Microsoft and Yahoo - still no joy

Everyone's got something to say about Microsoft's failed attempt to get Yahoo to the altar of online love, so I won't say too much more about it. Just wanted to share a couple of links to coverage from BetaNews. Scott Fulton's got byline for both:

Roundtable on Yahoo minus Microsoft: Who wins for losing?
I was quoted opposite a pretty heady range of industry heavy hitters including Burst Media CEO Jarvis Coffin, JupiterResearch VP and research director Michael Gartenberg and Directions on Microsoft lead analyst Matt Rosoff.

With the Yahoo deal nixed, the lawsuits pick up steam

Analyzing the deal's breakup and fallout yesterday, AR Communications senior vice president Carmi Levy told BetaNews that he believes Yang's conduct during the entire affair may bear scrutiny.

"As the chief executive officer of a publicly traded company, your primary accountability is to preserve and enhance shareholder value," remarked Levy. "One can very easily question whether Yahoo's actions in recent weeks have done that, or whether they've frittered away shareholder value in the process simply for an emotional, and possibly business-illogical, reason."

A few other recent media hits of note include the following:

The Toronto Star, April 29: Aeroplan website recovers from crash. Byline Chris Sorensen.

At least one observer questioned whether the company had invested sufficiently in technology to back up its operations.

"This kind of outage, given the severity and length, is clearly unacceptable in any modern business," said Carmi Levy, the senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc.

He said that's particularly the case when you're supporting a customer base that includes a large number of high-income earners and other time-pressed business people who are on the road and might need access to the website to book flights or other rewards.

The Canadian Press, April 23: Crime Stoppers launches tips via text messaging to appeal to youth. Byline LuAnn LaSalle.

Analyst Carmi Levy said the program will reach younger people but will also give older demographic groups a convenient way of providing tips, he said.

Levy said texting is growing in popularity because people don't need to stop what they're doing in order to text.

"It's the right technology for today's multi-tasking era," said Levy, senior vice-president of strategic consulting at Toronto's AR Communications.

"More importantly, for the purposes of Crime Stoppers you can send texts in a much more timely manner because you don't need to wait until you get home," he said.

"So potentially if you've witnessed something while you're in transit, there's an immediate opportunity to act."

Unstrung, April 25: Is RIM Behind the Curve in 3G Handsets? and May 5, DT & Sprint: Bargain in the Balance?

Your turn: Where do Yahoo and Microsoft go from here? Does it mean much in the overall scheme of things?