16Jan2008
Sun Microsystems Inc. today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire open-source software maker MySQL AB for $1 billion, beefing up the server maker’s database offerings with a company whose technology is used by some of the world’s biggest Web sites.
With millions of global deployments including Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile, MySQL will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL’s open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises. The integration with Sun will greatly extend the commercial appeal of MySQL’s offerings and improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun’s global services organization. MySQL will also gain new distribution through Sun’s channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.
Who said the free software was not profitable?
5Sep2007
First, Google purchased DoubleClick, next it was Microsoft that bought aQuantive and now it’s Yahoo’s time to get its own online advertising company.
Yahoo has just acquired BlueLithium, the #6 ad network in the US, for $300 million, far from $3.1 billion Google paid for DoubleClick and just 5% of the amount of money Microsoft spent on aQuantive.
14May2007
Latest edition of BRANDZ ranking has been released recently. Brandz is top 100 ranking of “Most Powerful Brands” on Earth published by Millward Brown Optimor in cooperation with the Financial Times.
In this year’s edition Google has risen to the top, previously dedicated to Microsoft, with Coca-Cola in 4th position. According to Millward Brown, Google’s brand value is $66.4bn (almost doubling its last year’s value) while Coca-Cola’s brand value is $44bn.
In the other hand, according to Interbrand’s Best Global Brands ranking released last summer, Coca-Cola is the most valuable brand with an estimated value of $67bn while Google is ranked 24th with $12.3bn.
This criteria disparity is accentuated by the fact that only five brands are part of the top10 in both rankings (but, of course, neither in the same position nor the same value). The only brand that is valuated aproximately the same is Microsoft!!
BRANDZ ($bn):
- Google: 66
- GE: 61
- Microsoft: 55
- Coca-Cola: 44
- China Mobile: 41
- Marlboro: 39
- Wal-Mart: 37
- Citi: 34
- IBM: 33.5
- Toyota: 33.4
Interbrand ($bn):
- Coca-Cola: 67
- Microsoft: 57
- IBM: 56
- GE: 49
- Intel: 32
- Nokia: 30
- Toyota: 28
- Disney: 27.8
- McDonald’s: 27.5
- Mercedes: 22
Valuating brands seems to be a misterious science. What comes next? Only time will tell.
28Feb2007
Microsoft’s top technical executive, Ray Ozzie, has recently said that Google success in finding in advertising revenue “was a wake-up call within Microsoft”. But he said Microsoft plans to do more than simply mimic Google by rolling out Web-based versions of desktop programs or following its particular search and advertising model.
Instead of jumping belatedly into the fray with Web-only programs, he said Microsoft will pursue a mix of software loaded on PCs and Internet services that also work with the growing array of mobile devices, a strategy he called ‘’software-plus-service'’.
He said he sees free, Web-based, ad-supported software as a way to extend Microsoft Office’s reach, but gave no specifics. ‘’Advertisers do want a targeted audience,'’ he said. If Microsoft can deliver it, ‘’I don’t see a reason why advertisers won’t move'’. What comes next? Only time will tell.
27Feb2007
BitTorrent is planning to use its widely used file-sharing software to launch a legal download site, called the BitTorrent Entertainment Network, that will distribute more than 5,000 titles including digital movies, TV shows, games and other media.
Considering that BitTorrent have got a well-deserved reputation for quickly file distribuition and an existing user based of 135 million, they could be a serious competitor for the increasing online video market, which current heavy players as YouTube, Joost, Babelgum, Brightcove among others.
The battle’s just begun and another important issue is to reach agreements with content owners. Joost has just partnered with Viacom so has BitTorrent with Hollywood studios like 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. What comes next? Only time will tell.
9Feb2007
Yahoo! has just launched a new service called Yahoo Pipes which offers users the ability to easily create data mashups from remixing popular feed types, including Yahoo! Search, Google Base, Flickr photos and any RSS feed on the web. Yahoo! describes it as an interactive feed aggregator and manipulator that allows you to create feeds that are more powerful, useful and relevant.
Pipes also provides a set of functional modules to let users manipulate and transform data in oder to get the desired output. This set includes a powerful content analyzer, several data formatters, sorting modules and even translating services using BabelFish translating engine.
All these modules are integrated in an easy-to-use visual drag and drop editor that simplifies the job of building a mashup without writing a single line of code. The resulting feed can be for private use or shared with the Internet community. As Tim O’Reilly has defined it:
Yahoo!’s new Pipes service is a milestone in the history of the internet. It’s a service that generalizes the idea of the mashup, providing a drag and drop editor that allows you to connect internet data sources, process them, and redirect the output.
According to Google, their mission is to organize the information. In this case Yahoo! has won a battle letting the users create more organized, filtered and useful information by theirselves. Could it be a step towards Web3.0 in which users not only contribute but can take advantage of the rest of information their own way and share it? What comes next? Only time will tell.
31Jan2007
Google is going to transform its Google Video service, in which users upload video content to be shared, into a Google Video Search service, a search engine to look for video content no matter where it may be hosted.
A logical step considering Google’s world-famous mission which is to organize the world’s information. Even more, after YouTube’s acquisition, Google has had two compiting products on the market and finally it’s time to fully integrate YouTube into Google’s product portfolio.
Additionally, according to Financial Times, Google is planning to share advertising revenues on YouTube with the users who upload the clips. Good news for top YouTubers and one more incentive for those users producing quality videos. Could it be the first step in building a real Google TV? What comes next? Only time will tell.
30Jan2007
Tons have been talked lately about whether YouTube’s video about how to get into Google TV is hoax or reality. Well, it is still not clear if it is hoax or reality. Some people claim that it is an amazing hoax while other people are conceited to have got a Google TV account.
Anyway, I believe that even if *this* Google TV is hoax, it will be a reality soon. Looks like, after social networks revolution, IPTV (TV over Internet) is the next big revolution and such player as Google won’t be out of this business.
Evidences? Friis and Zennstrom, the Skype and Kazaa guys, have recently launch Joost a new TV service based on peer-to-peer technologies. There is another new TV service called Babelgum, which combines social networking with TV viewing experience (web 2.0 with IPTV 1.0 ;-). Both, Joost and Babelgum are available only as a closed beta. There is also Apple with its Apple TV presented in last MacWorld Expo, a mixture between TiVo and an Internet computer. Even Bill Gates has been talking about this revolution lately while the brand new Windows Vista is more TV-oriented than ever (will Microsoft come next with Zune TV?).
Is there anybody out there who thinks that Google is not going to launch a “Google TV” service? What comes next? Only time will tell.
25Jan2007
Chinese online population hit 136 million people by the end of 2006 becoming the world’s second largest behind the U.S. with a total online spending of $35,5 billion (47% more than the previous year).
Average Chinese Internet user spends $22 a month online, including payment to online services providers as well as shopping ang gaming. Still, the most popular Internet services in China are search engines (dominated by Baidu and Google and, to a lesser degree, by Yahoo!) followed by Internet portals (led by Sina.com, Netease.com and qq.com) and e-mail services.
But the most rapid growth in usage last year came from blogging. China now has 20.8 million bloggers. Top blogging sites are hosted by Sina, Qzone and MSN. Other new Internet services that are gaining particularly wide acceptance are personal Web pages similar to those on MySpace and video-sharing based on the Web 2.0 standards similar to YouTube. What comes next? Only time will tell.