Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang said Microsoft Corp. is still discussing potential partnerships with his company after walking away from a $47.5 billion takeover bid this month.

``They are discussing various other ideas and partnerships with us and we're listening,'' Yang said today at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California. ``They clearly have some interest in Yahoo in some shape or form.''

Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, had sought a Yahoo acquisition to bolster its Internet unit, which trails Google Inc. in the $41-billion-a-year market for online ads. Google has the dominant Internet search engine, while Yahoo and Microsoft rank second and third. Microsoft dropped its bid on May 3 after Yahoo demanded a higher price.

``We did not walk away from that proposal. Microsoft did,'' Yang said. ``I've always said we're willing to do a deal at the right terms.''

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, rose 16 cents to $27.16 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have climbed 17 percent this year. Redmond, Washington- based Microsoft, down 21 percent this year, dropped 26 cents to $28.18.

`Best Person'

Yang, who co-founded Yahoo in 1994, took the reins as CEO for the first time last year. Until then, he had served as ``Chief Yahoo,'' advising the company on its strategy.

``I know I don't have all the experience,'' he said today. ``I do think I'm the best person to lead Yahoo.''

Yahoo faces a proxy fight for control of its board from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. He proposed his own slate of directors this month and won support from John Paulson's Paulson & Co., BP Capital LLC Chairman T. Boone Pickens and investor Daniel Loeb, who have taken stakes in Yahoo.

All of Yahoo's directors are up for re-election at its next shareholder meeting. Last week the company delayed that meeting from July 3 until the end of the month.

Microsoft, whose online division was its only unprofitable unit last quarter, began pursuing a takeover of Yahoo on Jan. 31. It ended discussions after offering as much as $33 a share. Yahoo demanded $37.

The situation hasn't hurt the company, Yang said.

``The perception of us being a company in decline isn't accurate,'' he said. ``The process has pulled Yahoo together as a company. This is a real-life exercise of crisis management.''

Employee turnover hasn't changed, President Susan Decker said.

Google Deal

Yahoo also is in talks with Google to allow that company to sell ads alongside some of its Internet search results. The companies could arrange an outsourcing agreement that would pass U.S. Justice Department antitrust scrutiny, Stanford Group Co. analyst Paul Gallant said this month.

Google charges advertisers about 70 percent more per Internet search than Yahoo, according to Yahoo, citing data from last year. Google outsold Microsoft in Internet ads by a margin of 7-to-1 in Microsoft's latest fiscal year.

The online advertising market may almost double by 2010, Microsoft has said. The company announced a plan last week to give users cash back when they shop online with its Live.com search engine.

Google handled 61.6 percent of U.S. Web searches last month, more than Yahoo and Microsoft combined, according to research firm ComScore Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter J. Brennan in Carlsbad at pbrennan3@bloomberg.net

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GE CEO cites five potential bidders for appliances: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - General Electric Co (NYSE:GE - News) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt on Wednesday named five non-U.S. appliance manufacturers, including China's Haier, South Korea's LG Electronics, Sweden's Electrolux, Mexico's Controladora Mabe and Turkey's Arcelik, as potential bidders for the company's century-old appliances business.

The chief of the second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization said it was "obvious" who would be interested in the unit, which last year sold $7.2 billion worth of refrigerators, washing machines and other household appliances.

"The players have become somewhat obvious," Immelt told reporters in South Korea. "It is Haier in China, it is LG in Korea, it's Mabe in Mexico, it's Arcelik in Turkey."

In Beijing, he added another name to the list of suspects: "Whether LG or Haier or Electrolux or others participate remains to be seen."

None of those companies confirmed their interest.

After stunning investors in April with an unexpected drop in quarterly profit, GE said this month it would look to sell or spin off its appliances unit, saying the business was too focused on the United States.

Analysts and investors have estimated the business, which is No. 2 in the U.S. behind Whirlpool Corp (NYSE:WHR - News), could sell for $4 billion to $8 billion. Whirlpool is the world's largest appliance maker.

Immelt's comments could be an effort to see if there are other interested bidders who have not yet made themselves known to the company, said Peter Sorrentino, senior vice president and portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors, which manages $6.5 billion in assets and holds GE shares.

"I wonder if he's not tapping tree trunks with a stick trying to figure out if there's bees in there," Sorrentino said.

STILL 'EARLY ON'

Immelt's remarks came just a week after he told investors GE that the company was "seriously" considering spinning off the appliances unit.

"The appliance process is still very early on, and much still has to be decided," Immelt said in Beijing on Wednesday.

GE's well-known brand name could appeal to a foreign appliance manufacturer looking to build its profile in the United States while capitalizing on lower-cost production.

LG (066570.KS) said in a statement to the Korea Stock Exchange that it had not yet decided whether to bid for the GE unit.

A spokesman for Electrolux (Stockholm:ELUXB.ST - News), the world's No. 2 home appliances maker, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Arcelik (Istanbul:ARCLK.IS - News), Turkey's leading appliance maker.

Sources have described Haier as interested, but the company has declined official comment.

LG A 'LEADING' CANDIDATE

Immelt said LG was "clearly one of the leading candidates."

"They are a great company. They already have a presence in the U.S. Strategically, there are many things to be admired about a combination of LG and GE Appliances," he said.

Analysts queried what LG would get from buying the appliance unit, as its brand is already known in the United States.

Goodmorning Shinhan Securities analyst Steve Lee said, "I doubt LG Elec would be interested in pursuing this deal, since there's little the company can gain. There's a lot of overlap between the businesses with little premium potential for LG."

Lee said Immelt's comments could be aimed at drumming up interest from a small pool of potential candidates with deep-enough pockets to buy the business.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Italy's Indesit Co SpA (Milan:IND.MI - News) also have been touted as possible bidders, but neither has confirmed an interest.

GE shares were down 5 cents at $30.35 on the New York Stock Exchange. So far this year they have fallen 18 percent, with most of the drop coming in the wake of its first-quarter earnings shortfall.

By way of comparison, the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News), of which GE is a component, is down 5.5 percent.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Park Jung-youn in Seoul, Asli Kandemir in Istanbul, Adam Cox in Stockholm and Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Keiron Henderson, Jonathan Hopfner, Ian Geoghegan and Alan Wheatley)

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The Associated Press: Clinton still insists she's more electable

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Her chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination narrowing by the day, Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted Tuesday that she would be a stronger candidate than Barack Obama to square off against John McCain in November.

The former first lady has refrained from criticizing Obama directly in recent weeks as he has built an almost insurmountable lead among the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. But without mentioning his name, Clinton strongly implied that if the Illinois senator becomes the nominee he could be headed for defeat in the general election.

"We have not gone through this exciting, unprecedented, historical election only to lose," Clinton told several hundred supporters here. "You have to ask yourself, who is the stronger candidate? And based on every analysis of every bit of research and every poll that's been taken and every state a Democrat has to win, I am the stronger candidate against John McCain in the fall."

With just three primaries left in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota and 86 delegates yet to secure, Clinton trails Obama by nearly 200 delegates. To keep alive her slender hope of winning the nomination, she is counting on a Democratic Party rules committee Saturday to restore the delegations from Michigan and Florida, whose primaries were voided when they moved into January in violation of party rules.

Clinton and her advisers also have pressed the case with uncommitted superdelegates that she is better positioned than Obama to win in November, pointing to her primary victories in swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Even so, most superdelegates choosing sides in the past several weeks have sided with Obama.

Earlier Tuesday, Clinton visited an Indian reservation where she pledged her commitment to tribal sovereignty and Indian health care.

"I want to be a strong partner with Indian country," Clinton told several hundred people in Pablo at Salish Kootenai College on the sprawling Flathead Indian reservation. Among other things, she promised to name a representative of the American Indian community to work alongside her in the White House.

Clinton's visit came a week before primaries in Montana and South Dakota are expected to feature a sizable representation of American Indian voters.

In an exceptionally scenic setting of snow-covered mountains and tall pine trees, the former first lady was greeted by dancers performing a spiritual dance and given a set of moccasins and a necklace by Joe McDonald, president of the tribal college.

"Wear this next to your heart," McDonald told her. Clinton wore the beaded necklace as she spoke, and appeared moved by the scene that greeted her.

"I humbly ask for your support," she said to applause.

Americans Indians are expected to make up as much as 20 percent of next Tuesday's Democratic primary voters in Montana, and more than 10 percent in South Dakota, where Clinton was headed Wednesday. She planned to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation, home to several thousand members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Obama also has paid heed to American Indian concerns, even as he has begun to focus on the likely general election contest against McCain. Earlier this month, he visited Montana's Crow Indian reservation and was adopted into the Crow Nation during a private ceremony.

McCain also has ties to American Indians. He is from Arizona and is a former chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

The Associated Press: Clinton still insists she's more electable

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Microsoft exec predicts big growth for Windows Mobile | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

Microsoft sees big growth for its Windows Mobile operating system.

A Microsoft executive in Asia told Reuters on Tuesday that sales will increase at least 50 percent over the next year as demand for smartphones picks up.

Eddie Wu, the software company's managing director of OEM embedded devices in Asia, said the company expects to sell 20 million "units" of its software in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which ends in June, according to the article. And the company expects to grow at least 50 percent annually over the next two years, he added. Microsoft sold more than 11 million units of its Windows Mobile software in its 2006-2007 fiscal year, which ended June a year ago.

Wu told Reuters that the company is seeing the fastest growth in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Brazil, Russia, and India. Demand is also strong in Europe and the United States.

Windows Mobile is a software operating system used on smartphones. Companies such as Motorola, Samsung, and High Tech Electronics (HTC) have all released products that use it. And Sony Ericsson introduced a new Windows Mobile phone earlier this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Smartphones, which offer e-mail, Web surfing, music, and other Internet services, are growing in popularity. In the first quarter of 2008, sales of smartphones in the U.S. accounted for about 17 percent of all mobile phone sales, the NPD Group reported. This was an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. The increase in smartphone demand comes as sales of cell phones in general are declining in the U.S.

Microsoft has been working hard to cash in on the growing demand for smartphones. Earlier this year, Microsoft released version 6.1 of theWindows Mobile operating system. This version includes an updated browser, which is supposed to make Internet surfing on a mobile phone look and feel like it does on a desktop. The company also has added support for Adobe Systems' Flash.

Windows Mobile 6.1 will be available on a number of manufacturers' phones including HTC, Samsung Electronics, Motorola, and Pantech. And carriers including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Alltel have already announced that they will offer the upgrade.

Despite predictions for strong growth, Microsoft still faces tough competition, and it may have a hard time increasing its market share as competition intensifies. Apple is rumored to be getting ready to launch the 3G, or third-generation, version of the iPhone in a few weeks. The company has already announced software upgrades that should make the iPhone more appealing for business users.

What's more, new phones using Google's Android operating system will soon hit the market. And competitors such as Research In Motion with its BlackBerry devices and Symbian, which is used on Nokia and LG Electronics phones, are also expected to continue to grow.

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Mystery of iPhone Shortage May Be Solved - May 28, 2008 - The New York Sun

Since mid-March, Apple Inc. has imported nearly 200 ocean containers full of what are termed "electronic computers," which experts said is a likely reference to the anticipated 3G iPhone. According to ImportGenius.com, which uncovered the mystery shipments, about 40,000 iPhones could fit into each container, or some 7.5 million phones in all.

The shipments couldn't come at a better time. The current iPhones are out of stock at every Apple store in Manhattan, and a number of AT&T outlets are also reporting a shortage. As of May 12, meanwhile, iPhones were no longer available for order on the company's Web site. This would not be the first time Apple has employed a strategy of allowing old products to be sold off before launching a replacement, analysts said.

"There isn't just a shortage of iPhones in New York, but they are generally not available around the world," an analyst who covers Apple, but does not have clearance to speak for attribution, said. "It is an old trick of analysts to study which products are no longer available, as those are likely the ones that Apple will introduce in some new form."

Apple declined to comment, and AT&T maintained that its stores do have a supply of the phones, although a visit to two stores and calls to a handful of others found none.

The iPhone shortage has only served to create more demand. Anticipation is so high, in fact, that rumors of a new shipment of iPhones sparked a rush last week on Apple's Fifth Avenue outpost, with fans spontaneously lining up in the hopes of being first to buy the item.

Wall Street is widely expecting CEO Steven Jobs to announce the new 3G iPhone at Apple's trade show next month in San Francisco. It would mark the first major upgrade to the iPhone, which was introduced last June.

As for the shipments, "starting March 19, I saw that Apple was shipping 40 containers of these 'electronic computers,' and then gradually every two or three weeks another large shipment would appear," a founder of ImportGenius.com, Ryan Petersen, said. With all of the add-ons expected to come with the new iPhone, dubbing the product an electronic computer is logical, Mr. Petersen said. "Based on expectations that the phones will be announced on June 9, they likely need millions of units in the country to satisfy demand, so it seems they are preparing for this."

Adding to the rumor mill is an internal memo that was handed out to AT&T employees requesting they not take vacation between June 15 and July 12 because of an "exciting summer promotional launch." The company, which has an exclusive agreement with Apple to distribute the iPhone, issued a similar memo last year before the phone's launch.

The new iPhone is expected to feature third generation wireless technology technology, which is about 10 times faster than the current iPhone's network connection. There are also rumors regarding other features, including a switch that would allow the user to turn off the 3G network connection, which is expected to use up large amounts of battery power. It may also be lighter, with plastic replacing the aluminum-magnesium shell to reduce its heft by as much as 2 ounces from its current weight of 4.8 ounces. There is also talk that Apple is negotiating with record labels to allow consumers to download music off the AT&T network rather than just Wi-Fi, and a real GPS system that would be an upgrade from the current software the phone relies on.

Lehman Brothers expects iPhone sales to reach 1.7 million in the third quarter and 2.55 million in the fourth quarter. "To date, we believe it is possible to calculate that Apple's 3G iPhone will be able to serve a market of about 650 million wireless subscribers," a report to clients by Lehman Brothers analyst Ben Reitzes read. "We believe this figure could grow considerably by the fall to even 1 billion, potentially enabling Apple to exceed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones in calendar 2008."

Apple's stock rose 2.9% yesterday, to $186.43.

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Microsoft: Windows 7 to Include Multitouch Features - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Microsoft is finally opening up about when Windows 7 will ship, but the company continues to share just a few, yet tantalizing details of what the eagerly anticipated OS update will be all about.

The latest tidbit to drop is multitouch interface support. At the Wall St. Journal's D Conference Tuesday evening in Carlsbad, Calif., company founder and chief software architect Bill Gates and chief executive Steve Ballmer are scheduled to unveil a laptop with a touchscreen that accepts multiple, simultaneous touches. The effect is quite reminiscent of what's possible with the world's most popular, commercially available gesture-based interface device: the iPhone .

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

Officially, Windows 7 is scheduled to ship three years after the general availability of Windows Vista , according to Microsoft. Vista's business editions launched on Nov. 30, 2006, which would mean the software could ship as early as that date in 2009, with a beta release in advance. Vista's editions for the home market launched Jan. 29, 2007.

To be fair, this is not Microsoft's first foray into the multitouch arena. The company's innovative "Surface" computing platform, which combines cameras to sense the gestures and touches of either a single user or multiple users, allowing them to interact with a table-top full of digital objects. Surface then uses a projector to project the image onto a screen. Windows 7 would use touchscreen technology to achieve similar effects.

Microsoft would not say specifically whether the OS will support gestures as well as multitouch support, like Surface does. Given the gesture support in Apple's products, however, something similar is likely.

A video posted on Microsoft Windows Client Communications Team Director Chris Flores' blog shows the interface on a laptop and table-mounted LCD screen. During that demonstration a user edits and manipulates photos with his fingertips, navigates a map and plays a virtual piano.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company is "working closely with OEMs, IHVs and ISVs to bring the best touch experiences to Windows PCs. The Windows and Surface teams are also working together closely to deliver the best and most innovative touch experiences to customers."

"Touch is quickly becoming a common way of directly interacting with software and devices," Flores wrote on his blog, in something of a validation of the touch and gesture based platform introduced on Apple's iPhone. "Touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere including laptop touch pads, cell phones, remote controls, GPS devices, and more."

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TeliaSonera To Bring iPhone to Nordic, Baltic Countries - Hardware - IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness

The iPhone is heading to Scandinavia and parts of the former Soviet Bloc.

Nordic telecom company TeliaSonera has entered into a deal with Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) to bring the iPhone to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia later this year, according to a statement released by the company on Tuesday.

The company did not say whether its deal with Apple would be exclusive, like that between Apple and U.S. dealer and service provider AT&T Wireless, or whether it would follow in the model the company has taken with Italy, where multiple providers will carry the iPhone. Before the Italian deal earlier this month, Apple had been signing exclusive deals with carriers on a country-by-country basis. O2, for example, is Apple's British iPhone partner.

TeliaSonera also made no comment on whether it would be selling Apple's current iPhone product or whether it would be bringing the much-anticipated and speculated 3G version of the iPhone to the Nordic and Baltic regions.

Analysts and Apple enthusiasts have speculated that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, will announce the launch of the 3G iPhone at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference on June 9 in San Francisco. The company, however, has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it is manufacturing a version of the iPhone that will run on 3G networks which are capable of transmitting data at faster speeds than the current product.

Apple is also launching iPhone software 2.0 in June, bringing compatibility with Microsoft Exchange to the iPhone, among other features.

The iPhone was criticized on its release for its lack of Exchange compatibility, rendering it less useful as a business tool.

Apple said it expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008.

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