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| Date: | Mon, 11 Sep 2000 22:56:42 +1200 |
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Yahoo - Microsoft , Ericsson launch venture
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Microsoft , Ericsson launch venture(UPDATE: Writes through with quotes from news conference, background, share price)By Will Hardie STOCKHOLM, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Telecoms equipment company Ericsson and software giant Microsoft Corp said on Monday they had formally launched a mobile e-mail services joint venture, almost a year after first announcing the idea. The new unit, called Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB, will be 70 percent owned by Ericsson and 30 percent by Microsoft and have its headquarters in Stockholm. Ulf Avrin, the unit's president, said at a news conference it would have a positive effect on Ericsson's results and the joint venture was expected to take a sizeable share of the mobile Internet market. Avrin said he was talking to mobile operators in the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia about the joint company's products. ``It's hard to say which market will come first but it's going to be a close call,'' Avrin said. The products will support mobile e-mail and other personal information management tools through existing mobile networks worldwide. ``It will have an immediate, positive impact on (Ericsson's) results,'' Avrin said. ``The cooperation has prompted an incredible amount of interest among the operators.'' ``We are counting on taking a sizeable share of the mobile Internet market which is under development. The value of the market in the near term is hard to quantify. But when we get into the third generation it's going to be very big,'' Avrin said. MOBILE E-MAIL FUTURE Avrin, formerly of Ericsson, said in an earlier statement there was broad recognition that mobile e-mail was one of the key applications that are needed to create a mobile Internet mass market. Ericsson and Microsoft also cooperate in the use of Microsoft's Mobile Explorer browser on Ericsson phones, licencing of Ericsson's Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology for Microsoft products and the distribution of Microsoft's Outlook software with some Ericsson phones. The companies said the European Commmission, the EU's competition wathdog, had said the venture would not need a merger review and so could be legally formed immediately. Ericsson estimates that mobile telephones and other hand-held terminals will replace PCs as the main Internet tool by 2003. It expects the number of Internet users to reach one billion by 2005. At present e-mail is one of the most common Internet applications with 435 million active mail boxes. The next step in Ericssson Microsoft Mobile Venture will be positioning services, Avrin said. Microsoft's Senior Vice-President, Mobility Division, Paul Gross, was asked if the 70-30 split would set the mould for future ventures within the alliance. He told Reuters: ``We will deal with any opportunities based on the criteria at the time.'' Ericsson stock was trading two crowns down on the day at 185.50 crowns on a weak Stockholm market at 1027 GMT.
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