The little screen promises big bucks

According to The New York Times, “Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all trained their sights on cellphones, which they see as the next great battleground in the Internet search wars. They have thrown tens of millions of dollars and armies of programmers at the problem, seeking to develop tools that people on the move can actually use.”

CNetNews.com writes that “[t]hree public-interest groups are expected to file a joint complaint on Friday with the Federal Trade Commission calling for an investigation into the potential threat to consumer privacy posed by Google’s planned acquisition of DoubleClick.”

Yahoo!News reports that, according to Bill Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corp, “China is set to remain the world’s largest broadband market after recently overtaking the US.” Gates also told a forum in Beijing that “China, currently a global leader in hardware, would soon become a leader in software.”

The Seattle Times has an interesting interview with Orlando Ayala, one of two Microsoft executives “leading the company’s efforts to expand technology to the 5 billion people who have little access to it now.”

According to Internetnews.com, “[w]orldwide PC shipments rose by 8.9 percent in first quarter of 2007, but for the first time, the U.S. market slipped to third place as the rest of the world’s growth continued at a rapid pace.”