The loss which the recent system failure that affected the services of Research In Motion, owners of Blackberry,seems not to have been over as a study showed that it fell behind in mobile game survey in which Microsoft and Amazon.Com Kindle Fire tablet also failed to get back into the mobile game developing business.Mobile software developers remain enamoured with Apple's iPhone and iPad and, to a lesser extent, devices using Google's Android software, according to the survey from researcher IDC and Appcelerator, a company that works with application developers.But in the second-tier, Microsoft's partnership with Nokia helped it break ahead of BlackBerry maker'Amazon and Microsoft are the two big movers as we head into 2012,'Head of marketing, Appcelerator, Scott Schwarzhoff said that 'RIM continues to face challenges, especially on the PlayBook,' its tablet which has sold poorly.Amazon's Fire uses a variation of Android, but developers were most interested in its low cost and rich content library.'It has all the trappings of the next big thing,' Schwarzhoff said, pointing out that interest in the tablet, which is due to ship, is only slightly lower than the pre-launch interest in Apple's iPad.The survey showed more developer interest in Nokia's new Lumia Windows Phone lineup than RIM's smartphones.The dismal reading for RIM was blamed on lack of clarity on future direction, despite the Canadian company in October setting out a unified platform for future tablets and phones.'Time is not really on RIM's side right now, certainly that is the perception,' Schwarzhoff said.The number of respondents who said they were very interested in developing for the iPhone and iPad was constant at 91 and 88 per cent, respectively. Android for phones dipped slightly to 83 per cent and Android tablets slipped to 68 per cent.The survey of 2,160 developers was conducted on November 2-3.Meanwhile, Google has offered a free application that BlackBerry users can download to read their Gmail on the go, but would be removed as of 22 November.No more downloads, no more technical support if users already have the application. According to Google, it prefers the users use the browser on their handhelds instead and that the application would still work.Google said that 'over this past year, we've focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser, and will continue investing in this area.'Google will instead focus on 'building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser,' the company said in a statement.But in a statement, Research In Motion (RIM) played down this development, noting that 'Since 2009, RIM has incorporated native support for Gmail in BlackBerry operating system 5.0 and above, which means that a separate Gmail application is not required.' 'The large majority of users who access Gmail on their BlackBerry smartphones already rely on the native support (provided through BlackBerry Internet Service) rather than the separate Gmail application.'Either way, this spells trouble for the future of BlackBerry smartphones, as users are reportedly shifting their loyalties to a fast-growing Android or the iPhone.The firms may buy into Yahoo Private equity firms including KKR and TPG Capital are looking to potentially buy minority stakes of up to 20 per cent in Yahoo, with an eye to eventually taking over the whole company, people with knowledge of the situation said.These buyout firms have signed confidentiality agreements with Yahoo and could be willing to team up with its co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who together own 9.5 per cent of the Internet Company, according to the sources.Acquiring a minority stake could give the buyout firms an advantage in taking full control once the leverage finance market opens up, and also provide them with the potential for representation on Yahoo's board, the sources said.Another group of firms, including Blackstone Group, Providence Equity, Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman have held out against signing nondisclosure agreements that would restrict their ability to form consortium with strategic partners such as China's Alibaba or Japan's Softbank, they said. Yahoo and the private equity firms declined to comment.This split in approach comes as bidders jockey for the best position to forge a deal for Yahoo, the Internet pioneer whose growth has stagnated in recent years due to competition from the likes of Google and Facebook.Yahoo's strategic review, announced in September when the board fired the chief executive officer, Carol Bartz, is complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, the co-founders, the board and shareholders.That has made for slow going, and the deal process and alliances remain fluid. Silver Lake, for instance, which had been a significant holdout over the restrictive terms of the confidentiality agreement, signed the pact. Yahoo's board has come under attack from two major shareholders. Daniel Loeb of activist hedge fund Third Point LLC said last week he was deeply concerned that Yahoo is looking at deals that will allow private equity firms to gain substantial equity positions in the company.
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