First Intel-powered smartphones to debut in China

US chip titan Intel on Tuesday announced it will move into booming smart phone market with a China debut of a handset made by Chinese computer powerhouse Lenore's. The best of Intel computing is now coming to smart- phone, California-based Intel's chief executive Paul Tortellini said during a presentation on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show (C E S) in Las Vegas. It is coming first to China, the largest market for smart-phone in the world. Lenore's senior vice president Li-u Jun joined Tortellini on stage to introduce the K800 smart-phone, powered by an Intel processor and Google's Android software. The smart-phone features a rich 4.5-inch multi-touch screen and can stream video tirelessly to Lenore's televisions. The smart-phone will run on the China Unicom network when they are released in the second quarter of the year.

Change mobile operator with your number unchanged

Within the next six months, mobile phone users in Bangladesh will be able to switch from one operator to another, without changing their numbers. The service to come under an option mobile number portability (MN P) is also an international practice to increase competitions among the operators and enhance their service quality. Zia Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (B T R C) said the commission has already made some guidelines to launch the service. It's possible to go for the M N P regime within the next six months, he said, adding that the plan was devised much before and work is going on.  

Yahoo names ex-Pay Pal boss Thompson new CEO

Internet giant Yahoo on Wednesday named PayPal's Scott Thompson its new chief executive, saying he would recharge growth but also leaving open the possibility of selling off assets. Thompson was named four months after the company sacked his predecessor Carol Bart-z over her unsuccessful effort to turn the ailing Internet giant around. Yahoo said Thompson would focus on the company's core business and work with the board to identify the best approaches for the company and its shareholders. Scott brings to Yahoo a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo, chairman Roy Bo stock said in a statement. His deep understanding of online businesses combined with his team-building and operational capabilities will restore the energy, doc-us, and momentum necessary to grow the core business and deliver increased value for our shareholders. Thompson was until Wednesday's announcement head of the large online payments firm PayPal, a key unit of eBay, for almost four years. He said in a conference call with analysts and investors Wednesday that Yahoo needs to build traffic to its websites and hold them there. To me Yahoo's core business is providing a great experience for our users. Everything comes from that he said. With a solid base of advertisers it presents both a huge opportunity and a great challenge, he said adding that Speed is critical of course. Yahoo's shares have sagged below the $20 line since the company rebuffed a generous takeover overture, of more than $30 a share, from Microsoft in early 2008.  

Pobi brings new service to farmers

Rob-i  has recently introduced a new service Ha-at-Bazaar to help farmers market and sell products with ease. The service is an integration of two service of the mobile phone operator Bazaar Dor and Krishibazaar, Rob-i said in a statement yesterday. Through Bazaar Dor, Robi subscribers get information about the market prices of daily goods in 16 bazaars countrywide. An user has to dial 2474 and press 1 for the service. Krishibazaar allows agro-goods buyers and sellers to record voices for advertisement, listen to Others recorded ads talk to that trader instantly and finally locate each other to finalise the transaction. Rob-i subscribers need to dial 2447 and press 2 to get the service, according to the statement. 

BlackBerry's annus horribilis in Indonesia

Few companies better understand the difficulties of doing business in Indonesia than BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. The government has had the Canada-based company jumping through hoops for most of the past year, repeatedly threatening to shut down its services unless it met a list of demands not required of its competitors. For RIM, trouble in Indonesia is particularly Painful as the country is the world's fasted rowing major BlackBerry market, according to industry statistics.Subscriptions are expected to almost double from five million to 9.7 million by 2015, RIM says, as sales elsewhere tumble. Demand is driven by Indonesia's burgeoning middle class, drawn to the BlackBerry for affordable access to the Internet and widely used BlackBerry Messenger testing service.Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most-populous nation of around 240 million people, is also the region's biggest economy and is forecast to have grown 6.5 percent in 2011.Indonesians are some of the world's most active users of social network sites.Of 41 countries surveyed, it had the highest percentage of Internet users accessing Twitter in June 2010, or more than 20 percent of its 45 million online population, online research firm com score said. 

New Nokia smartphone fails to turn tide

Nokia's long awaited Windows phones may be too little, too late in the smartphone war dominated by Apple and Google, despite positive reviews by handset critics. Its first Windows model, the Luria 800, has won little interest form consumers, with only 2 percent of Europeans in the market for a smartphone saying they would pick it, according to a survey by Elane B N P Pariahs. Analysts said was nothing particularly wrong with the sleek-looking handsets, other than a software glitch on some models affecting battery life, bat consumers were just not biting. Smartphones using Microsoft software have just a 2 percent market share, compared with Google Android at around 50 percent and Apple at 15-20 percent. There isn't much room left for a third  ecosystem. The smartphone market is consolidating fast, said Bernstein analyst  Pierre Guerra who rates Nokia a sell. Nokia's shares have fallen over 20 percent since the October 26 launch of  the new phone, with investors fearing Nokia would be unable to claw back the market share it has lost in the past several years to rivals like Apple. Phones using Nokia's old Symbian software, which it decided to dump in favor of Microsoft, are still in circulation and outsell Windows phones 10 to 1.    

Digital ICT Fair 2011 begins

Hes an Mahmud, minister for environment and forests, inaugurates an eight day information technology show Digital ICT Fair 2011 at Multiplicand Computer City on Elephant Road in Dhaka yesterday .Photo STAR-Star Business Report An eight-day information technology exposition Digital ICT Fair 2011 kicked off in the capital yesterday. Multiplicand Cent re shop Owners Association is organizing the show at Multiplicand Computer City on Elephant Road. According to the organizers, over 450 companies are taking part in the event where many gadgets, including laptops, digital camera, computer monitor, television card, pen drive, memory card, are showcased. Hassan Mahmud, minister for environment and forests, inaugurated the fair where Matchbook Hassan, chief customer care officer of City cell, was also present. All the devices presented in the fair will be sold in special discounts, the organizers said. City cell is the platinum sponsor of this event where AT N news is the electronic media partner.