Microsoft

A Cartooning Experiment has created a variety of cartoons about the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. The cartoons were created using Bitstrips, a company we interviewed on video at SXSW. Bitstrips really is a pretty fun Web app.

Here are the cartoons - click for the full-size version:

After the Yahoo-Microsoft fiasco, Microsoft felt it would be smart to go further into automobile entertainment. Today they have announced a long-term partnership with Hyundai-Kia (HKAG) in Seoul.

The two companies have described the new partnership, "Microsoft and HKAG will deliver new and innovative solutions based on the Microsoft Auto software platform, bringing the future of in-car technology to Hyundai-Kia drivers worldwide."

The first product, a next-generation infotainment system that provides voice-controlled connectivity between mobile devices, will be introduced in the North American market in 2010. How far are we from computers driving the auto?

Let's not get the jokes started about blue screens of death, whether the device will time out and if XP or Vista will drive the car.

Frankly it's been interesting to me that neither Microsoft nor Apple have come out with a consumer GPS device. Perhaps the next version of the iPhone will offer full GPS, but could you imagine an Apple GPS device either built-in or as a retail add-on for your auto? Consumer GPS is going to blow up later this year. While it's not as sexy as creating a Facebook app to poke your friends, it is a very lucrative market.

Currently the only search that Facebook offers globally is a search within Facebook itself. Greg Sterling is wondering if Facebook should add the Microsoft Live Search to the site. The idea makes sense seeing as Microsoft has $240 million invested into the social network. It's certainly a question of when not if.

Bebo is currently using Yahoo (who knows if that will change now that AOL owns the social network) and Google has MySpace all locked up.

Sterling notes, 'Adding a Live Search box (and related search ads) would boost not only the utility of the Facebook site but monetization as well. It would also give Microsoft a "back door" way to expose millions of users to Live Search.'

Live Search integration would potentially keep users within the Facebook framework for at least one additional monetizable click. Getting wild for a minute, could Facebook create the next Wikipedia?

The only reason not to would be if Zuck and pals don't think the Live Search is up to par with the other search offerings. Things that make you go hmm!

It's over. The potential marriage of Yahoo and Microsoft is over. Check out the aftermath coverage here, here and here. I am not going to paste the entire letter that Microsoft's Ballmer sent to Yahoo's Yang - you can read it on the Microsoft press site. The net result is that the deal isn't going through (at least for now) and so now the next batch of speculation begins -- what will Microsoft do and what will Yahoo do?

I've said for years now (many years before CN) that Yahoo and AOL needed to merge. It would have been a mega-merger years ago but would still be huge even today. I touched on it a year ago on CN. Both AOL and Yahoo are consumer-facing Internet companies. Microsoft is not and to try to just plug Yahoo is would be very difficult. While there is a good bit of overlap with AOL and Yahoo but the ability to maximize the mainstream is the key.

AOL is looking to launch a large number of content sites this year, they have Platform-A for advertising and the number one IM client out there. Don't forget Bebo as well. Yahoo brings some semi-powerful social apps and a huge content network along with some leading Web apps.

Yahoo working with Google is not a smart strategic move for Yahoo in the long-term. Sure it might boost their bottom line today but it will hurt their consumer and business confidence levels over time.

Now let's make it happen.

Randall Kennedy is out today with a bold prediction, "Office will clobber Google Apps, eventually driving the search giant out of the hosted applications business altogether." He says that there are three major reasons this will happen: full office functionality, true offline access and the future of windows application development is the streaming office.

Will there be a showdown between Google Office and Microsoft Office? Sure. Will Zoho play a part in this showdown? Yes, if Yahoo acquires them which I think might make sense. IBM could also make a run for Zoho. However the showdown won't only be about the office suite - it will be about the full Web offering. The full offering includes more than just the office, other products like advertising, analytics, social media, search, local, travel, etc will be included in the battle. This is where the real showdown will take place. On the grand Internet stage, not on the smaller office suite stage.

Both Google and Microsoft will continue to add features while keeping the cost as low as possible and even take an income hit to move user adoption up. Both companies have very large bank accounts and the battle will certainly put some amount of hurt on their free cash.

Just wait until the Google and Microsoft salespeople sell-in full, exclusive packages. That's where the real blood will start gushing.

John Cook is reporting that travel search provider Farecast has been acquired by Microsoft for $115 million. Farecast is a travel prediction engine which attempts to help you find the most ideal time to purchase tickets.

Microsoft says that they will integrate the Farecast techology into MSN Travel. Is that worth $115 million? Cook stated that there were other companies interested in acquiring Farecast -- perhaps it was a defensive move by Microsoft. How do you purchase your travel? I've always used the provider Web site (and occasionally Priceline) as I am a points and awards maximizer.

In what might be the shortest acquisition post ever, CEO Hugh Crean stated, "This acquisition creates tremendous opportunities for the Farecast team and our customers. We look forward to sharing more details in the weeks to come."

Initial investor Madrona Venture Group noted that the investment returned more than five times the money invested. It was a "very nice financial return for us," Matt McIlwain of Madrona said.

As a side note, our post about Farecast moving into beta in late August 2006 was one of the first pieces of content ever on CN.

Harrison Hoffman is reporting that Microsoft has launched Live Search News which is part of the Live family. Hoffman notes that it's a lot like Google News. He also puts in a TechMeme reference with the "related" links. The innovation appears to come from the automatic local news stream on the right.

What I'd like to see is a truly live news offering. Maybe a nice Adobe Air desktop app that just keeps popping up as new news hits. With all of these news sites, I have to sit there and refresh or wait for the feed to update. Drop the news onto my desktop with nice immediate alerts and you might get somewhere. Remember that to beat Google, you can't be 2% better, you need to be MUCH better.

Andy Beal notes that there are no RSS feeds currently available. While this has made him a bit miffed, let's all remember that most of the world has not a clue (nor cares) what a feed is. With that said, it would still be good to have if they want to hit the tech and reporter communities.

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan over at the Mojo blogging network has an interesting post this evening about Xobni. Xobni (inbox spelled backwards ya'all!) is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook. Ash believes that Xobni should be acquired by Facebook, not the much rumored Microsoft acquisition.

Ash doesn't provide backup for his argument except that the VC firms would prefer to get in bed with Facebook than Microsoft. He also notes that Facebook will eventually be acquired by Microsoft if they don't go down the IPO route. I don't see why Facebook would want Xobni.

Xobni is currently a valley darling and apparently has a hot product. The service currently only works with Outlook though I hear they are working on porting to other systems as well. I tried the Xobni service for several months and eventually removed it as it sucked ram big time and I never found much value in the tool which apparently provides a social graph layer on top of the traditional mailbox.

On the flipside, I enjoy reading the Xobni blog as it provides an inside look at what the team is working on, how they work and their passions, both on- and off-line. More startups need to create insider blogs as they help to humanize a technology service.

If Microsoft comes a knocking, Xobni should be quick to work with them. If they decide not to, Microsoft can easily spend the capital needed to build what Xobni has and Xobni might be looking at a darker future. Check out our previous Xobni coverage.

AT&T (T) has announced a new distribution deal for its YellowPages subsidiary today. The deal provides YellowPages with the ability to place their customer's advertising on Microsoft's local search sites.

Microsoft gets more content from YellowPages and both companies suggest that consumers win by receiving more local content and targeted advertising. The deal benefits YellowPages more than Microsoft and certainly more than the consumer. One question remains... when Microsoft finally acquires Yahoo, will Yahoo want YP in Yahoo Local?

Search Engine Journal has more information from the press release. AT&T also recently launched a free ad-supported directory service.

Adobe is making two announcements this morning related to its Flash Lite software today. Flash Lite has passed the 500 million software installation mark. This means that Flash Lite is pre-installed on 500 million phones to-date. Flash Lite is a slimmed-down version of the full Adobe Flash that is included on nearly every computer today.

The other announcement is Microsoft is licensing the new Flash Lite 3.0 version for Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. This could help Microsoft to gain mobile browser ground against the iPhone as the latter does not currently have Flash support.

I recently purchased a Windows Mobile phone and have found the default IE browser to be barely usable. The browser works great with Twitter, but for anything that uses JavaScript or any "new" technology, it is slow or non-responsive. On the other hand, I installed Opera Mobile and it's awesome. While you have to scroll left to right to view an entire page (or zoom out), sites and pages render perfectly. It's an excellent competitor to the iPhone's Safari browser. I was even able to write a full CN post using Opera Mobile which was amazing.