Although I usually refrain from blogging much on the weekends, there was a significant amount of news involving what I consider the three most influential Silicon Valley companies. Below is a recap

Yahoo- Yahoo rejected a radically new proposal from Microsoft. Yahoo was given 24 hours to accept the deal, which was not for the entire company but rather just the search component of Yahoo. The offer also asked for the current Board of Directors and executive team to be replaced by new teams led by investor Carl Ichan.

The real news is in Yahoo’s rejection. Yahoo implied that a could deal be reached for the entire company. While this does sound like foreplay for a potential merger, the rejection also included some jabs at Microsoft.

“adding that the requirement to replace the board and executive team is absurd and irresponsible given the complexity of the deal.” per tech crunch.

2008 has had a lot of interesting squareoffs with Obama vs Clinton, Microsoft vs Yahoo, Rodriguez vs West Virgina and Favre vs the Packers now looming. At this point with all the ill will between the two companies, I think this has become a pissing match that Microsoft has the will and resources to win. Its a war of attrition between two tech giants and its sad to see them looking so feeble in full view of the public. I think in the end, investor pressure from Icahn and other key investors will broker a deal sometime in the next month or so.

Apple- Apple, known for their execution of product launches, ran into a snag releasing the new 3G iphone. Unlike last year, new Iphones, needs to be activated within the store. Phones were unable to be activated with issues with the Itunes server causing the first several waves of Apple fanboys to come away empty handed. Just imagine you waiting in line for 1-3 days only to come away empty handed. Luckily though, the product is going over well and Apple is continued to meet demand through the weekend at most locations. Below is a video of a line for the phone in Mission Viejo.

Google- Last year, a popular rumor was that Google would release their own mobile phone. Speculation died down as Google announced their Android mobile phone operating system. However there is now a new wave of speculation around the tech blogosphere that Google may indeed looking to release a mobile phone within the next year. While reports are conflicting, its something to keep an eye out as Google has yet to to take their superior web know how and engenierring excellence and apply it to a hardware device.

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