Thursday, March 25, 2010

China Unicom Boycott of Google May Signal Fallout Is Spreading



China Unicom boycott of Google Inc.’s search engine signals the fallout from the U.S. company’s disobedience of government censorship is spreading.If you were partnering with Google in China, your business plans have just fallen apart,” Bertram Lai, head of explore at CIMB-GK Securities in Hong Kong, said by phone. “You need to move quickly and find new partners.”

Google’s decision to stop censoring its Chinese service has spur speculation that advertisers may switch to rival search engines such as that of Baidu Inc. In the U.S., Go Daddy Group Inc., the world’s largest registrar of domain names, said yesterday it’s refusing to offer new site identities in China, citing increased Internet spying by the government on its citizens.

Chinese partners for Google’s search operations need to appraise their business ties as the U.S. company’s Internet service license in China needs to be renewed soon, said Fang Meiqin, research director at BDA China Ltd., a Beijing-based telecommunications industry consultant.
Sale Postponed

“Unicom has dropped Google from its handset plans because Google no longer operates within China,” Lai, who rates Unicom shares “underperform,” said. “It makes sense for them to make the decision immediately” to avoid the costs of reprogramming handsets to remove Google later, he said.

Google’s redirection of its search queries is effectively a pullout from China, reducing the appeal for advertisers, Steven Chang, the Shanghai-based chief executive officer for China at Zenith Optimedia, which buys ads from Google and Baidu on behalf of clients, said in an interview this week.



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Toyota Driver Spins Out Of Control At 94mph

Toyota's safety record has taken another beating after police were occupied a dramatic high-speed chase of a driver whose car accelerator got stuck at 94mph.Eight million Toyota vehicles have been recall because of safety fears.Despite urgent hard on the brake pedal, the car kept accelerating.

Mr Sikes said that"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny... it jump and it just stuck there. Mr Sikes hurtled along the motorway, he called 911 and a highway patrol officer was dispatched.


A Toyota spokeswoman said the car had been taken to a company dealership in California where investigators were trying to find out the cause of the incident.The incident has raised new questions about the Japanese carmaker's damaging string of recent recalls and whether Toyota has done enough to address consumer complaints about unintended acceleration that have damaged its reputation and sales.Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of accelerator and braking problems in several of its models.


EADS takes hit for A400M in fourth quarter

Airbus parent company EADS NV says it lost over euro1 billion in the fourth quarter after necessities for the A400M military transport plane and its A380 superjumbo passenger airliner weighed on pay

Paris-based European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. said Tuesday that it had a net loss of euro1.05 billion the three months to December compare to a euro490 million net income a year earlier.

That led to a full year net loss of euro763 million compared to a net profit of euro1.57 billion in 2008.Revenue fell 1 percent in 2009 to euro42.82 billion and EADS said it expects approximately stable revenues in 2010.EADS reach an agreement with customer nations on who pays for the cost overruns of the A400M on Friday.