Microsoft wants Samsung to pay smartphone license: report (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp has demanded that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd pay $15 for each smartphone handset it makes based on Google Inc's Android operating system as the software giant has a wide range of patents used in the mobile platform, local media reported on Wednesday.

Samsung would likely seek to lower the payment to about $10 in exchange for a deeper alliance with Microsoft for the U.S. company's Windows platform, the Maeil Business Newspaper quoted unnamed industry officials as saying.

Samsung had no immediate comment.

In April last year, Microsoft said it had reached a licensing deal with Taiwan's HTC Corp, under which it would receive royalty payments on its handsets running Android.

The move comes as Android phones gain in popularity. Microsoft charges handset makers such as HTC and Samsung to use its Windows mobile software and has tied up with Nokia to challenge Google and Apple Inc in the smartphone market.

Analysts forecast Samsung, the world's No.2 handset maker, to have sold about 19 million smartphones in the April-June quarter, with the dominant position running on Android. It is widely expected to emerge as the No.1 smartphone maker, replacing Nokia's more than 10-year reign.

Samsung's Galaxy S II, successor to its flagship Galaxy S smartphone, which runs on the Android platform, has sold more than 3 million units since its debut in late April.

(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Chris Lewis)

Microsoft begins moving Xbox 360 profiles, game data to the cloud (Yahoo! News)

Cloud storage will make gaming on the go even better

We first heard about Microsoft's plans to move Xbox 360 profile and save data to the cloud at the company's E3 press conference early last month, and today those plans are beginning to take shape. An update is slowly being rolled out to Xbox 360 consoles that moves gamer profile data and game saves for certain Xbox Live Arcade titles to a cloud storage space, allowing it to be accessed from any console.

Moving game saves and player information to a non-local storage space offers several benefits. Gamers who purchase new consoles, perhaps to upgrade hard drive space or simply because their previous system died, will no longer have to mess with complicated transfer procedures. Simply signing in to your Xbox Live account will give you access to all of the data you need in order to continue your games right where you left off. It also provides an extra level of security, as Microsoft's servers will (hopefully) be an ironclad vault and offer added protection against data loss.

Currently, only certain Xbox Live games are set up to save to the cloud. This slow and steady approach is likely Microsoft's way of preventing any possibly snafus that might be created by dropping the full weight of the Xbox 360 library onto the service at once. Additional titles are expected to be added in short order, though no timeframe has been revealed for when specific games will make the leap to the cloud.

(Source)

More from Tecca:

• Installing Xbox 360 games: Is it worth it?
• Dealing with the Xbox 360's red ring of death
• Interactive advertising coming to Xbox 360

Microsoft launches Web-based Office suite (AP)

NEW YORK – Microsoft Corp. has officially launched its Web-based email and Office services, part of its ongoing effort to keep Google at bay when it comes to business software.

"Office 365" has been available in a test version since last year. It combines Web-based versions of Word, Excel and other Office applications. It also includes the Exchange e-mail system, SharePoint online collaboration technology and Microsoft's instant messaging, Internet phone and video conferencing system.

The latest software package comes as companies are increasingly shifting to storing data and applications on remote servers rather than on users' desktop computers. In 2006, Google Inc. launched its own suite of office software that's based in the "cloud," called Google Apps.

Microsoft said Tuesday that it plans to charge $2 to $27 per month per user for Office 365 depending on what's included. Google Apps costs $4 or $5 per month.

Baidu picks Microsoft for English search (Reuters)

SHANGHAI/LONDON (Reuters) – China's Baidu is to partner with Microsoft for English-language search, giving the U.S. software giant a chance to expand its tiny Web presence in a market Google has stepped back from, and helping the Chinese company's international ambitions.

The tie-up will direct English searches from Baidu to Microsoft's Bing, which will deliver the results back to Baidu's Web pages, Baidu said in an emailed statement on Monday.

Baidu has about 80 percent of the search market in China -- a nation with almost half a billion Internet users and still only about 30 percent penetration -- after Google left mainland China in a high-profile fallout with Beijing over censorship.

Bing -- which filters out results in China relating to controversial subjects, such as political dissidents, Taiwan or pornography, to be able to operate in the country -- has a negligible share of the market, while Google has nearly 20 percent counting visits to its offshore sites.

Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo said Bing was not submitting to any further censorship or restrictions on its English search as a result of the deal "than they already do." Microsoft had no immediate comment beyond confirming the partnership.

Google is losing share to Baidu but is still number two in China. Worldwide, Google runs about 84 percent of Web searches, followed by Yahoo with 6 percent and Bing with 4 percent, according to analytics firm Net Applications.

"Google has potentially shot itself in the foot when it comes to cooperations in the Chinese market," said Daniel Knapp, analyst at media industry research firm Screen Digest.

"Chinese local players like Baidu would be very wary about striking up a relationship with Google, a rogue authority in the eyes of the Chinese authorities. Microsoft has always been very diffident -- for Baidu it's much safer," he added.

The new tie-up, due to be launched later this year, builds on existing cooperation between Baidu and Bing on mobile platforms and page results.

Baidu is beginning to diversify from its core search business to compete in the fast-growing segments of mobile and social networking. [ID:nL3E7HO1IY][ID:nN27174987] It also has a Japanese search service that is currently loss-making.

Search engine marketing company Greenlight said it saw the deal as positive for both sides, and could envisage the new partners dominating the Chinese search-advertising market.

"Whilst it represents an opportunity for Bing to make more money from the Chinese market, Baidu gets what it needs to expand overseas when it is ready to do so," said Greenlight Chief Operating Officer Andreas Pouros.

"Microsoft has entered the Chinese market slowly and has made some friends, in a way that the Chinese government will have no issue with. This should leave Baidu and Bing to control the Chinese search ad market without too much difficulty."

Baidu made $1.2 billion in online marketing revenues last year, up 78 percent from 2009. Microsoft's total online advertising revenue in fiscal 2010, including a small contribution from Bing, was $1.9 billion.

Some analysts were skeptical over how much demand there would be for English search on Baidu.

"It's a good thing, but I see very minimal impact for Baidu. I don't see a lot English keywords going through Baidu. It goes through Google," said Wallace Cheung, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Credit Suisse.

(Additional reporting by Melanie Lee and Samuel Shen; Editing by Matt Driskill and Louise Heavens)

Baidu teams up with Microsoft for English searches (AFP)

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Chinese web giant Baidu said on Monday it had reached an agreement with Microsoft to provide English-language results generated by the US software giant's Bing search engine.

Some English search requests from Baidu users will be automatically directed to Bing and its results will be displayed in pages in Baidu's search engine, the Chinese company said in a statement.

"The cooperation between Baidu and Bing will bring into play technological advantages of both parties and jointly provide best search experience for users who need to search in English," Baidu senior executive Zhang Dongchen said.

The move will also help Baidu to explore the overseas Internet search market, Zhang said, without elaborating.

Baidu receives around 10 million English-language search requests a day, mostly from professionals and students in major cities, Zhang said.

The Chinese search engine and Bing are expected to start offering the service later this year, the statement said.

Baidu is the dominant search engine in China, the world's biggest online market with at least 477 million Internet users, according to official data.

Google has lost part of its share of the lucrative Chinese search market to Baidu since the US web giant last year engaged in a very public spat with Beijing over cyberattacks that it claimed had originated from China.

Baidu had a 75.8-percent share of China's overall search market in the first quarter of 2011, dwarfing Google's dwindling 19.2 percent, according to figures from research firm Analysys International.