Wired has an interesting article on why the iPhone isn’t as popular in Japan as in the US.  The magazine points out that “from a Japanese perspective,

[…] almost everything [is wrong with the iPhone]:  the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it's not Japanese.”  The Japanese are also apparently bugged by the pricing plans, which, starting at $60 a month, are too high compared to competitors.  To counteract these sentiments, and to adjust to local conditions, Japanese carrier SoftBank this week launched the ‘iPhone for Everybody’ campaign, which gives away the 8-GB model of the iPhone 3G if customers agree to a two-year contract.

 

PC Mag’s Lance Ulanoff  points out that “[i]n the space of a few hours, Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, each announced new ways for their users to steer the policies and directions of their respective companies, treating customers not like passive consumers but active stakeholders.”  Ulanoff sees in this as a sign that “we’ve entered a new era of business and corporate policy,” which he calls the “democratization of business.”  According to him, this is due to an unusual confluence of factors which weaken companies' power and have made it impossible for companies to dictate the business-customer relationship.

 

FT.com reports that, according to Baroness Ashton, the European trade commisioner, “[g]overnments should support companies through the economic crisis as long as they stop short of propping up unviable industries.  Seeking to clarify EU policy amid fears of rising protectionism around the world, she said:  ‘It is completely right and reasonable for individual governments to want to support their industries, and I’ve always made the distinction between what I call protection and protectionism.’  The former, she said, was intended to help businesses through a temporary downturn or technological change while the latter was an improper way to protect companies that lacked strategic plans or viable futures.”  

 

CNetNews.com reveals that “President Obama's proposed 2010 budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars for the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity division, programs that have faced significant criticism over the past year.  The budget includes $355 million to support the base operations of the National Cyber Security Division and the efforts of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The money will largely be used to secure the nation's public and private information networks, although $36 million will support ongoing projects to improve surveillance technologies that detect advanced biological threats.”

 

In a different article, CNetNews.com writes that “Novell's fiscal first-quarter results were a mixed bag, and Linux invoices fell sharply as the company failed to sign big deals.  For the first quarter, ended Jan. 31, Novell reported non-GAAP earnings of $24 million, or 7 cents a share, on revenue of $215 million. Those results were a penny better than Wall Street estimates. Net income for the first quarter was $11 million, or 3 cents a share.”