Internet users in the country may be growing substantially, but when it comes to networking online, India has been placed among the nations with least exposure to social networking sites in the Asia-Pacific region.
The US-based internet marketing research firm comScore in a report has said that only 60.3 per cent of internet users in India are used to social networking sites, making it one of the Asia-Pacific countries with least exposure to the activity.
In terms of the penetration of social networking sites, India is ahead of Japan (50.9 per cent), China (45.6 per cent) and Taiwan (42.4 per cent).
According to the report, Singapore has the highest number of social networking site users at 74.3 per cent in the region, followed by Australia (68.3 per cent), South Korea (68 per cent) and Malaysia (66.6 per cent).
Hong Kong and New Zealand have the same per centage of such users at 62.8 per cent, the report noted.
However, comScore said that the number of visitors to social networking sites has increased by 51 per cent in India.
In India, the number of internet users visiting such sites rose by 51 per cent to 19.37 million in December 2008, the report said. The number of visitors stood at just 12.8 million in December 2007.
Agencies
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Has the crisis left Dubai migrant workers out in the cold?
Low-paid Asian workers who toil long days to build the skyscrapers of Dubai have become the latest victims of the global financial crisis as companies run short of business and money.
For many years, the Gulf emirate was a magnet for South Asian workers who fed the booming economy with cheap manpower -- from cleaners and gardeners to skilled and unskilled builders.
A report issued earlier this month showed that 582 billion dollars worth of building projects in the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, had been put on hold due to the slowdown. That was 45 percent of the total.
Arnold, a 26-year-old Filipino machine operator, found a job in a small aluminium factory only two months after arriving in Dubai last summer. But in January, he and six others from the 15-strong workforce were laid off.
"I am staying in Dubai trying to find another job," he said, pointing out that his previous employer lost a great deal of business when many construction projects ground to a halt, cutting demand for aluminium products.
Six years of spectacular growth in the UAE construction sector, mainly in Dubai, absorbed hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly from South Asia. That had a knock-on effect, creating further opportunities for migrants.
But the financial crisis, mainly in construction and related industries, is reversing that trend, forcing foreign workers to go home.
"The crisis is worse in the Philippines. We have no future there. We are looking for part-time jobs here, anything," Arnold told AFP as he hung out with two friends who had also lost their jobs.
Christopher, a compatriot, said he has been in Dubai for around nine months working as a welder during the day and a barista in the evening.
He and his wife, who also works in a Dubai coffee shop, used to send 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month home, where their two kids were left behind.
Migrant workers send billions of dollars home every year. One money transfer firm, UAE Exchange, said its volume last year was 12 billion dollars, most of it to India, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Like Arnold, Christopher was working illegally in the hope that an employer would get him a work permit. Now he is searching desperately for anything.
But even for labourers who were brought to the UAE on a work visa to satisfy the needs of the once-booming economy, many are receiving the pink slip.
"Some 200 gardeners were sacked recently from our company" out of about 10,000 workers, said an Indian as he planted saplings in the garden of an elegant office building in Dubai.
"They told us the company does not have much work and is short of money," said the man in his mid-40s, refusing to give his name.
Two other colleagues, an Indian and a Bangladeshi, carried on trimming the hedge, appearing hesitant to say anything that might jeopardise their jobs.
"We are expecting to lose our jobs," said the man, who earns a meager 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month in return for 48 hours a week.
He lamented that two years ago he had to pay what was for him a fortune of around 10,000 dirhams (2,725 dollars) to Indian intermediaries to get a job in Dubai.
Murukesan, an Indian cleaner, said his employer, a large cleaning and maintenance company, last week told workers who had completed at least two years of work to go home on four-month unpaid vacations.
"They said do not come back until we call you," he said with a faint smile, appearing content as he has completed only 18 months of his contract.
"In the past, workers were not taking vacations, even after four years of continuous work," he said, highlighting a huge work load in the immediate past.
It appears some of the unpaid "vacations" are simply a way of getting rid of people without having to pay them off. Under UAE law, workers laid off must be paid 21 days' salary for each of the first five years worked and a month's salary for every year after that.
"They are trying to find excuses to bypass the rules of terminating a contract," said Monir al-Zaman, labour attache at the Bangladeshi embassy.
"Compensation should be paid if workers are being fired," he told the media, adding that companies should resort to cutting overtime work and even reduce salaries before laying off workers.
In December, Khalfan al-Kaabi, a member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said up to 45 percent of construction workers could be laid off this year if private sector projects in the UAE were delayed or cancelled.
Zaman said he could not provide a figure on Bangladeshi workers having lost their jobs in the UAE, because the process is not done "formally".
He also pointed out that he noticed, during inspection visits to labour camps, that many workers stayed in the UAE even if they were not being paid, in hope of finding work.
But poor unemployed workers cannot linger for long if jobs remain rare.
"Maybe this month I have to decide to stay or go ... because I don't have any money. Now I'm borrowing from friends," said Arnold.
Agencies
For many years, the Gulf emirate was a magnet for South Asian workers who fed the booming economy with cheap manpower -- from cleaners and gardeners to skilled and unskilled builders.
A report issued earlier this month showed that 582 billion dollars worth of building projects in the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, had been put on hold due to the slowdown. That was 45 percent of the total.
Arnold, a 26-year-old Filipino machine operator, found a job in a small aluminium factory only two months after arriving in Dubai last summer. But in January, he and six others from the 15-strong workforce were laid off.
"I am staying in Dubai trying to find another job," he said, pointing out that his previous employer lost a great deal of business when many construction projects ground to a halt, cutting demand for aluminium products.
Six years of spectacular growth in the UAE construction sector, mainly in Dubai, absorbed hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly from South Asia. That had a knock-on effect, creating further opportunities for migrants.
But the financial crisis, mainly in construction and related industries, is reversing that trend, forcing foreign workers to go home.
"The crisis is worse in the Philippines. We have no future there. We are looking for part-time jobs here, anything," Arnold told AFP as he hung out with two friends who had also lost their jobs.
Christopher, a compatriot, said he has been in Dubai for around nine months working as a welder during the day and a barista in the evening.
He and his wife, who also works in a Dubai coffee shop, used to send 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month home, where their two kids were left behind.
Migrant workers send billions of dollars home every year. One money transfer firm, UAE Exchange, said its volume last year was 12 billion dollars, most of it to India, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Like Arnold, Christopher was working illegally in the hope that an employer would get him a work permit. Now he is searching desperately for anything.
But even for labourers who were brought to the UAE on a work visa to satisfy the needs of the once-booming economy, many are receiving the pink slip.
"Some 200 gardeners were sacked recently from our company" out of about 10,000 workers, said an Indian as he planted saplings in the garden of an elegant office building in Dubai.
"They told us the company does not have much work and is short of money," said the man in his mid-40s, refusing to give his name.
Two other colleagues, an Indian and a Bangladeshi, carried on trimming the hedge, appearing hesitant to say anything that might jeopardise their jobs.
"We are expecting to lose our jobs," said the man, who earns a meager 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month in return for 48 hours a week.
He lamented that two years ago he had to pay what was for him a fortune of around 10,000 dirhams (2,725 dollars) to Indian intermediaries to get a job in Dubai.
Murukesan, an Indian cleaner, said his employer, a large cleaning and maintenance company, last week told workers who had completed at least two years of work to go home on four-month unpaid vacations.
"They said do not come back until we call you," he said with a faint smile, appearing content as he has completed only 18 months of his contract.
"In the past, workers were not taking vacations, even after four years of continuous work," he said, highlighting a huge work load in the immediate past.
It appears some of the unpaid "vacations" are simply a way of getting rid of people without having to pay them off. Under UAE law, workers laid off must be paid 21 days' salary for each of the first five years worked and a month's salary for every year after that.
"They are trying to find excuses to bypass the rules of terminating a contract," said Monir al-Zaman, labour attache at the Bangladeshi embassy.
"Compensation should be paid if workers are being fired," he told the media, adding that companies should resort to cutting overtime work and even reduce salaries before laying off workers.
In December, Khalfan al-Kaabi, a member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said up to 45 percent of construction workers could be laid off this year if private sector projects in the UAE were delayed or cancelled.
Zaman said he could not provide a figure on Bangladeshi workers having lost their jobs in the UAE, because the process is not done "formally".
He also pointed out that he noticed, during inspection visits to labour camps, that many workers stayed in the UAE even if they were not being paid, in hope of finding work.
But poor unemployed workers cannot linger for long if jobs remain rare.
"Maybe this month I have to decide to stay or go ... because I don't have any money. Now I'm borrowing from friends," said Arnold.
Agencies
Is Delphi preparing to layoff about 800 workers?
Nearly 800 jobs are being eliminated at the steering division of Delphi near Saginaw, Michigan. The cuts are hitting 425 hourly workers and 350 employees who are on salary. The layoffs were announced on Monday at the Delphi complex in Buena Vista Township and will kick in March 1.
Mike Hanley, president of United Auto Workers Local 699, says the news was anticipated. Delphi has had temporary furloughs since the start of the year.
Hanley tells The Saginaw News blue-collar workers who volunteer to leave will get severance.
Agencies
Mike Hanley, president of United Auto Workers Local 699, says the news was anticipated. Delphi has had temporary furloughs since the start of the year.
Hanley tells The Saginaw News blue-collar workers who volunteer to leave will get severance.
Agencies
Is California to layoff 20,000 state jobs?
California, which is on the brink of running out of cash, will notify 20,000 state workers on Tuesday their jobs may be eliminated, a spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday.
The announcement came a day after California lawmakers narrowly failed to pass a $40 billion budget that would have plugged the state's deficit with a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts.
"In the absence of a budget, the governor has a responsibility to realize state savings any way he can," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the Republican governor. "This is unfortunately a necessary decision."
The layoff notices will affect about 20 percent of state workers, McLear said, adding the cuts would extend to every part of state government.
The positions would be eliminated in June in preparation for California's next fiscal year, which starts in July.
California, America's most populous state and the world's eighth biggest economy, has experienced a dramatic fall in revenues because of the housing downturn, rising unemployment and a sharp pullback in consumer spending.
To conserve cash, the state has stopped public works projects, furloughed state employees for two days a month and postponed sending out tax refunds.
Agencies
The announcement came a day after California lawmakers narrowly failed to pass a $40 billion budget that would have plugged the state's deficit with a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts.
"In the absence of a budget, the governor has a responsibility to realize state savings any way he can," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the Republican governor. "This is unfortunately a necessary decision."
The layoff notices will affect about 20 percent of state workers, McLear said, adding the cuts would extend to every part of state government.
The positions would be eliminated in June in preparation for California's next fiscal year, which starts in July.
California, America's most populous state and the world's eighth biggest economy, has experienced a dramatic fall in revenues because of the housing downturn, rising unemployment and a sharp pullback in consumer spending.
To conserve cash, the state has stopped public works projects, furloughed state employees for two days a month and postponed sending out tax refunds.
Agencies
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sun Microsystems to layoff 150 more in India
The global layoffs by tech MNCs have started spilling to their Indian operations. IT giant Sun Microsystems reportedly laid off over 150 employees in India around late in January.
According to a news report in a leading daily, most of the laid off employees were software developers working in the company's Bangalore office.
The news report adds that the company may go for another round of lay offs in the last week of February. This round is likely to impact support staff from departments like marketing, human resources and sales.
In November last year, Sun Microsystems announced that it plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs as the company tries to cope with plunging sales of server computers to financial firms, market-share losses to bigger competitors, and a spiraling stock price.
The reduction, which will eliminate as much as 18 per cent of the staff, will shave $700 million to $800 million from annual expenses, Sun said in an e-mailed statement.
Last week, a Goldman Sachs analyst put the server and software maker's stock on Goldman's `Americas Conviction Sell' list. Goldman analyst David C Bailey said in a client note that Sun's heavy concentration of financial services, telecom and manufacturing customers put it at a disadvantage to its more-diversified competitors. Bailey said that Goldman expects a low double-digit revenue drop at Sun in 2009 due to weakness in several of the company's key verticals and accelerating deterioration of its Unix server market.
Agencies
According to a news report in a leading daily, most of the laid off employees were software developers working in the company's Bangalore office.
The news report adds that the company may go for another round of lay offs in the last week of February. This round is likely to impact support staff from departments like marketing, human resources and sales.
In November last year, Sun Microsystems announced that it plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs as the company tries to cope with plunging sales of server computers to financial firms, market-share losses to bigger competitors, and a spiraling stock price.
The reduction, which will eliminate as much as 18 per cent of the staff, will shave $700 million to $800 million from annual expenses, Sun said in an e-mailed statement.
Last week, a Goldman Sachs analyst put the server and software maker's stock on Goldman's `Americas Conviction Sell' list. Goldman analyst David C Bailey said in a client note that Sun's heavy concentration of financial services, telecom and manufacturing customers put it at a disadvantage to its more-diversified competitors. Bailey said that Goldman expects a low double-digit revenue drop at Sun in 2009 due to weakness in several of the company's key verticals and accelerating deterioration of its Unix server market.
Agencies
Will BMW layoff 850 workers at UK Mini plant?
BMW said on Monday that it will lay off 850 workers at its British factory which builds the Mini car to adjust to weaker demand.
The job cuts are the result of a review of operations at the factory in Cowley, near Oxford, where production will be suspended throughout this week and staff who currently work weekend shifts will be moved to weekday work, effective March 2.
BMW has 4,700 workers at Cowley, which can turn out 800 cars per day.
``While Mini has been weathering the economic downturn, it is not immune from the challenges of the current situation,'' BMW said in a statement.
``Against this backdrop the company felt that a review of its shift patterns was necessary. This decision has not been taken lightly. The plant's union representatives have, of course, been involved in the discussions.''
BMW reported earlier this month that sales of the Mini model rose 4.3 percent in 2008 to 232,425 cars. Overall, the company said sales dropped 5 percent across its product range.
In January, however, Mini sales were down 35 percent compared to January 2008. About 80 percent of the Minis built in Britain are exported.
Auto sales in Britain fell sharply at the end of the year because of the recession. Nissan has cut 1,200 jobs at its plant in Sunderland, England, while Honda has halted production at its Swindon plant for four months.
``Sacking an entire shift like this, and targeting agency workers who have no rights to redundancy pay, is blatant opportunism on BMW's part and nothing short of scandalous,'' said Tony Woodley, joint leader of the Unite union.
``BMW's parent company couldn't attempt this in Germany because it would be illegal to do so. It is a disgrace, therefore, that workers in this country can be so casually thrown to the dole.''
BMW acquired the Mini, a symbol of the swinging 1960s, when it bought the Rover car company in 1994.
Agencies
The job cuts are the result of a review of operations at the factory in Cowley, near Oxford, where production will be suspended throughout this week and staff who currently work weekend shifts will be moved to weekday work, effective March 2.
BMW has 4,700 workers at Cowley, which can turn out 800 cars per day.
``While Mini has been weathering the economic downturn, it is not immune from the challenges of the current situation,'' BMW said in a statement.
``Against this backdrop the company felt that a review of its shift patterns was necessary. This decision has not been taken lightly. The plant's union representatives have, of course, been involved in the discussions.''
BMW reported earlier this month that sales of the Mini model rose 4.3 percent in 2008 to 232,425 cars. Overall, the company said sales dropped 5 percent across its product range.
In January, however, Mini sales were down 35 percent compared to January 2008. About 80 percent of the Minis built in Britain are exported.
Auto sales in Britain fell sharply at the end of the year because of the recession. Nissan has cut 1,200 jobs at its plant in Sunderland, England, while Honda has halted production at its Swindon plant for four months.
``Sacking an entire shift like this, and targeting agency workers who have no rights to redundancy pay, is blatant opportunism on BMW's part and nothing short of scandalous,'' said Tony Woodley, joint leader of the Unite union.
``BMW's parent company couldn't attempt this in Germany because it would be illegal to do so. It is a disgrace, therefore, that workers in this country can be so casually thrown to the dole.''
BMW acquired the Mini, a symbol of the swinging 1960s, when it bought the Rover car company in 1994.
Agencies
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