Curtin University : CUTSE 2011 International Conference focusing on innovative green technology

Miri – 13 June 2011 – The 3rd Curtin University Technology, Science and Engineering (CUTSE) International Conference will be held at Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) from 8 – 9 November 2011 with the theme Innovative Green Technology for Sustainable Development.
The annual CUTSE conference has been organised by Curtin Sarawak’s School of Engineering and Science in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (Miri Branch) since 2006, and went international in 2008.
It provides an excellent platform for researchers, engineers, scientists, academicians, industry professionals as well as students of higher learning institutions to share and deliberate on the latest and relevant innovations, theories, practices and R&D findings related to green technology. They will also engage in constructive dialogue on that could lead to collaborative research initiatives in their respective fields.
Parallel sessions in mechanical, electrical, computer, civil and chemical engineering as well as several fields in the sciences will also be hosted over the 2-day conference.
The call for papers is now open. Abstract submissions are to reach the organisers by 30 June 2011, and following notification of acceptance, full paper submission by 1 August 2011. Final manuscripts are to be submitted no later than 1 September 2011.
Topics may include, but are not necessarily limited to, engineering science fundamentals; systems and control; mechatronics and ICT; structures, materials and manufacturing; and energy, environment and resources.
The best papers will be awarded and selected papers will be published in journals. The refereed conference proceedings, meanwhile, will be published on CD-ROM and distributed to all participants at the conference.
At last year’s conference, a total of 62 technical papers were presented on multi-disciplinary subjects covering electrical, computer, chemical, civil and construction, and mechanical engineering, and applied geology.
Those interested to participate are encouraged to take advantage of the early bird registration fees for local and international participants, including special rates for students.
The conference secretary can be contacted at +60 85 443 934, or by fax to +60 85 443 837, or by e-mail to CUTSE2011Secretary@curtin.edu.my. For full details on the conference, log on to www.curtin.edu.my/cutse2011.

Source : Curtin University

 

 

Taylor University : Media Communication Students Win MarCom Awards for Public Relations & Video Production

 

Students in Taylor University’s Media Communication department won Gold, Platinum and Honorable Mentions from the MarCom Awards for their work in public relations and video production. MarCom is a competition for marketing communications with categories for print, visual, audio and web materials.

A recruitment video for Remedy Live won Platinum, the competition’s highest honor. The Ft. Wayne-based organization wanted volunteers to join their online ministry team, and the video accomplishes that goal by telling compelling stories of the ministry’s impact. The project’s producer was senior Chase Moore. "This award is incredibly encouraging,” Moore said. “We put a massive amount of work into making it the best we could and to see it receive Platinum reaffirms that all of our effort was well worth it!"

The King’s Academy public relations campaign and the Grant County: Quality of Life business development video both won Gold Awards. The campaign focused on helping King’s Academy cultivate a vision for its future. The Grant County video was one of three designed to attract new business to the area and is now featured on the website of the Grant County Economic Growth Council.

The Main St. Fairmount public relations campaign and Creative Dining Services: More than Food Service video received honorable mentions. While working with Main St. Fairmount, the public relations team concentrated on improving the organization’s volunteer base. The Creative Dining Services video was designed to introduce new employees to the organization. Taylor MacKillop (’11), the project’s director, has won multiple awards for this project and said, “It's humbling to have won another award! The project was a great opportunity to gain experience in production and prepare myself for working in a collaborative environment.”

Junior Corrie Dyke, participant in the King’s Academy public relations campaign said, “I really enjoyed the practicality of the campaign and working on a difficult, yet rewarding project. Receiving an award for the work was exciting and made the project that much more meaningful.”

Source : Taylor University

MMU : Staying ahead with IT

A view of the MMU campus in Malacca.

Prof Zaharin says that universities should focus on research and development projects

Already a premier institution in IT studies, MMU now aims to take on more initiatives that will give its graduates the extra edge.

THE country needs to revamp the information and communication technology (ICT) industry if it wants to stay relevant and become an information technology (IT) hub.

Multimedia University (MMU) president Prof Dr Zaharin Yusoff says the best way forward is for Malaysia to move away from being an IT-consumer nation and become an IT-producing nation.

It will then put Malaysia on par with other developed nations such as the United States (US), Japan and France as the country will be exporting its own software and applications.

“By then, we will stand the chance of having our own equivalent of Microsoft and Oracle, ” he says.

However, the MMU president admits that it may take some time for Malaysia to become a leading IT-producing nation until investments are available to develop IT products. Insufficient human capital in ICT, he shares, is also another factor which hampers the development of the industry.

Prof Zaharin adds that the launch of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in the 1990s created a hype and interest among students who suddenly were keen on pursuing higher education in ICT.

However, he laments that more IT graduates are working in other sectors compared to those who are servicing the ICT industry.

“The cause of this problem could be traced to the supply-demand mismatch in the human capital needs of the ICT industry and the skills of the crop of IT graduates rolled out by the universities and colleges.

“There was a misconception among the tertiary institutions then regarding the type of graduates actually needed by the industry,” he adds.

On hindsight, Prof Zaharin says more courses on computing or computer science should be offered instead of IT programmes which are product specific.

“This is to prevent the graduates from becoming ‘helpless’ when the products and tools used in the said programmes become obsolete,” he says.

He reveals that MMU, together with a few public universities, have decided to put an end to this problem by re-tuning the curriculum of their IT programmes.

R&D roadmap

Nevertheless, Prof Zaharin stresses that the effort of restructuring the curriculum of the IT courses is still not sufficient to propel the country into becoming an IT-producing nation.

“Universities should focus on research and development (R&D) and develop a R&D technology roadmap to give the ICT industry a boost,” he says.

Being the premier institution in IT studies, MMU is spearheading the initiative to work out a R&D technology roadmap with the support from government agencies and industry players.

“The roadmap will identify the direction that the ICT industry is moving into, besides laying the groundwork for R&D on ICT products and applications which will be produced by the industry, ” says Prof Zaharin.

He explains that the strength of a university lies in its R&D effort and his vision is to inculcate the R&D culture at the varsity.

For a start, he says MMU’s academic staff have a reduced teaching load so that they have more time to carry out research.

“Lectures will be made more real and interesting when the academic staff bring students’ attention to elements of their R&D work.

He adds that the students are not left behind as they are also actively involved in the R&D projects, gaining hands-on experience that will prepare them to serve in the ICT industry.

To complete the spectrum of R&D exposure to students, Prof Zaharin says the university is gearing towards commercialising its R&D projects.

“Through commercialism of such projects in IT, students can observe how technopreneurs and the ICT industry work,” he says.

Riding on the strength of the R&D culture, the university has centres of excellence which will be offering niche programmes such as knowledge management technology, a course which encompasses artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

“Currently, there are special interest groups in every faculty and MMU is well-known for its specialisation in robotics,” says Prof Zaharin.

Other niche programmes in the pipeline include health informatics focusing on wellness, and laws which touch on the legal aspects that arise when technology crosses borders.

“The university is also planning to offer Sports Science with special focus on badminton,” says the MMU president.

Upcoming programme

With 4,500 international students coming from 79 countries, MMU is a melting pot of cultures that is very much alive and vibrant.

“The students bring an international flavour to the university and they love to perform,” says Prof Zaharin.

The university, he adds is planning to venture out its technology and business domain by offering a course in Experiential Performance Arts..

Prof Zaharin explains that it is a programme which marries creativity with IT.

“The course is something like Sports Science analysis in which technology is utilised to enhance the performance of the athletes or artistes,” he shares adding that this course will be handled by both the Faculty of IT and Faculty of Creative Multimedia.

On other future plans by MMU, Prof Zaharin says the university hopes to expand its global footprint by exporting its programmes overseas.

“It is not just internationalisation within the campus but also beyond,” he adds.

Currently, MMU exports its programmes to countries such as Iran, Kenya and Sudan.

MMU was ranked as a tier five university which is equivalent to “excellent status” in the Setara rating released by the Higher Education Ministry recently.

“We believe that it is our strength in R&D which had given us the extra edge in being ranked as one of the top institutions of higher learning in the country,” says Prof Zaharin.

Multimedia University is a contributor to the Star Education Fund.

Source : The Star 

 

UCSI University : Apple comes to varsity

Lee (right) presenting an iPad to Prof Lee who was the store’s first customer.

STUDENTS of UCSI University now don’t even have to step outside the campus to experience the magic of Apple technology.

The university recently launched the Apple Experience Centre at its Kuala Lumpur Campus in a bid to bring cheaper and newer digital technology to its students. Deputy vice-chancellor (academic affairs) Prof Dr Lee Chai Buan launched the Centre together with Tristar Digital sales director Lee Thuan Teik.

More than 200 students attended the opening ceremony for a glimpse of the products on display.

Prof Lee became the Apple Centre’s first customer, with the purchase of her very own iPad.

Students as well as staff members thronged the store to participate in the lucky draw competition for a chance of winning an iPad.

In the end, laboratory technologist Pakiraji @ Pakiraju S. Ramaya took home the grand prize, while consolation prizes of an iPod Shuffle went to students Ang Yan Kher and Caleb Choong.

With the opening of the store, university students and staff can enjoy exclusive discounts of up to seven percent on retail prices.

Earlier in the year, the university signed a memorandum of understanding with Tristar Digital in a partnership to bring Apple technology into classrooms, specifically to the university’s School of Information Technology.

Source : The Star

Get smart with B-smart TV on HYPPTV!

4  January 2012  Kuala Lumpur

GET SMART WITH B-SMART TV ON HYPPTV!

Catch up with the latest examination tips with B-Smart TV via HyppTV!

Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s (TM) pay TV service – HyppTV – introduces a new feature for kids to prepare and study for their school examinations through B-Smart TV. Available through HyppTV’s interactive channel selection, B-Smart TV is an educational content offering which focus on Maths and Science subjects. The content available through this interactive channel is based on Malaysian education syllabus from primary to secondary schools and covers major national exams – UPSR, PMR and SPM – however, the current offerings include content for UPSR while PMR and SPM content will be added very soon. Subscribers can freely pick and choose their topics of choice as B-Smart TV content are offered as an on-demand video service. B-Smart TV also helps students to study any preferred topics based on their own pace and level of understanding as the interactive channel allows subscribers to pause, rewind and even forward (features available under the full screen option) the current topic. All that subscribers need to do is just, press the “i” button on the HyppTV remote and select the desired package. Packages available for subscription are: Package Price Package A RM20 for a subscription of three (3) months Package B RM30 for a subscription of six (6) months As an extra bonus – especially when taking breaks between studying – students can check out the Tips of the Day feature displayed at the bottom right under the video menu in B-Smart TV, which may not specifically cover substantial topics, but it can contain interesting facts on Maths and Science subjects for both primary and secondary levels. HyppTV, TM’s IPTV service, is powered by UniFi and is available to viewers come rain or shine through its residential UniFi packages. Currently, HyppTV offers customers 76 channels consisting 15 free channels, 32 premium channels, 15 Video-On-Demand (VOD) genres and 14 interactive channels. For the complete list of HyppTV Live TV Channels, Video on Demand (VOD) and programming, including price list, visit http://www.unifi.my/hypptv/. For more details about TM, log on to www.tm.com.my.  Source : TM

Axiata sees good operational improvement with continued traction in data

 - Healthy QoQ Performance with Revenue +4%, EBITDA 3% and PATAMI 7%; subscribers at 187 million

- Celcom posts highest revenue quarter ever crossing the RM1.8 billion mark for the first time, posting strong 3.2% QoQ growth  

- XL maintains strong data momentum with 50% YTD growth in data services revenue

- Dialog sees positive performance trajectory with QoQ revenue growth of +5% and EBITDA +14%

- Robi Continues growth trajectory with highest quarterly revenue; YTD growth of 18%

Kuala Lumpur, November 30, 2011 – Axiata Group Berhad, (“Axiata”), today announced its unaudited results for the third quarter of 2011. Building on its steady performance in key markets, Malaysia and Indonesia, continued recovery in Sri Lanka and good growth in Bangladesh, Axiata posted healthy year-to-date1 (“YTD”) Revenue, stable EBITDA (“Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation”) and PATAMI (“Profit after Taxation and Minority Interests”). On a quarter-on-quarter2 (“QoQ”) basis, strong growth was seen across all OpCos3. 

YEAR-TO-DATE PERFORMANCE

Continued stable performances were seen across the Group, recording healthy revenue growth despite an uncertain global economy, forex fluctuations and softening markets. This was on the back of robust data business in Malaysia and Indonesia and higher active subscribers and usage in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Revenue was up 5% YTD to RM12.2 billion. At constant currency, revenue would have been up 8%. EBITDA dipped marginally by 0.2% in the same period partly due to the strengthening Ringgit against local currencies. At constant currency EBITDA would have grown 2.2%.The strengthening Ringgit and marked depreciation of the Bangladesh Taka, higher costs incurred to support network expansion for data as well as a change in revenue mix, did have an impact on margins, which dipped 2.3 percentage points to 43.6%.

Underlying PATAMI, stripping off the one-off gains from the share disposal in XL4 and gains from the Spice merger exercise, was RM2 billion, up 5% on the back of continued operational improvements across the main OpCos. Actual PATAMI, inclusive of extraordinary gains last year, decreased by 16%.

Axiata ended the quarter in a strong financial position, with balance sheet significantly strengthened. Net Debt to EBITDA ratio now at 0.56 x from 0.62 x at end 2010.

Strong growth was seen in regional mobile subscribers with a 26% increase YTD to 187 million, despite softening of key markets. 

QUARTER-ON-QUARTER RESULTS

On a QoQ basis, Group performance reflected good overall improvement. Axiata saw a revenue growth of 4% QoQ, driven by sustained operational improvements by all key OpCos. EBITDA improved by 3%, in the same period, on the back of positive contributions from all key OpCos. Similarly, underlying PATAMI for the quarter was up 7%. 

DATA LEADS GROWTH AT CELCOM AND XL

Malaysia

Celcom5 maintained steady growth amidst competitive market conditions with revenue up by 4% YTD, driven primarily by data. EBITDA in the period was up by 1%. Continuous improvement was seen in profitability, up a strong 10% in the period. On a QoQ basis Celcom saw strong growth, posting the highest quarterly revenue ever, crossing the RM1.8 billion mark for the first time. Core business remained stable, despite reducing global trends, on the back of Celcom‟s focus on voice resuscitation which saw a 3.5% increase QoQ.

Growth in non-voice services remained strong. Data now contributes 36% to revenue, a hike of 14% YTD, supported by increased usage and encouraging take up of smartphones and tablets. Mobile Broadband saw continued traction despite intense competition with a 25% YTD growth in revenue. Subscribers surpassed the 900,000 mark, a rise of 15% YTD. With focus remaining on data for future growth, Celcom will continue to prioritise this segment via innovative data offerings and services as well as internal process enhancements and IT capability geared towards the changing environment. 

Indonesia

Momentum continued at XL, driven by strong growth in data. On a YTD basis, revenue grew by 8% to IDR14 trillion and EBITDA for the period increased by 3% to IDR7 trillion with margins at 50%. Similarly, PAT was up by 5% to IDR2.2 trillion.

Data represents a tremendous opportunity for XL and diligent focus on growing the business saw a 50% growth in data revenue as compared to a year ago with increased adoption and usage. Data usage has grown rapidly by 278% with users now representing more than half of subscribers with 24.1 million users. With increased traction in data, XL has accelerated their infrastructure deployment ramping up its 3G rollout with 61% increase of Node Bs YoY and more than 50% of capex is earmarked for data business.

To support the growing data business, XL is transforming the organization into a data centric organization with a strong emphasis on service management to drive greater focus and performance. A dedicated organisation has been established to focus on Mobile Data Services and new business. Alongside this, a new service management group has been

formed which aims to focus on improving end to end service experience for customers, including a reliable and good quality network and enhanced service delivery. 

CONTINUED MOMENTUM IN SOUTH ASIAN OPERATIONS 

Sri Lanka

The Group‟s Sri Lankan operations Dialog6 Group (“Dialog”) continued its positive performance trend of recent quarters, with improved margin and profitability seen in the quarter through aggressive de-scaling of operating cost structure. Revenue was up 10% on a YTD basis, mainly from improvements in the mobile business and in particular, increased consumption of voice and mobile broadband. EBITDA was up by 5%, from persistent focus on cost rescaling strategies and PAT up by 4%. Mobile subscribers also increased by 4% YTD, despite heightened price competition across the sector.

On the backdrop of robust EBITDA performance, Dialog continued to record positive Free Cash Flows (FCF) for the seventh consecutive quarter. In line with this, Dialog maintained a structurally strong balance sheet with the Group‟s Net Debt to EBITDA ratio improving from 1.5x to 0.99x YTD. 

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, one of the Group‟s fastest growing markets, showed sustained growth momentum despite competitive pressures. Robi7 continued to post double digit numbers for both revenue and EBITDA, 18% and 13% respectively on a YTD basis. Healthy revenue growth was mainly on the back of aggressive subscriber growth. PAT however, was down by 4%, due to the marked depreciation of the Taka against the USD.

Amidst aggressive market competition, Robi continued to grow subscriber base with a 37% YTD increase.

REGIONAL AFFILIATES

India

Idea maintains growth despite hyper-competition and saw its subscriber base exceed 100 million up by 35% YTD. Similarly, revenue was up an impressive 25% and EBITDA by 35% in the same period. PAT however, was impacted due to increase in depreciation and interest expenses.

Revenue grew 2% QoQ, with stronger growth in “newer” circles, driven by higher realisation per minute and higher VAS revenue.

Singapore

M1 continued its steady increase in customer base, despite the highly saturated market, adding 41,000 new customers in the third quarter. In tandem, mobile broadband and smart phone customer base increased with non-voice services contributing 35.4% of revenue, up from 31.5% a year ago.

Revenue was up 4% on a YTD basis, due to higher service revenue and handset sales, and EBITDA margin held steady at 42.1%. PAT up 6% to SGD126.4 million in the same period. 

COMMENTARY

Axiata Chairman, Tan Sri Dato‟ Azman Hj. Mokhtar said “It has been a tough year with competition intensifying amidst a difficult operating landscape. Despite this the Group is still recording healthy growth. We will continue to maintain our resilience by focusing on fundamentals and our long term objectives of ensuring strong profit and cash, whilst looking at more revenue opportunities”.

Dato‟ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Axiata added “I am quite pleased to see sequential improvements across almost all OpCos in the third quarter, despite an increasingly difficult operating landscape. Particularly pleasing are the positive results seen at Celcom in voice, which saw good QoQ growth on the back of aggressive voice resuscitation campaigns. Although traditional voice revenues are slowing in our more mature markets, data growth has been extremely encouraging. Celcom and XL in particular have seen good traction in the segment. To support growth opportunities in data, we are embarking on several initiatives which include our IT transformation, across the Group, as well as investment in data network. This will have an impact on EBITDA in the short term but we are confident of success in the longer term. The Group is financially sound, with steady cash flow generation.” 

MOVING FORWARD

“We retain our ROIC target for 2011 whilst moderating our revenue and EBITDA growth expectations, given the challenging operating landscape, including competition and revenue mix as well as the strengthening Ringgit. Alongside this, we will re-emphasise on internal efficiencies as we continue to invest in the early growth phase of our transformation into a data centric company beyond voice” concluded Dato‟ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim. 

ABOUT AXIATA

Axiata is one of the largest Asian telecommunication companies, focused on high growth low penetration emerging markets. Axiata has controlling interests in mobile operators in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia with significant strategic stakes in India and Singapore. India and Indonesia are amongst the fastest growing markets in the world. In addition, the Malaysian-grown holding company has stakes in non-mobile telecommunication operations in Thailand.

The Group‟s mobile subsidiaries and associates operate under the brand name „Celcom‟ in Malaysia, „XL‟ in Indonesia, „Dialog‟ in Sri Lanka, „Robi‟ in Bangladesh, „HELLO‟ in Cambodia, „Idea‟ in India and „M1‟ in Singapore.

The Group, including its subsidiaries and associates, has over 187 million mobile subscribers in Asia. The Group revenue for 2010 was RM15.6 billion. The Group provides employment to over 25,000 people across Asia. Axiata‟s vision is to be a regional champion by 2015 by piecing together the best throughout the region in connectivity, technology and talent, uniting them towards a single goal: Advancing Asia.

Axiata was awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2009 and 2010 Asia Pacific ICT Award for Best Telecom Group and the Telecom Asia Best Regional Mobile Group 2010 and 2011 for its operations in multiple Asian markets. 

Source : Axiata

International conference on financial crime and terrorism financing

This is the 3rd edition of the IFCTF Conference following the hugely successful event in 2010 and 2009.

With increasingly volatile political and economic turmoil in various parts of the globe, financial institutions must be extremely vigilant or become exposed and vulnerable to money laundering and financing of terrorism activities. Sanctioned countries, hostile nations, tax evaders, drug traffickers, people smugglers and dubious organisations are forever exploiting vulnerabilities in the international trade and banking systems to move money from illegal sources for illegal or legitimate purposes. International agencies and regulatory authorities are unable to estimate the volume of money currently launderers with any degree of assurance. Nevertheless, regardless of the difficulty in measurement, the amount of money launderers each year is estimated to be in the billions and pose a significant policy concern for governments. As a result, governments and international bodies have undertaken efforts to deter, prevent and apprehend money launderers. In addition, financial institutions have undertaken efforts to prevent and detect transactions involving dirty money, both as a result of government requirements and to mitigate reputational risk.

However, as the schemes used by money launderers become more sophisticated, approaches to understand the complex money laundering processes and networks must also improve. An effective and comprehensive strengthening of anti-money laundering capacity is necessary as a disincentive to the growing threat posed by organised crime and terrorism in various parts of the globe.

Response to new money laundering challenges necessitates capacity building by creating awareness of the legal and institutional frameworks as well as law enforcement and international cooperation. Identifying new illegal activities and how illicit funds are distributed through the global financial system requires new skills and techniques to diminish such activities. The increasing sophistication of money launderers has accelerated the need for timely exchange of information and intelligence among compliance and enforcement agencies. Many nations are in the process of making suitable amendments to the law on prevention of money laundering and unlawful activities to bring them in line with the core and key recommendations by international anti-money laundering body such as the Financial Action Task Force.

As financial institutions endlessly face new pressures from several fronts, there is a corresponding greater challenge to keep abreast with the latest development in anti-money laundering technology solutions, measures to deal with typologies of various sectors, international regulations and enforcement requirements.

Failure to invest in effective anti-money laundering technology solutions and develop in-depth training programmes to ensure financial institutions comply with new laws and regulations, or other acceptable standards, carries the weight of legal or regulatory sanctions that inevitably would have an adverse impact to earnings, capital or reputation.
In order to the raise the level of professionalism in AML/CFT compliance and build capacity, the Institute of Bank-Bank Malaysia (IBBM) is organising the 3rd International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing 2011 on 19 and 20 September 2011 at the JW Marriott Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Supported by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Bank Negara Malaysia, this event is conducted jointly with the Compliance Officers Networking Group (CONG), Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII), Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
The IFCTF 2011 is the channel for local financial institutions to learn from the experts on new frontiers on combating ML/TF. The theme for the IFCTF 2011 conference is “Raising the Bar in Compliance and Enforcement”. The deliberation during the conference will allow delegates to learn recent developments, emerging typologies and threats in AML/CFT from the perspective of both compliance officers as well as law enforcement agencies. IFCTF 2011 will also witness the launching of the AML/CFT Certification programme by IBBM.
The panel discussions, the broad range of topics and the keynote addresses are designed to provide deeper understanding on the new challenges posed by money launderers and ways to mitigate them effectively. The various plenary sessions have sufficient nuggets to hold the interest of the delegates coming from the various financial, non-financial, governmental and enforcement institutions. Topics covered, amongst others, include the oversight of the Board of Directors, international sanctions, informal funds transfer, regulatory expectations of domestic banks, foreign intermediaries and offshore banks in maintaining an effective AML/CFT framework.
The organising committee aspires that the key takeaway points will assist the delegates in designing and implementing a robust AML/CFT framework at their work place based on international best practices and standards.

Source :  Institute of Banking Malaysia

Reports : Microsoft to buy Nokia smartphone division

Microsoft is in talks to buy Nokia’s smartphone division, Nokia’s long-term scourge, blogger and industry analyst Eldar Murtazin, announced on Twitter today, claiming to have the inside track on the deal.
He said that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was soon to meet his Nokia counterpart Stephen Elop to finalise the transaction, which would see patents, staff, and some plants transferred to Microsoft, for an undisclosed price.
“Steve Ballmer, Andy Lees and Stephen Elop and Kai Ostamo will meet in Las Vegas to finalize agreement about Nokia smartphone unit. Bye Nokia,” he tweeted on Thursday morning.
Murtazin, a Russian who has been sued by Nokia in the past after he got his hands on prototype phones, has been predicting such a deal since May last year.
Nokia UK immediately moved to play down the significance of his claims.
“We’ve put these rumours to rest a long time ago. The focus for Nokia is on executing on our partnership around Windows Phone and growing the ecosystem, and each company has the tools they need to do so,” it said.
But this time, Murtazin has convincing-sounding details.
“The Nokia smartphone unit could be transferred with one or two plants. Second half of 2012. Announcement date isn’t defined,” he tweeted.
He said that the Nokia brand would remain with Nokia, which would then focus on selling 'dumb phones' to emerging markets, a strategy he predicted would see the demise of the company within two years.

“Without smartphones Nokia won't survive,” Murtazin argued.
Stephen Elop, who joined the company from Microsoft in September 2010, and then went on to opt for Microsoft’s mobile phone software for its phones, will leave at the end of 2012 after the deal, according to Murtazin.
“Microsoft will reward him,” he said.
In November, GlobalPost investigated whether Elop, a former Microsoft executive, was actually acting in Microsoft's interests as CEO of Nokia. The stock price, as well as company morale, plummeted after Elop announced that he was scrapping Nokia's smartphone platform in favor of Microsoft's.
Risto Siilasmaa, the founder of F-Secure, who Finland’s Helsingen Sanomat reported today had been selected to replace Jorma Ollila as Nokia’s Chairman, was being hired to oversee the search for Elop’s replacement, he said. 


Author : Richard Orange
Source : Global Post