Apple relents on apps development

In today's podcast: Microsoft business software chief named Nokia CEO; Apple relents on apps development; and 'Here You Have' worm spreads.

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Nokia has named Stephen Elop, former president of Microsoft's business software group, to become its new CEO effective on Sept. 21. Elop will replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will also lose his board seat. The reshuffle comes as the world's largest cell-phone maker battles to compete with companies such as Apple and Research in Motion. While the company continues to enjoy good sales of low-end phones, analysts have faulted Nokia's smartphone line-up as weak compared to the competition. While hardware quality is important in any phone, smartphones are much more about software.
One of the most important things that Elop will bring to Nokia is certainty about its leadership. "His appointment brings to an end the ongoing speculation about the leadership at Nokia," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.

Apple Thursday reversed its decision earlier in the year that barred developers from using rival programming tools, including one that has since been discontinued by Adobe, to build applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Developer tool makers rejoiced in the move, as one analyst said Apple was motivated because of the rapid rise of Android, Google's mobile operating system. In April, Apple said it would not allow developers to use third-party cross-platform compilers, tools that transform code for other systems -- as well as Java- and Flash-built software -- into native iPhone apps. But this week, Apple said it modified its license terms after listening to developer feedback. "[We've] taken much of their feedback to heart," said Apple.

Security experts warned Thursday of a fast-spreading e-mail worm, the first large outbreak of this type in nearly a decade. The worm appears in e-mail messages with the subject "Here you have," and contains what seems to be a link to an Adobe PDF file. In fact the link takes the victim to a Web page hosted on the members.multimania.co.uk domain that then tries to download a screensaver (.scr) file. If the user agrees to installing that file, he is then infected by the worm, which mails itself to his e-mail contacts. It bogged down corporate e-mail systems on Thursday morning as victims ended up inadvertently spamming their coworkers, overwhelming some servers. But as of late Thursday, the worm was undetected by most antivirus programs, according to the VirusTotal Web site.

Two of the world's biggest e-commerce marketplaces, eBay and it's Chinese counterpart Alibaba, will explore online partnerships that could help their users in China and the U.S., the heads of both companies said on Friday. The two have often been seen as rivals, vying to control the markets in their home countries and abroad. But during a forum sponsored by Alibaba, chief executives with both companies say they can achieve more by leveraging each others' advantages. "Today our focus in China is not to compete in the domestic market," said eBay's CEO John Donahoe, during a speech at the event in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. "What we're trying to do is connect you, the Chinese sellers, with consumers around the world."