At the BlackBerry World 2011 conference today in Orlando, Florida, today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that its Bing search engine will be replacing Google as the default search and maps provider on all of Research in Motion (RIM)’s BlackBerry devices.

The Bing search engine has been steadily gaining market share — it currently holds 27 percent of the search engine market compared to Google’s 67 percent — and this deal comes as a major breakthrough.

In addition to RIM’s smartphone devices, Bing will also be serving as the default search and maps provider to PlayBook, RIM’s upcoming tablet competitor to Apple’s iPad.

According to The Register, the agreement may also include a clause to make Microsoft’s upcoming mobile browser IE10 the default browser on the BlackBerry. A deal like that would make for an interesting collision in the mobile browser market, with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android backing Webkit-based browsers, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and RIM’s BlackBerry backing Internet Explorer.

Microsoft also showed how some of its more advanced capabilities, such as search with optical character recognition cameras, voice, local restaurants, and deals will be integrated into the BlackBerry platform, as well as its Streetside block view and Photosynth panorama features for Maps.

Tags: Blackberry, deal, default, ie10, maps, search engine, Windows Phone 7

Companies: Microsoft, Research In Motion, RIM

People: steve ballmer

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

BrightEdge, a search engine optimization management (SEO) platform, said today that is has partnered with digital performance measurer ComScore to help companies get the highest online ranking possible, Jim Yu, founder and chief executive, told VentureBeat.

San Mateo, Calif.-based BrightEdge uses tools to help companies increase their prominence on search engines like Google.

“Search marketers need a holistic view of what is impacting their search rankings,” Yu told VentureBeat. “It makes perfect sense to collaborate with ComScore to combine their competitive intelligence with our organic insights so that our customers can get this complete picture instantly in the BrightEdge platform.”

As part of the new partnership, ComScore’s intelligence into consumer search behavior, which is based on its panel of three million Internet users, will be fully integrated into BrightEdge’s current SEO platform.

BrightEdge said this combination of collective intelligence and “deeper” SEO analytics will enable SEO managers and executives to get a complete view of their competitive position across the Internet.

That view will be crucial for companies hoping to identify new strategies to cut through the Web clutter and drive SEO performance.

“The landscape of SEO is evolving quickly, with new channels like social media and mobile becoming more and more important factors into SEO performance,” said Yu. “Companies who don’t understand these new search behaviors are optimizing for yesterday’s SEO.”

The money at stake is huge. The SEO market opportunity in the U.S. is greater than $40 billion, three to four times larger than paid search which, according to independent technology and market research company Forrester, was close to a $13 billion market in 2009.

BrightEdge’s closest competitors are customized in-house solutions and similar SEO companies Covario and ConductorSearchLight.

It has been growing at a rapid pace. In the last few months, the company says it became the first SEO platform with global capabilities; was joined by the former chief architect of Baidu to consult on international platform expansion; and introduced BrandSafe Link Audit to expose disreputable SEO techniques to brand marketers before they end up in the headlines.

In March, it began integrating social media signals into its platform, allowing its customers to analyze the content of Tweets and Facebook “likes” and “shares” to pinpoint the exact areas in social media that will boost SEO, and offer specific recommendations to increase activity in these places.

Founded in 2007, BrightEdge has so far raised $8.5 million from Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures, and Illuminate Ventures.

Companies: Altos Ventures, Baidu, Battery Ventures, BrightEdge, comscore, ConductorSearchLight, Covario, Google, illuminate Ventures

People: Jim Yu

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Buffett Seeks To Limit Damage (WSJ)
In contrast to his March 30 remarks, when he said he thought Mr. Sokol’s actions weren’t “in any way unlawful,” Mr. Buffett on Saturday called Mr. Sokol’s actions “inexcusable” and said they violated the company’s insider-trading rules and code of ethics. He said Berkshire had turned over “some very damning evidence, in my view” about Mr. Sokol’s trades to the SEC. Mr. Sokol maintains he did nothing wrong, and his attorney late Saturday released a statement calling Mr. Buffett’s stance a “resort to transparent scapegoatism.”

Buffett Extols Berkshire’s CEO Candidates, Faults Sokol’s Trades (Bloomberg)
“There is no real chance the next CEO comes from outside of Berkshire,” the 80-year-old billionaire said yesterday at a press conference in Omaha, Nebraska, site of the company’s annual meeting. “If you picked the worst of the candidates we have, that person would be very, very good.”…Sokol’s stock deals, which Buffett called “inexplicable” considering his wealth, depleted Berkshire’s list of possible CEOs. Berkshire said in February that it had four candidates, without identifying them. “The leading candidate right now, I would lay a lot of money on him being straight as an arrow,” Buffett said at the April 30 meeting.

Buffett: Failure To Raise Debt Ceiling Is Asinine (Reuters)
Warren Buffett said he expects the Congress to raise the nation’s debt ceiling before it expires in mid-May, and said it would be that body’s “most asinine act” ever if it failed.

The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (Deal Journal)
A question about what Berkshire is doing to protect against the fall of the dollar. Buffett in the past has bet against the U.S. dollar, but said he’s lately been inactive in foreign exchange markets. “There’s no question the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar will decline over time. The only question is at what rate, Buffett said. But other currencies will decline too, and he said he doesn’t have strong feelings about which ones will decline faster or slower. Buffett ends by saying he’d rather be in the U.S. right now than any other place or any other time in history.

Osama Bin Laden Killed in Pakistan, Obama Says (Bloomberg)
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan yesterday in a firefight with a team of U.S. operatives who raided the compound where he had been hiding, President Barack Obama said. “On nights like this one we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al-Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done,” Obama said in a late-night televised address from the White House.

Bin Laden Was Found At Luxurious Pakistan Compound (Reuters)
Few windows of the three-story home faced the outside of the compound, and a terrace had a seven-foot (2.1 meter) privacy wall, officials said. “It is also noteworthy that the property is valued at approximately $1 million but has no telephone or Internet service connected to it,” an administration official said. “The brothers had no explainable source of wealth.”

Buffett, Charlie Munger’s Share Thoughts On Trump (Reuters)
The biggest laughs of the day came from a question on Trump’s prospects for the White House. “Obviously, I think he’s a jerk,” Berkshire’s Vice Chairman Charlie Munger said, with Buffett adding in a more diplomatic way that he did not expect Trump to win the presidency.

Trump Says He’s Decided ‘In My Mind’ To Pursue Presidency (Bloomberg)
“In my mind, I have already decided,” Trump, 64, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “I am going to announce. But I can’t do anything until the show ends.”

Abu Dhabi, Hedge Funds to Back Glencore IPO (Reuters)
The listing, which could be London’s biggest ever, will be aided by strong support from cornerstones, who could buy nearly 30 percent of the shares sold — or some $3.6 billion worth, if the listing raises its maximum target of $12.1 billion.

Facebook Numbers Feed IPO Outlet (WSJ)
Lou Kerner…pegged Facebook’s profit margin—in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—at about 50%. He said Ebitda should be $1.95 billion this year, and he estimated the company’s value in the public market would be $112.9 billion.

Greece Suggests EU/IMF Repayment Extension (Reuters)
In an interview with French daily Liberation published a day ahead of an inspection visit by the lenders, Papaconstantinou became the first Greek official to float the idea of a further easing of conditions on the 110 billion rescue.

Seth Meyers’ White House Correspondent’s Dinner Speech (TRB)

After Roasting, Trump Responds In Character (NYT)
“Seth Meyers has no talent,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on Sunday. “He fell totally flat. In fact, I thought Seth’s delivery was so bad that he hurt himself.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Shares of Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) were off a penny in recent afternoon trading after a downgrade from Lazard Capital.

Analyst Barton Crockett downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral, given that it is bumping up against his $2 price target. He also noted that while the company’s growth looks healthy, it’s not an unknown story, and it’s already reflected in the stock price.

“A key upside argument from here is rate hikes, with a merger rate hike restriction likely to end in 2Q11,” he wrote. “While Sirius XM’s subs are loyal and engaged and we believe will pay more, we also believe that Sirius XM is likely to act conservatively, in recognition of a still tepid consumer environment. A profusion of new online music streaming services from Internet companies, startups, and IPO candidates also augurs for some pricing caution. We are not willing to assume big upside to our long-term 3% rate hike assumption.”

Crockett also said that with production cuts and the plodding pace of the economic recover, there likely won’t be a bigger car sales recovery (many new cars come with limited subscriptions to Sirius). For the first quarter, which Sirius reports next Tuesday, he is forecasting revenue and adjusted EBIDTA estimates below consensus, as he sees “an end to Sirius’s streak of steadily trouncing and raising guidance.”

He concluded that a better play on Sirius can be found at Liberty Capital: “Our DCF of surging free cash flow is consistent with the current stock price, which is an adj. EV (incl NOLs) of 18.1x 2011E adj. EBITDA. For Sirius exposure, we see a better value at Liberty Capital, which owns 40% of Sirius XM, and trades a third below the pre-tax value of its parts. We see likely scenarios for LCAPA to exit these stakes tax-free.”

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

My colleague Mark Veverka managed to sit it at the townhall meeting President Obama held at Facebook today, and filed this report. Thanks, Mark!

The social media president made his first stop on his California campaign swing at the headquarters of Facebook in Palo Alto, just down the street from Hewlett-Packard. The heavily-staged “town hall” event went down as scripted, with billionaire Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking the questions that were submitted in advance and over the Web.

Zuckerberg, sans hoodie, was a little nervous from the get-go being in the presence of President Obama on the big Internet stage.

The event was streamed live over Facebook, demonstrating the media power of a college experiment gone so viral that traditional television networks are nervous – and they should be.

Facebook is a privately held pre-IPO technology-media company that just hosted the president of the United States for a global chat. Talk about a road show.

You can watch the video here, in case you missed it.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritszche this morning reiterates a Market Perform rating on shares of Research in Motion (RIMM), writing that the a report yesterday by The Wall Street Journal’s Caroline Van Hasselt and Shereen Elgazzar that The United Araba Emirates will clamp down on BlackBerry service is pretty much already reflected in RIM’s stock price.

Van Hesselt and Elgazzar wrote yesterday that RIM confirmed it had been informed by the U.A.E. that the emirate plans to force individuals and for companies with fewer than 20 subscribers to use a less secure version of the BlackBerry service, the BlackBerry Individual Solutions (BIS), rather than BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES).

The move is perceived as an attempt to limit protest in the Middle East, which has been aided by Internet and cellular communications.

“While this is a negative headline for the shares, we note that there is no formal press release from RIMM on this issue and this story had been speculated last week. As a result, we would argue much of this news is already reflect in the stock’s current valuation.”

RIM shares this morning are up $1.14, or 2%, at $54.54.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

The house doesn’t always win.

Today, the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker are among eleven defendants charged by the Department of Justice with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses, MarketWatch is reporting.

Authorities issued restraining orders for upwards of 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies and their payment processors. In addition, five Internet domain names used by the companies, the largest U.S. online poker websites, were seized.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Group-buying titan Groupon has taken further steps towards an initial public offering by selecting Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to underwrite the offering, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal citing “people familiar with the matter.”

It’s been pretty clear for the past few months that an IPO is in Groupon’s sights, especially after the company walked away from a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google last year then raised a whopping $950 million in funding.

Bloomberg reported last month that Groupon was planning a $25 billion IPO this year. Now the Journal says that the IPO is expected to value the company between $15 and $20 billion. A number of consumer Internet companies, such as LinkedIn, have started filing for their IPOs this year. As reported, Groupon’s IPO would dwarf the offerings announced so far, though Facebook is likely to follow with an even larger IPO in the next couple of years.

I’ve emailed Groupon for comment and will update here if I hear from them.

Tags: IPOs

Companies: Goldman Sachs, Groupon, Morgan Stanley

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

China’s mass-market consumers are starting to take up applications in Internet entertainment, e-commerce, digital content, and mobile Internet, driven by ongoing urbanization, improving broadband infrastructure, and an influx of affordable smart devices and applications, according to report by Jefferies.

The firm initiated coverage of Baidu (BIDU) with a Buy rating and a $200 price target. It also initiated coverage of Sina Corp. (SINA) with a Buy rating and $150 price target and coverage of Hong Kong-traded Tencent with a Buy rating and a price target of 248 Hong Kong dollars.

“We like Baidu’s dominance in search marketing, Tencent’s conglomerate of Internet with a hidden jewel real name SNS, and Sina’s leadership in social media, ” wrote analyst Cynthia Meng.

Baidu enjoys high barriers to entry, limited competition, a growing market with still-low online market -penetration among small and medium-sized enterprises and an early opportunity in mobile search, Meng wrote.

Over 55% of traffic is still unmonetized, and Baidu’s online video joint venture Qiyi has considerable potential, she added.

Sina has the first-mover social media platform Weibo, Meng wrote.

“Driven by increasing netizen base, the Chinese government-led urbanization and resulting consumption upgrade, Weibo’s addressable market, user base, and effective browsing time are expected to expand,” she added.

Tencent continues to gain market share in online games and mobile Internet. Meng expects the company to overtake Sohu in 2011 for no. 2 in China’s brand advertising market.

Baidu is up 2.7% at $144.57.

Sina is up 5.4% at $117.28.

Tencent closed up 3.2% at $HK 199.80 in Hong Kong trading.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Google (GOOG) should report first-quarter results on Thursday that are in-line with consensus amid strong search trends, according to The Benchmark Co.

Analysts are forecasting first-quarter net revenue and EPS of $6.4 billion and $8.13, respectively, for 27% and 20% year-over-year growth.

“With the stock down recently, and trading at only 10 times and 17 times 2011 estimated Ebitda and EPS, we remain bullish,” wrote analyst Clayton F. Moran in a research note.

He rates Google at Buy with a $700 price target.

Google’s U.S. search volume in January and February increased 13% year-over-year, according to comScore, and its international search volumes increased 26% year-over-year. Search pricing, or cost-per-click (CPC), is up around 10% year-over-year domestically, Moran noted.

“While Facebook is gaining market share in online advertising, it does not appear to be at the expense of Google,” Moran wrote. “Google remains the primary Internet advertising vehicle, with marketers raising budgets.”

Google is implementing new products and strategies and has altered processes to facilitate faster decision making and product innovation, Moran added.

Some recent product changes include those designed to increase the quality of links and enhance results with social suggestions.

Moran wasn’t uniformly positive on Google: The company has almost $30 billion of net cash, or about $91 per share, he noted, about $20 billion of which should be used to repurchase Google stock (11%), leaving considerable unused cash.

“It is unfortunate that the company appears unwilling to return capital to shareholders,” he wrote.

Google shares closed down 0.1% at $577.37. It is down 0.3% at $575.74 after hours.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily