Microsoft Windows to have lower price in Africa

Microsoft is targeting Africa with a lower-priced version of the Windows operating system that will work on cheaper machines and have Africa-themed screensavers and background wallpaper among its features.

Microsoft said Thursday in a statement released in Nigeria that its Windows XP Starter Edition for Africa is scheduled to hit African shelves in July, although it didn't say how many units will be shipped or what the price will be.

"It is a welcome move because it promises cheaper computers," said Zubby Opene, a Nigerian economist. "But for a country like Nigeria where more than 70 percent live on less than a dollar a day, the new system may well be for the rich only."

Similar products are already available in 83 countries from Latin America to Asia, the company said.

Sonus Pharmaceuticals

Firm aims to raise $30.6 million

Sonus Pharmaceuticals of Bothell said Friday it expects to raise $30.6 million through a private placement of stock with a group of institutional investors.

The company said the financing, scheduled to close Tuesday, will enable it to continue clinical trials of its Tocosol Paclitaxel treatment for metastatic breast cancer while simultaneously expanding efforts to develop other products.

Sonus will sell the investors about 6.1 million shares at $5 a share, a 4 percent discount from Monday's closing price of $5.21. The stock closed up 41 cents, or 7.9 percent, at $5.62 Friday after the announcement.

Tocosol, the company's lead product candidate, is a ready-to-use injectable formulation of paclitaxel now in a Phase 3 pivotal trial for metastatic breast cancer.

Vonage

$530 million goal for company IPO

Vonage, the country's largest Internet telephone service, on Friday more than doubled the amount it expects to raise in its initial public offering and reported record subscriber growth.

Vonage, which in February said it expected to sell shares worth $250 million, said in a regulatory filing Friday that it planned to sell 31.25 million shares at $16 to $18 each, putting the total value of the offering at around $530 million.

In Friday's filing, Vonage said it had more than 1.6 million subscribers April 1. That indicated an addition of 328,000 customers in the first quarter, a reversal of the trend of slowing additions, said Stephan Beckert, a TeleGeography analyst.

"It's such a huge increase in subscriber growth, it's kind of shocking," Beckert said. "Now the challenge is going to be making money off those subscribers."

Compiled from Seattle Times staff and Bloomberg News