Haryana to set up medical college named after Kalpana Chawla

 A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Haryana government and Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (India) Limited for setting setting up a Rs 400 crore medical college at Karnal named after late astronaut Kalpana Chawla.

Director General (Medical Education) Mahender Kumar signed the MoU with HSCC senior manager Narender Kumar under which the project would be completed in 25 months, an official release said.

The foundation stone of this project would be laid by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on November 19.

The college would have 100 MBBS seats and a 500-bed hospital with state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, training and patient care, it added.

'Technology killed face-to-face conversation'

Technology has killed the art of conversation among office workers, according to a new poll.

Almost 70 per cent of the people quizzed said they preferred to call or email a colleague rather than having a face-to-face conversation with them, even if they were in the same building.

Some workers said they purposely avoided meeting directly as they wanted to keep their distance from colleagues or clients to avoid awkward questions and also reduce chances of being forced to take on more work.

Under a third of those polled said they preferred face-to-face conversations to solve dilemmas.

This group believed that chatting with someone directly was the quickest way to sort out a range of issues.

However, more than half of respondents said that they felt less confident talking with people in person because they had become so reliant on using email, phones and online services such as Skype.

The poll of 600 people found that email was the most popular method of communication among office staff because of the ability to keep a written record, but almost all said they believed it was important to "put a face" to an email address because it helped forge long-term working relationships.

"Technological advances have revolutionised the speed at which we are able to communicate and the amount of information we are able to share in a short period, which can only be viewed as a good thing for employees and employers alike," the Daily Express quoted a spokesman for office space website officebroker.com, which carried out the poll, as saying.

"However, what our survey has revealed is that many workers have become so comfortable sending emails, they have lost the ability to communicate as effectively in person and, as such, avoid doing so where possible.

"Being asked awkward questions or being cornered into taking on new tasks were two of the main reasons cited as to why many workers preferred to keep their distance from colleagues and clients, using email as a barrier to these issues.

"Many viewed the phone as a compromise as they were able to keep their distance from the person they were speaking to but could openly discuss issues and let the conversation flow," the spokesperson added.

Orkut user base falls 86% in one year

Once the darling of India's social media crowd, Google's Orkut has seen the numbers of its daily visitors dwindle nearly 86% over the last year, suggesting that it might soon be on its last legs.

Orkut, which was Google's first foray into social media, has its second-largest user base in India after Brazil. But the number of daily visitors from India has fallen from about 14 lakh a year ago to just about two lakh now, according to Google Trends.

Most social media junkies in India, which has over 120 million internet users, have moved on to rival Facebook, professional networking site LinkedIn and micro-blogging site Twitter. Also choking Orkut is Google Plus, the internet search company's fresh attempt to wean users away from Facebook.

But Google said it will continue to invest in Orkut. "Orkut has a large user base, especially in Brazil and India, and we will continue to invest in the product," a Google India spokeswoman said in an email response to ET. She said Orkut and Google Plus are different products and that both will exist.

"Users shifted from Orkut to other networks because of its closed platform approach-a contrast to Facebook which opened itself up to apps and businesses" said Yogesh Bansal, founder of Apnacircle.com, a home-grown social network that boasts about three million users. "The shift of western world to Facebook clearly led to a change in Indian user's habits," said Bansal who moved to Facebook after getting 'friend requests' from relatives in the United States and Canada.

India now accounts for about 20% of Orkut's users. Over the past three years, Orkut has seen its position as the top social media website in India slip. It is now third-Facebook has over 52 million unique visitors every month, LinkedIn eight million and Orkut about four million. Microblogging site Twitter comes next with slightly lower 3.8 million users, according to internet data research firm Comscore.

"Clearly, Google has chosen not to invest too much time, effort or resources into Orkut because all their efforts for social are now fully focused fully on Google Plus," said Adhvith Dhuddu, founder & CEO at AliveNow, a Bangalore-based social media firm. "My guess is that Google will just let Orkut be what it is."

End for Nokia if new Lumia phones fail: Analysts

Microsoft and Nokia are loading up for their best -- and possibly last -- shot at denting a smartphone market dominated by Apple's iPhone and Google's Android mobile software.

If the new Lumia phones do not appeal to consumers when they are unveiled next Wednesday, it could mean the end for Nokia, and a serious blow to Microsoft's attempts to regain its footing in the mobile market, analysts and investors said.

"This is very high stakes," said Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley. "Nokia bet everything on Windows, and if this doesn't succeed the next step might be having to do what's best for shareholders, and that might include selling off key assets or selling the whole company."

The Finnish handset maker has logged more than 3 billion euros in operating losses in the last 18 months, forcing it to cut 10,000 jobs and pursue asset sales.

Its share of the global smartphone market has plunged to less than 10 percent from 50 percent during its heyday before the iPhone was launched in 2007.

For Microsoft, a successful Lumia launch would convince more handset makers and carriers to support its latest phone software, which is based on the same code as the upcoming Windows 8 computing system, and promises faster performance and a customizable start screen.

Windows phones have only captured 3.7 per cent of the global smartphone market, according to Strategy Analytics. Android phones have 68 per cent, while Apple has 17 per cent.

The new Lumia phones will hit the market just as the world of Android reels from a potentially crushing legal blow, and as Research In Motion's BlackBerry continues its decline.

A California jury decided last week that some of Samsung Electronics's hot-selling Android smartphones copied features of the iPhone, which may result in import bans and drive handset makers to put more resources into making Windows-based phones.

The judgment opens a window for Microsoft to exploit -- but it first needs to find favor with consumers.

"Windows Phone really is going to have to stand or fall on its own, it's going to have to appeal to consumers," said Jack Gold, an independent mobile analyst who runs consultancy J Gold Associates.

Good timings
Nokia is expected to launch two new Lumia phones on September 5, on the same day that phone maker Motorola, now owned by Google, also unveils a new product.

It kicks off a busy fortnight for mobile devices, with Amazon.com expected to introduce new Kindle tablets on September 6. Apple is seen unveiling the newest iPhone on September 12.

The costlier of the two Lumias will go up against the iPhone, and is expected to feature a larger, brighter screen; a powerful camera on both sides; Qualcomm Inc dual-core chips; Skype calling; voice recognition; short-range radio technology for wireless payments and built-in maps for navigation.

But Lumia will need something completely different to beat the iPhone and Android, such as a bold new shape, exceptional camera quality or a mini-projector, said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at mobile diagnostics company Alekstra.

Part of the problem is that Windows Phones have only 100,000 or so apps, compared with about 500,000 for Android or iPhones.

"Developers want to see more devices, and people want to buy only when they see more apps," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm McAdams Wright Ragen. "I'd say it will take years, they are so far behind."

Nokia may not have years. Finland's most famous company, relegated to second place in the global cellphone market by Samsung after more than a decade at the top, has bet its smartphone future on Microsoft.

Samsung stole some of Nokia's limelight by being the first to unveil a phone based on Windows Phone 8 software on Wednesday, a week before Nokia's event. Canaccord's Walkley expects Samsung to offer steep price discounts for Windows phones in markets where Nokia is also launching its phones.

While Samsung, HTC and Huawei Technologies are also making phones based on the new Windows software, only Nokia is focused entirely on Windows Phone 8. This means that Nokia should be able to deliver more sophisticated Windows phones.

Support from carriers
The job of saving Nokia, and getting the new Windows Phone 8 software off to a strong start, falls to Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft star who forged the agreement between the two companies.

One thing Elop has in his ammunition bag is support from big US mobile service providers who want see Windows become a third strong smartphone platform to counterbalance the market heft of Android and Apple, which charges a heavy price premium.

Top US wireless providers Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA have all said they will support Windows Phone 8, and AT&T Inc said it will sell Nokia phones based on the Microsoft software.

"Everybody's liking what they see coming from Microsoft with the Windows 8 (mobile) platform from the user experience perspective and the integration perspective," said Bill Versen, a Verizon Wireless executive who works with business customers on their smartphone strategies.

"Enterprises have Windows-based platforms they're using for their businesses. They've been waiting for Microsoft to mobilize that in a user-accepted way," he added.

Because Microsoft's new phone software is similar to the upcoming Windows 8 desktop and tablet software - to be released on October 26 - developers can more easily write apps for both, which should help the platform's popularity and may even lead developers to eventually build apps for Windows before Android, Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said.

Microsoft actually makes more money from royalties on Android products than it does on sales of its own phone software, but "can't afford not to have a significant position in the global smartphone market," said CCS Insight analyst John Jackson.

Microsoft needs to get at least a 10 per cent share of the smartphone market by the end of 2013 to be a contender, Canaccord's Walkley added.

 

Motorola likely to pull out of India

 Motorola Mobility may shut down its business in India as part of the massive global restructuring that the company has planned. BGR India, a technology blog, reported the company didn't plan to bring additional stock of its phones and had put up an R&D center in Hyderabad for sale.

When contacted William Moss, director of communications for Asia-Pacific at Motorola, confirmed the restructuring plan. However, he stopped short of saying the company would no longer do business in India.

"Motorola Mobility is reducing its headcount by approximately 4,000 globally, and two-thirds of this reduction will occur outside US. We also plan to close or consolidate about one-third of our 90 facilities globally," he told TOI in an email. "India is affected by this global restructuring, but we do continue to have substantial operations there."

Moss added the restructuring plan is bound to lead to job cuts in the affected countries. "We understand how hard these changes will be for the employees concerned. We are committed to helping them through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs," he said.

Motorola Mobility, which has fallen behind Apple and Samsung in the crucial smartphone market, was bought by Google last year for around $12.5 billion. The deal was completed this year and a restructuring of the company and its operations was expected. As soon as the deal completed in May this year, Google replaced Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha with Dennis Woodside, a Google executive, who played a key role in events leading to the closure of the deal.

Moss said the company would now focus on fewer phones and simplify its business. "We will simplify our mobile product portfolio -- shifting the emphasis from feature phones to more innovative and profitable devices. We expect this strategy to create new opportunities and help return our mobile devices unit to profitability," he said.

Samsung loses $12 bn in stock market after Apple's win

 Samsung Electronics' shares tumbled around 7 percent on Monday, wiping $12 billion off the South Korean giant's market value, as a sweeping victory for Apple in a US patent lawsuit raised concerns about its smartphone business - its biggest cash cow.

Samsung, which says it will contest the verdict, was ordered to pay $1.05 billion in damages after a California jury found it had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and could face an outright sales ban on key products.

"There are still too many variables including the final ruling to come at least a month from the recent verdict, and whether there will be a sales ban on Samsung's main sellers such as the Galaxy S III," said a fund manager at a Korean asset management company that was one of the biggest institutional holders of Samsung's stock as of end-March.

Shares in Samsung - the world's biggest technology firm by revenue - tumbled as much as 7.7 percent, its biggest daily percentage drop in nearly four years, to 1.177 million Korean won ($1,000), versus a 0.2 percent drop in the broader market.

Trading volume was heavy, more than doubling last week's daily average by early Monday trade.

In the most closely watched patent trial in years, the jury at a federal court in San Jose, California, just miles from Apple's headquarters, found that Samsung infringed on six of seven Apple patents.

The verdict, which surprised many analysts with its speed - coming after less than three days of deliberations - and the extent of Apple's victory, will likely solidify the US firm's dominance of the exploding mobile computing market.

Apple's triumph was also seen as a blow to Google, whose Android software powers the Samsung products that were found to infringe on Apple patents.

Analysts estimate Samsung's earnings will be reduced by 4 percent this year due to increased patent-related provisioning.

"Samsung should be OK - it means a 4-5 percent hit to the bottom line," said a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager who declined to be identified.

"Both companies are in the midst of a squabble but I don't think it's a structural negative for Samsung. At the end of the day, as Forbes reported recently, Samsung has 65,000 patents versus 9,000 for Apple. Furthermore, Apple relies on Samsung for the processing brains of their phones. I sold Samsung four months ago but am watching the stock closely now."

The court case had weighed on Samsung's stock in the week leading up to Friday's verdict, but even after Monday's slide it remains up around 75 percent over the last 12 months, during which time galloping smartphone sales have powered record profits.

Eyes on Galaxy S III

Apple plans to file for a sales injunction against Samsung, its lawyers said, and the judge in the case set a hearing date for September 20. Samsung, in turn, said the verdict "is not the final word in this case."

Top executives at Samsung, led by vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and head of its mobile division JK Shin, held an emergency meeting on Sunday.

The biggest concern for Samsung remains whether its latest flagship product the Galaxy S III, which was not included in the case, will also be targeted by Apple. The model is Samsung's best selling smartphone, with sales topping 10 million since its late May debut.

But Samsung's skill as a "fast executioner" - quick to match others' innovations - would likely mean tweaked, non-patent infringing devices would be on the market soon after any ban came into place, analysts said.

"The ruling is a costly lesson for Samsung - but also an opportunity for a true alternative to Apple's well-known hardware with more innovative thinking and imaginative products ahead," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

"There are more ways to build a touch screen smartphone and thanks to its fast execution capability, Samsung could quickly work around design changes, upgrading models and introducing new technology such as flexible displays, Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note to differentiate its devices from Apple."

Samsung was disappointed by the verdict and plans to keep up the legal fight to have its claims accepted, according to an internal memo sent to its employees and released to the media.

"We've sought to settle this through negotiations, as Apple is our customer but had no choice but to counter sue," the memo said. "History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation."

Apple, Samsung products banned in South Korea

A South Korean court ruled on Friday that technology rivals Apple and Samsung Electronics both infringed on each other's patents, and ordered a partial ban of their products in South Korea.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2 from shelves in South Korea, citing they infringed two of Samsung's telecommunications patents. The court also ruled that Samsung infringed one of Apple's patents related to the screen's bouncing back ability and banned sales of the Galaxy S2 and 9 other products in South Korea.

Sales of devices recently released by Samsung and Apple -- including the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S3 smartphones -- were not affected.

The court also ordered the two parties to pay monetary compensation to each other. Samsung must pay Apple 25 million won ($22,000) while Apple must pay its rival 40 million won.

The lawsuit is part of global, multibillion dollar fight between the world's two largest smartphone makers. The biggest stakes are in the US, however, where the two companies are locked in an epic struggle over patents and innovation in a federal court in San Jose, California.

Cupertino-based Apple sued Samsung in 2011 in the US, alleging that some of the South Korean company's smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of Apple's iPhone and iPad. Samsung denies the allegations and argues that all companies in the cutthroat phone industry mimic each other's successes without crossing the legal line.

Apple is suing Suwon-based Samsung for $2.5 billion, making the case one of the biggest technology disputes in history. Jury deliberations began Wednesday after three weeks of testimony.

Days after Apple filed its suit in the US, Samsung filed a lawsuit on its home turf and in other countries, accusing Apple of breaching its telecommunications patents.