Noteworthy Tech News for Small Businesses

This week, there were several major items announced by big companies that could in turn have tremendous impacts for small businesses – at least for those that participate. 

Stories range from search to local daily deals, and even a new productivity suite from Microsoft. 

Microsoft/Nokia Deal Means More Potential Bing Searchers

Microsoft and Nokia have entered a partnership that will see Nokia producing devices with the Windows Phone Operating system. Along with this comes Bing as the default search engine across these devices, which are expected to start shipping sometime next year. 

The point is that Bing is continuing to build up its share of the search market, which means you should be paying more attention to it if you’re not already. Whether that means paid, organic search, or a combination to you, you can expect that market share to increase more as these devices come to market. 

At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership,” said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. “It is the complementary nature of our assets, and the overall competitiveness of that combined offering, that is the foundation of our relationship.”

Google Earth Builder Lets Businesses Create Custom Maps Layers

Google launched Google Earth Builder this Week. This is a tool that businesses can use to manage geospatial data, create custom map layers, and share these layers. 

Google says that since businesses can use Google’s cloud, they can scale services for traffic spikes, reduce server costs, and control data and attribution. 

eBay Gets More Focused on Local and Mobile

This week, eBay announced the acquisition of WHERE, a location media company that comes with a hyper local ad network and a location-based service app/deals service. The deal complements eBay’s recent acquisition of Milo, which allows businesses to post local inventory. 

“Local commerce companies like WHERE are blurring the lines between in-store and online shopping,” said PayPal’s Amanda Pires on the company blog. “By giving people hyper-local, relevant retailer information and deals on their mobile phones, we see a huge opportunity for local merchants to reach more buyers, and for consumers to get more choice and value when they shop.”

The WHERE app already has 4 million users, and offers local daily deals. This should make for a fine way to get deals in front of consumers. 

Groupon Acquires Whrrl

Meanwhile, Groupon, the most talked about daily deals service that strives to be the "savior of small businesses," has acquired a location-based service too with Whrrl makers Pelago. 

They’re shutting down Whrrl itself, but the acquisition should make Groupon an even more attractive deals option for local businesses, with the added element of the check-in app. 

Microsoft Announces Office 365 Public Beta

Microsoft announced the public beta of Office 365 this week, expanding it into nearly twice as many countries and languages. The product will actually launch worldwide later this year. 

There are two versions of the suite, which brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in a cloud-based service.

Accompanying the suite is the Office 365 Marketplace, for apps and services, which opened with 100 apps and 400 services from partners.