Gonna make a move to a town thats right for me,” falsettoed the Funkytown Furball. The Kitty was ready to trade in his press card for a yellow Century 21 jacket after hearing that MSNBC and Google may both be making some real estate deals. The Baron of Babble had just heard that MSNBC could be abandoning its Secaucus, N.J., digs to join its legitimate network cousins at the NBC offices at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan when a browsing buddy phoned to say that the Google guys may be further infiltrating the Microsoft homeland.
Spence knew the sultans of search already had sales and development offices in Seattle, but the current buzz around town is that Google is looking to lease an office building in Bellevue, Wash. “Wow, note to Steve Ballmer: Sounds like pretty soon you wont be able to throw a chair in Seattle without hitting a Google-ite,” laughed the Lynx, recalling the seething CEOs legendary office tirade against Google and its CEO, Eric Schmidt. “Bet ol Steve is also thrilled to hear that Mr. Schmidt also has taken a seat on Apples board of directors,” the Katts buddy quipped.
“Well, if rumors that Google will likely toss its Writely word processor into its business services bundle havent sent the Microsoft CEO around the bend, nothing will,” mused the Mouser. The pal also noted that a Korean company called Park & Opc is filing suit against Google, claiming the search giant infringed upon a personalized search patent.
Soon Spence skatted off to the Four Seasons hotel in Beantown to meet an old tech vet for dinner. Upon arrival, the geezer was kvetching about the fact that IBM has changed its PartnerWorld venue—which is usually Las Vegas in February—to St. Louis in late April. “Mmm … warm weather, gambling, beautiful women—whats to miss?” cackled the Kitty.
The pal ignored the Tabbys taunts and sipped his 15-year-old Glenlivet before noting that whispers from Islandia claim CA may also be rescheduling an event. Word has it that after former CA CEO Sanjay Kumars mid-September sentencing for accounting fraud, CA may hold a mini sales kickoff meeting. The company usually holds its national sales meeting in April, but with layoffs, commission cuts, skimpy raises and a massive executive exodus, apparently some in-house cheerleading will be needed sooner rather than later.
Ordering another round, the pal told Spence that Cingular Wireless will be introducing the next big thing at the upcoming CTIA Wireless event in Los Angeles. The rumor mill suggests itll be a handset thats supposed to be as hot for enterprise users as the Motorola Razr was when it first came out. The Furballs friend speculated that the announcement might involve a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) version of the Q from Motorola, which was once referred to as the RazrBerry. “Hopefully, its not another version of the Chocolate that Verizon tossed out,” grimaced the pal. “Mmm … I think I need to see the dessert menu after all this talk of RazrBerrys and Chocolate,” groused the gastronomic Grimalkin.
LitterBoxLynx
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Spill your guts at spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com, or give the Katt a howl at 781-938-2627.