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Microsoft to announce new phone software: sources
February 15, 2010
Source: REUTERS
SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp is set to announce new mobile phone software on Monday, according to sources close to the company, as it looks to wrestle back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.
The world's largest software company, which makes operating systems for phones made by HTC Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Motorola Inc and others, is hoping to regain momentum in the fast-growing sector after a lackluster update to its mobile software in October.
The overhaul of Microsoft's phone technology comes as it haemorrhages market share in the burgeoning smartphone market, which many see as the key to the future of communication and media.
Microsoft took just an 8.8 percent of the global smartphone operating system market last year, according to technology analysis firm Canalys, down from 13.9 percent the year before.
It trails Symbian, the system used on Nokia phones, which has 47.2 percent of the market, RIM's BlackBerry with 20.8 percent and Apple's iPhone with 15.1 percent.
Microsoft also faces competition from Google Inc's new Android system, which already has a 4.7 percent share of the market.
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Satyam need not merge with Tech Mahindra; can be reverse deal
February 15, 2010
SOURCE : PTI
HYDERABAD: Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam Computer) need not necessarily be merged with its new owner Tech Mahindra, and it could well be the
reverse, Mahindra Group Vice Chairman and MD Anand Mahindra indicated today.
"Obviously the end goal is to merge the two companies. We have not yet decided which company will merge with which. We will decide that once the accounts are in hand," he told PTI on the sidelines of a conference here.
Replying to a query on the accounts of Satyam Computers, he said the restatement of accounts was not something that was in his hands.
Tech Mahindra had acquired control of its much larger rival Satyam (once ranked the fourth largest Indian software company) in April, three months after Satyam's founder disclosed to fudging the company's accounts.
"We are hoping to complete the process. But it is not in our control. The audit is being done by KPMG and others. However merger will definitely take place", said Mahindra.
Incidentally, the Company Law Board (CLB) has set June 30, as the new deadline for Mahindra Satyam to file its re-stated accounts. The CLB had earlier set December 31, 2009 as the deadline for restating the accounts.
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Mid-tier IT cos pitch for sales staff
February 15, 2010
SOURCE: ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Last fortnight, ThoughtWorks, a $137-million technology consulting company, roped in Ram Pazhayannur as global head of sales & marketing — offshore. Pazhayannur, 38, joined from Persistent Systems, a Pune-based company, to drive ThoughtWorks’ global offshore sales, as the company eyes new business from companies across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, China and Brazil.
It’s a new position created at ThoughtWorks, as the 1,200 people-strong company gets into a serious growth drive. But ThoughtWorks is not alone in doing so.
A whole lot of mid-tier IT companies, with revenues between $100 million and $400 million, are adding muscle to their global sales front as they look to pump up business in a recovering economic environment.
Business was down during the past 12-18 months for small-to-mid-sized players such as Hexaware Technologies, iGate, Mastek, Aditi Technologies, Persistent Systems, Symphony Services and GlobalLogic, but the companies are now aggressively hiring sales people and strengthening the back-end in a bid to emerge stronger over the next three to five years.
“Among the mid-tier players, there’s lot of pressure and ambition to be the next $1-billion company,” says Srikrishna S, principal, Long House Consulting, a Bangalore based search firm.
Mastek, a $200-million Mumbai-based services company, recently roped in Mike Dufton as president of North American sales. Dufton worked at Electronic Data Systems as president of the insurance group, prior to joining Mastek. “We have to differentiate rather than offer me-too kind of services. For niche offerings, like in insurance or government business space, mid-tier players invest a lot in creating intellectual property. They need good sales people to get business,” says Sudhakar Ram, CMD.
Another Mumbai-based company, the 5,000-people Hexaware Technologies, has strengthened its sales team with four top-level recruits. These include a product implementation expert in the capital markets area, a business intelligence expert in Europe, a finance & accounting expert to build business and an Oracle technologies practitioner in the Americas.
The company refused to name the professionals as it does not as a policy reveal names of its key employees. In addition to these recruits, Hexaware plans to hire 400-500 people this year to strengthen its delivery capability as well.
The mid-tier companies target business from global majors in the Fortune 2000, or $400 million-to-$1 billion space rather than the Fortune 500 zone, with smaller customers more willing to work with relatively smaller suppliers. The big names like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, IBM or Accenture have too many large customers to focus on.
A lot of companies, including iGate, see this as the right time to hire good global talent for the mid-tier. “We are viewing the current sluggish economic scenario as a good opportunity to bring on board exceptional talent,” says Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE, the $190-million banking and financial services focussed company. It remains to be seen if the new talent helps get the mid-tier companies into big league.
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