Microsoft Corp. is looking at bolstering its service offerings on the mobile platform the most important of which would be an online shop catering to software distribution. This is most definitely to counter the iPhone store that has been doing brilliantly since its launch last year.

The much awaited Windows Mobile 6.5 should be out shortly as well however how it’s going to fare against the iPhone and Google Android is to be seen.  Even Palm is out with its Pre that many people are looking forward to. Smart phones have evolved from the pure business tools they once were to what we see today. Phones being used for so much more than checking mail and calling people.

The biggest news ofcourse is the MyPhone service that Microsoft is talking about. Which is more or less along the lines of what the iPhone offers users today. The biggest difference ofcourse would be the fact that it will have a feature like MobileMe that the company will not charge users for. ( Apple charges $99  a year )

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TopTechNews reports that Microsoft has switched strategy with the way it handles bug fixes. Unlike in previous versions they will not move from a beta to a release candidate for windows 7 rather work with vendors to sort out issues before they release the product.

This definitely comes as good news for Windows users after the fiasco that is Vista ( I still can’t bring myself to use it ). It’s a positive step that Microsoft has decided to become a little more transparent about the way it deals with its products.

“As we have said before, with Windows 7 we chose a slightly different approach which we were clear up front about and are all now experiencing together and out in the open,” said Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s senior vice president for Windows, in a blog post Friday.

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WSJ reports that Dell is planning to enter the smartphone market with a number of devices in an attempt to compete with the BlackBerry and iPhone.

However it is still unknown whether the device would use Google’s Android OS or Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. Dell has been tinkering around with this for over a year now and initial reports suggest that one model could possible have a touchscreen quite like the iPhones.

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As with everything else Microsoft seems to be playing catch up. This time around however indications are that the investments made in mobile space over the last year might just bear fruit.

How long this takes is anyone’s guess, but Andy Lees says in 12 - 18 months we could see a whole bunch of services through a mobile platform.

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Microsoft reported an 11 percent drop in net income for its fiscal second quarter compared to the year-earlier period. Revenue was up two percent to $16.63 billion, but profit was $4.17 billion, or 47 cents a share, versus $4.71 billion and 50 cents a year earlier.

Microsoft’s net income dropped 11 %  for this quarter compared to the same period last year thought revenue was up  a bit.  The economic slow down has impacted its windows division resulting in a considerable loss in revenue. In an attempt to tackle this problem the company has decided to cut close to 5000 jobs and freeze pay hikes during the course of this year. With negative results showing for almost every company in this sector this move is not surprising but one does wonder how long this will continue and what more these companies will do to stay afloat and competitive in the long run.

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Source : Cnet News 

Yahoo filed a three-year plan–a set of slides originally presented in December 2007–with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining the ways in which the company is worth more than Microsoft is willing to pay at this point. Yahoo expects growth in revenue and operating cash flow of $1.9 billion over the next three years from display and video advertising and $1.4 billion in added search revenue. Caroline McCarthy has more on this topic in her blog post.

I doubt that this regulatory filing will do much to change Microsoft’s strategy, which has been to hold firm on its February 1 bid of $31 a share, or $44.6 billion. In the current economic climate, Yahoo’s promises of future growth, including doubling its operating cash flow from $1.9 billion to $3.7 in the three-year span, are future promises, not necessarily a reality.

Microsoft, and investors, are waiting to see how Yahoo made it through the first quarter, ending March 31. A nonstellar quarter will make Yahoo shareholders more willing to accept what Gates, Ballmer, and company have to offer, and hope that it doesn’t go down.

Following are some of the slides from the presentation:

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

(Credit: Yahoo)

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Source : Tech Crunch

Ever since Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $31 a share offer to buy the company, the two sides have been gearing up for a prolonged fight over Yahoo’s fate. Microsoft is preparing to try to unseat Yahoo’s board members in a proxy battle that could cost as much as $30 million (which is still cheaper than raising its bid). Yahoo, for its part, amended its severance plan to cover all employees in case of a change in control of ownership. It includes accelerated vesting of options, continued severance pay of between four to 24 months of each employee’s base salary, plus $3,000 to $15,000 in outplacement services per laid-off employee. And there are going to be a lot of those after the merger. Henry Blodget estimates this severance plan alone will cost Microsoft an additional $1 and $3 billion, which pretty much wipes out the $1 billion in savings Microsoft thinks it can get from merging the two companies (i.e., by laying off redundant employees).

It is in Yahoo’s interest to keep fighting and adding poison pills to any takeover attempt. The longer this drags out, the more likely that Microsoft will raise its bid or lose heart. Could Microsoft already be rethinking its hostile-takeover strategy? It’s stock has taken a hit since it announced its bid and most of the press has been negative on the deal, pointing out the challenges of large mergers. The fact that this is a hostile attempt adds to the uncertainty. Hostile takeovers tend to work best when the targeted company has some hard assets that can be stripped and sold off or ripped apart and recombined in new ways.

That is not the case here. For this merger to work, Microsoft will need to retain the best employees (many of which are already fleeing Yahoo) and keep its customers happy. It can’t do that if it is preoccupied with merging two very different cultures and paying less attention to the Web properties that Yahoo’s business depends on. Of course, even if Microsoft loses its resolve, Yahoo would still need a strategy to compete.

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SAN FRANCISCO — A week after Yahoo learned that it would be the target of a $44.6 billion hostile bid by Microsoft, the company’s board met on Friday to consider its options, a person briefed on the meeting said.

The directors listened to a series of presentations from Yahoo’s management and its bankers, who argued that the company was worth more than what Microsoft has offered. The board was also presented with various options for maintaining Yahoo’s independence, this person said.

One possibility that has been discussed is a search-related joint venture with Google. Lawyers at the meeting discussed the antitrust implications of such a tie-up, which would extend Google’s dominance of the search advertising market, the person said. They also discussed how to press Microsoft to increase its bid.

Yahoo could give an immediate lift to its revenues and profits by outsourcing its search-related ad business to Google, because Google’s advertising technology generates far more cash for every search query, on average. This option had long been recommended by some Yahoo investors and analysts, but Yahoo executives had said that search ads were an integral part of the company’s business.

In recent years, Yahoo has invested millions in a new search advertising system, called Panama, in an effort to close the gap with Google.

The technology, which Yahoo began to roll out early last year, has helped increase search advertising revenue, but Google’s technology remains more efficient, according to analysts. For Yahoo executives, replacing Panama, or other parts of its search system, with Google’s technology would be an admission of defeat.

Nevertheless, the board has considered the idea, after a call last week by Google’s chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, to his Yahoo counterpart, Jerry Yang, offering his company’s help in fending off the Microsoft bid.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment. Yahoo said this week that its board was evaluating Microsoft’s offer and other alternatives. A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment on Friday.

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