiMo Foundation, an open source consortium that has developed a Linux-based platform for mobile devices, has announced 18 mobiles phones from leading manufacturers that use its platform.

Announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Foundation said the announcement was just the first wave of handsets that will use the LiMo Platform.

The initial LiMo handsets confirmed at MWC are from by industry leaders including LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic and Samsung.

“The breadth of the initial wave of LiMo handsets—18 models from 7 vendors—consolidates LiMo’s role as the unifying force within Mobile Linux and highlights the strong momentum established in the 12 months since LiMo was launched,” Limo Foundation executive director Morgan Gillis said.

The LiMo Platform leverages standards and other open-source projects, and is a modular, hardware-independent architecture built around the Linux operating system. It offers a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications.

Launched in January 2007, LiMo Foundation is open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers.

“We look forward to the continued, rapid rollout of LiMo handsets, further expanding LiMo’s market reach and unifying the Mobile Linux ecosystem,” said LiMo Foundation chairman, Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo.

“The mobile industry is embracing Linux and openness as the key enablers of lower device development costs, increased flexibility and quicker time to market for innovative services of all kinds. LiMo Foundation is driving these trends.”

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T-Mobile dumps Google for Yahoo

EUROPEAN mobile phone giant T-Mobile is to end its relationship with Google as preferred search provider, instead signing a strategic partnership with rival Yahoo.

From March 30, Yahoo will become the preferred search provider for T-Mobile in Europe with the companies cooperating on developing industry-leading mobile search solutions.

T-Mobile said Yahoo’s oneSearch quickly and easily delivers relevant results and instant answers to search queries, removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of PC Web links.

“This cooperation agreement offers significant advantages to our mobile Internet customers, and creates the foundation for successful cooperation in the future,” T-Mobile International chief executive officer Hamid Akhavan said.

“With Yahoo, T-Mobile has entered into a partnership with a true Internet pioneer,” he said.

T-Mobile is also expanding partnerships for its social web services by cooperating with communities such as YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo, the company said.

“Cooperation with YouTube, MySpace, Flickr and bebo allows T-Mobile customers to develop and expand their personal networks whenever and wherever they like,” T-Mobile International Group Product & Innovation Officer Christopher Schläffer said.

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EU regulators raid Intel offices

ANTITRUST regulators in Europe have raided the offices of processor giant Intel and several computer retails as part of an investigation of restrictive trade practices.

In a prepared statement, the European Commission said its officials had carried out “unannounced inspections at the premises of a manufacturer of central processing units (CPUs) and a number of personal computer retailers.

Intel has since confirmed that it is the manufacturer whose offices were raided. The German consumer electronics retailer Media Markt and Britains DSG are also understood to have been raided as part of the investigation.

“The Commission has reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81) and/or abuse of a dominant market position,” the Commission said in a statement.

The investigation and the premises’ raids are thought to be the first stage of a response to complaints to the EC about Intel market behaviour from rival Advanced Micro Devices.

Intel is already the subject of formal EU charges of monopoly abuse of market power, for allegedly customer rebates at below cost and for allegedly bullying customers into staying away from AMD.

Intel has said it would cooperate with the regulatory authorities.

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Yahoo ramps video with Maven

THE air around Yahoo might be thick with anticipation over what Microsoft’s next move might be in its hostile acquisition bid for the company, but that hasn’t stopped it getting on with business.

Yahoo has announced a major expansion in the video content sector, acquiring online video platform provider Maven Networks for US$160 million (A$177 million).

The company said the acquisition gives Yahoo the opportunity to expand both its consumer video services and its video advertising offerings.

“Video is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the online ad market, and Maven will significantly help advance Yahoo!'s strategy, expanding the video opportunity for publishers and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness for advertisers,” said Yahoo Global Partner Solutions executive vice-president Hilary Schneider.

The acquisition better positions Yahoo to take advantage of the growing market for online news and entertainment, and to offer advertising in video bundles. Research group eMarketer estimates the advertising spend on internet video will triple over the next three years to US$4.3 billion.

Yahoo says it already has the largest library of professionally produced legally licensed video content and has video advertising relationships with over 75 per cent of the top TV advertisers. It also has advertising relationships with a growing number of premium publishers including eBay, Comcast, Forbes.com and others.

The Maven platform is currently used to manage, distribute and monetise premium online video content for over 30 major media companies, including Fox News, Sony BMG and CBS Sports.

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Yahoo ramps video with Maven

THE air around Yahoo might be thick with anticipation over what Microsoft’s next move might be in its hostile acquisition bid for the company, but that hasn’t stopped it getting on with business.

Yahoo has announced a major expansion in the video content sector, acquiring online video platform provider Maven Networks for US$160 million (A$177 million).

The company said the acquisition gives Yahoo the opportunity to expand both its consumer video services and its video advertising offerings.

“Video is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the online ad market, and Maven will significantly help advance Yahoo!'s strategy, expanding the video opportunity for publishers and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness for advertisers,” said Yahoo Global Partner Solutions executive vice-president Hilary Schneider.

The acquisition better positions Yahoo to take advantage of the growing market for online news and entertainment, and to offer advertising in video bundles. Research group eMarketer estimates the advertising spend on internet video will triple over the next three years to US$4.3 billion.

Yahoo says it already has the largest library of professionally produced legally licensed video content and has video advertising relationships with over 75 per cent of the top TV advertisers. It also has advertising relationships with a growing number of premium publishers including eBay, Comcast, Forbes.com and others.

The Maven platform is currently used to manage, distribute and monetise premium online video content for over 30 major media companies, including Fox News, Sony BMG and CBS Sports.

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