IT-BPO revenues from Germany, Switzerland, Austria may grow to $10 bn by 2020

Indian information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors may get almost $10 billion from Germany, Switzerland and Austria by 2020, up from the $2.6 billion they earn from this region across the IT, BPO and engineering services space, against the addressable market size of more than $53 billion.Business from this region, which is the largest market in Europe, has the potential to grow so much, provided Indian companies take the strategic and tactical steps required to succeed in this market, according to the latest report by Nasscom and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report called ‘Opportunities for Indian IT – BPO industry in Germanic countries’ pegged the BPO market to be around $4 billion and offshored engineering services around $3.4 billion. Germany...

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MySpace to Cut Two-Thirds of Staff Outside U.S.

MySpace to Cut Two-Thirds of Staff Outside U.S.PARIS — MySpace, the online music sharing and networking service owned by News Corp., said Tuesday that it planned to close at least four international offices and eliminate two-thirds of its staff outside the United States as it tries to adjust to slowing audience growth and falling advertising. The decision reflects the service’s difficulty in competing with Facebook, whose international audience dwarfs that of MySpace, as well as local players and newly popular services like Twitter, analysts say.“Facebook seems to have been better at opening up its appeal to more age groups, in more markets,” said Karin Von Abrams, an analyst at eMarketer, a research firm. “Once the momentum begins to build...

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Nintendo, American heart group join to tackle obesity

The American Heart Association has teamed up with Japanese entertainment giant Nintendo to harness its Wii consoles and encourage Americans to exercise more to counter a soaring obesity problem.Nintendo, whose Wii consoles with motion-controlling sensors took markets by storm in 2006, is working with the AHA in order to cut the risks of heart disease among Americans, their websites said.According to the AHA nearly 70 percent of Americans do not get enough regular physical activity. Obesity, a major health problem in the US, is a determinant of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in the country.The association said that the average American spends more than eight hours a day sitting and recommends all adults to get at least 150 minutes...

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Facebook security flaw revealed

Facebook security flaw revealedSocial networking site Facebook temporarily disabled its chat system after a serious security flaw was revealed which allowed people to view chats and pending friend requests of their Facebook friends.The security flaw, discovered Wednesday by technology website TechCrunch, related to a feature on Facebook that allows users to preview their own privacy settings, telegraph.co.uk reported."There is a major security flaw in the site that, with just a few mouse clicks, enables any user to view the live chats of their 'friends'. Using what sounds like a simple trick, a user can also access their friends' latest pending friend-requests and which friends they share in common. That's a lot of potentially sensitive information,"...

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China Mobile expresses interest in iPad

China Mobile, the world's biggest cell phone operator, said Thursday it was interested in selling the iPad, and that talks with Apple over the sale of iPhones were still ongoing."China Mobile has been in constant talks with Apple over cooperation issues," Rainie Lei, a Hong Kong-based company spokeswoman, told AFP by telephone."China Mobile has expressed an interest in iPad."China Mobile is developing an electronic book business and company chairman Wang Jianzhou said Wednesday that the operator was interested in providing e-text to Chinese users via the iPad.Apple has not yet officially launched the iPad in Asia, but a "grey market" trade in the touchscreen portable tablet computer has boomed in stores from Singapore to Seoul to Beijing.The...

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Pic of the Day - 20th May

A Sri Lankan man carries his catch at the sea front as it rains in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday, May 21, 2010. Sri Lankan government says that 19 people have died in floods, earthslips and hazards caused by strong winds during a week of heavy rain across the country. (Photo: ...

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