According to the Financial Times, Google Inc. is “99.9 percent” sure to shut down its Chinese search engine. The newspaper cited a source familiar with the situation in reporting that talks between Google and the Chinese government over censorship have reached an apparent impasse.
The report said that Google is likely to make a decision very soon but that it will take some time to follow through on its plans. The company would carry out an orderly closure to take steps to protect local employees from retaliation by authorities.
On Friday, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, warned Google about its decision to stop censoring search results for Chinese users. “If you don’t respect Chinese laws, you are unfriendly and irresponsible, and the consequences will be on you,” he told reporters.
Google shocked the business world and ignited tension between the United States and China in January when it revealed that it would pull out of China if it would not offer unfiltered search results. The move came after Google was targeted by a cyber-attack sourced in China aimed at its Intellectual Property and the e-mail accounts of Chinese activists.
Result for: News
James Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corps. European and Asian operations has made some interesting comments this week in regards to piracy, calling on governments to “get tough” on illegal downloading.
“We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball … There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff. It’s a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it’s a house or a movie,” said Murdoch. “The idea that there’s a new consumer class and you have to be consumer-friendly when they’re stealing stuff. No. There should be the same level of sanctity as there is around property. Content is no different. They’re not crazy kids. No. Punish them.”
James Murdoch is the son of mogul Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corp, and younger Murdoch is expected to take over the company when his father retires.
Adding to what his father has said in the past, James said News Corp. will act against “content aggregators,” including search giant Google, in order to protect its copyrights.
“We’re being very careful legally to protect our rights,” says Murdoch, via Guardian. “If there’s money getting stuck it’s getting stuck in an inefficient distribution layer … where Google and Yahoo are suddenly indexing copyright material and then selling bits of it and making money from it. You may have to withdraw access to those things. You may not.”
Result for: News
According to FBR Capital analyst Craig Berger, Apple is prepared to build 5 million iPads for the first half of 2010, a higher estimate then most previous analysis.
Says Berger in an investment note: “We believe various news articles and competitor notes calling for a build delay were just false alarms.”
Additionally, Berger gave estimates for other Apple devices, including iPods and Mac notebooks.
The analyst expects builds of 9.3 million iPods for the March quarter, 1.7 million notebooks and 1 million desktops.
The iPad has an April 3rd release date for models with only Wi-Fi support. 3G versions are expected in the coming months.
