Move aside Facebook and Google: Microsoft is eyeing up Skype
www.skype.com
Today the rumours floating around are that Microsoft are close to clinching the acquisition of Skype! With a price tag in the ballpark of $7 – $8.5 billion it would be the biggest acquisition the Redmond company has ever undertaken.
Facebook was reportedly offering between $3 and $4 billion to get their hands on this VoIP giant! However, it would seem Microsoft have snuck in to steal the deal. They appear to be the most likely ones to walk away ‘one VoIP service richer’. In order to do so they have bid a whopping great figure, too whopping perhaps?
We are all watching perched on the edge of our chairs. What do you think about Microsoft’s potential purchase?
Is Baidu the new Google?
Baidu is the largest search engine in China. It’s their answer to Google with a 75% market share in China (63% Global share) compared to Google’s dwindling 20% (27% Global share). It is China’s first company to be included in the NASDAQ 100 with 2010 showing revenues of $1.2bn, profits totalling $534m and a market cap of $40bn (Google’s is 5 times that but impressive stuff all the same).
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Baidu.com_(BIDU)
Is it better than Google? Will it become the biggest search engine in the world? Will it capture any of Google’s search revenue (notably the ONLY cash generator in the Google stable).
Under the bonnet
Look familiar?
The direct translation of Baidu is ‘hundreds of times’ which is said to describe the never ending service that it provides, and that you will get great service ‘hundreds of times’. Ok, doesn’t translate so well but hey, we’re not Chinese.
Baidu Growth
This is the impressive bit. The company’s profits more than doubled for the last quarter in 2010. This puts their net profits 171% higher than the same period in 2009. Total revenue for the year increased by 78% to $1.2 billion. So, time to take note huh.
Google Baidu Differences
The Differences: Well to start, it’s in Chinese (Simplified Han) which to me is ‘wow, what the hell is that and where do I start’. Under Chinese law you can download mp3’s completely legally (http://bit.ly/axWiQW). Other clever apps and services increase its stickiness, with e-commerce and social media being two massive growth areas Baidu is investing.
“Social search products represent a significant portion of our total traffic,” Baidu CEO Robin Li said. More here
Is Baidu better? Well no is the short answer. In blind tests Google proved better as people find what they want quicker:
Motorola will add the first search and map widgets from Bing.com to its Android handsets in China in the next few weeks. It changed the default search from Google to Baidu months ago. However, people spend longer on Baidu which suggests it’s not as efficient as Google:
Mobile Search
Worldwide, mobile services are huge business and 2011 will continue to grow exponentially. China has approximately 338m internet users but an estimated 600m residents have mobile phones. So we’re talking $billions in potential mobile revenue. As smartphones spread in popularity, Baidu and Google are locking horns for their share. Since September 2009, Google has been no.1 for revenue generation in the global mobile internet market. In China it is tied with Baidu.
Can Facebook succeed where Google failed?
Google pulled out (Kicked?) early 2010 and now run operations from Hong Kong. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook, visited China late last year and his first stop was Baidu which is understandable but also raised some eyebrows. Russia and China are vast markets Facebook has yet to conquer. Like many other online services, Facebook is blocked in China. Does Zuckerberg have a plan to overcome the great firewall of China, and can Baidu help him do that?
To Conclude
So far the vast Chinese market has proved to be an unsolvable riddle for Western companies. The Chinese economy will no doubt continue to grow and although Google’s perch has been nobbled, 96% of visitors to baidu.com are Chinese, loving the local service. If Facebook manages to convince China to open the doors to its 1.3bn users it will be a huge win for the site and hopefully other platforms including the re-introduction of Google but it’s a long shot. Currently there doesn’t appear to be any real threat from Baidu as a global offering so if you want to invest in a ‘Search+’ business, continue to invest in Google. However, does Google want, nay need, a piece of the Chinese pie? Damn right, especially the mobile market, but will they get it? We don’t think so.
[It must be noted that Google isn’t officially ‘in’ China and hasn’t been since March 2010. It moved operations to Hong Kong which weirdly sits outside of Chinese law in many respects.Read more .]
Google Mail doesn't work
Google email isn’t reliable as a business tool. There I said it. It pains me to do so because I love Google. What they stand for, do and will continue to do.
Nothing is perfect in IT land but our experience over the past year with various clients has been poor at best.
Outbound (SMTP) servers fail, inbound delays, Blackberry syncing woes, I could go on… If email is important to your business, use a proven and trusted supplier like Rackspace or Cobweb. It’s that simple. Let the rest of the world early adopt and I’ll let you know when to jump over. Dan
Small Business Technical Know-all
Google is Super Clever – Gmail Priority Inbox
Intelligent email filters based on previous email behaviours. Brilliant it if works.
Running around with an iPad in hand?
(Source)
There are a few new competitors to the iPad coming out soon, from HP, Asus, Lenvo and Blackberry, all within the next 6 months. But how have you guys been using them?
Here’s, we’ve not had much cause to switch to using an iPad for anything, they’re just cool bits of tech to play around with. Businesses on Wall Street are apparently testing them out, and Apple’s CFO Tim Cook is quoted as saying that half the Fortune 100 are testing it, but these types of story only seem novel, testing new equipment to see how it could be used, rather than an industry wide standard being set.
However, that’s just the iPad, are companies more likely to adopt the use of tablet pcs when there is a lot more choice in the market?
Is it going to take Google’s Web Store of mobile apps to really open up the market and make it competitive to Apple’s App Store?
If they are going to use it, I think it’s going to take the form of more of a universal remote device, such as Dell’s idea of a device that you can dock to your laptop. Using it as a true extension of your main computer/netbook, to control things on it, to enhance your user experience and make it easier to do what you want, not just another toy to play with.
Wireless network regulation?
The whole issue about net neutrality raised by Google and Verizon’s proposal to the FCC earlier this month caught our attention and I have a few follow up thoughts on the matter. After basic access to the internet was granted as a ‘human right’ by the EU, it seemed inevitable that someone, somewhere with enough clout, would demand industry standard and oversight to ISP supply.
The main point of objectors to Google and Verizon is the lack of regulation that is proposed on wireless networks. Perhaps, if wired broadband is given a standard level, as a result ISP companies will focus on wireless research and introduce priority trafficking on them. Under such a scheme, priority will be given to those already established, leaving start-ups in the cold.
Google and Verizon’s claim is that the wireless network structure is changing so fast that it would not be possible to enforce any sort of neutrality on.
So what other benefit is there for them to keep wireless unregulated? Maybe it has something to do with their focus on tablets and web based apps. Web based programs need the best access available, and if everyone is interesting in exploiting and providing the best wireless they can, it means developers have much more freedom on what can be run.
It doesn’t even have to come to monopolisation or preferred treatment, with so many resources being thrown into research and development of the infrastructure, those with even a foothold in the area, app developer or provider, should welcome the acceleration of wireless network technology.
Who could say no to fast, easy to access, universal wireless networking?
Chrome Web Store
As developers get their first look inside the Chrome Web Store, I’ve got to wonder what they’re going to put out on it.
With rumours of Google’s new, supposedly, tablet only based OS in the form of Android Honeycomb, are they going to be using the web store to provide apps for both the Chrome OS based netbooks and Chrome internet browsers?
I can imagine that they want to have even more cloud based apps that will allow people to easily switch between devices and less reliance on hardware. Being able to access all the files, programs, and media that you use on your main pc on any other is possible now, but there are tons of different apps in the app store that I would love to use on my pc. Or any pc for that matter.
There will be two kinds of web apps that they are going to provide, downloaded ones and web based ones. With the whole store in direct competition with Apple’s own, a reduced cut taken (5% compared to 30% by Apple) which one are developers going to focus on?
Personally, like the workaround Google produced for Google Voice after the app was refused (they made it web based), I think more people will focus on HTML5 based apps than just ones to be run on iPhones and iPads. Especially since Apple rejects Flash and decided to focus on HTML5 support, something Yahoo has recently used to bring Yahoo Mail to the iPad..
Seems rather cleaver that the Chrome Web Store can be used by both Apple device users and Chrome users.
Net neutrality – what’s all that about?
With all the recent media hullabaloo surrounding Google, Verizon and net neutrality, it seemed like it was about time to see what it was all about.
“I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality…because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose. We have to ensure free and full exchange of information and that starts with an open internet.” – So said Barrack Obama in his election campaign.
Basically, net neutrality is the notion that all content on the internet, from photos and videos to emails, should be treated with equal importance, which is currently the case. The two arguments however, are as follows…
- Service providers want to provide innovative services but say they need the public to pay for them if they are to be economically viable.
However…
- There are the philosophers who say it is a point of principle that the internet should be freely available to all content.
The actual arguments are not quite as neat and clear cut as this, and evidently there are many issues surrounding the concept of regulation – many believe it is the un-regulated nature of the internet which makes it the resource it is. It’s a difficult one. Have we taken for granted for so long the free-nature of the internet? With articles now claiming that in the future there is a risk that ‘one ISP might, for instance, offer parts of the web at a higher quality than other, or not at all and to many, this could sound dangerously like censorship,’ perhaps we have to start thinking about how and why we use the internet and what we value it at.
Any thoughts?
Want to read more on this debate? Click on the link… http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/7939531/Net-neutrality-what-is-it-and-what-does-it-mean.html