Apple Plans To Launch Netbook With Touch Screen-Sources

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is planning to launch a netbook computer with a touch screen monitor as early as the second half of this year, two people close to the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.
The mini laptop computers will likely have monitor screens that are between 9.7-inches and 10-inches, one person, who declined to be named, said.
Another person said other specifications and functions are still under evaluation.
Apple is working with Taiwan's Wintek Corp. (2384.TW), a contract manufacturer of small and medium displays, to make the touch-screen displays and Quanta Computer Inc. (2382.TW), the world's largest notebook maker by revenue, to assemble the new netbooks, the second person said.
Netbooks are primarily designed for Internet browsing and mobile computing. They cost less than conventional laptop computers, and are lighter and smaller.
A slew of PC makers including Dell Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and Acer Inc. (2353.TW) have in recent months entered this market segment. The companies are hoping to tap new computer users in emerging markets.
Apple's entry may come in what is expected to be a very tough year for computer sales. Desktop-computer shipments in particular are expected to fall by nearly one-third globally in 2009 as consumers increasingly shift to laptop computers, according to projections released by research firm Gartner Inc. earlier in March.
While netbook computers have become a major sales driver for computer companies, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs last year dismissed netbooks, even going so far as to suggest Apple's third-generation iPhone - a smartphone device that offer multifunctions - could serve as a netbook. Jobs told analysts in October Apple isn't "tremendously worried" the slump will drive customers to less-expensive PCs and added, "we don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk."
Jill Tan, a spokeswoman for Apple in Asia, declined to comment Tuesday. Wintek spokeswoman Susie Lee and Quanta Computer investor relations officer Carol Hsu declined to comment.
Apple, like many other big personal-computer and consumer-electronics brands, doesn't actually make most of its products. It hires manufacturing specialists - mainly companies from Taiwan that have extensive operations in China - to assemble its gadgets based on Apple's designs.
The arrangement frees Apple and its fellow vendors from running complicated, labor-intensive production lines, while the ability of Taiwanese companies to slash manufacturing costs helps cut product prices over time.
Quanta assembles Apple's MacBook and iMac computers.
Shares of Wintek and Quanta rose on the news. Wintek shares rose 6.9% to NT$ 11.70, while Quanta shares gained 4.4% to NT$37.60. The broader market closed up 0.9%.
But Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent Chen said the share price gains may be limited as orders from Apple may not be large.
"Apple is unlikely to make very cheap products. The netbook would most likely be very niche, meaning volume is going to be small."

Unfair deal for women candidates in LS polls?

Women candidates in the lists announced by major political parties till now are few and far between. Their representation is nowhere close 33 per cent, which the Women's Bill hopes to achieve. The worst off till now is the CPM. Its list of 60 candidates, interestingly announced on the Women's Day, has only three women candidates.Out of Congress' 24 candidates announced in Uttar Pradesh, only five are women.BJP's list of 166 candidates so far has 26 women. That's just a little over 15 per cent.Samajwadi Party has only 6 women candidates out of 71.

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IPL will be responsible for players' security: Modi

In a press conference, IPL chief Lalit Modi has made it clear that the IPL is on and said that the IPL schedule is being fine-tuned every minute. It will continue to be the mega-event it has been billed to be. He also said that IPL opening ceremony in Mumbai will take place on April 10 and tickets are likely to go on sale from next week.Tournament
will now move to new venues of Ahmedabad and Vishakapatnam. IPL is still trying to get a confirmation from Dharamsala to host matches, he said.As far as player security is concerned during the tournament, Modi said IPL will be responsible for security of Indian and foreign players till the end of the tournament. He said foreign players would be given security from the moment they land in India to the moment they leave the country. He also clarified that not a single player has contacted IPL over tournament security.IPl will be coordinating with state governments for security and 90 per cent of states have approved IPL's new schedule.Modi announced that IPL has a contracted revenue of Rs 10,970 crore this year.Earlier, the Home Ministry received the revised schedule which has since been forwarded to the police establishments of the 8 states that will be hosting matches. However, there still seems to be considerable confusion with the IPL saying the government clearance is on track and the ministry saying they're yet to give a final clearance. Most of the states also continue to have reservations about hosting matches scheduled close to the polling dates.The involved in the IPL are Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharshtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Kasab to attend court trial through video conferencing

Mumbai / Porbander, March 10 (ANI): Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive in the 26/11 Mumbai attack would stand trial on March 23, a local court said on Monday. A metropolitan magistrate's court said the trial would begin before the special session court set up inside the high-security Arthur Road prison.
The court also turned down Kasab's request to provide Urdu translation of the charge sheet running into over 11,000 pages, a plea made by two other accused.

Satyam founder in federal crime bureau custody

The founder of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services and four others have been sent to the custody of India's federal crime bureau for investigation into the country's biggest corporate scandal, the bureau said.
Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former Satyam managing director Rama Raju, and chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas will remain in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for seven days from Tuesday, following a court order, the CBI said.
Two former officials from Satyam's auditing firm Price Waterhouse, S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, have also been sent to CBI custody by a court in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, it said in a statement on Monday.
Satyam has been battling for survival since Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman on Jan. 7, revealing profits had been overstated for years and that $1 billion of cash and bank balances on the company's books did not exist. The five men were all arrested later that month.
The CBI took over the fraud investigation last month from the police in Andhra Pradesh state, whose capital is Hyderabad.
The bureau's statement said several documents related to the case had been collected and witnesses had been examined.
Satyam kicked off a bidding process on Monday to sell a majority stake to regain the confidence of its clients and staff, and two potential suitors quickly confirmed they would join the race for the tainted outsourcer

IPL on, but with a new schedule: Lalit Modi

Mumbai, March 6 (IANS) The Indian Premier League (IPL) will soon have a new schedule, IPL chief Lalit Modi said here Friday and stressed that the tournament was on.
'We will shortly have a new schedule out,' Modi told reporters, adding that there would be no matches on the day of the counting - May 16.
'We want to assure our fans that the IPL is on. There is no question of the IPL moving to another country,' he said, adding that they were working on a schedule, which was a 'cumbersome process'