Nokia Kills Symbian; Will Use Microsoft Windows Phone 7

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

London – Nokia (NYSE:  NOK) announced on Friday that it will discontinue
development on its flagship Symbian mobile operating system, and partner with
Microsoft (NASD:  MSFT) to use the company’s Windows Mobile 7 software on future handsets. The
company also said it will use Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on
Nokia phones, while its mobile applications store will be folded in Microsoft
Marketplace.

"Today, developers, operators and consumers want compelling
mobile products, which include not only the device, but the software, services,
applications and customer support that make a great experience," said recently-appointed
Nokia president and CEO Stephen Elop.

The company also announced that it has
appointed consultant and Microsoft veteran Chris Weber as president of Nokia
Inc. (US) and head of markets for North America.

The company’s decision to kill
its Symbian operating system did not go over well in its home country of
Finland, where a reported more than 1,000 employees walked out in protest, VentureBeat reported, citing the local Helsingin Santomat.

Last
year, Symbian-based handsets led the global market with a 36.6% share, to
Android’s 25.5% and Apple’s 16.7%, according to Gartner.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4egpah2

http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/11/nokia-workers-walk-out

Blog Network Buzzmedia Buys Women's Site The Frisky

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Buzzmedia, a network of pop culture blogs that
includes Buzznet, JustJared and Stereogum, announced on Friday that it has
acquired women’s entertainment and lifestyle site The Frisky, from Time
Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) Turner Broadcasting System.

Financial terms of the deal were not
disclosed.

Launched in 2008, The Frisky counts more than 2 million unique
monthly visitors.

Turner said the sale is part of its aim to focus on its news,
entertainment and sports properties.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4jemzya

http://www.thefrisky.com

http://www.buzz-media.com

Streaming Radio Service Slacker Raises $3 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Diego – Streaming radio service Slacker has raised $3
million in new debut funding, Hybebot reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Founded
in 2006, San Diego-based Slacker initially offered a companion portable music
player to its personalized radio service, but has since dropped its hardware
offering to focus on streaming.

The company offers a free, ad-supported
service, and a paid radio service, and intends to launch an on-demand listening
service in the future.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4dwpxht
(Hypebot)

http://www.slacker.com

Raptr Lands $15 Million for Gamer Social Network

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Mountain View, Calif. – Raptr, the provider of an online
community and ranking system for online games, announced that it has raised $15
million in new financing, from investors including DAG Ventures, Tenaya Capital
and Accel Partners.

Founded in 2007, Mountain View, Calif.-based Raptr offers
an online platform where players of online console games can create profiles,
post achievements, and chat and find players to challenge in various games.

The
company said its service is now used by more than 6 million users, and is
adding 750,000 new users monthly.

 

Related Links:
http://www.raptr.com

Groupon Pulls Controversial Ads; Will Air "Less Polarizing" Spots

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Chicago – Group buying service Groupon said on Friday it
will pull a series of controversial television ads, including a spot
referencing the turmoil in Tibet that caused an uproar following its debut
during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

"We’ve listened to your feedback, and since we
don’t see the point in continuing to anger people, we’re pulling the ads,"
wrote CEO Andrew Mason in the company’s blog.

"We will run something less
polarizing instead. We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the
execution was off and the joke didn’t come through."

The main ad in
question featured actor Timothy Hutton talking in a serious tone about the
widespread troubles in Tibet, then switched to a more light-hearted scene of
Hutton raving about a deal for a Tibetan restaurant in Chicago that he
purchased on Groupon.

 

Related Links:
http://www.groupon.com/blog/cities/one-last-post-on-the-super-bowl

 

Verizon iPhone on Sale; Apple, Best Buy, Wal-Mart Have Stock

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Verizon Wireless began selling Apple’s iPhone
4 on Thursday, both online and from its retail stores. The Verizon-edition
iPhone will also go on sale Thursday at Apple, Best Buy and select Wal-Mart
stores. Verizon was able to quickly sell out of its pre-order batch of iPhone
4s last week.

 

Related Links:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/iphone

Twitter: Super Bowl Set Sporting Event Traffic Record

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – Twitter said that this year’s Super Bowl
generated the most traffic of any sporting event ever on the service, spiking
at 4,064 tweets per second (TPS). The previous record was 3,283 TPS, set during
last year’s World Cup, while the all-time high of 6,939 TPS was set on New
Year’s Eve in Japan.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.twitter.com/2011/02/superbowl.html

YouTube Taps RightsFlow for Music Licensing Services

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – RightsFlow, a provider of music licensing and
royalty services, said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with Google’s (NASD: GOOG)
YouTube, to assist with music rights management. The deal allows YouTube to tap
RightsFlow for processing and management of music rights. "We are pleased
to be working with the premier online video community to expedite rights
administration and drive royalty revenues for publishers and songwriters,"
said president and CEO Patrick Sullivan.

 

Related Links:
http://www.rightsflow.com

Google Leases "Binoculars Building" in Venice, CA for Hiring Spree

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Google (NASD: GOOG) has leased the iconic "Binoculars
Building," designed by Frank Gehry in 1991 in Venice, California, as part
of an acquisition of 100,000 square feet of office space intended to house some
of the 6,000 new employees the company plans to hire this year. "The
well-known landmark, with two wings connected by a four-story pair of
binoculars sculpted by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, will serve as
the outward face of the new Google campus."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4mun5um

WSJ: Twitter Has Held Recent Talks With Google, Facebook

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – Twitter has held "low-level" acquisition
talks with executives at both Facebook and Google (NASD:  GOOG) in recent months, The Wall
Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The recent talks have reportedly gone nowhere, but have taken place before
between Twitter and both firms, who one source described as having "latent
interest" in buying the microblogging service.

Talks with some Twitter
suitors have led to estimated valuations of $8 billion to $10 billion for the
company, the sources said.

The company’s executives and board reportedly
believe Twitter can grow into a $100 billion company, people familiar with the
situation told The Journal.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4glancz
(WSJ)

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