Sony Firepower For Android War

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The impetus may come instead from partner Ericsson, which could push Sony to buy it out if their joint venture continues to fade in relevance.
Sony Ericsson finally turned a profit last year, but that may not last, given the odds currently stacked against it.
"I think it (Sony Ericsson) is already fairly irrelevant in the market in terms of volumes and even value market share," said WestLB's Thomas Langer.
However, Ericsson has no urgent need for the 1 billion to 2.5 billion euros some analysts reckon half of Sony Ericsson's equity is worth, based on its revenues of 6.3 billion euros.
Debt would not be an issue, since the venture had net debt of only 5 million euros at the end of March.
Meanwhile, Ericsson's own core business is soaring as telecom operators raise spending to boost capacity in networks choked by smartphone customers.
It has also made joint ventures part of its targets for the 2010-2013 period, possibly signalling no sale is on the cards.
Even if Sony Ericsson does sort out its ownership issues, the going will be tough.
The smartphone market is growing fast, with shipments nearly doubling year on year in the first quarter to 100 million handsets, according to IDC's mobile phone tracker report.
But competition for a larger slice of the pie is fierce, and Sony Ericsson will not only have to battle deep-pocketed, larger rivals like Samsung Electronics , but also nimbler Asian players such as HTC, China's ZTE and Huawei.
Sony Ericsson has 9 percent of the market for smartphones running on Android software, compared with 26 percent for Samsung, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.
Eight analysts polled by Reuters all thought Sony Ericsson would likely miss its target of becoming the biggest seller of Android.

Google Takes Wraps Off Pay-By-Phone System

U.S. shoppers soon will be able to use mobile phones to pay for things at the checkout counter under a system unveiled by Google Inc and other major companies. Google, MasterCard, Citigroup, Sprint and transaction processing company First Data will make the service available this summer in New York and San Francisco, Google said on Thursday. The service, which competes with plans by Visa and other top U.S. banks and mobile phone companies, is similar to how people shop in Asia, where some customers already routinely wield smartphones like credit cards. BEATING ISIS TO THE PUNCH Some large U.S. companies have raced to make the technology a reality since last year. Citigroup MasterCard holders with PayPass-enabled cards will get first crack at Google's service. The Internet giant also plans to sell a virtual prepaid card similar to PayPal's online payment service. If the service is launched this summer as expected, it would beat rival Isis. The venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA has said its service would be launched early next year. Google plans to open the Wallet app to other carriers including Isis. Richard Clemmer, Chief Executive of NXP, Google's mobile wallet chip partner, expects that there will be at least 20 phone models on the market with NFC chips by the end of this year. The number could be as high as 40 around the world. Visa Inc has also tested a pay-by-phone system with several large banks, including Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co. The world's largest credit and debit card processing network has said it plans to make its mobile payments system commercially available this year. For Citigroup, which has a large international operation, the new mobile payments system will help it expand into online and digital banking. The third-largest U.S. bank by assets is trying to gain more business by offering new features for its wealthy, urban, tech-savvy customers. "You're going to see us be very focused on this area over the coming decade," said Paul Galant, Citigroup's head of global enterprise payments.

Indian Web Rules By Google

Holding internet platforms liable for third-party content would lead to self-censorship and reduce the free flow of information, Google Inc said on Wednesday in reaction to India's new rules. "We believe that a free and open Internet is essential for the growth of (the) digital economy and safeguarding freedom of expression," Google said in a statement on Wednesday. "If internet platforms are held liable for third-party content, it would lead to self-censorship and reduce the free flow of information. The regulatory framework should ideally help protect internet platforms and people's abilities to access information." Regulations introduced last month require search engines and websites to get rid of objectionable content including information that is "grossly harmful, harassing ... defamatory ... hateful ... and disparaging." The rules also state the websites will not "knowingly host or publish" objectionable matter and should remove such material within 36 hours of becoming aware that it existed. Seeking to allay concerns the new rules enabled the Indian government to regulate content in a highly subjective manner, India's Department of Information Technology, in a separate statement, said the government had no intention of acquiring regulatory jurisdiction over content under these rules. Referring to concerns the wording used in rules for objectionable content were broad and could be interpreted subjectively, the Department said the terms were in accordance with those used by most internet platforms as part of their existing policies.