http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/12/atandt-to-be-first-us-carrier-with-blackberry-bold, todays news..
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- 8.1-inch XGA display, 16 grayscale
- 400MHZ XScale CPU, 64MB RAM
- Wacom-based touch input
- 256MB flash memory, USB, MMC, and CF slots
- Reads PDF, HTML, TXT, Mobipocket, JPG, BMP, and PNG
- 3.5mm audio out
- Travel-hub add-on with... Ethernet! Oookay.
- 8.5 x 6.1 x 0.63-inches, 15.3 ounces
It launches May 9th in Europe, and will sell for a very hefty sum of €499 ($770 US). But hey, it does come bundled with 50 public domain classics, so, um, that's something. Some more shots after the break.
source: by Ryan Block/endgadget.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc.'s stock took a beating Monday after Microsoft Corp. withdrew its $47.5 billion takeover bid, but the punishment wasn't as severe as many analysts anticipated because investors suspect the rivals eventually will renew their mating dance.
Although Microsoft has publicly indicated it will focus on measures besides buying Yahoo in its bid to make its Internet division profitable, several analysts predicted the software maker will revive its bid in the summer or fall if Yahoo can't snap out of a two-year funk that exposed it to an unwanted takeover in the first place.
"Should the frustration of (Yahoo) shareholders come to a boil, we believe (Microsoft) could re-enter the picture, essentially playing the role of the white knight," analyst David Hilal of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. wrote in a Friday research note.
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source: gmanews.tv
SAN FRANCISCO - Shares of Yahoo fell 22 percent in premarket trading as hopes for the once dominant search engine dimmed on the withdrawal of a $47.5 billion (€30.73 billion) bid from Microsoft Corp. over the weekend.
Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang is convinced that the company he started in a Silicon Valley trailer 14 years ago was worth more than the money Microsoft Corp. had offered for the Internet pioneer.
Now he may only have a few months to convince Wall Street that his rebuff of Microsoft's takeover bid was a smart move — and if he can not, analysts will not be surprised if Yang is either replaced as CEO or forced to consider accepting a lower offer if Microsoft comes knocking at his door again. Read full story on this site...
source: gmanews.tv
SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft Corp. has withdrawn its $42.3 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc., scrapping an attempt to snap up the tarnished Internet icon in hopes of toppling online search and advertising leader Google Inc. The decision to walk away from the deal came Saturday after last-ditch efforts to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale price proved unsuccessful.
Microsoft was willing to pay $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, up from the bid's current value of $29.40 per share, according to a letter from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang. But Yahoo demanded at least $53 billion, or $37 per share, according to Ballmer.
That would have been nearly double Yahoo's stock price of $19.18 at the time Microsoft first made its bid a little over three months ago. "Clearly a deal is not to be," Ballmer wrote.
A spokeswoman for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. The decision to walk away came as a surprise, given that many analysts believed Microsoft wanted to close the deal badly enough to either sweeten the offer or pursue a hostile takeover — a risky maneuver that would have required an attempt to replace the Yahoo board that spurned rejected the bid.
But Ballmer said he concluded that pursuing a so-called proxy battle was "not sensible." "Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisition," Ballmer wrote to Yang.
But Yahoo hasn't necessarily faded from Microsoft's crosshairs.
The software maker conceivably could renew its bid later this year if Yahoo can't bounce back from more than two years of financial lethargy. Should Yahoo's turnaround efforts flop, many analysts believe the company's stock would sink into the mid-teens and open the door for another takeover offer that would be more difficult to rebuff.
For now, at least, Microsoft appears to believe it has enough internal weapons to chip away at Google's dominance of the booming Internet ad market. "We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners, " Ballmer said."
While Yahoo would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals."
source: AP/ gmanews.tv
The surprise offer of $31 per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, seizes on Yahoo’s weakness while Microsoft tries to muscle up in a high-stakes battle with Google likely to define the technology landscape for years to come.
In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will “carefully and promptly” study Microsoft’s bid.
With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.
The announcement lifted Yahoo’s share price by almost 50 percent in morning trading, while Google fell almost 8 percent, dragged down by a fourth-quarter earnings report that missed Wall Street expectations.
In conference call Friday morning, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer indicated he won’t take no for an answer after Yahoo rebuffed takeover overtures a year ago.
“This is a decision we have — and I have — thought long and hard about,” Ballmer said. “We are confident it’s the right path for Microsoft and Yahoo.”
To underscore its resolve, Microsoft is offering a 62 percent premium to Yahoo’s closing stock price Thursday. If the deal is consummated, it would be by far the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history, eclipsing last year’s $6 billion purchase of online ad service aQuantive.
Since reaching a 52-week high of $34.08 in October, Yahoo shares have fallen 46 percent. Yahoo climbed $9.41 a share, or 49 percent, to $28.59 in morning trading. Microsoft shares fell $1.43, or 4.4 percent, to $31.17.
Microsoft publicly disclosed its cash-and-stock offer in hopes of rallying support from Yahoo’s shareholders, making it more difficult for Yahoo’s board to turn down the bid.
In a letter released Friday, Ballmer pointedly noted Yahoo’s financial performance has deteriorated since Microsoft was spurned a year ago. At that time, Ballmer said he was told Yahoo believed it was better off on its own.
“A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved,” Ballmer wrote in his letter.
Microsoft’s previous offer was rebuffed by Terry Semel, who stepped aside last year as chief executive under shareholder pressure.
Microsoft sent its latest takeover offer to Yahoo late Thursday, shortly after Semel resigned as the company’s chairman. The letter is addressed to Semel’s successors, new Chairman Roy Bostock and the current CEO, co-founder Jerry Yang, who is one of Yahoo’s largest shareholders.
In a prepared statement, Yahoo said its board “will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo’s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.”
Microsoft views Yahoo as its best chance to thwart Google, which has leveraged its leadership in Internet search and advertising to emerge as an increasingly serious threat to the world’s largest software maker’s persuasive influence on how people interact with computers.
Google already controls nearly 60 percent of the U.S. search market, and has been widening its lead, despite concerted efforts by both second-place Yahoo and third-place Microsoft. By combining, Microsoft and Yahoo would have a 33 percent share of the U.S. search market, according to the latest data from comScore Media Metrix.
By joining forces, Microsoft and Yahoo also would widen their narrowing advantage over Google in providing free e-mail accounts — a service that helps foster more loyalty with users and create more advertising opportunities.
Advertisers around the world are expected to double their spending on the Internet during the next three years as more people get their news and entertainment on the Web instead of television, radio, newspapers and magazine. The trend is expected to create an $80 billion online ad market in 2010, up from an estimated $40 billion last year.
Despite an aggressive push in recent years, Microsoft’s online advertising expansion hasn’t paid off. Last week, the Redmond, Wash.-based company reported a 79 percent jump in its overall profit, but its online division’s loss widened to $245 million.
And Yahoo has been struggling to attract more advertising even though its Web site attracts one of the biggest audiences. The Sunnyvale-based company’s profit has declined for five consecutive quarters, prompting plans to cut 1,000 jobs later this month, a 7 percent reduction of its 14,300-employee work force.
Besides helping to boost its online ad revenue, Microsoft believes it could mine more profit from Yahoo by jettisoning workers and eliminating overlapping operations.
Microsoft said it sees at least $1 billion in cost savings if it buys Yahoo. Microsoft executives deflected questions about how many jobs might be lost, but the company emphasized retention packages will be offered to Yahoo engineers and other key employees, including some executives.
The fate of Yahoo’s brand also is unclear if Microsoft takes over. Both Ballmer and Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, hailed Yahoo’s strong brand value but didn’t commit to keeping the name alive.
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AP Business Writer Jennifer Malloy in New York and AP Business Writer Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this story.
source: Yahoo! News
