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The huge acquisition deal Microsoft buying Skype for $8.5 billion, is being seen as to a major step towards the development of videoconferencing market, though this however narrows the market of video technology providers, like Polycom and Logitech. The videoconferencing equipment market was already having a bumpy ride since the expansion of Skype and other video applications, which do not require referring the device making market anymore. Now the pressure on the videoconferencing devices makers has even double, portrays Jeffrey Mann, an analyst from Gartner. Many other analysts have also shown the same concern, as Mann explained that "Some of the more narrowly focused companies will likely struggle." It is being said that comapnie like Polycom and Logitech will be the very first culprits after the acquisition of Skype, consequently taking the company toward being an enterprise. On the other hand, it will make space for larger companies of the market, like Cisco and Hewlett-Packard to benefit from it, having a larger range of services to offer. The C.E.O. of Cisco Systems said that "I think we're well positioned here, but if you haven't got good, big competitors and good start-ups, you're in the wrong market."
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It was announced by Hewlett-Packard, this Monday that it is going to offer pay-as-you-go 3G mobile broadband services with its latest upcoming business laptops. HP has been considering many offers and service to attach with their PCs, and make it more like a package deal. The broadband service will be of DataPass, and be sold as a package with its new 3G-enabled Elitebook business laptops, which were also announced on the same time. It was added that the service will give access to 3G data networks anywhere in the U.S., and the user will not even have to even sign any kind of, monthly or yearly, contract with a wireless carrier directly. The DataPass service will be automatically purchased along with the laptop, as the user will not be required to even pay a penny, not even for any activation fee, declared the HP spokesman, Mike Hockey. He said that this service will come in handy for a quick access to the Internet, especially in places where it is relatively expensive otherwise, like airports or hotels. Additionally, he said, the users can separately buy a US$5 data plan accounting for 75MB of data over 5 hours, or the $10 package with 150MB of data over 3 days. Furthermore the US$20 package offers 450MB of data over 14 days, and the maximum $30 package allows 1GB of data over 30 days.
