News in Review

Nokia, Microsoft launch new mobile software

Former rivals Nokia and Microsoft recently announced the by-product of their new found love for one another. The mobile wireless giant and computer software powerhouse unveiled the results of their new software aimed at breaking the dominance of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry in wireless services for corporations.

Nokia and Microsoft, at one time fierce rivals in the mobile telecommunications business, announced the alliance in August 2009.
They expect to offer Nokia phones running Microsoft’s Office programs later this year.

Arnold says no to offshore oil plan

Citing the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico now threatening several U.S. states, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger retracted his support for a plan to expand drilling off California’s coast.

The actor-turned Republican politician of the most populous U.S. state had been calling for more oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara. Due to the impact of the recession, California has been sinking in its own debt and looking for ways to raise money. Drilling offered a financial opportunity the state government couldn’t resist, but the idea has met determined resistance in the Democrat-led legislature.

The governor faces a $20 billion budget shortfall. Speaking at a media event regarding the state’s preparations for California’s fire season, Schwarzenegger said televised images of the oil slick moving toward the U.S. Gulf Coast prompted his change of heart.

United and Continental confirm merger

United Airlines and Continental Airlines announced a $3-billion merger that would create the world’s biggest airline, now to be called United Airlines. Continental shareholders will receive 1.05 shares of United common stock for each Continental common share they own.
 
Based on United’s stock price of $21.60 earlier this spring, exact figures were not available at the time of publication time but the financial breakdown went something like this: Continental’s 139.6 million outstanding shares, leaving United paying an estimated $3.17 billion for Continental, or $22.68.
The name of the holding company will be United Continental Holdings Inc.

Continental chief executive Jeff Smisek will run the Chicago-based combined airline with over $29 billion in annual revenue, while UAL CEO Glenn Tilton will be non-executive chairman. Smisek, 55, will become executive chairman when Tilton steps aside, which is expected two years after the merger closes.

FCC forms strategy to defend broadband powers

With a case before the legal courts, the top U.S. communications regulator is consulting his advisors to form a strategy to defend his broadband agenda. FCC head Julius Genachowski and his circle of advisers are weighing options to put the centerpiece of his administration on a solid footing.

His alternatives appear limited if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decides that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacks sufficient authority to regulate broadband services.

Within the next few months, the three-judge panel is expected to issue a ruling based on oral arguments held in January involving a case in which Comcast Corp challenged the FCC’s power to regulate management of online content.

The case centers on a 2008 decision by the FCC to censure Comcast for throttling bandwidth-hogging online file sharing services for video and TV shows.

Analysts expect Apple to sell 5 million iPads in first year

Wall Street analysts took a guess in terming Apple Inc’s iPad launch as “rock-solid,” with some sales of the tablet computer at about 5 million units in the first 12 months.  

Industry observers said the tablet computer’s margins would push up Apple’s earnings from the onset. At least three brokerages raised their price targets and full-year estimates on the company, two days after Apple’s latest device hit stores. The high-end model tops out at more than $800.

JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said Apple’s most loyal and early adopters should help the iPad beat subdued investor expectations in the interim, but critical mass depends on future product generations overcoming current limitations.

Analyst Moskowitz estimates iPad’s gross margins to be about 51 percent and expects Apple to sell about 4.8 million units in the first 12 months.

Obama pushes ambitions agenda

U.S. President hushed critics as he reiterated more change is to come. In a live interview, President Barack Obama said he would not be dissuaded from dealing with new economic challenges after his health care reform victory, despite the possibility that Republicans push back.

“I will continually reach out to Republicans. I will continue to incorporate their ideas, even when they don’t vote for the ideas that I’ve presented,” he said in an interview with NBC’s Today show last month. “But what I’m not going to be dissuaded from is us going ahead and taking on these big challenges that are critical in terms of America’s long-term economic health,” he continued.

Earlier on, Democrats succeeded in getting Obama’s healthcare reform plan through Congress without a single vote from Republicans, who argued it was too costly of a measure and imposed on the private sector. At the time of publication, the Senate was just moments before vote on the financial reform bill.

U.S. hands olive branch to China

After months of trade-related tension between the two countries, President Barack Obama told China’s new ambassador in Washington that the U.S. wanted to “further develop” a positive relationship with China.

“The president also stressed the need for the United States and China to work together and with the international community on critical global issues including non-proliferation and pursuing sustained and balanced global growth,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement last month.

Internet email service hacked in China, Taiwan

Yahoo! email accounts of some journalists and activists whose work relates to China were compromised in an attack discovered last month, just days after Google announced it would move its Chinese-language search services out of China due to censorship concerns.

Several journalists in China and Taiwan found they were unable to access their accounts beginning March 25, among the group was Kathleen McLaughlin, a freelance journalist in Beijing. According to news reports, her account was restored later that week.

The compromised accounts include those of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group that China accuses of inciting separatism by ethnic Uighurs in the frontier region of Xinjiang.

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