28/03/2014 Asia Business Report

Office on your iPad, Microsoft unveils a new strategy. What will be

the financial toll on Malaysia Airlines?

Welcome to Asia Business Report. There is a shift in the technology

landscape, with Microsoft's Office software now available on your iPad,

meaning users can create an Excel spreadsheet on the tablet. Our tech

correspondent has more on this strategy.

This speech by Satya Nadella was the first time the new Microsoft boss

has been able to outline his vision for the company. Remember, a lot of

investors were too worried that he was too much of an insider to make a

difference if needed. He talked about a mobile first strategy. The

new goal for us is to step up and provide the applications and

services that empower every user, across all of these devices, and all

of these experiences. That is perhaps job number one that we do,

which is to empower people to be productive, to do more across all

devices. The move of Office to iPad really signifies a shift in

Microsoft's thinking. A willingness to embrace rival operating systems

after the negative approach of simply holding the productivity

suite hostage to Windows. The question is how much of an audience

they will find. Apple has filled the office space whole over the past

years, which have worked perfectly well. This will provide one less

reason for people to buy Microsoft's own hardware, like the

Windows tablet and the Windows operating system itself. Microsoft

is operating in a post` Windows world, and Satya Nadella has to

figure out how best to promote it. A Chinese firm has won a lawsuit, as

a search engine was accused of calibrating search engine to block

information, advocating greater democracy on the mainland. There

were seeking $60 million in damages for violations of their civil and

equal protection rights. Walmart has sued credit card giant Visa for

conspiring with banks to fix these for accepting visa card payments. It

also is easily accessible for thieves. Visa has accepted damages

of $5 billion over eight years. For other corporate headlights, please

visit our website `` headlines. There has been a shift in consumer

preferences in the mobile handset business. Will a new chief executive

help turn things around for BlackBerry? We have a preview from

New York. BlackBerry still has one fan, the

president. While the White House is testing other phones, the user in

chief is not switching. A relief for BlackBerry, but also a reminder of

how far the company that popularised smart phones has fallen. This is the

insider charged with reversing the Canadian firm's fortunes. John

Chen, watched carefully by Wall Street. The real issue for investors

is going to be what John Chen has in store in terms of maximising value.

The one thing I like about him is that he has come in, and he has used

like bring not just as a device company, but he is looking at all

the assets and what they are worse. `` work. Touted by the former boss,

these phones failed to win back market share. Under John Chen,

BlackBerry teamed up with a Chinese manufacturer to save money and

produce a low`cost phone. Since John Chen took over last November, the

share price has risen roughly 40%. Investors want to believe that he

will succeed where others have failed. Nobody expects library's the

States to be fixed overnight. Investors will want to see that

their faith is rewarded. Fresh data from Japan showed a more

than 1% increase in consumer prices in February. It is the ninth

straight month of rising prices, reaffirming signs that the economy

is making steady progress to overcome nearly two decades of

deflation or falling prices. Household spending fell by 2.5% over

the same month, when compared to levels a year ago. Severe snowstorms

limited people from going out of their homes. In a separate

government report, it will show that the unemployment rate fell to 3.6%

in February, and that is the lowest level in more than six years.

Plans to export free Sim cards to people travelling overseas for

safety reasons. In the ongoing saga of Malaysia

Airlines flight MH370, apart from being a human tragedy, the airline

is likely to be entangled in a web of compensation claims and legal

battles. It is in talks with insurers about compensation

packages. One US law firm has already begun court action against

Boeing. He was responsible for compensating families of victims?

And make `` how maybe tragedy effect the industry as a whole?

Finding the flight recorders were just start giving passengers'

families some answers, but it will help an industry with a good record

of learning lessons from their tragedies. It took Air France three

years to realise why it an autopilot is connected before it a bus crash

in 2009. America's Pan Am never recovered from the bombing of its

747 over Lockerbie 26 years ago. The final hours of flight MH370 are

shrouded in mystery, and the question of liability is a long way

from being resolved. The families will be compensated under the

Montreal Convention, the costs borne by the airline's insurers. Once

causes for the planesplane's demise can be worked out, other

compensation can be made. Safety changes could follow for all

airlines, around beaming out far more data from aircraft's cockpits.

The estimates have been around $8 million per passenger, which is half

$1 billion in all. They will have to find a court that allows them to sue

for things like compensatory damages, or punitive damages. The

most obvious one of those is the US, which is why Boeing is being named

already. Even then, they will have to prove fault. It is a heavy cloud

over a large and financially weak carrier, one that has already lost

over $1 billion in the last three years. Some commentators think it

might survive, but will see lower passenger growth. In particular, in

countries like China, which is one of the fastest`growing countries in

terms of tourism, or export of tourism, however, having said that,

Malaysia Airlines is in part of the world that has great fundamentals.

It partly right on whether Malaysia Airlines can be open and sensitive

as it unfolds. Some say the airline should align itself as closely as

possible with the families. They are a victim as well. To stand alongside

the families and the empathetic, to make it clear that they have lost

people, that it affects them as much as the families. I think that is a

very sensible and credible position for the airline to take. An entire

industry is waiting, with the ultimate cost of compensation and

any new industry safety or security measures depending on some firm

evidence of exactly what brought down flight MH370.

As you have heard on our earlier bulletins, search operations have

resumed this Friday, after a suspension yesterday due to bad

weather conditions. We will bring updates on the search when the

information becomes available, right here on BBC World News.

Our top stories: The search for debris from the