Monday’s Tech Updates: Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s External Compliance, Google Inc (GOOG)’s Proposal & Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s New Service

Microsoft employees unsettled by events (GlobalTimes)
A mood of cautious optimism tempered with a dash of anxiety has spread on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s leafy campus in Seattle, US as the world’s biggest software maker embarks on one of the most tumultuous periods in its 38-year history. Since mid-July, three interlocking events – all of them considered highly unlikely six months ago – have unfolded in quick succession, unsettling Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) managers and employees and roiling its share price. First, CEO Steve Ballmer rejiggered top management as part of an ambitious plan to remodel the company around devices and services rather than software.

Apple Said to Be Close to Clinching Carrier Holdouts (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is on the verge of clinching agreements with two of the biggest holdouts to selling its iPhone, China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:CHL) and NTT Docomo Inc (ADR) (NYSE:DCM), opening a route to hundreds of millions of new customers. On the eve of an event on Sept. 10 to unveil new iPhones, Apple and China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:CHL) are near a deal for the world’s largest wireless carrier to offer the device, said a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Apple is also close to an agreement to distribute its handset through Japan’s largest mobile carrier, NTT Docomo Inc (ADR) (NYSE:DCM), people with knowledge of the situation have said.

NSA code cracking puts Google under fire (KoreaHerald)
Disclosures that the U.S. National Security Agency can crack codes protecting the online traffic of the world’s largest Internet companies will inflict more damage than earlier reports of complicity in government spying, according to technology and intelligence specialists. The agency has fulfilled a decades-long quest to break the encryption of email, online purchases, electronic medical records and other Web activities, the New York Times, the U.K.’s Guardian and ProPublica reported Friday. The NSA also has been given access to ? or found ways to enter ? databases of major U.S. Internet companies operating the most popular email and social-media platforms, the news organizations reported.