Microsoft-Nokia Alliance: An Assault on the BlackBerry

Top executives from Microsoft and Nokia elaborated on their new alliance in a conference call this morning.

The takeaway? First, the partnership is aimed initially at Research in Motion and loosening the hold that its popular BlackBerry e-mail software and service has on business customers.

Second, Microsoft is unbundling its strategy in the cellphone market, with Microsoft’s Office division free to step away from the company’s operating system business. And Microsoft is trying to use its powerful Office franchise — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, but also collaboration tools like SharePoint — to shift the smartphone technology competition to its advantage.

Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft division that includes Office, said business customers were first focused on mobile e-mail. But the next competitive terrain in the business market will be productivity and collaboration software and services on smartphones. And, Mr. Elop said, “This isn’t a browser discussion at all. This is about rich Office experiences that truly bring these devices to life.”

To reference full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/microsoft-nokia-alliance-an-assault-on-blackberry/?scp=3&sq=nokia&st=Search

Ford Hopes New Figo Will Help It Win Asian Buyers

NEW DELHI — Ford Motor is increasing its focus on the fast-growing car markets of the Asia-Pacific region, executives said Wednesday as they rolled out a new small car in India.  The “Figo,” a four-door hatchback with expansive side windows and cat’s-eye headlights, was designed with the help of Indian engineers and will be built in India and shipped to nearby countries. Ford’s top executives introduced the car with techno music and fanfare at a five-star New Delhi hotel and said the car was emblematic of Ford’s new emphasis on the region.

“Asia-Pacific is a really important market for us,” Alan Mulally, chief executive of Ford, said after the Figo’s introduction. “We will accelerate our presence” in the region, he said, and India will play a large part in that push.

The Figo will be available in India in 2010. Ford did not provide any details on the Figo’s likely price or fuel consumption or say which countries it would ship the car to from India.

Ford Motor soldiered through the global recession without seeking bankruptcy protection like its big American peers. But the company still suffered as car sales dropped in North America and Europe, losing $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2009. To date, Ford trails General Motors and Toyota in China and has a tiny presence in India.

The Figo represents the first product of Ford’s $500 million investment to transform its manufacturing plant in Chennai, formerly Madras, in southeast India. Ford has doubled the Chennai plant’s production capacity to 200,000 vehicles a year and will be able to make 250,000 diesel engines a year by 2010, executives said Wednesday.

Reference full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/business/global/24ford.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ford&st=Search

Nike Selling Soccer League but M.L.S. Isn’t Buying

"Nike is ready to depart the soccer business. Not the seeminglyrecession-proof and lucrative global market for jerseys, shoes and other gear. Instead, Nike has put up for sale its 100 percent ownership of United Soccer Leagues.

U.S.L., the conglomeration of six leagues (with teams in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico), was founded in 1986 and was owned by Umbro, the British sporting goods company, until Nike bought Umbro in 2007 for $582 million. In addition to inheriting Umbro’s role as the uniform supplier for national teams like England and Sweden, and a handful of clubs in the English Premier League, Nike also became the sole owner of U.S.L.

But Nike has decided that being the owner of the league does not fit with its core business."

Reference Full Article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/sports/soccer/25goal.html?scp=2&sq=Nike&st=cse

Ralph Lauren Gets Us Excited About a Depression

NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren sent out a powerful message on Thursday to his fellow Americans. Recession? Depression? Credit crunch? Get back to work!

“I believe in the resilient spirit of America — and I have always loved real working clothes,” said the designer backstage, wearing a pinstriped jacket over a denim shirt and torn jeans, a look that was emblematic of his show on the last day of New York Fashion Week.

The spring/summer 2010 collection at Ralph Lauren was based on denim, the real workwear stuff or its visual equivalent in silk charmeuse. Tough overalls and down-home jeans alternated with meadow-sweet cotton dresses, both outfits worn with denim caps. The effect was distinctly 1940s — not least with sharp-shouldered tailoring. And this ode to the pioneers of the prairies, played out to Woody Guthrie’s folk music, gave a real sense of the nobility of work."

Reference full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/fashion/18iht-rpro.html?_r=1&sq=ralph%20lauren&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=3&adxnnlx=1253646009-Yx6e1WCWu+1PWz8P/f1wJw

McDonald’s Ending Promotion on Jackets of Children’s Report Cards

"McDonald’s has decided to stop sponsoring Happy Meals as rewards for children with good grades and attendance records in elementary schools in Seminole County, Fla.

The “food prize” program, as it was called, for students of the Seminole County Public Schools in kindergarten through fifth grade was sponsored by the owners of the McDonald’s restaurants in Seminole County, in central Florida northeast of Orlando. The decision to end the promotions for the program, appearing on children’s report-card jackets, came from executives at McDonald’s USA, part of the McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s largest fast-food business.

The decision was made “because we believe the focus should be on the importance of a good education,” William Whitman, senior director for communications and public affairs at McDonald’s USA in Oak Brook, Ill., said Thursday. “McDonald’s, not the school district, will cover the cost to reprint the report-card jackets,” he added, and “remove our trademarks.”
The reward program, called Made the Grade, will continue, Mr. Whitman said, because the local restaurant owners agreed in September that it would run through the current school year."

For Full Article see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/media/18card.html?scp=4&sq=mcdonalds&st=Search

Burger King Shifts Policy on Animals

"In what animal welfare advocates are describing as a “historic advance,” Burger King, the world’s second-largest hamburger chain, said yesterday that it would begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine their animals in cages and crates."

“I think the whole area of social responsibility, social consciousness, is becoming much more important to the consumer,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic, a food industry research and consulting firm. “I think that the industry is going to see that it’s an increasing imperative to get on that bandwagon.”
Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said Burger King’s initiatives put it ahead of its competitors in terms of animal welfare."

"Burger King’s announcement is the latest success for animal welfare advocates, who were once dismissed as fringe groups, but are increasingly gaining mainstream victories."

“When the big boys move, it makes the entire industry move,” said Ms. Grandin, who serves on the animal welfare task forces for several food companies, including McDonald’s and Burger King. "

"Burger King’s decision is somewhat at odds with the rebellious, politically incorrect image it has cultivated in recent years. Its commercials deride “chick food” and encourage a more-is-more approach to eating with its turbo-strength coffee, its enormous omelet sandwich, and a triple Whopper with cheese. Burger King executives said the move was driven by their desire to stay ahead of consumer trends and to encourage farmers to move into more humane egg and meat production."

For full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28burger.html?scp=2&sq=Burger%20King&st=Search

Barnes & Noble to Create an E-Bookstore

Four months after acquiring an e-book retailer, Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest chain of bookstores, is starting its own mega e-bookstore on its Web site, BN.com.

In an announcement on Monday, Barnes & Noble said that it would offer more than 700,000 books that could be read on a wide range of devices, including Apple’s iPhone, the BlackBerry and various laptop or desktop computers. When Barnes & Noble acquired Fictionwise in March, that online retailer had about 60,000 books in its catalog.

Barnes & Noble is promoting its e-bookstore as the world’s largest, an implicit stab at Amazon.com, which offers about 330,000 for its Kindle device. Currently, Google’s public domain books cannot be read on a Kindle.

The number of e-books available on BN.com compares with 1.2 million in stock that can be bought in print form from the company’s Web site.

For reference to full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/technology/internet/21book.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=barnes%20&%20noble&st=Search