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Today in Tech: Tech Mahindra's acquisition; Hybrid Tablets; Obama and Tech
Tech Mahindra's acquisition Tech Mahindra said it will make a strategic announcement today at 4PM. The company did not say what it's about.
According to Economic Times, the IT firm is to buy Hutch's India BPO business for close to $100 mn. Earlier, Times of India had reported that this business was in the market for sale, and Serco and TechM were eyeing it.
Again, ET had also reported that TechMahindra was talking to Bharti to buy Comviva Technologies, a mobile financial and value-added services solution provider, for around Rs 750 crore.
We will know the details in the evening. The announcement - whatever it might turn out to be, even though Hutch BPO acquisition seems more likely - should be seen in the context of TechM's roadmap. It will be merged with Mahindra Satyam soon, and CP Gurnanai, who is likely to become the CEO of the combined entity, is targeting revenues of $5 billion by 2015. 8-10% of that would come through acquisitions. This deal will help in that. ET says the deal includes a revenue commitment of $1 billion in 5 to 7 years.
Michael Dell on Hybrid PCs
Michael Dell in an interview to Mint spoke about Hybrid-PCs. "What you are going to see with Windows 8 is that devices that can be both a notebook and a tablet. People are using both notebooks and tablets because these two do different things—so I can have a bicycle and I walk sometimes. I think people are going to be surprised at a new category of devices emerging that can be both a tablet and a notebook," he told Mint.
Good news: we know how some of these devices will look like.
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And of course, Microsoft Surface, which isn't exactly a hybrid, but in some ways comes close.
Technology in US elections
Obama's campaign managers are adept at using the new media to get close to voters. They are active on more platforms, and posted nearly four times more content than their opponents, according to a study by Pew Research Center. Last week, Obama was on Reddit, and gave answers to questions such as 'Who's your favourite Basketball player?' and 'What's the recipe for the White House's beer?' It was a huge hit. Obama's response on Twitter to Clint Eastwood's speech to empty chair was the most RT'd tweet of the Republican convention.
This dalliance with social media will be forgotten sooner than later. What's likely to be more influential is Hollywood/Silicon Valley's courting of Obama. Bloomberg has a story on why it matters:
If Hollywood succeeds in curtailing unsanctioned use of its content online by going after companies such as Google Inc. (GOOG), it would hamper the growth of the Internet and free speech, the technology industry has argued. For Google and other Silicon Valley companies, whose employees have invested millions of dollars in Obama’s campaign, winning the piracy fight could translate to billions for their bottom line, said Andrew Schwartzman, a communications attorney in Washington.
The stakes are high in Hollywood, too. The Motion Picture Association of America estimates thefilm industry loses $20 billion annually to piracy. Federal researchers have called the cost “sizable,” while saying it is impossible to calculate.
Also of interest
- New York bookshop launches rescue mission to digitize out-of-print sci-fi titles: Engadget
- Bruce Willis Isn’t Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights: TechCrunch
- Hackers hit Swedish Web sites in support of Assange: CNET
- Happy birthday Skype. In 9 years you changed telecom: GigaOm
- The Great Tablet War Of 2012: Business Insider
- If You Were the Next Steve Jobs... HBR
The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.
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