Sprint in talks with Google on mobile apps: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, is in talks to put applications from Web search leader Google Inc on its cell phones, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Google is in talks with some of the largest U.S. wireless carriers to make a deeper move into the mobile industry, an area it views as key to future growth. While the company has not commented on its plans or potential partners, industry experts believe it will soon launch new software and services for mobile phones.

On Tuesday, sources told Reuters that No. 2 U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless, a Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc venture, is also in talks with Google about putting applications on its mobile phones.

Sprint had already said in August it would offer Google Web search and communications services to customers using a new network it is building based on WiMax, an emerging high-speed wireless technology.

"You shouldn't be surprised to see something coming along with Sprint and Google beyond WiMax," according to the source. Sprint and Google declined comment. They are talking about putting mobile applications from Google and other developers on Sprint devices, the source said.
"While discussions may be ongoing and moving along pretty quickly, it's early in the process on how these things might come to market," the person said.

Microsoft sees Windows Vista growth phase underway

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista is starting to see mass adoption from businesses nearly a year after it was released, the company said while predicting a strong first holiday season for the product. "We feel like we are starting to hit our stride not only in demand, but in deployment in business," Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platform and services group, said in an interview.

Microsoft delivered quarterly results last week that eclipsed Wall Street's most bullish forecasts, helped in part by strong demand for Vista, the latest upgrade to its flagship Windows operating system. Vista was introduced in January. Vista's success was not always a foregone conclusion. Early Vista buyers complained about the lack of compatibility with existing devices and software programs.

Microsoft also buckled to PC manufacturer demands that the company delay the scheduled transition to Vista and extend sales of its previous Windows operating system, Windows XP, for another five months because some customers preferred XP.

In a note to clients on Wednesday, Bernstein Research analyst Charles Di Bona said he thinks Vista's upgrade cycle is "underappreciated" and expects growth at the Windows business to be stronger than market expectations.

Di Bona forecasts Windows revenue to grow by 15 percent in this fiscal year ending in June versus Microsoft's own estimate of an increase of 12 percent to 13 percent. Each percentage point of growth represents about $150 million in revenue and roughly $110 million in operating profit, based on previous results.

Windows runs on more than 90 percent of the world's computers and Microsoft makes about 75 cents in profit for every dollar in Windows sales. The Windows client business generated $15 billion in revenue is fiscal 2007.

PREMIUM AND PIRACY

Revenue at the segment, Microsoft's largest and most profitable unit, rose 25 percent in the September quarter, boosted by a PC market growing at around 15 percent.
In addition, improved measures to curb piracy and greater adoption of higher-margin, premium versions of Vista helped push the segment's sales above PC market growth, Johnson said in the interview this week.Microsoft executives have said for years that being able to crack down on pirated versions of its software will help drive significant increases in sales. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said that more than 20 percent of its software running around the world is pirated.Vista comes with a new authentication program that sends security updates and improves service to users of genuine copies of Windows. Johnson said the company has made progress in educating consumers to the advantages of buying more expensive, non-pirated versions.As consumers use their computers more for home entertainment, Microsoft has boosted the percentage of higher-end versions of Windows. Premium versions accounted for about 75 percent of all Windows copies in the first quarter, compared to about 59 percent a year earlier, Di Bona said in his report.Microsoft's Johnson said the company should see a pick-up in corporate deployment of Vista after the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update to the new operating system.

A sign of business customers' intent to upgrade was a 27 percent increase in unearned revenue at the Windows business during the past quarter, Johnson said. Unearned, or deferred, revenue reflects long-term contracts on the balance sheet that have been signed but not recognized as income until the product is delivered. In this case, it is when the customers start deploying Windows Vista.

Thai-Japanese FTA kicks in on schedule

Bangko Post (1 Nov 2007)

The free trade agreement between Thailand

and Japan took effect at midnight on Wednesday as scheduled. The FTA eliminates tariffs on more than 90 per cent of goods in bilateral trade, many immediately and the rest over the next 10 years. Under the economic partnership agreement between Japan and Thailand, signed in April, Japan will abolish tariffs on imports of Thai mangoes and shrimps, among other products. It will also relax immigration controls for cooks from Thailand. Thailand will lower import tariffs on Japanese cars and other products in stages.

Japan hails free trade deal with Thailand

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan on Wednesday hailed a free trade deal with Bangkok, a day before the pact is due to go into effect despite protests in Thailand including a wildcat strike by train drivers. Thailand's Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram held talks in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Komura to mark the start of a free-trade deal.

"Starting tomorrow, the bilateral economic partnership agreement will take effect. I hope this agreement will further strengthen ties between Japan and Thailand," Komura told reporters. As well as the broad talks with Komura, the Thai minister will participate in a joint meeting Thursday on implementing the free-trade agreement between the two countries, a trade ministry official said. The controversial deal was inked in April after months of uncertainty due to Japan's unease over the military coup in Bangkok. Activists in Thailand have expressed fears that the deal will turn their country into a dumping ground for Japan's toxic waste. In Thailand, thousands of passengers were stranded on Wednesday as train drivers staged a rare wildcat strike. Drivers refused to work on express trains in the south of Thailand and in the northern city of Chiang Mai, while international services connecting Thailand with Butterworth in northern Malaysia were affected. Drivers were concerned that their jobs would be threatened by the free trade pact with Japan, which would allow private companies to operate on Thailand's state-owned railways, said Bancha Kongnakorn, acting governor of State Railway of Thailand. "We will clarify with the train drivers that their jobs will be secure -- private freight carriages still need locomotive drivers to pull them," he said. However, the State Railway Workers Union of Thailand issued a statement saying the train drivers were on strike to protest against incompetence by railway executives and the board. Under the free-trade agreement, about 97 percent of Japanese exports to Thailand and 92 percent of Thai exports to Japan will be tariff-free within 10 years. Japan will scrap tariffs on Thai shrimp and tropical fruit such as mangoes and durian, but will keep protecting its politically powerful rice farmers. Thailand will cut tariffs on automobiles with engines of 3,000cc or larger to 60 percent from 80 percent over four years and eventually scrap all tariffs on steel imports. Japan, the world's second-largest economy, has been seeking a growing number of bilateral free-trade deals amid the breakdown in global liberalisation talks.

GDP Rises 3.9%, but Slowdown Is Foreseen

The Wall Street Journal (1 November 2007)

The U.S. economy weathered the summer credit crunch surprisingly well as strong export performance offset the drag from housing, but it will be hard-pressed to repeat that growth in coming months.

Gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in the country, expanded by a seasonally adjusted 3.9% annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said. That topped most forecasts and bested second-quarter growth of 3.8% and first-quarter growth of 0.6%.

The crumbling housing sector spurred a 20.1% drop in residential investment, which shaved a full point off GDP growth. That was more than offset by a 3% rise in consumer spending, which contributed two points to GDP growth, and by international trade, which added another point as exports surged faster than imports. The report showed few signs the housing bust was spilling into the rest of the economy, at least in the third quarter.

Economists were quick to note that the U.S. economy was beginning to show signs of weakness in September. Among worrisome details in the third-quarter report was rising inventories, which led some forecasters to predict a cutback in production in the current quarter. Morgan Stanley economists, for instance, cited this as a reason for cutting their fourth-quarter prediction of GDP growth to 1.1%.

Many economists expect growth to slow through the end of this year and into next year as the fallout from a deteriorating housing market, higher oil prices and credit-market woes continue. Consumer confidence in October sank as a result of housing woes and escalating food and fuel prices. Unemployment claims have edged higher, and many retailers have cautioned that holiday sales may be below target.

The latest survey of Chicago regional manufacturing activity dropped to an eight-month low, prompting some economists to question how long foreign demand for exports can prop up the U.S. economy.
Still, many forecasters expect the U.S. to dodge a recession.
"I think that this is a very resilient economy," said Peter Kretzmer, senior economist at Bank of America, "[one] that's likely to ride out what is a very significant disturbance in the housing market."

The latest employment report from payroll company Automatic Data Processing Inc. suggests that the government's monthly jobs report will show an increase of some 125,000 jobs in October, a gain over previous months.
vInflation appears to be contained, with the price index for consumer expenditures rising 1.7% after a 4.3% increase in the second quarter. Core prices rose 1.8%. Additionally, employment costs for wages and benefits decelerated during the quarter.

In remarks following the GDP report, Edward Lazear, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, noted, "It is really quite remarkable that during a quarter when we had housing-market issues, when we had a credit situation in the beginning of August, despite that, we still ended up with nearly 4% growth."

Yet the risks to growth in the current and coming months were palpable enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates yesterday by a quarter of a percentage point, to 4.5%.
"Economic growth was solid in the third quarter," the Fed wrote in a release accompanying the decision. "However, the pace of economic expansion will likely slow in the near term, partly reflecting the intensification of the housing correction."

Consumption up 0.6% in quarter

Bangkok Post (1 November 2007)

GDP growth likely to pick up, says BoTEconomic growth picked up in the third quarter due to robust exports and a recovery in household consumption and private investment, according to the Bank of Thailand. Amara Sriphayak, senior director for the Domestic Economy Department, said household consumption grew 0.6% year-on-year in the third quarter. In the second quarter it was stable. Private investment contracted 0.6% in the third quarter, but picked up from earlier because of higher commercial vehicle sales and an increase in imports of capital goods, she said. Exports totalled $13.2 billion in September, up 12.6% year-on-year. Exports slowed slightly from August, but remained strong. However, this was due to $466 million worth of gold exports pushed up by high prices. Labour-intensive exports, which exclude gold, grew 16% year-on-year in September. ''Gross domestic product grew 4.2% in the first quarter and 4.4% in the second quarter. If all indicators, especially manufacturing, remain strong, GDP growth in the third quarter should be higher than in the second quarter,'' she said. Dr Amara said exports were estimated to have expanded by 13-15% in the second quarter of the year, down from 19% in the first quarter, as the economies of key trade partners slowed. In any case, exports to the US contracted by 6.6% in September with shares sliding to 13% from 15%. However, exports benefited from good diversification. Sales to Eastern Europe grew 83% year-on-year in September, up from 76% in August. Imports totalled $11.3 billion, up 9.3% year-on-year. Imports of machinery grew 2.4%, excluding $150 million worth of aircraft. Fuel imports decreased by 10.2% year-on-year in September partly because natural gas sales were booked later. Imports accelerated in the third quarter in both price and volume. The business sentiment index increased to 44.5 in September, up from 43.5 in August, reflecting improved sentiment. The three-month advance index increased to 51.4 in September from 50.2 in the previous month. Dr Amara said the Dubai oil price averaged $76 per barrel (West Texas Intermediate $85.20 per barrel) in October. The average oil price fell under the worst case forecast of $80 per barrel on average in the fourth quarter. The central bank projects economic growth at 4.3-4.8% this year and 4.5-6% for 2008. She said the oil price had increased by 4% since the beginning of the year. The central bank expected a 1% increase in oil prices to shed 0.04% off the GDP. In any case, for every one baht the currency strengthens against the dollar, retail oil prices fall by 50-60 satang. Tarisa Watanagase, the central bank governor, said the economy would accelerate in 2008 as the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and depreciating dollar were having a limited impact on the economy.''Several private investment projects have begun, such as those in Map Ta Put industrial estate, although the public sector has not invested in urban mass transit projects yet. From now on, investments could pick up in line with the economy. There would be increasing import demand of capital goods and machines,'' she said.

Economics seminar to look beyond election

The Nation (1 November 2007)

The upcoming 20th Thammasat Economics Association Annual Seminar entitled "Thailand Economic Outlook 2008: Hopes from the Election" will provide a venue for experts to discuss the urgent tasks that need undertaking after the general election.

Association president Naris Chaiyasoot said the seminar - to be held at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel on November 6 - aimed to paint a more comprehensive picture of the economic situation: the challenges, opportunities, obstacles and a vision of future prospects. Political instability has drawn the attention of the business sector and the general public to what the state of affairs may be after the election instead of focusing on the future direction of the economy - the very driving force of a country's growth and well-being - he said. Expert speakers include Narongchai Akrasanee, Supavud Saicheua, Nipon Poapongsakorn, Pranee Tinakorn, Santi Vilassakdanont, Praphad Phodhivorakhun, Thanit Sorat and Krunn Prajuabmor. The seminar will then break into panel discussion groups with these key speakers, plus Pakorn Malakul Na Ayudhya and Vilas Desho.

Thailand Post lowers fee

Despite rising oil prices, Thailand Post has reduced its service fee for "Messenger Post", a document and parcel delivery service in Bangkok and peripheral areas, in a bid to attract more customers. Corporate and marketing communication manager Parisa Pananond said yesterday that the minimum fee from today would be Bt80 for parcels weighing no more than 500 grams.
The service will guarantee that parcels reach their destination within 30 minutes if the distance is a maximum of 10 kilometres.
Customers can also enjoy an additional service for parcels weighing up to two kilograms and being sent up to 100km.

Launch for luxury condo

TCC Capital Land has arranged a soft launch of its Bt1.7-billion luxury condominium project The North Park Place from tomorrow to Monday at Rajpruek Golf Course on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road in Bangkok. CEO Chen Lian Pang said the project would offer discounts of up to 6 per cent. The first 45 customers to book a unit can join a golf challenge.

Finance minister 'fully supports' baht battle

The Nation (1 November 2007)

Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn fully supports the central bank's aggressive intervention in the exchange-rate market to keep the baht stable. He has also given the green light to a Bank of Thailand (BOT) request that it be allowed to issue another batch of bonds worth about Bt500 billion. The baht strengthened to less than 34 against the US dollar yesterday. Its strongest level was 33.97 before weakening marginally to close at 33.98/33.99.
With capital inflows into Asia remaining high, central banks around the region have been buying foreign currencies - particularly dollars - in an effort to prevent local currencies rising rapidly against the dollar, Chalongphob explained. He said he had earlier approved an issue of central-bank bonds worth Bt400 billion. This was aimed at absorbing excess baht that threatened to flood the country and cause higher inflation whenever the BOT bought dollars. Bond issues are an expense for the BOT, because it must pay interest to bondholders. However, the loss from exchange-rate intervention is not as important as baht stability. Critics and economists around the world have long accused Asian central banks of hoarding dollars to keep their currencies weak. Chalongphob said that over the past six months, the Malaysian central bank had bought US$30 billion (Bt1 trillion) to keep its ringgit from appreciating rapidly. Meanwhile, the finance minister has ruled out government intervention in energy prices. People have adjusted well to rising oil prices, and they have alternatives like natural gas for vehicles and gasohol, he said. The BOT said the appreciating baht had reduced rising pressure on retail oil prices amid soaring crude-oil prices resulting from geopolitical risks and speculation by hedge funds. BOT senior director Amara Sriphayak said Thailand's retail fuel prices jumped 30 satang a litre for every extra dollar added to the price of a barrel of crude oil in the Dubai market. At the same time, each time the Thai currency strengthened Bt1 per dollar, the local retail oil price was slashed 50-60 satang a litre.

"The baht's appreciation has partly helped absorb the shock [of the oil-price rise]. The retail price has increased in the fourth quarter only 17.9 per cent, less than the rises a few years ago when the Oil Fund revoked its subsidy on oil prices," Amara said.

So far this year, the crude-oil price in the Dubai market has risen 3.8 per cent year on year, while the baht has strengthened 5.8-5.9 per cent. BOT Governor Tarisa Watanagase said the baht remained in line with other regional currencies, such as the 5-per-cent strengthening of the Singaporean dollar and the ringgit. However, Thailand's real effective exchange rate, which measures competitiveness in terms of the currency and inflation, has been better than that of other countries. "The baht could weaken next year when public and private investment escalates, bringing high imports of capital goods to serve investment expansion," she said.

Draft puts regulators on same wavelength

The Nation (1 November 2007)

The draft amendments to the Frequency Allocation Act approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday will promote a clear role between the new regulator and the government in determining telecommunications and broadcasting policy and mandate the new body to finish a plan for digital television within a year. The two elements are among the new details added by the draft-adjustment committee of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry.
The science and communications committee of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) initiated the amendment of the Act by proposing the formation of a single telecommunications and broadcasting regulator: the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). This is in line with the convergence of the two technologies and will address the void in the broadcasting industry caused by the lack of a National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
The ICT Ministry adjusted the draft submitted to it by the NLA committee, and the Cabinet approved the adjusted draft on Tuesday. The ministry had added to the draft that the government create an authority that would determine policy governing use of telecommunications and broadcasting frequencies. Currently, the existing National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the government have redundant roles in the matter. Once the nine-member NBTC is up and running, it must also finish drawing up a plan to usher the Kingdom into the digital-television era from its current analogue mode within a year. The Senate can also remove an NBTC member from office if he or she fails to perform properly or in the event of "misbehaviour". In addition, the ministry-adjusted draft requires all NBTC commissioners to leave office together within a term of six years. Under existing law, the six members each of the NTC and NBC are in office for six years, but three are to be removed, selected via a drawing of lots, in the first three years of their tenure. Also added to the draft is that the Senate set up a committee to evaluate the NBTC's performance, whereas existing law empowers the NTC and NBC to each set up its own evaluation committee. However, industrialists are concerned about whether the draft will be passed into law during the present government's term. If not, it will be legally uncertain if the NTC alone can award new frequency licences, including for wireless broadband. Existing law mandates that the NTC and the NBC manage and allocate new telecommunications and broadcasting spectra jointly. The Cabinet will forward the approved draft for NLA consideration to be passed into law. The NTC has now been in operation for three years, while the NBC has yet to be established. In November 2005, the Central Administrative Court ruled to invalidate the process of selecting 14 candidates for seven NBC seats, citing its unconstitutionality.