Tech Roundup: May 26, 2012

It's one week after the Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) much anticipated IPO and what a week it has been! After closing on the IPO day (18 May) by a mere 23 cents higher, its shares have plummeted more than 16 percent closing at $31.91 yesterday. The IPO set off to a rocky start after technical glitches at NASDAQ delayed the start of trading. Now both the social networking giant and the regulator have earned the wrath of the investors and shareholders leading to several class-action lawsuits accusing the firm of hype, deception and greed.

Problems cropped up after Facebook, in its revised and somewhat arcane S-1 filing, stated that it was finding it harder to sell ads on mobile devices and their revenues would take a hit if this continues to be the case going forward. Analysts including Morgan Stanley's Scott Devitt quickly began revising their forecasts and the lawsuits claim that certain investors had access to information (aforementioned) that would have dented confidence in the shares, while others were left in the dark. With the IPO proving to be a disaster and a major flop show, it remains to be seen as to how the company responds to these allegations.
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In other news apart from Facebook's bungled IPO, Google has completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility days after China gave its stamp of approval. Announced nine months back, the deal, which went through rigorous regulatory approvals across multiple continents, was closed after Google, in order to gain China's nod, agreed to keep Android free and open for at least five years. CEO Sanjay Jha has been replaced by Google's Dennis Woodside. With rumors of layoffs, the future of the company still remains unclear as questions surrounding favoritism have been going the rounds ever since the communique was made.
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Nokia has removed Skype app from Windows Phone marketplace for Lumia 610 citing low RAM, weeks after stating that it performed well on the entry level smartphone. Considering that Skype is important for Microsoft, it would be interesting to know if it can fix the app to support devices with lower memory.
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Though tablets (read iPads and Kindle Fires) have made huge inroads in the market eating into PC's and laptops' share, Lenovo has reported spectacular results for the fiscal year ending March 2012. It saw a 37 percent increase in total sales from last year to $29.6 billion and its global PC shipment has also surged by 34.9 percent over last year when the industry average was close to a meager 3 percent.
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Back to the Google vs. Oracle trial, the jury, after a week of deliberations, has found that Google has not infringed on Oracle's patents with Android. While this may be a victory for Google, the judge is yet to rule on whether the Structure, Sequence and Organization (SSO) of the Java APIs can be copyrighted in the first place. If not, Oracle will receive a maximum of $150,000 per infringement.
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Russian space agency Roscosmos has confirmed of its plans to build permanent bases on Moon. In a talk at the Global Space Exploration Conference, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said that "we’re not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago... "We’re talking about establishing permanent bases." While NASA is planning to send a manned asteroid mission, Roscosmos's plan sounds certainly ambitious.

In other news:
  • Yahoo launches Axis web browser plug-in for Windows and Mac and Axis browser for iOS
  • Sony confirms Xperia Play will not receive Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) upgrade citing stability concerns.
  • Facebook announces Instagram clone for iPhone, Facebook Camera, to share and edit photos.
  • Upcoming Internet Explorer 10 to have limited support for Flash.
  • Google+ for Android revamped with a fresh user interface, lets you start a hangout from the phone.
  • German court issues patent injunction against Google's Motorola Mobility for violating a messaging patent.
  • Google Play store gets in-app billing for subscriptions.
  • Facebook for Windows Phone updated to include threaded messaging, better tagging and likable comments.
  • Android has emerged as the top mobile operating system in Q1 2012, running on 59 percent of all the smartphones. It is followed by Apple's iOS (23%), Nokia's Symbian (6.8%), RIM's BlackBerry OS (6.4%) and Microsoft's Windows Phone (2.2%).
  • Apple announces Editor's Choice and App of the Week for iTunes and App Store.
  • Facebook rumored to acquire Opera browser, says Pocket-lint.
Tech Roundup is a weekly recurring feature on the latest trends in Technology.

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