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The Insider has been watching, with some fascination, the different takes on the Microsoft acquisition of Skype. In an interview on CNBC Steve Ballmer stressed heavily the growing role of Microsoft in the communications space as he dominated six of the seven minutes allocated to he and Skype CEO, Tony Bates. The world’s press took different views on the most important features of the deal with some agreeing on The Insider’s take that the deal will be disruptive but unsure to what degree... -
The rumor mill has been running overtime this last week in the telecoms industry. Perhaps the most prominent, and certainly the most vocal are those claiming that Skype is about to be acquired - AGAIN! You will remember back in October 2005 that Skype’s private shareholders enjoyed a big payout when Skype was first bought over by eBay in a deal worth approximately $2.6 billion, plus potential ‘performance-based consideration.’ In September 2009 , in a deal that valued Skype at ... -
This is Barcelona week and you are probably fed up to the teeth with press releases and news emanating from this Catalonian stronghold. The Insider has spent a lot of time talking to delegates, press people and exhibitionists (I think that’s the right term for the people working the stands, especially CBOSS), to get the real gossip. Firstly, MWC this year is BIG. It’s definitely bigger than the last three years at least. The throngs of people in every hall are so large that at times it... -
The official Nokia blog says it is now official - Nokia is getting hitched to Microsoft! You have to love the joint announcement so soon after the so-called ‘leaked memo’ from Nokia CEO, and supposedly ex-Microsoft man, Stephen Elop. The rhetoric is pure Ballmer, though. “Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our... -
Technical hitches with the iPhone 4 are not Apple's only headaches of late. It is facing pressures in Europe and China - both key markets as its US heartland saturates and it needs strong performance on a global basis. Pending EU legislation could force Apple to change its software policies, and EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes may also launch a probe into interoperability between various smartphone platforms, including iPhone. Kroes has already fined Microsoft $1.4Bn for lack of software openness... -
This week at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2010, Microsoft Corp. was highlighting market opportunities for hosting and communications service providers as adoption of cloud services among small and midsize business (SMBs) continues to rise. Microsoft is offering to help service providers take advantage of those opportunities through its software, services and programs that enable them to become trusted advisors and full-service IT providers to businesses. That all sounds grand but Microsoft... -
I'm sure you've heard of Steve Jobs but I wonder if you've ever heard of Charles Stross. Last week his name came up twice in dispatches, firstly from my TM Forum colleague, Josh Goldfein, and secondly in a TelecomAsia article written by my good friend and global technology editor, John Tanner. So what, you ask? Well, Mr Stross, a prolific author based in Edinburgh, has pieced together Mr Job's master plan not only for Apple but for the IT and communications industry as a whole, and... -
Google looks to do for the ‘cloud’ what Apple successfully did for the mobile world by setting up a Cloud-based app store. But that could be easier said than done. For third-party apps to successfully proliferate in this environment they will first have be integrated with existing Google Apps. The Google Apps Marketplace is an online store where Google Apps users can browse different cloud-based applications and select from a suite of online tools. The ability to share data between existing apps... -
You know times are a’changing when the CEO of Microsoft announces that 90 per cent of his staff will be working on cloud platforms by next year. Steve Ballmer even went one step further when he said he was "betting the company" on the Windows Azure cloud platform. These are serious announcements and demonstrate how seriously he is taking threats from the likes of Amazon, Google and other cloud services vendors. Ballmer was presenting at the University of Washington's Computer Science... -
Big drop in fixed-line revenues Australians are dumping their fixed-lines at an alarming rate, 10% in the last six months to be exact. Local call volumes are down 13% for the same period and total PSTN revenues dropped by 6.9%. The decline was far greater than that forecast by CEO, David Thodey, only six months ago and could be indicative of what is certainly becoming a trend in most developed markets. Pure fixed-line service providers are likely to be hardest hit as customers consolidate on mobile...
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