Vladimir Putin “We discussed this important issue yesterday over a beer...”
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SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple Inc. is allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services over cellular networks. Several companies offering Voice over Internet Protocol – or VoIP – services said this week that Apple now allows their applications to work on the iPhone. VoIP calling has been available on the iPhone, but only over Wi-Fi connections, which don’t have the range of 3G cellular networks. Apple’s earlier decision to block a Google Inc. calling application triggered an inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission, which is investigating competition in the wireless industry. Apple said at the time that it blocked Google Voice because the program duplicated some of the iPhone’s features, and that it was still studying the application. Two months after the FCC sent letters to Apple, Google, and AT&T Inc. – the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. wireless carrier – AT&T said it had tweaked its technology to allow VoIP services on the iPhone to work over its 3G wireless network, even though the services challenge AT&T’s core calling business. AT&T also revealed that Apple wasn’t allowed to enable any Internet calling applications that use AT&T’s 3G network without AT&T’s permission. Apple vowed to get VoIP applications into its App Store. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Thursday praised Apple’s latest decision, calling it “an action that will create new opportunities for entrepreneurs and provide more choices for consumers.” An Apple spokesman did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.
BRUSSELS — Microsoft Corp.’s top lawyer said Monday that Google will inevitably have to answer questions about its huge market share in selling advertisements linked to results from its search engine. Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith said the search advertising market has become “the fundamental economic engine for content online” and “the gateway to content on the Internet.” “Whenever you have a company that has more than a 90 percent market share in a key market, it is inevitable that people will have questions to ask. We say that with some experience,” he said after giving a speech in Brussels. Unlike Microsoft, Google Inc. has never been formally investigated by the European Union executive and the only EU scrutiny of its advertising business came when it asked regulators to approve its $3.1 billion purchase of online ad tracker DoubleClick. The EU waved through the deal in March 2008. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said earlier this month that French antitrust regulators should look at Google’s dominant position in the online ad sector. However, the European Commission, which would deal with any Europe-wide competition problem, has said it sees no issue with Google’s dominant position in advertising unless there is “any implication or suspicion” that it is abusing its near-monopoly to hike prices or squeeze rivals and suppliers. Smith confirmed that Microsoft sees Google as a direct rival, saying they were both active in some of the same product markets. Microsoft trails Google in search, with a European market share of 2 percent. But Microsoft provides the most-used Web browser, Internet Explorer, which competes with Google’s Chrome and others. Smith laid out his vision of what regulatory changes are needed to keep pace with a shift toward cloud computing – where software services are used online, on-demand, instead of stored on a user’s computer. He said that calls for new thinking on data privacy, saying ultimately a global treaty on data protection or free trade agreements may be needed to govern the constant data transfers across the world that will be part of cloud computing. He said Europe’s 27 governments should set an EU-wide deadline on how long companies should store data – Smith suggested 12 months – to replace the current patchwork of limits between six months and two years. Microsoft also advocates a federal privacy law in the United States, he said, and is concerned about different laws emerging at state level. Smith said security concerns may require giving the right to cloud service providers – such as Microsoft – to take legal action to sue hackers or others who try to hack into data hosted in “the cloud.” He said Microsoft’s vision of cloud computing saw its own proprietary software in use alongside open source programs – with both using “open formats” to allow different software to work smoothly together. EU regulators fined Microsoft in 2004 for not providing technical information to rivals that wanted to make software compatible with Microsoft’s servers. The company last year promised changes to share some data on its products with others.
MUNICH, Germany — Google’s top lawyer says the global search giant’s dispute with China over Internet censorship will probably be resolved in weeks, but it could take months. David Drummond said Google is holding discussions with the Chinese government on its threat to pull out of the country unless the government relents on censorship. He said Monday that Google wants to stay in the China market and hopes the government will ease some of its controls on the Internet. Google’s threat to pull out of China followed the company’s discovery of cyber attacks on Gmail accounts of human rights activists in China, Europe and the United States who were protesting Chinese policies.
NEW YORK — Sex may sell, but investors may not be ready for an IPO this hardcore. Penthouse magazine publisher FriendFinder Networks Inc., which operates adult entertainment and networking Web sites like Bondage.com, AdultFriendFinder.com and HotBox.com, hopes to raise $220 million in an initial public offering this week. Analysts say the IPO could serve as a litmus test for the emerging social networking sector, but aren’t sure how investors will receive its racy content and weak balance sheet. “It’s hot, but not in the IPO sense,” said Francis Gaskins of IPOdesktop.com, noting that the adult subscriber base is decreasing. Recently, sales have been flat and the company has had difficulty servicing its heavy debt load. FriendFinder, which changed its name from Penthouse Media Group in 2007, will sell 20 million shares. The stock is expected to price between $10 and $12. Paid-usage pornography, personal ads and other graphic content make up about 70 percent of revenue for the Boca Raton, Fla. company, which emerged from a bankruptcy in 2004. Its most popular site is AdultFriendFinder.com, a forum for people with a variety of sexual interests, and those looking for an immediate tryst. The other 30 percent comes from what it calls “general audience” social networking sites that include Amigos.com, SeniorFriendFinder.com and BigChurch.com, which is designed to bring “people together in love and faith.” Because the market has eagerly been anticipating debuts of social networking sites Facebook and MySpace; micro-blogging site Twitter; and business networking site LinkedIn, investors may pay close attention to how FriendFinder fares, said David Menlow, who runs IPO research firm IPOfinancial. There aren’t many comparable social networking IPOs. In 2004, PlanetOut Inc. made a market debut under the ticker LGBT – also the acronym referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The company’s shares plummeted, however, from the $9 offering price to 38 cents before being acquired in June by media company Here Networks LLC. “This is very reminiscent of the early days for Internet platform companies,” Menlow said. “It’s a very bold move to come into the market on the beginnings of a social networking focus by IPO investors. But it’s a new arena, and certainly the ubiquitous nature of these types of sites could lead people to think they’ve found the next hot sector.” Still, investors may be uneasy about FriendFinder’s financials, analysts said. Sales have been flat, though revenue edged up on an increase in prices for its 1 million paying subscribers. The company said in a regulatory filing that net revenue was $244.4 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with $243.9 million in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the company is paying a heavy $75 million in interest on operating profit of $45 million, and is carrying a debt load of $471 million. FriendFinder said in a regulatory filing that proceeds from the offering would be used to repay debt. “I think this is a case of going public or going broke,” Gaskins said. “They’re just too leveraged to stay afloat.” The stock will trade under the symbol “FFN” on the Nasdaq Global Market starting Thursday. Renaissance Securities (Cyprus) Ltd. and Ledgemont Capital Group are managing the offering. They have the option to purchase an additional 3 million shares.
BEIJING — China sharply rebuked the United States on Monday, denying involvement in any Internet attacks and defending its online restrictions as lawful after Washington urged Beijing to investigate an attack against Google. The search engine giant announced on Jan. 12 that it would pull out of China unless the government relaxes its rules on censorship. The ultimatum came after Google said e-mail accounts of human rights activists critical of China had been hacked. Since then, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized the censorship of cyberspace, drawing a strong counterattack from Beijing. The Foreign Ministry on Friday said her remarks damaged bilateral relations, while a Chinese state newspaper said Washington was imposing “information imperialism” on China. On Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology went on the offensive again, saying the country’s anti-hacking policy is transparent and consistent. “Any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyberattacks, either in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China,” an unidentified ministry spokesman said, according to a transcript of an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency posted on the ministry’s Web site. The increasingly heated environment is likely to pose challenges to negotiating an arrangement that would suit both Google’s and China’s interests. The company says it remains optimistic it can persuade China’s ruling party to loosen restrictions on free expression on the Internet, so it can keep doing business in the country. However, China’s government has given little indication it’s willing to budge. “Increasingly, the line emerging from the Chinese government is harder and less open to compromise,” said Russell Leigh Moses, an analyst of Chinese politics based in Beijing. “Hillary Clinton’s speech was seen by many officials here as the United States’ laying down a marker and put matters in a more confrontational mode.” The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper also accused the U.S. government of strictly controlling the Internet at home on Monday while urging other countries to build an “Internet freedom utopia.” “In reality, this ‘Internet freedom’ that it is marketing everywhere is nothing but a diplomatic strategy, and only an illusion of freedom,” the paper said. Xinhua also cited the State Council, China’s Cabinet, as criticizing what it called interference in the country’s domestic affairs. Internet control is considered a critical matter of state security in China. Beijing promotes Internet use for commerce, but heavily censors content it deems pornographic, anti-social or politically subversive and blocks many foreign news and social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, and the popular video-sharing site YouTube. Google said it had uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the Gmail accounts of human rights activists protesting Chinese policies. The company traced the attacks on its computers to hackers in China, but hasn’t directly tied them to the Chinese government or its agents. A Chinese Internet security official questioned the allegation, saying Google had not reported its complaints to China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team. “We have been hoping that Google will contact us so that we could have details on this issue and provide them help if necessary,” Zhou Yonglin, the team’s deputy chief of operations, said in an interview with Xinhua posted on the team’s Web site. Zhou said the team logged attacks on 262,000 Chinese computers last year by hackers implanting malicious software such as Trojans, which can allow outside access to the target’s computer. More than 16 percent of the attacks came from computers located in the U.S., he said.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has ruled against New York City in its effort to use federal racketeering law to sue Internet cigarette sellers for lost tax revenue. By a 5-3 vote Monday, the court ended the city’s lawsuit against Hemi Group, a New Mexico-based company that sells cigarettes online. New York taxes the possession of cigarettes but finds it difficult to collect those taxes from Internet sales. The city says it loses millions of dollars in tax revenues from online sales. Sellers like Hemi are not required to charge or collect the taxes, but they are supposed to provide information about their customers to states. New York’s lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act accused Hemi of fraud for failing to provide the customer information. The court said Monday that the city cannot use the racketeering law to collect tobacco taxes from Hemi. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas formed the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not take part in the case because it came from the federal appeals court in New York on which she served before her elevation to the high court. The case is Hemi Group v. City of New York, 08-969.
NEW YORK — AOL Inc. said Monday that it is boosting its ability to create Web videos by paying $36.5 million for StudioNow Inc., a Web site that lets companies buy custom-made online videos from a network of freelance filmmakers. AOL will merge Nashville-based StudioNow into its own content management system, Seed.com, which has aggregated assignments for writers and photographers. The deal closed Friday, New York-based AOL said. It paid a combination of stock and cash, with some of the cash being paid out over several years. Though it still provides dial-up Internet service, AOL’s focus is on generating ad revenue from its Web sites. But AOL has struggled in that transformation as its advertising revenue has failed to offset the drop in revenue from the dial-up business. That has resulted in cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. AOL now has been trying to fill its Web sites with inexpensive material produced by freelancers paid by the post. The StudioNow purchase fits into that strategy. AOL cited a study projecting that spending on online video advertising will outstrip that of any other online format. AOL completed its spin-off from Time Warner Inc. in December, undoing their 2001 merger.
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