…the apps for the Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 platform. The company launch the platform with 70 000 apps, and has moved to ensure that it expands the ecosystem and attracts users.
Yahoo is stuck with Microsoft (CNNMoney)
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) may want out of its search agreement with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), but the Internet giant doesn’t really have another option. Yahoo essentially gave up on search in 2010, handing the keys over to Microsoft to serve up Bing search engine results on its websites. Yahoo pays Microsoft 12% of the revenue from ads on those pages. It’s no secret that the joint venture hasn’t paid off as well as Yahoo hoped. The deal is meant to last 10 years, but the Wall Street Journal reported this week that Yahoo has been trying to get out of the partnership. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer has said several times that revenue from the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) search agreement has been “disappointing.”
Google Glass: Just For Men? (Forbes)
Friend and fellow communications writer Sarah Buhr just raised an interesting point this morning in a guest OpEd for USA Today: Hey, Google Glass—Where the ladies at? She makes a good point. While the marketing videos from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) show a fairly diverse set of “explorers,” the first wave of recipients are decidedly male. In a statement to ABC News, Google said the following: “Glass is designed by and for people from all walks of life and we hope everyone will have a chance to enjoy it down the road.
How much damage a cheaper iPhone does to Apple’s profit margins (Fortune)
So confident are analysts that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is getting ready to launch a lower-cost iPhone that some have started building the new device — which none have ever seen — into spreadsheets like the one at right issued Thursday by Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. What these analysts are not so sure about is what kind of damage a cheaper (and presumably lower-margin) iPhone would do to the product’s enviably high gross margin — currently about 55%. The fear on the Street, according to Munster, is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s overall gross margin could fall from its record high of 47.4% in March 2012 to 30% by 2015.
Mobily introduces BlackBerry Q10 packages (Arab News)
Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has introduced the new BlackBerry Q10 to its subscribers with different packages as part of the company’s strategic partnership with Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). The company said the subscribers can buy the new BlackBerry from its flagships around the Kingdom or through its website. It said subscribers can buy the device for 2,699 (pre-paid packages) or 599 (postpaid). Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) services have big demand among Mobily’s subscribers due to the promotional offers and the packages the company launches where Mobily was initiative in launching Blackberry devices and services back in 2007.
Yahoo ban on home working accepted (South China Morning Post)
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) chief executive Marissa Mayer said a policy change barring employees from working at home has been well received internally and helped the company step up its introduction of new applications. “I didn’t mean for it to become an industry narrative,” Mayer said at a conference sponsored by Wired magazine this week. “We were just saying, it’s not right for us right now. As Mayer nears her first anniversary as chief executive, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has boosted its output of new web services and apps for mobile devices. The introduction in recent months of programs for e-mail, weather and news was made possible by what she calls the “Reese’s peanut butter effect” of helping people from different disciplines collaborate to create cool new things.
Google kills its plans for a physical Google Wallet card (Ars Technica)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is reportedly no longer pursuing the physical Google Wallet card that has been in development over the last year, according to a report from AllThingsD. The report comes shortly after the announcement that Google Wallet head Osama Bedier is leaving the company and just before Google’s I/O conference next week. Google originally developed the card as a way for Wallet users to circumvent the need for NFC in transactions when either their smartphones or a payment terminal lacked the feature. In theory, the card would also have helped Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) capture more customer-to-vendor transactions to mine for data.
