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It's a different game for Quark these days. Once, its flagship QuarkXPress was far and away the leading software for professional print publishing; but its market share has eroded in recent years, faced with tough competition from upstart rival Adobe InDesign.

Quark isn't taking the challenge lying down. On Thursday it announced QuarkXPress 8, a new version that adds intriguing new features to the venerable publishing platform. The question that remains is whether this new release will be enough to push Quark back into the limelight, or whether past mistakes have cost it the crown for good.

Among the new features for QuarkXPress 8 are Bézier pen tools for quick drawing directly onto a page, better interoperability with image-editing software (including Adobe's), improved typographic controls, WYSIWYG font rendering, and a redesigned user interface.

What's more, Quark has redoubled its focus on the Web– arguably the hottest segment of today's publishing industry– with a number of new tools. In addition to supporting export to HTML and PDF, QuarkXPress 8 now offers native Flash authoring, right from within the program. Designers can publish simultaneously to print, PDF, and the Web, including Flash movies.

But let's face it: A slim feature set was never Quark's problem. Longtime QuarkXPress users who jumped ship to InDesign will remember how long it took Quark to release a version for Mac OS X, not to mention playing catch-up with Adobe. (Even some of the new features in QuarkXPress 8 have been available in some form since early versions of InDesign.) And other long-suffering print designers I've met have expressed an almost pathological hatred of Quark over some of its past business practices, such as charging for tech support.

If you're a print publishing professional yourself, are you willing to let bygones be bygones? Is Quark still your tool of choice, and is this latest version a welcome upgrade? Or are you moving ahead with InDesign, even if that means submitting to an Adobe monoculture in the graphic design software market? Sound of in the PC World Community Forums.

NEW YORK - Apple Inc.’s iPhone, a new model of which is widely expected this summer, took 19.2 percent of the U.S. market for “smart” phones in the first quarter of 2008, according to research firm IDC’s vendor survey.

That was down from 26.7 percent of smart phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, which included the holiday shopping season, IDC found.

Much of the slack was picked up by Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, which took 35.1 percent of the market in the fourth quarter and then 44.5 percent in the first.

IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the BlackBerry is now strong in the “prosumer” segment, as RIM has successfully widened the appeal of the device beyond the professionals who have been its core customer group.

Smart phones are designed for Web surfing and e-mail in addition to voice calls and usually have alphabetic keyboards or touch screens. They account for a growing share of cell phones sold, as prices descend and carriers complete their fast data networks.

IDC did not reveal the total number of smart phones sold in the quarter. Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhones in the first quarter, including overseas sales.

Palm Inc., a pioneer in the category along with RIM, also picked up market share in the first quarter, when it grabbed 13.4 percent of smart phone sales, up from 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, IDC said. “Palm also did really well. It posted a sequential gain mainly on the strength of the Centro phone,” Llamas said. The Centro, a smaller phone than Palm’s Treo models, came out last fall for the Sprint Nextel Corp. network and was launched by AT&T Inc. in February.

But Palm’s market share is down from 23 percent in the first quarter a year ago, apparently the victim of the iPhone, which went on sale late last June. RIM’s market share is also down from last year, when it sold 48.7 percent of U.S. smart phones in the first quarter.

No. 4 in market share in the most recent quarter was Samsung Electronics, with 8.6 percent, up from 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter, a rise Llamas credited to the availability of the BlackJack on Verizon Wireless.

Motorola Corp., which is struggling in the overall cell-phone market, did poorly in smart phones as well, dropping from a 7.5 percent share in the fourth quarter to 2.6 percent in the first.

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On the Net:

http://www.blackberry.com

http://www.apple.com/iphone

http://www.palm.com

http://www.idc.com

LOS ANGELES - Amazon.com said Friday that publisher Simon & Schuster Inc. will make 5,000 more books available for the Amazon Kindle wireless reader, bumping to 125,000 the number of titles users can download and read.

The announcement came ahead of an address by Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos at the BookExpo America convention in Los Angeles.

Bezos has said Kindle e-books now account for 6 percent of sales among the 125,000 titles available on the site in both electronic and print formats. The company did elaborate on that figure.

The online retailer cut the Kindle’s price by $40 to $359 on Tuesday but still won’t say how many have sold. The company also refuses to divulge the number of e-books it has sold.

Kindle launched last November and sold out in hours. Amazon sorted out its supply chain and manufacturing problems, and the device was back on sale in April.

Despite the price cut, the Kindle still costs more than Sony Corp.’s competing Reader, which retails for $299.

WASHINGTON - Federal antitrust regulators have cleared activist billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s purchase of another $1.5 billion of shares of Internet company Yahoo Inc.

Icahn launched a proxy fight last month to remove Yahoo’s board of directors after the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company rejected Microsoft Corp.’s last takeover bid of $47.5 billion bid. He has called Yahoo’s actions “irrational” and nominated an alternate slate of 10 directors, including himself.

To gain leverage in the fight, Icahn has spent more than $1 billion to buy 59 million Yahoo shares and options to give him a 4.3 percent stake in the company. He has sought approval from the Federal Trade Commission to acquire up to $2.5 billion in Yahoo stock, including his current holdings.

The FTC included the deal on a list of transactions released Friday that received an “early termination” of their antitrust reviews. Early termination refers to the completion of a review by the FTC or Justice Department before the end of a 30-day period required under antitrust law

While Icahn has made it clear he wants Yahoo sold to Microsoft, there are no guarantees the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker is still interested in buying Yahoo.

Shares of Yahoo fell 31 cents to close Friday at $26.76.

PARIS (AFP) - Two Internet sites were banned Friday by a French court from taking online bets in France on matches at the ongoing Roland-Garros tennis championship in Paris.

Unibet and Expekt, both based in Malta, were also ordered to pay 800,000 euros (1.24 million dollars) in damages and interest to the French tennis federation, which owns the rights to the much-watched sporting classic.

Both firms intend to appeal the ruling, they said in a statement issued by the European Gaming and Betting Association.

In two distinct rulings, the court ruled that both sites “violated the operating monopoly conferred on the French tennis federation, the organisers of the tournament.”

It ordered Expekt to pay 300,000 euros in damages and interest, and Unibet 500,000 euros.

Welcoming the decision, French tennis federation lawyer Fabienne Fajgenbaum said “this is the first decision that is so clear on the exclusive rights of exploitation” of the Roland-Garros event.

The case hinged on a French law that prohibits betting on sporting events which are not organized by the French national lottery operator, Francaise des Jeux.

The French tennis federation launched a similar action in the Belgian city of Liege, which was dismissed in April.

The EGBA said Friday's judgement in Paris merely demonstrated “the contradictions between different European courts.”

“We regret that a French judge has prevented French Internet users from placing bets on their favourite tennis tournament, whilst Belgians can continue to enjoy this form of increasingly popular entertainment,” it said.

The EGBA went on to note that Francaise des Jeux is currently in the sights of the European Commission over the legal status of its monopoly.

Having successfully completed the much-publicized 700-MHz wireless spectrum auction, the Federal Communications Commission is now planning its next auctions.

According to a story in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, one of those plans includes a free wireless Internet. The winner of the auction for those frequencies would make broadband wireless Internet available to most of the U.S. Although details of the plan have not been worked out, there are reports that the FCC plan would mandate that the frequencies could not transmit everything the wildly diverse Internet could offer, such as pornography.

The D Block

Another plan for a new auction would be directed at getting a winning bid for the D Block. That group of frequencies was not sold at the last auction, as the minimum bid of $1.3 billion was not reached. Under FCC rules, the buyer would need to allow part of the spectrum to be used by public-safety agencies.

As a run-up to the D-Block reauction, the FCC has been taking comments from industry, public safety, and academics on how the rules for the D Block might be revised to attract higher bids. According to news reports, many public-safety groups, such as the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International and the National Emergency Number Association, as well as some members of Congress are suggesting that the FCC keep the same public-private partnership as previously required.

This requirement seeks to guarantee that broadband communications between government agencies have national coverage and interoperability by requiring the commercial operator to make the frequencies available in the event of emergencies.

'Doesn't Seem Realistic'

Some observers are suggesting that the D-Block price was too high, while others are suggesting that the private-public partnership requirements were not clearly defined. Bill Ho, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the basic issue needs to be addressed — that bidders “didn't see something that was entirely attractive.”

The proposition, he said, was that the winning bidder gets the spectrum, uses a great deal of money to build and support the network, and then has to give up its use at times to public agencies. This less-than-compelling business proposition, he noted, was the reason the D Block only attracted one bidder, Qualcomm.

To be attractive to commercial bidders, Ho said, the FCC has to figure out some better incentives in exchange for sharing with public agencies.

He also did not think the idea of auctioning off frequencies that offer free Internet is a very compelling business opportunity. He said it was “interesting, but it doesn't seem realistic,” similar to municipality-owned Wi-Fi.

“You get the frequencies, build it out, and then give it away for free,” he said, adding that a comparison to television, which does the same thing, is not equivalent. Running an Internet network, he pointed out, involves a greater level of expense and a greater challenge for advertisers than sending TV shows over the air.

Griffin Technology has announced the availability of the PowerDock 2, a device that simultaneously charges an iPhone and an iPod. It costs $49.99.

The PowerDock can charge any two dock connector equipped devices, so if you want to charge two iPhones or two iPods, that will work as well. It features a brushed aluminum design and includes six universal dock adapters to fit different iPod devices.

The PowerDock 2 is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, second and third-generation iPod nano, fifth-generation iPod, fourth-generation iPod and iPod mini.

SAN DIEGO (AFP) - US wireless technology titan Qualcomm is rolling a new-age version of old-time broadcast television onto what analysts say is an unpredictable but inevitable mobile TV landscape.

The California firm's MediaFLO subsidiary has spent an undisclosed fortune and about three years building a digital broadcasting network and partnerships with television studios, mobile phone service carriers, and handset makers.

Even though a government-mandated shift from analogue to digital television signals won't take place until February, MediaFLO already broadcasts mobile television in more than 50 US metropolitan areas.

“A lot of gray hair and wrinkles have been put together building this system,” MediaFLO senior direct Cullen Childress said Wednesday during an interview at the broadcast operations center in San Diego.

“We want TV in mobile telephones to be as common as cameras in telephones.”

Qualcomm bought a television channel frequency several years ago and added a portion of the 700 MHz spectrum during an historic auction in April by the US Federal Communications Commission.

MediaFLO began television broadcasts to Verizon mobile telephones slightly more than a year ago and recently made a deal with AT&T to do the same for the US telecom giant's subscribers.

Unlike television programs sent to mobile telephones via individualized Internet connections, MediaFLO broadcasts can be picked up a fashion similar to the way rabbit-ear TV antennas receive analogue signals.

“It's a portable version of your home TV,” said MediaFLO product management vice president Mike Coad.

MediaFLO currently provides ten television channels for mobile viewing and subscription to the service costs 15 dollars (US) monthly.

“MediaFLO is going to face some challenges,” said In-Stat principal analyst David Chamberlain. “People really want mobile video, unless they have to pay for it on a subscription basis.”

While MediaFLO offers all-you-can eat programming, people seem happy with a “snack” model that lets them download select shows online and watch them when they choose, said Telecom Media and Finance Associates president Tim Farrar.

“The question is really to what degree people have a desire to consume a lot of mobile TV,” Farrar told AFP.

“It is hard to see people wanting to pay on a subscription basis as opposed to downloading something from iTunes to watch while waiting at an airport.”

Handheld devices built exclusively for broadcast television viewing make more sense for ad-supported programs because telecom carriers are eliminated from the equation, Chamberlain said.

Advertising-based mobile television is feasible, as long as a large portion of telecom customers watch shows, analysts say.

“Right now, there is no evidence of that kind of demand” Farrar said.

Mobile television services in Japan and South Korea, where deployment of the technology is far ahead of the United States, report paltry adoption rates.

Qualcomm makes computer chips crafted to receive television broadcasts in multiple signal formats and is hustling to make them standard components in mobile telephones.

MediaFLO believes that if television-capable mobile phones are ubiquitous, users will yield to the temptation and then it will be a matter of figuring out what pricing models are best for business.

“Cast a wide net and you will be able to sell them on premium packages,” Coad said.

MediaFLO is dabbling with allowing broadcasts to be routed to home televisions, computers, and systems built into vehicles.

The National Association of Broadcasters is testing using US television station networks to send digital programming to mobile devices in a move that threatens to challenge MediaFLO.

Major electronics makers LG and Samsung recently announced they are backing the association's format.

“I think we are in for an interesting battle down the road,” Jupiter Research analyst Neil Strother told AFP.

“I think Qualcomm is in a pretty good position. It is not trivial to broadcast television to a wide audience.”

Even if faster wireless Internet services promised in the US increase the popularity of mobile video from websites such as YouTube and Hulu the broadcast television model is expected to endure.

“I think it's pretty compelling in certain scenarios,” Strother said. “Whenever you have time to kill and want to watch a little TV it is convenient. But, how much is it worth?”

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc plans to offer subscribers an easier way to bring Internet video to their television screens as part of an overall home networking system, Chief Executive Glenn Britt said on Friday.

“Right now it's pretty hard to get Internet stuff on your TV,” Britt said at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York.

“We're actually going to have equipment we make available to subscribers,” he said. “It's actually going to be a new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house.”

Britt gave few specific details on how the service would work or when it would be available.

“Within a relatively short time … it's going to be very easy to get Internet TV on your big screen TV,” he said, estimating it would take between one to two years to popularize such technology already sold by the likes of Apple Inc.

Apple TV lets users take a movie downloaded to their personal computer and watch it on their television screen.

TiVo Inc lets many of its subscribers select Web video from providers such as The Onion, the New York Times and CNET Networks. The video is downloaded from the Internet to a TiVoset-top box for viewing later.

But web-to-TV technology is still in its early days, due in part to the complexity of making web video look good on higher resolution TVs.

Consumers may also be hesitant to navigate the thousands of web sites that offer unique video, and to buy more equipment in addition to paying monthly cable or satellite fees.

Major cable operators have had success spreading such technologies among their large pool of subscribers, including the digital video recording technology that originally made TiVo famous.

Shares in Time Warner Cable, which recently announced plans to separate fully from Time Warner Inc by the end of the year, rose 2 percent to $30.57.

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg; Editing by Derek Caney)

GENEVA (AFP) - Brazil, India and South Africa have lodged an appeal against a decision to grant international standard recognition to Microsoft's Office software package, a standards agency overseeing the case said Friday.

“The appeals were filed during the course of the week,” said Jonathan Buck, head of communications for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

The IEC and fellow standards agency the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) will now spend 30 days evaluating whether the appeals meet the necessary criteria.

If so, the appeals will then be considered by the technical appeals committees of both organisations, Buck said.

He added he could not give details on the content of the appeals because of the confidential nature of the process.

Last month, a vote by national member bodies of ISO approved recognition of Microsoft Office by a 75 percent threshhold, following a previous vote in September 2007 when 26 percent of members opposed the move.

Microsoft said in April that the vote was a “clear win for the customers, technology providers and governments that want to choose the format that best meets their needs”.