TechCrunch is reporting that Nokia has just acquired social travel start-up Dopplr. The rumored acquisition price is between 10 million and 15 million Euros, which is around $15 million to $22 million.
In an effort to stop the bleeding at the cell phone giant, Nokia has been acquiring a string of smaller companies. With intense competition from Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry, Nokia has been struggling to keep pace in the mobile industry. Om Malik compares the acquisition spree at Nokia to what we have seen at Yahoo in the last few years.
It will be interesting to see how Dopplr as a service fits into Nokia's strategy. It's unclear at this point if it wants the business as it exists, its technology, or its talent. Dopplr has a fairly small, but hardcore user base and has intense competition from companies like TripIt, so it is a curious acquisition choice. If it keeps the service intact at all, look for Nokia to roll out a mobile version of Dopplr out as an exclusive app on their devices.
NBC will not be offering live online feeds of any events that will be broadcast on TV. The ones broadcast on TV will, of course, include the most popular events and the ones that people are most likely to tune into. The video of the events will be on NBC's site only after the events have been completed. With this in mind, it is clear that NBC views its online offering as a supplement to their TV broadcast and not as any sort of a replacement.
Many have been really quick to heavily criticize this move by NBC, but I'm not jumping on that bandwagon just yet. I am usually not one to defend old media (see my post on Why Broadcast TV Sucks), but I have some sympathy for NBC here. I applaud NBC for taking this major leap into the online distribution of this major event in the first place. It's an unfamiliar road and a departure from a model that has worked for NBC for a very long time.
Of course, we would love to see every live stream available to us, with videos and highlights that we could embed on other sites, but this may be too radical of a first step for NBC. Think of this year's Olympic webcast as testing the waters. If NBC's web offerings prove to be profitable this year, then maybe they will expand their offerings in years to come. The Olympics only happen every two years (the more popular Summer version every four) and I can understand NBC not wanting to gamble too much on this very costly venture.
An online feed of an event like the Olympics (or any sporting event for that matter) can offer all sorts of rich functionality, including realtime statistics, scores, and leaderboards. There is no doubt in my mind that rich functionality will eventually win out, whether it is viewed on your computer or through a new interface on your TV. If it doesn't look like they get it now, NBC and the other networks will eventually see the light, but these big companies may just need a little more time to make the switch at their own pace.
To view NBC's online Olympic offering, you must install Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in.
Don't believe the haters, NBC's online offering of the Olympics is a step in the right direction, just not two steps as a lot had hoped.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
Following earlier news that Microsoft was recalculating its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, it has become clear what the company has decided to do. Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet, as evidenced by a letter Saturday from CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo's board of directors. Here's the quote that sums up the entire letter:
"If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board."
Microsoft's big bid for Yahoo
This certainly is sending a strong message to Yahoo that almost nothing can be done to derail Microsoft's acquisition of the company. Rubbing salt into the wound, Microsoft adds, "It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees," in an attempt to stir up a response from Yahoo's board.
Since everything has been laid out and is now on the table, we are in for a very interesting three weeks. A hostile takeover of Yahoo would be really ugly and you can bet that Microsoft does not want to take that route, but it appears that they will if they have to.
The beta test page appeals to the tech crowd, by saying, "Using web software that is in perpetual beta, like Gmail? Frequently signing up to participate in beta tests for web apps? Currently beta testing software for a new startup company? Fueled by coffee? Us too and we think BETA testing is a whole lot of fun. That's why Joffrey's Coffee & Tea Company is joining the party and offering a new kind of beta test open to all bloggers - only this time it's for Java."
While this doesn't directly relate to web services, this is an interesting exercise in trying to market a fairly non-techie product to the techies. So if you are a coffee loving blogger, sign up and at the very least, you'll get some free coffee and a link on their page out of the deal.
Thanks Mashable!
Just about everyone else on the Internet has written on the potential acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft for $44.6 billion, but I thought that I would weigh in on what I think this might mean for search and Web services.
According to ComScore's search share numbers for December 2007, Google has 58.4 percent of the market share, with Yahoo and Microsoft trailing at 22.9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively. If Microsoft and Yahoo combine forces and change nothing, that will put them at 32.7 percent to Google's 58.4 percent. While those numbers are certainly not enough to overthrow Google, maybe the combined minds at the two tech giants can come up with something. Somebody has to try to make a stand, so that Google doesn't run away with the industry completely. That said, I think that Google is here to stay, even though this may be its biggest challenge yet.
On the Web services side of the issue, this acquisition is looking really good for Microsoft and Yahoo. Long Zheng has a great rundown of the services that Microsoft and Yahoo provide and where they overlap. The combined user bases of Microsoft and Yahoo's Web mail services far outpace that of Gmail (they actually both beat Gmail individually), so we will put one in the win column there. If Google Talk wasn't dead enough before, it sure will be now. Google has not even come close to touching either Microsoft or Yahoo in the instant-messaging market. One more thing on IM, if this acquisition goes through, a little service called AIM is going to finally be in their sights.
Microsoft will benefit from taking control of the leading photo-sharing site, Flickr, since its only photo-sharing solution that currently exists is through its Windows Live Spaces product. Several services from the two companies will likely be merged down the road, such as Upcoming integration in Live Events, Yahoo Widgets being integrated into the Vista Sidebar, and a merger of Yahoo Answers and Live QnA. Services that are likely to get the axe include Yahoo Maps, since Microsoft's Virtual Earth technology far outperforms Yahoo's, Yahoo 360 (or whatever it ends up being once it is done "transitioning"), and most likely some of Yahoo's music services.
$44.6 billion is a lot of money to pay for an acquisition, but Microsoft has deep pockets. The deal initially makes me a little nervous, but after thinking about it for a little while, I am feeling better about it. I'm not convinced that Microsoft will take away Google's search crown as a result of this acquisition, but it will instantly become a larger player. This acquisition will lead to almost complete dominance by Microsoft over Google in the Web services arena, but not necessarily in search.
As we have seen, Netflix and NBC have a very solid working relationship, offering exclusive web content for the site in the past. Today, Netflix announced that it will offer episodes of hit NBC shows, such as Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock, and Friday Night Lights to its subscribers for instant viewing online.
Just to clarify, Netflix has offered instant viewing of various DVDs, including Heroes Season 1, prior to today, but now it will be making episodes that are currently unavailable on DVD available for viewing. This also marks the fourth way that you can see NBC shows online. NBC currently offers its shows on Hulu, NBC.com, NBC Direct, and now Netflix. It's nice to see that NBC is really forward thinking about Web distribution, now hopefully the Writer's Guild can get the strike settled so that they will be compensated for this content.
Parakey was started by Firefox's two founders, Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. The site gives this description of the service: "Computers are frustrating. Creating documents, finding files, sharing information--why do everyday things still seem so tedious and counterintuitive? We hope that Parakey will make your life easier."
According to Inside Facebook, "Parakey is intended to be a platform for tools that can manipulate just about anything on your hard drive: e-mail, photos, videos, recipes, calendars."
I would have to say that Parakey will be bringing something fresh to Facebook Platform; otherwise, there would have been no need for this acquisition. Facebook's developers could have continued to work on it. Tight integration with local content on your computer and offline access to some Facebook services seem likely here.
There are a few things that come to mind when I think about this. The obvious one is, of course, integration between Facebook Events and desktop calendar applications such as iCal and Outlook. A couple of the other things in the list of what Parakey can manipulate (photos and videos) match up with what Facebook is doing right now as well. Although these are good possibilities of what Facebook may do with this acquisition, it's really anyone's guess at this point, especially since nobody has yet really seen Parakey in action.
Details of the money exchanged in the acquisition have not yet surfaced. As more information about how Facebook will be using Parakey's developers and technologies becomes apparent, I'll do a follow-up on this. This news begs the question of what the odds are that Facebook is going down the road to an IPO.
Only days after getting a new CEO, Yahoo has already made a great acquisition. Yahoo announced yesterday that they are acquiring college sports website, Rivals. The subscription based website has become the standard for college sports news over the past few years.
Rivals will be a great supplement to the already popular Yahoo Sports. There is no doubt that Rivals is excited about the deal. In their statement they said, "For all of our current readers and community members, we believe this agreement means that you can expect an even better experience in the future. We will have the best engineering team in the business and it will allow us to create more and more products and services that true sports fans want."
As for those who are calling for Yahoo's suitors to come forward, I think that Yahoo would be wise to ride out this wave of news and hype to see how it all will ultimately effect the company. Maybe we will even see Yahoo take a stab at acquiring Facebook again under their new CEO. Given this recent news, it's nice to see that Yahoo is on the move again or at least is trying to shake things up.
Yahoo's Terry Semel
From 2001 to 2004, Terry Semel seemed to be the cure to Yahoo's woes after the dot com bubble burst. In 2004, everyone was thoroughly impressed by the job that Semel had done at Yahoo. Call it great management, call it a lucky rebound, call it whatever you want, but Yahoo had never been doing better and it was all under the leadership of Terry Semel.
In 2003, Yahoo acquired Overture, looking poised to take another shot at the search market. Sure enough, in early 2004, Yahoo announced that they were dropping Google search results from their site and going with their own search engine. Some people are saying that not buying Google was one of Terry Semel's fatal mistakes. I think that it is really easy to say that right now. I mean, I wish that I had bought Google stock when they had their IPO. However, I bet that Semel is really regretting not going after Google.
Yahoo acquired Flickr in March of 2005.
It's hard to be an old media person at a Silicon Valley tech company and I think that is what really ended up hurting Terry Semel. Semel's adventure into working more closely with Hollywood proved to be the wrong choice for Yahoo. Based on the recent trends at Yahoo, I would say that they are in desperate need of a new media leader. Jerry Yang is clearly more new media than Semel, but is he really what Yahoo needs right now? I think that this move is a step in the right direction, but that Yahoo could definitely use some new and fresh minds filling their executive positions.
Having a new person in charge at Yahoo could definitely spark more talks of an acquisition by Microsoft or Comcast. In fact, MSNBC is already reporting on a rumored deal with News Corp.'s MySpace in exchange for a 25% share in Yahoo. I think that the rest of 2007 is going to be a crucial time for Yahoo. They are in a make or break position right now and we will see if Jerry Yang is the right man to make Yahoo again.
Jerry Yang - CEO, Yahoo Inc.
Susan Decker, previously Yahoo's Executive Vice President, has also been named as Yahoo's new President. Yang is also apparently excited about working with Decker. "I also couldn't ask for a better partner in Sue Decker as our new president. In addition to knowing this company inside and out, Sue has incredible talents, leadership abilities, a fierce focus on winning, and intense dedication to this company and its people," Yang commented in his blog post.
Having been at Yahoo for the last 12 years, Yang has a vast knowledge of the company and the technologies at their disposal. The coming years will see if this corporate shuffle ends up helping Yahoo to take a piece out of Google's commanding share of the search market. In April of 2007, ComScore announced the following percentages for search market share:
Google: 49.7%
Yahoo!: 26.8%
MSN/Windows Live: 10.3%
Ask.com: 5.1%
Time Warner: 5.0%
It should be interesting to see how Yang plans to shake up this market share and tip things in Yahoo's favor.
