Acer has filed a lawsuit against its former chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Lanci left Acer last March after the company hit a rough patch and was recently named head of Lenovo’s operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “We believe Mr. Lanci has clearly breached the terms of the non-compete agreement he entered into willingly . . . we believe we have a very robust case,” Acer said in a statement given to the Financial Times. The Financial Times notes that Acer has fallen from the second to the fourth largest computer maker in the world while Lenovo has seen recent success and has risen to the No.2 spot.

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Sony Corporation on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai as CEO and company president, replacing Howard Stringer, who is currently President and CEO. Hirai will assume his new position on April 1st and Stringer will take a new role on the company’s board of directors as its chairman starting in June. ”Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature,” Stringer said in a statement. “I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead.” Hirai acknowledged that Sony faces serious challenges and he pointed to digital imaging, mobile and gaming as the three key businesses that will carry Sony into the future. The company’s full press release follows below.

Sony names Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO; Sir Howard Stringer to become Chairman of the Board of Directors

TOKYO, Japan – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that Kazuo Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2012. Sir Howard Stringer, currently Chairman, CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors in June, 2012. Mr. Stringer recommended to the Sony Board of Directors that Mr. Hirai, currently Executive Deputy President, be his successor as President and CEO. Mr. Stringer will continue as Chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the Board Chairmanship, which will become effective upon Board approval following the annual meeting of shareholders in June, when the current Chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire. Mr. Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the Board at the June shareholders meeting.

Comment from Sir Howard Stringer

“Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation ® and networked entertainment businesses. Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now.”

Comment from Kazuo Hirai

“As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees. The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses – primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in
new and exciting ways.”

Comment from Yotaro Kobayashi, Chairman of the Board

“The Board is grateful to Sir Howard Stringer for all he has done to help Sony travel such a long and vital way down the road from an analogue to a digital company. He has clearly recognized the importance of connecting our tremendous products with networks and content so that our devices come fully alive in the hands of consumers. We agree with Sir Howard that Kazuo Hirai is the right man at the right time to lead Sony. He has a unique capacity to inspire people, to build teams, to make the tough decisions, and to think with clarity and foresight about the challenges we face and how to surmount them. We are also pleased that Sir Howard has accepted our request to remain with Sony after June as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His leadership and experience will be
of immeasurable assistance to us all.”

Nikesh Arora, Google’s SVP and Chief Business Officer, will run Motorola once the Google acquisition closes later this year, according to rumor published by Business Insider. Arora ran the company’s international business for Eric Schmidt, taking over the global business after the former CEO stepped down. Arora has reportedly been “agitating” for a CEO position and was included on a short list of candidates to head Yahoo. It is possible, however, that a promised CEO slot at Motorola could have prompted Arora to continue with Google. The rumor further notes that Dennis Woodside, Google’s current head of U.S. sales, will take over Arora’s current position.

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Jon Rubinstein, the former CEO of Palm, has left HP. AllThingsD broke the news Friday afternoon, noting that Rubinstein had served his promised 12-24 month tenure with the company before leaving. “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well,” HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan told AllThingsD. Rubinstein led the team responsible for the original iPod and left Apple in 2006 to eventually join Palm as CEO in 2009. While at Palm, Rubinstein was responsible for, among other projects, the development of the Palm Pre and Palm’s webOS mobile operating system, both of which were transferred to HP in 2010 When it acquired Palm for $1.2 billion. HP has since open-sourced the mobile operating system after failing to gain traction with its Pre, Pixi, Veer and TouchPad products.

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The New York Times recently published an article discussing the unsafe working conditions in the factories Apple employs to build its products. It’s no secret that several factories belonging to Apple’s ODM partners have harsh working conditions; there are rumors of anti-suicide pledges that Foxconn workers have to sign, and safety is obviously a concern following multiple preventable explosions at Foxconn plants. While much has reportedly been done to improve working conditions at these plants, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently assured his employees that the Cupertino-based company does care about the workers in each of those factories. Read on for more.

“Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly,” Cook said in a letter obtained by 9to5Mac. “We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.”

Cook said he is “outraged” and that Apple inspects its partners’ factories each year, with Foxconn having recently opened up its factories to independent inspections from the Fair Labor Association. “We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment,” he said. Cook’s full email to Apple employees follows below.

Team,

As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.

For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers’ manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am. For the people who aren’t as close to the supply chain, you have a right to know the facts.

Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain. As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.

At the same time, no one has been more up front about the challenges we face. We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world’s foremost authorities on safety, the environment, and fair labor. It would be easy to look for problems in fewer places and report prettier results, but those would not be the actions of a leader.

Earlier this month we opened our supply chain for independent evaluations by the Fair Labor Association. Apple was in a unique position to lead the industry by taking this step, and we did it without hesitation. This will lead to more frequent and more transparent reporting on our supply chain, which we welcome. These are the kinds of actions our customers expect from Apple, and we will take more of them in the future.

We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment. As you know, more than a million people have been trained by our program.

We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word. You can follow our progress at apple.com/supplierresponsibility.

To those within Apple who are tackling these issues every day, you have our thanks and admiration. Your work is significant and it is changing people’s lives. We are all proud to work alongside you.

Tim

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Research In Motion hasn’t just had a difficult time innovating since the iPhone was first introduced, the company has had trouble innovating ever since its product started to morph into something more than a simple email messaging device. RIM has always been behind the curve with regard to technology in some ways. It was still making devices with black and white displays when other manufacturers were launching devices with vibrant full-color screens. RIM was one of the last manufacturers to launch an EDGE device and it was also one of the last manufacturers to include a camera in its devices. The vendor consistently offered devices without GPS or Wi-Fi, and without a functional web browser. The problem with Research In Motion is not just that the company has failed to adapt or plan for the future, it’s that RIM hasn’t been able to accurately predict not only what the mobile landscape was going to look like down the road, but also what its customers want in a BlackBerry handset. Unfortunately, judging from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t see much changing with new CEO Thorsten Heins.

With BlackBerry 10, RIM finally has a chance to start clean with a brand new mobile operating system that’s powerful, but there are too many obstacles in my mind that will likely prevent BlackBerry 10 from being a success. For starters, RIM still can’t get BlackBerry Messenger working with more than one PIN on BlackBerry 10, and support for BES email will be replaced by ActiveSync going forward. That’s right — your corporate email, calendar and contacts will sync directly from a Microsoft Exchange server to your device. While RIM’s Mobile Fusion solution will offer many features like syncing other data, security and policy management and more, in terms of PIM it will effectively be providing a secure VPN tunnel connection from your device to your Exchange server.

Just take a second to realize what this means… RIM has no competitive product in the smartphone market, and its most widely known asset — the company’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server PIM functions — will be changing into something much less powerful in the near future because the company cannot get traditional BES working with BlackBerry 10 smartphones or tablets.

Now, let’s look at the uphill battle of launching a brand new mobile operating system and ecosystem in this incredible fast-paced and competitive smartphone market. An Android app player alone is hardly enough for RIM to compete. Plainly stated, a company that has historically had the worst developer tools, the worst developer documentation, the worst developer support and arguably the worst apps, now has to actually pull something together that entices people to want to develop for BlackBerry 10. If RIM had tools that were better than Apple’s or Google’s, it would still be nearly impossible to gain traction with developers. If that documentation and those tools are just decent and not better, the possibility becomes even more remote.

What about marketing? RIM has not even once pulled off a good marketing campaign. I have been clamoring for this since early 2004. RIM didn’t care about marketing even when it was launching its first consumer product, the BlackBerry Pearl. While RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins said finding a new Chief Marketing Officer and drastically changing its approach to marketing communications is a top priority, this won’t be easy. The company simply does not understand marketing.

And what does it actually understand or do well?

That’s my point here. As much as I love RIM, I just don’t know what it actually does well anymore. It makes great plastic keyboards? That’s obviously an oversimplification, but it’s true. RIM has an operating system that is being delayed (because it doesn’t work properly, not because the company is waiting for a new 4G chipset to launch its smartphones worldwide when most markets don’t even have LTE), the company has failed to attract developers for various reasons, it has failed to create powerful consumer marketing, and it has consistently shown over the last eight years that it does not know where the mobile market is going. RIM has been a reactive company since 2005 in my mind.

RIM’s new CEO lauding the company’s history of being “innovators” and “leading” the wireless industry in many ways is, well, frightening. Contrary to the path Heins laid out today, there are a few possible things I see happening with Research In Motion based upon what I have noticed:

• RIM will sell either a part of its business or the entire company. The fact that there is a new CEO and a new chairperson this late in the game is signaling to me that the company is trying to make itself look more attractive to potential buyers and partners.
• RIM will license its services like BlackBerry Messenger, leverage its NOC and data network for corporate email / encryption, and it will license its patents to other companies and manufacturers. (Look how long it took Nokia to get a phone out when it licensed Microsoft’s software, though. And the first Windows Phone it released was a phone it had already released in terms of hardware. It still took the company over a year to do this.)
• RIM will either strike a deal with Microsoft to bring BlackBerry Messenger and some other Exchange-related services to Windows Phone, or RIM will eventually use Android as its base operating system and fork the OS.

I do not see Research In Motion gaining much traction with BlackBerry 10. I don’t see the competitive advantage. This is a company that fundamentally does not understand why Apple and Google are doing so well in the market. This is a company that has played catch-up for several years in many ways, often unsuccessfully. This is a company that is going to launch its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone right when Apple’s iPhone 5 and iOS 6 are released, and around the same time Android 5.0 and Google’s latest flagship device will be unveiled alongside phones from Samsung, HTC and Motorola, with even more advanced cameras, even higher resolution displays, even more powerful quad-core processors and much more.

I remember the day I stopped carrying a BlackBerry after years of having used a RIM smartphone as my main device. Let’s see if that ever changes in the future.

After months of investors unrest, Research In Motion on Sunday announced that Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis were stepping down from their roles as co-CEO and co-Chairmen. Barbara Stymiest was named RIM’s new chairperson of the board, in line with rumors, and former Ericsson executive Thorsten Heins was named president and CEO. Heins and Stymiest hosted a conference call Monday morning, with Heins leading the show, and the company took its first steps in a long climb toward regaining shareholder confidence and customer confidence. Read on for more.

“I pledge to do everything possible to exceed the expectations of the company’s shareholders,” Heins said Monday morning on a conference call. Pointing to RIM’s customer base of more than 75 million users and its next-generation QNX-based platform, the new CEO seems intent on following RIM’s current path on a broad level. He feels that RIM is still innovating and its QNX-based platform and upcoming devices will carry the company into the future.

RIM’s new CEO also praised Mike Lazaridis for acquiring what he views as one of the company’s most important assets: QNX. Heins says QNX is an extremely flexible platform that will already well established in a number of industries. Moving forward, the powerful platform will allow RIM to quickly address new industries as opportunities arise but in the near-term, it will combine with RIM’s other software solutions to create what Heins believes will be a fantastic BlackBerry 10 experience.

Heins isn’t sitting still, however. He identified RIM’s marketing department as in need of an overhaul right away, and he sees marketing in the U.S. as a particular pain point. The company is actively seeking a new Chief Marketing Officer and it hopes to completely revamp its approach in several markets. Heins also wants to focus on resource planning, project and program management and execution in general as areas where RIM needs realignment if it hopes to succeed in the modern smartphone market.

RIM was up as much as 4% in pre-market trading on Monday morning, but the stock was down roughly 1% immediately following the conclusion of the company’s investor call. A video interview with Heins follows below.

Research In Motion will be getting a new chief operating officer shortly, replacing current co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. RIM named Thorsten Heins, previously the company’s chief operating officer, as the company’s new CEO. Though Balsillie and Lazaridis will step down as CEOs, they will remain on the board though both have relinquished their co-chairman roles and Barbara Stymiest has been named chairperson of the board. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the company’s new CEO stated that RIM was not intending to put the company up for sale, though a successful launch of BlackBerry 10 could open the door to possible licensing agreements with other manufacturers. BGR exclusively reported that executives from Research In Motion were in high level, preliminary discussions about a possible sale of the company to Samsung. Samsung denied interest in acquiring RIM through a spokesperson. RIM’s full press release follows below.

Research In Motion Names Thorsten Heins President and CEO

•    Board Acts on Recommendation of Co-CEOs to Implement Succession Plan
•    Mike Lazaridis Named Vice Chair of the Board
•    Jim Balsillie Remains a Director
•    Barbara Stymiest Named Independent Board Chair
•    Prem Watsa Named Independent Director

Waterloo, ON – The Board of Directors of BlackBerry® maker Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that, acting on the recommendation of its Co-Chief Executive Officers to implement the succession plan they previously submitted to the Board, it has unanimously named Thorsten Heins as President and Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Heins was also appointed to RIM’s Board. The Board acted after conducting its own due diligence. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Mike Lazaridis, former Co-Chair and Co-CEO, has become Vice Chair of RIM’s Board and Chair of the Board’s new Innovation Committee. As Vice Chair, he will work closely with Mr. Heins to offer strategic counsel, provide a smooth transition and continue to promote the BlackBerry brand worldwide.

Mr. Heins said he looks forward to continuing to work with Mr. Lazaridis, globally recognized as a technology pioneer. He said, “Mike created a whole new way of communicating and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration.”

On the transition to CEO by Mr. Heins, Mr. Lazaridis said, “There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the Board and told them that we thought that time was now.  With BlackBerry 7 now out, PlayBook 2.0 shipping in February and BlackBerry 10 expected to ship later this year, the company is entering a new phase, and we felt it was time for a new leader to take it through that phase and beyond.  Jim, the Board and I all agreed that leader should be Thorsten Heins.”

Jim Balsillie remains a member of the Board. “I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company,” he said. “I remain a significant shareholder and a Director and, of course, they will have my full support.”

Mr. Lazaridis said that he decided to move from Co-Chair to Vice Chair of the Board in order to return the public’s focus to what is most important: “the great company we have built, its iconic products, global brand and its talented employees.”

Mr. Lazaridis added, “Thorsten has demonstrated throughout his tenure at RIM that he has the right mix of leadership, relevant industry experience and skills to take the company forward.  We have been impressed with his operational skills at both RIM and Siemens.  I am so confident in RIM’s future that I intend to purchase an additional $50 million of the company’s shares, as permitted, in the open market.”

Mr. Heins said he believes that RIM has tremendous potential.  He joined RIM from Siemens Communications Group in December 2007 as Senior Vice President for Hardware Engineering and became Chief Operating Officer for Product and Sales in August 2011.

“Mike and Jim took a bold step 18 months ago when RIM purchased QNX to shepherd the transformation of the BlackBerry platform for the next decade,” Mr. Heins said.  “We are more confident than ever that was the right path. It is Mike and Jim’s continued unwillingness to sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain which has made RIM the great company that it is today.  I share that philosophy and am very excited about the company’s future.”

Mr. Heins said that RIM has a strong foundation on which to build. “We have a strong balance sheet with approximately $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the last quarter and negligible debt.  We reported revenue of $5.2 billion in our last quarter, up 24% from the prior quarter, and a 35% year-to-year increase in the BlackBerry subscriber base, which is now over 75 million.”

Mr. Heins said, “BlackBerry 7 has been well received.  We are very excited about PlayBook 2.0 and BlackBerry 10.  The reception of our products at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was encouraging.”

He continued, “RIM earned its reputation by focusing relentlessly on the customer and delivering unique mobile communications solutions. We intend to build on this heritage to expand BlackBerry’s leadership position.”

Mr. Heins said that RIM has grown quickly. “As with any company that has grown as fast as we have, there have been inevitable growing pains,” he said. “We have learned from those challenges and, I believe, we have and will become a stronger company as a result.

“Going forward, we will continue to focus both on short-term and long-term growth, strategic planning, a customer- and market-based product approach, and flawless execution. We are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Marketing Officer to work closely with our product and sales teams to deliver the most compelling products and services.”

Barbara Stymiest, who formerly served as a member of Royal Bank of Canada’s Group Executive and has been a member of RIM’s Board since 2007, has been named the independent Board Chair. John Richardson, formerly Lead Director, will remain on the Board.  Prem Watsa, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings, also was named to the Board, expanding it to 11 members.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Ms. Stymiest said:  “We believe that Thorsten is the right executive to succeed Mike and Jim.  He has 27 years of telecommunications experience, including four years at RIM in senior management positions.  As a Board, we have been impressed with his outstanding management skills, his leadership and his accomplishments within the company.”

Ms. Stymiest also expressed the Board’s respect and admiration for Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie, the company they built, and the steps they have taken to position RIM for the future.

“They created RIM, nurtured it, and in the process not only built an iconic brand, but literally pioneered the smartphone industry,” she said.  “It is Canada’s largest tech company and one of the largest in the world.”

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Co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from all of his positions with Yahoo, the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995. Yang was also the company’s CEO from June 2007 to January 2009, until he was replaced by Carol Bartz. ”My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life,” said Yang in a statement. “However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.” Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock praised Yang, calling him both a visionary and pioneer. “We appreciate Jerry’s comments and share his enthusiasm for the company’s prospects. With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo!’s future is bright,” said Bostock. Yahoo’s press release follows below.

Yahoo! Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan 17, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Yahoo! Inc. YHOO +3.76% , the premier digital media company, today announced that Jerry Yang has resigned from its Board of Directors and all other positions with the company, effective today. In addition, Yang resigned from the Boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and Alibaba Group Holding Limited, effective today.

In a letter to the Yahoo! Board Chairman Roy Bostock, Yang wrote:

“My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.”

Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995 and as Chief Executive Officer from June 2007 to January 2009. The Company went public in 1996.

“Jerry Yang is a visionary and a pioneer, who has contributed enormously to Yahoo! during his many years of service,” said Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board. “It has been a pleasure to work with Jerry. His unique strategic insights have been invaluable. He has always remained focused on the best interests of Yahoo!’s stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and more than 700 million users. And while I and the entire Board respect his decision, we will miss his remarkable perspective, vision and wise counsel. On behalf of the Board, we thank Jerry and wish him all the very best in his future endeavors.”

Bostock concluded, “We appreciate Jerry’s comments and share his enthusiasm for the company’s prospects. With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo!’s future is bright.”

“I am grateful for the warm welcome and support Jerry provided me during my early days here,” said Scott Thompson, Yahoo!’s Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry leaves behind a legacy of innovation and customer focus for this iconic brand, having shaped our culture by fostering a spirit of innovation that began 17 years ago and continues to grow even stronger today. Jerry has great confidence in the future of Yahoo!, and I share his confidence in the enormous potential of Yahoo! in the days ahead.”

Kazuo Hirai will take over as the president of Sony in the next few months, Nikkei reported on Friday. Howard Stringer, who previously had served as the president, chairman and CEO of the company will remain on board as chief executive officer. Sony is expected to be a big presence at the Consumer Electronics Show this year and could unveil a “different kind of TV set” early next week. Sony also recently announced that it will purchase Ericsson’s stake in its Sony Ericsson joint venture for $1.47 billion.

[Via The Verge]

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Yahoo on Wednesday announced that former PayPal president Scott Thompson will takeover as CEO of the company. Thompson will replace Tim Morse, who has served as the interim CEO since the firing of Carol Bartz last year. ” With the ultimate goal of delivering the value our shareholders expect, my immediate focus will be on getting to know the entire team and hearing more from all Yahoo!s, working closely with the engineers and product teams, and diving deeply into our products and services to learn more about what our more than 700 million users find most engaging and useful,” Thompson said. “I will also be working directly with our region leaders and sales teams globally to get a clearer understanding of the needs of our advertisers and publisher.” Yahoo’s full press release follows after the break.

Yahoo! Appoints Scott Thompson Chief Executive Officer

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 9, 2012, at which time Tim Morse will resume his role as Chief Financial Officer. Thompson has also been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective January 9, 2012.

Thompson served most recently as President of PayPal, a division of eBay, where he continued his established track record of growing businesses by driving customer engagement built on strong technology platforms. Under his leadership, PayPal solidified its lead as the global online payment service, expanding its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million active users in 190 countries worldwide, increasing the number of merchant partners to more than 8 million globally, and growing revenues from $1.8 billion to $4+ billion in 2011.

“Scott brings to Yahoo! a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo!,” said Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board. “His deep understanding of online businesses combined with his team building and operational capabilities will restore the energy, focus, and momentum necessary to grow the core business and deliver increased value for our shareholders. The search committee and the entire Board concluded that he is the right leader to return the core business to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation.”

“Yahoo! is an industry icon and I am very excited about the prospect of working with one of the great teams in the online world to deliver Yahoo!’s next era of success,” Mr. Thompson said. “Yahoo! has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm. With the ultimate goal of delivering the value our shareholders expect, my immediate focus will be on getting to know the entire team and hearing more from all Yahoo!s, working closely with the engineers and product teams, and diving deeply into our products and services to learn more about what our more than 700 million users find most engaging and useful. I will also be working directly with our region leaders and sales teams globally to get a clearer understanding of the needs of our advertisers and publishers. Clearly, speed is important but we will attack both the opportunity ahead and the competitive challenges with an appropriate balance of urgency and thoughtfulness. I cannot wait to get started.”

“Scott’s primary focus will be on the core business, and as CEO and director, he will work closely with the Board as we continue the strategic review process to identify the best approaches for the Company and its shareholders. As part of this process, Yahoo! is considering a wide range of opportunities for the Company’s business, as well as specific investments or dispositions of assets,” added Bostock.

“We are all grateful to Tim Morse for leading the company with a steady hand during the last several months. His deep understanding of the Company and his positive approach kept the company on course and we will continue to benefit from his exceptional capabilities as he returns to his Chief Financial Officer role,” Bostock concluded.

Scott Thompson Biographical Information

Scott Thompson has a record of deep industry experience, having most recently served as President of PayPal with overall responsibility for establishing that company as the leading global online payment service. He previously served as PayPal’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to PayPal, Mr. Thompson was Executive Vice President of technology solutions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organization. Thompson was also Chief Information Officer of Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure. In addition, he worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Yahoo! will host a conference call to discuss today’s announcement at 10 a.m. Eastern Time today. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed through the Company’s Investor Relations website at http://investor.yahoo.net/. The dial-in number for the live conference call is (877) 218-7860. Participants calling from outside the United States may dial (857) 244-7400. The passcode 60719359# is required to access the call. In addition, an archive of the webcast can be accessed through the same link. An audio replay of the call will be available for one week following the conference call by calling (888) 286-8010 or (617) 801-6888, passcode: 53109628

Research In Motion’s top executive in Indonesia is facing charges from the government after more than 90 people were hurt when chaos broke out during the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry 9790 in Jakarta. Police confirmed Monday that Andrew Cobham, who has been identified as RIM’s Indonesia CEO by Reuters, will be charged with negligence, which has a maximum sentence of 9 months in jail. Cobham has not been detained. An event organizer, a shopping mall manager and a RIM employee involved with security may also be charged.

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Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus has left Apple, AllThingsD reported on Monday. Kittlaus is said to have moved to Chicago to spend time with his family and to take time off from working. The report also notes that there are rumors Kittlaus is considering a new start up, though no details on the possible project were noted. Apple purchased Siri in April of last year and the software made its debut in iOS 5 during the iPhone 4S unveiling earlier this month. Siri allows users to interact with their iPhone to schedule appointments, check the weather, surf the web and more using voice commands. Reportedly, Kittlaus decided to leave Apple shortly after the iPhone 4S was launched while other members of the Siri team are expected to remain with Apple.

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During AT&T’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, CEO Ralph de la Vega discussed the continued success his company still sees from the iPhone 3GS. ”We have another device that I think is going to dramatically change those people that are on smartphones and quick messaging devices, the 3GS, which is free with a 2-year contract,” de la Vega explained. “We’ve seen tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it’s a generation old. And actually, we’re getting more new subscribers coming on to the 3GS on the average than other devices. So we have an inventory sold out on that device.” Pretty impressive for a phone that made its debut in June, 2009. AT&T said it sold a total of 4.8 million smartphones during the third quarter, 2.7 million of which were iPhone activations. After the introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple announced the 3GS was free with an AT&T contract and that the iPhone 4 would fall to $99 with a contract. 

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Apple’s CEO Tim Cook sees no real threat from Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. On Apple’s earnings call on Tuesday, Cook dismissed the Kindle Fire and noted that the iPad’s share continued to gain market share even while numerous Android tablets entered the market. “We’ve seen several competitors come to market to try to compete with the iPad,” Cook explained. “Some had different form factors, different price points. And I think it’s reasonable to say that none of these have gained any traction thus far. And in fact, as all of those competitors were coming to market, our share actually went up, such that in the June quarter, according to IDC, we were responsible for three out of every four tablets sold.” Read on for more.

Cook said he was confident with the products that Apple has coming down the pipeline. The “iPad mini” could be one such product — one that may go toe-to-toe with the Kindle Fire. Rumors have suggested the tablet may be smaller, or at least cheaper, than the current iPad 2. If a cheaper iPad does debut next year, the fight between Amazon and Apple could come down to each company’s respective ecosystem.

“Amazon is certainly a key player,” ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said, noting that Cook’s statements were “a little dismissive” of Amazon’s presence. “It will be interesting to see how [Amazon will] ramp. But I wouldn’t want to go up against the Apple ecosystem. That’s for sure.” Amazon does have a solid ecosystem itself, however, which includes its own video streaming service, MP3 store, app store, Kindle eBook library and more.

Several analysts have suggested Amazon has a winner on its hands with the Kindle Fire. Strategy Analytics said the online retailer will sell 15 million units through 2013 and Rodman & Renshaw has predicted Amazon will sell 5 million units during the fourth quarter of this year.

If history is any indication, however, Amazon may be facing tough odds. Speaking during the AsiaD conference on Wednesday, Google’s Android head Andy Rubin said there are now just 6 million Android tablets “out there.” Apple sold 11.1 million iPads during the fourth fiscal quarter alone.

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