GLG News(sm): Technology, Media & Telecom

The Tale Of Two Droids

Cathy Stauffer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:02:46 EST

Over the launch weekend, I saw strong, consistent traffic for the Droid along with great enthusiasm from salespeople. But not just for the Motorola Inc. Droid – the HTC Droid Eris was also generating a lot of interest, and sales.

What Are EA's Reasons For Purchasing Playfish?

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:06:29 EST

Electronic Arts (ERTS) is acquiring development and marketing expertise in a non-traditional and fast-growing segment of the video game industry EA is also taking ownership of Playfish's valuable player network, which can be heavily leveraged via future cross promotional tactics. EA may be overpaying -- only time will tell -- but EA's interest in the social-network game space is merited, and Playfish was likely the "cheapest" of the three established game developers in this space.

Leap and Metro Expect a Not so Merry Christmas

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:02:42 EST

Both Leap's Cricket and MetroPCS are lowering their projected customer totals in the face of holiday promotions by the Tier 1 carriers. Perhaps being the low cost provider of services might be more sustainable if a combined company could achieve the lowest operating costs. Aside from combining operations, lease optimization might be an easier way to cut operating costs.

JDA and i2 acquisition - second attempt

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:51:22 EST

November 5, 2009 - JDA announced it will acquire Supply Chain solutions competitor i2 for $396m. In August 2008 JDA first announced its intention to acquire i2 for $346m. JDA called that deal off in December 2008 paying a $20m termination fee. Should this second attempt acquisition go through, it will be JDA's 11th acquisition since 1998.

American Tower is "Building" Its Cell Tower Business

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:46:50 EST

Buried in its 3Q earnings release, American Tower indicates that it finished building 267 cell sites. This is a higher total than most of the wireless carriers in the United States. The capital deployment also is a strong indicator of the free cash flows produced by the tower business. American Tower is bullish on the wireless industry and is actively positioning itself for long term growth.

This Is About More Than Critical Mass

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:37:31 EST

The article makes a good point - that any technology or service needs to reach a large enough population for it to make business sense. But even if the entire US population starts downloading movies over the Internet, will there be enough of a market?The answer lies in the interplay between Internet and traditional PayTV services such as Video on Demand.

SingTel's move to increase the stake with Bharti airtel is mutually beneficial

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:35:32 EST

Bharti Airtel is looking for additional finance for its future acquisitions and expansions in rural area and also for launching new products such as 3G services.Selling of another 4 % stake will benefit Bharti Airtel. For SingTel since the current valuation is very attractive after split it will benefit they in long run.SingTel is also looking for expanding its business and two big telecom service providers of two countries will have mutually beneficial synergetic collaboration

Vodafone emerging market strategy

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:18:37 EST

Vodafone may be regarded as taking its strategy in the merging markets to the next level. The operator has sought to consolidate its position in the South African network operator Vodacom, followed by a expansion across Africa via an acquisition in Ghana through Ghana Telecom (GT).The Qatar operation serves to highlight that those markets that represent a green field opportunity can surely deliver, even if it is on a small scale.The Qatar market is interesting as it is one of the Gulf Sates that still has a high ARPU and high penetration of services on mobile platforms with the driver being a mix of voice and data.

Sony Ericssion’s Move Towards Reviving its Market Share

GLG Expert Contributor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:38:09 EST

Sony Ericssion has come up with there new products for Indian market restore the fortune of the company and make a move towards smartphone segment. Satio, Aino and Yari, are priced at Rs.35, 950, Rs.28, 950 and Rs.16, 950 respectively. The phones are positioned around the imaging, gaming, applications and content services quotient.

China’s Grey Market – Will Keep on Growing

P.J. Louis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:44:26 EST

The Chinese grey market did not exist 10 years ago. However, all of the signs that it was about to appear were there and Wall Street analysts ignored the signs.

Windstream – Thumbs Up on Rollup Effort

P.J. Louis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:56:21 EST

I give Windstream’s recent rollup efforts a thumbs up. The company is currently performing its own version of a rural telecom carrier consolidation. Up until recently, Windstream had purchased Lexcom and D&E Communications. Now it has just agreed to buy NuVox.

Vast small hard drives fuel new consumer applications and smaller computers

Thomas Coughlin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:10:36 EST

After its merger with Fujitsu, Toshiba is now the largest manufacturer of mobile hard disk drives (HDDs) (2.5 inch and 1.8 inch HDDs). Toshiba is also the largest manufacturer of 1.8-inch HDDs and the company has just introduced a HDD in this form factor with 320 GB storage capacity. This 2-disk 1.8-inch drive offers the highest storage capacity in such a small package and will enable more consumer and mobile computer applications

Entry level eBooks to retail under $149 by Christmas 2010

GLG Expert Contributor — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:02 EST

While the recent announcement of improved integration of driver circuits into its existing embedded processor line by Marvell promises to eventually drive build costs under $100, it will likely be Plastic Logic and a number of second-tier computer suppliers that shall drive retail prices well under $149, even $99 by Christmas 2010.

The Future of eBooks

GLG Expert Contributor — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:38:47 EST

At first glance, eBook devices seem like an elegant and cost effective way to read and especially portable for when one reads on the move.A new chip which will harbor cheaper and better devices brings up a few ?Will price or function drive this product to mass uptake?Can the global market to sustain this technology and can it become sustainable? A new way to read but is this really a new function? Does it have to have mass up[take to succeed?Are there other ways to improve this experience?

LCD TV panel continues its low power march

Munisamy Anandan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:43:50 EST

(1) Power consumption of LCD in TV going down will be a concern for OLED TV and plasma TV.(2) This news of low power consumtion is welcome for LEDs for their market growth(3) The power consumption will continue to go down because LED is till marching towards high efficacy.

Hollywood Internet Movie Download Sites - Still Looking for a Business Model

Steven Harnsberger — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:53:55 EST

Good article - the ugly truth about digital movies on the web is that no stand alone digital video content service makes money today, not CinemaNow (Sonic Nasdaq SNIC), Amazon, Vudu, or BlockBuster. The business model is missing, the revenue share small and the demand absent.Many have tried and failed including: Intertainer, MovieLink, Akimbo, Moviebeam - even CinemaNow was sold because it could not make money. The digital movie business model is broken....

Has RIM become the AOL of the handset market?

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:19:42 EST

The release of the Motorola's Droid Smartphone was predicted to impact Apple's iPhone business. This article points out that it is Research in Motion ("RIM's") Blackberry business that is threatened. The article provides facts and figures on the iPhone, Android devices on impact on RIM's Blackberry business and market share. And predicts a continuing revenue decline.

End Of Exclusivity Of O2, Orange To Sell Iphone In UKOn November 10

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:32:49 EST

France Telecom SA's Orange is all set to start selling iPhone from November 10. It has entered into two years agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in UK market. This agreement had ended the exclusivity of its rival Telefonica SA's O2 mobile network It will sell 3G and the latest model 3GS. This deal will hoist a cutthroat competition between the two players to acquire subscribers one’s network and finally customers will get the best of the deal.

Cloud computing offers financial benefits but opens huge new vulnerabilities

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:33:31 EST

Clouds are being pushed as a money saving technology. When they work properly, this can be true. However, there are a number of serious new security vulnerabilities which exist in clouds which the vendors are keeping silent about and cyber security laws make it extremely difficult to even do the research on how to detect and respond to these vulnerabilities. User beware....

China-a future bonanza for Apple's IPhone ?

GLG Expert Contributor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:11:41 EST

Future market prospects for Apple's IPhone launch this week in China are not as rosy due to high price,grey market/black market sales,poor service performance by China Unicom, frauds relating to Apps Store.In addition, other market factors such as competitors( also for Apps ) and relative maturity/growth patterns exhibited by the Chinese market as well as technical issues (see my previous analyzes) pose threats. see also http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/04/china.iphone/index.html