As the technology industry shifts from a hardware-based model to a software-based model, New York is positioned well with access to clients and a pool of potential employees who understand marketing, consumers, media and communications, Mr. Pinsky said.

WSJ: Students Shift to Computer Science

One customer, Kerstin Schilling, chief executive of Bestsidestory GmbH, an online marketing provider based in Leipzig, Germany, hesitated a year before committing to Web-based software from SAP, in part because the firm evoked fears of long project installations and high costs.

WSJ: Slow Start for SAP's Web-Based Software

Industry insiders say Google is about to release Linux-based software that will bind mobile phones to Google's online services, a move likely to exacerbate the growing conflict between Google and Microsoft over the future of the mobile-phone market.

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