Yahoo buys Indonesian mobile provider

Just days after Yahoo revealed it was looking to snap up Foursquare for more than $100 million, Yahoo is now set to acquire Koprol, an Indonesian mobile location-based-services Web company, reports TMCnet.

As part of the agreement, Yahoo will invest in evolving Koprol's service for mobile applications.

Rose Tsou, senior vice-president, Asia region at Yahoo, says: “Users are increasingly relying on mobile devices to communicate and access the Internet and they are looking for seamless integration between those devices and PCs. This is especially true in many emerging markets where we are introducing the Yahoo brand to many new Internet users.”

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) aims to tap into the Asia-Pacific region, while unveiling its next generation of smart phones in a bid to reach 100 million users, states Bangkok Post.

RIM has invested $150 million in its own venture capital fund to invest in potentially lucrative mobile application companies.

The company's co-CEO, Mike Lazaridis, says: “While applications and platforms are already transforming how smartphone users work and play, allowing customers to personalise their handsets with a choice of size of screen/keyboard and colours will be a key to further grow RIM's market share.”

Motorola, Samsung Electronics and LG are vying to supply a tablet device to Verizon Wireless by the end of the year in competition to the Apple iPad, says Chicago Business.

"Whoever gets that Verizon spot, it's a critical position," says Rob Enderle, president of consulting firm Enderle Group. "Without (Verizon), they won't get the volume to stand out from the crowd."

The long-predicted convergence of computer and cellphone is finally taking off, first with smartphones like the iPhone and now with tablets, which can do more than a phone without the bulk of a laptop computer.