Amazon unveiled its much hyped Kindle DX, an e-book with a 9.7-inch screen designed to raise a ruckus in the textbook market, but delivered a $489 curve ball that seriously alters the return on investment calculation for academia.A On the surface, the argument for the Kindle DX in academia holds somewhat but that price tag makes the case much ...
Wireless carrier MetroPCS Communications Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter profit jumped 11 percent, helped by a growing subscriber base as it expanded into the New York City and Boston areas.
But the three-year anniversary of the iPhone is fast approaching, and as phone manufacturer Motorola can attest, few high-tech devices remain shiny and compelling forever. The seemingly endless number of apps available for the iPhone may help delay consumer ennui, but Apple -- and particularly AT&T -- are clearly worried about the rising buzz for new entrants in the smartphone category.
The Blackberry Curve, for instance, has earned some rave reviews, as has the Palm Pre. Android-driven phones are slowly gaining market share, aided by a surprisingly quick upgrade of Android to version 1.5. And Nokia, which has long been absent from the high end of the smartphone market, is reportedly set to introduce three different touchscreen models this summer.
Same Data for Fewer Bucks?
Given the rising competition among smartphones, it's not surprising that analysts are speculating about an AT&T price cut. Cote Collaborative analyst and pricing strategist Michael Cote told TheStreet.com Thursday that he thinks AT&T will cut the cost of the iPhone's monthly service plan by $10, from its current $69 per month to $59.
If AT&T does so, it will cut $240 off the $1,656 cost for a two-year service plan for the iPhone. Cote argues that the cut is necessary for AT&T to extend the reach of the iPhone beyond early adopters and Apple fans to more price-conscious mainstream consumers. Cote, who wasn't available for comment, told TheStreet.com that the high cost of the service plan "does not address the whole market."
Cote's reasoning is based in part on Apple's experience with offering its iPhone at Wal-Mart, where sales haven't met expectations, and the reaction of...
Where Were You Five Years Ago?
It takes time for most new content-delivery platforms to gain a critical mass (the Apple iPhone is a notable exception), and despite Amazon's best efforts, the Kindle has yet to hit its stride in the marketplace. A significant impediment is cost -- the smaller, six-inch Kindle retails for $359, while the 9.7-inch Kindle DX rings in at $489. That's three years of newspapers at the local newsstand.
That's not to say that the new Kindle won't appeal to consumers. The Wall Street Journal cites a number of analysts who believe the Kindle will quickly become a significant part of Amazon's cash flow. According to one estimate, the Kindle and Kindle DX could generate $3.7 billion in revenues in 2012, with gross profits as high as $840 million.
Already, the Journal said, sales of Kindle electronic editions accounted for more than 10 percent of books sold in the U.S. in the first quarter, roughly four million units out of 38 million sold. And as Bezos said during the introduction of the Kindle DX, when a Kindle edition of a book is available, it typically accounts for 35 percent of the book's sales.
Tough Deals
Consumers aren't the only ones questioning the economics of the Kindle DX. If early reports are correct, the device is no bargain for newspapers, either. During testimony before the U.S. Senate, Dallas Morning News President James Moroney outlined the...
Except for a single very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four-million year old black monolith has remained completely inert. Its origin and purpose are still a total mystery.
– 2001 A Space Odyssey
Intel and Novell announced today that they will collaborate to promote Intel’s Moblin operating system, a rival Linux distribution for mobile devices. Novell also announced it is developing a Moblin-based version of SUSE Linux optimized for Intel Atom-based netbooks.
Whereas Google is initially targeting smartphones with Android (though an Android-based Netbook has apparently been released), Intel is targeting Moblin at Netbooks and handheld Mobile Internet Devices.
Intel launched Moblin in 2007 and incubated the effort until last month when the Linux Foundation became host of the community. Intel continues to contribute key technologies and work with the developer community to advance the effort. Novell began contributing to the Moblin project last October.
According to Guy Lunardi, Novell’s Director of Client Preloads, in an interview, “it’s very possible you will see Novell going to market with OEMs on pre-installations on netbooks as early as a few weeks after the final release of Moblin 2.0.”
ASUS expects to sell roughly 7 million netbooks in 2009, while Acer expects to sell 12-13 million netbooks this year. Shipments of netbooks in 2009 could top 30 million units, or almost 20% of total notebook sales in 2009. Some 90% of Netbooks run on Windows XP.
Smartphones get about 12 per cent of the cellphone market, with total smartphone sales in 2008 reaching 139.3 million units. Informa predicts sales of new smartphones will grow over 30% in 2009 to 211.2 million units, driven by innovative new devices and operator subsidies designed to promote mobile data consumption.
Whereas Google’s Android runs on ARM processors - as well as Atom chips - Intel’s Moblin project was Atom-centric. Now, with broader support, many observers believe the platform will evolve beyond Intel chips.
Though Ubuntu made the first forays for Linux in the Netbook market, Novell and Intel could end up dominating it, opines C/Net. MIDs could be a whole new market segment.
Whether Microsoft, Linux, or Apple will come to dominate the platform is still unknown.
Novatel Wireless is introducing a mobile router with cellular backbone called the MiFi 2200 .
"Our member companies are leaders in the wireless, CE, PC and handheld markets. They have the technical acumen and business experience to make the 60-GHz wireless technology a reality for both the home and enterprise," said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the alliance. "To help bring this technology to market, we welcome new member companies to join our group."
Filling a Market Void
WiGig aims to address what it sees as a need for faster wireless connectivity than current standards support for instant file transfers, wireless display and docking, and streaming high-definition media on a variety of devices like TV set-top boxes, cell phones, and video cameras. The group said 60-GHz technology makes this possible for digital-media consumers.
WiGig said its specification will allow devices to communicate without wires at gigabit speeds within a typical room. The group's vision is to create a global ecosystem of interoperable products based on this specification to unify the next generation of entertainment, computing and communications devices at speeds more than 10 times faster than today's wireless LANs.
To accomplish this goal, WiGig assembled a diverse group of wireless semiconductor, PC, consumer electronics, and handheld device manufacturers. Atheros Communications, Broadcom, Marvell International, MediaTek, NEC Nokia, and Wilocity are part of the alliance.
Can We Finally Download Video?
"We're now at the point where the last barrier to wireless being able to do everything that wire can has fallen," said Craig Mathias of the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group. "In both the residence and the enterprise, more capacity...
Qwest Communications is out to rebrand itself as a broadband provider rather than a traditional telecommunications company, says the Wall Street Journal.
Qwest’s DSL customers, can now enjoy free, unlimited nationwide access at 17,000 hotspots, including popular coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants. To take advantage of free Qwest Wi-Fi, customers can visit www.qwest.com/wifi to search Wi-Fi hotspot locations. Qwest is using AT&T’s WiFi network that is now in Starbucks and other locations.
Qwest DSL service costs $34.99/month for 12 months, when packaged with Basic Phone Service (not included). Thereafter, it costs $44.99 (for month-to-month subscribers).
The company has no wireless phone division to cross-subsidize revenues, and land lines are going away. The company lost 259,000 residential phone customers last quarter, and wants to lessen the emphasis phone services, stressing other broadband-centric services.
According to a recent report, 20 percent of US households had only cellphones last year, while a third of people 18 to 24 live in homes with cell phones only. Four in ten people age 25 to 29 are in cell phone only homes.
Joe Nacchio, who is now living at the big house in Minersville, Pennsylvania, was replaced as CEO in 2002 as the company struggled under a crippling debt load and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting practices.
Craig Settles, author of Fighting the Next Good Fight for Broadband: A Planning Guide, has breaking news on municipal broadband legislation in North Carolina and its implications.
|
Victory in North Carolina font-family: times,"times new roman";">Supporters of community broadband won two decisive victories within 24 hours. Wow! In classic David vs Goliath style, the town of Wilson, North Carolina took the fight to Time Warner to turn back that company’s anti-community broadband legislation in the state House Wednesday, and the state Senate this morning. Even though the bills that would have prevented communities in N. Carolina from building or partnering in broadband networks weren’t killed outright (they were sent to committee for study), this is still great news for broadband in the state. It also has positive implications for the broadband stimulus grant program nationwide. N. Carolina was the second state this year in which legislative allies of incumbent telco and cable companies introduced legislation to prevent local government from initiating network projects. Pennsylvania is the other, with Verizon being the incumbent beneficiary there. Proposed bills in both states specifically prevent municipalities from taking broadband stimulus money. If you connect the dots, driven by a smidgeon of conspiracy theorist anxiety, you realize the incumbents fear broadband grant disbursement rules favoring community-driven networks. A town such as Wilson with a 100 mbps symmetrical network successfully built and managed by the municipality would be the poster child for all those communities getting grants. Incumbents’ only course is to get state legislators to shut down that avenue since they can’t seem to deliver better networks or better service. There’s no doubt in my mind that had Time Warner won in N. Carolina, similar bills would have popped up across the country, blunting the broadband bill’s potential impact. That this N. Carolina legislation even received serious consideration testifies to the need for a Congressional mandate protecting community broadband networks from incumbents incapable of competing on a field already tilted in their favor. Now that the good guys and gals have won these two rounds, it’s time to capitalize on, rather than become intoxicated by, the latest victory. The spotlight on Wilson this past month showed the entire state and the nation what real broadband is. Think about it. 100 megabits is blazing speed most communities only dreamed! They now see the dream can be a reality. How hallow those incumbent excuses for why they can’t build fast broadband to rural areas. The networks in Wilson and other N. Carolina cities also demonstrate why final rules for the stimulus grant program need to favor local communities. The economic and other benefits these networks are producing are perfect examples of what happens when the people with broadband needs are the ones to find the best solutions for those needs. New jobs are created, local businesses expand their marketing worldwide, new businesses with good paying jobs come to town. It’s rather ironic that supporters anointed their bill as one to level the playing field for Time Warner. Personally, if I ran a bezillion dollar company and a town of 50,000 with no prior technology business expertise built a network 10 times faster than my best offering, I’d be embarrassed to claim any part of that legislation. If they want to level the playing field, maybe Time Warner should outsource their engineering department to Wilson. - Craig Settles |
Craig Settles is an industry analyst, President of broadband strategy consulting firm Successful.com and author of “Fighting the Next Good Fight for Broadband: A Planning Guide”.
When customers choose to activate Windows 7 later instead of immediately on installation, they will see a dialog box that highlights how activation helps identify whether their copy of Windows is genuine. If customers choose not to validate immediately, they can proceed without a 15-second delay.
"The guiding principle is to enable the customer to know when the software they are using is genuine and licensed and help them to do something about it if it's not," said Joe Williams, general manager of worldwide genuine Windows at Microsoft. "We also spent time thinking about how we could make activation and validation easier for enterprises."
The Activation Mandate
Why so much focus about activation? Because software piracy is a pervasive problem that costs the world economy more than $45 billion each year, according to the Business Software Alliance. Software piracy ushers in unwanted issues such as identity theft, system failures, and data loss. IDC estimates the cost of compromised data in business environments at tens of thousands of dollars per incident.
"We think IT professionals will appreciate support in Windows 7 for virtualized images and volume-activation technologies. When Windows Vista was being developed, virtualization was primarily a server scenario, but today many companies have it in their production environment on both the server and the client," Williams said. "We listened and adapted our management tool for organizations by making them more easily available."
Despite the seemingly relaxed rules, Williams said ensuring that customers know they have genuine software or when they might be victims of software piracy remains a priority. With Windows Vista, Microsoft reported significant strides in reducing the threat pirated copies posed to customers, its partners,...
Recent Comments