Microsoft Corp. is expected to announce a major revamp of its phone software Monday, in an attempt to regain momentum in a crucial market where it’s been overshadowed. CEO Steve Ballmer will be speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the world’s largest cell phone trade show, and analysts expect him to reveal Windows Mobile 7. The software could be in phones by late this year. The new software comes as Microsoft, dominant when smart phones were young, has taken a back seat to Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerrys among corporate users and Apple Inc.’s iPhone among consumers. The new software is expected to be more consumer focused.
Boeing threats send man to prison
A former Boeing Co. worker has been sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of sending threats to top executives at the company, as well as posting bomb threats on the Web sites of refineries owned by Chevron and Shell oil companies. Gino Augustus Turrella also must pay $231,000 in restitution under the sentence issued Friday. The 47-year-old worked at Boeing from 1987 to 2005, when he was fired for mailing AK-47 cartriges to a coworker. He was arrested in 2008 after sending e-mails threatening to shoot up or bomb a Boeing building in Auburn. Investigators found more than 100 guns at his home. Prosecutors say Turrella had a long history of making threats, and the FBI had previously investigated him. Through much of the 1990s he made threats over ham radio, including threats to kill people by AK-47.
No political will for global trade pact
The European Union’s new trade chief wrapped up his first visit to the World Trade Organization on Friday with the stark assessment that officials were making no progress on a new global commerce pact. If heads of state really want to see the Doha trade liberalization round completed this year, they need to give their negotiators the authority to make key concessions to eliminate trade barriers in agriculture, manufacturing and services, said EU trade chief Karel De Gucht. “When there’s nothing really moving here then it’s because there’s not the political will to do so,” he told reporters in Geneva, after meeting with WTO chief Pascal Lamy.
January retail sales more than expected
A modestly better-than- expected report on retail sales for January could suggest stronger economic growth in coming months. The 0.5 percent gain the Commerce Department reported Friday exceeded the 0.3 percent rise economists had expected. Strength came from a surge at general merchandise stores. These include big chains such as those owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.6 percent. Higher consumer spending is vital because it accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.
From Herald news services
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