OurielOhayon

CHINA IS BIG

400 billion. That s the number of voting-SMS sent for the local chinese pop idole tv show….

THE NEW WALKMAN

I have been hanging around in Hong Kong for a few days and the new star of the year is definitely the Sony Ercisson W800 “Walkman” (remember that the walkman brand belongs to Sony). There is no street without at least 2 shops showcasing this new mobile phone. Advertising everywhere. But most of all: everyone has it. A total success …here. It just gives an indicator of how relevant is the convergence of mobile phone with music; not mentionning the already proven success of the build-in camera. A few more improvements like better build-in memory (now 1giga max), remote control pad and accessories (bluetooth headphone ,…) and this will become a hit. Ipod will have to become a phone and a camera. For sure.

WILL GOOGLE BUY SKYPE?

Being myself in the industry i could not miss the launch of Google Talk, the new Instant messenger with voice-over capabilities. A new entrant in the crowded sector where Yahoo, MSN, AIM and ICQ are already competing. Without forgetting the fast growing Skype. Talking about it i noticed that Google is using the same technological partner as Skype for Voice service Global IP sound. And indeed both services have equivalent voice quality. Is that an indicator that Google would buy Skype, or just a coincidence?

Nothing is sure yet. But recently Google sold 4bn USD worth stocks to make some shopping. I would surely bet they already talked, but will that bring something? Google mentionned recently it could enter the telco industry by providing free wifi. So why not provide at the same time a full voice service range to get some ROI? Even though Google and Skype have 2 different branding and strategy approach, the infrastructure and consumer base of the latest could interest the fist.

ABOUT UNILATERAL DECISIONS

I usually don t like getting in politics, but it looks to me that Israel’s recent disengagement from Gaza is an outstanding historical fact because it will create a significant change in the peace process, because the way it was implemented is a example to the world of how well critical internal affairs can be managed/solved and because it provides to all nations a new positive insight on Israel situation long considered as a warrior country only interested in expanding.

I wish this was more stressed in the world reviews. So let’s wait now to see what s the next step. Will Palestinians take also a good unilateral decision? I know at least one who did: Arafat when he decided to unilaterally quit the (political) world.

OFF TO CHINA

Honk Kong and then Beijing. if you are around during the next 10 days just ping me

BAIDU + GOOGLE = BAIGOO

Maybe they will merge one day? for now someone had the idea to do that

TIME TO BUY

Years 2003/2004 wer quiet in the internet industry : not so many impressive round tables, aquisitions and M&A, although launch of new good service (blog and search services, Voip)

2005 is the year of the kick-back: after Xdrive, Aol just bougth Wildseed, Yahoo buys konfabulator, flickr. Google/Baidu got great IPOS; Ebays buy shopping.com, Skype likely to be bought, photoways that manages a 24m Euros round table. I am not even talking about Blue chip companies aquisition: Adidas/Reebok, rumours on Cisco/Nokia …The trend is at becoming bigger and merging/buying…a new bubble to come?

I feel like a few years ago when big companies started to buy young startups for big money or excentric Internet IPOs. But today we are talking about healthier high tech companies/approach (just for the sake of it , the top flops we forgot)

Who will be next SixApart by Yahoo?

AOL BOUGHT XDRIVE

Will they now implement my hard (every)ware-vision?

SMART CITY BIKE

Take it where you want, Put it back where you want.  Discover where and how.

ADIDAS WOULD BY REBOOK 3 BILLION EUROS

Paul Fireman CEO and owner of 17% of Reebok said he would agree to this operation. He would receive 510 million euros. Well… i think i would also agree too