Yesterday Microsoft and Facebook announced an agreement in which Microsoft will assign to Facebook the rights to purchase a part of the patent portfolio that they acquired from AOL. It looks like Facebook will be purchasing the portion of patents for $550 million in cash. There are about 925 US patents and patent applications and also a license to AOL?s patent portfolio. From the sounds the agreement Facebook will obtain ownership of about 650 AOL patents and patent applications, also a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft has purchased and owns. With all that being said Microsoft will still retain ownership of 275 AOL patents and applications. This is a big purchase for Facebook especially right before the IPO in May. It looks like Facebook is gearing up a for a big day in May.
Adobe has announced its new Creative Suite and along with this they are offering a Creative Cloud online offerings. You can still buy the CS6 Suite but the subscription service is the biggest thing. So $49/month with an annual subscription, so basically a contract or $79/month for a non-committal month to month membership. So for the monthly fee you get access to any CS6 tool, which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and AfterEffects. They are also including the new HTML5 and development tools, Muse and Edge. The subscription also give you the ability to install these programs on two machines. There will also be a standalone addition for Photoshop which will be $19.99 a month with an annual subscription or $29.99 without a subscription. Although there is still no launch date for this, it is nice to see to unique set up for Adobe as they are really trying to make it affordable for people to use their products.
Many Mac users are going to have to expect that there will be more OS X botnets, mass malware and drive by downloads in the computer feature. Kaspersky Lab researchers stated this in a press conference on Thursday morning. They stated that anit-malware software is not a need for Mac users and that Mac invulnerability is not a myth. Due to the rapid increase of the Mac?s market share that there is more and more malware being created for Macs. “Market share brings attacker motivation,” the firm told members of the press in its presentation. “Expect more drive-by downloads, more Mac OS X mass-malware. Expect cross-platform exploit kits with Mac-specific exploits.” Although this summer Mac is going into Mountain Lion OS X 10.8. using the GateKeeper in 10.8 you can control which sources apps can be installed from and making the OS safer from malware attacks for the less experienced type of users. So Mac is at least taking the attacks seriously.
So whatever Apple may call the next iPhone, whether it be the new iPhone or the iPhone 5, there is some speculation that the iPhone will have in-cell touch panels which could make the phone thinner. It looks like Sharp and Toshiba are developing these parts and if it does it could put some strain on the current touch panel suppliers which are TPK Holdings and Wintek. However TPK is developing what is a calling a touch on lens technology which is known as TOL. This is a single glass touch technology that will be more suitable for the production of a higher end device that can accommodate more than just one technology. This means it could be introduced into all different types of touch technology and would not be set to just phones but we know for sure that Apple has the pick of the litter.
Yesterday Microsoft reported revenue of $17.41 billion for the quarter ending on March 31st, 2012. This is a 6% increase from last year?s pay period and the operating income was at a staggering $6.37 billion which is up by 12% from the prior year. The net income was around $5.11 billion and the diluted earnings per share was $0.60 per share. With the economy in the shape it is in, it is amazing to see such revenue hikes from Microsoft. Although Microsoft has its hand in so many things it is no wonder they are making money. It seems the only thing that is really struggling for them right now is the phone industry in which they are stilling trying to entrench themselves firmly against Android and Apple. Have you seen the campaign for the newest Windows Phone the Nokia Lumina? They basically say that all the smartphones we owned in the past was the beta test for the Windows Phone. Smart marketing but heck if the smartphones in the past were just a beta test why can?t developers code on their phones to make apps like Angry Birds Space?
Many sources are saying that Facebook is looking to have their IPO out on May 17th and depending on if the SEC agrees then all we are looking for is some paper work to be put in order. This does follow reports that said the company was going to have its IPO on NASDAQ in the third week of May and this was also reported on CNBC about the company going public between the 17th or the 24th. Facebook is going to be valued at around $100 billion dollars which is currently reflecting the levels of trading in the secondary markets. Some reports are even saying that they want to raise $10 billion at a $100 billion valuation. So will Facebook get what they want or will they fall short of the evaluation expectations or will the billion dollar baby shine? We should hopefully find out on May 17th.
