Samsung Offers 15% Cashback, Easy EMI Options and Exciting Deals this Ganesh Chaturthi

Festival Offers

* Get Galaxy S20+ worth INR 77,999 with QLED 8K TVs and Note 10 Lite worth INR 37,999 free with SpaceMax Family Hub Refrigerator 

Celebrating the auspicious festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, Samsung India, country’s most trusted consumer electronics brand, today announced exclusive offers for its televisions, refrigerators, smart ovens, washing machines and air conditioners.

These exciting offers, coupled with bundled deals, attractive finance schemes with up to 15% cash back, and easy EMIs of as low as INR 990 will be valid till August 31, 2020.

The unique offers provide assured benefits to consumers purchasing Samsung consumer durable products such as Samsung QLED TVs, 4K UHD TVs, Smart TVs, SpaceMax Family Hub™ Refrigerator, Side-by-Side and Frost Free Refrigerators, FlexWash Washing Machines, AddWash Washing Machines, Fully Automatic Front Load and Top Load Washing Machines, Smart Ovens and WindFree Air Conditioners, among others. Expanding its wide consumer electronics portfolio, Samsung recently launched Soundbars with the unique Q-Symphony feature in select models, to give an immersive sound with the TV.

During the offer period, consumers purchasing Samsung QLED 8K TVs will get a Galaxy S20+ worth INR 77,999. Additionally, consumers will get a 10-year no screen burn-in warranty on panel on select QLED TVs.

Consumers buying Samsung Smart TVs will get a cashback of up to INR 15000 and easy EMIs as low as INR 990 along with the convenience of one EMI off on 43-inch and above models. Delivering on the entertainment front, Samsung TVs come with one month free Zee5 subscription and 30% discount on Zee5 premium packs.

In the refrigerator category, consumers buying Samsung SpaceMax Family Hub™ Refrigerator will get a Galaxy Note10 Lite worth INR 37,999. Additionally, on purchase of Samsung refrigerators and washing machines, consumers can avail up to 15% cashback and easy EMI options as low as INR 990, along with one EMI off on refrigerators above 300L capacity.

While refrigerators will come with 10-year Warranty on the Digital Inverter Compressor, washing machines will come with 12-year Warranty on the motor and 30year Warranty on the complete machine. These offers are applicable on Family Hub, Side-by-Side and Frost-Free refrigerators, and on FlexWash and AddWash Washing Machines as well as Fully Automatic Front Load and Top Load Washing Machines.

Consumers purchasing Samsung Air Conditioners can avail easy EMIs of as low as INR 990. On purchase of Samsung’s Wind-Free™ Air Conditioner that comes with 23,000 micro-holes to gently spread air evenly throughout the room, maintaining a comfortable level of coolness without any draft, consumers will get up to 15% cash back Additionally, benefits such as 5-year condenser and PCB controller warranty, 10-year Warranty on the Digital Inverter Compressor on select air conditioner models along with free installation and free gas recharge will also be offered.

On purchase of select models of convection Smart Ovens, above 28L, consumers will get a free Borosil kit, a 10-year warranty on the ceramic enamel cavity along with 5-year warranty on the magnetron.

Adding to the occasion, Samsung with its My Samsung My EMI offer provides consumers with an option to choose EMIs and down payment as per their budget on select televisions, refrigerators, microwave and washing machines. Consumers can further avail options such as EMIs of up to 36 months and one free EMI on select TV and refrigerator models.

Festive season is the time when consumers upgrade to newer and smarter technologies to reimagine their homes. Being a consumer centric brand, our focus is to deliver unparalleled technology for our consumers. Samsung is committed to deliver the best products and our latest offers come with guaranteed benefits on a wide range of products across price points. With consumers seeking value proposition, we are confident these unique offers will meet their expectations and enrich their lives with meaningful innovation,” said, Raju Pullan, Senior Vice President, Consumer Electronics Business, Samsung India.

Samsung’s Diverse Product Line-up

Samsung QLED Televisions:

Samsung QLED TV breaks new ground for premium TVs and home entertainment, delivering beautiful design that is supported with the most advanced picture quality. Powered by HDR10+ technology that optimizes the TV’s brightness levels and delivers brighter and deeper colors, to deliver the visual experience intended by creators. The technology also features Direct Full Array Elite for enhanced contrast and precise picture quality.

The QLED TV features an Ambient Mode which turns the TV into a piece of art, building on the Ambient Mode’s ability to blend in with the home interior, the TV can be hung on the wall with a No Gap Wall-Mount, intelligently embedded in the back of the TV so that it blends in seamlessly. It also allows the users to take voice control one step further with the new Bixby feature on One Remote Control allowing connections to all connected devices without additional connectors or complicated setups.

4K UHD Televisions

Samsung’s 4K UHD TVs offers distinctive features through integration, consumption and interaction of TV in the everyday lives of its consumers. Driven by PurColor technology, Samsung UHD TVs are aimed to deliver superior colours with unmatched sharpness and contrast levels. With a host of features such as Live Cast, Tune Station, Screen Mirroring, Lag Free Gaming, Real 4K resolution and 60+ Titles. These TVs empower consumers to enjoy enhanced picture quality and superior content consumption capabilities.

Samsung Spacemax Family Hub™:

The Family Hub™ works with the SmartThings ecosystem, allowing users to control and monitor their connected appliances – Flex Wash Washing Machine and Smartphone – from the Family Hub™ screen. The built-in View Inside camera allows users to digitally label their food with expiration dates or use a mobile device to peek inside their fridge from anywhere. So now, consumers can see what is inside their fridge from the grocery store and/or leave a note on screen to remind the kids to clean their rooms after school. Users can do countless other things without ever leaving the kitchen.

Consumers can manage food, with the View Inside app that enables users to see inside the fridge from anywhere. The recipes app offers multiple recipes to choose from around the world and prepare the food that the family loves.

Samsung Side-by-Side and Frost Free Refrigerators:

The Spacemax Side-by-Side Refrigerators and Frost Free Refrigerators cater to the diverse storage needs of Indian consumers. Samsung refrigerators are a blend of freshness, energy efficiency, even cooling and durability. They are the perfect solution to provide savings on electricity bills, retain uninterrupted cooling and freshness even during power cuts.

WIND-FREE 2.0 SERIES:

Samsung’s Wind-Free™ 2.0 system uses 23,000 micro-holes to gently spread air evenly throughout the room, maintaining a comfortable level of coolness without any draft. Once the desired temperature is reached, the system disperses fresh air uniformly. The design has been upgraded to rectangular from the previous triangle design and with this change the micro-holes have been increased to 23,000 from 21,000 in the previous version.

The Wind-Free 2.0 enables users to control their ACs using the Smart Home App through Wi-Fi. The ACs allow the user to remotely control the functions and schedule operations along with live feedback. Users can also monitor and limit power usage as per their needs. The latest Wind-Free ACs are equipped with Motion Detect sensors (MDS) and automatically go into an energy saving mode if it does not detect any human presence for 60 minutes. Another option which users get through this feature is to choose the wind direction.

Samsung Digital Inverter Air Conditioners:

Samsung Air Conditioners have been designed carefully keeping in mind the consumers’ needs and expectations, which are faster cooling, less electricity consumption and uncompromised cooling even in hot summers. Convertible Mode, introduced this year, is Samsung’s another technology, which when activated allows consumers to save more energy when they are sitting alone in a room.

Samsung Microwave Ovens:

Samsung has revolutionized Indian cooking with innovations in microwave ovens that have been made specifically for India. Consumers can now prepare Masala, Tadka and Sun-dry food, in addition to making Roti/Naan and Curd in the new Microwave range.

Samsung Digital Inverter Motor Washing Machines:

Samsung Washing Machines, powered by digital inverter motors, consume less energy while producing minimal noise and vibration, when the washing machine is running. Having less friction makes the washing machine run much quieter and smoothly, which makes it perfect for open plan living and keeping that budget in check.

Intel to partner with telecom major ITI

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is planning to participate in bids invited by Indian state-owned telecom equipment maker ITI Ltd to set up joint ventures, the Business Standard reported on Friday.

ITI intends to be a minority partner in the proposed joint ventures with a 26 per cent stake according to the bid proposals, the newspaper said.

It said Intel was interested in making the hardware and consumer premise equipment around WiMAX technology, which provides for wireless transmission of data up to 75 megabytes per second.

Though interested parties have been asked to participate before Jan 29, 2010, the telecoms ministry is holding a pre-bid conference before selecting them, the paper said.

Other global players that have showed interest include Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and Hitachi, the paper said.

A spokeswoman for Intel in India could not immediately respond to the report.

Agencies

Japanese cos NEC, Hitachi, Casio to merge for mobile operations

Japan's NEC Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Casio Computer Co are in talks to merge their struggling mobile phone manufacturing operations to create Japan's No 2 handset maker, the Yomiuri daily reported on Friday.

Loss-making NEC could hive off its mobile operations and merge it with an existing joint venture between Hitachi and Casio to together develop handsets, or the three could merge their mobile phone production operations, the newspaper said without citing sources.

NEC would be likely to hold a majority of the new firm, it said. The three are struggling in Japan's saturated cellphone market and mounting development costs, said to be about 10 billion yen ($107 million) per handset. In the year ended in March, Sharp Corp controlled over one-fifth of Japan's handset market, followed by Panasonic Corp.

Agencies

17% drop in the semiconductor revenue in 2009

The global semiconductor revenue is on course to total $212 billion in 2009, which is a 17.1 percent decline from 2008 revenue of $255 billion reveals a report. The report by research and analysis firm Gartner says that the projection is better than the second quarter projections of a 22.4 percent decline, which shows signs of recovery in the market.

Some of the major semiconductor vendors have reported positive second quarter sequential revenue growth. Intel posted 12 percent revenue growth, while Samsung announced its revenue increased by 30 percent and Qualcomm reported a 35.7 percent increase in its mobile chip sales. "The semiconductor market has performed better than expected, as was evident when second quarter semiconductor revenue increased 17 percent in sequential sales," said Bryan Lewis, Research Vice President at Gartner.

The increasing demand for products using semiconductor was the key driver behind the growth in the market. "Consumers reacted strongly to reduced PC and LCD TV pricing as price elasticity was amazing. The industry also benefited from the China stimulus package that worked remarkably well to boost short-term demand. Governments worldwide took action quickly and extensively to avoid a meltdown and it worked," added Lewis.

Though, the outlook for 2009 has improved, Gartner also points out that all major segments of the semiconductor market are expected to report double-digit revenue declines this year. The application-specific standard product (ASSP) - the largest segment in the semiconductor market - will touch $57.2 billion in 2009, a decline of 16.5 percent over last year's revenue. The memory market is predicted to total $41 billion with a 13.5 percent decline and the microcomponents segment is forecasted to reach $39.4 billion in 2009, a 19.2 percent decline from 2008.

According to Lewis, foundries are concerned that demand may drop off more than seasonal in the fourth quarter, and it may carry into first quarter 2010. Gartner's most likely scenario is a negative five percent growth in the first quarter of 2010, as customers take a break and absorb all the devices they purchased over the previous three quarters.

Agencies

Intel & Nokia to jointly work on mobile devices

Intel Corp announced a technology partnership with Nokia that could potentially give the chip maker the breakthrough it as been looking for into the mobile market.

The companies said on Tuesday they would work together on a new class of mobile computing devices, but would not say when they would come to market or give details on the kind of wireless products they hoped to develop together.

Analysts saw the pact as strategically important for Intel in the long term because it gains the world's top cellphone maker as a potential client. But given the lack of details, analysts said it could take one or two years for products to come to market, and it remained to be seen if they would find favor with consumers,

"Intel at least has its foot in the door. It's an important and strategic customer," said Gartner analyst Jon Erensen, who sees the partnership as a way for Intel to get into the market for advanced phones known as smartphones.

However, he added, "You're probably talking about something like 2011 before you get down to the power consumption and integration (levels) you'd need for that kind of device."

Analysts said the deal gives Intel a chance to take on leading cellphone chip makers Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc, a big Nokia supplier.

It could also mean stiffer competition for ARM Holdings Plc, which supplies core cellphone processors to both Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, and whose customers rely in part on software from Wind River Systems Inc.

Intel said earlier this month that it would buy Wind River, whose software speeds up and connects devices made by Samsung Electronics, Apple Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Motorola Inc.

Intel, whose microprocessors are found in eight out of 10 personal computers, already works with LG Electronics on mobile devices. The agreement with Finland's Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, is a bigger step.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini has said that the handheld, embedded and netbook markets would be as important for the company as the PC market in the near future.

NEW MOBILE PLATFORM

Under the agreement, Intel will buy intellectual property from Nokia related to high-speed wireless technology. They also plan to collaborate on open-source mobile Linux software projects, which some analysts say will compete with Google's Android software in the netbook and mobile Internet device (MID) market.

Intel and Nokia said they aimed to define "a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks" for hardware, software and mobile Internet services. They stressed the pact was about their technology collaboration and not about specific products.

Until the companies give more detail about their plans, the news is unlikely to provide much of a boost to share prices, analysts said.

Intel's shares rose 0.83 per cent to $15.81 while Nokia shares fell 0.78 per cent to 10.21 euros.

Intel already sells Atom chips for netbooks - small, no-frills computers
good for Web surfing - and Nokia has said it would look into the possibly of expanding beyond phones to develop netbooks.

The pact may help Nokia compete with rivals such as iPhone from Apple Inc and BlackBerry from Research In Motion, as well as Pre from Palm Inc.

J. Gold Associates analyst Jack Gold wrote in a research note that he expects the first Nokia-Intel devices to be Atom-based and to hit the market in early to mid 2010. Within two to three years, Intel could ship tens of millions of units annually, he said.

Gold wrote on Tuesday that he expects to see Intel enter into more deals and alliances in new markets.


Agencies

Samsung partners BSNL, MTNL for 3G services

Korean electronic major Samsung said it has partnered state-run telecos BSNL and MTNL to provide high-end handsets for their 3G services and is looking at up to 45 per cent of its total sales being generated from multimedia and touchscreen phones.

"We have partnered BSNL and MTNL to promote 3G services in India. We are currently giving a special bundling offer for BSNL consumers on our select handsets for 3G services," Samsung India Electronics President and CEO Jung Soo Shin said.

He said, "We have also provided handsets to MTNL to offer 3G services in Delhi."

Samsung today launched an 8 megapixel touchscreen, 3G enabled phone 'Ultra' priced at Rs 27,500 in India. The handset is capable of offering speedy internet access, video telephony, streaming and multimedia services.

"Samsung already has four touchscreen phones available in the Indian market, all of these are 3G enabled," Shin said.

"We are looking at touchscreen and multimedia phone portfolio to contribute 40-45 per cent of our total sales by the end of the year," Samsung Telecom Division Country Head Sunil Dutt said.

Agencies

What is hot in the memory chip sector?

Taiwan is setting up a new company to pull together six struggling computer memory chip makers and bring in technology from Japan's Elpida or US-based Micron in a sector suffering from its worst ever slump.

The government expects the move to fend off the industry's dominant players, Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea.

Following are answers to key questions about the market for DRAM or dynamic random access memory:

What does this mean for the global industry?

The consolidation led by Taiwan will leave the $25 billion sector with four major DRAM makers globally -- Samsung, Hynix, "Taiwan Memory Co" and one other company that would be left out of the Taiwan consolidation (either Micron or Elpida).

The reshaped landscape might help Taiwanese suppliers -- which make nearly a quarter of all the world's DRAM memory chips -- to get a stronger grip on output, especially after companies recklessly built up output in the last many years. Elpida may need funds before the Taiwan plan can be implemented.

What is the outlook for Taiwanese chipmakers?

There's likely to be no impact in the short term because it will take about six months to set up the new company, while chipmakers, including ProMOS and Powerchip are still strapped for funds.

The government did not give any specifics on how the new company can bring local DRAM makers together, but any de-listing of a company in such a consolidation could face opposition from shareholders.

In the long term, some analysts say this move might force some of the debt-ridden chipmakers to consolidate their capacity into the new company. Taiwan Memory Co could become a centralised foundry and DRAM makers would diversify into sales and marketing.

The six chipmakers to be involved in the plan are: Powerchip, Nanya Technology, ProMOS, Inotera Memories -- joint venture between Nanya and Micron -- and Rexchip, unlisted joint venture between Powerchip and Elpida.

Is this a chance or threat for Samsung, Hynix?

Benefiting from more advanced production technologies, Korean makers such as Samsung and Hynix could further tighten their grip on the industry, while Taiwan Memory struggles to slowly integrate several companies and technologies into one entity.

Taiwan Memory could end up becoming a formidable threat to No. 2 Hynix, which may have to seek more funding for technology investments. Still, analysts say whether Taiwan's government can inject more funds into Taiwan Memory remains a question.

What is the outlook for DRAM prices?

Even after the government's move, any significant recovery in memory chip prices is unlikely in the short term. So far this year, memory chip prices have been flat but slumped about 50 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year as a global economic slowdown hurt spending on personal computers and other gadgets that use memory chips to store data.

Analysts' forecasts for global PC shipments in 2009 vary, but many expect sales to fall. Research firm IDC expects PC shipments to drop 4.5 per cent this year.

Agencies

Now Send SMS In Any Local Languages

By Manu Sharma

Since local language is always preferred to communicate with close ones, Tachyon Technologies, the Bangalore-based company initially rolled out Quillpad for the online players. It has recently introduced the solution for mobile players for their SMS service.

Talking to CXOtoday, Ram Prakash H., founder and CEO of Tachyon Technologies said, "We innovated a core less compression technology for the mobile version that has been compressed from eight mbps to less than 400 kbps. It has enabled easier usage for the end-user."

LG has rolled out four models that has inbuilt Quillpad in them and these included: KM 380T, KG 195, KP 199 and KP 220 models. Following the success with LG, Tachyon is talking to other manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung among others. "We want to initially target the mobile manufacturers who will bundle the features in the handsets and later approach the mobile service providers like Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone who can provide more value added services to the end users," said Prakash.

As per the agreement signed with LG (global), the license covers all languages. However, the company has initially rolled out models that can support only Hindi. "Quillpad in mobile makes it easy to type in local languages. It is as easy as we type test messages in English in dictionary mode," said Prakash.

On compatibility with other formats, he said Quillpad is Unicode-compliant and would support any application that supports Unicode. Quillpad was developed as an AI technology, which learns the rules and language patterns and can transliterate any language without help of any linguistic expert," said Prakash.

There is a two-fold advantage - since there is no dependence on a linguistic expert, it can be used for any language and one does not have to depend on the dictionary. Prakash said that this learning was just one-time, after which the trained set of patterns could be deployed by all users of Quillpad technology. The newly developed technology then enables predictive transliteration.

"When you are typing a word, the technology will put together the rules and come up with the right word. It is very similar to the way the T9 dictionary on mobile phones supports typing English words," he said. Another feature that is unique is that the technology is not dependent on one Indian language or its structure. It supports any language that can be written phonetically.

"This gives Quillpad an edge over other technologies. As the artificial intelligence technology can learn the pattern of new languages in just three to four hours, one can add new languages overnight," he said.

CXOtoday.com

Yahoo offers iPhone-like Web for masses

Yahoo announced a new mobile service on Tuesday that will deliver an iPhone-like experience for people who cannot or will not splash out for the iconic but pricey Apple device as times get hard.

Yahoo Mobile will launch at the end of March in a form downloadable to any phone with a Web browser and from May in custom versions for hundreds of smartphones.

"There is a growing number of consumers out there who are not Apple iPhone users but want a rich starting experience," Marco Boerries, the head of Yahoo's mobile division, told the media in an interview.

Yahoo will also launch a version of Yahoo Mobile, designed to be a starting point for users to access the Internet, for the iPhone itself at the end of March. A test version for a limited number of public users is going live this week.

Yahoo Mobile offers a front page with colorful, boxy icons resembling the iPhone's for launching popular applications such as a Web browser, mail, news, weather and social network sites like Facebook.

Users also have the option to easily add any software or Web sites they choose to download on their phones.

The company plans in coming months to promote Yahoo Mobile via a series of 70 major operator partnerships it has struck to reach 850 million mobile subscribers around the globe.

Fifty of those partnerships already offer Yahoo services and the company expects the rest to adopt Yahoo Mobile in coming months, Boerries said.

Yahoo has developed versions that work on hundreds of mid-range and high-end mobile phones from BlackBerry maker RIM, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, as well as phones running Microsoft Windows.

Boerries defines the universe of phones that can effectively run Yahoo Mobile as "every phone that's shipped in the last two years that has a decent HTML-capable browser." He added: "We don't want to make lowest common denominator stuff."

A more general version of the service downloadable from the Web will also work on older phones but will not be tailored to those phones' specifications. Boerries demonstrated it on an old Sony Ericsson model.

Boerries said last year's on-again off-again talks with would-be buyer Microsoft had not significantly distracted his team, and said he had kept his key staff together for years.

After some prior delays in introducing services such as Yahoo Go, Boerries professed relief that his fuller vision of putting the Web on phones had arrived on time: "It is really, for me, making it all come together."

"This is like the uber-replacement of Yahoo Go."

Agencies

Techies bidding farewell in 2008

It's time to bid adieu to the year 2008, the year which witnessed the farewells of some of the biggest names in the technology world -- some of the marking the end of an era.

While most of these were ceremonious exits with some moving to take up their passions or philanthropy, others in pursuit of greener pastures. There were also some unceremonious exits, where some CEOs were made to resign penalising them for falling revenues and constant battering of their company's stocks at the bourses.

Here's looking into some of the most high-profile exits of 2008:

Arun Sarin, Vodafone

One of the most successful CEOs of British telecom giant Vodafone, Arun Sarin, quit the company in the July 2008 to don a new challenge.

During his five year tenure at the world's largest mobile firm, Sarin is credited for acquiring a controlling stake in one of India's biggest mobile phone companies, Hutchison Essar. Under him Vodafone posted group revenue of 35.5 billion pounds for the year ending March 31, an increase of 14.1 per cent, and organic growth of 4.2 per cent. This came in marginally higher than market consensus, provided by the company, of 35.2 billion to 35.4 billion pounds.

Under Sarin, Vodafone expanded aggressively into emerging markets, including Romania, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Sarin visited India before his exit along with his successor to participate in Vodafone-Essar board meeting, triggering speculation that he may join Tatas, but officials of the Indian conglomerate debunked any such report.

Post-exit Sarin planned a trekking trip to Himalayas before settling in California. Recently, Sarin, 53, who quit Vodafone at the pinnacle of his career, was speculated to be the most sought-after contender for the position of Yahoo CEO, after the Jerry Yang's exit.

Sarin, however, said he was not keen on the position. Sarin is looking at alternative roles at other US public companies as well as at a private equity firm, the Financial Times wrote recently.

The India-born US citizen is an IIT Kharagpur alumnus and has an MBA degree from University of California, Berkley.

Bill Gates, Microsoft

This was surely the biggest farewell of 2008. The exit of Bill Gates marked an end of era. Gates retired from Microsoft, the company he co-founded with college-friend Paul Allen in 1975.

In June, Gates quit as full-time chairman and software architect of the world's largest software company to work full-time at his charitable organisation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will remain the company's non-executive chairman.

A Harvard College drop out, Gates has been a permanent fixture in the Forbes Richest people list, holding the numero uno slot for 15 years in a row between 1993 and 2007. In 2008, Gates was topped by investor Warren Buffett and Mexico's telecom tycoon Carlos Slim in the world's wealthiest list.

Bill Gates' key creation is Microsoft, a company with sales of $51 billion as of June 2007 with 78,000 employees across 105 countries. Almost 90 per cent of the estimated 1 billion computers (desktop and laptop) in the world run on Microsoft's Windows and Office. The company has products across the layers network, operating system, database, middleware, application software.

Gates departure comes at a time when Microsoft is engaged in an escalating rivalry with Google and other competitors who are using the internet to chip away at its software dominance.

During his recent visit to India, Gates launched a major initiative for India’s public healthcare with a special focus on eradicating polio.

Jerry Yang, Yahoo

After a rocky tenure at Yahoo, co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as chief executive this November.

Among the Silicon Valley dotcom billionaires, Yang was named CEO in June 2007 after Terry Semel exit. As CEO, Yang struggled to turn around the company's dwindling fortunes. The rejection of Microsoft offer and a failed advertising deal with Google marred his brief tenure.

Earlier this year, Yang rejected a $33 per share offer by Microsoft for Yahoo worth a total of more than $47 billion. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer later withdrew the offer after Yang sought $37 per share. The negotiating breakdown triggered a shareholder revolt led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who called for Yang's ouster in July. Since then Yahoo has been trading at between $10-12 a share.

With a fortune estimated at $2.23 billion, some shareholders accused Yang of putting his personal affection for the company he created over the interests of its shareholders. After squandering the opportunity to sell to Microsoft, Yang tried to boost Yahoo's profit by forging an advertising partnership with Google. But this backup plan too fell when Google walked away from the deal to avoid a court battle with the US Justice Department, which concluded that the partnership may throttle competition in the online advertising market.

Sanjay Jha, Qualcomm

Indian engineering whizkid Sanjay Jha left Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) group as COO and president this year to join beleaguered US telecom major Motorola as CEO of Mobile Devices.

At Motorola, Jha holds a key task to pull the American cellphone pioneer which slipped to the fourth position in global handset sales and the downslide has been quite sharp.

What top's Jha's priorities is reversing the fortunes of the company’s loss-making handset business -- comprising over one third of Motorola’s total business worth $36.6 billion.

Forty five-year-old Jha started as a senior engineer at Qualcomm VLSI (very large scale integration) group in 1994 and was promoted as senior vice-president of engineering in 1998.

He was elevated as the president of QCT in 2003 when the chipset and software division was started at Qualcomm. For the past five years, this division of Qualcomm has been ranked among the world's largest fabless semiconductor producers, and was rated as being ahead of the leader Texas Instruments last year. Qualcomm had sold its own CDMA cell phone business to Kyocera in February 2000.

Neelam Dhawan, Microsoft

Ending her three-and-a-half years stint as MD Microsoft India, Neelam Dhawan joined Hewlett-Packard India as its managing director in June.

At HP, 48-year-old Neelam holds key tasks of driving overall strategy, revenues and profitability for HP India. Currently she reports to Balu Doraisamy, MD, HP Asia Pacific & Japan.

During her tenure at Microsoft, she looked into the strategic focus and improved company's operating efficiency and execution, as well as its financial performance and customer focus.

Prior to Microsoft, Neelam worked with Compaq as head (Enterprise Sales) and HP as vice president (Customer Solutions Group). Under her leadership the Rs 16,000-crore Hewlett-Packard recently won a multi-million dollar Godrej outsourcing deal.

An economics graduate from St Stephen’s College Delhi, Neelam holds a masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

Lee Kun-hee, Samsung

In one of the most sensational and controversial exits of the year, Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, resigned following an indictment on tax evasion charges after a counsel investigation.

Known to be the most powerful Korean tycoon, Lee was charged with $133m tax evasion and breach of trust during his 20-year tenure at Samsung. Lee was also charged with damaging the interest of other shareholders. He was accused of forcing Samsung subsidiaries to sell shares to his son at unfairly low prices.

However, the company was cleared of the most serious allegation that it raised money to bribe influential citizens and ministers in its native South Korea.

Joining Lee in stepping down were Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo and Lee Jae-yong, the chairman's son and heir apparent to the Samsung throne. Nine other senior executives also left Samsung following the charges.

Sixty six-year old Lee is credited of having built $160-billion Samsung Group which is Korea Inc's pride, accounting for roughly 21 per cent of the country's total exports.

Ben Verwaayen, British Telecom

British Telecom Group, one of the largest telecommunications companies in Europe, saw the departure of its CEO Ben Verwaayen in the month of April.

Having served BT for almost six years, Verwaayen headed back to the US to take up a position with a venture capital firm. Verwaayen joined BT in January 2002 after quitting his job from US equipment vendor Lucent.

During his tenure at BT, Verwaayen initiated a complete broadband overhaul of BT's aging infrastructure. He mended fences with Ofcom, the UK's version of the FCC.

Fifty-six year old Dutch national was also awarded an honorary knighthood for services to the communications industry. Verwaayen helped BT buy a slew of US-based companies including Infonet, Radianz, Counterpane and INS pushing the telecom giant into a number of emerging markets.

Ian Livingston, who was chief executive of BT Retail, succeeded Verwaayen.

Farewell in the wings: Steve Jobs?

Apple recently announced that its Chief Executive Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote address at the Macworld trade show next month. The announcement once again revived investors' concerns about the state of his health and sent the company's shares down.

Apple spokesman, however, denied that Jobs was missing the show due to health issues. Instead of Jobs, Philip Schiller, the senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will deliver the keynote.

However, Samuel Wilson, an analyst at JMP Securities, said Jobs' absence at the event was important. "It's like the first time in a long time he hasn't spoken in Macworld. Why is he not speaking this year would be the question."

Investors have been concerned Jobs health after he was diagnosed with cancer some years back. In 2004, Jobs, 53, said he had undergone successful surgery to remove a rare type of pancreatic cancer. In September, Jobs, who is often perceived as irreplaceable as Apple's leader, appeared thin but jaunty as he introduced new iPod digital music players.

Macworld is a cultural event that draws thousands of Apple fans and technology aficionados to San Francisco, where they have been treated to major announcements from Jobs in past years, including the launch of the iPhone in 2007.

Source: Indiatimes Infotech

Motorola bosses take 25% pay cut

Motorola Inc, the second-biggest US seller of mobile phones, will freeze US pension plans and reduce executive salaries to help cope with the economic slump.

Co-Chief Executive Officers Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha are taking a 25 per cent cut in base salary in 2009, Motorola said in a statement. Employees in many markets won’t get a raise, and the company will temporarily stop making matching contributions to US workers’ retirement investment accounts.

Jha, hired in August to lead the wireless device division, seeks to turn around a unit that has posted operating losses of $2.8 billion since the start of 2007. He tapped Google Inc to supply software for phones after losing market share to Samsung Electronics Inc and Apple Inc, whose iPhone 3G topped Motorola’s Razr in the third quarter as the most popular US phone.

“Turnarounds are always hard to execute on, and a bad economy makes them tougher,” said Tavis McCourt, an analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co in Nashville. “I’d be shocked if this is all they do in 2009.”

The pay cuts and pension freeze will help Motorola add to the $800 million in annual costs savings it announced in October, including 3,000 job cuts, the company said.

Worldwide mobile-phone sales will drop 13 per cent next year, the first decline since 2001, as economic growth slows, analysts at Citigroup Inc said in a research note.

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, rose 5 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $4.46 at 12:07 pm in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had dropped 73 per cent this year before today.

Source: Agencies

Web 2.0 a hit with handset makers

Cell phone makers are increasingly pre-loading their handsets with social networking applications to woo Internet-savvy consumers.

LG Mobile has tied up with Mobile 2.0 service provider RockeTalk which will upload a social networking application on its phones. Similarly, Samsung Mobile has a tie-up with ShoZu, provider of mobile social media services, which has pre-loaded social networking software on select Samsung phones.

Says Samsung Mobile country head Sanjay Dutt: “Early next year, we plan to launch our own proprietary software for enabling social networking through mobiles. This will be preloaded on most Samsung multimedia phones. The idea is to enable users to stay connected while on the move.”

LG GSM business head Anil Arora: “Social networking is the next thing on mobile phones. In future, we plan to preload more mobile phone models with social networking application without any extra charge.”

The company currently pre-loads the application only on LG KT 610 and KF 750 cell phones.

According to handset marketers, social networking on mobiles is a hightraction feature in the urban market where youths form a big consumer group for handsets. Says Motorola India and South-West Asia senior director (sales) Lloyd Mathias: “Social networking is an important feature, especially in the urban market and can define the purchase decision. Today’s Internet savvy youths seek access to social networking sites on mobile phones.”

Motorola has social networking application pre-loaded on seven of its handset models, including all phones in the Moto Rokr and Moto Ming series.

Some handset makers are eagerly seeking a tie-up in the space. Says Meridian Mobile CEO Rajiv Khanna: “We see potential in this feature and are planning to make even our low-end phones internet-ready. Early next year, we will tie up with a local web 2.0 service provider and upload this feature in our phones at the shop-floor level.”

Service providers are spoilt for choice as manufacturers queue up seeking collaborations for pre-loading phones with social networking applications.

Says RockeTalk marketing director Sameer Agarwal: “Our application makes it easier for mobile users to send voice messages, pictures and videos. Social networking on mobiles is set to grow exponentially as mobile internet penetration increases.”

The US-based service provider claims to be in advanced stages of talks with handset makers--Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Spice Mobile--for pre-loading web 2.0 applications.

Almost 10 million new handsets are sold in India every month, making it one of the biggest markets globally. No wonder, handset marketers like LG and Samsung are quick to adopt novel features to fuel sales.

Source: Agencies

Are mobile phones really hot?

Christmas being just round the corner, as always mobile phones are a popular gift choice. Reevoo.com gives you the low-down on mobiles; examining what's hot, what's not, what people are actually buying and which phones are the best value for money.

What's hot? The iPhone 3G of course! But it's not highly ratedDespite being one of the most talked about phones of the year, the iPhone 3G has failed to beat its 2007 predecessor.

The original iPhone is rated 8.3/10, just pipping this year's 3G offering to the post, (the iPhone 3G scores 8.2/10). According to owners, the major issues with the 3G model are its battery life and application crashes, meaning that other phones have been able to storm ahead of the iPhone. So, what really is the hottest mobile phone this season?

Revoo recommendations: Top five Christmas mobile phones

Top five most popular in last 30 days:
1. Nokia N96
2. Samsung F480 Tocco
3. Blackberry Storm
4. Sony Ericsson C902
5. Samsung Omnia

Top five highest rated phones of 2008:
1. BlackBerry Bold 9000
2. Sony Ericsson W980i
3. Apple iPhone 3G 8/16GB
4. Samsung F480 Tocco
5. Sony Ericsson K660i

Reevoo reviewers pick the BlackBerry Bold 9000 as the best phone released in 2008.

Reviews on Reevoo for the BlackBerry Bold 9000 include:

Positive+
+ Great keyboard for e-mailing and texting. Cracking screen which is nice and bright and videos look lovely on it. The sound from the internal speaker is really good. Just a great phone overall.
+ The Bold is undoubtedly the most impressive Blackberry yet. One of its greatest advantages is that in spite of many new features, it feels very familiar. Web browsing is almost broadband speed.

Negative
– Out of the box battery life is bad but gets better with regular charges
- The hyped-up phones usually get all the attention but it's interesting to see how the most popular phones differ from the most highly rated:

The Nokia N96, whilst being the most popular phone on the market, gets marked down by reviewers for poor battery life and software problems. At around £500 for Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) customers, it's no surprise that it also gets rated below average for value for money.

However, it does impress with its design and features. One reviewer writes "great picture and video quality, very easy to find your way around, fantastic features...looks good".

So who wins the race?

When it comes to value for money, the stylish Samsung F480 Tocco is a great buy. It scores highly for design and features and gets much higher scores for battery life than the Nokia N96, both iPhones and the BlackBerry Bold 9000. It's around £150 PAYG or free on some contracts.

Here are some of the reviews from owners of the Samsung F480 Tocco:
Positive:
+ Easy to use, good haptic technology feedback from the touch screen, excellent camera, fair battery life, smart, compact, stylish.
+ It's easy to use and has a very good memory and has good features that I would have expected.

Negative
- No Wi-Fi capability.
- Should come with a ball point touch screen pen, can be hard to press the right keys sometimes.