InformationWeek.com is reporting that T-Mobile finally announced that its long-awaited 3G mobile network was up and running as of last week. T-Mobile customers have been waiting patiently for nearly 2 years for the arrival of the new high-speed mobile Internet-ready 3G network.
The company’s biggest competitors, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, have already been offering high-speed 3G data networks to their customers for years, leaving T-Mobile trailing behind in the race for high-speed mobile Internet service. Now that T-Mobile has finally caught up with the competition (at least when it comes to mobile Internet performance), the network’s customers should be setting on easy street, right? Not so fast…
Despite the fact that T-Mobile now has its very own 3G data network in place, the company has almost no 3G-ready mobile phones to take advantage of the new network. At present, they have only four models that can access the new high-speed network, and unfortunately, none of the four are real standouts.
Conventional wisdom dictates that T-Mobile should have introduced the new high-speed data network with the launch of a drop-dead, must-have smartphone. Debuting the network with a flashy new phone that can take full advantage of it would have been a smart marketing decision for T-Mobile. But instead, the company’s big announcement received very little fanfare, and even less free publicity in the media last week.
But while T-Mobile’s marketing efforts may have been highly flawed in debuting the new network, at least they now have the 3G high speed data access available, right? Well, not exactly.
T-Mobile is rolling out the 3G network gradually. According to company representatives, it is now in place only in New York City, and the company claims they will continue to expand the network throughout the year so that it covers “most” of the T-Mobile network by the end of 2008.
Now if the company could just introduce a new line of flashy and sophisticated smartphones to take advantage of their gradually expanding 3G network, consumers might just set up and take notice. Something along the lines of the Apple iPhone — or at least in the same general ballpark — should do the trick.
As it is though, by gradually introducing the new 3G network throughout the country over many months, and failing to have attractive new phones available to take advantage of it, T-Mobile may find it difficult to attract new customers or win over “converts” from AT&T or Verizon.
Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, has announced that his company has retracted its offer to buy out the struggling Yahoo.com in a multibillion-dollar stock offer. The retraction surprised many, considering that Mr. Ballmer had once called the Yahoo deal “crucial to the future of Microsoft.”
Meanwhile, Yahoo’s stock declined sharply on news of the Microsoft withdrawal, leaving shareholders wondering if the Yahoo overplayed its hand. Microsoft had offered $31 per share for Yahoo, a significant increase over the stock’s traded price, and a price-per-share not likely to be seen again for some time (if at all).
The New York Times is reporting that Mr. Ballmer even sent a courteous thank you note to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to convey his “personal thanks” for considering the Microsoft buyout offer. While this was obviously a very civil and gentlemanly thing to do, many Wall Street analysts are expressing concern that Ballmer may not have the “killer instinct” to push through aggressive deals like the proposed Yahoo buyout.
For now, Yahoo appears to be the loser in the transaction, but writing for the New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin points out that Microsoft has also been dealt a serious blow by their failure to aggressively pursue the Yahoo deal. Sorkin suggests that Mr. Ballmer “waffled” when Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang refused to simply cave in to Microsoft’s demands.
Microsoft, on the other hand, claims that the buyout withdrawal was a sign of Microsoft’s fiscal discipline and self-control. But there is no denying that some on Wall Street also view it as a sign of weakness and indecisiveness. Many believe Mr. Ballmer also failed to consider the opinions of Microsoft’s biggest shareholders before instigating the Yahoo buyout deal in the first place.
Most of the major Microsoft stockholders were opposed to the Yahoo deal. A fact that eventually led to Microsoft’s stock being diminished as well. The New York Times reports that Microsoft stock has lost $24 billion in overall value since the announcement of the Yahoo buyout offer.
Ballmer’s credibility as Microsoft CEO has also been significantly damaged by the failure of the Yahoo bid. At one point, he promised to take the bid directly to Yahoo shareholders if the Yahoo board failed to reach an agreement on the offer within three weeks. But then, inexplicably, he allowed the three-week deadline to pass without saying a thing.
The failed Microsoft-Yahoo deal shows that in corporate takeovers, even the losing party can come away looking like a winner — and vice versa.
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The “Cult of Apple” seems to be growing exponentially these days. The company is riding high on the success of the iPod, the iPhone, and the reputation that their personal computers have for reliability and ease of use. Now Apple can add another feather to its cap: best customer support.
Consumer Reports National Research Center released the results of its annual tech support survey Monday. The report reveals that only 60% of customers’ technical problems are successfully resolved by customer support representatives, showing that there is vast room for improvement in the tech support divisions of most computer retailers.
Interestingly, laptop users reported more problems than desktop computer customers. On average, a full 40% of laptops have to be repaired within three years of purchase — and in some cases, even need to be replaced. To put that into context, consider the report’s findings that only 10% of digital cameras require repairs within the same three-year period.
But even though the tech support industry in general scored low marks on the annual report, Apple’s customer service ranked quite high. In fact, Apple tech support successfully solved customer’s problems in more than 80% of the cases reported during the last year, the highest success ratio in the business.
Specifically, Apple scored 83 out of 100 for its tech support of laptops, and 81 out of 100 for desktop support. Other big-name PC manufacturers didn’t do nearly as well, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Sony. For example, Dell’s customer service rated 60 on laptop computers (compared to Apple’s 83).
Companies like Hewlett-Packard and Compaq scored the lowest among the major computer manufacturers, with Compaq scoring an abysmal 47 points for its tech support of desktop computers.
Although Apple computers are generally more expensive than their PC counterparts, the consumer reports survey (and others like it) lend credence to the idea that Mac computers are worth the extra money. Especially when you consider that the instance of computer viruses for Apple computers is very low, and that all new Macs come bundled with a variety of useful and easy to use software applications, so that the purchaser can get started right away, without the need to download drivers, uninstall “bloatware” or other hassles.
Sales-wise, Macs have been steadily gaining on PCs for the last five years. The success of Apple’s “I’m a Mac” commercials have contributed greatly to Apple’s reputation as the more reliable, practical and fashionable computer.
The “Cult of Mac” seems unstoppable at the moment, with more and more Windows users “defecting” to Mac all the time, leaving some critics to speculate that Apple will eventually overtake Windows as the dominant computing platform. Granted, this could take years — but if current trends continue, we may all be joining the “Cult of Mac” before too long.
Shares of Circuit City stocks rose dramatically this morning after it was announced that Blockbuster Inc. has offered to buy out the electronics retailer at about seven dollars per share. Curiously, Blockbuster shares have been down for the last several quarters, leaving many Wall Street analysts scratching their heads, wondering why the company would choose to go after Circuit City at this time.
Shares of Circuit City stocks were up by $1.40 per share this morning, while Blockbuster shares plummeted approximately 11%. It would seem that the word on Wall Street is that the takeover — if it happens at all — would be better for Circuit City that it would for Blockbuster.
The Dallas Business Journal is reporting that Blockbuster has offered $1 billion to buy out Circuit City. However Circuit City executives have voiced doubts about Blockbuster’s ability to raise one billion in capital or financing. The company is offering approximately seven dollars per share for a stock now trading at $3.90 per share (as of the 11th of April, 2008).
So far, Blockbuster has not revealed how they plan to raise the $1 billion offered to buy out Circuit City. Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said that the buyout proposal “offers Circuit City a significant premium to its existing stock price and create a game changing retail concept with a sustainable competitive advantage.”
Circuit City has been struggling over the last few quarters, reporting significant losses, and making the company an attractive prospect for “unsolicited” takeovers. If the Blockbuster deal were to be accepted, the combined company would have a street value of approximately $18 billion, and provide Blockbuster with nearly 700 electronics retail outlets in the US, and 779 and Canada.
Blockbuster, on the other hand, boasts 7,800 stores globally, with the majority of those being located in the North American market. The combination of Blockbuster’s retail video rental outlets with Circuit City’s electronics superstores would create a huge media and electronics company with nearly 10,000 retail outlets.
But it wasn’t so long ago that Blockbuster was struggling itself. The success of Netflix online video rental service caused Blockbuster to lose significant market share over the past four years. Most of those losses had been regained though, as Blockbuster introduced its own online film rental service to directly compete with Netflix, and bolster the sales of its existing retail outlets.
Buying out Circuit City for $1 billion would likely require a major restructuring of Blockbuster’s debt, and the deal would also need to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Circuit City is reportedly reviewing the offer carefully, but many analysts believe the company may have no choice other than to accept the buyout agreement.
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It’s been called the “kitchen sink strategy.” That is the name Hillary Clinton’s team have given to the strategy of “throwing everything but the kitchen sink” at Senator Barack Obama in an attempt to make his candidacy less palatable to the American public.
So far though, the “kitchen sink” hasn’t done any significant damage to the junior senator from Illinois. In fact, the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll finds that Senator Obama is continuing to make gains against the Clinton campaign in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina.
The poll found that Clinton’s double-digit lead over Obama in Pennsylvania has all but vanished. She is now leading by just five points in Pennsylvania, and Obama has taken a sizable lead in neighboring Indiana, another critical primary state.
Voters in both Pennsylvania and Indiana have expressed disappointment and even outrage over the negative tone the Democratic presidential race has taken in the past month. And it would appear that most voters in these critical states find Hillary Clinton to be the more negative of the two candidates, and the quickest to criticize her opponent.
So it would appear that simply throwing anything and everything at Senator Obama in an attempt to diminish his popularity hasn’t actually been effective, and in fact, in Pennsylvania at least, it appears that this strategy has backfired and actually increased Senator Obama’s popularity in the Keystone State.
As the race continues, it begins to look less and less likely that Senator Clinton will be able to clinch the Democratic nomination for president. When all is said and done, the Democratic primary race is all about numbers — who can garner the most delegates and super-delegates. With Barrack Obama now firmly in the lead, it is beginning to look inevitable that he will be the Democratic nominee for president.
With the numbers stacked so firmly against Hillary Clinton, many Democratic Party “bigwigs” are beginning to call for her to drop out of the race for the good of the party. While some senators and congressmen have dared to say so publicly, there are rumors that many others are encouraging Clinton to drop out in private.
Meanwhile, the Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain, is touring the country and raising money for the upcoming general primary. The bitterly disputed contest between Clinton and Obama has actually encouraged the Republican Party, and some Republican insiders are hoping the struggle continues right up through the summer. Republicans see the negative tone of the Democratic primary as effectively “tearing the Democratic party apart.”
If Senator Clinton fails to win the Pennsylvania primary — coming up next Tuesday– by a substantial margin, there will be an enormous amount of pressure for her to drop out of the presidential race. Many concerned Democrats are hoping she will do just that.
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The Newspaper Association of America is reporting that the sharpest decline ever in newspaper advertising revenue took place in 2007. Overall ad revenues for newspapers in the United States dropped 9.4% from the previous year, a record low. At the same time, Internet advertising saw a 19% increase in revenue, with the biggest chunk of that going to Google Inc.
As online advertising continues to grow, newspapers are feeling the squeeze, and especially newspaper classified ads are showing significant losses. Overall, print classified advertising fell 17%, and a few categories, such is real estate classifieds, fell as much as 23% in 2007.
Even national brand retail advertising — traditionally a big supporter of print media — slowed significantly last year, and experts predict that the trend will continue. Forecasts by analysts expect print advertising will continue to nosedive through 2013.
While the print media in general continues to suffer decreasing revenues, more and more newspapers are expanding their online presence. Even small town newspapers in the South and Midwest are building up ever larger web sites, and becoming more savvy about marketing and promoting their online content.
At the same time, the lines are being blurred between print media and broadcast media. For example, more and more local newspapers are including broadcast quality video reports on their web sites. It’s getting to the point where there will likely be no such thing as a print media outlet, or a broadcast media outlet, or a web media outlet. They will ALL be multi-media outlets.
There’s no doubt that things are changing quickly in the newspaper business, and that, barring some extreme unforeseen circumstance, print newspapers will continue to decline into the foreseeable future. The newspaper outlets that survive this change will be the ones that accept their role as a multimedia information and advertising service, and throw off the shackles of the traditional printing press.
In some ways, this is great news. Ecologically speaking, newspapers have always been a bad idea. The amount of trees it takes to print a few hundred thousand Sunday papers is staggering, and the amount of pollution and waste involved in the process of manufacturing paper is also sizable. For these reasons, switching over to digital, or online versions of newspapers makes a whole lot of sense, both economically and ecologically.
Of course, there will be those who miss unfolding and spreading out the Sunday paper all over the living room floor, and don’t mind the inevitable ink stains all over their fingertips. But that’s progress for you — we always have to take the good with the bad.
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Senator Barack Obama continues to gain momentum in the Democratic primary race. The Illinois Senator received an endorsement from a new democratic superdelegate this morning, helping solidify his lead over Democratic rival Senator Hillary Clinton.
The Washington Post is reporting that Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota declared her support for Barack Obama this morning. Senator Obama won Minnesota handily in that state’s February primary. Klobuchar applauded Senator Obama’s character and presidential campaign, saying that the Illinois Senator brings a “new perspective and inspiring a real excitement.”
Senator Klobuchar’s endorsement continues the growing trend toward Democratic Party superdelegates supporting Senator Obama. This past week, Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont went so far as to call on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the good of the Democratic Party. While Senator Leahy’s comments can be easily dismissed, it is clear that Obama has the momentum for the time being, and barring any extreme revelations, is likely to finish the Democratic primary ahead in both the delegate count and the popular vote.
But while some leading Democrats have been calling on Hillary Clinton to quit the race, Senator Obama himself has been taking a very different approach over the last few weeks, encouraging Senator Clinton to continue campaigning. Obama publicly stated that the continuing primary campaign “Battle” would not damage the Democratic Party in the general election in November, but would result in a stronger candidate to face Republican nominee John McCain.
Meanwhile, Senator Hillary Clinton has begun speaking publicly about the controversy over Obama’s former minister’s controversial statements from the pulpit. Mrs. Clinton said that “moving” to a different church would have been the correct response. Overall though, it doesn’t seem that the controversy over Reverent Wright has been particularly damaging to the Obama campaign.
The Clinton campaign, however, was clearly damaged this past week, after Senator Clinton gave a speech claiming that she visited Bosnia as first lady under warlike conditions, and arrived “under sniper fire,” without any reception on the ground. Senator Clinton had to eat her words when video emerged of the trip, clearly showing Senator Clinton arriving in a relaxed manner, and being greeted by hundreds of officials and well-wishers. She even stopped to talk with a small children who greeted her on the runway.
Critics have called Mrs. Clinton’s account of her Bosnia trip “a whopper,” implying that she embellished the story in order to seem more presidential. Whether the fabricated story was intentional, or simply a “confused memory,” it appears to have done some political damage at a time when Senator Clinton’s campaign could really use a break.
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Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain recently returned from a diplomatic trip to the Middle East and Europe. Speaking to the World Affairs Council this week, he emphasized the need for greater diplomacy, saying “our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want, whenever we want…”
McCain’s words are a stark contrast to the diplomatic style of the Bush administration, which has been often seen as acting unilaterally and in an arrogant manner when dealing with other nations. Senator McCain seems to be drawing a clear contrast between his leadership style and that of George W. Bush.
Under the Bush administration, even many of America’s closest allies have felt alienated. Longtime allies (and NATO members) such as Norway, and Denmark saw their relationships strained with the US, and citizens in many countries held huge protests against the Iraq war, and against the overall foreign-policy of the Bush administration.
Even our neighbor to the north, Canada, began to see the United States as more of an adversary then an ally. All of these changes took place at a time when the US needed international support and cooperation more than ever. But with the Bush/Cheney era about to end, all three of the current presidential hopefuls are laying out plans to mend the frayed relationships with our allies.
Democratic senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both blasted the Bush administration for its arrogant and shortsighted foreign-policy decisions, including the war in Iraq. But until recently, Senator Jon McCain has refused to speak out publicly against the foreign-policy of the Bush/Cheney administration. Senator McCain’s comments after returning from Europe and the Middle East showed that he clearly has a different foreign-policy agenda, and a different style of “getting things done in the world.”
Though McCain has been careful not to be overly critical of George W. Bush, he has acknowledged that the image of the United States around the world has been damaged by a war in Iraq, and other foreign-policy blunders of the last seven years.
McCain’s “diplomacy first” comments may not play well with the conservative base of the Republican Party. In fact, the right wing of the party hasn’t exactly warmed up to the idea of a McCain presidency so far, and many hard-core conservatives see McCain as far too “independent,” and too willing to break from the established Republican Party line for the sake of achieving his objectives.
Of course, many voters perceive this to be McCain’s greatest strength. He at least gives the appearance of a politician who is willing to put the good of the nation before the good of his party — something we could use a lot more of in this country.
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The Democratic presidential nomination race continues to favor the challenger, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Obama has now won 12 state primaries in a row, and is looking increasingly like the inevitable Democratic candidate for president in 2008.
Although Senator Hillary Clinton has campaigned long and hard, and has certainly been a tough competitor, Barack Obama continues to gain important endorsements from powerful legislators and political figures around the country. Representative Jon Barrow of Georgia is one of the latest to endorse Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.
Senator Obama has now garnered the official endorsement of all five of Georgia’s Democratic representatives; while Senator Clinton now finds herself without a single endorsement in the state. To add insult to injury, another Georgia Democrat, Representative John Lewis of Atlanta has announced that he will be switching his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.
Georgia is traditionally a very conservative state, even within Democratic circles. The overwhelming endorsement of Barack Obama by Georgia representatives is a clear indication that his appeal crosses over class, race and even political boundaries.
Georgia may well turn out to be an important state in the 2008 presidential election. In the last several elections, the state has gone overwhelmingly Republican, but there are growing signs now of a renewed Democratic Party in Georgia, and even some Georgia Republicans have expressed a willingness to cross over and vote for Obama.
To the contrary, his opponent Hillary Clinton does not enjoy the same type of bipartisan support in Georgia, or indeed in most of the Southern states. Conservatives throughout the South have been nearly unanimously united in their fight against a second Clinton presidency, a widespread attitude that is improving Senator Obama’s fortunes in the South.
As many political pundits have already observed, if the conservative “Deep South” states are favorable toward a black president, there is absolutely no doubt that the country as a whole is capable of electing a black president. While this is certainly a welcome change of attitude, particularly in the South, the real question is, will Senator Obama be our first black president?
At this point in the race, most experts believe that the Democratic nomination a Senator Obama’s to lose. Barring some extreme and shocking news, or a Herculean effort by Senator Clinton to get her message out, Obama looks unstoppable at this point.
And although recent polls indicate Obama would do well running against Republican John McCain, it is still a long time until November, and in presidential politics anything can happen.
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The major records are certainly a litigious lot. And come to that, they’ve never really been comfortable with the idea of the internet in general. Their new lawsuit against the music search application SeeqPod (www.seeqpod.com) is a good example of this:
SeeqPod is a simple search engine, like Google, Yahoo, or any of the others. The only difference is, SeeqPod searches exclusively for media content — i.e. music and videos, and streams the result directly from their search results page. A nifty idea, and one that is akin to online radio, except the user gets to search for whatever they want, not simply wait for the next song and hope they like it.
SeeqPod does not allow users to download the music tracks and videos it finds, they are only streamed online. However, it does allow registered users to save playlists and even share playlists with friends. And it could be this “sharing” aspect of the site that is sticking in the throat of the major record labels. A suit has been filed against SeeqPod requesting millions in “damages” for unfair use of intellectual property.
There’s only one flaw in the music industry’s plan to sue SeeqPod out of existence: they’re not doing anything illegal.
The Digital Millennium Copyright act clearly allows all search engines to report the existence of any file accessible online, without being held accountable for the legality of said file. And this is exactly how it should be. Can you imagine if Google was held responsible for the legality of every single web site it catalogs online? That’s absurd at best, and it would virtually shut down the Internet as we know it.
And this, in a nutshell, is why the record labels will lose this one, and lose big. Basically, if SeeqPod can be sued for the files it “finds” online, so can Google, and Yahoo, and Ask, and Microsoft, and…well, you get the picture. The internet would be a pretty barren place if such ridiculous laws were allowed to stand.
So, if it is clear to any interested observer that the recording industry is fighting a battle here that they cannot possible win, why exactly are they doing it? That’s the million-dollar question, and journalists and industry experts seem just as perplexed about the rationale of the suit as anyone else.
Perhaps the major label music companies have become so lawsuit-happy since the dawn of the Internet era, that it is simply a knee-jerk reaction; when faced with any new technology or challenge, their policy has become “sue first, ask questions later.” Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain: the music industry has some serious “control issues,” and they’re wasting serious money here on a lawsuit they can’t win.
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