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    Thursday, February 16, 2012

    Reuter site - Apple seeks court permission to sue Kodak

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE81F05V20120216

    Apple seeks court permission to sue Kodak

    Wed, Feb 15 21:07 PM EST

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Eastman Kodak, accusing it of infringing its patents.

    In a court filing on Tuesday in New York federal bankruptcy court, Apple said it wanted to file a complaint against Kodak at the International Trade Commission.

    Apple said the suit would seek to bar Kodak from importing various products, such as printers and digital cameras, that it believes infringes its patents.

    Apple said it also wants to file a corresponding lawsuit in the Manhattan federal court, which would seek damages it has suffered since the iconic photography company filed for bankruptcy last month.

    The litigation would not be the first legal battle between the two companies. In January, Kodak sued Apple for allegedly infringing its patents related to digital cameras.

    The once-dominant photography company filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

    The bankruptcy case is in re: Eastman Kodak Co et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York. No. 12-1202

    (Reporting by Andrew Longstreth; Editing by Kim Coghill)

    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

    Reuter site - In Brazil, Google paves Facebook's path to the top

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    In Brazil, Google paves Facebook's path to the top

    Wed, Feb 15 09:36 AM EST

    By Asher Levine

    SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Facebook's popularity in Brazil has exploded over the past year, and the company may have its biggest competitor to thank for it.

    In its recent initial public offering filing, Facebook said its number of active users in Brazil had nearly tripled in 2011, finally placing it ahead of Google Inc's Orkut service as the No. 1 social network in the country.

    "I can't think of an example where Facebook has grown so quickly," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at research firm comScore. "It really just skyrocketed."

    In Brazil, the birthplace of co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Facebook found a market primed for growth, with rapidly expanding Internet access, increasing rates of computer ownership, and rabid demand for social media.

    Much of the credit for that may belong to Google, analysts say. While a growing economy and easier credit gave Brazilians the ability to purchase computers and broadband connections, Google's Orkut gave them a reason to do so in the first place.

    "Until Orkut came along in 2004, Internet use in Brazil was stagnant," said analyst José Calazans of market research firm IBOPEnielsen in São Paulo. "When people here started buying computers and going to Internet cafes, it was specifically to access Orkut. Now many of those people are moving to Facebook."

    Orkut offered Brazilians their first taste of social media, with a simple interface and Portuguese language option making it easier to use than competing sites such as Friendster and MySpace. In a highly social culture such as Brazil's, where even business meetings end in hugs, the site became a national phenomenon.

    "Everyone was getting on Orkut," recalls Raquel Recuero, a professor who specializes in social media at the Catholic University of Pelotas in Brazil. "You would add people you didn't even know, and people would compete to see who had the most friends."

    Orkut's rise coincided with an economic boom that lifted millions out of poverty, with many Brazilians gaining access to computers and the Internet for the first time. That turned into a double-edged sword, both expanding Orkut's user base while alienating more-affluent early adopters.

    "After the lower classes started to come on, there was a culture clash that happened within Orkut, which was amplified by the media," said Recuero. "For instance, we would see reports on the news of criminals stalking their victims on Orkut. People started to rethink how they used the site and started becoming aware of concepts like online privacy."

    Orkut's failure to innovate in line with users' expectations created an opportunity for Facebook to step in, offering new applications and games, as well as the ability to connect with people beyond Brazil.

    Over time, Brazilians came to see Facebook as a way for them to start their online lives over from scratch, helping lead to its widespread adoption.

    IS BRAZIL BIG ENOUGH FOR BOTH?

    Orkut still holds a very large share of the social networking space in Brazil, with more than 34 million users compared with Facebook's 36 million, according to comScore. Yet, its days may be numbered.

    "If you think back to the U.S., Facebook and MySpace were very competitive for a while going back to about 2009," said comScore's Lipsman. "You can co-exist for a while, but what tends to happen is that people tend to consolidate around one or the other."

    Facebook will try to maintain its momentum in Brazil, which it called a "key source of growth" in its IPO filing.

    According to IBOPEnielsen, more than 85 percent of active Internet users in Brazil use social networking sites, compared with 74 percent in the United States and 77 percent in Japan. Brazilians also spend much more time on those sites, averaging almost eight and a half hours a month, compared with six and a half hours in the United States, and slightly more than four hours in Japan.

    That kind of engagement is particularly valuable for Facebook, where each page view or interaction adds to the company's bottom line.

    While Facebook's growth in Brazil will continue to hinge on attracting more Orkut users, it could be limited by infrastructure in the country, where less than 30 percent of households have Internet access.

    Brazil's government will play a key role in addressing that. President Dilma Rousseff has made it a goal of her administration to offer Internet access to more than 70 percent of Brazilian households, through investments in fiber optic networks, community Internet centers, and 4G telephony in World Cup host cities.

    "Not even half the population is on the Internet yet, so Facebook has a lot of room to grow," said IBOPEnielsen's Calazans. "But that will also depend on the Internet growing just as fast."

    (Additional reporting by Walter Brandimarte in New York; Editing by Brian Winter, Todd Benson and Lisa Von Ahn)

    Reuter site - In Brazil, Google paves Facebook's path to the top

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE81E18120120215

    In Brazil, Google paves Facebook's path to the top

    Wed, Feb 15 09:36 AM EST

    By Asher Levine

    SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Facebook's popularity in Brazil has exploded over the past year, and the company may have its biggest competitor to thank for it.

    In its recent initial public offering filing, Facebook said its number of active users in Brazil had nearly tripled in 2011, finally placing it ahead of Google Inc's Orkut service as the No. 1 social network in the country.

    "I can't think of an example where Facebook has grown so quickly," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at research firm comScore. "It really just skyrocketed."

    In Brazil, the birthplace of co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Facebook found a market primed for growth, with rapidly expanding Internet access, increasing rates of computer ownership, and rabid demand for social media.

    Much of the credit for that may belong to Google, analysts say. While a growing economy and easier credit gave Brazilians the ability to purchase computers and broadband connections, Google's Orkut gave them a reason to do so in the first place.

    "Until Orkut came along in 2004, Internet use in Brazil was stagnant," said analyst José Calazans of market research firm IBOPEnielsen in São Paulo. "When people here started buying computers and going to Internet cafes, it was specifically to access Orkut. Now many of those people are moving to Facebook."

    Orkut offered Brazilians their first taste of social media, with a simple interface and Portuguese language option making it easier to use than competing sites such as Friendster and MySpace. In a highly social culture such as Brazil's, where even business meetings end in hugs, the site became a national phenomenon.

    "Everyone was getting on Orkut," recalls Raquel Recuero, a professor who specializes in social media at the Catholic University of Pelotas in Brazil. "You would add people you didn't even know, and people would compete to see who had the most friends."

    Orkut's rise coincided with an economic boom that lifted millions out of poverty, with many Brazilians gaining access to computers and the Internet for the first time. That turned into a double-edged sword, both expanding Orkut's user base while alienating more-affluent early adopters.

    "After the lower classes started to come on, there was a culture clash that happened within Orkut, which was amplified by the media," said Recuero. "For instance, we would see reports on the news of criminals stalking their victims on Orkut. People started to rethink how they used the site and started becoming aware of concepts like online privacy."

    Orkut's failure to innovate in line with users' expectations created an opportunity for Facebook to step in, offering new applications and games, as well as the ability to connect with people beyond Brazil.

    Over time, Brazilians came to see Facebook as a way for them to start their online lives over from scratch, helping lead to its widespread adoption.

    IS BRAZIL BIG ENOUGH FOR BOTH?

    Orkut still holds a very large share of the social networking space in Brazil, with more than 34 million users compared with Facebook's 36 million, according to comScore. Yet, its days may be numbered.

    "If you think back to the U.S., Facebook and MySpace were very competitive for a while going back to about 2009," said comScore's Lipsman. "You can co-exist for a while, but what tends to happen is that people tend to consolidate around one or the other."

    Facebook will try to maintain its momentum in Brazil, which it called a "key source of growth" in its IPO filing.

    According to IBOPEnielsen, more than 85 percent of active Internet users in Brazil use social networking sites, compared with 74 percent in the United States and 77 percent in Japan. Brazilians also spend much more time on those sites, averaging almost eight and a half hours a month, compared with six and a half hours in the United States, and slightly more than four hours in Japan.

    That kind of engagement is particularly valuable for Facebook, where each page view or interaction adds to the company's bottom line.

    While Facebook's growth in Brazil will continue to hinge on attracting more Orkut users, it could be limited by infrastructure in the country, where less than 30 percent of households have Internet access.

    Brazil's government will play a key role in addressing that. President Dilma Rousseff has made it a goal of her administration to offer Internet access to more than 70 percent of Brazilian households, through investments in fiber optic networks, community Internet centers, and 4G telephony in World Cup host cities.

    "Not even half the population is on the Internet yet, so Facebook has a lot of room to grow," said IBOPEnielsen's Calazans. "But that will also depend on the Internet growing just as fast."

    (Additional reporting by Walter Brandimarte in New York; Editing by Brian Winter, Todd Benson and Lisa Von Ahn)

    Friday, February 10, 2012

    Reuter site - BlackBerry out at U.S. climate agency, iPhone in

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE8191R620120210

    BlackBerry out at U.S. climate agency, iPhone in

    Fri, Feb 10 15:06 PM EST

    By Alastair Sharp

    TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphone has struggled to win over U.S. consumers but the Canadian company has long been able to rely on the loyalty of corporate and government clients who depend on its secure email. No more.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a U.S. federal agency that studies climate and the environment, plans to replace some of its employees' BlackBerrys with Apple iPhones and get rid of the servers that power RIM's smartphones by June.

    "It all comes down to economics," Joe Klimavicz, NOAA's chief information officer, said in a phone interview on Friday. "I've got a lot of pressure to cut our operating costs."

    RIM charges a fee for use of its servers and data centers, which compress and encrypt email and other sensitive data. The company's early success was due to a reliance on BlackBerry smartphones by lawyers, bankers, politicians and bureaucrats.

    But with budgets under pressure and competitors improving their security bone fides, BlackBerry is no longer the only game in town.

    Earlier this week, oilfield services company Halliburton said it plans to switch 4,500 BlackBerry-toting employees to iPhones, saying that the Apple device is better suited to its needs. Several banks have already welcomed rival devices.

    Klimavicz said NOAA's move was made possible after it switched its desktop-based software to Google Apps for Government last December. Another U.S. agency, the General Services Administration, has also moved to Google Apps, Klimavicz said.

    Google's enterprise business offers Web-based versions of word processing, spreadsheet and other common software applications in a direct challenge to Microsoft. For a set price Google includes mobile-device management capabilities similar to what RIM offers for its BlackBerrys.

    When Google's mobile management is coupled with Apple's tightly controlled software, NOAA can enforce password policies and it can control who can gain access to what data, which is a major concern for a range of government bodies and corporations.

    Klimavicz said that in the future his agency will be able to use devices using Google's Android mobile software, but that it would have to approve each on an individual basis.

    For now, the agency will buy iPhones to replace at least some of the 3,000 BlackBerrys used by its workers and is also using a small number of iPads, he said.

    Klimavicz's office oversees annual spending of around $600 million on information technology. He declined to specify how much money the move away from RIM would save.

    In response to queries, RIM said its security remains unmatched and pointed out that its latest operating system for smartphones and the PlayBook tablet computer have received certification from U.S. and Canadian authorities.

    "RIM continues to work closely with its more than one million government customers in North America who rely on the unmatched security of the BlackBerry platform," spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said in an email.

    (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Peter Galloway)

    Thursday, February 9, 2012

    Reuter site - Analysis: Investor activists see little to "like" in Facebook

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE8180BT20120209

    Analysis: Investor activists see little to "like" in Facebook

    Thu, Feb 09 01:08 AM EST

    By Paritosh Bansal

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new crop of companies entering the U.S. public markets, including such high-profile offerings as Facebook, are turning the clock back on the way U.S. corporations are run.

    Facebook, Groupon Inc, LinkedIn Corp, Zynga Inc and others have put in place governance provisions that go against a long-term swing towards more shareholder-friendly rules.

    One stark example of this reversal is in the number of companies that have classified or staggered boards, where only a handful of directors come up for election each year rather than all of them, making it hard for an activist investor or unwanted suitor to take control of the board through a proxy context.

    Another is the creation of dual-class stock structures, which allow founders and early investors to gain greater voting control than their economic interest would otherwise suggest.

    In the past 10 years, many of the biggest publicly traded companies in the U.S. have been getting rid of such provisions. Currently, for example, only about 24 percent of S&P 500 companies have classified boards, down from 61 percent in 2002, according to FactSet SharkRepellent.

    But there hasn't been such a significant change among new arrivals. Of the 76 companies that went public last year, nearly 65 percent had classified boards. In 2002, 82 percent of IPOs had the feature.

    Of the eight high-profile IPOs in the social networking and new media space last year, all either had classified boards or dual-class structures, with some having both.

    Of these companies, Zillow Inc and LinkedIn had both, Angie's List Inc, Jive Software Inc and Pandora Media Inc had classified boards, while Groupon, FriendFinder Networks Inc and Zynga had dual-class structures.

    While new companies are generally more likely to seek protections against corporate raiders and activist hedge funds, the extent of the barriers and some of the actions taken to shore up defenses are being questioned, especially given the high-profile nature of some of the companies involved.

    It has some major investors feeling dissed.

    "These are companies who for one reason or another decided that they are going public, but they do not want to have to answer to the public market," said Janice Hester-Amey, a portfolio manager in the corporate governance unit at the California State Teachers' Retirement System.

    "The big issue is that you take money from the public market, and the reason that companies do this is so that they can acquire other companies, expand their business," Hester-Amey said. "So the money is worth some respect."

    Angie's List, Facebook, Groupon, Zillow and Zynga declined to comment. A spokesman for LinkedIn said that "we believe our corporate governance structure allows us to execute on our strategic plans, enabling us to maximize long term value for our company and our shareholders."

    The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.

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    Graphic: Turning back the clock http://link.reuters.com/zag56s

    Reuters Insider: Facebook governance "troubling" http://reut.rs/wzC9xJ

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    CalSTRS, a $145 billion behemoth that invests the pension funds of California's more than 852,000 current and retired teachers, has already taken up some of its concerns with Facebook, sending a letter on Tuesday to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg that calls for increasing the size and diversity of its board.

    Hester-Amey noted that Zuckerberg had a board that was all white, and all male, even though Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and a large portion of its users are women.

    It is particularly surprising that Sandberg doesn't get a board seat despite being widely seen as hugely influential not only within Facebook but with advertisers and women in the wider business community - including starring at events like the World Economic Forum in Davos. She has also served on Starbucks Corp and Walt Disney Co boards.

    As these newly public companies break from the trend of giving shareholders greater say, investors and corporate governance experts bemoan the lost lessons of past disasters --from Enron to Lehman Brothers - which they say at least partly resulted from boards and shareholders who wielded little power over management.

    But they also say there is not much investors can do about it.

    "These guys running tech companies are probably hyper paranoid," said Eric Jackson, founder of activist hedge fund Ironfire Capital LLC. "But they have the power to insist on these kind of structures and control, and the markets are so far willing to still buy into the company."

    "Until there is a real renouncement by investors of these structures through a lower share price they will continue to do this," Jackson said.

    NOT MUCH TO 'LIKE'

    At Facebook, corporate governance provisions effectively give the 27-year-old Zuckerberg complete control, so much so that the Harvard University drop-out even has the right to appoint his own successor before he dies.

    Zuckerberg, who benefits from Class B shares entitled to 10 votes each, has also struck voting agreements with other shareholders. Altogether, he will control just under 57 percent of the vote.

    If Class B shareholders lose control of the majority of the voting power, the board will become staggered to give it an extra defense.

    Another potential point of irritation for investors eyeing Facebook is the lack of influence they will have over a so-called evergreen equity incentive plan, through which the number of shares reserved for employees' stock awards automatically rise by up to 2.5 percent every year through 2022.

    "Institutional investors don't want to see 2.5 percent of their equity value diluted every year," said Brandon Cherry, a principal at consulting firm Hay Group. "They want to have control over when the plan increases."

    AGAINST THE TREND

    As many as 26 companies, or roughly one-third of those that went public last year, including Angie's List, Pandora, Jive, Zynga and Zillow, had evergreen equity incentive plans, according to Hay Group's IPO Pay Reporter data.

    There are other blockages being set up too. Some 68 percent of the companies that went public last year do not allow shareholders to call special meetings, 82.9 percent do not allow them to act by written consent and all of them have advance notice requirements that make it harder to put up director nominees or other proposals on the agenda at annual meetings, according to the Factset SharkRepellent data.

    It isn't much different from the situation 10 years ago before Enron and other frauds triggered a big push for change by activist shareholders - aided by the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law, which came in that year.

    That law, with its rigorous rules on corporate governance and accounting, is also sometimes blamed for a drop off in the number of IPOs in recent years as companies decide to remain private rather than having to face the cost in money and time of complying with the regulations.

    "It's a judgment that the bankers and companies make, as to how much these defensive provisions would cost them in terms of investors that would be less willing to participate in the IPO," said Richard Grossman, a partner at law firm Skadden Arps, without referring to any specific company.

    A wish to protect themselves from unwanted advances at an early stage of their development is at play here as well. At Groupon, for example, the dual class stock structure will automatically end in five years.

    DON'T LIKE IT? DON'T BUY

    While Facebook's corporate governance goes against the trend, the company has also taken steps that are drawing praise from some experts.

    Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University professor and founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said investors should focus on how "enormously transparent" Facebook is around its financial results.

    Sonnenfeld said in structuring control, Zuckerberg likely drew lessons from Steve Jobs, the late Apple Inc CEO who was once driven out of the computer-maker he founded before returning to triumph some years later.

    "This is an argument that if you are buying Facebook, you are buying into the vision of Mark Zuckerberg," Sonnenfeld said. "If this is a risk that's not right for you, don't buy it."

    (Reporting By Paritosh Bansal; additional reporting by Soyoung Kim; Editing by Martin Howell)

    Wednesday, February 8, 2012

    Reuter site - TomTom satnavs to tell good drivers from bad

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
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    TomTom satnavs to tell good drivers from bad

    Wed, Feb 08 06:38 AM EST

    By Roberta Cowan

    AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - TomTom satnavs will in future help insurers tell the difference between a good driver and a bad one under a scheme designed to revive the Dutch navigation device maker's flagging fortunes.

    The company, which made its name as a maker of vehicle-based personal navigation devices (PNDs), said it had teamed up with UK-based insurance firm Motaquote to offer its first new insurance product, called Fair Play, which gives the safest drivers lower premiums.

    "Our entry in the insurance market with our proven fleet management technology puts us at the forefront of a move that could help to revolutionize the motor insurance industry," said Thomas Schmidt, managing director TomTom Business Solutions.

    Schmidt said the focus in 2012 is to expand the product to other insurance firms in Europe, where he expected thousands of customers to use the plan.

    The scheme gives drivers control over their own policy by using driving ability and behavior to allocate premiums, rather than risk factors used by insurers such as postcode, gender, and age or vehicle, Schmidt told Reuters.

    "Drivers using the insurance product will have a TomTom tracking unit fitted in their vehicles, allowing driver behavior and habits to be monitored by insurers and by improving driving style, you can drive down your premiums," Schmidt said.

    Consumers that agree to the plan will pay for the TomTom tracking kit themselves and start paying lower premiums immediately, providing the driver takes on the feedback from the TomTom tracking device, according to TomTom's Richard Piekaar.

    TomTom's Business Solutions unit, including its fleet tracking division, which use the same tracking technology to track and monitor truck drivers, fetches around 5 percent of group sales, or an estimated 65 million in euros in 2011.

    Analysts were skeptical about the actual growth potential of the new insurance product but several agreed Tomtom's move to monetize its rich data base of real time and historical driving data is a good sign.

    "It is positive they are looking for alternative business models and are being innovative. Linking the insurance market to telematics is new, but there are uncertainties with regards to the business model," said Martijn den Drijver, SNS Securities analyst.

    TomTom faces intense competition in its core PND market as consumers increasingly opt for free or cheap navigation software as well as cooler gadgets like smartphones and tablet computers.

    It is now targeting higher-growth areas and new markets. It increasingly sells navigation devices built into car and truck dashboards, rather than the standalone versions, and sells mapping data and real-time traffic services through smartphone apps and other devices.

    TomTom, whose founders have a majority stake in the company, competes in the PND market with Garmin and in the commercial digital map market with Google and Nokia Oyj.

    (Reporting By Roberta B. Cowan. Editing by Jane Merriman and Andrew Callus)

    Thursday, February 2, 2012

    Reuter site - Angelic "Steve Jobs" loves Android in Taiwan TV ad

    This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahOo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
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    Angelic "Steve Jobs" loves Android in Taiwan TV ad

    Thu, Feb 02 01:00 AM EST

    By Jonathan Standing

    TAIPEI (Reuters) - He may have derided Android devices in real life but in the afterlife Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs is glad he can use one -- or at least that's the story a Jobs look-alike tells in a recent TV commercial for a Taiwanese electronics company's new product.

    In the ad, Taiwanese comedian and impersonator Ah-Ken, dressed in Jobs' trademark black turtle neck sweater and blue jeans and sporting white angel's wings and a halo, extols the virtues of Action Electronics Co.'s combined tablet PC and multi-language dictionary, which runs on Google Inc's Android.

    "Introducing the new generation of the pad," says the "Jobs" character, whipping the Action Pad out of his back jeans pocket, wings flapping as he shows off the dictionary functions on a giant screen behind a darkened stage furnished with a sofa and small table.

    "Thank God I finally get to play other tablets," the character adds in the 20-second commercial's final scene, a broad grin on his face as he taps away on the device on the sofa. The ad is subtitled in English throughout, a nod to the device's dictionary function.

    Jobs, who died in October 2011, famously referred to Android as "shit," according to his biography, and was quoted in the book as saying he was going to "destroy" Android and was prepared to go to "thermonuclear war" over the product.

    "Steve Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good," said Chelsea Chen, a spokeswoman for Action Electronics, a maker of electronic gadgets including portable DVD players and Internet devices.

    The commercial does not use Jobs' name or refer to him or Apple in any way, but has drawn some sharp reactions on YouTube,

    with some branding it distasteful and disgusting and one even calling for a boycott of the company. The video is at: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXXwQrQiPE&feature=youtu.be)

    Chen didn't see any adverse reaction from Apple.

    "It's just an impersonator, not Jobs," she said.

    "We have no choice but to use Android, we can't use iOS," she added, referring to Apple's mobile device operating system.

    It's not the first time Jobs' image has been used in Taiwan to promote products, a measure of his fame in the wired, tech-exporting island whose companies make most of Apple's products. Last year a drinks company had a Jobs look-alike promoting a green tea drink.

    Jobs has also been featured by Taiwanese satirical news video maker Next Media Animation, which once portrayed him knocking the helmet off "Darth Vader" Bill Gates of Microsoft with a light saber and then wearing it himself and ruling the tech universe from an office in a Death Star.

    (This version corrects year of Jobs' death in fifth paragraph)

    (Editing by Elaine Lies and Ed Davies)

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