Chamber honors 3 Boston leaders

More than 1,600 business, government and community leaders attended the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce annual meeting last night at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, and three of them were named to the Chamber's "Academy of Distinguished Bostonians."

This year's inductees — Gov. Deval Patrick; Anne Finucane, global strategy and marketing officer at Bank of America; and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough — were selected for their achievements as leaders and their significant contributions to the Greater Boston economy and community, officials said.

The event's keynote speaker was acclaimed historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose work "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film "Lincoln."

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Google launching YouTube fee plan

Netflix, Hulu and even cable companies, beware: Internet giant Google has big plans for its Web video powerhouse YouTube.

Google reportedly is planning a subscription service that would charge viewers $2 or more per month for high-quality YouTube channels to raise money from sources other than advertising.

"Google clearly has Netflix in their sights," said Todd Van Hoosear of Fresh Ground, a Cambridge-based social media consulting firm. "That's their game: More professional-quality content on YouTube so that they can compete with all of these other players."

The move also demonstrates that ads aren't generating the amount of revenue Google had hoped for to accomplish that, Van Hoosear said.

"What Google is realizing is that people are willing to pay for high-quality content," he said. "As a consumer, this doesn't bother me, especially if it means I have fewer ads to watch."

The videos the average person makes are still going to be free on YouTube, said David Gerzof Richard, founder of BIGfish Communications and professor of social media and marketing at Emerson College. But viewers would have the option of paying to watch a show or movie someone has invested time and money to make. And the person who owns that content would get a share of the revenue, he said.

"I see this being the start of more well-curated, well-produced content," Gerzof Richard said. "At the end of the day, the consumer wins because now you have competing online destinations offering premium content. And you don't have to go through your cable company to access it."

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New Zealand's central bank intervenes in currency

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand's central bank has intervened in the currency market for the first time in five years to try to curb the local dollar's rise.

The rising Kiwi dollar, as the New Zealand currency is known, has been hurting the country's exporters. It is up about 12 percent against the U.S. dollar since the middle of last year.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler told a parliamentary committee Wednesday that the central bank had intervened recently. The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported he said that such interventions would not significantly change the level of the exchange rate but could potentially take "the tops off rallies."

Wheeler has consistently described the currency as overvalued and recently pointed to Japan's moves to double its money supply in an effort to end deflation as making things worse.

"Further appreciation has occurred partly in response to the announcement of a substantial quantitative easing program in Japan," Wheeler said two weeks ago. "The high New Zealand dollar continues to be a significant headwind for the tradables sector, restricting export earnings and encouraging demand for imports."

A majority of New Zealand's export earnings come from milk, beef, wool and other farm products.

Reserve Bank spokesman Mike Hannah on Wednesday declined to elaborate on the intervention. He said the bank would be making no further comment beyond what Wheeler told the committee.

Also Wednesday, the central bank issued a report raising concerns about the country's rising house prices and announced that from September, banks would have to hold more capital for riskier loans.

"Housing pressures are increasing risk in the financial system," Wheeler said in a statement. "House prices relative to disposable incomes are already high by international standards. Further price escalation will worsen the potential damage that could result from a housing downturn."

The Kiwi dollar was trading down 0.7 percent Wednesday at about 84 cents.

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China reports stronger April trade growth

BEIJING — China's trade accelerated in April in a possible positive sign for its shaky economic recovery.

Exports rose 14.7 percent over a year earlier, up from March's 10 percent growth, customs data showed Wednesday. Imports gained 16.8 percent, up from the previous month's 14.1 percent.

The stronger data suggest growth of the world's second-largest economy might be improving after an unexpected decline to 7.7 percent in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter's 7.9 percent.

Some analysts suggest Chinese trade data are distorted by reporting errors and unreliable as an economic indicator. Still, April's stronger numbers might help to reassure companies and investors after the weaker first-quarter growth jolted global financial markets.

"Subdued actual export growth in April points to sluggish global demand," said RBS economists Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu in a report. "Reasonable import growth suggests domestic demand has held up better so far."

Surveys by HSBC Corp. and a Chinese industry group showed Chinese manufacturing growth weakened in April. HSBC said new export orders fell for the first time this year.

Some analysts have warned China's recovery is being shored up by state-led investment and bank lending and could be vulnerable if trade or investment weakens. The weaker-than-expected first quarter numbers prompted the World Bank and private sector analysts to trim forecasts for full-year growth, though to still robust levels of about 8 percent.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture self-sustaining growth driven by domestic consumption instead of trade and investment. But consumer spending is growing more slowly than they want.

A Cabinet statement last month promised to improve the role of consumption as a driver of economic growth. It pledged changes in medical, pension and other policies but gave no details. Analysts say more government spending on such social programs will be required to free up household budgets for consumer spending.

April's stronger gains in imports compared with exports caused China's global trade surplus to narrow by about 1 percent, though to a still-wide $18.2 billion.

China runs a deficit with most of its trading partners, which supply oil, other raw materials and industrial components, and makes up for it by running large surpluses with its U.S. and European export markets.

China's exports to Europe, hurt by the continent's debt troubles, declined 6.5 percent to $25.9 billion and the surplus with the 27-nation European Union narrowed by 32 percent to $7.9 billion.

Trade with some European countries suffered even bigger declines. Germany's imports of Chinese goods fell 7.2 percent and France's by 6.7 percent.

Exports to the United States edged down by a fraction of 1 percent to $28.1 billion while the trade gap with the U.S. narrowed by 13 percent to $14.7 billion.

China's data on exports have been under scrutiny since some analysts pointed out last year that they failed to match up with its trading partners' lower figures for their purchases of Chinese goods.

Some analysts suggested Chinese exporters might be inflating values on customs declarations as a way to evade Beijing's currency controls and bring money into the country for investment.

Kuijs and Qiu of RBS said that after factoring out irregularities, they estimated China's exports rose only by about 5.7 percent in April, about 9 percentage points lower than the reported level. They said they saw no obvious irregularities in import data and no reason to inflate the values of goods.

___

General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cn

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Bain directs $6.9B deal

BMC Software's transition from a public company to a private one thanks to a near $6.9 billion acquisition deal led by Boston-based Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital could give a much-needed boost to the company's enterprise services business, which has endured a "struggle" in recent years, an expert told the Herald yesterday.

"It seemed the deal was the best way to try to move forward with the business to better position it in a market. The new owners' ability to do that will likely result in whether this is a good transaction or a great transaction," said Kirk Materne, managing director of Evercore Partners. "There isn't much downside risk because of the (company's) mainframe business, which has high cash flow."

The Houston-based business service management company, which is being bought by an investor group that includes GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd and Insight Venture Partners, saw its shares close at $45.42, up 2 percent from Friday.

BMC, which has an office in Waltham and competes with Oracle Corp., SAP AG, CA Inc. and Compuware Corp., reports its fourth-quarter earnings today. The company's revenue is expected to have risen just 3 percent in the year ended March 31 to $2.23 billion, compared to 5 percent growth the previous year.

Paul Singer's hedge fund Elliott Management, which owns 9.6 percent of BMC common stock, has been pushing for change for a year and has agreed to vote its shares in favor of the transaction, officials said. The deal is expected to close later this year.

While BMC's enterprise division manages networks, databases and storage and generates nearly two-thirds of total revenue, the company's enterprise technology and "go-to-market approach" have "gotten a little stale," which could spur reorganization from the investor group, Materne said.

BMC spokesman Mark Stouse said, "I think that it is clearly on the right trajectory. Are there ways we can make it better? Absolutely. The investor group looked at that and said, 'We can see great things in the future.' We're going to see a lot of commitment to growth across the company."

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Microsoft touching up Windows 8 to address gripes

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is retooling the latest version of its Windows operating system to address complaints and confusion that have been blamed for deepening a slump in personal computer sales.

The tune up announced Tuesday won't be released to consumers and businesses until later this year. The changes, part of a software package given the codename "Blue," are a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings in Windows 8, a radical overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous operating system.

With the makeover it released last October, Microsoft hoped to play a more prominent role in the growing mobile device market while still maintaining its dominance in PCs. But Windows 8's design, which emphasizes interactive tiles and touch controls, seems to have befuddled as many people as it has impressed. One leading research firm, International Data Corp., says Windows 8 contributed to a 14 percent decline in worldwide PC sales during the first three months of the year — the biggest year-over-year drop ever.

Meanwhile, sales of smartphones and tablet computers are booming. The biggest beneficiaries have been Apple Inc., the maker of the iPhone and iPad, and Samsung Electronics Co., which sells the most devices running on Google Inc.'s Android software. Google is also benefiting from Android's popularity through increased traffic to its services, creating more opportunities for the company to display ads.

By contrast, leading PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which primarily sell Windows-powered machines, have been mired in a financial funk that has battered their stocks and raised questions about their futures.

Despite the troubling signs, Microsoft insists it's pleased with Windows 8's performance.

The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., says more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold so far, up from about 60 million licenses in January. The licensing volume "is in the same general ballpark," as Microsoft's previous operating system — Windows 7 — at a similar juncture of its sales cycle, according to Tami Reller, who serves as the marketing and financial chief for Microsoft's Windows business.

In an interview, Reller said Microsoft still realized changes need to be made to make Windows 8 easier to navigate and capable of taking full advantage of technology improvements that have come out since October.

"Are there things that we can do to improve the experience? Absolutely," Reller said "There is a learning curve (to Windows 8) and we can work to address that."

For now, Microsoft isn't saying what kind of changes will be introduced with the release of Blue, which the company plans to anoint with a different name when the update is available. Microsoft also isn't saying whether it will charge existing owners of Windows 8 devices to get the fixes in Blue. The company plans to release Blue in time for the holiday season.

Reller said more details about Blue will be released before Microsoft holds a developers conference in San Francisco in late June. Some of Blue's features are expected to be previewed at that conference.

If Blue is meant to make people more comfortable, the changes may incorporate more of the elements from earlier versions of Windows.

A common complaint has centered on the lack of a "start" button in the Windows 8 menu.

Other critics have pined for an option that would allow the system to begin in a desktop mode suited for running applications designed for earlier versions of the operating system. Windows 8 currently starts off showing a mosaic of interactive tiles tailored for swiping through programs with a finger instead of using a computer mouse.

Blue also might make it easier to find a set of controls — known as "charms" in Windows 8's parlance — that currently must be pulled out from the right side of a display screen.

Besides responding to customer feedback, Blue also will improve Windows 8's ability to work on smaller tablets with 7- and 8-inch display screens, Reller said. She declined to say whether Microsoft intends to make smaller version of its own Surface tablets. In a conference call with analysts last month, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said the company was working with other manufacturers to make smaller tablets.

One thing that Blue won't fix: the relatively small selection of mobile applications tailored for Windows 8. Reller said the Windows 8 store now has more than 60,000 apps. By contrast, there are more than 800,000 apps available for Apple's mobile's devices and nearly that many for Android devices, too. In one of the most glaring omissions on Windows 8, Facebook Inc. still hasn't designed an app to make its online social network more accessible on that system. Facebook has about 750 million mobile users.

Microsoft's decision to tweak Windows 8 so soon after it went on sale may reinforce perceptions that the product is a flop.

Reller is trying to frame the changes as evidence that Microsoft is becoming more agile and nimble as it responds to a rapidly evolving technology market. Smartphones and tablet computers have been at the epicenter of the upheaval, diminishing the demand for PCs as more people and businesses opt for the convenience of increasingly powerful mobile devices.

The mobile computing movement is the main reason that Microsoft made the most dramatic redesign of its Windows operating system since 1995. Given how different that Windows 8 is from its predecessors, Reller said Microsoft always knew it might have to make some adjustments less than a year after the software came out.

"It had to be a very big change to take advantage of the mobile opportunity," she said.

Analysts say one reason Windows 8 got off to a slow start is because there weren't enough devices designed to take advantage of the system's touch-screen features. But that is about to change as HP, Dell and other PC makers prepare to roll out a wide variety of laptops and tablets with displays that respond to touch. More than 2,400 devices have now been certified to run on Windows 8, up from 2,000 in January, Reller said.

Most of the touch-screen laptops will sell at prices $50 to $250 below the first wave of comparable machines running on Windows 8, reductions that Microsoft hopes will prod more people to check out the system.

"As we look at Windows 8, it's important to remember a lot of its full potential won't be realized until there are more touch devices on the market," Reller said.

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Making bet on mobile gaming

The mobile game market is growing rapidly and — parents of game-addicted children beware — the makers of these time-wasters are coming up with novel ways to drain your wallet.

Skillz, which launched last week with 10 games from 10 developers, is the first company to enable legalized mobile game betting in 36 states, including Massachusetts.

"We offer tournaments for as little as 25 cents to $5, although we'll be offering higher stakes in the future," said Andrew Paradise, founder and CEO of Skillz, which has offices in Boston and San Francisco. "People are interested in competing and in having meaningful stakes. It gets your adrenaline pumping, even competing for 25 cents. Winning money makes it that much more exciting. If you ever thought you were good at a game, we're enabling you to put your money where your mouth is."

Skillz allows only games of skill, however, not games of chance, to be played for money, Paradise said. The majority of tournaments last between one and five minutes and are played by two people who deposit money to play using Visa or PayPal. The winner receives a check for a cash prize that can range from 50 cents to $20.

"There's no question mobile games are going in this direction," said Mike Vorhaus, president of the Magid Advisors unit at Frank N. Magid Associates, a Los Angeles firm that advises entertainment companies. "The trend is clear. The majority, though, are free games where you have the option to spend money."

Clash of Clans, a game made by the Finnish company Supercell, is one of the most successful examples.

Vorhaus acknowledges that this trend might be cause for worry to parents who suddenly discover their child, or spouse, has racked up thousands of dollars on their credit cards by playing such games.

"But you can get your kid a PayPal account with a fixed amount to spend," he said.

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New Android features outbaking Apple

If you paid $200 or more for the newest iPhone recently, here's a harsh truth: You've been had.

The iPhone 5 — released just seven months ago — is officially antiquated, with a slate of new Android and Windows Phone 8 devices leaving Apple looking several product cycles behind.

That reality came into stunning focus last week as Android's intuitive personal assistant, Google Now, launched for iOS as part of the Google app.

It met with an enthusiasm among Apple followers that would have been unheard of just months ago — simply because it's an Android product.

The anticipation for Google Now on iOS speaks volumes about Apple's brand, with company stock hovering at its lowest level in two years.

In releasing Google Now, there was a collective sense that Android did Apple a solid. I even jokingly tweeted that Apple should buy Android a beer.

But using the app on iOS reminded me how stifling Apple's platform can be.

While Google Now runs constantly in the background on Android — for instance, anticipating when you'll leave for work or what events you might enjoy attending — an iPhone user must make sure the app is open in order to use it.

That defeats the purpose of an unobtrusive, intuitive smartphone assistant.

The difference between now and when the
iPhone 5 was released last year is that Apple had a long winning streak on hardware and design. Now, Android has caught up.

Smartphones such as the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and even the lower-tier HTC First meet or surpass the iPhone 5 on basic performance.

Windows Phone's HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 920 provide a similar marriage of solid hardware and operating system, which is why U.S. marketshare doubled to 6 percent last quarter.

Apple has a tenuous edge in apps and its iTunes-driven ecosystem.

A rumored iWatch that will pair with the iPhone may buy Apple a bit more time to develop iOS 7, but the system had better be a stunner.

Nothing less than a complete overhaul from the currently static and uncustomizable platform will be competitive.

I knew I was choosing apps and ecosystem over lots of other features when I bought the iPhone 5. But now it feels like I paid $200 for a pretty-looking iTunes machine with a nice camera.

And I'm in the market for an upgrade.

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Airport app lands just in time

Local entrepreneur Wayne Chen wants his new app to take off with harried air travelers — literally.

The 67-year-old has created Connect On Time, a free app for iPhones and iPads that provides customized maps of 42 global airports and calculates how much time travelers actually need to reach their respective flight gates upon their arrival.

"In doing my research, there isn't any place else you can get this kind of info," Chen, president of Mo'zippity Apps in Marlboro, told the Herald. "I've flown enough and gotten lost enough to say, 'There's a way to solve this.' "

Connect On Time, the first app from Mo'zippity, a division of Chen's IT company WT Chen & Co. Inc., comes free with three activated airports — Abu Dhabi International, Honolulu International and London's Stansted Airport.

The app's other 39 airports, including Logan International Airport, can be accessed for $1.99 apiece, Chen said.

Connect On Time users can view a detailed yet scaled map of an entire airport, complete with gate locations, and passport and security control checkpoints they must pass through. Upon typing in a starting location and a "go to" location, the app calculates within 15 to 30 seconds how long it can take to get from one checkpoint to the other, Chen said.

Connect On Time also contains dropdown menus with information about terminal shuttles and airline locations.

Chen added Mo'zippity is working to increase the app's airport count to include all of the world's top 100 busiest airports; make the app available for Android devices; and give it multiple language capabilities.

"Last year the number of individuals that flew exceeded one billion for the first time and that number is expected to increase in the next 10 years by another billion," Chen said. "Lots of travelers are going to be seniors as well as Asians flying to Europe and the U.S., which is a driver and motivator for me to have multiple language versions."

Chen said Connect On Time's database of airport information was largely collected by him and other staff physically walking through all airports included on the app.

"Every airport just confirmed for us that airport signage is confusing, airport personnel aren't helpful and comprehensive airport maps are scarcer than hen's teeth," Chen said. "The information is needed because millions of people are late and hundreds of millions of people are always stressed out."

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Leaders laud contest to grant $ to struggling communities

Community leaders from the Hub's more economically hard-hit cities hailed a competition launched by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston last week as a necessary tool to spur cross-sector partnerships and improve the health and well-being of lower-income residents.

"You just have to walk down Broadway Street and you will see hundreds of people that wake up every day to open their small businesses. The ideas, the willingness, the energy to work and be creative is there," said Lawrence CommunityWorks Co-Executive Director Nelson Butten about the Working Cities Challenge. "This is a great opportunity for promoting collaboration within the different organizations, both private and nonprofits."

All 20 cities eligible for multi-year grants, including Brockton, Everett, Lowell and Fall River, have submitted letters of intent to enter the competition.

The Commonwealth, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and Living Cities, a philanthropic collaborative of 22 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions, will provide up to eight awards ranging from $50,000 to $700,000.

Winners will be chosen in January 2014, officials said.

"America looks mostly like these small cities and not like the big cities, so we need to figure out ... how do we build upon what we have," said Living Cities President and CEO Ben Hecht.

Lawrence is hoping to increase the earning power of residents, promote better community health, and allow local and immigrant businesses to grow.

Chelsea-based nonprofit, The Neighborhood Developers, meanwhile, is working with other partners to improve the city's Shurtleff-Bellingham neighborhood, and create a community school in Revere that provides educational opportunities for families and working adults, said Executive Director Ann Houston.

"It's certainly gotten a lot of important conversation going," Houston said about the initiative.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren added, "This project alone can't turn around the employment situation in Massachusetts, but in these cities I think that it can help lay the groundwork for why both the communities and the businesses will look to expand in Massachusetts."

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