Google and Sun announce joint agreement

Google and Sun Microsystems announced a broad but vague agreement yesterday to develop and distribute each other's technology in a bid to expand their markets and challenge Microsoft's dominance of computer desktops, reports The New York Times (5 October).

The newspaper says that, under the agreement, Sun will include the Google toolbar as an option when consumers download the Java programming tool, a software program that is widely considered one of Sun's crown jewels. The deal is also expected to make it easier for customers to obtain OpenOffice, Sun's freely distributed office productivity suite that competes with Microsoft Office.

According to the report, the two executives appeared together at a news conference where they were joined by Vinton G. Cerf, a software engineer widely credited as an inventor of the internet, who recently joined Google.

The NYT says that the agreement with Sun comes as Google is trying to expand beyond being the dominant supplier of web search services. At the same time Sun, whose fortunes have been improving after several years of declining market share, will gain a visible role in the future of Google, which has quickly become the internet industry's biggest success story.

The newspaper says that, given that Google generates its revenue from the advertising on its toolbar, the deal could mean a substantial expansion of Google's market, Mr. Schmidt said. According to Sun's estimates, nearly 20 million users download the Java program every month.

The NYT says that the collaboration will significantly raise the profile of Sun's OpenOffice, a suite of software applications that offers many functions of Microsoft Office, including a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program.

Lexmark International signaled yesterday that it was losing the price war in inkjet printers when it announced that its earnings for the third quarter would be half of what it had predicted.

The New York Times reports (5 October) that the company, which makes home and office printers, said yesterday that it expected earnings of 40 cents to 50 cents a share in the quarter ended 30 September.  In July, it had forecast earnings of 95 cents to US$1.05 a share.

The n ewspaper reports that, as executives explained the problem to analysts, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and other major printer makers began cutting prices this year on low-end inkjet printers.

But Lexmark executives said that they were slow to react and the company lost market share. Lexmark has a weaker brand image than Hewlett or Canon, so when prices are similar, consumers tend to buy the better-known name, the newspaper adds.

At the end of June, Lexmark held about 12 percent of the worldwide inkjet printer business, compared with Hewlett-Packard's 40 percent and Canon's 19 percent, the NYT reports.

Mobile phone giant Nokia said on Wednesday shipments of its 770 internet tablet device had been delayed to iron out software problems.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (5 October) that the Tablet, which is intended to allow users to browse web sites and check email, is now expected to start shipping in the fourth quarter.

The Finnish mobile firm had originally expected the Tablet, which runs on Linux-based software, to enter the market before the end of September.

Reuters says that the Tablet, which is expected to sell for about US$350 excluding local taxes, would initially be available in the United States and Europe, but Nokia had not set a specific new date for it to start shipping.

It can be used to access the web at WiFi hot spots in airports and cafes, using short-range wireless technology like that now common in laptop computers.

It can also use Bluetooth short-range signals to connect to the Internet using a separate mobile phone, reports Reuters.

Apple Computer has e-mailed invitations to reporters for a special event next week, prompting speculation on the internet that the company would unveil a long-rumored iPod that can display videos.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (4 October) that the invitation from Apple, which is notoriously tight-lipped about its future products, said simply: ``One more thing...''

Early last month, Apple unveiled its pencil-thin iPod nano, which holds up to 1,000 songs and replaced the iPod mini, then the most popular iPod model.

Reuters says in the NYT report that Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has in recent years at conferences and events saved the largest products that most delight the Apple faithful toward the end of his keynote speech, prefacing the announcement with the phrase, ``Oh, and one more thing'' or a variant.

Apple enthusiast web sites, including AppleInsider, speculated on Tuesday that the 12 October announcement could well be a video iPod that has long been rumored, reports Reuters.

Yahoo has acquired Upcoming.org, an online event planning site that's expected to infuse the internet powerhouse with more content about local communities.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (5 October) that the company confirmed the deal late Tuesday without disclosing financial terms of the acquisition.

According to Reuters, Los Angeles-based Upcoming acts as a social calendar that depends on its users to post free listings about a wide range of upcoming events, from local rock concerts to picnics in the park. The site, founded by Andy Baio, provides tools that enable users to share observations about the events and identify common areas of interests.

The report says that Yahoo plans to keep Upcoming's current web site separate, but eventually will incorporate much of the content into its own site to bolster its local search capabilities, said Paul Levine, Yahoo's general manager of local search.

Reuters says that both Yahoo and its rival, Google, have been placing a greater emphasis on local search during the past two years as more people gradually change the way they search.

With more homes having high-speed internet connections that make it easier to load web pages, people increasingly are turning to the internet before the Yellow Pages for business referrals. And more people, particularly younger generations, also are turning to the web to learn about what's happening in their communities, adds Reuters.

Business leaders representing industries ranging from pharmaceutical to software agreed at a meeting in London to form a coalition to lobby governments around the world to step up the fight against international piracy and counterfeiting.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (4 October) that executives including Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer, EMI Group Chairman Eric Nicoli and NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Bob Wright said many governments had not done enough to legislate against -- or enforce existing legislation against -- the theft of intellectual property. NBC Universal is , a unit of General Electric.

Nicoli warned governments that the companies forming the coalition under the banner ''Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy'' were worth around US$1,000 billion, with a work force of 1 million and served more than a billion people, AP reports.

AP says that Nicoli declined to name countries that were dragging their heels on the fight against piracy, but said that the coalition would draw up a series of indices and publish them within the year. He said the executives had decided to tackle the problem in the same way the pirates operate, by forming a coalition across industries and countries.

A coalition of 18 states representing about 20 percent of the US population has forged an agreement to begin collecting sales taxes on internet purchases.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (5 October) that the group hopes to convince retailers -- but does not force them -- to begin collecting taxes and turning it over to state governments.

The AP report says that the agreement puts in place a procedure for businesses to collect sales taxes from internet and catalog purchases, and puts in place an amnesty that protects them from being pursued for taxes not paid in the past.

After negotiations, which lasted for three years, the states including Iowa had agreed to definitions of taxable items and procedures for paying the taxes.

According to AP in the NYT report, the deal is designed to provide a uniform system for retailers who routinely sell across state lines. In exchange for collecting and sending tax revenue to the state, retailers would be compensated for the costs of collecting the taxes, and protected against liability for accounting mistakes.

AP says that the boom in electronic sales through the internet and burgeoning catalog sales could generate billions of dollars a year in tax revenue for states. The NCSL estimates states lose as much as US$8.9 billion a year from sales taxes that aren't collected on the electronic transactions.

In the US., internet service provider EarthLink plans to build a city-wide wireless network for Philadelphia to provide residents and businesses with internet access, according to the company.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (4 October) that EarthLink will spend about US$10 million to US$14 million to build the network that will include equipment from Motorola and privately held Tropos Networks, according to Philadelphia's Chief Information Officer, Dianah Neff.

The city chose EarthLink over Hewlett-Packard, which was also short-listed from a group of 12 companies that offered proposals for the project. Analysts said the deal could open up a new growth opportunity for EarthLink.

Reuters says that if Philadelphia is a success, it could help EarthLink win some of these contracts, independent telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan said in an e-mail.

The report says that Philadelphia was one of the first of many US cities to look at building municipal wireless networks, mainly to encourage economic growth and provide affordable Web access to poorer residents.

Philadelphia plans to offer free internet access in public spaces such as parks, covering about 10 percent of the city, but outside of these areas, monthly subscriptions will cost from US$10 to US$20, reports Reuters.

Mobile phone companies who charge customers high fees for calls outside a home country could face a clampdown unless they cut fees within six months, the European Union's top telecom regulator said on Tuesday.

Reuters reports in The new York Times (4 October) that Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said so-called roaming charges were too high and must come down.

For a peak-time four-minute call prices range from 0.2 euros for a Finnish customer roaming in Sweden, to 12.7 euros for a Maltese customer roaming in Latvia.

Reuters reports in the NYT that the Brussels executive launched a web site on Tuesday, giving details of roaming tariffs that mobile operators in the 25-nation European Union charge consumers.

Roaming charges have become a bane of holidaymakers and other travelers and Reding hopes customers will use the web site to compare prices and find a better deal.

Reuters reports that some operators, particularly in Greece, were not publishing fees on the internet despite an agreement led by industry association GSM Europe to do so, Reding said.

Jorgen Abild Andersen, head of the Danish telecom regulator and Chairman of the European Regulators Group, said national watchdogs were also studying roaming charges.