Google developing Groupon competitor called Offers

NEW YORK: Google Inc ., which has expanded beyond its core search operations into mobile phones and other products, is developing a local coupon service similar to Groupon. Like Groupon Inc., the service, Google Offers, will offer time-limited deals from local vendors, such as restaurants. Ten dollars, for example, might buy $20 worth of food at a local cafe.

"Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program," said Google Inc. spokesman Nate Tyler. Google would not say when Offers would be available or provide any more details about its plans.

While Groupon is Google's most obvious competitor when it comes to offering local deals, the field of coupon sites has rapidly grown to include sites such as LivingSocial and Tippr. Flash sales site Gilt Groupe and the newsletter DailyCandy also offer local deals.

Google has signaled it wants to expand in local advertising. Last year, it promoted Marissa Mayer, who oversaw the company's core search products to grow the company's geographic and local services business, and gave her a seat on the company's operating committee of top decision-makers.

The company also has reportedly tried to enter the local deals business by buying prominent companies in the field. Last year, Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., reportedly considered acquiring Yelp for more than $500 million. And last month, it reportedly tried to buy Groupon for somewhere between $5 billion and $6 billion, but was rejected.

Groupon has since raised an additional $950 million in venture capital funding.

Currently, Google's Places service lets local businesses set up pages where the owners can post photos and other p! romotion al information, and customers can write reviews. Then, these places can appear as pinpoints on Google's popular map network, Google Maps.

Why Wipro dumped its joint CEOs Paranjpe and Vaswani

BANGALORE: To understand why Wipro dumped its joint CEOs, Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani , you need to look at Wipros financials, and compare them with its peers. While all the top tier IT companies in India have shown robust recovery from the recession in recent quarters , Wipro has been a relative underperformer, both in revenue and in operating margins in past one year.

According to Srishti Anand, IT analyst at Angel Broking, Wipros low exposure to the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment has been the major reason why its growth has been slower. The BFSI segment which was the earliest to cut spending during the downturn has been the earliest to also begin reinvesting to position for a cyclical recovery.

The telecom and hi-tech sectors that bring in a sizeable 25% of Wipros revenues have been laggards.

Many of our peers have outperformed us as the BFSI segment has been showing the strongest growth rates since the economic recovery. Companies such as Cognizant which have been growing rapidly have a 50-55 % revenue contribution from BFSI, while ours stands at around 27%, said Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro.

The newly appointed CEO T K Kurien also mentioned during the earnings conference on Friday that the company would need to increase investments in fast growing segments like BFSI and healthcare as a longerterm strategy.

According to an Ambit Research report, Wipro also lacks a credible enterprise application service (EAS) strategy to deal with the commoditization of application development management (ADM), which accounts for 40% of revenues.

With the IT sector undergoing a struct! ural shi ft in spending away from ADM towards system integration and consulting around EAS, Wipro with its weaker consulting capabilities is struggling more than some its peers. Among the IT majors that have reported their Oct-Dec quarterly results, HCL Technologies has witnessed fastest sequential revenue growth of 7.5% (dollar terms). HCL has been helped by growth in fast growing EAS segment.

Google to expand options for non-English-language news readers

NEW YORK: Google News, a computer-generated free news site provided by Google Inc that aggregates stories worldwide, is expanding its customization options for non-English-language readers this year, the creator of the news service said recently.

In an interview with Kyodo News, Krishna Bharat, who is Google's distinguished research scientist, said he expects the site's news personalization and other features to become more widely available for non-English readers sometime this year.

"Everything will come to non-English languages including Japanese," Bharat said. Google currently offers more extensive options for English readers to personalize their news site by enabling them to create sections that cluster together stories closely matching their interests.

Bharat said personalization of news is among the company's top priorities for the year, along with enhancing the speed with which the stories get delivered through a variety of mobile and non-mobile devices.

"The web is very slow -- the click on a link takes eight to 10 seconds," he said. "The new model that is emerging is that people read news in a stream, it's coming to you...almost like watching TV. You're able to go from story to story and can read multiple articles about the same story in a very intuitive way," he said.

Google News was rolled out in September 2002, shortly after the first anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bharat, an Indian native, created the news site out of his frustration in trying to find coverage of the tragic event from different sources -- not just Western media but from all over the world.

"I feel we've made a lot of progress," Bharat said. "We had just the one English edition initially -- now we have 72 editions in 30 languages -- it's been a lot of! interna tional expansion," he said of the service, which won the prestigious Webby Award in the news category in 2003.

The site currently draws news from more than 50,000 sources around the globe, ranking them according to the company's algorithm, which checks factors such as originality and timeliness of the story, the number of citations, quality of the source and other signals that determine their overall quality.

Bharat, who grew up in the Indian city of Bangalore, recalled that one of his fondest memories from his childhood was sitting with his grandfather -- an avid listener of the BBC World Service -- and hearing him talk about global events.

Facebook raises $1.5 billion from investors

SEATTLE: Facebook has raised $1.5 bn from investors, under terms which the world's No. 1 online social network says gives it a value of about $50 bn.

The company, founded in 2004, said it would begin to file public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012, which many see as a precursor to an initial public offering . It could be one of the largest IPOs ever in the technology sector .

The new funding was handled by investment bank Goldman Sachs, which raised $1 billion from non-U.S. investors in a fund that Facebook said was oversubscribed.

In December, Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, Goldman Sachs and some funds managed by Goldman invested $500 million in Facebook.

Wipro to focus on emerging markets, on high growth segments: Azim Premji

BANGALORE: Wipro hopes to bounce back from its disappointing performance in the third quarter through a "relook at emerging markets" and by focusing on "high growth segments" like eco-energy, Chairman Azim Premji said on Friday.

"We will relook at opportunities in emerging markets," Premji said here.

He said the company considers India an emerging market. "We have a very strong footprint here. It is neck-and-neck between us and IBM on the services sides and we are profitable here, we are growing here and we are continuing to invest here."

Premji also indicated that the company considers the Middle East an emerging market for IT services.

China is also an emerging market and the company is being systematically selective on prospective clients. The company has also appointed a country head for China. "We now want to systematically address, very selectively, local customers, both multinational local customers and domestic-domestic local customers in China," the Wipro Chairman said.

Latin America is also on the company's radar, as are Germany and France, which it considers high potential areas that are under-penetrated.

Some pockets in the Far East are also considered emerging markets for certain segments of its business, he said, citing the case of Korea, where there is a demand for hi-tech services as the country faces a huge talent shortage, particularly with respect to embedded systems.

"We are working on two kind of markets, high velocity emerging markets and markets which have a high base like Western Europe and the US," said Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty.

The company said it will look at areas like eco-energy, technology infr! astructu re, info-crossing and testing, besides other verticals, to drive growth.

Google preparing to launch its own Groupon

HOUSTON: Google is preparing to launch a service, Google Offers, that will notify subscribers about deals in their area - the search giant's Groupon competitor, according to social and digital media news website Mashable.

"We have the documents to prove it. The service will send a daily e-mail notifying subscribers of deals in their area, in much the same way other group buying sites like Groupon and Livingsocial already do," a report by Mashable said.

When reached for comment by Mashable, Google responded by confirming the existence of Google Offers but also noting they are still testing the programme and reaching out to businesses.

It is worth remembering that Google recently attempted to purchase Groupon outright for the lofty price of USD 6 million, but was rejected. "One of our sources has sent us a confidential fact sheet straight from the Googleplex about the company's new group buying service," it said.

"Google Offers is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email," the fact sheet says.

The Mountain View, CA-based company's Google Offers looks and operates much like Groupon or LivingSocial.

Users receive an e-mail with a local deal-of-the-day. They then have the opportunity to buy that deal within a specific time limit (we assume 24 hours). Once enough people have made the purchase, Google Offer is triggered and users get that all-too-familiar USD 10 for USD 20 deal for that Indian restaurant you've never tried, it said.

"From what we can tell, Google Offers will be powered by Google Checkout," the report said, adding it also includes Facebook , Twitter , Google Reader, Google Buzz and e-mail sharing options. !

The search engine is actively reaching out to businesses now to get them on board with Offers. It even apparently has a writing team in place to craft the write-up for offers.

The search giant clearly isn't giving this market up without a fight, though. With its vast reach, huge resources and brand recognition, it could prove to be a powerful player in the space.

According to Mashable, "Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers programme."

This initiative is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new products, such as the recent Offer Ads beta, that connect businesses with customers in new ways.

Mashable also revealed that Google will pay out 80 per cent of a business' revenue three days after its deal runs.

Google will hold the remaining 20 per cent for 60 days to cover refunds before sending the rest.

Wipro Q3 results: Company has underperformed, says Azim Premji

BANGALORE: Wipro Chairman Azim Premji on Friday said that the company underperformed in the October-December quarter relative to competitors and its own potential.

"I dont think we should try making excuses about our performance. We have under performed in quarter three relative to our competitors and as relative to our potential as a company," he told reporters here today.

"What we are trying to do is trying to improve perfomance in quarter four and also significantly improving performance going forward," he added.

Wipro has not been able to take similar strides in the health and financial sector as the competition has done, Premji said.

The IT major today reported a 9.60 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,318.8 crore for the third quarter against Rs 1,203.2 crore in the same quarter last year.

Shares of Wipro fell by 4.20 per cent to an early low of Rs 457.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company reported lower-than-expected numbers for the quarter under review.

Meanwhile, the BSE 30-share barometer Sensex was trading at 19,013.69, down 32.85 points or 0.17 per cent at 0924 hrs.

HTC sees Q1 revenue, shipments more than double

TAIPEI: Taiwan's HTC Corp, the world's No.4 smartphone brand, expects revenue and shipments to more than double in the first quarter of 2011, helped by a new generation of products.

The company said on Friday in a presentation to investors that it sees revenue reaching T$94 billion ($3.2 billion) and shipments at 8.5 million units in the quarter, while its gross profit margin would be 29.5 per cent.

HTC's strong push into smartphones using Google's Android operating system has helped the company to grow market share against bigger smartphone rivals like Apple Inc , Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics.

"I think the guidance is OK though it may be a bit disappointing to some as 8.5 million units is at the lower end of market expectations," said Bonnie Chang, an analyst of Yuanta Securities, who forecasts shipments to be 8 million units.

Goldman Sachs and Citi have recently revised up their forecasts on HTC, expecting first quarter shipments to exceed 9 million units.

Growth in the smartphone market is expected to slow to 8.4 per cent in 2011 from 13 per cent last year, a Reuters poll of 32 banks, brokerages and research firms showed.

Samsung, which plans to launch more new smartphone models this year, has targeted a doubling of sales to at least 50 million units in 2011.

Analysts forecast HTC to report a net profit of T$55.43 billion for 2011, according to a consensus forecast by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"We continue to see strong demand from existing products and expect recently launched 4G products to help drive shipment growth in 2011," HTC said in a statement.

AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless have bot! h announ ced earlier this month plans to sell the Taiwanese company's 4G handsets, joining Sprint and T-Mobile DTEGn.DE>.

Before the statement, HTC shares fell 0.68 per cent, slightly outperforming the main TAIEX's 0.75 per cent fall.

HTC posted a record net profit of T$39.33 billion ($1.89 billion) last year, up 75 per cent from 2009.

December sales more than doubled to T$33.54 billion from T$14.07 billion in the same month a year earlier.

Apple under fire from Chinese environmental groups

BEIJING: Three dozen Chinese environmental groups are accusing Apple Inc of not responding to concerns about pollution and health problems at factories that supply it with components.

The report released Thursday ranks Apple at the bottom of more than two dozen tech companies in its responsiveness. The criticism comes as the company begins to open stores in China and push further into the Chinese market.

Apple has been trailed by safety concerns after several workers for Foxconn Technology Group, which makes iPhones and other gadgets for Apple, killed themselves in southern China last year.

Dozens of workers for another contractor, Wintek Corp., reported being sickened by chemicals used in making touch screens for Apple and other companies.

An Apple spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First ever PC virus was created in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Floating around in the vast universe that is YouTube is an interview with an unsung pioneer of the digital age. The chat, on a programme called Morning with Farah, was first aired on Pakistani channel ATV (its not clear when, though the video was uploaded in June 2008).

A thin, balding man sits dressed unremarkably in a dark suit and tie. You fixed America! Farah tells him. They always claimed to be the biggest protectors of copyright. You showed them up to be the biggest violators. The man smiles. Definitely.

It was 25 years ago that this balding man, Amjad Farooq Alvi, then 24, and his brother Basat, 17, both based, of all places, in the unlikely tech hub of Lahore, created the first virus to hit the personal computer. Called Brain, it spread like wildfire, igniting an inglorious era of crashing computers, lost data, millions of frustrated and bewildered computer users, and, of course, the $16.5-billion computer security industry.

Throughout Morning with Farah, there is a distinct undertone of nationalism. A caller into the show, (Mubashir from Karachi) asks: I am not sure whether or not this is a matter of pride that it was in Pakistan that the first computer virus was written. What do you think? he asks Alvi.

Oh, absolutely. Rest assured that it is a matter of pride, replies Alvi, who currently runs a telecom company in Pakistan with his brother. The intention was not destructive. We created the virus to protect our intellectual property and keep track of who was copying our software.

Brain was certainly not the first computer virus such programs had been known to exist since at least the early 1980s. But it was certainly the fastest-spreading at the time, helped along by the growing popularity of the personal computer, famously named, just a! few yea rs earlier, as TIME magazines Man of the Year. Well, the intention of such geeks has undergone a sea change over the past 25 years, says Jagannath Patnaik, Director, channel sales (South Asia), Kaspersky Lab India. In the early days, virus writers were mostly young college students or geeks who wanted to prove their technical ability ... however, over time, they started smelling money in it and virus writing today is a big, underworld business, he says.

The Alvi brothers virus was relatively harmless all it did was change the volume label of the disk (essentially renaming it). But for the surprised and astonished user who was tech-savvy enough to dig deeper, the program also had a message hidden in it: Welcome to the Dungeon 1986 Basit & Amjad (Pvt) Ltd.

3i Infotech bags IT deal from Manipal Health Enterprises

IT solutions provider 3i Infotech today said it has bagged a contract from Manipal Health Enterprises to provide end-to-end IT infrastructure solutions.

The five-year engagement includes providing services like facility management, managed services and server room build, 3i Infotech said in a statement.

However, the deal size was not disclosed. T HIS ) will enable MHEPL to build its IT infrastructure and implement Hospital Information Systems (HIS), providing them flexibility in terms of operations and services, it added.

"We are stepping into a major IT enhancement drive across nearly 10 locations in South India to enhance our services. We are confident that 3i Infotech with their expertise will assist us in serving our customers better," MHEPL Chief Executive Officer Rajen Padukone said.

Zen Mobile launches triple SIM phone 'M111'

Domestic handset maker Zen Mobile today launched its triple SIM phone 'M111', priced at Rs 3,499.

The triple GSM SIM handset is equipped with a 2.4-inch screen, 1.3 MP camera, Bluetooth capability and is GPRS-enabled, Zen said in a statement.

"With the launch of our triple GSM SIM mobile phone, we have taken a step further in offering convenience and the utility at an unrivalled price, to our customers," Zen Mobile MD Deepesh Gupta said.

Google to ride busy holidays

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is expected to report a 22 per cent jump in fourth-quarter revenue thanks to a busy holiday season, though it will face questions about long-term growth when it unveils results on Thursday.

Shares of the world's No.1 Internet search engine underperformed the market in 2010 but have gained roughly 6 per cent in the past three weeks as investors anticipate that Google will benefit from healthy online advertising spending.

"Any kind of pickup in activity in e-commerce should translate into strong search advertising," said Yun Kim , analyst at Gleacher & Company .

Looking farther ahead, its money-making efforts outside of its flagship search business may prove increasingly important to investors.

Google, which is facing increased competition from social networking giant Facebook and iPhone maker Apple Inc , has embarked on a recruiting and acquisition spree, adding more than 3,500 employees to its payroll in the first nine months of 2010 and buying dozens of companies.

In October, Google gave investors what it said was a "one-time" peek at some of its businesses beyond search, showing that it was generating $2.5 billion in revenue from display advertisements on an annualized run rate, and $1 billion from its mobile business.

That update helped reassure investors that the company's efforts to diversify revenue beyond search advertising were bearing fruit, and Google's shares jumped roughly 10 per cent following the earnings conference call in which the company gave (disclosed) the figures.

While Google's Android smartphone software has emerged as one of its most successful new i! nitiativ es, the company has yet to find its footing in social networking. Last year, Facebook displaced Google to become the most visited Web site in the United States, according to Experian Hitwise.

Google tried unsuccessfully to acquire Groupon, an online coupon site with strong social networking features, for $6 billion in December, according to media reports.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S expect Google to generate net revenue, which excludes fees that Google pays to partner Web sites, of $6.06 billion in the fourth quarter, with earnings per share of $8.09, excluding certain items.

Google has beaten Wall Street revenue expectations for the past five consecutive quarters, missing profit targets once in that period.

SFI Scheme: Incentives to IT, other services exporters withdrawn

NEW DELHI: In a move that will adversely impact the country's services sector, the government has withdrawn incentives to exporters of IT and ITeS, telecommunication and airlines services.

The list of services eligible for duty credits under the 'Served From India Scheme (SFIS) has been pruned by removing important areas such as computer consultancy services, software implementation, data processing and database services.

Under the SFIS, exporters of services were given duty credit equivalent to 10 per cent of foreign exchange earned during the current financial year.

Apex body of exporters FIEO said "it is certainly a big setback for the services exporters, especially at a time when they were grappling with fragile global recovery".

Of about $60 billion IT and ITeS (Information technology enabled services) services, exports contribute about $50 billion and with the removal of the SFIS benefit, the bottomline of the software exporters is bound to get a hit, industry sources said.

Other services affected would include telecommunications, real estate, financial and fuel transport by pipelines.

The changes have been notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which has come out with a new exhaustive list of services eligible for SFIS.

Further, the eligibility criteria has been tightened.

India's IT majors shy of local buyouts

MUMBAI: When the $250-million iGate was bidding for Patni Computer Systems , its closest competitor was not another Indian IT player but private equity firm Carlyle. Indian IT majors have not pursued acquisitions of local peers vigorously, preferring instead to look overseas for large deals. And this despite the fact that local buyouts offer some definite advantages.

But Patni, with $700 million in revenues and 15,000 employees, could have been a good acquisition for many Indian IT firms, including some of the big names.

For Wipro, which acquired Spectramind several years ago, buying Patni would have helped narrow the gap between itself and Cognizant. Patni and Wipro also share common clients such as GE and have synergies in product engineering services.

Cognizant has been swiftly narrowing the gap with Wipro in the June 2010 quarter the difference between their revenues was barely $99 million which in the September 2010 quarter had dropped to $56 million and is set to take the crown of Indias third largest software exporter.

For the $7-billion plus TCS , an additional 10% business would not have made much difference. I also think high profitability fixated Infosys would not look at Patni more as a cultural and policy issue. But combination of Patni with Wipro or HCL could throw up some interesting data points. And interestingly, the integrated Mahindra group (Mahindra Satyam plus Tech Mahindra plus Patni) actually could have given a tough fight to Wipro, which is already working hard to retain the coveted third place, says Sudin Apte, principal analyst and CEO of technology research firm, Offshore Insights.

For both HCL Technologies and Mahindra Satyam-Tech Mahindra, Patnis application development and maintenance (ADM) business would have ! compleme nted existing service lines. Infrastructure management services is HCLs strongest service line while application development and maintenance form only for 25% of revenues against the industry average of 50%.

Similarly, while Mahindra Satyam is strong in enterprise services and Tech Mahindra in telecom-related IT solutions, both do not have a strong application maintenance business. Patnis $ 440-million ADM revenue and $600 million North America revenue would have made Mahindra more balanced compared to its current skew towards Europe, says Apte.

Now at Starbucks: Buy a latte by waving your phone

NEW YORK: Futurists have long predicted that one day, shoppers will swipe cellphones instead of credit cards to make purchases. At Starbucks stores nation-wide, that is about to become a reality.

On Wednesday, Starbucks plans to announce that customers of the 6,800 stores the company operates in the United States and the 1,000 that are in Target stores will be able to pay for their lattes with their cellphones instead of pulling out cash or a credit card. Various technology and payments companies, including PayPal, Bling Nation, Square, Venmo and now-deceased dot-com start-ups have been experimenting with ways to wean Americans off cash, credit cards or both.

But the introduction of mobile payments in Starbucks stores may be the most mainstream example yet. Owners of BlackBerrys, iPhones or iPod Touches can use them to pay by downloading the free Starbucks Card app and holding their phones in front of a scanner at Starbucks cash registers. The money is subtracted from their Starbucks account, which they can load with credit cards or, on iPhones, with PayPal funds.

Previous mobile payment efforts have been stymied largely because it is expensive for retailers to install scanners that read shiny cellphone screens and because Americans have been just as content to reach into their pockets and purses for a credit card as for a phone.

Starbucks says that more than one-third of its customers use smartphones . Were providing them with the fastest way to pay, Brady Brewer, vice president for the Starbucks card and brand loyalty, said in a statement.

Customers can also use the app to reload their cards, check their balances, find nearby stores and earn stars for purchases to trade in for free drinks.

Starbucks has tested mobile ! payments at some stores in Seattle, New York, Northern California and in Target stores. This is the first time the program will be nation-wide.

HCL Infosystems to sell arm to Tikona

NEW DELHI: HCL Infosystems on Wednesday said it will sell the entire stake of its subsidiary HCL Infinet to Tikona Digital Networks .

"The move comes as part of the HCL Infosystems transformation strategy under which the company will be further strengthening its core business and expanding into identified growth areas," the company said in a statement.

The sale of shares is subject to and shall be given effect after necessary regulatory approvals.

"HCL Infinet is poised to take on a different growth trajectory and is best suited to further strenghthening an enterprise like Tikona focussed on delivering ISP and NLD (internet service provider and national long distance) services in the fast emerging telecom industry," said Harsh Chitale, chief executive officer, HCL Infosystems.

HCL Infosystems, on the other hand, has been rapidly emerging as a leading systems integration and product engineering company, enabling projects across the country in the areas from eGovernance, power, telecom, education and learning to security, he said.

In the past few months, HCL Infosystems has also made two acquisitions to expand its geographical presence.

One-third of China's population hooked to Internet: Report

BEIJING: One-third of China's population were using the Internet at the end of 2010, taking the total number of people with net connections to 457 million, the China Internet Network Information Center has said.

Over one-third or 34.3 per cent of China's population were connected to the Internet at the end of last year, up 73.3 million from a year earlier, making them the largest net savvy population in the world, CNNIC said in a report.

Chinese netizens spent about 18.3 hours online every week or 2.61 hours each day, it said.

The growth of the net also propelled blogging in China with over 53.11 million bloggers using various Chinese social network sites even though most of the international networks like Facebook and Twitter remained banned in the country.

Microblogging has rapidly increased since Sina.com and QQ.com introduced their applications at end of 2009, said Huang Chengqing, vice chairman of the Internet Society of China (ISC), the country's Internet watchdog.

The number of Internet users in China's rural areas totalled 125 million last year, up 16.9 per cent from the previous year, the report said.

The number of people shopping online climbed the most compared to other online services, up 48.6 per cent year on year, followed by people using e-banking and online payment services, up 48.2 per cent and 45.8 per cent respectively.

Taobao.com, a Chinese-language website for online auctions and shopping founded by Alibaba Group, reported nearly 200 million registered members and more than USD 29.07 billion in turnover, creating at least 1 million online sales related jobs.

About 66.2 per cent of Internet users, or 303 million, used mobile phones! to surf the net, an increase of 5.4 percentage points from the previous year, CNNIC said in its report.

Though the growth speed of China's mobile phone Internet users slowed last year, wireless Internet growth momentum was strong, China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said.

The number of people going online via laptops grew at a faster pace than that of those surfing the net using mobile phones or desktops.

About 45.7 per cent of netizens used laptops to surf the net, a year-on-year increase of 15 percentage points.

Despite progress, China's Internet capability still faces challenges.

The average connection speed last year was relatively slow: a mere 100.9 Kbps (kilobytes per second), the report said.

The speed was about half of the global average of 212. 5 Kbps, according to figures from the US network giant Akamai in early 2010.

The survey was carried out among 60,000 individuals and 5,103 enterprises in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Chinese mainland, as well as nearly 90,000 completed online questionnaires.

IT, other key services deprived from export benefit

NEW DELHI: Dealing a major blow to exporters, the government has stopped giving incentives to exports of IT and ITeS, telecommunication and airlines services.

The list of services eligible for duty credits under the 'Served From India Scheme (SFIS) has been pruned by removing important areas such as computer consultancy services, software implementation, data processing and database services.

Under the SFIS, exporters of services were given duty credit equivalent to 10 per cent of foreign exchange earned during the current financial year.

Of about USD 60 billion IT and ITeS services, exports contribute about USD 50 billion and with the removal of the SFIS benefit, the bottomline of the software exporters is bound to get a hit, industry sources said.

Apex body of exporters FIEO said "it is certainly a big setback for the services exporters, especially at a time when they were grappling with fragile global recovery".

Other services affected would include telecommunications, real estate, financial and fuel transport by pipelines.

The changes have been notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which has come out with a new exhaustive list of services eligible for SFIS.

Further, the eligibility criteria has been tightened.

Is Facebook's success a threat to Google's business?

SAN FRANCISCO: A strong holiday shopping season will help Google Inc beat Wall Street's quarterly targets again, but investors may need more convincing to buy into the Internet giant's longer-term future.

Google, whose shares underperformed the market in 2010, will need to overcome past failures to get onto the social Web and local advertising, twin areas that threaten to siphon off Internet traffic, and advertising dollars.

Now, the world's top Internet company is recruiting and driving an acquisitions spree, aiming to ensure its online products remain popular as surfers turn to new services like Facebook, now the most heavily trafficked site, and wireless gadgets.

It tried to buy fast-growing online local-shopping service Groupon for $6 billion but was rebuffed, Chicago Breaking Business, a Tribune Newspaper website, and other news outlets reported.

"The key opportunity for Google in 2011 is to prove that the transition to mobile, social and local is a graceful one," said Stifel Nicolaus & Company analyst Jordan Rohan. "Google cannot be perceived to be run over by Amazon.com, Apple, or Facebook."

The competitive landscape will be uppermost on investors' minds given recent events at rivals, such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs' medical leave of absence and Facebook's $50 billion valuation. Google stock rose 2.5 percent on Tuesday after the surprise Jobs news.

Google has made a good start with its Android mobile operating system now on more phones than Apple's software. Investors will be eager for updates on those fronts when the world's No. 1 Internet search engine reports fourth-quarter financial results after Thursday's market close.

But the question ! is wheth er Facebook's success could start to cut into Google's business, as investors debate whether marketers will advertise on both online services, or shift advertising dollars from Google to the world's largest social network. "Facebook's the long-term competitor, not Bing," said Walter Price of RCM Capital Management, which owns Google and Microsoft shares, referring to Microsoft Corp's search engine.

HOLIDAY CHEER

Google, which has beaten Wall Street revenue expectations for the past five consecutive quarters and missed profit targets just once in that period, is expected to report net revenue of $6.06 billion for the fourth quarter, up roughly 10 percent quarter-over-quarter, with earnings per share of $7.14, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Spending on search advertising remains healthy in the United States, the company's single largest market, propping up the topline, said Kaufman Brothers analyst Mayuresh Masurekar.

Retailers and e-commerce Web sites had pumped up their spending on search advertising during the holiday to lure customers and "capture every available lead," he said.

Google's growing staff (the company added roughly 3,500 employees in the first nine months of the year) and its unpredictable capital expenditures schedule mean that earnings per share will be a wildcard, said Gleacher & Company analyst Yun Kim.

Yet as long as EPS is in-line and Google delivers strong revenue growth, investors will be appeased, he added. In October, Google's shares gained more than 10 percent after the company beat third-quarter profit and revenue expectations.

HCL Infosystems to sell arm to Tikona

NEW DELHI: HCL Infosystems on Wednesday said it will sell the entire stake of its subsidiary HCL Infinet to Tikona Digital Networks .

"The move comes as part of the HCL Infosystems transformation strategy under which the company will be further strengthening its core business and expanding into identified growth areas," the company said in a statement.

The sale of shares is subject to and shall be given effect after necessary regulatory approvals.

"HCL Infinet is poised to take on a different growth trajectory and is best suited to further strenghthening an enterprise like Tikona focussed on delivering ISP and NLD (internet service provider and national long distance) services in the fast emerging telecom industry," said Harsh Chitale, chief executive officer, HCL Infosystems.

HCL Infosystems, on the other hand, has been rapidly emerging as a leading systems integration and product engineering company, enabling projects across the country in the areas from eGovernance, power, telecom, education and learning to security, he said.

In the past few months, HCL Infosystems has also made two acquisitions to expand its geographical presence.

Two charged over iPad hacking on AT&T network

NEW YORK: US prosecutors have charged two men with stealing and distributing email addresses for about 120,000 users of Apple Inc's popular iPad.

Investigators accused Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer of using an "account slurper" to conduct a "brute force" attack over five days last June, to extract data about iPad users who accessed the Internet through AT&T Inc's 3G network.

Among the possible victims were celebrities, businesses executives and government officials such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and perhaps then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, prosecutors said.

Spitler, 26, and Auernheimer, 25, were taken into custody by FBI agents on Tuesday morning, US Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey said in a statement.

Prosecutors said both defendants are associated with Goatse Security, a group of "self-professed Internet 'trolls'" who try to disrupt online content and services. They said Auernheimer bragged in published interviews about his trolling.

"Hacking is not a competitive sport, and security breaches are not a game," Fishman said. "Companies that are hacked can suffer significant losses, and their customers made vulnerable to other crimes, privacy violations and unwanted contact."

The defendants were each charged with one count of fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. Each charge carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison plus a $250,000 fine.

Bail was set at $50,000 for Spitler, a resident of San Francisco, at a hearing in the federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Auernheimer was detained pending a January 21 hearing at the federal court in his hometown o! f Fayett eville, Arkansas.

Slurping data

Lawyers for both defendants were not immediately available to comment. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said that company cooperates with law enforcement when necessary to protect customer privacy.

Responding to an email request to Goatse for comment, Sam Hocevar, a member of Goatse's "team," according to the group's website, confirmed the charges relate to the June hacking. He said he did not have additional information.

Apple launched the iPad last April. On Tuesday, it reported sales of 7.33 million of the tablet computers in its quarter ended December 25, which included the holiday shopping season.

According to the complaint, the account slurper randomly guessed at data held on AT&T's servers until it could match names with emails.

The defendants then supplied stolen data to gossip website Gawker, which published some details, the complaint said.

Email threat

"Having email addresses by itself is not much of a threat: people give them out all the time, and spammers can and do guess them easily," said Eugene Spafford, executive director of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security at Purdue University.

"It is more an issue if you can pair addresses with places of employment, such as government agencies," he added. "Then it becomes possible to collect further information, and perhaps get a toehold into Google, Bing or other information sources."

AT&T was Apple's partner in the United States to provide wireless service on the iPad. After the hacking , it shut off the feature t! hat allo wed email addresses to be obtained.

The case "has hopefully awakened users to the value of a simple email address," said Jamz Yaneza, a threat research manager at Internet security company Trend Micro Inc.

The case is US v. Spitler et al, US District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 11-mag-04022.

ET Review: Nokia X5

Nokia may have been gaining more attention for its efforts in the newer version of the Symbian operating system (Symbian ^3), but that does not mean that it has abandoned Symbian Series 60 (3rd edition); the version that powers all the devices in its famed E series and a number of non-touch smartphones from the N series.

The company has been releasing handsets on the platform aimed at those who want a smartphone experience without having to mess with a touchscreen (yes, there are a lot of people like that), and the latest in that series is the X5.

Although marketed mainly as a music and messaging phone, the X5 is in fact a full-fledged smartphone packing in the same operating system that runs devices like the Nokia E72 and the more recently released E5. However, what really marks it out is its form factor. The X5 is squareshaped , with a 2.36 inch display that hides a full and surprisingly spacious QWERTY keypad. Like the similarly shaped Motorola Flipout, it has an undeniably cute and compact look to it. But that does not mean that it is flimsy - it is very solid and feels good to hold, even a tad heavy for something so small.

And Nokia has managed to pack in a whole lot of goodies inside this pocketfriendly device. You get all the routine Symbian S60 goodies including free push mail, Ovi Store , Ovi Music , and even a view-only version of QuickOffice. In terms of connectivity, there is support for 3G , Wi-Fi , and Bluetooth although we were a bit surprised at the absence of GPS. In best Symbian tradition, the X5 is a wiz at multi-tasking (we ran four to five apps at the same time on it, and it handled them with ease) and has a battery that will comfortably see out almost two days before screaming recharge.

The display might be a tad on the s! mall sid e, but has an accelerometer, which paves the way for some neat tricks - you can change tracks by shaking the phone, and even better, find out how many messages have come by holding down the volume key and giving it a shake at which the X5 will emit a knocking sound to show new messages (honestly, we think it is simpler to have a sound alert, but still the shake to discover new messages is kind of cool). And as this is a music phone, the sound quality is very good indeed, right up there with the best XpressMusic handsets.

Satyam auditors asked to appear before SEBI on Feb 5

NEW DELHI: Market regulator SEBI on Tuesday refused to stay proceedings against Price Waterhouse (PW) partners S Gopalakrishan and Srinivas Talluri for their alleged involvement in the Satyam fraud case and asked them to appear before it on February 5.

SEBI had issued a show-cause notice to the partners of PW in the Satyam case in February 2009 but could not proceed with the case. Rejecting the contention of the two chartered accountants that similar proceedings by Sebi and CBI cannot go together, the market regulator said in its order "the hearing of the show cause notices shall proceed on merits.

"... The next hearing of the matter is fixed on February 5, 2011 ... The hearing has been fixed on Saturday as the noticees have pointed out that the hearing of the criminal trial is proceeding on day to day basis and that they are required to remain present at the trial each day," it said.

SEBI had issued a show cause notice to PW, the Indian arm of international audit firm, asking them to explain its role in the Satyam scam as it was associated with the company for several years.

The order further said two years have passed since the showcause notice was issued and "we have not moved an inch." If the submission of the noticees are accepted, it would have the effect of unduly delaying, and, therefore, frustrating the present proceedings.

The Satyam case, it said, "involves an unprecedented fraud which had a devastating impact on the securities market and caused enormous loss to lakhs of investors. It is necessary that such cases be decided as expeditiously as possible and not unduly delayed. It would cause severe prejudice to the interests of investors, if the present proceedings are delayed any further."

Satyam case pertains to! fudging of accounts to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore by its founder Chairman B Ramalinga Raju. It came to light after Raju confessed window dressing of balance sheet in January 2009. The company was later taken over by Tech Mahindra and has been renamed as Mahindra Satyam .

Info Edge plans multiple web buys to boost growth

NEW DELHI: Info Edge (India) Ltd plans to spend part of its 4-billion-rupee cash reserve to buy multiple internet businesses and build a portfolio of web properties that could be a significant revenue contributor in five years, its chief executive said.

"We are investing outside, because we know some of these companies will become very big going forward. And we know that we can't do everything ourselves because we don't have the management bandwidth," Hitesh Oberoi told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Info Edge runs job site naukri.com , matrimony site jeevansathi.com and property portal 99acres.com .

Samsung, Asian tech firms set to step up challenge to Apple

SEOUL: Nimble Asian technology firms led by Samsung Electronics appear well placed to slow the runaway success of Apple, as news of its visionary CEO Steve Jobs taking medical leave battered Apple's shares.

Jobs' latest medical leave, the third time since 2004, comes at a time when the world's most valuable technology firm faces the biggest threat from Google , through its Android mobile operating system, which has seen torrid growth as the preferred choice of both iPhone and iPad rivals.

Samsung, at the forefront of the long queue of rivals determined to halt Apple's runaway boom in smartphones and tablets, is seen as a key threat, and its shares jumped more than 3 percent to a record, partly helped by such expectations.

"There'll be no fundamental change in Apple but the news of Jobs taking leave could sentimentally hit Apple shares and offer investors an opportunity to take profits from its shares, which have risen so much recently," said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities.

"Then Samsung is the best alternative for investors seeking exposure to the tech sector as it's the most formidable threat to Apple for now."

Apple's surprise announcement -- made on a U.S. market holiday -- dragged its shares down more than 6 percent down in European trading on Monday. They are up 62 percent in the past 12 months on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Samsung, under the Lee family, has become a top global brand in the space of 10 years and now boasts a market value of $136 billion, equal to the combined value of Sony Corp, Nokia , Toshiba Corp and Panasonic corp .

Still it's worth less than half of Apple, which boasts $320 billion market value.

A rapid ri! se of co mpetitors adopting Android phones would also mean little differentiation and weaker profit margins for many Asian firms rushing to introduce copycat products, compared with Apple's estimated 40 percent-plus margins on the iPhone.

Sony has also joined the foray, declaring it wants to become No.2 tablet maker after Apple by 2012, although it has yet to unveil its own tablet and needs to regain the ground lost to Asian rivals first before targeting Apple, analysts said.

"Sony... has branched out into movies, games music and other areas and that has meant Sony has had to spread its people across a wide set of objects. It means they lose sight of what consumers want," said Akihide Knugawa, a fund manager at T&D Asset Management, which owns Sony shares.

"Also in the past Sony didn't have to compete against Taiwanese or Korean companies...Samsung's strength plus exchange rates (of a weaker won) make it difficult for Sony to come up from behind."

MIXED BAG

Deemed irreplaceable by many Apple fans and investors, pancreatic cancer survivor Jobs said on Monday he would take medical leave. The announcement, which came just a day ahead of the company's quarterly results, did not specify why or for how long he would be absent, unlike the previous time.

The announcement revived concerns over the long-term future of Apple, although Jobs said Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook would take responsibility for day-to-day operations once again.

The impact of the Apple news could be mixed on the Asian technology sector. Many firms, including Taiwan-based Hon Hai, South Korea's LG Display and even Samsung depend on the iPhone and iPad maker by manufacturing the hot selling devices and by supplying display, chips, phone cases and other accessories. !

But analysts said the impact on Apple's operations and its Asian rivals and partners should be limited in the short term, since its product line-up was strong, although his absence would be a worry if it became prolonged. Cook ran day-to-day operations during Jobs' last absence in 2009.

"Apple's roadmap is all set and its iPhone 5 is ready to go, leaving little room for competitors to cut into its share," said Bonnie Chang, an analyst at Yuanta Securities.

"HTC may have to design more cutting-edged high-end products, but its roadmap for this year has already been laid out, it may have to wait till H2 if it wanted to do anything."

Shares of Samsung, the world's top memory chipmaker and No.2 handset vendor, jumped 3.4 percent on Tuesday before closing up 2.1 percent. Shares of Hon Hai, which counts Apple as its major client, were unchanged, those of LG Display, which supplies flat screen for Apple, fell 0.1 percent and smartphone maker HTC dropped 0.2 percent. Android has rapidly overtaken Apple and Research in Motion's BlackBerry to become the second-most popular platform worldwide after Nokia's Symbian, and the most popular in North America and east Asia.

Riding a boom in Android-based phones, Samsung has sold 10 million units of Galaxy S smartphone since its June launch and around 1 million units of the Galaxy Tab tablet since October.

iGate, Patni management get ready for integration

MUMBAI: The senior leadership of iGate Corp and Patni Computer Systems are set to meet for the first time later this week after the Nasdaq-listed iGate announced its acquisition of Patni on January 10. The purpose of the meeting will be to draw up a road map for the integration of the two companies and how they can position themselves to clients to maximise benefits from their combined portfolio of services.

Around 25-30 people from the senior management of both companies, from India and overseas, are scheduled to attend the three-day leadership meet in Bangalore. While the transaction itself could take till March 2011 to be completed, the two companies will in the meantime start working on a joint go-to-market strategy, messages to take to customers of both companies, and their areas of synergies, said Surjeet Singh, Patni's chief financial officer.

"As an example, iGate's banking and financial experience can be cross-sold to Patni customers. Similarly, the product engineering and manufacturing background that Patni has can be cross-sold to iGate customers. Some of these things will start happening over the next 2-3 weeks," said Mr Singh.

iGate's acquisition of Patni, the largest acquisition by an India-based IT firm of another India-based IT firm, could be also one of the most complex to integrate with iGate being a third of Patni's size in revenues. Both iGate and Patni plan to form an 'integration project management office' within their companies and a common steering committee to facilitate the integration process.

The common steering committee will consist of around 3-5 people drawn from each company. The committee will have responsibility for tasks such as setting of goals, individual targets, activities, timelines, and coming up with mechanisms for troubleshooting.
!
Deloitte has been appointed to advise on the best practices followed in integration of acquisitions, while Mercer will advise on the human resource strategy. "Some of the challenges in India-to-India acquisitions are common client accounts -the challenge is how do you reconcile both sales and delivery and a present a single face to the client.

Indian IT companies haven't seen these kind of issues often," said Partha Iyengar, regional research director - India, Gartner. "Not making those hard decisions in a short enough time can be one of the problems, and unfortunately, when you run into a tough decision, the easiest thing is to do nothing," Mr Iyengar warned.

General Electric (GE), one of the clients common to both iGate and Patni, was reported to be supportive of iGate's bid for Patni. "We have GE as a common client but even with GE there are sub-clients that each of us service. There the overlap is not so high, although it is there. The whole idea is to leverage each others' best processes rather than cannibalise revenues," said Mr Singh.

"Any integration exercise has to start with the marketplace.. so we are going to look at the markets and segments that we serve, the go-to-market of both companies and how we can complement those and pick the best. The key thing here will be to pick the best between both companies and replicate them across," he added.

Infosys told to pay Rs 400-cr tax on onshore sales

MUMBAI: Tax authorities have asked Indias second-largest software firm, Infosys Technologies , to fork out over Rs 400 crore, refusing to acknowledge onshore servicesderogatorily called Rs bodyshoppingas software exports.

Onshore software development is the practice where Indian firms send their software engineers on three- to six-month assignments to work in companies based in the US, Europe and other markets. While the company abroad pays for every professional deputed, the Indian firm pays a regular salary and a daily allowance to each of them for all days spent abroad at the premises of the overseas client. Such services account for as much as 40% of total earnings of software companies based out of India, down from 80% a decade ago.

In its order issued to Infosys a fortnight ago, the tax department said deputation and technical manpower (DTM) contract for deputing software professional abroad is not an eligible activity for claiming deduction under sections 10A/10AA of the Income-Tax Act. The sections concerned relate to tax-free income arising out of exports. Such services, said the order, cannot be done within software technology parks (STPs), export-oriented units (EoUs) or special economic zones (SEZs).

Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan said the order was arbitrary and the company would appeal against the order on merit. Responding to an email from ET, he said, Most of our onsite work has a linkage with our offshore work. We had made a detailed representation to the department on this issue. We are a company which complies with law, both in substance and form, in all the jurisdictions where we operate.

The tax demand is based on the assessment year 2007-08. According to tax circles, similar demands could be raised for more years and for other software exporters as well. This could be a setback for India! n softwa re exporters that are trying to move up the value chain and position themselves as competitors to the likes of Accenture, Capgemini and IBM... It could be controversial, said a tax professional.

While Indian firms claim they have shrugged off the Rs bodyshopping tag, American politicians like Senator Charles Schumer have tried to rake up the issue by describing them as Rs chop shops.

The I-T department has argued the services rendered by the employee-professional of the Indian company at locations abroad are not under the control and supervision of the Indian company.

Besides, the tax department says proprietary rights over the output of an employee-professional are only with the overseas company. The liability of the Indian company is restricted to providing the qualified persons abroad, said the order. According to tax officials, while software development involves some onsite activities for domain study, preparation of design and real-time testing, this is very different from DTM services.

According to a senior chartered accountant, the tax departments move is aimed at narrowing down the scope of tax benefits under 10A/B. Under the circumstances, even if they dont phase out the relevant sections under the Act, local software firms will have to pay sizeable tax, said the person. In the assessment year 07-08, Infosys ran 15 STPs, of which five had exhausted their 10-year tax holiday period.

The tax department also said software companies must reduce the expenses incurred in foreign exchange from the total export turnover. By not doing it, they are claiming dual benefits as they end up paying a lower tax than they should. What exactly is the department challenging? Consider a hypothetical case of a company with Rs100 crore turnover, of which Rs80 crore is from exports; and, the total profit is Rs 20 crore.
! < br> Then, the tax it has to pay on non-export income is Rs4 crore. (Since Rs 16 crore is the profit on account of exports, the difference between Rs20 crore and Rs16 crore is the amount on which the company has to pay tax). But suppose, the company spends Rs10-crore foreign currency as per day allowance to professionals sent abroad. After factoring in this expense, the export turnover works out to Rs70 crore (instead of Rs80 crore).

As a result, the quantum of profit on account of export reduces to Rs14 crore from Rs16 crore. Here, the company has to pay tax on Rs6 crorethe difference between Rs20 crore and Rs14 croreand not on Rs4 crore. The expenditure incurred in foreign exchange, which is directly related to DTM contract receipts, is also not reduced by the assessee from the export turnover as required by the Act. It is unclear whether the departments view on taxing DTM contract receipts could boil over into long and multiple litigation.

Iddhis: Aims to cut out clutter created by social networking sites

Has the time come for you to get bored of Facebook or other social networking sites? 23-year-old engineering graduates Srikanth Bohra and Paras Kulhad are waiting for just the day when people will look for alternatives and take notice of their product, Iddhis. Iddhis is a reverse social network meant for private, one-on-one conversations between two people.

Iddhis is aimed at cutting out the clutter created by too many social networking sites and making communication more qualitative and personal. Right now, due to the lack of such service, people unwillingly post very private updates on Facebook or Twitter.

We are trying to solve this. We believe that every relationship needs to have an identity, Iddhis is for that. No friends requests, no groups. Iddhis is a Buddhist word which means supernatural powers which one cannot use for oneself but for others. We hope to make Iddhis a powerful connecting place for relationships, the founders say.

Bohra and Kulhad, from Engineering College, Bikaner, moved to Bangalore in August to create the website. We wanted to have something that is private by default, says Srikanth Bohra who is also a Google Summer of Code scholar and invested the scholarship of $5,000 in the firm. Users find comfort in the private network. I am on Iddhis with my girlfriend because I wanted to be on a private network. I was kind of bored of Facebook, Anirudh Sharma, 23, a researcher with HP Labs.

With 500 friends on my list and I did not want to know what they had for breakfast. I found out about Iddhis on Twitter and I joined it the day it launched, he added.

One cannot have individual accounts on the site. It offers only joint accounts and the options of sharing photographs, daily schedules, maintaining timel! ines, an d even posting complaints.

The site has 900 users so far and adding about a dozen users every day. Interestingly enough, we having users even from the US Army. They like the privacy it provides, said Bohra. The revenue model eventually will be to offer specific deals to users through travel and tour companies and also have third-party integrations by collaborating with gifting companies.
Srividya Iyer

Steve Jobs, from dropout to Apple visionary

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is a living legend in Silicon Valley, the man who gave the world not just a single iconic product but four.

The visionary behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, Jobs announced on Monday that he was taking a medical leave of absence for unspecified health issues.

Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, Jobs grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.

As a high school student, Jobs attended lectures at Hewlett-Packard in nearby Palo Alto, and worked a summer job there with engineer Steve Wozniak .

Jobs left Reed College in Portland , Oregon, after a single semester, but continued to take classes, including a calligraphy class he has cited as the reason Macintosh computers were designed with multiple typefaces.

When he was 20, Jobs made a spiritual journey to India, returning with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian garb.

He got work as a technician for video game pioneer Atari and attended a garage club called Homebrew Computer Club " with Wozniak, a fellow northern California boy who, like Jobs, was also a college dropout.

Jobs was 21 and Wozniak 26 when they founded Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs's family home in 1976.

While Microsoft licensed its software to computer makers that cranked out machines priced for the masses, Apple kept its technology private and catered to people willing to pay for superior performance and design.
Under Jobs, the company introduced its first Apple computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s.

Apple's innovations include the "computer mouse" to make it easy for users to activate programs or open files.

Jobs was elevated to idol status by ranks of Macintosh computer devotees, many of whom saw themselves as a sort of rebel alliance opposing the powerful empire Microsoft built with its ubiquitous Windows operating systems.

Jobs, who became the more public face of Apple, went from celebrity bachelor days that included a relationship with folk singer Joan Baez to settling into family life in Palo Alto.

He married in 1991 in a ceremony presided over by a Buddhist monk. He has three children by his wife and has a daughter with a woman he dated prior to marrying.

Jobs left Apple in 1985 after an internal power struggle and started NeXT Computer company specializing in sophisticated workstations for businesses.

He co-founded Academy-Award-winning Pixar in 1986 from a former Lucasfilm computer graphics unit that Jobs reportedly bought from movie industry titan George Lucas for 10 million dollars.

It became a scrappy, creative studio that produced box-office movie hits including "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo."

Apple's luster faded after Jobs left the company, but they reconciled in 1996 with Apple buying NeXT for 429 million dollars and Jobs ascending once again to the Apple throne.

Since then, Jobs has gone from strength to strength, revamping the Macintosh line, launching the iPod MP3 digital music player in 2001 and the online music store iTunes in 2003.

J! obs unde rwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 but bounced back three years later with the hugely popular touchscreen iPhone.

The Walt Disney Co. bought Pixar meanwhile in a 7.4-billion-dollar deal in 2006 that gave Jobs a seat on its board and made him the entertainment titan's biggest single shareholder.

Jobs went on medical leave in January 2009 but returned to work in June after undergoing a liver transplant, looking gaunt but declaring himself healthy.

In January 2010 Jobs unveiled his latest creation, the iPad, which went on sale in April and has set the industry standard for touchscreen tablet computers.

Under Jobs, Apple has made its Macintosh computer systems more compatible with Windows-based PC programs and boosted its share of a market long ruled by machines based on Microsoft software.

In May of last year, Apple surpassed Microsoft as the largest US technology company in market value.

Known for his trademark mock black turtleneck shirt, blue jeans and running shoes, Jobs is prone to phrase comments in musical references involving his favorite artists such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan .

In revealing his latest health challenge on Monday, Jobs said he would continue as chief executive "and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

"I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," he said.

Apple's Steve Jobs takes second medical leave

LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is taking medical leave for the second time in as many years, sending shares tumbling close to 10 percent as the news revived concerns over the long-term future of the iPhone- and iPad-maker.

The news, which was disclosed early on a U.S. holiday when markets were closed, came nearly two years to the date after Jobs first took a six-month break to undergo a liver transplant.

"This time around you have to question his ability to bounce back," said Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst.

Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, said chief operating officer Tim Cook would take responsibility for day-to-day operations but he would continue to be chief executive and be involved in major strategic decisions.

"At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health," Jobs, 55, wrote in an email to staff published on a regulatory newswire. "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can."

Apple shares fell 8.3 percent in Frankfurt by midday. Nasdaq futures were down 1.4 percent. Monday is a holiday in the United States and markets are closed.

Apple's destiny has been closely tied to the charismatic Jobs, who revived the computer maker's fortunes in 1996 after a 12-year absence from the company he co-founded.

The launch of the iPhone, a smartphone with a touchscreen in 2007, and the iPad, a tablet computer in 2010, forged new business lines for the company that created the personal computing category and helped lead the technology industry into new directions.

Analysts said the effect on Apple's operations should be limited in the short term, since its product line-up was stron! g, but h is absence would be a worry if it became prolonged. Cook ran day-to-day operations during Jobs' last absence in 2009.

"It wasn't expected. This will come as a surprise to Apple investors and definitely take some shine off the Apple stock," said Alexander Peterc, an equity analyst at Exane.

"But even if Steve Jobs never returns to Apple, I would not expect a visible, tangible impact on how Apple is executing over the next couple of years."

Richard Windsor, global technology specialist at Nomura, agreed that a Jobs absence should not have a fundamental effect, but added: "Perception of the company is another matter."

"Steve Jobs is seen by the market to be a major force in Apple's strategic direction. If his pancreatic cancer has returned, one could be quite worried."

Jobs still appeared thin at recent Apple events, something that did not go unnoticed. But the CEO said last summer he was feeling "great," in response to a question from a reporter.

Apple is due to report quarterly results on Tuesday, and is expected to say that revenues rose 50 percent as sales of its iPad tablet computer build on momentum of the popular iPhone and earlier iPod.

Indian IT firms ramping up efforts to establish themselves in China

NEW DELHI: Indian information technology (IT) companies have reportedly ramped up efforts to win the confidence of more Chinese companies in a bid to consolidate their foothold.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), India's largest IT services company by sales, is leading the effort to expand the presence of the Indian IT industry in China - although cracking the Chinese market may not be an easy job.

"Chinese companies are still used to the traditional global brands. They have not yet seen us. So it is also a question of brand-building for us," Girija P. Pande, head of the Asia-Pacific region of TCS, told the China Daily.

India exported 50 billion dollars in IT services to China in 2009 and industry analysts expect the number to exceed 100 billion dollars annually in the next five years.

In recent years, TCS has emerged as the largest Indian software business company servicing large Chinese State-run companies.

Four major Chinese banks including Bank of China and Hua Xia Bank have been clients of TCS' core banking system.

"I think we have to get more Chinese large companies to see our capability," Pande said.

TCS currently hires more than 170,000 people in 40 countries around the world, but it only has 1,200 people in China.

Pande said the company plans to increase its workforce in China to 5,000 people in the next three years.

Wipro Technologies Ltd, a leading Indian software company, is also following TCS' step in expanding into the growing markets.

"China has become our preferred delivery center for our Japanese customers. We want to build our biggest resear! ch and d evelopment center in Asia in the city of Chengdu," said Gangadharaiah C.P., vice-president and global head of Wipro Technologies' testing services.

Rajan Kohli, Wipro's chief marketing officer, said that the company plans to reduce reliance on the mature markets in the US and Europe as demand in emerging markets such as China is booming.

According to a survey by accountancy firm KPMG , China's total outsourcing market will grow to 43.9 billion dollars by 2014, more than double its 20 billion dollars in 2009.

India big market for Broadband: WiMax

NEW DELHI: With operators showing preference towards Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology for mobile broadband services, rival WiMax Forum has said they are "not threatened", as the market is big enough for both technologies to co-exist.

"We are not threatened by the (TD-LTE) technology. We are actually delivering mobile broadband, while TD-LTE is still under trial. My request to the TD-LTE camp is -- this is a big market, let us cooperate to serve it well," WiMax Forum Director of Marketing Declan Byrne said.

WiMAX Forum represents WiMax (worldwide inter-operability for microwave access) technology, which is designed to provide high-speed Internet access with fast data downloads.

WiMAX players have been contending that since the competing technology -- Long Term Evolution (LTE) -- is still years away from commercial deployment, operators are more likely to choose WiMax.

"There is room for both technologies. I feel good about where we are, where we are going," Byrne added.

LTE also has strong and growing industry support, with commitments from global ecosystem partners, including operators, chipset vendors and equipment suppliers.

Last year, the Indian government raised over Rs 38,300 crore through the auction of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.

With Reliance Infotel (the only company with a pan-India license) undertaking trials using TD-LTE technology , it was anticipated that other operators might also opt for the same technology.

"We are hearing a very positive response. Operators are testing equipments and we remain positive on the market here," he added.

None of the operators in the country has yet made a formal ann! ouncemen t on their plans for offering BWA services or the chosen technology.

It now remains to be seen whether the companies would deploy TD-LTE, WiMax or a hybrid-type network (supporting WiMAX in the initial stage with a migration path to TD-LTE).

Indian IT firms ramping up efforts to establish themselves in China

NEW DELHI: Indian information technology (IT) companies have reportedly ramped up efforts to win the confidence of more Chinese companies in a bid to consolidate their foothold.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), India's largest IT services company by sales, is leading the effort to expand the presence of the Indian IT industry in China - although cracking the Chinese market may not be an easy job.

"Chinese companies are still used to the traditional global brands. They have not yet seen us. So it is also a question of brand-building for us," Girija P. Pande, head of the Asia-Pacific region of TCS, told the China Daily.

India exported 50 billion dollars in IT services to China in 2009 and industry analysts expect the number to exceed 100 billion dollars annually in the next five years.

In recent years, TCS has emerged as the largest Indian software business company servicing large Chinese State-run companies.

Four major Chinese banks including Bank of China and Hua Xia Bank have been clients of TCS' core banking system.

"I think we have to get more Chinese large companies to see our capability," Pande said.

TCS currently hires more than 170,000 people in 40 countries around the world, but it only has 1,200 people in China.

Pande said the company plans to increase its workforce in China to 5,000 people in the next three years.

Wipro Technologies Ltd, a leading Indian software company, is also following TCS' step in expanding into the growing markets.

"China has become our preferred delivery center for our Japanese customers. We want to build our biggest research and de! velopmen t center in Asia in the city of Chengdu," said Gangadharaiah C.P., vice-president and global head of Wipro Technologies' testing services.

Rajan Kohli, Wipro's chief marketing officer, said that the company plans to reduce reliance on the mature markets in the US and Europe as demand in emerging markets such as China is booming.

According to a survey by accountancy firm KPMG , China's total outsourcing market will grow to 43.9 billion dollars by 2014, more than double its 20 billion dollars in 2009.

Angry Bird: Biggest mobile game with 50 mn downloads

NEW DELHI: Angry, angry birds. As the world spends 200 million minutes a day fighting for these wingless cacklers, a small Finnish company has taken flight. It took Rovio Mobile more than 25 games to hit upon the idea of catapulting birds on grunting pigs. Eight months of work and an investment of $100,000 later, Angry Birds has put it on an unprecedented trajectory.

Last checked, the sling fest has 10 million Android users of the free ad-supported version and 13 million paid downloads on Apple iOS. Put together, the ticker shows 50 million downloads on different platforms the highest ever for any mobile game.

Every tech entrepreneur now craves an Angry Birds in his portfolio. An app that outsmarted 3 lakh others to become your daily entertainment snack . A game enjoyed across countries, by six- and 60-year-olds alike. So addictive, that instead of using it to kill time, users find time for it.

It is a perfect blend of unique and engaging back story, memorable characters and simple but surprising game play. The direct touch screen interactions, the accessible mechanics, a lot of things make it an appealing game, says Ville Heijari, Rovios bird whisperer . The exciting part is that you can be a tech nobody, and still make an Angry Birds. Before the mega-hit , Rovio didnt rank high on the radar of innovative companies. It did not invest millions in creating the product. Nor did it spend on a marketing blitzkrieg. The game created the buzz, catching on by word of mouth.

What makes the game so compelling?

May be its unique protagonists: the scowling birds. Rovios team was so in love with them, they decided to cast the birds as heroes in a new game. It was the time when swine flu had become pandemic. This gave the game its villains pigs, sickly-green, egg-stealing creatures ! protecte d by rickety structures. You put the revengeful birds in a sling shot, aim, and hit the pigs

Thinking out of box critical

THE short learning curve, good graphics and excellent music are keys to its phenomenal success, says Rohit Singal, Founder and CEO of Sourcebits, a software development company which boasts of Robokill, a game that cracked the top 10 apps of iPhone and the iPad last year. Thinking out of the box is also critical . Angry Birds gave the world a new, bestselling gaming console: the smart phone. By not being restricted to a PSP or Wii, it reaches casual gamers of all income brackets, notching up envious numbers. Enthusiasts insist there is no match to the experience on an iPad, but the college-goer can spend hours playing the game on a Nokia handset.

Angry Birds can teach the tech biggies a thing or two as well. To Apple, the merits of tech-openness , to Google, that paid content sells and to Facebook, that advertisements are no reason to blush. In fact, had Rovio the hang ups of Google and Facebook, the worlds best-selling mobile game would make little money. Currently, paid versions of Angry Birds start at 99 cents a pop on iPad and $4.99 on newly opened Mac store. No one is telling what the ingame ad rates are, but safe to say, they are through the roof. Do the math: the birds are breaking Rovios piggy bank estimates range from $1-2 million a month.

But the biggest lesson remains that in tech content, size doesnt matter. App developers across the world have a shot at glory, a la Rovio , provided their content is unique. Do Indian entrepreneurs have a chance? The ecosystem exists. Many Indian app developers are building high-quality games. It is definitely possible that the next Angry Birds comes from India, says Singal.

Consumer Electronics Show 2011: Surprises & the Stale

Summing up the major trends of CES is more or less hopeless; there were 2,700 booths and 140,000 attendees, for heavens sake. But Apples iPad was everywhere. They should have called it the Consumer iPad Show. There were iPad cases, iPad holders, iPad keyboards, iPad chargers, iPad alarm clocks - and 85 iPad clones. It seemed as if anyone who knew the phone number of an Asian touch-screen factory had a tablet prototype.

Most of the new tablets run Googles Android mobile operating system - a new version that Google says is better suited for a tablets larger screen. There are exceptions, though. The great-looking, forthcoming BlackBerry Playbook runs its own special operating system, for example (bummer - no well-stocked app store). And Hewlett-Packards eagerly-awaited tablets werent on display at the show, but the company makes no secret that theyll run WebOS, an attractive chunk of software that Palm developed for its Palm Pre app phones. (H.P. bought Palm last year for $1.2 billion.)

The new tablets would take aim at the current iPads weak spots. The rivals have built-in cameras, for example, or offer a choice of screen sizes. This battle should make for some fascinating spectating. With a tablet, you dont particularly need a cellular connection. Plenty of people lead long, happy lives having only Wi-Fi connections on their tablets. In other words, the iPad-versus-clones battle will boil down to quality, price and features - exactly as it should be.

The second theme of CES was, once again, Technologies We Desperately Wish You'd Want. For the 417th straight CES, the industry trotted out yet another vision of the Connected Home (your appliances, home theatre and other gadgets all on a big network). And for the 417th straight year, nobody will have any interest.

This year, too, was the biggest push yet towards connecting your TV to th! e intern et. Not to download movies and TV shows; that's a natural, popular feature. No, we're talking about browsing the Web and doing e-mail on your TV screen - an idea that dies year after year, and will die again this time (sorry, Google and Yahoo). Nobody wants to sit down at the TV and pick up a keyboard and mouse, except maybe a few people on the lunatech fringe.

The technology the industry most wants to push down our throats, though, is 3D. For the second CES in a row, blurry, double-vision flat panels were hung on every available surface of the Las Vegas Convention Center - televisions that looked sharp only when you put on ridiculous-looking 3D glasses. Many of those glasses are just as big, heavy and expensive as last year's crop (at $100 a pair, exactly how many friends will earn a place at your movie marathon party?).

Fortunately, an effort was clearly in progress to make the glasses less hideous - or even to eliminate them altogether. More companies than ever (Sony, Toshiba and others) had new, glasses-less 3D TV sets on display.

Theyre pretty awful; you have to sit exactly dead-centre, which means that only one person at a time can watch. Even then, the image isn't sharp; in fact, it seems to be made up of little beads. But the engineers and marketers will no doubt keep at it. What else is there to do when they're not designing iPad clones?

So far, not many people have expressed an interest in 3D - maybe because it requires buying a new TV, new Blu-ray player and all-new discs (the lack of discs in the first place is another issue). But Panasonic, Sony and others paraded 3D still cameras and 3D camcorders this year, in hopes of jump-starting the whole mess.

As always, the most fun at CES was in finding the little gems that weren't on the obligatory list: radar detectors, pico projectors, baby monitors, no-name e-book! readers , car theatre and on and on.

General Electric, for example, made its first CES appearance to show how high tech can mean low energy bills. The company estimates that by 2012, 40 million American homes will be billed for electricity depending on the time of day they use it. GE's new appliances, therefore, communicate with your electric meter to shift the heaviest loads to off-peak times: dishwashers, fridges and water heaters that wait until the wee, cheap hours of the night to do their washing, defrosting and heating.

More obscure companies did some eco-thinking, too. An outfit called ThinkEco demonstrated its 'intelligent power outlet - a wall plug that learns when you use whatevers plugged into it, and then cuts power during the hours when you never use it.

Nobody knows if Casio's new, still unreleased Tryx digital camera will take decent photos. But its design is fresh and ingenious. You clutch an outer frame; the touch-screen camera part spins freely inside it, like a gyroscope. You can point it away from you, toward you or at any angle, which is handy when you use the outer frame as a stand to prop the camera up by itself.

The darling of the show, though, may have been the new Motorola Atrix. At first glance, its pretty much like any other modern Android app phone: front and back cameras, biggish screen. You swipe your finger across a fingerprint scanner to simultaneously unlock and wake the phone. But the twist is the accompanying laptop. It's beautiful - like a black MacBook Air - incredibly sleek, thin and light (2.4 pounds). But it has no processor, storage or memory of its own.

Instead, you snap the phone into the laptop. You dont have to shut anything down or enter any special mode. It's like putting the brain into Frankensteins monster. Suddenly, whatever was on the phones screen now fills the laptops screen, g! iving yo u much more real estate, plus a trackpad and full keyboard. You can attach an external hard drive and mouse, if you like. The phone provides the processor, memory, internet connection and, of course, all your photos, videos, music and files.

It's a very clever idea. Now you don't have two copies of everything. You don't have to sync anything (music, photos, videos, mail, Office files) - your phone contains all the live copies. And what a neat twist that you can run the hundreds of thousands of Android apps on a full-size screen. The Atrix seems like a winning idea that could save a lot of mobile workers a lot of weight, hassle and equipment.

There were, of course, about 2,695 other gadgets on display at C.E.S. this year - and the show itself was a lot more exciting than last years Tanking Economy Edition. In the end, that - the resurgence of innovation and investment - may be the biggest CES news of all.