What does eBay want with Skype? What effect will the deal have on the telecommunications and online auctioneering sectors? However unique it may appear, the marriage of eBay and Skype demonstrates yet again the power of sector convergence in the information industries.

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Title: Business 2010 en España
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Date: September 2005
Abstract: Spain’s successful companies in five years’ time will be those possessing four key attributes: adaptability, swift innovation, excellent communication with clients and command of information. At least, this is how the 128 top managers interviewed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (The Economist magazine’s prestigious research component) see it.
The ability to adapt quickly to changes in the market was identified as one of the great challenges facing management in its endeavour to achieve long-term benefits. This in its turn demands of organizations greater speed during the process of the transformation of an idea into a saleable product. Spanish executives also share the opinion that nothing in business will change more than customer relations. Thus, knowing your client and being able to adapt quickly to his changing preferences will become the key to differentiation. Still, in five years time, businesses will be handling much more data than now and consequently, the ability to effectively screen and manage information will be another crucial factor.
Technology and information systems play a leading role in each of the four aspects mentioned above. In fact, almost nine out of every ten executives say that technology will be fundamental in order to successfully meet these challenges and to adapt to new business models. Also in the majority (64%) are those who consider that IT has surpassed its role as a return booster, becoming an important source of competitive advantage. The most outstanding aspects of IT’s contribution are its capacity to obtain and manage relevant data used by companies to improve their marketing strategy and customer service.
This report, the Spanish section of the global study Business 2010 - in which 4,000 executives of public and private businesses from more than 20 different countries collaborated -, also provides information on some of Spain’s economic prospects and evaluates the country’s business environment as “very good”, awarding it a 7.97 out of 10 (the score was 7.30 for the period 2000-2004) and thus positioning it ahead of those of Asia and Eastern Europe. 

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Redmond’s giant has decided to put the house in order. Coinciding with its thirtieth birthday, Microsoft has announced a thorough organizational restructuring. According to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, this involves “reducing bureaucracy, lending agility to the decision-making process and facilitating the realization of these decisions”.
Until now structured as seven business divisions, Microsoft is to be divided into three: Platform Products & Services, in which Windows and MSN are to be included; Business, for managing corporate applications; and Entertainment & Devices, the component linked to the world of entertainment and to devices such as mobile phones, games consoles or audio devices. Bill Gates’ company, which employs 60,000 people, seems to have realized that its structure requires urgent simplification if it is to compete with such rivals as Google, Yahoo! Linux or Salesforce.com. These smaller, but more flexible companies make use of the Net’s dynamism to grow and adapt quickly to the users’ requirements, while Microsoft has a much slower sales cycle which is only updated from time to time. Furthermore, some of the company’s employees and ex-employees have posted complaints on weblogs and in magazines such as Business Week about excessive bureaucracy and the company’s incentives system’s lack of appeal; all of which results in poor creativity motivation.
Subjective assessments aside, it is a fact that talented minds are running to the competitors. Google alone employs more than one hundred ex-microsofties. Even Microsoft’s own investors have reproached the firm for a decline in its capacity for innovation. This was made particularly clear a few months back when Google launched its browser device, Google Desktop. That showed-up Microsoft, since Google’s tool -which can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge in a matter of minutes- allows the user to comb his desktop in order to find a document or reference quickly. Microsoft will not provide a similar function until the end of the year when the latest updated version of its operating system called, Windows Vista, arrives.

Articles in Business Week, eWeek, News.com and The Wall Street Journal (Payment service)

It seems there is no limit to the interests of the Internet’s search engine par excellence. With the recent announcement of the launch of a binnacle browser, a tool eagerly awaited by the bloggers community, Google is defining itself yet again by starting up a free wireless Internet service (WiFi). The company has not provided many details regarding this new service, still in its trial period, and which at the moment will only offer WiFi connection at two points within Silicon Valley -a pizzeria and a gymnasium- located close to its general headquarters. But rumors about the possibility that Google may be setting up a free network in order to provide WiFi Internet connection in the main U.S. cities appear ever more likely to become reality. In fact, it is known that Google has been purchasing unused, fiber-optic network connections and that the company is seeking executives capable of “negotiating purchase contracts for “dark” or unused fiber optic cable in order to develop a high-capacity global network”. Suspicious…
What’s more, this news coincides with the launch of another free tool called Google Secure Access, which allows the information in any wireless connection to be encrypted, therefore "establishing a more secure connection while using Google WiFi", as the website explains.
If it follows its course successfully, the project will mean Google’s full integration into the tough market of Internet access providers and telecommunications operators - a fact which given the renowned search engine’s convening power could revolutionize the industry in the United States, currently dominated by AOL, Comcast and SBC-Yahoo. In addition to this, Google WiFi would complete and reinforce the company’s unstoppable diversification record: its free instant message service and IP-based Telephony, baptized Google Talk and launched in beta version this last August. Operators should be shaking in their boots…

News in News.com and Wired News
Article in Business 2.0

Next October, Ukash will arrive in Spain; a pay-by-coupons system which allows you to purchase online without using a credit card. Ukash may be an interesting alternative for those Internet users who have neither credit card nor bank account at their disposal, such as young people, but also for those who are simply not happy about providing sensitive data on the Internet. A total of 2.5 million potential users has been estimated.
Ukash is a user-friendly pre-pay method. For example, in order to purchase airplane tickets, all you need to do is go to an authorized shop and buy the number of coupons you require. These will be available for a minimum value of 15 euros and a maximum of 150. Each coupon will have its own 19-digit code which will be requested online in order to authorize payment. Bank details and the user’s identification will never be requested, guaranteeing the security of transactions and avoiding the risk of phishing. If the total purchase comes to less than the value of the Ukash coupon, the system will automatically create a new code for the difference which the customer can then use for another payment.
This technology, already in use in Great Britain, could boost Spanish e-commerce which this year it celebrates its tenth birthday and will reach four million users in 2005, around 48.5% more than in 2004. In addition to Spain, the system will also be implemented in Germany and France throughout the last quarter of 2005.  

News in VNunet
Ukash website