Sponsoer by :

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Apple loses round in Wall St.'s expectations game (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

Apple loses round in Wall St.'s expectations game (AP) : Technet

Apple loses round in Wall St.'s expectations game (AP)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 02:07 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Oct 19, 5:07 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Call it the curse of great expectations.

Apple did just about everything right in its latest quarter. The company increased its profit by more than 50 percent and boosted revenue by nearly 40 percent over the same quarter last year.

It was the second best three-month period ever posted by the revered maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Even more impressively, Apple pulled it off against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and fears of another recession. But by the sometimes absurd logic of Wall Street, it was a disaster.

Apple Inc.'s shareholders awoke on Wednesday morning to headlines like "Apple Loses Some of Its Shine", and then proceeded to lose about $22 billion on paper, as their stock dropped by more than 5 percent _all because Apple failed to manage the analyst expectations that can make or break a stock.

Apple's numbers didn't surpass the high bar set by roughly 50 securities analysts who follow the company's stock. It's another reminder of how difficult it can be for even the most prosperous companies to please Wall Street quarter after quarter.

"It's a rough game," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. "Apple has been so well for so long that it has gotten itself into a position where it has to set a new (earnings) record every quarter. Now, some of the momentum has been broken."

The backlash to Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter report, released late Tuesday, could very well turn out to be a gross overreaction. If so, this is a prime buying opportunity for investors willing to go against grain.

Apple suggested as much as by issuing a jolly outlook for the current quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season. The projections call for earnings and revenue above analyst estimates, an anomaly for a company that makes a habit of lowballing its quarterly predictions. Analysts have caught on to Apple's tactics, so they deliberately set their estimates above the company's forecast. Gillis' rule of thumb, for instance, is to expect Apple's quarterly revenue to be about 20 percent above the company's publicly-stated target and for earnings to be about 40 percent higher.

The Oct. 5 death of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs throws a new twist into the equation.

Now that Tim Cook is chief executive, analysts must now figure out whether the rules of Apple's expectations game have changed. ISI analyst Brian Marshall thinks that's unlikely because Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer for the past seven years, remains in charge of the numbers. What's more, Cook has promised not to mess with the "magic" that has increased Apple's market value by nearly $300 billion during the past decade and established it as technology's most valuable company.

Trying to figure out how much money a company is going to make every three months is a little like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Most major companies provide some guidance to help analysts because it helps keep their stock prices relatively stable. Big drops, in particular, are unwelcome because they can raise anxiety among customers and business partners. For technology companies that offer employees stock in lieu of lavish salaries, those dips can affect morale.

Some companies, though, refuse to dance to Wall Street's tune. Internet search leader Google Inc., for instance, has never provided guidance during any of its 29 quarters as a publicly-held company because founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin don't want business decisions to be influenced by a short-sighted number determined by a group of outsiders.

This refusal has been a bit of a double-edged sword for Google. The company has exceeded analyst estimates in most quarters, helping to boost its stock price after the quarterly numbers, but there have been a handful of letdowns that might have been avoided if management had been more transparent.

Apple's big mistake in its latest quarter centered on the impact the Phone 4S — already a hit in the current quarter_ would have on its revenue in the just-completed quarter. As word got out that the next generation of the iPhone would be hitting the market in the fall, more shoppers decided to hold off on buying the version already in the stores during the summer.

The result: Apple sold 17.1 million iPhones from July through September, below the 20 million units that analysts had factored into their projections. That left the company, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., with earnings per share of $7.07 on revenue of $28.3 billion instead of the earnings per share of $7.28 per share on revenue of $29.4 billion projected by analysts.

Missing the mark inevitably led to some second guessing, particularly now that Jobs is no longer around. Cook had been running Apple since Jobs went on medical leave in January, but he didn't take the CEO job until Aug. 24 with about five weeks left in the company's fiscal fourth quarter.

Apple could have avoided the problem that caused the quarterly earnings miss by releasing the iPhone 4 in the middle of the reporting period, Gillis said. That's a strategy that Jobs had sometimes adopted when Apple was preparing to release a hotly anticipated device that threatened to cannibalize sale of an earlier product.

If the iPhone 4S had been in stores just during the final week of September, the sales would have been enough for Apple to meet analyst expectations. That's based on Apple's sales of 4 million units of the iPhone 4S since its Oct. 14 release.

"The lesson to be learned here is to be careful when you have a new product coming out," Marshall said. "Even in a tough economy, people still want the latest and greatest device and they are willing to keep some money in their back pocket to buy it."

Marshall, by the way, expects Apple to more than make up for its shortfall in the latest quarter: he foresees nearly 27 million iPhones being sold in the current quarter and expects the company's stock price to hit $500 within the next year. Apple shares fell $23.62 Wednesday to close at $398.62.

EBay holiday forecast disappoints investors (AP)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 03:56 PM PDT

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Oct 19, 6:56 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – EBay left investors unimpressed with its predictions for the holiday season even as its namesake site and PayPal online payment service showed healthy growth in the latest quarter.

The company's stock fell more than 4 percent even though eBay said net income grew 14 percent in the third quarter — thanks partly to consumers shopping and transferring funds using the company's smartphone and tablet apps.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO John Donahoe said the company is looking for an "OK to solid" holiday season. EBay did well during the holidays over the past two years despite the weak economy. Its tempered expectations could signal a generally not-so-jolly holiday season on the horizon for all types of retailers.

For the July-September quarter, eBay said earned $491 million, or 37 cents per share. This compares with $432 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, the company earned 48 cents per share, which is what analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

Revenue increased 32 percent to $3 billion, beating analyst expectations for $2.9 billion.

In eBay Inc.'s marketplaces business, which includes eBay.com and a slew of other e-commerce sites and businesses, revenue rose 17 percent to $1.65 billion. The company has been working to improve the experiences that buyers and sellers have on the site, doing such things as tweaking its search engine and cutting the upfront fees it charges sellers.

EBay had 98.7 million registered users at the end of the quarter, up 6 percent from last year.

Marketplaces' gross merchandise volume — an important metric that measures the value of all items sold on eBay, excluding vehicles — rose 16 percent to $14.7 billion.

Revenue from PayPal jumped 32 percent to $1.11 billion as more buyers and sellers used it to complete transactions both on and off eBay.com: The business processed $29.3 billion worth of payments during the quarter, which is up 31 percent from last year. EBay said PayPal had 103 million active registered users by the end of September — growth of 14 percent compared with a year ago.

For both businesses, eBay said a growth in the number of mobile users helped. Though still a small part of its business, the company's smartphone and tablet apps have been downloaded more than 50 million times since eBay began rolling them out in 2008. EBay expects the volume of merchandise sold through eBay.com using mobile devices to total nearly $5 billion this year, and the amount of money transferred through PayPal on mobile devices to be larger than $3.5 billion.

Looking at the current quarter, which includes the busy holiday shopping season, eBay predicted net income of $1.47 to $1.53 per share on $3.20 billion to $3.35 billion in revenue. Excluding items such as a gain from remaining equity in Internet phone service Skype, which eBay sold in 2009 and was recently acquired by Microsoft Corp., the San Jose, Calif.-based company expects net income of 55 cents to 58 cents per share.

The estimates raise eBay's previous full-year forecast a bit, but they aren't much different from what analysts already expected: adjusted net income of 58 cents per share on $3.31 billion in revenue.

EBay's stock fell $1.27, or 3.8 percent, to $31.91 in after-hours trading. Before the results came out, the stock finished regular trading down 69 cents, or 2 percent, at $33.18.

Thailand flooding could affect PC supplies, prices (AP)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 01:14 PM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Oct 19, 4:14 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The personal computer industry, already reeling from depressed demand, has been dealt another setback: Massive flooding in Thailand has curtailed production of a critical component — computer storage drives.

Factories producing a third of the country's hard drives have temporarily closed as flooding has gradually spread since August. Prices have spiked, and Apple warned that its Mac products will likely be affected.

Computer manufacturers, the companies that supply hard drives and the makers of components for those drives are all bracing for troubles. What's not yet clear is what extent PC production lines will be affected and whether PC makers will absorb costs or pass them along to consumers.

Thailand makes about a quarter of the world's hard drives and is the second-largest producer behind China, according to IHS iSuppli. Market research firm IDC estimates that the flooding has already affected a third of the country's output, equating to more than 120 million hard drives a year. Avian Securities says the slowdown is already leading to price spikes that have added several dollars to the cost of some drives.

The flooding has killed 317 people, mostly from drowning. Nearly 9 million people have been displaced or otherwise affected. Estimates of the economic cost were $3 billion and rising.

The setback is particularly acute for the computer industry because it follows other troubles. Demand has slowed, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, because of debt and unemployment fears and the growing popularity of tablet computers, which causes many consumers to delay replacing PCs. In addition, the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan hurt supplies of memory chips.

The biggest hard drive makers — Seagate Technology PLC and Western Digital Corp. — have warned of delays.

Western Digital has suspended its operations in Thailand. Floodwaters have affected two factories, which shut down last week. The company said its other hard drive manufacturing facilities, located in Malaysia, are fully operational. But it said flooding will have a significant impact on its ability to meet demand through the end of the year. Western Digital's Thailand operations account for more than half of the company's total hard drive output. Western Digital's stock has fallen 15 percent since the company announced its delays last week.

Seagate says that its factories in Thailand are operational but warned that it is having difficulty getting some components. It said supply will be constrained the rest of the year, though the magnitude of the disruption is currently unclear.

Toshiba has also suspended its Thailand hard disk operations, as have a number of hard disk component suppliers.

Big computer makers are worried.

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said he is "virtually certain there will be an overall industry shortage of disk drives." But because a thorough assessment of the damage hasn't been possible, he said he couldn't immediately give a timeline for recovery. Cook warned that Apple's Mac lines would be most affected. Most of its mobile devices, including the iPhone and the iPad, use a different type of storage called flash memory.

Dell Inc., the No. 3 PC maker, said it expects minimal impact to supply through the current quarter, which ends this month. The company said it is working with suppliers to assess the impact for the rest of the year. Hewlett-Packard Co., the leading computer maker, said it is monitoring the situation in Thailand as operations there remain open.

Gartner Inc. analyst John Monroe called the disruptions "very serious and ongoing" and said they affect production of roughly half of the "spindle" motors that turn the hard disks, along with other technologies. Monroe expects slowdowns through March.

"We do not know yet what we do not know, many unknown unknowns," Monroe said.

But as was the case with the crisis in Japan, the industry has some manufacturing safeguards for natural disasters. Production is generally spread among several countries. Some analysts were optimistic that the delays would be short-lived.

John Rydning, an analyst with IDC, said that the hard drive industry's supply chain is "highly redundant and remarkably resilient." He noted that the hard drive industry recovered quickly from the Japanese disaster without any major disruption.

"It is premature to say the flooding will lead to potentially billions of dollars in lost revenue," he said in an email. "Not an impossible scenario, but we need to hear more about the clean-up efforts underway before making that call."

Stacy Smith, chief financial officer for Intel Corp., the biggest maker of computer microprocessors, told analysts Tuesday that he doesn't believe there will be an impact on PC sales in the current quarter.

"A combination of alternate supplies and inventory levels will carry us through," he said.

Take a ride in the sky with the Passing Cloud concept (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 07:41 PM PDT

Lytro camera lets you focus after shooting, now available for pre-order (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 05:30 PM PDT

Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus: Everything You Need to Know (Mashable)

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 06:02 PM PDT

Zoe Fox Zoe Fox – Tue Oct 18, 9:02 pm ET


Google and Samsung launched the latest Android OS Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus smartphone Wednesday morning in Hong Kong. We've broken down the long-awaited phone and OS's new features, so that you can see exactly what is now brought to the table. Our pick for most impressive new feature is that glorious camera, which includes native features ranging from filters to panorama shooting.

[More from Mashable: How Google Ventures Chooses Which Startups Get Its $200 Million]

  • Big, fast and powerful: the Nexus Prime has a 4.65-inch display and LTE, runs one of the fastest 4G networks in the world and has a dual core 1.2ghz processor.
  • Everything about this phone is smoother. There's a new font optimized for HD, software buttons replace hardware buttons and the keyboard's improved.
  • Your face unlocks the phone, as facial recognition replaces a traditional pass code.
  • The new and improved camera has zero shutter lag, autofocuses, takes low-light photos, stitches together images into seamless panoramas and shoots 1080p, time-lapsed video. You also have lots of instant editing options such as removing red eye, adding a "hipster" filter or cropping.
  • The phone gives you a detailed analysis of your data usage, down to the very app sucking up all your bytes.
  • Android Beam eases sharing between phones -- simply bump your phone against another Android to transfer videos, maps or other content.
  • Gmail and Google calendar have slick new looks and are integrated into the OS.
  • The People app innovates your contacts list, linking individuals with all of their social profiles.
  • You can multitask and view your recent apps.
  • Developers can download the SDK starting immediately. The phone will ship to the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia in November.
What do you think of Ice Cream Sandwich? Is it a game changer from Gingerbread or does it merely add some new bells and whistles? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[More from Mashable: 4chan Founder: Facebook and Google Do Identity Wrong [VIDEO]]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Bidders balk at Yahoo's "no cross talk" provision (Reuters)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 08:01 PM PDT

By Nadia Damouni Nadia Damouni – 1 hr 1 min ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some potential buyers of Yahoo Inc are balking at the Internet company's demands for confidentiality that would prevent them from discussing joint bids, according to several people close to the situation.

Yahoo advisers Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co informed interested parties this week of a so-called "no cross talk" provision, which is part of a nondisclosure agreement that they have to sign to gain access to sensitive financial information about the company, the sources said.

The provision irked several potential buyers, including private equity firms that had been planning to team up to bid for Yahoo. They have refused to sign the nondisclosure agreement, and one source went so far as to call the provision a deal-breaker.

With a market value of about $20 billion, Yahoo is likely too big for any one party to swallow, with the exception of possibly Microsoft Corp.

"The board is taking action that is not conducive to the process," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Implementing a "no cross talk" policy gives Yahoo more control over its strategic review. The company is not opposed to a joint bid, but it wants to encourage competition and avoid all the bidders forming one giant consortium, according to another person familiar with the situation.

"If they can control it, they can pair people up in a way so that you have a couple of consortiums," said the source. "Whereas if they let everyone talk to everyone, it could very well be -- given the size of the check -- that you end up having only one buyer to bid on and then you have no tension in the auction."

A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment.

Over the last few weeks, private equity firms including Bain Capital, Silver Lake, Providence Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman LLC have stepped up efforts to partner among themselves or with potential strategic buyers, such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba or Microsoft.

AOL Inc Chief Executive Tim Armstrong is also actively trying to sell investors on a deal with Yahoo, though that is viewed to be a very long shot.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group, has also expressed interest in the Internet giant, said one of the sources. A Blackstone spokesman was unavailable for comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that some private equity firms are valuing Yahoo at between $16 and $18 per share. By comparison, Microsoft offered as much as $33 per share, or $47.5 billion, for Yahoo three years ago.

Yahoo shares rose 3.04 percent to close at $15.94 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

Given the poor lending environment and lukewarm interest from strategic buyers, a club deal involving at least two or more private equity firms is seen as necessary to getting a deal done, sources said.

But it would be hard for interested parties to put together an offer without access to detailed information on such things as the contractual agreements between Yahoo and its investment partners Alibaba and Softbank, or details of the search pact with Microsoft.

"The good news is there is a decent amount of information out there on Yahoo, but it is not at the level to do real due diligence," said the second source. "You need to get under the covers there to peel back and see if the metrics are working in different business lines."

If Yahoo insists on the provision, it could heighten pressure on co-founder Jerry Yang, who has been criticized for not acting in the best interest of shareholders. The prevailing perception is that Yang derailed the Microsoft talks in 2008.

Yang and Tim Morse, who was appointed interim chief executive after Carol Bartz was fired in September, have been driving the strategic review process, sources said.

Yang is interested in a deal with private equity firms to take Yahoo private in part because he sees that as the best option for preserving his connection to the company, Reuters has reported.

Financial information on Yahoo is expected to be circulated to interested parties this week.

(Reporting by Nadia Damouni; Writing by Peter Lauria; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Bernard Orr)

EBay profit meets Street; shares dip on cautious view (Reuters)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 06:07 PM PDT

By Alistair Barr Alistair Barr – 2 hrs 55 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – EBay Inc reported profit that matched Wall Street estimates and gave a restrained outlook for the rest of the year because of economic uncertainty, sending its shares lower.

"Not a spectacular quarter," said R J Hottovy, an equity analyst at Morningstar. "It was essentially in line, which may have disappointed the market."

The operator of the largest online marketplace reported third-quarter net income of $490.5 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with $432 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding stock-based compensation expenses and other items, profit was $628.2 million, or 48 cents a share, in the latest period, the company said. Revenue rose 32 percent to $2.97 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected EBay to earn 48 cents a share on revenue of $2.91 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

EBay is riding a strong e-commerce growth wave as shoppers buy more online and through smartphones and tablet computers.

The company benefits from this trend because its Internet marketplaces make money by charging fees on transactions and other activity. The company's PayPal unit also wins as it takes a small cut of a rising volume of electronic payments processed on its network.

However, the debt crisis in Europe and global economic slowdown has the potential to restrain all types of consumption during the crucial holiday season, even online.

"We read the same newspaper headlines and we don't have a crystal ball on the economy," eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe said in an interview with Reuters. "I don't think it will be a great holiday, but we are putting our stake in the sand and saying we think it will be solid."

EBay Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said the company saw a "modest deceleration" in its German and U.S. businesses as the third quarter ended.

EBay forecast fourth-quarter profit of 55 cents to 58 cents a year. Analysts, on average, were expecting 58 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

EBay forecast full-year revenue of $11.5 billion to $11.6 billion and full-year profit of $1.98 to $2.01 a share.

When eBay reported second-quarter results in July, the company forecast full-year revenue of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and full-year profit of $1.97 to $2.00 a share.

"Investors were assuming there would be upside surprise in earnings or the guidance," said Fred Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Capital.

"They maintained their full-year forecast essentially, which reflects a little caution around the global economy," Moran added. "Management could increase forecasts later in the year, but things are too volatile right now to stick one's neck out."

EBay shares fell 4.1 percent to $31.82 in after-hours trading.

PAYPAL LOSSES

PayPal's loss rate -- which measures how much the unit loses to payment fraud -- climbed to 0.31 percent in the third quarter, versus 0.25 percent in the previous quarter.

EBay's Donahoe said the increase was partly due to a jump in the volume of transactions processed by PayPal over mobile devices.

PayPal expects to process $3.5 billion worth of mobile payments this year, up from $750 million in 2010.

PayPal's fraud-monitoring computer models need time to adjust to this new source of transactions, CFO Swan told analysts during a conference call on Wednesday.

Once the models have adjusted, PayPal's loss rate should decline, the CFO added.

Donahoe said the adjustment will make PayPal more competitive in the long-term.

"Paypal's business model is even more powerful on a mobile device than on a computer," Donahoe said. "You can lose your phone but not your money with PayPal."

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; editing by Bernard Orr)

Kobo announces Vox tablet to take on Kindle Fire (Digital Trends)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 06:24 PM PDT

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – 2 hrs 38 mins ago

Not wanting to be outdone by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, e-reader maker Kobo unveiled a competitively priced 7-inch-screen tablet on Wednesday. 

The Vox goes up against Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Nobles's Nook Color tablets. At $199.99, the device will be selling for the same price as Amazon's new Kindle Fire. The Nook Color currently sells for $249 – let's see if Barnes & Noble knocks $50 off that in the next few weeks.

The Vox runs on Android 2.3 and sports a 7-inch 1280×800 touchscreen, which its makers claim performs extremely well in bright conditions.

The device weighs 14.2 ounces (slightly lighter than the Fire and Nook Color) and comes with an internal memory of 8GB (enough for 8,000 books) that can be expanded with a microSD card.

If you don't fancy the lime green band (as shown above), you can choose from pink, blue and black alternatives.

Kobo is touting the new tablet as "the world's first social e-reader," with its links to Facebook allowing users to communicate with others reading the same book. 

Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis commented on the new tablet, saying, "Kobo Vox is the reader for your connected life, and opens the door to the next generation of e-reading – social e-reading – where books can come alive in color and conversation. Readers can get more out of their experience by connecting with Kobo's global community of book lovers."

He added, "Plus, with Kobo Vox you have the freedom to connect with friends, listen to music, watch movies, play games and discover new apps with almost unlimited choices."

Toronto-based Kobo said its new device is now available for pre-order and will begin shipping on October 28, giving it a two-week head start on the Kindle Fire.

Though Amazon is expecting to shift a substantial number of Kindle Fires in the run up to Christmas, savvy shoppers on the hunt for a reasonably priced tablet will no doubt want to carefully examine the offerings of its two main rivals, the Nook Color and Kobo's Vox, before making a choice.

Nokia smartphone recovery in focus after weak Q3 (Reuters)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:07 PM PDT

By Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent – Wed Oct 19, 7:07 pm ET

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia is expected to report a rare loss for the third quarter as the struggling Finnish cellphone giant prepares to launch its first Windows phones next week.

Investors will focus on whether Nokia can take advantage of the shifting sands in the smartphone industry.

Nokia, left in the dust by Apple and Google in the booming smartphone market, will introduce its first new models using Microsoft's Windows Phone platform next week in London.

It unveiled the Microsoft deal in February and has since struggled with a fast decline in smartphone sales as it has tried to sell models using old Symbian platform.

Analysts expect Nokia sold 15.9 million smartphones in the third quarter, down 40 percent from a year ago, despite sharp price cuts in early July.

"The big question is: did we see the bottom in smartphones? I think we did," said Jari Honko, analyst at Swedbank.

Hit by weak smartphone sales, Nokia is expected to report an underlying quarterly operating loss of 23 million euros, down from a profit of 391 million in the previous quarter.

Numbers could include one-off charges for restructuring and also development support from new partner Microsoft.

With Microsoft software, Nokia hopes to gain the kind of attention Apple and Google have attracted from software developers that enrich their devices.

So far Windows Phone's success has been limited -- its market share is just 2-3 percent, compared with around 50 percent for Google's Android and around 15 percent share for Apple.

Apple's iPhone sales dropped to 17.1 million in the September quarter, disappointing investors, but were still ahead of Nokia's expected sales and the new iPhone 4S is breaking Apple's previous sales records.

Nokia has not rushed with new models -- despite the close partnership with Microsoft, nimbler rivals HTC, Fujitsu and Samsung Electronics have beat it with models using latest Windows software, Mango.

In addition to these Nokia will also have to battle Samsung's new Galaxy Nexus -- the first smartphone running on the latest version of the Android software -- in a holiday sales season hit by weakening consumer spending.

While the outlook for consumer spending has worsened in recent weeks, analysts have changed their fourth-quarter cellphone sales forecasts only slightly, with a Reuters poll showing they expect a historically normal 12 percent quarter-on-quarter rise.

Weakening economies could hit the results of Nokia's telecom gear venture Nokia Siemens Networks, and its bigger rival Ericsson, due to report earlier on Thursday.

Smaller telecom gear maker Powerwave warned this week that operators were reducing or postponing near-term spending around the globe, and especially in North America, a key market for Ericsson.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Google+ update: Pseudonyms and brand pages are on the way (Digital Trends)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 06:06 PM PDT

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – 2 hrs 56 mins ago

google-plus-logoAfter stubbornly sticking by its anti-anonymity, no-nickname policy, Google will relent and allow users to create pseudonyms on the social network. At the Web 2.0 summit today, Google exec Vic Gundotra and Google co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the site will "support other forms of identity."

Google tried long and hard to keep its users from anything but their legal names, but it appears it's loosening its grip and allowing a little more interpretation. It's almost like Google is learning that social networking doesn't work the same way the rest of the Internet does.

On that note, there will be some other concessions for the young new social networking. Google+ will integrate Google apps any day now, a feature users have long requested. The biggest and possibly most rewarding update in the works, however, is support for brands. We've said it before and we'll say it again: The leverage Google+ may have over other social networks is its option to weave its e-commerce and location platforms. Places and Offers could give Google+ a significant boost.

The site could do for a new influx of users and site activity, although the team defends the site as being in an “enviable position.â€

And what about the memo from a Google+ engineer last week? That one that called the social network a "pathetic afterthought"? He gets to keep his job, although Gundotra admitted it was a tense situation. You can watch the entire discussion below, powered by Livestream.

Watch live streaming video from web20tv at livestream.com

Analysis: RIM could face lawsuits for BlackBerry problems (Reuters)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 05:57 PM PDT

By Moira Herbst Moira Herbst – Wed Oct 19, 8:57 pm ET

(Reuters) – Law firms in the United States and Canada are exploring possible consumer lawsuits against Research In Motion Ltd for last week's BlackBerry outages, which for three days crippled email and messaging for tens of millions of users around the world.

Consumer lawyers say they are looking at whether customers have common claims against the BlackBerry manufacturer and might be able to band together in a single lawsuit.

While the outage did not rise to the level of seriousness comparable to a dangerous medication or tainted food, it inconvenienced and angered customers. Frustrated BlackBerry users, turning to blogs, message boards, Twitter and Facebook, complained about losing important emails and missing meetings last week.

Law firms are considering breach-of-contract or consumer-fraud claims, attorneys said.

A breach-of-contract claim could argue the company failed in its obligations to provide service and could include carriers for BlackBerry service as additional defendants, said attorneys exploring litigation against RIM.

A consumer-fraud claim could focus on whether customers were misled about the reliability of RIM's networks.

But consumers could face hurdles to winning big damages. It will likely be difficult to prove damages beyond loss of service and varying state laws make the chances of bringing a nationwide consumer-fraud class action remote.

Still, some customers may push forward.

"Here, you just have the loss of (BlackBerry) use, so tons of class-action firms are not running to the courthouse steps," said Jay Edelson, a partner with the law firm Edelson McGuire in Chicago, who represents plaintiffs. "But there are definitely consumers motivated to lend their names to the case to make sure these problems don't happen again in the future."

Because consumers can hire lawyers on a contingency basis, they would not have to fund the litigation, an added incentive, he said. Winning a class action case for BlackBerry users, in turn, would raise the profile of a small or medium-sized law firm.

A U.S. Supreme Court consumer class-action ruling in April, in a case known as Concepcion vs AT&T, could also limit any BlackBerry outage lawsuits. The decision made it more difficult for consumers to sue if a contract they signed with a company demands that disputes be settled through arbitration on an individual basis.

"One of the major battles in any lawsuit against RIM will be whether the claims against RIM are subject to the arbitration clauses," said Jonathan Tycko, a partner with Tycko & Zavareei in Washington who brings consumer class actions. "If they are, then that could make it quite difficult to bring a class action."

Still, lawyers are investigating whether plaintiffs could band together and what claims they could file.

"We may end up pursuing consumer-protection statute class-action cases in one or more states," said Mark Baumkel, a partner with law firm Baumkel & Associates in Bingham Farms, Michigan. " given the very short time of the disruptions in service, the damages for consumers in each state may not add up to huge amounts of money."

RIM did not respond to messages seeking comment on potential lawsuits.

Law firms in Canada, where RIM is headquartered, are also considering lawsuits, said Paul Battaglia, managing director of Toronto-based Trilogy Class Actions, a consulting firm that connects consumers with class-action attorneys.

Battaglia said his firm is in discussions with other law firms about potential lead plaintiffs.

Last week's problems began with a failure in RIM's European data center and spread across the world before it began to recover on Thursday.

BlackBerry devices have experienced similar, but more short-lived outages each year since 2007. The system failures came as RIM struggles to hold on to market share for BlackBerry smart phones, as more customers opt for Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android.

So far, RIM has not offered to compensate customers for the outages. The company said on Monday it would offer subscribers access to premium apps "as an expression of appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions." The apps will be available for four weeks and are worth more than $100 per customer, RIM said.

The offer did not satisfy investors. RIM's stock sank 6 percent on Monday following the news.

If RIM were to pay back all affected customers and service carriers for the days of service lost, the cost to the company could be between $15 million and $26 million, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a research note.

If consumers go to court, legal experts say it would be tough to win damages beyond compensation for loss of service.

"It would be very hard to prove actual damages from a failure of access to a smart phone," said David Logan, dean of Roger Williams University School of Law and an expert in mass tort litigation. "After all, for almost everybody there are alternative ways to communicate in a pinch."

Edelson said consumer lawsuits are more likely to succeed in changing RIM's practices than recovering large economic damages. He said his firm received dozens of calls from BlackBerry users and he will decide whether to bring a lawsuit by the end of the week.

"Based on the investigation we've done, it looks like this is something RIM could have prevented," said Edelson. "They have not come clean about why the outage occurred or what new steps they have in place to prevent similar interruptions in the future."

(Reporting by Moira Herbst in New York; additional reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Martha Graybow and Andre Grenon)

Google: Android tablets haven’t ‘completely flopped’ (Appolicious)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 10:40 AM PDT

C Spire to become fourth U.S. Apple iPhone operator (Reuters)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 11:10 AM PDT

– Wed Oct 19, 2:10 pm ET

(Reuters) – C Spire Wireless, a privately held regional U.S. mobile phone network operator, will become the fourth U.S. operator to sell the Apple Inc (AAPL.O) iPhone in "coming weeks" beating much bigger rival T-Mobile USA to a Apple deal.

C Spire, which recently changed its name from Cellular South, has about a million customers in four states, making it more than 33 times smaller than No. 4 U.S. operator T-Mobile USA, which has 33.6 million customers.

Mississippi-based C Spire said the device would be for bill-paying subscribers rather than pay-as-you-go customers, but declined to give further details about its deal with Apple.

T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), said in September that it has told Apple it would like to sell the iPhone and referred additional questions to Apple.

No. 3 U.S. mobile provider Sprint Nextel (S.N) became the third U.S. operator to offer iPhone earlier this month, after AT&T Inc (T.N) and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).

T-Mobile USA is fighting in court for regulatory approval to be bought by AT&T in a $39 billion deal that U.S. regulators have sought to block.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew)

Summary Box: YouTube expands as music destination (AP)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 03:11 PM PDT

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Wed Oct 19, 6:11 pm ET

BROADENING SITE: As YouTube continues to expand as a music destination, it's making itself more welcoming to independent labels and musicians.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: A new feature called Merch Store allows users to purchase fan merchandise directly on an artist's YouTube channel. YouTube is also announcing a long-awaited deal with global rights agency Merlin, which represents some 14,000 independent labels.

WHY IT'S SIGNIFICANT: YouTube has been very good to bedroom singers, who have found a quick path to fame, and major labels, which have benefited from some of the largest digital audiences for their top music videos. But the middle tier — hundreds of independent labels and their deep rosters of bands — has sometimes been marginalized.

Security hole in iPhone 4S allows Siri to access password protected phones (Digital Trends)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:31 PM PDT

Mike Dunn Mike Dunn – Wed Oct 19, 7:31 pm ET

Siri-iPhone-4S-AssistantEveryone seems to love Siri, the friendly personal assistant built into the latest Apple iPhone 4S. People might not love her as much if they knew that she can leave your phone vulnerable. Security company Sophos has uncovered a security hole around Siri that allows people to use your phone even if you have a screen lock.

If  you don't know what Siri is yet, here is a quick crash course in everything you need to know.  In the iPhone 4S default settings Siri is configured to function even if the screen is locked. This means that if you need to make a quick call to your friend, or shoot off a text message that you will be late to a meeting you don't have to waste time unlocking your screen to do those simple tasks. The problem comes when an owner has a lock screen they can still access Siri, and her wealth of knowledge.

From a locked iPhone 4S anyone can access Siri and ask her anything you want, and she might even surprise you with some funny responses. You can also send emails and text messages from a locked iPhone 4S. You will need to know the name of the contact you are trying to message, but you are able to communicate through a locked phone. You are not able to launch any apps, or get information about contacts while the phone is locked.

The cause of this security hole is due to the default setting allowing Siri to work even with the protected lock screen up. To change this setting you simply have to go to setting, general, and then Passcode lock on your iPhone 4S. Once there you want to make sure Siri is turned off.

It is a little surprising to see that Apple even has the option to have Siri function when a password protected lock screen is up, let alone make that the default option on every phone sold. If you are an iPhone 4S owner make sure you change this setting in your phone, and if you know someone who owns an iPhone 4S now is your chance to send out funny emails on their behalf.

 

Ballmer bashes Android as Ice Cream Sandwich arrives (Appolicious)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 07:26 AM PDT

NAS shoot-out: Iomega StorCenter px6-300d (InfoWorld)

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 03:00 AM PDT

By Desmond Fuller Desmond Fuller – Wed Oct 19, 6:00 am ET

San Francisco – The six-bay Iomega StorCenter px6-300d is the largest array you can get from Iomega before you venture into rack-mount servers, and it's just the kind of box you'd expect to see in a remote office or small to medium-sized business. Considering Iomega's parent EMC is a leader in the enterprise storage market, I had high expectations for this solution.

As it turns out, Iomega's hardware and performance are merely average. However, the Iomega Personal Cloud, which combines easy NAS-to-NAS replication and Web-based file access at no additional charge, distinguishes the Iomega StorCenter NAS. If Iomega keeps the pricing reasonable and works on increasing the performance numbers, it could give Netgear and QNAP a run for their money.

The unit I received for testing has six Hitachi 2TB drives (Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642), but Seagate and Western Digital 1TB and 2TB drives are supported as well. If you want to splurge for 3TB drives, the only choice is the Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723030ALA640.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.
at 9:27 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

My Blog List