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Microsoft-***** deal would be a blow to Google in Asia

Tokyo/Shanghai, March 07: A successful Microsoft Corp bid for ***** Inc could slow the growth of their common rival, Google Inc, in Asia, where the world`s biggest search engine still lags local players.

For Microsoft, whose MSN portal has been struggling to gain share in Asia, the deal worth around $41 billion would open up opportunities to cooperate with top Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Ltd and Japan`s top search engine, ***** Japan.

***** and Microsoft are at a stand-off after *****`s board rejected Microsoft`s unsolicited offer of $31 cash or shares, saying it undervalued the company.

If the deal goes through, Microsoft stands to gain a leg up over Google from cooperation with Alibaba`s online software and ***** Japan`s online customer base. ***** owns 39 percent of Alibaba.com`s parent, and a third of ***** Japan.

"If I were Google, I would be looking for acquisitions or more tie-ups in Asia to help secure better market share," said Hiroshi Naya, analyst at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Research Institute.

In Japan, Google is outnumbered nearly three-to-two in users by ***** Japan, according to Nielsen Online, and it comes a distant second to Baidu.com Inc`s near two-thirds share of the search market in China.

Analysts say the big "if" for a merged Microsoft-***** hoping to keep Google from the No.1 spot will be whether Microsoft can learn from ***** and adapt to local markets with their language and cultural barriers, to expand the merged company in Asia.

*****`s Edge

"The main concern is whether or not Microsoft would respect ***** Japan`s unique culture, or if it will muscle its way into what ***** Japan has achieved here," said an official at Japanese mobile phone operator Softbank Corp, who asked to remain anonymous.

Softbank owns 41 percent of ***** Japan, a 3.9 percent stake in ***** Inc and a 33 percent stake in Alibaba Group.

Rivals agree even successful domestic brands need to be modified to work in other countries or regions, particularly in Asia where language and cultural barriers are more pronounced.

"Business models need to be changed, adapted to fit local needs," said Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li.

"The details matter, and they take time to iron out," he said on the sidelines of a conference to launch the search engine in Japan in January.

Thanks to their early entries, ***** Japan and Alibaba have already cultivated strong ties with local users.

Besides leveraging their dominance in Asian Web markets, Microsoft may also be able to link up with Alibaba on advertising and online trading with the Chinese company`s large customer base, said Liu Bin, analyst at Beijing-based research firm BDA.

"The most likely possibility would be to use the MSN platform and MSN Live for marketing promotions for Alibaba," he said.

Alibaba`s software venture, Alisoft, also offers online software for documents and spreadsheets which can be used over the Internet without having to download PC-based software like Microsoft Office.

This would counter Google`s popular Web-based applications, and would give Microsoft a much-needed boost in the online software area where it is seen lacking.

Risks remain

But such synergies could end up as pipe dreams if China`s government fears Microsoft will take control of Alibaba and sets conditions for the stake transfer, such as limiting the number of foreigners on the board.

And while ***** Japan and Alibaba are entrenched in their home markets, that does not mean their approaches will work as newcomers in other Asian markets.

***** Japan, which also provides broadband Internet services, might find it hard to replicate its model across Asia as it seeks synergies with its telecoms business, while Alibaba`s business model caters to manufacturers in China, analysts said.

"It`s not necessarily the same dynamic outside China. They won`t really have that scale that`s reinforcing them now in China," said Claus Mortensen, analyst at IDC`s Asia/Pacific Emerging Technologies Research.

Microsoft`s cash and pool of researchers, however, are huge attractions for cash-strapped Softbank and ***** Japan seeking to cement the dominant position ***** Japan holds.

While wary of Microsoft control in locally-managed businesses, ***** Japan could take advantage of Microsoft`s scale to lower marketing costs and help it tap Microsoft`s resources to make searches faster.

But Google is unlikely to remain standing and could use the distraction of a drawnout battle between Microsoft and ***** to steal a march on its rivals.

It has already been developing tie-ups in Asia, including those with Japan`s two biggest mobile phone carriers, NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI Corp.

Google has also bought stakes in Chinese Internet firms including downloading service Xunlei Networking and social networking site Tianya.cn, and has a partnership with Web portal Sina.

Analysts believe Japanese social networking site Mixi Inc and online marketing firms, could also be in Google`s sights.

"Google is a worthy competitor. The common threat is Google. I say that with respect," Softbank President Masayoshi Son said last month.

IRCTCmobile: Harnessing mobile technology for railways

New Delhi, March 07: In a rare example of action pre-empting intention, mobile rail ticketing had already been in use for several months before Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced it as one of the highlights in his budget to modernize train reservations.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd (IRCTC), a division of Indian Railways which issues tickets to about 15 million passengers daily, launched IRCTCmobile services to provide 'cutting-edge technology' in April last year. IRCTCmobile is a result of mobile transaction technology pioneered by technology guru Sam Pitroda's Chicago-based company C-SAM, Inc.

IRCTCmobile is device and network agnostic, which means users can buy any standard phone on any network from any of the operators such as Bharti, BSNL, Reliance or Vodaphone and book and purchase rail tickets on mobile phones.

Yadav's assertion that queues at train stations for tickets would be a thing of the past in the next couple of years is in a sense already happening for many users of IRCTCmobile.

The solution, which works both on SMS as well data connection, offers icons that the user can choose from to book, purchase and electronically receive train tickets. IRCTCmobile allows passengers to perform various services such as book tickets using credit and cash cards, view train schedules, check availability, get fares, perform inquiries and access many other associated information services through mobile phones.

It has the potential to become the first mass market adoption of a technology which is considered unrivalled in terms of the number of mobile applications and services it offers. Given the size and scale of Indian Railways it can easily become the world's most widespread mobile ticketing application.

For a country that adds some eight million mobile phones a month and could see the number of total mobile phones rise to a staggering 500 million by 2010 from the current 280 million, mobile applications such as railway ticketing are the most effective way to capitalise on such unprecedented connectedness.

'IRCTCmobile is a great example of how the most advanced mobile technology can be deployed in a country like India to benefit the masses, including people at the bottom of the pyramid,' Pitroda said.

A statement by C-SAM said the company and IRCTC are exploring ways to introduce a wide range of other new services on mobile phones, including issuance of loyalty coupons, advertising, reward points like airlines, pre-paid cards, m-commerce and travel portals.

'To inform people mobile ticketing needs to be promoted across the country at all railway stations since its benefits are meant for millions who use trains as a means of transport,' the company said

Gold futures rise on weak rupee, firm oil

Mumbai, March 07: Indian gold futures rose sharply on Friday on a weak rupee and firm crude oil prices, commodity brokerages said.

"It is taking cues from dollar, crude oil and fund buying... rupee is weak today and it is giving support to the prices," said Debjyoti Chatterjee, associate vice president at MAPE ADMISI Commodity Research.

The Indian rupee weakened beyond 40.50 per dollar in early deals on Friday, it softest in almost six months, as sharp falls in Asian stock markets raised fears that foreigners will sell local shares and repatriate the funds.

India imports most of its gold requirements and a weaker rupee would make imports expensive.

Higher crude oil prices have raised inflationary fears, attracting fresh buying in the yellow metal, said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director, Commtrendz Research.

Oil held near USD106 a barrel on Friday, within sight of a record high, helped by a tumbling U.S. dollar that bolstered fund buying and by OPEC's reluctance to pump extra crude.

Expensive oil prices combined with worries over stock market losses and a possible recession in the US have propelled gold prices to new highs, analysts said.

Overseas gold hit a record high of USD991.90 an ounce on Thursday and was trading around USD983 on Friday.

Open interest for April gold on MCX was at 9,321 lots, marginally down from 9,369 a day earlier. Volume on Thursday was 59.9 kg.

Indian women are putting in more hours at work: Study
7 Mar, 2008, 1720 hrs IST...................NEW DELHI: Indian women are spending longer hours at their workplaces now, compared to the time they put in three years ago, to get an equal footing with their male counterparts, according to a study by industry body Assocham.

The study, brought out on the eve of International Women's Day, further said what pleases the most is the fact that women get the all crucial support from their husbands and in-laws, even if it means late hours.

It said issues of safety and security notwithstanding, the Indian working women are putting in over 60 hours in a week now, compared to 48 hours they put in three years back.

"It is not just in the corporate sector, but staying late is normal for women working in government offices since they receive support from their homes," Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot said referring to the study.

Vimal to open 21 exclusive showrooms in two years
7 Mar, 2008, 1520 hrs..............................CHENNAI: Vimal, the flagship textile brand of Reliance Industries Limited, proposes to open 21 exclusive showrooms in the country in the next two years, a company official said.

These shops would also sell newly introduced Vimal's men apparel, S Srinivasan, Chief Operating officer, Vimal, told the media.

These showrooms would reintroduce the once popular vimal brand of textiles with full vigour, he said.

Vimal had come out with three brands of shirts with prices ranging from Rs 699 at the lowest end and Rs 1,999 at the premium end, he said.

The company had not set up any apparel unit for these brands but had outsourced to garment units in and around Bangalore, he said

India likely to be 90% of US economy by 2050: PwC
7 Mar, 2008, 1523 hrs ISt...................NEW DELHI: In what could be a tectonic shift in the global economic centre of gravity, the size of India's economy would grow to 90% of the US by 2050, with China becoming even bigger than the world's current largest economy, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report.

"The global centre of economic gravity is already shifting to China, India and other large emerging economies and our analysis suggests that this process has a lot further to run. Our latest projections suggest that China could overtake the US in around 2025 to become the world's largest economy and will continue to grow to around 130 per cent of the size of the US by 2050," it said.

India could grow to almost 90 per cent of the size of the US by 2050, PwC Head of Macroeconomics John Hawksworth said.

The global advisory firm projected that Brazil seems likely to overtake Japan by 2050 to move to the fourth place, while Russia, Mexico and Indonesia all have the potential to have economies larger than those of Germany or the UK by the middle of this century.
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Sea levels to fall, not riseOSLO: Sea levels are set to fall over millions of years, making the current rise blamed on climate change a brief interruption of an ancient geological trend, scientists said on Thursday.

They said oceans were getting deeper and sea levels had fallen by about 170 metres (560 ft) since the Cretaceous period 80 million years ago when dinosaurs lived.

Previously, the little-understood fall had been estimated at 40 to 250 metres. "The ocean floor has got on average older and gone down and so the sea level has also fallen," said Bernhard Steinberger at the Geological Survey of Norway, one of five authors of a report in the journal Science.

"The trend will continue," he said. A computer model based on improved understanding of shifts of continent-sized tectonic plates in the earth's crust projects more deepening of the ocean floor and a further sea level decline of 120 metres in 80 million years' time.

If sea levels were to fall that much now, Russia would be connected to Alaska by land over what is now the Bering Strait, Britain would be part of mainland Europe and Australia and Papua island would be the same landmass.

The study aids understanding of sea levels by showing that geology has played a big role alongside ice ages, which can suck vast amounts of water from the oceans onto land.

"If we humans still exist in 10, 20 or 50 million years, irrespective of how ice caps are waxing and waning, the long term is that sea level will drop, not rise," said lead author Dietmar Muller of the University of Sydney.

Over time, Muller told Science in a podcast interview there would be fewer mid-ocean ridges and a shift to more deep plains in the oceans as continents shifted.

The Atlantic would widen and the Pacific shrink. Still, the projected rate of fall works out at 0.015 centimetres a century -- irrelevant when the UN Climate Panel estimates that seas will rise by 18-59 cms by 2100 because of global warming stoked by human use of fossil fuels.

"Compared to what is expected due to climate change, the fall is negligible," said Steinberger.

Cities from Miami to Shanghai are threatened by rising seas that could also swamp low-lying island nations in the Pacific.
Rising temperatures raise sea levels because water in the oceans expands as it warms, and many glaciers are melting into the seas. Antarctica and Greenland now contain enough ice to raise sea levels by 50 metres if they all melted, the article said.
If all ice on land were gone in 80 million years' time, the net drop in ocean levels would be 70 metres rather than the projected 120.
The study challenges past belief that sea levels might have been only 40 metres higher than today in the Cretaceous period by arguing that measurements from New Jersey in the United States had underestimated the fall. It said that the New Jersey region had itself subsided by 105 to 180 metres in the period, skewing the readings.
7 Mar, 2008, 1022 hrs IST.....................

US Stocks Head for Lower Open
Friday March 7, 9:22 am ET
Stock Futures Fall After Weaker-Than-Expected Government Job Report Stirs Unease About Economy
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock futures signaled a sharply lower open Friday after the government's much-anticipated February employment report came in weaker than expected.
The Labor Department's report that employers cut jobs by 63,000 last month -- the most since March 2003 -- unnerved investors worried about the health of the economy and who had been expecting a 25,000 gain in jobs. While the unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, the decline reflects people leaving the labor force.

The highly anticipated report came minutes after the Federal Reserve announced it would take fresh steps to ease credit troubles, including boosting the amount of money it will auction to banks. The move stoked worries that the employment reading would be weaker than expected.

The Fed said it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been slated for $30 billion each and central bank officials said they plan to even bigger amounts for future auctions if need be. Also, the Fed said that it will, starting Friday, begin a series of repurchase transactions expected to reach $100 billion.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 129, or 1.07 percent, to 11,941. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 11.90, or 0.91 percent, to 1,296.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 8.25, or 0.48 percent, to 1,706.00.

Bond prices jumped. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.52 percent from 3.59 percent late Thursday.

The dollar hit a fresh record low against the euro following release of the payroll numbers, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell 22 cents to $105.25 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange after the jobs report. A slowing economy could dampen demand for oil.

Wall Street had been eager for a read on the jobs picture. While unemployment remains low by historical standards the increase in unemployment stirred concern among investors worried that it will result in a consumer slowdown. The well-being of the consumer, whose spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, is key to investors' hopes of avoiding more economic pain amid the ongoing pullback in home values and credit troubles.

The employment figures weren't welcome news a day after concerns about home foreclosures and credit woes rippled through Wall Street. The Dow lost nearly 215 points Thursday, while the broader S&P 500 index fell 2.20 percent.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 3.27 percent after Wall Street's decline. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.93 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.66 percent, and France's CAC-40 slid 1.75 percent.

Stocks Turn Mixed in Early Trading
Friday March 7, 10:03 am....................
Stocks Turn Mixed After Weaker-Than-Expected Job Numbers, Fed's Moves to Ease Credit Crunch
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks bounced around Friday after the government's much-anticipated February employment report came in weaker than expected and after the Federal Reserve announced steps to aid the credit markets.
The Labor Department's report that employers cut jobs by 63,000 last month -- the most since March 2003 -- unnerved investors worried about the health of the economy and who had been expecting a 25,000 gain in jobs. While the unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, the decline reflects people leaving the labor force.

The payroll numbers came minutes after the Federal Reserve announced it would take fresh steps to ease credit troubles, including boosting the amount of money it will auction to banks.

The central bank said it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been slated for $30 billion each and Fed officials said they plan to even bigger amounts for future auctions if need be. Also, the Fed said that it will, starting Friday, begin a series of repurchase transactions expected to reach $100 billion.

Steven Lehman of Federated Investors was doubtful of the effectiveness of the Fed's latest plans.

"There is a profound lack of understanding of markets and economies, and there is still persistent lingering faith that the authorities effectively have a magic wand they can wave to make everything fine," he said. "Economies and markets do go down -- particularly after a multi-decade credit boom."

Investors still clearly harbored concerns about the economy. Even the expectation of a rate cut later this month, which Wall Street widely expects, didn't appear to quell investors' concerns.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.06, or 0.13 percent, to 12,025.33 after being down more than 100 points in the early going.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.37, or 0.18 percent, to 1,306.71, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 12.89, or 0.58 percent, to 2,233.39.

Bond prices jumped. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.51 percent from 3.59 percent late Thursday.

The dollar hit a fresh record low against the euro following release of the payroll numbers, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell 22 cents to $105.25 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange after the jobs report. A slowing economy could dampen demand for oil.

Wall Street had been eager for a read on the jobs picture. While unemployment remains low by historical standards the increase in unemployment stirred concern among investors worried that it will result in a consumer slowdown. The well-being of the consumer, whose spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, is key to investors' hopes of avoiding more economic pain amid the ongoing pullback in home values and credit troubles.

Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, said the job losses in February weren't surprising.

"The trend for the last year and a half has been either job losses or very small gains. That is what you would expect in a contracting economy and we think the economy has been in a recession for two or three months," he said.

The employment figures weren't welcome news a day after concerns about home foreclosures and credit woes rippled through Wall Street. The Dow lost nearly 215 points Thursday, while the broader S&P 500 index fell 2.20 percent.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 140.6 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.90, or 0.74 percent, to 667.68.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 3.27 percent after Wall Street's decline. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.93 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.66 percent, and France's CAC-40 slid 1.75 percent.

BHEL, L&T put in bids for 1,600 mw power project in AP

New Delhi, March 07: The 1,600-mw thermal Krishnapatnam project of Andhra Pradesh Power Development Corp has once again received a tepid response with only two companies -- BHEL and Larsen and Toubro -- responding to a tender seeking supply of boilers.

The technical bids were opened by the company on March 5 for supply of boilers for the 2x800 mw thermal project, to be based on energy-efficient supercritical technology.

Earlier in December, Andhra Pradesh Power Development Corp (APPDC), a joint venture of AP Power Generation Corp and IL&FS, cancelled tenders for power equipment after only BHEL responded. The project is expected to cost Rs 8,000 crore.

"Technical bids for boilers have been opened. BHEL and Larsen and Toubro have submitted their bids," APPDC advisor K Reddy told reporters over phone.

However, APPDC would go-ahead with the selection procedure and expects to award the engineering, procurement and construction contract by May this year.

After the cancellation of earlier tender, the corporation had invited fresh bids in three packages of boilers, steam turbines and balance of plant equipment, expecting a better response.

The contracts would involve manufacture and commissioning of two steam generators and an equal number of boilers.

"We could not accept one single bid for lack of competition. Now, we will evaluate the technical bids, which will take at least a month. The price bids are likely to be opened on 15th of next month," Reddy said.

Larsen and Toubro has a technological collaboration with Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for equipment manufacturing for mega power projects in India. BHEL has a same arrangement with French Alstom.

The original date for submitting bids for boilers was January 31, and for turbine generators it was February 4. The deadlines have been extended several times. The technical bids for steam turbines are likely to be opened on March 28.

The first unit of Krishnapatnam project is scheduled for commissioning in September 2011 and the second one in March 2012.