The United Technologies Corporation made public on Sunday an unsolicited $3 billion bid for Diebold, one of the largest makers of automated teller machines and voting machines.
United Technologies, which first approached Diebold two years ago, initially made the offer in private on Friday. The bid amounts to $40 a share in cash, or a 66 percent premium over Diebold's closing price on Friday of $24.12, United Technologies said.
Several unsolicited or hostile offers have been made this year despite an overall slowdown in deal-making activity. Among companies making unfriendly advances are Microsoft, which is pursuing the wounded Internet giant Yahoo, and Electronic Arts, which made a bid for Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the Grand Theft Auto video games.NYT
Monday, March 3, 2008
With Partners, ESPN Is Expanding in Filmmaking
ESPN dominates sports on television. Now, the cable heavyweight is making a run at the big screen.
ESPN said it would collaborate with Creative Artists Agency and Walt Disney Studios to produce and distribute theatrical films with sports themes. As part of the network's expansion in filmed entertainment, ESPN is also hiring 30 filmmakers to produce one-hour mini-movies to appear on the channel starting in September 2009.
"We see this as a new way to reach sports fans and engage them," said Keith Clinkscales, ESPN's senior vice president for content development. "A lot of people who spend time being engaged in ESPN also spend a lot of time going to the movies."
Movies will be financed by Walt Disney, which owns ESPN; outside investors; or a combination thereof. ESPN executives declined to comment on financial elements, except to say budgets would vary by project.NYT
ESPN said it would collaborate with Creative Artists Agency and Walt Disney Studios to produce and distribute theatrical films with sports themes. As part of the network's expansion in filmed entertainment, ESPN is also hiring 30 filmmakers to produce one-hour mini-movies to appear on the channel starting in September 2009.
"We see this as a new way to reach sports fans and engage them," said Keith Clinkscales, ESPN's senior vice president for content development. "A lot of people who spend time being engaged in ESPN also spend a lot of time going to the movies."
Movies will be financed by Walt Disney, which owns ESPN; outside investors; or a combination thereof. ESPN executives declined to comment on financial elements, except to say budgets would vary by project.NYT
HSBC in $17bn credit crisis loss
HSBC, the UK's largest bank, has said it has made a $17.2bn loss on investments linked to the credit crisis, higher than expected.
But its annual profits still rose 10% to $24.2bn, up from $22.08bn the year before.
The write-down is the largest of the big-five UK banks.The bank said the global financial system had come under "extraordinary strain" in 2007.
"The outlook for the rest of 2008 is uncertain," said HSBC chairman Stephen Green.
"The economic slowdown and the credit outlook in the US may well get worse before they get better," he added.
But its annual profits still rose 10% to $24.2bn, up from $22.08bn the year before.
The write-down is the largest of the big-five UK banks.The bank said the global financial system had come under "extraordinary strain" in 2007.
"The outlook for the rest of 2008 is uncertain," said HSBC chairman Stephen Green.
"The economic slowdown and the credit outlook in the US may well get worse before they get better," he added.
Underlying profit growth is better than we were expecting
Leigh Goodwin, analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton
Whilst the credit crisis, caused by problems in the US housing market, hit HSBC's US operations, the bank enjoyed strong growth in Asia, Middle-East and Latin America.NYT
Harshal Publications Launches "Safari", Innovative Magazine for Gen Next
A reputed publishing house, noted for its informative books and periodicals that educate and enhance creative thinking in younger generation, has launched a new monthly named SAFARI.
Published in affiliation with Ahmedabad-based Nagendra Vijay Science Foundation, the magazine aims to cover all areas of knowledge ranging from astronomy and aviation to weather and wildlife. It synthesizes information and presents it for young readers in a way that stretches their minds, stimulates their imagination and develops their reasoning skills. It is also designed to prompt questions which they are free to ask SAFARI and get them answered in the GK queries section of the magazine.
IIT Kharagpur Invites Nominations for the Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award 2008
IIT Kharagpur, in its continuing endeavour to encourage and promote technical innovation, has invited nominations for the second annual Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award. The Award will be given to the most deserving Indian technologist who has achieved a breakthrough by harnessing the power of technology to benefit society and the nation.
Entries will be accepted from March 1,2008 till April 30th, 2008. The nomination form is available and can be accessed through the official award website: http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/topfiles/nina.php and the tribute web site http://www.ninasaxena.com. Nominations may be submitted either by post to The Director, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal, PIN-721302, INDIA, or by e-mail to: director@iitkgp.ernet.in.
Virgin Mobile says Namasate India
Sir Richard Branson on Sunday launched the Virgin Mobile brand in India through a franchise arrangement with Tata Teleservices.
TTSL, which is the second largest CDMA operator with 22 million customers, will sell the youth-based mobile service under the brand name of Virgin Mobile.
The financial arrangements between the two companies were not disclosed, but an official said TTSL would be paying Virgin what would be in the nature of a royalty fee.
Virgin will not be entering India as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), as feared by some of the existing telecom operators, said Mr Anil Kumar Sardanah, Managing Director, TTSL, at a news conference here.
An MVNO is an operator that does not own infrastructure, network or spectrum but leases these to offer services. Virgin operates as an MVNO in all its global markets. At the news of Virgin launching in India, the Cellular Operators Association of India had written a letter of complaint to the telecom authorities.
Big investment
This is Virgin’s seventh launch globally and its largest investment to date in India, said Sir Richard, noting that the Indian market was very attractive, growing like none other in the world.
The Virgin group and TTSL have also jointly established a company ‘Virgin Mobile India Ltd’ to develop the new branded service. The investment details of this company were not disclosed either.
The Virgin youth service aims to acquire 5 million subscribers over the next three years, during which period it will become profitable too, Sir Richard said.
“The estimated population in India of people between 15 and 30 years is 400 million, almost six times the whole of the UK population; and these numbers promise to be a lot of fun,” Sir Richard said.
Mr Jamie Heywood, Deputy CEO, Virgin Mobile India, said there were 215 million Indians aged 14-25 and over the next three years there would be 50 million additionally. In all, revenues from this segment then would be over Rs 35,000 crore, he said.
To begin with, Virgin Mobile will be launched in 50 cities, and in a year’s time in over 1,000 cities. Specially designed handsets in the Rs 2,000-5,000 range would be offered by TTSL, but customers are free to buy CDMA handsets separately, since Virgin would be offering a SIM-card based CDMA service, the first such offer in India, said Mr Heywood.
More Media Snaps:
The Inquirer
Virgin Mobile picks CDMA once again
This time it's in India
NOW THAT Vodafone has shown the way, Virgin Mobile is heading towards Indian shores with a joint venture formed with Tata TeleServices (TTSL).
Like the joint venture Virgin operates with Sprint in the USA and Bell Mobility in Canada, Tata runs a CDMA not GSM network.
Typically for Sir Richard Branson, the new Virgin Mobile India will be targeted at the youth market. That will leave Tata's existing Indicom brand as aiming at the mass market.
According to reports, a standard MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) setup in Indian isn't currently legal - although the local telecoms watchdog (TRAI) has recommended that they should be allowed.
So that leaves Virgin Mobile acting as an agent for TTSL. Since TTSL is a CDMA2000 1X network, that means Virgin will have to offer its services over CDMA handsets. Good news for Qualcomm.
TTSL has a customerbase of over 2.68 million, but along with its subsidiary, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), it currently serves 4.58 million subscribers.
Seeing as the joint venture is 50:50 and Virgin won't be operating the network, it nicely side-steps all the hassle Vodafone had over foreign ownership of a telecoms network. µ
Although Virgin Mobile India is reportedly recruiting already, there's no mention of it on the Virgin Mobile site yet.
IANs reports:
Virgin Mobile, part of British communications group Virgin Media, Sunday launched youth-oriented mobile services in India through telecom operator Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL).
The deal brings a tie-up between two of world's leading business leaders - Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin conglomerate.
Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, launched the Virgin Mobile brand by flying down the façade of popular hotel in south Mumbai and unveiled its logo in mid flight.
TTL will launch Virgin Mobile in 50 cities initially and in more than 1,000 cities by the year-end, Branson told reporters during the launch.
The maverick millionaire expects to get five million subscribers over the first three years with special value-added services and handsets priced between $50-$125.
"Our aim is not to get as many subscribers as possible but we want to deliver this brand to a more distinct segment," he said.
This is Virgin Mobile's seventh launch globally, after the success of Sprint in the US and Bell Mobility in Canada, the UK, France, South Africa and Australia.
"This is Virgin's largest investment in India till now," he added, without divulging any figures.
Virgin Mobile is the world's first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It does not maintain its own network but enters into contracts to use the existing networks of other providers, on which it offers services under the Virgin brand.
"Since MVNOs are not yet permitted in India, our services will be offered by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with Virgin Group," said Jamie Heywood, deputy chief executive officer of Virgin Mobile India.
According to Heywood, there are more than 215 million Indians between the age group of 14-25 years.
"Over the next three years, we expect the segment to grow by 50 million. Keeping our strategy in minds in next three years we want to grab 10 percent of the market," Heywood told IANS.
He expects to have revenue over Rs.350 billion ($8.74 billion) in this segment in the next three years.
After the success in this network, Virgin plans to extend its services in GSM network.
At present, TTL, a pioneer in CDMA service, has a customer base of over 4.58 million.
Anil Sardana, managing director of TTL, said: "We are very excited about our association with Virgin and offer a world class experience to our youth segment."
The handsets offering will be 100 percent colour and will have a variety of value added services like the customers will get 10 paise credit for every incoming minute they receive from any network and can have unlimited access to various portals for daily charge of Rs.5.
TTSL, which is the second largest CDMA operator with 22 million customers, will sell the youth-based mobile service under the brand name of Virgin Mobile.
The financial arrangements between the two companies were not disclosed, but an official said TTSL would be paying Virgin what would be in the nature of a royalty fee.
Virgin will not be entering India as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), as feared by some of the existing telecom operators, said Mr Anil Kumar Sardanah, Managing Director, TTSL, at a news conference here.
An MVNO is an operator that does not own infrastructure, network or spectrum but leases these to offer services. Virgin operates as an MVNO in all its global markets. At the news of Virgin launching in India, the Cellular Operators Association of India had written a letter of complaint to the telecom authorities.
Big investment
This is Virgin’s seventh launch globally and its largest investment to date in India, said Sir Richard, noting that the Indian market was very attractive, growing like none other in the world.
The Virgin group and TTSL have also jointly established a company ‘Virgin Mobile India Ltd’ to develop the new branded service. The investment details of this company were not disclosed either.
The Virgin youth service aims to acquire 5 million subscribers over the next three years, during which period it will become profitable too, Sir Richard said.
“The estimated population in India of people between 15 and 30 years is 400 million, almost six times the whole of the UK population; and these numbers promise to be a lot of fun,” Sir Richard said.
Mr Jamie Heywood, Deputy CEO, Virgin Mobile India, said there were 215 million Indians aged 14-25 and over the next three years there would be 50 million additionally. In all, revenues from this segment then would be over Rs 35,000 crore, he said.
To begin with, Virgin Mobile will be launched in 50 cities, and in a year’s time in over 1,000 cities. Specially designed handsets in the Rs 2,000-5,000 range would be offered by TTSL, but customers are free to buy CDMA handsets separately, since Virgin would be offering a SIM-card based CDMA service, the first such offer in India, said Mr Heywood.
More Media Snaps:
The Inquirer
Virgin Mobile picks CDMA once again
This time it's in India
NOW THAT Vodafone has shown the way, Virgin Mobile is heading towards Indian shores with a joint venture formed with Tata TeleServices (TTSL).
Like the joint venture Virgin operates with Sprint in the USA and Bell Mobility in Canada, Tata runs a CDMA not GSM network.
Typically for Sir Richard Branson, the new Virgin Mobile India will be targeted at the youth market. That will leave Tata's existing Indicom brand as aiming at the mass market.
According to reports, a standard MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) setup in Indian isn't currently legal - although the local telecoms watchdog (TRAI) has recommended that they should be allowed.
So that leaves Virgin Mobile acting as an agent for TTSL. Since TTSL is a CDMA2000 1X network, that means Virgin will have to offer its services over CDMA handsets. Good news for Qualcomm.
TTSL has a customerbase of over 2.68 million, but along with its subsidiary, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), it currently serves 4.58 million subscribers.
Seeing as the joint venture is 50:50 and Virgin won't be operating the network, it nicely side-steps all the hassle Vodafone had over foreign ownership of a telecoms network. µ
Although Virgin Mobile India is reportedly recruiting already, there's no mention of it on the Virgin Mobile site yet.
IANs reports:
Virgin Mobile, part of British communications group Virgin Media, Sunday launched youth-oriented mobile services in India through telecom operator Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTL).
The deal brings a tie-up between two of world's leading business leaders - Ratan Tata of the Tata Group and Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin conglomerate.
Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, launched the Virgin Mobile brand by flying down the façade of popular hotel in south Mumbai and unveiled its logo in mid flight.
TTL will launch Virgin Mobile in 50 cities initially and in more than 1,000 cities by the year-end, Branson told reporters during the launch.
The maverick millionaire expects to get five million subscribers over the first three years with special value-added services and handsets priced between $50-$125.
"Our aim is not to get as many subscribers as possible but we want to deliver this brand to a more distinct segment," he said.
This is Virgin Mobile's seventh launch globally, after the success of Sprint in the US and Bell Mobility in Canada, the UK, France, South Africa and Australia.
"This is Virgin's largest investment in India till now," he added, without divulging any figures.
Virgin Mobile is the world's first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It does not maintain its own network but enters into contracts to use the existing networks of other providers, on which it offers services under the Virgin brand.
"Since MVNOs are not yet permitted in India, our services will be offered by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with Virgin Group," said Jamie Heywood, deputy chief executive officer of Virgin Mobile India.
According to Heywood, there are more than 215 million Indians between the age group of 14-25 years.
"Over the next three years, we expect the segment to grow by 50 million. Keeping our strategy in minds in next three years we want to grab 10 percent of the market," Heywood told IANS.
He expects to have revenue over Rs.350 billion ($8.74 billion) in this segment in the next three years.
After the success in this network, Virgin plans to extend its services in GSM network.
At present, TTL, a pioneer in CDMA service, has a customer base of over 4.58 million.
Anil Sardana, managing director of TTL, said: "We are very excited about our association with Virgin and offer a world class experience to our youth segment."
The handsets offering will be 100 percent colour and will have a variety of value added services like the customers will get 10 paise credit for every incoming minute they receive from any network and can have unlimited access to various portals for daily charge of Rs.5.
Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at Loss for Words
The latest bane of office productivity is Scrabulous, a virtual knockoff of the Scrabble board game, with over 700,000 players a day and nearly three million registered users.
Fans of the game are obsessive. They play against friends, co-workers, family members and strangers, and many have several games going at once.
Everyone seems to love the online game — everyone, that is, except the companies that own the rights to Scrabble: Hasbro, which sells it in North America, and Mattel, which markets it everywhere else.
In January, they denounced Scrabulous as piracy and threatened legal action against its creators, two brothers in Calcutta named Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla who run a software development company. Both Hasbro and Mattel said they were hoping for a solution that would not force them to shut down the game.
Jayant Agarwalla, 21, said they did not create Scrabulous to make money, even though they now collect about $25,000 a month from online advertising. They just wanted to play Scrabble on their computers, and their favorite (unauthorized) site had started charging, he said.
"Our family has been playing the game for 50 years now," he said, and received a set when the game first came out in India. His mother encouraged him and his 26-year-old brother, Rajat, to play as a learning tool, often with a dictionary by the board.
Scrabulous, which most users play on the Facebook social-networking site, has a board that looks just like Scrabble, and the same number of letter tiles with the same point values. Players can send invitations to others on Facebook or search for strangers to play with by posting messages.
There is no time limit for moves or games. Scrabulous keeps track of player statistics, and it does not allow fake words. It cannot, however, prevent players from cheating. One method is an unaffiliated online "helper" program, which generates a list of possible words based on the letters a user has.
Two game companies, RealNetworks of Seattle and Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., say they have signed deals with Hasbro to create online versions of the company's games. Both say their versions of Scrabble will be out shortly. But Scrabulous has already brought Scrabble a newfound virtual popularity that none of the game companies could have anticipated.
The threat of legal action has not gained the companies many admirers. Many Scrabulous fans, some of whom say they bought the board game for the first time after playing the online version on Facebook, call their approach heavy-handed and out of touch.
"The big thing that Hasbro is missing is that this is targeting a young audience that in general is not into board games," said Venkat Koduru, the 15-year-old founder of the Facebook group "Save Scrabulous."
Mr. Koduru had three Scrabulous games going as of Wednesday. He has gathered names of more than 1,000 people who have pledged to never buy a Scrabble board if Hasbro and Mattel shut down the online game.
Other groups devoted to saving the game have recently been created on Facebook, including "Please God, I Have So Little: Don't Take Scrabulous Too." Tens of thousands of fans have joined in, threatening to boycott Hasbro and Mattel products.
Iain Morgan, 34, a music producer in London who goes by the name Iain Easy, is playing 25 games of Scrabulous at the same time. The funny thing is, he said, he was never a fan of the original board game.
Mr. Morgan, who is the host of a Facebook group called "Help, I'm a Scrabulous Addict," attributes the game's popularity to "all these people who are bored at work in their office," and added that the game keeps him in regular contact with his mother.
The legal questions concerning Scrabulous are complicated by the interests of the companies that own the rights to Scrabble.
Harold Zeitz, senior vice president for games at RealNetworks, said Friday that he was working closely with the Agarwalla brothers to bring the official Scrabble game to Facebook users.
Hasbro, meanwhile, said in a statement that Electronic Arts was planning to release an online version of Scrabble this spring. And Mattel, which signed a deal with RealNetworks last July, says that settling with the Agarwallas would set a bad precedent.
Neither Hasbro nor Mattel would disclose the number of Scrabble board games they have sold since Scrabulous started becoming popular last year. Hasbro estimates it sells one million to two million Scrabble boards a year in North America.
To some online marketing experts, Scrabulous represents a turning point for the board game industry, which has struggled for years to recreate itself as new generations turned alternatives like the Xbox and the GameBoy.
"If you're Hasbro or Mattel, it isn't in your interest to shut this down," said Matt Mason, a consultant to the entertainment industry and author of "The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism."
The board game industry will be forced to adapt, Mr. Mason predicts, just as the music industry has adjusted to unauthorized downloads of songs. "If something's already out there and proven, the companies should go with it," he said.
For their part, Mattel and Hasbro are trying to protect their franchise as consumers turn increasingly to the Internet for entertainment. They say they consider Scrabble a crown jewel and are working on marketing campaigns for the game's 60th anniversary this year. The plans include adding anniversary labels to Scrabble packaging and introducing a folding edition of the deluxe Scrabble board.
Scrabble began as Lexico in 1931, the creation of an out-of-work architect, Alfred Mosher Butts. He determined the frequency of each letter in the game and its value by reviewing the front page of The New York Times. His patent was denied, and it was 17 years before he found a manufacturer, which renamed the game Scrabble.
It took many more years before Scrabble became popular, thanks in part to a Macy's chairman who was a fan, according to the game's official history.
The Scrabble brand in North America was passed from manufacturer to manufacturer. It landed with Hasbro in 1989. The British game maker J. W. Spear & Sons owned the rights outside North America until the company was bought by Mattel in 1994.
The board game has had a core group of close-knit, intense fans for decades. They attend tournaments, refer to amateurs as "living room players," and memorize lists of two-letter words.
Until Scrabulous landed on Facebook, no one could have mistaken the game, which had only a few thousand users, for a fast-growing phenomenon.
The Agarwallas introduced their first Scrabble knockoff Web site, bingobinge.com, in August 2005, and renamed it Scrabulous.com a year later. In May 2007, one of the site's users suggested they adapt the game as a Facebook application, and it took off.
After 25 years with the National Scrabble Association, John D. Williams Jr., the executive director, said he had seen numerous copyright infringements of Scrabble, but the Scrabulous program on Facebook was the most "widespread and intense."
Dozens of other Web sites offer unauthorized versions of Scrabble, but most force users to play in real time or require clunky downloads to play.
"People believe it to be in the public domain, like chess," Mr. Williams said. "The idea that Scrabble belongs to a corporation is something that people don't or are unwilling to accept."
The Agarwalla brothers are avid players themselves — Jayant had 14 Scrabulous games going as of Saturday, and Rajat was playing 19.
Jayant, who is responsible for the game's player interface and customer support, said, "People rarely find time to sit down anymore with their family and friends, to invite people over, to prepare the tea and biscuits."
Even though it is easy to cheat at Scrabulous, he says he thinks few players actually do. "You may be doing it for personal glory, but it really takes the fun out of the game," he said.
© The New York Times Company
Fans of the game are obsessive. They play against friends, co-workers, family members and strangers, and many have several games going at once.
Everyone seems to love the online game — everyone, that is, except the companies that own the rights to Scrabble: Hasbro, which sells it in North America, and Mattel, which markets it everywhere else.
In January, they denounced Scrabulous as piracy and threatened legal action against its creators, two brothers in Calcutta named Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla who run a software development company. Both Hasbro and Mattel said they were hoping for a solution that would not force them to shut down the game.
Jayant Agarwalla, 21, said they did not create Scrabulous to make money, even though they now collect about $25,000 a month from online advertising. They just wanted to play Scrabble on their computers, and their favorite (unauthorized) site had started charging, he said.
"Our family has been playing the game for 50 years now," he said, and received a set when the game first came out in India. His mother encouraged him and his 26-year-old brother, Rajat, to play as a learning tool, often with a dictionary by the board.
Scrabulous, which most users play on the Facebook social-networking site, has a board that looks just like Scrabble, and the same number of letter tiles with the same point values. Players can send invitations to others on Facebook or search for strangers to play with by posting messages.
There is no time limit for moves or games. Scrabulous keeps track of player statistics, and it does not allow fake words. It cannot, however, prevent players from cheating. One method is an unaffiliated online "helper" program, which generates a list of possible words based on the letters a user has.
Two game companies, RealNetworks of Seattle and Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., say they have signed deals with Hasbro to create online versions of the company's games. Both say their versions of Scrabble will be out shortly. But Scrabulous has already brought Scrabble a newfound virtual popularity that none of the game companies could have anticipated.
The threat of legal action has not gained the companies many admirers. Many Scrabulous fans, some of whom say they bought the board game for the first time after playing the online version on Facebook, call their approach heavy-handed and out of touch.
"The big thing that Hasbro is missing is that this is targeting a young audience that in general is not into board games," said Venkat Koduru, the 15-year-old founder of the Facebook group "Save Scrabulous."
Mr. Koduru had three Scrabulous games going as of Wednesday. He has gathered names of more than 1,000 people who have pledged to never buy a Scrabble board if Hasbro and Mattel shut down the online game.
Other groups devoted to saving the game have recently been created on Facebook, including "Please God, I Have So Little: Don't Take Scrabulous Too." Tens of thousands of fans have joined in, threatening to boycott Hasbro and Mattel products.
Iain Morgan, 34, a music producer in London who goes by the name Iain Easy, is playing 25 games of Scrabulous at the same time. The funny thing is, he said, he was never a fan of the original board game.
Mr. Morgan, who is the host of a Facebook group called "Help, I'm a Scrabulous Addict," attributes the game's popularity to "all these people who are bored at work in their office," and added that the game keeps him in regular contact with his mother.
The legal questions concerning Scrabulous are complicated by the interests of the companies that own the rights to Scrabble.
Harold Zeitz, senior vice president for games at RealNetworks, said Friday that he was working closely with the Agarwalla brothers to bring the official Scrabble game to Facebook users.
Hasbro, meanwhile, said in a statement that Electronic Arts was planning to release an online version of Scrabble this spring. And Mattel, which signed a deal with RealNetworks last July, says that settling with the Agarwallas would set a bad precedent.
Neither Hasbro nor Mattel would disclose the number of Scrabble board games they have sold since Scrabulous started becoming popular last year. Hasbro estimates it sells one million to two million Scrabble boards a year in North America.
To some online marketing experts, Scrabulous represents a turning point for the board game industry, which has struggled for years to recreate itself as new generations turned alternatives like the Xbox and the GameBoy.
"If you're Hasbro or Mattel, it isn't in your interest to shut this down," said Matt Mason, a consultant to the entertainment industry and author of "The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism."
The board game industry will be forced to adapt, Mr. Mason predicts, just as the music industry has adjusted to unauthorized downloads of songs. "If something's already out there and proven, the companies should go with it," he said.
For their part, Mattel and Hasbro are trying to protect their franchise as consumers turn increasingly to the Internet for entertainment. They say they consider Scrabble a crown jewel and are working on marketing campaigns for the game's 60th anniversary this year. The plans include adding anniversary labels to Scrabble packaging and introducing a folding edition of the deluxe Scrabble board.
Scrabble began as Lexico in 1931, the creation of an out-of-work architect, Alfred Mosher Butts. He determined the frequency of each letter in the game and its value by reviewing the front page of The New York Times. His patent was denied, and it was 17 years before he found a manufacturer, which renamed the game Scrabble.
It took many more years before Scrabble became popular, thanks in part to a Macy's chairman who was a fan, according to the game's official history.
The Scrabble brand in North America was passed from manufacturer to manufacturer. It landed with Hasbro in 1989. The British game maker J. W. Spear & Sons owned the rights outside North America until the company was bought by Mattel in 1994.
The board game has had a core group of close-knit, intense fans for decades. They attend tournaments, refer to amateurs as "living room players," and memorize lists of two-letter words.
Until Scrabulous landed on Facebook, no one could have mistaken the game, which had only a few thousand users, for a fast-growing phenomenon.
The Agarwallas introduced their first Scrabble knockoff Web site, bingobinge.com, in August 2005, and renamed it Scrabulous.com a year later. In May 2007, one of the site's users suggested they adapt the game as a Facebook application, and it took off.
After 25 years with the National Scrabble Association, John D. Williams Jr., the executive director, said he had seen numerous copyright infringements of Scrabble, but the Scrabulous program on Facebook was the most "widespread and intense."
Dozens of other Web sites offer unauthorized versions of Scrabble, but most force users to play in real time or require clunky downloads to play.
"People believe it to be in the public domain, like chess," Mr. Williams said. "The idea that Scrabble belongs to a corporation is something that people don't or are unwilling to accept."
The Agarwalla brothers are avid players themselves — Jayant had 14 Scrabulous games going as of Saturday, and Rajat was playing 19.
Jayant, who is responsible for the game's player interface and customer support, said, "People rarely find time to sit down anymore with their family and friends, to invite people over, to prepare the tea and biscuits."
Even though it is easy to cheat at Scrabulous, he says he thinks few players actually do. "You may be doing it for personal glory, but it really takes the fun out of the game," he said.
© The New York Times Company
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