Monday, June 23rd, 2008 |
The world’s top cell phone maker Nokia said that it has agreed to buy social networking start-up Plazes as part of its major push into offering Internet services.
Plazes provides a location-aware service that people can use to plan, record, and share their social activities.
“This acquisition helps Nokia to accelerate its vision of bringing people and places closer together, in line with our broader services strategy,” Niklas Savander, the head of Nokia’s Internet services, said in a statement.
Plazes has staff of 13, and its main operations are in Berlin. Nokia did not disclose the value of the deal.
“This acquisition will help Nokia to accelerate its vision of bringing people and places closer together, in line with our broader services strategy,” Niklas Savander, the head of Nokia’s Internet services, said in a statement.
Companies such as Plazes are trying to tap into the potential for new services as more mobile phones get equipped with technology to pinpoint their location.
Nokia has said it would have dozens of such phones to offer by the end of this year.
To achieve new growth as the cell phone business is set to mature in coming years Nokia started to invest heavily in building up its presence in Internet service.
It has offered $8.1 billion for US digital maps firm Navteq — a cornerstone of its services push — and has said it would invest millions more this year and next.
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Monday, June 23rd, 2008 |
A Harvard University dropout who ushered in the home computer age and made billions of dollars along the way will have his last official day of work at Microsoft on June 27.
Three people will essentially fill the void left behind when Bill Gates retires from the company he and friend Paul Allen co-founded in 1975.
Since Gate’s began his transition from leading Microsoft to heading his personally-bankrolled charity, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , his job as chief software architect has been handled by Ray Ozzie.
Craig Mundie inherited Gate’s chief research and strategy officer duties, while former Harvard classmate Steve Ballmer became chief executive officer at the Seattle-based software colossus.
Gates left Harvard after two years to found the firm that became global powerhouse Microsoft. He later received honorary degrees from Harvard and other universities.
After retiring, Gates will remain chairman of the Microsoft board of directors and its largest shareholder.
“I don’t think anything is going to drastically change the day he leaves,” said Matt Rosoff of the private analyst firm Directions On Microsoft.
“If he thinks something is important and tells Steve Ballmer, Ballmer will listen to him.”
Still, Gates’s bespectacled nerdish visage is an integral part of Microsoft’s image and his departure is symbolic, according to analysts.
“The challenge Microsoft has when the founder departs is remembering its heart,” said analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
“At some point the firm has to take the essence of what made Bill Gates successful and make sure that is preserved. Whether it is a company or a person, once you’ve lost your heart there isn’t much left but a shell.”
Analysts say there are signs that Microsoft has been struggling since Gates stepped away from managing operations several years ago.
Microsoft has “missed a number of opportunities” and the Windows and Office software on which its fortune is built have stumbled.
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