August has been a very exciting month for the tech sector. Several tech companies have announced their results this month and there have been some major developments. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) recently acquired Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), HP (NYSE:HPQ) acquired Autonomy and Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). HP also announced that it will spin off its PC business and discontinue webOS devices. We will look at a few events which happened last week that will likely impact these.
Microsoft: Microsoft Wooing webOS Developers, Skype Buys GroupMe, MSN Ties up with RenRen
Soon after HP announced that it would shut down webOS, Microsoft swooped in and announced that it would be providing all published webOS developers with free Windows Phone 7 phones and training tools to start developing Windows Phone 7 apps and games. [1] The announcement attracted more than 1,000 developers in less than 2 days. This is a smart move that will help Windows Phone 7 become one of the top three smartphone platforms in the coming years as webOS’s demise helps make Microsoft’s Windows 8 one of the few remaining contenders in the race for tablet dominance.
Microsoft recently acquired Skype though the deal is still underway. Skype announced this week that it had acquired GroupMe for around $85 million. [2] GroupMe is a group messaging app which allows you to create private phone groups and then send text messages throughout the group and set up free conference calls. The acquisition should help Skype gain market share in the group messaging space.
Microsoft also announced that it had signed an agreement with RenRen, a Chinese social networking site to cooperate in areas like instant messaging and social networking. [3]
Check out our complete analysis of Microsoft
Apple: Steve Jobs Resigns, New Macbook Air Showing Strong Sales
Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigned from his post and will become the Executive Chairman. He will be replaced by Tim Cook.
See our notes last week Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple’s CEO, Cook to Take Over and Apple’s Long Term Challenges without Steve Jobs.
On the business front, Apple has experienced very high demand for its new Macbook Air models, which were launched last month. [4] Apple is struggling to keep up with this demand at least for the 13 inch Macbook Air.
Check out our complete analysis of Apple
Notes:- Microsoft Wooing WebOS Developers With Free Phones And Training, Techcrunch, August 22, 2011 [↩]
- Skype buys GroupMe and adds group messaging, GigaOm, August 21, 2011 [↩]
- China’s Renren signs agreement with Microsoft’s MSN, Reuters, August 24, 2011 [↩]
- Apple’s struggles to meet 13-inch MacBook Air demand, Apple Insider, August 23, 2011 [↩]
