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Out of stock at Good Guys
I know, I know Digitalway product
http://www.goodguys.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=172110&catky=162625
Trumpion Teams Up With Micronas for eUstickMP3 Reference Design
New USB Flash Disk Featuring Integrated MP3 Functionality
FREIBURG, Germany and TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Trumpion and Micronas are pleased to announce the eUstickMP3 reference design, an evolutionary new removable USB flash disk. Featuring Trumpion's widely manufactured t3552 USB-to-SmartMedia/MemoryStick controller alongside Micronas' MAS 3507D audio decoder, the eUstickMP3 reference design is described as a cost-competitive total solution aiming at upgrading entry-level
removable USB 1.1 flash disks by integrating basic MP3 functions. In MP3 player mode, eUstickMP3 supports the basic functions of an MP3 player, operated through a simple user interface for keying inputs. Control functions include power on/off, play, pause, next/previous song, volume and repeat.
"This is a prime example of common sense convergence," said Jensen Cheng, Trumpion's product planning director. "As consumers continue to demand more functionality from everything electronic, bringing together two technologies from growing markets is not just common sense, it's good business sense and we
expect a lot of interest in this product."
Maintaining the same software interface as Trumpion's well-received eUstick equipped with the t3551, the eUstickMP3 supports the removable disk driver for Windows 98/98SE and driver-less for Windows 2000, ME, and XP. It also works with the Mac operating system and Linux OS. Furthermore, it is bundled with additional sophisticated PC software designed primarily for user security functions, such as security and public disk formatting, password function, dynamic partition for security and public disk formatting, PC lock, write protect, multiple language support for dialog menus and short-cut function. It supports all NAND-type flash memories ranging from 16MB to 256MB.
eUstickMP3 is working with one single AAA size battery.
"This collaboration is a result of our ongoing commitment to the
converging MP3 market," commented Shawn Richards, Micronas' director marketing multimedia. "As a pioneer of the MP3 technology we are now starting to capitalize on our expertise. We believe that the market will adopt MP3 at a greater rate when it is packaged with complimentary applications and we expect
to reap the benefit of that through our ongoing collaboration with Trumpion."
Jensen Cheng added, "In the future we expect additional USB product launches incorporating Trumpion and Micronas products combining our relevant expertise storage access with multimedia applications."
The Micronas MAS 3507D is a single-chip MPEG-1/2 layer 2/3 audio decoder for use in audio broadcast or memory-based playback applications. Due to embedded memories, the embedded DC/DC up-converter and the very low power consumption, the MAS 3507D is ideally suited for portable electronic devices.
Heart of the MAS 3507D is a high-performance RISC DSP with a memory word length of 20 Bit. The instruction set of the DSP is highly optimised for audio data compression and decompression.
The eUstickMP3 reference design is available now with demo boards and information package of bundled software, driver, manufacturing tool, reference schematics, PCB layout files, specification, and other documentations.
About Trumpion
Trumpion Microelectronics is a renowned IC design company, providing professional IC system solutions in the development of display control IC for CRT/LCD Monitor/LCD-TV/PDP/Projector and multimedia storage access MCU in consumer, PC related fields. Founded in 1998 and located in Taipei, Trumpion has won several design-wins with worldwide leading companies, such as Samsung,
Sony, ViewSonic etc, for its robust IC development methodology and experienced management team. For more information please email ic4u@trumpion.com.tw or visit http://www.trumpion.com.tw.
About Micronas
Micronas (SWX Swiss Exchange: MASN, Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX, Frankfurt: MNSN), a semiconductor company group with worldwide operations, is a leading supplier of cutting-edge IC and sensor system solutions for consumer electronics, multimedia and automotive electronics. The holding is headquartered in Zurich (Switzerland). Currently, the Micronas group employs
about 1700 people. In 2002, it generated over CHF 707 Million in sales. For more information on Micronas and its products, please visit http://www.micronas.com.
milpease
Nice unit.....but should be here about the same time as ours........SOON! LOL
http://www.alpine-usa.com/html/D2_n_1_n_n.html
HDA-5460 Look under "Alpine Products"
Canopus Corporation and DivXNetworks Announce Details of Licensing Agreement
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2003--Canopus Corporation and DivXNetworks, Inc. today provided more information regarding the licensing agreement announced by the companies last week. Under terms of the agreement, Canopus will include DivX(R) Pro, the professional version of the popular DivX video technology, in its Canopus MTV(TM) line of personal recording solutions sold in Japan. In addition, future versions of Canopus's highly acclaimed professional video transcoding software tool, ProCoder(TM), will support DivX Pro.
"Canopus is well known as a global leader in high-end video software and hardware, and we are pleased that they have chosen to support DivX Pro in upcoming versions of ProCoder and integrate it into their MTV product line," said Jordan Greenhall, Founder and CEO of DivXNetworks. "The combination of the industry-leading products from Canopus with the unsurpassed visual quality and compression of DivX Pro will provide video professionals and enthusiasts with an ideal set of cutting-edge video tools."
"The addition of DivX Pro significantly enhances the capability of our products. We are pleased to include the DivX codec in our personal recording solutions and support it in our popular transcoding tool," said Hiro Yamada CEO of Canopus. "With its high visual quality, excellent compression ratio and strong global brand, DivX is one of the most advanced MPEG-4 technologies and offers our customers another video format output option."
For more information on the DivX Software Licensing program, write to licensing@divxnetworks.com. To learn more about Canopus products, visit www.canopus.com.
Rio Unveils IPOD KILLER(new link)
http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/rioaudio/default.asp?cat=35
Nitrus features new storage technology; Karma plays both WMA, MP3 files.
Peggy Watt, PCWorld.com
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Rio has unveiled a handful of new portable digital audio players, one of them featuring a new, lightweight type of storage that promises to keep such devices shrinking.
The Rio Nitrus is among the first to feature the new Cornice technology, a small storage device thinner than a flash memory card, and priced at about half the cost of the similar IBM Microdrive. However, it currently has a 1.5GB limit on data.
"I doubt many will believe you can get this kind of capacity in a device this small and light," says Rob Enderle, principal with Enderle Research. Thompson and iRiver are also developing music players using the same storage technology.
"That's the class of product that's going to put the existing high edition flash players at risk," Enderle adds. "It has similar or better battery life, and a much lower carry weight."
Rio's other new players are the Rio Karma, Rio Cali, Rio Chiba, and Rio Fuse. Both the Cali and Chiba are available in two versions, with different memory capacities. All are scheduled to ship in August.
Nitrus Highlights
Rio representatives describe the Nitrus as providing storage that is a cross between a hard disk and flash storage. The $299 player is about the size of a credit card, and roughly one-half inch thick, tapered at the bottom so it fits easily into a pocket. It has a USB 2.0 connection for easy data transfer with a PC.
It can store 25 hours of music, which is more than 375 songs, say Rio representatives. Rio says the built-in Lithium ion battery can run for 16 hours between charges.
"The most impressive product is the Rio Nitrus," Enderle says, adding he expects the Nitrus will give Apple's IPod strong competition.
http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/item_main_Rio.asp?model=220&cat=56
However, Enderle says Rio also designed the Karma as an iPod killer: "It's smaller, lighter, and optimized for Windows." The device has a 20GB traditional hard disk that can store more than 5000 MP3 files, according to Rio representatives. What's more, it supports MP3, WMA, and Ogg Vorbis compression technologies.
The Karma, priced at $399, has a built-in 15-hour LiON rechargeable battery, and ships with a docking station that can connect to an Ethernet port, so the player can be part of a network. The station is also an on-board battery charger.
The player has such audiophile pleasers as quick radio-style crossfade between tracks, to create a continuous mix of music for extended playback, and can generate playlists dynamically. It has a five-band parametric equalizer with presets.
Flash Players, Too
Rio also added two traditional flash-based MP3 players, the Rio Chiba and Rio Fuse. The Chiba is priced at $169 with 128MB of memory, and $199 with 256MB, both expandable to 768MB. The Fuse is priced at $129, and has 128MB of memory.
The devices have large LCDs and support 18 hours of play on a AAA battery. Both are also designed to connect to Apple Macintosh systems running Mac OS X, as well as being able to connect to a Windows PC.
The Rio Chiba also has an FM tuner, and bundles Rio Music Manager 2.0 and a carrying case and armband.
The Rio Cali is designed as a sport player, and is modeled after Rio's current flash player, the Rio S30S. It has the same four-line backlit LCD; a choice of 128MB or 256MB of memory, expandable to 768MB; and 18 hours of battery life. The Rio Cali adds an FM tuner and ships with Rio Music Manager 2.0.
With 128MB of memory, the Rio Cali costs $169; with 256MB, it is priced at $199.
"Both the Cali and the Chiba have advanced industrial designs that likely forecast what players will look like going forward," Enderle notes.
Sony Bluetooth MP3 Player
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C1544/
Webcast PR on Music Industry News Network
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=55444
Softeq link now working
http://www.edigital.com/partners/popups/partner-softeq.html
Rio Audio tries to regroup quickly
By Jon Healey / Los Angeles Times
Monday, August 11, 2003
It took Rio Audio just three weeks this spring to go into bankruptcy, cut its ties to floundering former owner Sonicblue Inc. and emerge as part of Tokyo's D&M Holdings Inc.
Now, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of portable digital music players is spending the next three weeks replacing its entire product line in a bold bid to regain the dominance it squandered during Sonicblue's financial troubles.
The company has a long way to go. Once the leading name in pocket-sized MP3 players that store music on computer memory chips, Rio saw its share of the market shrink from about 40 percent at its peak to around 15 percent today, President Jeff Hastings said.
The decline came as demand for MP3 players started to heat up. Manufacturers' sales of MP3 players to dealers were stuck at or below $100 million from 1999 to 2001, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, but steadily declining prices caused demand to more than double in 2002 and sales to rise to an estimated $178 million.
Sonicblue's financial problems were a major factor in Rio's slide, Hastings said. Sonicblue, which filed for bankruptcy court protection in March, couldn't pay its suppliers enough to keep stores stocked with its products, which included ReplayTV digital video recorders and Rio MP3 players.
D&M bought Sonicblue's Rio and ReplayTV units at a bankruptcy auction in April for $18.2 million and $18 million, respectively, and established them as separate business units under its Digital Networks North America subsidiary.
The market for chip-based players had shrunk in the face of two new lines of MP3 products: portable CD players that could handle homemade discs filled with MP3 songs, and palm-sized players with hard drives that could store 100 times as many songs as the top-selling Rio models.
Rio had responded on both fronts, offering a hard-drive equipped model and a line of CD-based MP3 players. Those efforts, however, proved to be failures.
Hastings said the company is dropping out of the portable CD business, which he said accounts for 40 percent to 45 percent of the market for MP3 players.
"The CD market is extremely unprofitable now," he said, adding that it was hard for manufacturers to differentiate their products.
The company also is replacing its bulky hard-drive player with a smaller, lighter 20 gigabyte model, dubbed Karma, that's shorter but thicker than Apple Computer Inc.'s acclaimed iPod.http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008007.php
And it's breaking ground with an even smaller player, dubbed Nitrus, that uses the new, slender 1.5 gigabyte hard drive from Cornice Inc.
Analysts expect Cornice drives to power a new and potentially profitable niche in the MP3 market: devices that combine the portability of chip-based players with the capacity of hard-drive models, with prices that fall between the two.
While hard-drive based players have created most of the buzz in the industry, in large part because of Apple's marketing for the iPod, they represent only 10 percent to 15 percent of the market, Hastings said. That's why Rio expects most of its profit to continue coming from chip-based players.
With that in mind, Rio is trying to breathe new life into its chip-based players with slicker designs and better software, including the ability to load the players automatically with a new set of songs whenever they're connected to a computer.
Hastings, who was vice president of engineering at Sonicblue, said D&M has kept a restructured Rio team in place, although with fewer people and a tighter focus.
"The first thing is profitability," Hastings said. "If you lose money, there's a bad outcome at the end of it, no matter how good it sounds in the short term."
Rio Plans Comeback With New Audio Players
MAY WONG
AP Technology Writer
Rio Audio, the pioneer of the portable MP3 audio player that lost luster under the financial woes of its former owner, is throwing itself back into the heated market.
Under its new parent company, Digital Networks North America, Inc., Rio was debuting Monday a lineup of seven new music players that will begin shipping this month.
Most are sequels, including a 20-gigabyte hard-drive device called the Rio Karma that will compete against the popular Apple iPod.
One device, called the Rio Nitrus, is different. It is among the first portable players to use a quarter-sized hard drive that stores 1.5-gigabytes, or about 25 hours, of music. The small drive allows the gadget, priced at $299, to be slightly larger than a microcassette but angled like a matchbook so it slips easily into a pocket."We want to regain the dominance we had in the market," Jeff Hastings, Rio's president, said in an interview.
In 1998, Rio, then a part of Diamond Multimedia Systems, was the first to introduce a commercial MP3 player, just as music in the compressed MP3 format was becoming widespread on the Internet. The recording industry unsuccessfully tried to squelch the Rio 300, losing its lawsuit against Diamond in 1999. A week after the court ruling, Rio was sold for $173 million to a company that eventually renamed itself SONICblue.
Rio players, which relied on flash memory and did not have any moving components, fast became a common sight at the gym, or on joggers.
But as other flash-based portable players flooded the market, Rio struggled to fend off rivals, including Creative Technology, maker the Nomad line of players, and big-name consumer electronic companies like Samsung.
SONICblue's financial troubles limited Rio's marketing power and inventory. By the time SONICblue filed for bankruptcy protection in March, Rio players were hardly existent on store shelves.
Meanwhile, more contenders have entered the market with new kinds of audio products to tap the consumer shift toward digital music.
The portable music player market in the United States is expected to grow to 19.3 million units in 2007 from 5.5 million units in 2002, according to the market research firm IDC.
Apple introduced its iPod in October 2001, igniting a category of portable players with hard drives. Though it was bulkier than flash-based players, the pocket-sized iPod could hold hundreds more songs - about 1,000 songs - with its 5-gigabyte drive. The latest models now have as much as 30-gigabytes of storage.
RCA/Thomson introduced a player in June that uses the same 1-inch hard-drive as Rio's upcoming Nitrus. And, Gateway last week made its MP3 player debut with a flash-based gadget about the size of a pack of chewing gum.
Despite the crowded field, Rio "will be a worthy competitor," said Tim Bajarin, analyst of market consulting firm Creative Strategies."The Rio brand name really defined the flash-player category and the brand still has cache with consumers," said IDC Susan Kevorkian.
The 20-gigabyte Rio Karma, which is squarish and roughly the size of a Klondike ice cream bar, will cost $399. Like many players, it can connect to a computer via a USB cable, but it also features a docking cradle that has an Ethernet port for connection to a home computer network with or without wires.
Rio says it is the first portable player to also support the compressed music format called Ogg Vorbis, created by the open-source community.
Rio's other new products will be five flash-based players with either 128 megabytes or 256 megabytes of memory, ranging in price from $129 to $199.
On the Net:
http://www.rioaudio.com
Wolfson float brings hope to tech sector
By Astrid Wendlandt in London
Published: August 10 2003 20:57 / Last Updated: August 10 2003 20:57
Wolfson Microelectronics, a Scottish developer of computer chips used in Microsoft's XBox computer game console, is hoping to become the first technology company to float on the main market in more than a year.
Any flotation by the video and audio chip designer could also lead to one of the biggest new London listings in the technology sector since valuations collapsed three years ago, despite the company's modest annual sales of £22.4m ($38m).
Wolfson, which also developed chips used in Apple's iPod MP3 portable music player, is aiming for a stock market debut as early as this autumn if conditions are right. "A lot will depend on market conditions," a person close to the talks said yesterday.
Wolfson intends to woo investors with its sales growth potential and the versatility of its chip designs.
"We believe that the internet, along with the advent of wide bandwidth communications, is opening up a whole world of new opportunities for high quality music and video entertainment, voice, audio and imaging services," according to the company.
Citigroup, retained as advisers for the flotation, yesterday declined to comment on its appointment.
Wolfson's sales more than doubled in the year to December from £11.2m in 2001, helping turn a pre-tax loss of £700,000 into a profit of £2.4m.
The company's plans to float could signal London's new issues market for technology companies is slowly sputtering back to life after a lull of more than two years.
They follow volatile market conditions which have deterred many other companies in the sector from coming to the market. Many have instead been trying to raise funds to go private.
Last month's £2bn flotation of Yell, the directories business, has been the biggest so far this year. It came after Benfield, the reinsurance broker, obtained a listing in June with an initial market capitalisation of £575m.
Wolfson, which was spun out of Edinburgh University, designs "mixed-signal" chips that convert analogue signals to digital and vice versa.
Its semiconductor technology determines the quality of the sound and images of portable devices such as digital cameras, DVD players and video game consoles.
It said at the time of its results last month that it had expanded its sales force in North America and intended to strengthen its team in the UK.
Wolfson ships about 40m chips a year.
RCA 1.5" HDD player at Circuit City
http://www.circuitcity.com/cs_contentdisplay.jsp?c=1&b=g&incat=78236
Huge retrofit project shared
B/E Aerospace workers in Marysville will install in-flight entertainment systems made by Bothell-based Matsushita Avionics Systems on Malaysian Airlines 747s and 777s.
Published: Saturday, August 9, 2003
By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
Two aerospace companies with Snohomish County ties have won contracts to undertake one of the biggest airliner retrofit projects in the past two years.
Matsushita Avionics Systems of Bothell will provide in-flight entertainment systems and B/E Aerospace workers in Marysville will do engineering and program management work for Malaysia Airlines as it overhauls the interiors of 32 jets.
The airline announced Friday that it plans to spend about $185 million to create new first class and business class cabins, and install new seatback entertainment systems in 17 747-400 and 15 777-200 jets in its fleet.
The work will start in fall 2004, and the first refurbished planes will re-enter service in November of that year.
Malaysia plans to incorporate features that will make its first class and business class cabins seem more like luxury business jets, said Max Kuniansky, a spokesman at B/E corporate headquarters in Wellington, Fla.
In first class, B/E will install personal seating pods that adjust to each passenger's height and that convert to lie-flat beds. The amenities will include mood lighting, elegant cabinets and closets, electronic window shades and custom lavatories.
Business class passengers also will get fold-down seats in a redesigned cabin.
All divisions of B/E in North American and Europe will be involved in the project, Kunianski said.
The role of the Marysville division will be to do the engineering work - calculating how the new seating arrangement will affect each airplane's structure and performance, and figuring out new wiring schemes. It also will handle overall management of the project, including the suppliers and the process of getting the new designs certified by regulators.
Matsushita Avionics Systems, which has its world headquarters in Bothell, will provide its new System 3000i in-flight entertainment systems throughout the plane. The system provides audio and video programs on demand. Passengers can start and stop their movie or music choices whenever they wish.
In addition, Malaysia will roll out a number of additional features using the MAS system in the future. That will include e-mail, short message services, Internet connections and live television.
An airline executive said the upgrades are "based on sound commercial logic."
"Malaysia Airlines is an achieving airline in the top league of the global aviation business," said Dato' Ahmad Fuaad Dhalan, a senior general manager. "We provide the best cabin crew service in the world ... today we add to that the best in cabin accommodation and in-flight entertainment."
Friday's announcement came two days after Northwest Airlines showed off products from both B/E and MAS that are included in its new A330 jets.
MAS provided the in-flight entertainment systems for the Airbus-built jets, the first new airplane type in the Northwest Airlines fleet since 1989. B/E provided business and coach class seats, galley equipment and lighting.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com
More talk Apple's new iTunes Car Stereo should debut this fall for holiday sales season (opinion)
Aug 07, 03 / 3:11 pm
The opinion piece posted earlier today got me thinking about using Apple's iPod in the car. It's kind of a pain right now with cords, devices, adapters, chargers, FM broadcasters, and your iPod sliding around on the seat or stuck in some weird mount screwed or stuck to your vehicle. Not as smooth as Apple, I'm sure, would wish. Instead of what was described as an "iPodCar" unit in the earlier opinion piece, I believe the description below is what Apple should be working on, but only if they want to make a boat-load of money.
It's very simple, really; take a current CD/Cassette/AM/FM car stereo and replace the cassette slot with an iPod slot. With a few changes to the display and some controls, Apple would have a beautiful new 'iTunes Car Stereo' just in time to roll it out in Best Buy stores nationwide for the holidays. Of course, it would be white with a nice silver Apple logo. Maybe an optional black unit could be available, too, just in case. Or brushed aluminum?
This Apple-branded head unit with a slot into which the iPod slides, along with a slot-loading CD and AM/FM, would be the perfect solution to using an iPod on the road. Neat and tidy, just like Apple and Mac users like things; no cords or attachments and the iPod would have a safe place to live while in your vehicle. This head unit would provide iPod controls on its face, like any car stereo, but iPod-specific along with the normal CD and radio controls. Also a nice display that would mimic the iPod's display. New iPod's have the stereo line out. It's on the iPod Dock which means it's also one of the pins in the funky new Dock Connector port - no dock needed when the iTunes Car Stereo's head unit is the dock.
Should I expect it to be able to rip a CD in the car or record off the radio? I'll leave that to the lawyers.
Even without ripping and recording ability, this Apple iTunes Car Stereo vehicle head unit would be perfect to debut this fall (just in time for Christmas and coinciding with the iTunes / iTMS for Windows launch) - and mesh perfectly with their renewed relationship with Best Buy (someone has to install these puppies).
In addition, this new head unit would be compatible only with new iPods thereby triggering a nice round of upgrades from old iPod users; this is a business after all. Head unit cost should retail for around $499. I could see Apple trying for $599, but not much higher. Of course, the head unit would charge the iPod's battery. It's the perfect solution, right Apple? Hope you guys are already working on it.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
Apple request: we need the Apple 'iBox' and 'iPodCar' products now (opinion)
Aug 07, 03 / 10:02 am
Apple needs to make these products available as soon as possible:
1. True Home Entertainment Media "iBox" component:
- Essentially an iPod, but in a case suitable for proper inclusion with other home A/V devices (ie: Pizza Box shape)
- Could physically resemble an XServe
- Very Large HD (for iTunes audio files AND likely soon to be "iVideo" video files)
- iPod-like LCD front navigation panel and similarly equiped Remote
- Full complement of A/V Output jacks (Composite Audio L-R, Optical/Digital audio, S-Video, Component Video, HD-Video)
- FireWire800 Jack on FRONT panel (for fast connection to one's portable Mac)
- Airport Exteme ( for wireless, albeit slower connection to one's Mac, portable or desktop)
- AutoSynchronization with one's Mac, similar to present iTunes <> iPod abilities
- Apple could also include TiVO-like features for recording video directly from TV or other sources (requires inclusion of INPUT jacks similar to above). Perhaps this would only be part of a second, higher end (more expensive) model
The purpose of this device is obvious. All acquired A/V media in one's home, assembled via their Mac, could be loaded therein. One would not have to have their Mac located adjacent to and connected to their stereo, to listen to / watch their library. The Mac would not even have to be "on." This would eliminate the need for a CD player in one's stereo system, and all existing CD's could be permanently stowed in a closet (after ripping them all to ACC) . Yes, you can "sort of" do this for audio today, with an iPod and dock, but it is not ideal. Even less ideal if you have a pre-dock model iPod. Also, there will always be a limit to HD's that will fit in a device designed for portability. This "iBox" can be a big as it needs to be, with a 500gb disk, or 2 or 3. Think lower-priced XServe with RCA Jacks.
2. Co-Branded In-Dash (or Trunk-Mounted) "iPodCar" Car Stereo Unit:
- Developed with Sony or similar company (or solo Apple project)
- Large, Internal HD
- iPod-like LCD front navigation panel
- FireWire800 Jack on FRONT panel (for fast connection to one's portable Mac)
- Airport Exteme ( for wireless, albeit slower connection to one's Mac, portable or desktop)
This could alternatively be a unit that sits in your trunk (like a CD changer). This could prove more marketable, as people could retain their existing (cd changer capable) head units, simply adding the Apple "iPodMobile" (or replacing the cd changer with it). Might present some control interface issues, though this seems possible to rectify. Perhaps, a wireless remote on the dash for specific Apple functionality. This too can presently be jerry-rigged with an iPod, and iTrip, etc., but it's less than ideal.
Both of these items could be easily developed by Apple with minimal R&D cost. I think people would pay the premium for proper integration.
OT:General Motors Builds 500,000 XM-Equipped Vehicles
GM reaches half million mark in under two years
DETROIT, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Today General Motors announced the 500,000th XM Satellite Radio equipped vehicle will roll off the production line in mid-August. GM has been rapidly increasing availability and volume of XM-equipped vehicles since service introduction on two Cadillac models in
November 2001.
"Just 21 months ago GM launched a brand new and extremely exciting audio entertainment product, and today it is available on over 40 GM models," says Gary Cowger, president GM North America. "This successful launch represents one of the fastest technology rollouts in GM history, and over the next six months we expect to double our XM volume to one million vehicles."
In the 2003 model year, GM produced nearly 400,000 XM-equipped vehicles for a 15 percent penetration. Orders for XM-equipped vehicles have exceeded expectations and GM has increased its penetration outlook for the 2004 model year to 20 percent.
"XM provides unique and unparalleled news and entertainment programming that complements GM's diverse product portfolio and customer base," states XM CEO and President Hugh Panero. "GM is and will continue to be a vital source and supporter of our growing business."
GM was the first automaker to offer XM Satellite Radio and is the only automotive manufacturer to factory install XM across its vehicle portfolio. GM will continue expanding XM availability as standard vehicle packaging in many 2004 models.
GM reports that nearly all vehicle owners are very satisfied with their XM service and the majority of vehicle owners would strongly or definitely consider purchasing another GM vehicle equipped with XM.
About XM Satellite Radio
XM (Nasdaq: XMSR) is America's #1 satellite radio service. With more than nearly 700,000 subscribers today, XM is on pace to have more than one million subscribers later this year. Whether in the car, home, office or on the go, XM's loyal listeners enjoy 101 digital channels of choice: 70 music channels, more than 35 of them commercial-free, from hip hop to opera, classical to country, bluegrass to blues; and 31 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, kids' and entertainment programming. For more information, please visit XM's
web site: http://www.xmradio.com .
Ibises International Announces Another Successful Installation of SMC3000
BREA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2003--
The SMC-3000 system provides a cost-effective way for airlines to
provide in-flight e-mail, SMS text messaging, video-on-demand,
music-on-demand and games. The SMC-3000 can be easily expanded to provide security/surveillance cameras that can monitor and digitally record the cockpit, the cabin, and/or the cargo area.
Ibises International (OTC: IBSN) has announced that last Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, the complete installation of the SkyMediaCenter SMC3000-DS, on another Lion Airlines MD82 aircraft. Lion Airlines is an Indonesian-based airline carrier.
This Lion aircraft installation includes a couple of system improvements. A larger 8.4" LCD monitors replaced the 6.8" bulkhead mounted LCDs. The weight of the total system has been reduced due to the re-design of the electrical power source. At this time, the airline has only opted for the distributed video system feature of the system. The total installation took only 3 1/2 days to complete.
Ibises International Inc. (which stands for: Integrated Broadband, Internet, Security & Entertainment Solution) is a supplier of a proprietary In-Flight Infotainment System, the SkyMediaCenter SMC3000. The SMC-3000 system provides a cost-effective way for airlines to provide in-seat and/or distributed entertainment system for narrow and/or wide-body aircraft using the same box. Either configuration can offer in-flight e-mail, SMS text messaging. The SMC-3000 can be easily expanded to provide security/surveillance cameras that can monitor and digitally record the cockpit, the cabin, and/or the cargo area.
The 30 second feature is simple....While listening to the radio, a song begins playing.....this feature gives you 30 sec to decide if you want to record the song playing. It records the entire song IF you start within the 30 second time frame.
Additional Alpine info
In-dash 16GB hard disk drive system capable of storing more than 3,000 MP3, WMA or .WAV digital music files for playback in the car. The HDA-5460 features Alpine's new Quick Search™ functionality, allowing users to easily find the track they are looking for, and comes complete with the powerful Mobile Multimedia Driver desktop software for acquiring, organizing and managing their music collection. The system can be easily integrated with any Alpine Ai-Net head unit or can function as a stand-alone playback system using an RCA output.
"With roughly 61 million Americans regularly downloading music from the Internet, there is an emerging market for systems that let them easily enjoy those libraries in the vehicle," said Steve Witt, Alpine's vice president of Brand Marketing. "Alpine's HDA-5460 is a premium in-dash playback solution that defines itself with industry-leading features that address the particular challenges online music enthusiasts face, including the need to more intuitively navigate through large libraries to easily find the music they're looking for."
The HDA-5460 is designed for an in-dash installation, putting all the system controls in front of the user. The HDA-5460 features a three-line text display and Quick Search functionality for genre, artist, album, song or playlist search using a simple "paddle switch" on the front panel. The system's faceplate, which pulls off for security and accessing the removable hard disk drive, features Alpine's Biolite™ technology delivering brighter visuals to help punch through sun glare, as well as wider horizontal and vertical viewing angles for easier operation. The player also features a unique selectable DJ function that personalizes 10 genre selections with different DJ voices and sound effects and Alpine's Music Visualizer™, which provides accompanying graphics on the display.
The HDA-5460's removable hard disk drive features a USB port for easy connection to PCs for fast transfer of music files. The system comes complete with Alpine's Mobile Multimedia Driver software, providing powerful desktop tools for managing large libraries of MP3, WMA or .WAV files. The software allows people to easily create customized playlists for playback on the HDA-5460. An "auto-synch" function allows people to quickly update their hard disk drive with the latest music they've downloaded to their desktop.
Specs on Alpine HDD Car Player
http://ecominet2.alpine-usa.com/pls/admn/item_info?p_item_name=HDA-5460&p_category=10&p_subc...
NWA's Airbus debuts today
Wide-body A330 jets will fly mainly to Europe
August 6, 2003
Individual televisions in coach. Fully reclining seats in business class, with a canopy passengers can pull over their heads to help them sleep. That's what Northwest Airlines' newest planes will bring to European travel this fall.
The carrier will roll its first Airbus A330 out for the media today at Detroit Metro Airport, its largest hub.
Northwest is buying 24 of the wide-body, twin-engine jets between now and 2008. Ten will be A330-200s that can seat 243 passengers and 14 will be the larger A330-300s, which can seat 298 passengers.
Northwest took delivery of the first two A330-300s the second week of July and will receive three more by the end of the year.
The new Airbus jets will replace Northwest's DC10s -- which are an average 24 years old -- and become the second-largest plane in the airline's fleet, after the Boeing 747.
Industry experts say the new planes are badly needed at Northwest, whose planes are an average 18 years old, twice as old as the fleets of its major competitors.
With a range of 6,400 miles, according to Airbus, the planes will be used almost exclusively on flights to Europe. The first flight is planned for Detroit to Amsterdam in September.
"I understand the new A330 will have some great features and Northwest badly needs this," said Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis-based airline expert at CheapSeats.com. "They are being badly beaten on some international markets simply because of their equipment."
One of the most important new features of the Northwest A330 will be new business-class seats that recline 176 degrees, or within 4 degrees of flat. They also have an adjustable headrest, a snake-arm resting light, power outlet for laptop computers, and a canopy for privacy while sleeping. Each business-class passenger will also have state-of-the-art entertainment system with a 10.25-inch video monitor.
Even coach passengers will have their own personal television monitor with on-demand television and video. The coach section will also have premium seats from rows 10 through 28 that will have power outlets under the seats for laptop computers.
Although lay-flat seats take up more space, they are becoming an important amenity in the battle for business travelers.
British Airways has been offering 180-degree reclining seats in its business class for almost three years on most long-haul flights. USAirways has had 180-degree seats on its A330s since late 2000 and Continental installed 170-degree seats on its Boeing 777s last year.
Northwest is expected to install business-class seats like the ones on its A330s on its transpacific Boeing 747s in the future.
Each flight attendant will be assigned a section of the aircraft and will deliver meals and beverages only to customers in that section. "This type of service, used by many European carriers, makes customers feel they are being served by their own personal flight attendant," a Northwest internal document said.
Northwest did not disclose the total value of the deal, but Airbus executives say an Airbus A330-200 lists for $136 million and the bigger A330-300 for $152 million. But airlines usually get a discount when ordering for multiple planes.
The most important reason why airlines buy a new fleet "is that they would make more money," said Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus North America.
Northwest, for example, will need only two pilots to fly the A330-200 instead of the three for DC10s. Will Holman, spokesman for the Air Lines Pilots Association, said on fights of eight hours or more the A330s would be augmented with an additional pilot.
Anything that helps cut costs could help Northwest through one of its worst financial crises. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the airline has lost about $1.6 billion because of the drop in travel, slow economy and competition.
On Tuesday, Northwest said it flew more passengers per plane in July than it did for the same month last year as it reduced its capacity faster than the decline in traffic.
For the month, Northwest said 83.7 percent of its available seats were filled, up 3.2 percentage points from July 2002. But this was because it cut its capacity by 7.5 percent while its passenger traffic declined 3.9 percent.
Spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Northwest has been using the new planes for flight training, certification and getting regulatory approval.
The double-aisle A330 will be equipped with two Pratt & Whitney engines. The new plane will have Northwest's new logo and paint job, the airline announced few months back.
Contact RAJIV VYAS at 313-222-8760 or vyas@freepress.com.
RealNetworks Cues Up New Song
Arik Hesseldahl, 08.05.03, 1:30 PM ET
NEW YORK - Were it not for Apple Computer and its iTunes online music store, we'd probably be ignorant of two things.
The first is how memorable--and utterly grating--a TV ad comprised of nothing more than people wearing headphones and singing can be. Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) recent spate of heavy rotation ads gave new meaning to the phrase "Get that song out of my head!"
We'd probably also be ignorant to the existence of iTunes rival BuyMusic.com. Apple's ads were so memorable--so what else is new?--that when BuyMusic launched last month, it essentially copied Apple's ads, betting the memory of them ("oh yeah that music service for Mac users") would trigger interest in the competitor among Windows PC users.
Apple's iTunes store wasn't quite the starting gun for the legal online music industry that many thought it would be. True, it has so far been a success for Apple--users have downloaded more than 6.5 million songs since the April launch--but the real race is to capture Windows users, and it is just getting underway.
Apple has committed to launching a Windows version of iTunes by the end of this year. Digital music software concern Roxio (nasdaq: ROXI - news - people ) has plans to re-animate Napster in time for the holidays. Both AOL Time Warner's (nyse: AOL - news - people ) America Online and Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) MSN are rumored to be working on their own services as well.
The latest entrant is RealNetworks (nasdaq: RNWK - news - people ), which closed on its acquisition of Listen.com on Monday, and will now take control of the Rhapsody digital music subscription service. RealNetworks' Chief Executive Rob Glaser clearly has Apple in his sights.
While Rhapsody is still mostly a subscription site, where users pay a monthly fee ranging from $4.95 to $9.95 a month plus 79 cents per song to burn songs to CD, Glaser says he expects it to try the so-called "à la carte" model, which is similar to Apple's approach, very soon.
"We haven't even unfurled our most competitive weapons yet," he says. "We plan to get very aggressively into the à la carte model. It's going to be a world where there are a bunch of different models. There are going to be a lot of ways for people to do this stuff."
RealNetworks will certainly have the traffic. In July, Rhapsody recorded 12.4 million on-demand listens by its subscribers. But there's certainly something to be said for buying music the old-fashioned way--actually walking into a record store and buying a CD. It's simple, and every consumer understands the rules. That can't be said of the many digital music services launched in under construction, says analyst Susan Kevorkian, with market researcher IDC.
"Many of these services will not offer any consistency with usage rules from song to song," Kevorkian says.
For instance, on the Apple service, all songs are, with few exceptions, 99 cents. Users can burn a 10-song mix to an unlimited number of CDs, although they must replace at least one song in the mix after 10 CDs are created. The songs can be stored on up to three computers and on several iPod players. With Rhapsody, users can listen to a song as a streaming file, but owning it requires paying an extra fee in addition to the monthly subscription fee.
"This can all be very confusing," Kevorkian says. "At this point it really behooves the music industry to offer a straightforward positive experience with buying music online."
The timing would be right, as CD sales are set to fall for the third consecutive year, having dropped to 681 million units in 2002 from 763 million in 2001, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Meanwhile, the market for legal digital music is comparatively paltry. IDC estimated there were only 450,000 subscribers to legal music services at the end of 2002, though that number may grow to 1.4 million users by the end of this year. IDC also forecast sales for digital music at $150 million for 2003. (Just 29% of U.S. Internet users have downloaded music files and just 12% both download and share music files from their PCs with others, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.)
What will likely get more consumers interested is a new generation of hardware that will combine home data networking with the digital music. Microsoft's Media Center PC has already established an important beachhead on this front, and a new generation of devices that will let people play their digital files on their home stereos will generate more interest. Glaser says many consumer electronics manufacturers are already on the case, and will likely have products announced in time for the holiday season.
"Our number-one request from our customers is, 'How do I connect my PC to my stereo?'" he says. "I think that's a big reason why we'll see a big growth spurt in 2003 and into 2004."
Easy squeezy
06aug03
COMPRESSED music formats are redefining home entertainment, writes Greg Thom.
IT'S stripped of so much musical integrity that it makes an audiophile's ears bleed. And it's giving the global music industry corporate heartburn.
But it's also conquering the world of consumer electronics.
MP3 is a byword for musical flexibility, and manufacturers are falling over themselves to churn out devices that can handle the popular music compression format.
USB music devices the size of cigarette lighters, hand-held portable jukeboxes with 30Gb hard drives, mobile phones, hi-fi, digital cameras, DVD players and game consoles are all embracing digital audio.
According to a report by analysts IDC, worldwide sales of gear capable of playing compressed music files such as WMA, AAC and MP3 are set to grow from $11.8 billion last year to $44 billion by 2007.
Three years ago, that figure was $580 million and comprised mainly ultra-compact flash memory players.
However, MP3 players and portable hard drives such as Apple's iPod are expected to make up only a third of sales in the next four years.
The rest will be devices ranging from game consoles and in-car stereo systems to hi-fi systems with built-in hard-drives.
IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian says: "The design and image associated with products such as Rio portable flash players and Apple's iPod portable jukebox have done a great deal to spark popular interest in MP3 players.
"However, consumers buy music players because they want to listen to music, not simply because the technology is cool or cutting edge."
One of the keys to the growing popularity of MP3 is not just dedicated players but also the ability to play back CDs that have been burned with songs.
The trend acknowledges the frantic ripping and burning now in full swing around the world.
It is revolutionising music listening at home, but at the same time is causing music-industry executives to tear their hair out.
An example is Microsoft's Xbox. While primarily a games machine, the device allows users to rip songs from their CD collection on to the unit's built-in 8Gb hard-drive.
These can even be played in the background of some games.
A big attraction in the popularity of formats such as MP3 is the fact it's free. This is so whether it's burning music from your own CDs or downloading songs from the Internet via peer-to-peer services such as the now-defunct Napster and successors such as Kazaa.
But the runaway success of services such as Apple's iTunes in the US, in which users can legally download music for a dollar a song, proves people are willing to pay.
Creative Lab's Nick Angelucci believes there is a new respectability for compressed audio.
"There were a lot of non-believers when I got into MP3 about 1998. I was mocked and ridiculed by retailers, but look at us today."
Angelucci says many hi-fi purists still don't like MP3, primarily for its perceived poor sound quality.
"But it's not the quality that's enticing. It's the fact you have all these songs in the one place."
Ibises International Continues to Strengthen Its Management Infrastructure
BREA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2003--
Company's technology is bringing e-mail, SMS text messaging, video-on-demand, music-on-demand, games, and security to planes at 30,000 feet
Ibises International (OTC:IBSN) in its continuing effort to reshape and improve its financial, marketing, and product infrastructure, announced that it has formed a seasoned executive management team.
The addition of these senior executives will strengthen the company's operations and market focus.
CARL SALAS, President/CEO. Mr. Salas has been in the commercial aviation and aerospace industry for over 25 years. He will establish new market grounds and solidify relationships with Airlines worldwide for the introduction of the company's innovative products or better yet, solutions. He adds, "The name IBISES stands for Integrated Broadband, Internet, Security and Entertainment Solution. Today, passengers on every form of mass transit could benefit from our product." Mr. Salas is an expert in the integration and application of existing technologies to form a marketable solution.
Salas states, "Passengers are more demanding today. They not only expect to be entertained but also to have a means for communication such as emails, SMS text messaging, and Internet access. Why? Because they are already accustomed to these services at home, at the office, and at the terminals or airports...so why not on an airplane, cruise ship, train, or a motor home? The future of consumer communication is heading this direction!"
Mr. Salas was a pioneer in the development, design, installation, and FAA certification of the first SATCOM satellite phones (for Singapore Airlines, Swiss Air and Aramco), TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System), the GTE and AT&T (NYSE: T) airborne telephones. His strong market connection in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East will certainly add a bright future to Ibises.
ROGER K. MARACH, CFO. In this newly created role, Marach's primary focus is directing the development, implementation and execution of financial, planning and administrative systems that meet both current needs and prepare IBISES for its next step.
Marach has over 32 years of experience in financial management, the last 20 in senior executive positions at both privately and publicly held companies. Most recently he was the CFO and Treasurer of a publicly traded, global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer, which he took public. In a space of three years from this company's IPO, Marach raised over $230.0 million for it. He has participated in helping build several other manufacturing and service companies to levels at which they could compete effectively on a global basis. Marach holds an MBA (Finance) from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in economics from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In the technical arena, Ibises brought in the expertise of Mr. MANUEL BELTRAN, Chief Technology Officer of Global Aviation in Brea, California. Mr. Beltran will provide the technical guidance and a clear definition of Ibises future products. He will also be responsible for research and development for the next generation and innovative In-flight Entertainment System and secure cabin file server with wireless capabilities. Prior to joining Global Aviation, Mr. Beltran was Chief Technology Officer of OnlineSecurity. At Online Security Mr. Beltran created a team of Security and Forensics experts capable of responding to security issues throughout the United States and Asia.
Prior to OnlineSecurity, Mr. Beltran consulted on Internet Technologies and Embedded Systems. Mr. Beltran has two patent filings in the areas of computer hardware and software technology. Mr. Beltran launched his professional career as a knowledge engineer in charge of Intelligent Ground Systems Research and Development at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for Rockwell International's Space Systems Division. Innovation and a deep understanding of large-scale IT environments have allowed Mr. Beltran to offer corporations unique solutions to complex problems using cutting-edge technology and sensible business acumen.
Ibises also announced today Mr. Bertagna has consented to join Ibises Board of Directors as its Chairman. In the role of Chairman, Mr. Bertagna will assist Mr. Salas in the strategic, initiative of the Ibises new SMC 3000 system.
RICHARD BERTAGNA, Chairman. Mr. Bertagna is well known in the In-Flight Entertainment Industry for 35 years. He held various executive positions with the Bell & Howell (B&H), Lockheed and Hughes organizations. In 1979 he formed his own company, Avicom International. Based on the financial success of his own company, he was able to acquire the division of B&H he worked for in 1982. He merged the two companies, which continued to grow resulting in the offer from Lockheed to acquire his company. After the acquisition, Mr. Bertagna was requested to stay on as the President/CEO of the new company. He led the company for major awards from British Airways, Lufthansa and KLM. The company continued to grow reaching sales of 30 million dollars in 3 years. Mr. Bertagna made an offer to acquire Lockheed Avicom.
Lockheed's decision to return to their military marketing strength, decided to sell Avicom. Matsushita and Hughes submitted bids. Hughes was the successful bidder acquiring Avicom in 1990. Mr. Bertagna was once requested to stay on in the company as CEO.
Avicom was consolidated with Hughes Micro Electronic Division. Mr. Bertagna was President/CEO and he successfully increased the annual sales to over $120 millions. In 1994, Mr. Bertagna elected to take early retirement to return to the entrepreneurial world of product development.
Mr. Bertagna has been awarded 16 International Patents and US and in 1996 was the recipient of the first Life Time Achievement Award from the most prestigious World Airline Entertainment Association.
Ibises International also announced in last month two contracts for a total of 10 aircrafts valued at $3.5 million. One airline will install in-seat 8.4" LCDs to provide video on demand, audio on demand, games, moving map, shopping (optional), and built-in laptop computer at each first and business class seat. The other will be a simpler system composed of retractable 6.8" LCDs to provide distributed video system for narrow body aircrafts.
Ibises International, Inc. is a supplier of a proprietary in-flight media and security system. The SMC-3000 system provides a cost-effective way for airlines to provide in-flight email, SMS text messaging, video-on-demand, music-on-demand and games. The SMC-3000 also provides security features for the passenger cabin via cameras. Ibises is currently working on new technology that will bring high speed Internet and Live TV broadcast.
SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. Announces Patent Licensing Agreement with AT&T Wireless Services
CLEARWATER, Fla., Aug. 5, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Earlier this year it was reported that Sky Way Aircraft Inc, the now wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. (OTCBB:SWYC), had entered into an asset purchase agreement with AT&T Wireless Services Aviation Communication Division to purchase selected assets of the former Airborne Telephone Communications Network. This purchase consisted of selected network communications equipment, embedded software license, tower site business and technical documentation associated with over 100 U.S. tower locations throughout the U.S. It also included the option of purchasing specific patent licenses that are associated with the operations of the telephone related communications network.
SkyWay Communications Holding Corp. and Sky Way Aircraft, Inc. are very pleased to announce that an agreement for a limited, non-exclusive license to use selected patents that were associated with AT&T Wireless Services Aviation Communications Division was signed. This licensing agreement will provide the use of specific AT&T Wireless patents that are necessary to operate certain airborne communications equipment and air-to-ground network systems. This complements SkyWay's and other's homeland security, Internet, entertainment on demand, flight data management and telephone access products, which will utilize SkyWay's network when completed.
About Sky Way Aircraft, Inc.
Sky Way Aircraft, Inc. is a Clearwater, Florida-based company that is developing a unique ground to air in-flight aircraft communication network that it anticipates will facilitate homeland security and in-flight entertainment. Sky Way Aircraft is focused on bringing to the market a network supporting aircraft-related service including anti-terrorism support, real time in-flight surveillance and monitoring, WIFI access to the Internet, telephone service and enhanced entertainment service for commercial and private aircraft throughout the United States. Based on the final upgrading of a previous airborne telephone and communications network, Sky Way Aircraft intends to provide broadband connectivity between the ground and in-flight aircraft throughout the U.S. using technology that provides a broadband high-speed data transmission. Sky Way Aircraft intends to be the communications solution for commercial and private aircraft owners wanting real time access to on-board security systems, aircraft health and welfare monitoring, avionics operations and for passengers wanting real time high-speed access to the internet. Their network will enable applications that can personalize the in-flight entertainment experience, provide real time access to flight management avionics with long-term data storage and also support for ground monitoring of in-flight surveillance systems that are being designed with the goal of enhancing current airline security standards.
Gateway HDD?
The PC maker releases its first portable music player as it continues its expansion into the realm of consumer electronics.
Gateway released its first portable music player on Tuesday as it continues to expand into consumer electronics.
The Gateway Digital Music Player combines three functions in one, according to Rick Griencewic, director of digital audio at Gateway. It can play MP3 files, it can be used as a portable storage device for shuttling data between two PCs, and it can also function as a digital voice recorder. The device can be plugged directly into a PC through a USB slot.
"You don't have a cable you can lose, which can generate a support call," Griencewic said.
Like Sony, Hewlett-Packard and to a lesser degree Apple Computer, Poway, Calif.-based Gateway plans to come out with a wide variety of branded household gizmos that can be used, and sold, with its PCs.
Overall, Gateway plans to release 50 products fitting into 15 different product categories this year. Internally, the company has formed groups to devise products for the audio, photography, video and home networking markets.
So far the strategy has produced at least one hit. Sales of plasma TVs helped the company reduce losses in the second quarter. However, Gateway had to delay the release of its first handheld from mid-July to mid-August to conduct more testing.
Other products include DVD recorders and LCD televisions.
Two versions of the music player are on tap for this month. On Tuesday, a version containing 128MB of storage capacity hit the market at a price of $129.99. A $169.99 version holding 256MB of memory is scheduled for release Aug. 14.
These initial players use flash memory to store data. Gateway is also looking at the possibility of coming out with music players with small hard drives, as well as with portable CD players.
"It takes a little bit longer to develop a hard-drive player," Griencewic said. "We saw this as an easy way to get on the scoreboard early."
Flash player shipments should continue to rise, according to Susan Kevorkian, an analyst at IDC, because the cost per bit keeps declining. Manufacturers can now offer 256MB devices for less then $200.
"The price point (of Gateway's players) is very competitive," Kevorkian said. "The form factor and direct USB connectivity is very compelling."
One of the features that Griencewic predicted would resonate with the public is direct connectivity. Currently, the Creative Labs Nomad Muvo player accounts for nearly half of the third-party MP3 players sold on Gateway's Web site. It is also one of the few MP3 players that connects directly to PCs without a cord.
Although the new products mark Gateway's first foray into selling branded portable players, the company has sold music products before. In November 2000, Gateway came out with an MP3 player that connected to stereo systems.
However, the product, like similar jukeboxes from Compaq Computer and Dell, only stayed around for a brief period due to slow sales
Gateway Intros 3-In-1 MP3 Player
By Mark Hachman
August 5, 2003
http://accessories.gateway.com/AccessoryStore/Hardware_316441/MP3_316716/MP3+Players_316717/7004816_....
Continuing its bid to diversify itself into a supplier of consumer electronics solutions, Gateway introduced its first MP3 player that also doubles as a USB memory key and voice recorder.
The first version of Gateway's Digital Music Player will hold 128 Mbytes worth of data, with a 256-Mbyte version due Aug. 14. However, the device is designed to trade off data capacity for a slim form factor and low power.
"Gateway brings digital entertainment to life by delivering products that make it simple and easy for consumers to enjoy their music and other media in the living room, in the office or on the go," said Matt Milne, vice president and general manager, digital solutions group of Gateway,, in a statement. "This product is a great example of Gateway's ability to deliver tremendous value with its music playback, file storage and voice recording capabilities. This functionality combined with its affordable price and compact design makes it an attractive solution for enjoying music and more."
The Digital Music Player is Gateway's latest entry into the consumer space, following a line of LCD and plasma monitors first announced late last year.
The device connects to PCs via a USB port, which allows the device to store data. A microphone son the device translates audio noise such as dictation, into MP3 files, which can be played back using the hardwired MP3 player stored on the device.
The 128-Mbyte version of the MP3 player, the DNMP-200, is priced at $129.99. The 256-Mbyte DMP300 will be priced at $169.99.
DVD audio not just a fad, supplier says
By Rhoda Miel
August 04, 2003
TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. -- DVD audio is not a synonym for “fad,” maintain backers of the new sound system, and its appearance in a luxury vehicle as a standard feature later this year will only drive sales.
“The car is the perfect environment for this,” said Elliot Scheiner, a Grammy-winning recording engineer who has teamed with Panasonic Automotive Systems Co. on its ELS Surround Sound system that debuts on the 2004 Acura TL sedan in October. “You don’t have the issue of how people are going to set up the speakers. It’s an enclosed space.
“It’s the car that determines how we deliver the music. All the marketing research says that when people are asked where do you listen to music more, in your home or in your car, the answer is the car.”
Compact discs were an improvement over cassette tape players in cars, but DVD audio is poised to take the digital revolution further. It is specifically designed for the multi-speaker, surround sound systems now coming of age in homes and cars, said Tom Dunn, business manager marketing and new business development for Panasonic.
Panasonic expects to make announcements on other cars adopting DVD audio systems soon, he said.
Scheiner and other engineers taking advantage of the advanced technology embedded in the discs can isolate specific sounds to place an echo from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” in a rear speaker or make it possible to discern individual guitars out of the orchestra of 16 in the Eagle’s “Hotel California.”
“You’re maximizing the equipment that is available out there,” Scheiner said.
It is like when stereo systems first came on the market, he said, and music fans could hear the sound bounce from side to side. But now, there are six channels.
Most upscale cars already have multiple speakers, Dunn noted, with placement of a center channel speaker standing as the biggest hurdle in the auto interior.
DVD units also can play CDs, although major music fans may want to seek out upgraded recordings of their favorites to get the full impact.
It’s not just audiophiles backing the switch to DVD audio. Music companies are pouring money into the systems because they are, so far, immune to copying. Sales of CDs have dropped in excess of 30 percent as computer savvy listeners download music from file sharing systems on the Internet. DVDs also can draw customers intent on quality sound back to stores.
“If this doesn’t take hold soon, there won’t be a music industry,” Scheiner said. “It can’t survive as it’s going now.”
ACCC rejects complaint about copy-control music discs
By Sam Varghese
August 5 2003
A consumer who petitioned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about the problems he faced in trying to play music discs with copy control technology marketed by EMI has had his complaint rejected.
The gist of the complaint lodged by Russell Waters, a technical officer with an electricity company in Melbourne, was that the music discs and new, standard CD players were being sold without any warnings that they may not be compatible with each other.
At the end of a long letter, the ACCC told Waters: "As you are aware, the Commission has attempted to draw consumers' attention to these issues through two Media Releases of 22 December 2001 and 20 November 2002. In the Commission's view, EMI have endeavoured to draw consumers' attention to the performance characteristics of their product. Therefore, it is not proposed to take any further action regarding this matter at this time."
Waters says the ACCC has avoided many of the questions he asked and has written a detailed reply to the ACCC, pointing out where various aspects of the consumer watchdog's response are, in his opinion, inadequate.
For example, one paragraph of the ACCC's letter to Waters said: "Software and hardware manufacturers are continually updating their products. This includes creating new means of storing information on old recording mediums (sic). Innovation brings about consumers (sic) choice and encourages competition. However, in any industry undergoing change such as massive technological advancements, some incompatibilities may arise. The Commission advocates consumers being informed of any likely changes to the performance characteristics of goods and services they are used to buying, and EMI have endeavoured to do this via the notes on the front and back of the disc."
In his reply, Waters wrote back: "But the notes on the back of the CD fail to mention anything about them not being compatible with brand new CD audio players! In fact they state the exact opposite: "This disc is designed to be compatible with CD audio players". Does the ACCC not consider this to be even the slightest bit misleading?"
"The discs I have in my back catalogue do not work on the new model CD player, and some don't work in the fully compatible CDROM drive at work either. It is obvious that this "warning" is hopelessly inadequate and misleading. Or is the ACCC saying that this warning, which states the opposite of what is true in the case of the thousands of players just sent out, is adequate???
"Again, neither the ACCC's warning or EMI's 'endeavour' even hint at the fact that the discs are incompatible with some new CD players. Your warning states that "...discs released in the United States and Europe bearing early versions of the copy control technology could not be played in computers, DVD players or car stereos". I am talking about new release, Australian made CDs and a new CD player, so your warning seems quite erroneous. Are the ACCC going to update this warning?"
He pointed out to the ACCC that Philips, the developers of the CD standard, had expressed the view that the EMI music discs did not fit the Red Book definition of a CD. In the article referred to Philips representative Klaus Petri had told the Financial Times Deutschland: "Those are silver discs with music data that resemble CDs, but aren't."
Waters made this comment in response to the ACCC's listing of the criteria that a product had to meet to ensure that it did not violate the Trade Practices Act - it said a product must "match description or sample - goods must match any description or sample given to the consumer whether face to face, on the labelling or packaging, or in any promotional material."
Waters asked, with reference to this: "What is the ACCC's stance on this, as the discs I purchased are marketed as though they are genuine CDs?"
In response to the ACCC pointing that another criterion which goods had to meet was that they must be "free from defects - there must be no hidden defects, which affect the merchantable (sic) quality of the goods," Waters wrote back: "But the deliberately inserted 'errors' (as described by Philips) on these discs causes every track to jam at 9 seconds in the player I purchased? Does the ACCC not consider this a defect?? If not why not?"
And in response to the consumer watchdog suggesting that he "approach the retailer of this CD to affect (sic) a refund or replacement of the CD," Waters responded: "So are you saying that CD retailers will have to offer refunds on discs purchased last year, as people upgrade their players this year?? Even though the discs could by then be a year old and well and truly used?? What about another year into the future, for how long are they obliged to offer refunds if the discs turn out to be incompatible later?"
Waters said he would not give up in a hurry and hoped the ACCC would take a closer look at the issue.
Sigma Designs MPEG chip powers VWB player
Posted : 05 Aug 2003
Sigma Designs Inc. has announced that its EM8475 digital media processor has been selected by Video Without Boundaries Inc. (VWB) for its latest MediaReady 4000 Internet/DVD player.
Sigma's EM8475, an MPEG-4 decoder designed for STB applications, will drive digital video playback on the MediaReady 4000.
The VWB MediaReady 4000, slated for commercial release September 2003, combines a DVD/CD/MP3 player, Internet browser, email, and karaoke, along with a range of PC componentry, for multimedia access, storage, and playback. The product's open computing architecture will support a number of consumer upgrades; options planned for the near future include Personal Video Recorder (PVR), hard drives, video games, joysticks, video conferencing, and more.
The most advanced in-flight entertainment technology available (October 2003).
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/cb_headline.cgi?&story_file=bw.080403/232165116&director...
Song is partnering with Matsushita Avionics Systems and EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) satellite TV service to provide a complement of on-board amenities, which will include:
-- Personal video monitors at every seat with "touch screen" technology and credit card "swipe" capability.
-- Live, all-digital satellite television programming from DISH Network.
-- Digitally-streamed MP3 audio programming, which will allow passengers to create a personal play list from an extensive library of audio files.
-- Pay-per-view programming available on demand, which will feature a wide-range of current offerings for all ages.
-- Multi-player interactive games that allow play between passengers.
-- Interactive iXplor moving map program with zoom capabilities and points of interest information.
-- Connecting gate information broadcast directly to personal in-seat video monitors.
-- Expandable in-flight entertainment technology which will facilitate the opportunity to integrate additional services in the future such as in-flight shopping and on-line product purchase capabilities.
Windows iPod fares well versus competitors
Gannett News Sevice
August 4, 2003
Gannett News Service Apple’s move to a sleeker iPod design is part of the campaign to keep the music player No. 1 with consumers.
Apple Computer says that more than 1 million iPods have been sold, and an increasing number of those are in the hands of Windows users.
But as more competitors hit a crowded market, Apple has gone back to the drawing boards and made a great music player even better. In addition to a thinner, more attractive form, Apple has assembled a more sensible package. Both Mac and Windows compatibility now comes in the same box. Mac users get the simple, striking iTunes 4 to manage libraries. PC users receive MusicMatch, at least for now, which gets the job done, but doesn’t have as pretty an interface.
A Windows version of iTunes, which also supports Apple’s iTunes Music Store, has been promised before the end of the year.
Although the standard iPod connection cable requires a FireWire hookup, Apple is offering a combo FireWire and USB 2.0 connector for an extra $19. This is bound to increase the iPod’s sales potential, because many Windows PCs don’t come with FireWire. But it has a downside, because USB doesn’t provide enough current to charge the iPod’s battery. You either have to plug the cable into an AC outlet or a standard 6-pin FireWire port to replenish the battery.
By making a bolder bid for Windows users, the iPod also must compete in the same marketplace as lower-cost jukebox players from such companies as Archos, Nomad and RCA Lyra.
Just how does it stack up?
The iPod is much lighter. The 10 gigabyte model, at $299, and the 15 GB model, at $399, weigh in at 5.6 ounces. The top-end 30 GB version of this playing card pack-sized player, listing for $499, tips the scales at 6.2 ounces.
In contrast, the Archos 20 GB Jukebox Studio, at $269.95, totals 12 ounces. The Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen USB 2.0 60 GB, at $399.99, weighs 9.5 ounces. The RCA Lyra Jukebox, at $249.99, has a 20 GB drive and weighs 11 ounces.
In addition to being slimmer and lighter, the iPod shines in quickly getting music and other files from your PC, because it sports both FireWire and USB 2.0 compatibility. Among the others, only the Zen ships with USB 2.0 support, but is also available in a FireWire version.
The Archos and Lyra players languish in the older and much slower USB 1.1 standard, which means that it literally can take hours to get your tunes to your music player, as opposed to minutes in an iPod or Zen. This can become especially irritating if you want your jukebox player to do double duty as a backup hard drive, a feature supported by all these players.
That limitation can more than make up for the price difference between the other guys and Apple’s iPod.
When it comes to good looks, the Archos and Lyra players are busy and functional. Only the Zen has style, bearing a slick grey metallic look and a shape very similar to the iPod’s.
In addition to its larger storage space, the Zen also promises up to 14 hours battery life, compared with just eight on the iPod. The specifications for the other players do not make specific battery life claims.
6-pin FireWire port to replenish the battery.
By making a bolder bid for Windows users, the iPod also must compete in the same marketplace as lower-cost jukebox players from such companies as Archos, Nomad and RCA Lyra.
Just how does it stack up?
The iPod is much lighter. The 10 gigabyte model, at $299, and the 15 GB model, at $399, weigh in at 5.6 ounces. The top-end 30 GB version of this playing card pack-sized player, listing for $499, tips the scales at 6.2 ounces.
In contrast, the Archos 20 GB Jukebox Studio, at $269.95, totals 12 ounces. The Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen USB 2.0 60 GB, at $399.99, weighs 9.5 ounces
In addition to being slimmer and lighter, the iPod shines in quickly getting music and other files from your PC, because it sports both FireWire and USB 2.0 compatibility. Among the others, only the Zen ships with USB 2.0 support, but is also available in a FireWire version.
When it comes to good looks, the Archos and Lyra players are busy and functional. Only the Zen has style, bearing a slick grey metallic look and a shape very similar to the iPod’s.
Drought of iPods frustrates Apple resellers
Sarah Stokely, ARN
04/08/2003 11:59:02
Shoppers wanting to get their hands on the new iPod are turning to internet auction sites like ebay as Apple’s Australian stores are dogged by supply problems.
Last week, bidders on the internet auction site ebay were bidding above the RRP for new model iPods, reflecting the MP3 player’s “hot” cachet and perhaps its sporadic availability at retail outlets.
“We’ve been averaging a hundred calls a day,” Next Byte director, Adam Steinhardt, said.
He described the supply situation as “dire”.
“It’s been a drought for six weeks,” Steinhardt said. “Supply has been trickling through.”
Apple Centre Broadway was seeing a “disheartening” supply of iPods, salesperson, Keith Marshall, said. “We have a steady dribble of supply that goes out to back order. We’ll order 20 and maybe get five.”
Apple Centre Taylor Square was also seeing constrained supply, director, Ben Morgan, said. “Today alone we placed 10 orders on top of 35 back orders,” he said.
While Apple’s high profile advertising of its iPods has seen a spike in demand over the past two to three weeks, it was struggling to meet demand, Steinhardt said. “In the Melbourne store alone I want 50.”
Next Byte expected to clear its back orders with a large shipment of iPods due late last week, he said.
“We’ve been flabberghasted by demand,” Apple marketing manager, Arno Lenior, said.
The vendor was getting extra shipments to try to meet local demand, he said.
While Apple tended to allocate its stocks fairly amongst its channel partners, Steinhardt wryly noted that the vendor did give its own Apple Store an advantage.
While Apple is continuing its high profile advertising campaign for the iPod, it is also receiving both IT and mainstream media coverage including consumer technology and gadget magazine T3, The Australian newspaper and radio station Nova, which last week was giving iPods away as competition prizes.
Creative Likely Saw 4Q Net From Loss Yr Ago
By Sai Man
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Monday August 4, 3:38 PM
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore's Creative Technology Ltd. (CREAF) is expected to rack up a net profit in the fourth quarter after posting a loss in the year-ago period, largely due to the absence of writedowns that dragged down earnings a year ago, analysts said.
Revenue, however, likely declined, as the impact of the Iraq war led U.S. consumers to spend less on its core audio products. The U.S. is Creative's biggest market, where about half of its products are sold.
According to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of four analysts, the computer and consumer products maker is Wednesday expected to report a net profit of US$3.9 million for the three months ended June. The results will be out before the Singapore markets open.
In the year-ago period, the U.S. Nasdaq- and Singapore-listed company lost US$48 million due to a US$29.8 million writedown on investments. This year, the company may even have an upside surprise due to the rising value of the investments, analysts say.
Pranab Sarmah, an analyst at Daiwa Institute Of Research, estimates Creative has US$27 million worth of Nasdaq-listed investments out of a total portfolio of US$41 million. With the Nasdaq having climbed 21% in the quarter, the value of Creative's listed investments at least likely rose too.
"The value of the (listed) portion should have gone up but we don't know how Creative will recognize that in its earnings," said Sarmah. Analysts know very little about the performance of the firm's unlisted investments.
But in terms of sales, Creative fared worse this year than a year ago, with revenue probably falling 14% on year to US$157.4 million, according to the analysts polled.
In May, Creative said it expected to post fourth quarter revenue of between US$140 million and US$160 million.
The company likely experienced sluggishness in its core business of selling sound cards, they said. Sound cards, which enhance the quality of sound for personal computers, is a mature business for Creative. Many computers have advanced sound chips already built in and with consumer sentiment uncertain, demand for the products was likely lackluster.
Creative has been trying to sell to more cards to computer gamers but the market for upgrades isn't as fast-growing as demand for its digital consumer products, which are newer to the market, analysts say.
Sound cards comprise around 34% of Creative's revenue, while its other key audio business, speakers, bring in around 25% of revenue. Digital consumer products, communications and other products made up the rest.
Solid sales of digital consumer products, like MP3 players and webcams, likely helped offset weakness in its core audio business, analysts say. These products are aimed at a broader market, where demand is still growing fast.
These consumer products, demand for which jumped 80% on year in the third quarter, contributed 19% of total revenue from 8% in the third quarter a year ago. Analysts say the fourth quarter should see a similar pattern of growth.
Revenue from its graphics business, 3DLabs, likely contributed US$13 million to fourth quarter revenue, but likely continued to make a net loss, analysts say. Creative bought the 72% it didn't already own in California-based 3DLabs for US$103.7 million last year in a bid to turn 3DLabs' high-end graphics products into mass market products, and help diversify Creative's earnings.
But analysts say Creative has been slow in tapping into 3DLabs' potential, and therefore 3DLabs is unlikely to show profit for some time. Creative has said it hopes 3DLabs to be profitable sometime this calendar year.
Creative only launched its first 3DLabs mass market graphics card in May, a year after it took over 3DLabs. The product, called the Graphics Blaster, allows consumers to boost image quality, a product aimed at computer gamers. This is unlikely to have contributed significantly to sales in the quarter, analysts say.
FID'S New Digital Audio Player Offers Choice: MP3.WMA.FM
Monday August 4, 10:13 am ET
irock! 830 features 128MB of memory and a high quality FM Tuner for only $99.99
CHICAGO, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- First International Digital, Inc. (FID), maker of the popular irock! family of digital audio devices and the innovative MP3i Creator(TM) software, today unveiled a new line of digital audio players that gives listeners freedom of choice: high-quality digital audio (MP3 and WMA) and convenient stereo FM radio. The new irock! 830 comes equipped with 128MB of built-in memory allowing for storage of more than 4 hours of skip- free digital music.
The irock! 830 enables consumers to switch freely between their own personal music collection and local radio stations. The player includes a built-in FM tuner with 20 programmable presets, so finding regularly used stations is a breeze. In addition, the irock! 830 features a sleek, ultra- compact design -- smaller than a business card and only 0.6" thick -- making the player perfect for mobile consumers. The 830 features an amazing 30 hours of continuous playback with one AA battery.
"Consumers are increasingly looking for high-quality, simple and flexible portable devices to enjoy their favorite music on the go," said Randy Cavaiani, executive vice president for FID. "The irock! 830 fits the bill with ultra-long battery life and one-button selection of digital tunes or FM stereo -- simplicity and versatility that consumers can appreciate, with the quality that users have come to expect from irock!"
The irock! 830 supports ID3 tags, displaying artist, title, and album information on a cool blue backlit LCD display with selectable contrast. A USB interface provides high-speed downloading from both PC and the Mac. The unit comes complete with high-fidelity earphones, a carrying case and a neck strap.
A full software suite is included: MUSICMATCH® Jukebox, Moodlogic (for creation of custom mixes based on mood), and MP3i Creator for adding pictures, lyrics, and text to any MP3 file. The 830 is also compatible with iTunes Jukebox software for Macintosh.
The irock! 830 will be available shortly at key retailers including CompUSA, Good Guys, and Fry's, for an estimated retail price of $99.99. In addition, the irock! 860, featuring 256MB of storage ($149.99 retail) will be available in September. Consumers can buy the 830 and download hundreds of music titles for free at www.myirock.com.
About First International Digital
FID, or First International Digital, Inc., (www.fidinc.com), headquartered near Chicago, is a global multimedia company with nearly 100 patents in audio, video, speech and communications technology. The company is a leading provider of multimedia software and hardware solutions, including the patented MP3i(TM) and maxMIDI(TM) technologies and related irock! hardware platforms including digital audio players and portable wireless devices. FID is privately financed by a number of corporate in
NASDAQ: The Fight of Its Life
The once-dazzling market is on the ropes as the bear market, fierce competition -- and hubris -- take their toll
Robert Greifeld likes to run. "It blows off the tension and gets my mind focused," he says. So he ran a marathon in Ottawa on May 11, and when he reported to work in Lower Manhattan's One Liberty Plaza as the new CEO of the NASDAQ Stock Market (NDAQ ) the next day, he knew exactly what he had to do: By 8 a.m., the top layer of management was gone. Then he started axing a long list of overseas and domestic ventures. Within six weeks, he killed off NASDAQ Europe, an effort to build a European version of the U.S. market that had attracted only 36 companies in five years. He canceled a joint venture with a London exchange to trade stock futures. He shelved plans for NASDAQ's own splashy initial public offering. And he nixed a new system for trading small-company stocks in the U.S. "When Bob came in, there were a lot of fires that needed to be put out," says F. Warren Hellman, whose Hellman & Friedman LLC venture-capital firm is NASDAQ's largest private owner.
The fires aren't all doused. Unbeknownst to all but a handful of insiders and industry players, NASDAQ is fighting for its life. Three years in the crushing grip of an ugly bear have squeezed all stock markets, and NASDAQ's franchise technology stocks have been especially hurt. But NASDAQ's problems run far deeper than others' -- and are largely self-inflicted. Its recent history resembles a Greek tragedy of epic proportions, complete with management miscues, fierce infighting among constituents, costly regulatory misunderstandings, greed, and a big dose of hubris.
The question now is: Will NASDAQ survive as a thriving market for tech stocks? It is under assault on all sides. While it pursued a business model that faced tortuous regulatory delays, superfast electronic communications networks (ECNs) such as Reuters Group (RTRSY ) PLC's Instinet, stole its lunch. As a result, ECNs have snatched almost half the trading volume in NASDAQ-listed stocks, or 2 1/2 times as much as NASDAQ's own trading system. What's more, the market famed for its boom-era IPOs is getting a run for its money from its old-line rival, the New York Stock Exchange, which nabbed 45 IPOs last year, three more than NASDAQ, according to Thomson Financial. Combined with the tech bust, the harsh competition drove NASDAQ back into operating losses late last year -- sparking a boardroom revolt that put the 46-year-old Greifeld, who had launched one of NASDAQ's electronic competitors, in the hot seat. The board's marching orders: Cut overstuffed operations to the bone.
Unless they're resolved soon, NASDAQ's problems could seriously hobble tech companies' ability to raise capital just as the tech sector starts to revive. "NASDAQ is on the cusp of meltdown," warns Jefferies & Co. analyst Charlotte A. Chamberlain. "If it self-destructed, it would leave a huge dent in the economy." Since 1971, NASDAQ has been the gateway to capital for thousands of small companies, linking entrepreneurs with investors willing to fund their dreams of expansion. In a world without NASDAQ, innovative but risky high-tech companies might be forced to delay a public listing for years. They could go to a small regional exchange such as Philadelphia's. But the only comparable alternative would be to list on the NYSE, which requires a solid track record of revenues and profits. Without a thriving central market for tech stocks, venture capitalists would have to nurse fewer infant companies for far longer. "If NASDAQ suddenly imploded," says Mark G. Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Assn., "I don't know where these companies would go."
For the moment, Greifeld's toughest challenge is coping with NASDAQ's regulator. For nearly three years, NASDAQ has pressed the Securities & Exchange Commission to let it break free of its parent, the National Association of Securities Dealers, and operate as a stand-alone stock exchange. That would allow it to raise more capital to fight the ECNs and the Big Board. The SEC hopes to take up NASDAQ's application this fall.
BusinessWeek has learned, however, that the SEC is unlikely to approve the application anytime soon. Agency officials see fundamental flaws in the way NASDAQ trades that, they argue, could harm investors. But NASDAQ can't revamp its plan without losing the support of its main players, the big Wall Street brokerage houses. If the stalemate persists -- and so far neither side is offering a compromise -- a schizophrenic NASDAQ will remain stuck between its old persona as a regulated utility and its new identity as a for-profit company, with few good options for securing its financial future. Privately, some SEC commissioners say they worry about NASDAQ's ability to recover its footing.
NASDAQ's current woes spring from its structure. Unlike the NYSE, it isn't an exchange -- a market with a single order book showing the trading interest in stocks among retail investors, mutual funds, pension funds, and hedge funds. At the NYSE, the vast majority of orders come together on the trading floor, where bidders fight to get the best prices. NASDAQ has no trading floor; instead it runs over a sophisticated telecom network linking about 600 customers in 1,000 locations. Quotes and orders come from three major sources: market-makers, or dealers, such as the trading desks at Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab (SCH ) Capital Markets; the ECNs, some of which are backed by the big Wall Street firms; and online brokers such as E*Trade (ET ) and AmeriTrade (AMTD ). NASDAQ collects and displays everyone's data, then consolidates them into a single tape.
SuperMontage -- the snazzy $107 million order-matching system rolled out last year -- was supposed to give NASDAQ its first shot at running its own trading book. But it put NASDAQ in competition with its own customers, the ECNs and dealers. And its background as a trading utility under the thumb of NASD, which still owns 55% of its equity, left it ill-equipped to do battle with the eager innovators. "NASDAQ was a government-like bureaucracy trying to be a startup," says Joseph Lombard, president of Wave Securities LLC, a brokerage owned by Archipelago Holdings PLC, an ECN. "First it had to figure out the politics...and whose ox was being gored. It was innovation by committee, and it showed."
NASDAQ's former bosses say their ambitions were well-suited for the late '90s boom era. Frank G. Zarb, the Wall Street veteran who pushed NASDAQ's expansion as chairman and CEO from 1997 to 2001, thinks the global trading he promoted, and even his proposed NASDAQ IPO, will be realized one day. "I can't think of a single decision that I would have made differently," says Zarb, who is now a managing director at Hellman & Friedman. "The story simply is not finished."
The next chapter will be written by a down-to-earth manager. Greifeld has all the right credentials to halt NASDAQ's slide. The board plucked him from SunGard Data Systems (SDS ) Inc., where he was an executive vice-president. A native of Queens, N.Y., he sold computers to the Street for Burroughs Corp. (now Unisys (UIS ) Corp.) while studying nights for his MBA at New York University's Stern School of Business. The topic of his 1986 thesis: how automation would make institutions the dominant force in NASDAQ trading. In 1991, he joined Automated Securities Clearance Ltd. (ASC), where he spearheaded the development and marketing of BRASS, the system that most Wall Street trading desks still use to manage their orders of NASDAQ stocks. He understands NASDAQ's ECN challenge firsthand; in 1998, he led a team that developed an ECN called BRUT, which now handles about 5% of trading in NASDAQ stocks. After SunGard bought ASC in 1999, netting him stock now worth $47 million, he melded a bevy of business units into a one-stop info-tech shop for Wall Street's back offices. "What Bob is very good at is coming up with a clear road map and relentlessly executing that plan," says SunGard CEO Cristóbal Conde.
Greifeld's first goal is to mimic the ECNs' nimble order-matching systems. Soon, he plans to go on the offensive against the NYSE with the aim of persuading companies to switch from the Big Board. "We're fast and electronic," boasts Greifeld. "The competition is slow and manual." It's a message he hopes will bring NASDAQ closer to his third goal: persuading the SEC to let NASDAQ break free from NASD and become a full-fledged exchange.
The new CEO contends that NASDAQ naysayers miss the big picture. The market has a $490 million war chest. And despite the puny 17% of trading volume that SuperMontage captures, NASDAQ maintains that 68% of all trading volume passes through its computers, if only to be reported on its consolidated tape. Resale of that data to vendors such as Bloomberg LP generates about $75 million in annual revenue. "NASDAQ is a big tent, and SuperMontage is one player under the tent," says Greifeld. Acquiring an ECN rival such as Archipelago, which Greifeld does not rule out, could lift NASDAQ back to the top of the pile.
The NASDAQ name, burnished with expensive marketing campaigns and a glitzy MarketSite on Times Square, is still magic in many circles. Last year, JetBlue Airways (JBLU ) Corp. chose NASDAQ over the NYSE for its IPO because "NASDAQ's image as young and efficient is consistent with that of JetBlue," says CEO David Neeleman.
If all the stars align, NASDAQ could once again become a valuable property. Freed from NASD, the market could issue more stock to acquire competitors and bolster its own trading system. It could drive a harder bargain to cut the $70 million a year it pays NASD for regulatory oversight. And eventually a more measured approach to global expansion through joint ventures and branding could plant the NASDAQ flag firmly in key European and Asian trading centers.
But Greifeld's game plan is fraught with risk -- and depends on decisions largely beyond his control. His efforts to make NASDAQ more ECN-like are alienating the traditional dealers who form the market's backbone. Persuading the SEC's five commissioners to set aside objections by the agency's senior staff to NASDAQ's exchange application will be a tough sell. And persuading NYSE-listed companies to switch to NASDAQ is an uphill job, too. In the past 3 1/2 years, 109 companies have moved to the NYSE from NASDAQ. In NASDAQ's 32-year history, only one company -- Aeroflex Inc., a Plainview (N.Y.) microelectronics company -- has made the trek in reverse. Why would Greifeld think he can overcome such odds? "What choice does he have?" asks Hellman.
Such fatalism would astonish anyone familiar with the unbeatable market that NASDAQ seemed to be at its peak in 2000. Since then, its roster of listed companies has shrunk by 27%, while NYSE listings are off just 4%. NASDAQ is likely to break even at best this year, says analyst Chamberlain. That's going to force it to eat into its cash hoard, which it needs to pay down a hefty $430 million in debt, more than half of which is due in 2006. And although its shares trade on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board, NASDAQ would find it hard to tap the public equity markets for capital because it's still technically owned by NASD, a nonprofit trade group.
For the past three years, NASDAQ has suffered through the same sluggish economy and bear-market doldrums that felled many of its once-illustrious companies. A sour economy hits NASDAQ in all four of its major revenue sources. Wall Street firms retrench, leasing fewer NASDAQ trading terminals. As companies falter, their stocks are delisted, cutting NASDAQ's fee revenue. When listings decline, the market receives fewer quotes from market-makers and ECNs and can't collect as much from reselling the data. As fewer shares trade, transaction fees shrink. Compounding those cyclical problems: When NASDAQ applied for exchange status, it gave up its monopoly over selling trading data -- cutting tape revenue by $25 million over two years.
Revenue and earnings are sliding. In the quarter ending Mar. 31, revenue came in at $166 million, 22% below the same quarter last year; net income was a paltry $2.6 million, down a hefty 88%. Despite the recent surge in share trading, analysts don't expect second-quarter results, due out on Aug. 5, to be much better because of the cost of shuttering numerous sideline ventures.
NASDAQ's problems can be traced to a mid-1990s price-fixing scandal that severely tarnished its image and made the SEC ultracautious about granting it any regulatory favors. An investigation showed that market-makers were ignoring customer limit orders that offered better prices than dealers wanted to post. In the cleanup, the SEC ordered dealers to post such prices but gave them the option of routing the unwanted orders to ECNs, thus encouraging a host of new ECNs.
The scandal also led then-SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. to recruit Zarb, who first dreamed of turning NASDAQ into the world's primary equities market. In the frothy atmosphere of 1999, he spun a grand vision of a 24-hour global marketplace. The NASD board agreed to convert NASDAQ to a for-profit company, spin it off as a stand-alone exchange, and eventually do an IPO to raise capital for NASDAQ to spread its brand worldwide. Even the collapse of tech stocks starting in March, 2000, couldn't cool NASDAQ's ardor. A special meeting of NASD members approved the restructuring on Apr. 14, 2000 -- the day the NASDAQ composite index plummeted 355 points, its largest-ever point drop.
In hindsight, Zarb's plans were overly ambitious. Worse, the architects of the new market badly misread the SEC. At first, the agency was supportive. It approved NASDAQ's for-profit status and allowed it to issue securities representing about half the market's value to NASD members, listed companies, and investors. But the SEC balked when it came to the hard questions of how a NASDAQ exchange would operate -- and it hasn't budged for nearly three years.
The main issue: "price-time priority," or making sure that customers who first offer the best price for a stock have their orders filled first. NASDAQ has never done that. For about a third of trades, dealers match buyers and sellers in their own order books -- without giving any other market participant a chance to fulfill the order. The resulting "internalized" trades are then reported to NASDAQ as done deals.
The SEC values price-time priority because it rewards the most aggressive buyers and sellers and produces fairer prices. It also ensures that market insiders don't ignore retail investors. The SEC has never approved an exchange that did not force orders to interact -- and officials say it's not likely to do so soon. But NASDAQ's market-makers count on these highly profitable in-house trades, on which they collect commissions from both the buyer and seller plus the spread between the buy and sell prices. "If NASDAQ implements price-time priority," says Larry Leibowitz, head of equities for Schwab's trading unit, "the whole market-maker model comes into question -- and all bets are off." Dealers are vital to NASDAQ because they keep trades flowing -- by posting quotes, maintaining an inventory in the stocks they handle, and putting up their own capital as buyer of last resort in disorderly markets. A market that depended solely on ECNs, which don't have such obligations, could break down under stress.
So NASDAQ is caught in a dilemma: The SEC may not let it become an exchange unless it alters how it works. But if it changes the way it works, megadealers such as Schwab and Knight Securities might flee, further reducing NASDAQ's relevance.
To NASDAQ officials, the SEC's attitude smacks of favoritism toward the NYSE, which says all the orders that its specialists handle get price-time priority. They're careful not to blame SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson, who once headed the Big Board. But they complain the SEC is holding up NASDAQ over a theoretical possibility that the best-priced orders won't get filled. "It's like looking at a corner of the Sistine Chapel and complaining about a smudge," says Edward S. Knight, NASDAQ's general counsel. "You've got to look at the whole picture."
SEC officials say they're not wedded to the Big Board model. After all, the agency let Archipelago, an all-electronic trading system, merge with the Pacific Stock Exchange -- proof, they say, that the SEC is open to new models. Archipelago was able to win over the SEC in part because it has price-time priority.
NASDAQ executives are furiously churning out statistics to placate the SEC. Greifeld's team insists that investors get high-quality order executions. One study of trades done in January shows that a NASDAQ customer has a 93% chance of landing the market's best posted price, or better, on an order for fewer than 500 shares of a stock in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index -- the typical individual investor's order. On the NYSE floor, the study says, only 76% of such orders get the best market price or better.
NASDAQ further claims that spreads between buy and sell prices are narrower on its stocks than the NYSE's. In May, NASDAQ says, the average spread on Cisco Systems (CSCO ) Inc. shares on NASDAQ was 0.7 cents, vs. 1.4 cents for AT&T, a comparably priced stock that trades on the NYSE. NASDAQ hopes that its performance, combined perhaps with new disclosures, will sway the SEC. The NYSE says NASDAQ's data are selective and misleading.
To make his case, Greifeld met with key lawmakers and SEC commissioners in mid-July in Washington. The SEC seems ready to bring the issue to a head this fall, after spending almost two years dealing with corporate and accounting scandals. Annette L. Nazareth, director of the SEC's Market Regulation Div., and other senior staff have been briefing Donaldson and other commissioners on the issue.
No one is saying how the SEC will rule. A minority of commissioners is thought to be sympathetic to NASDAQ's argument that its market doesn't need price-time priority if it executes orders swiftly and at fair prices. But the staff, wary of NASDAQ's past transgressions, would like rules to ensure that the best orders always get filled first. The key player is the chairman -- and Donaldson's NYSE background and instincts seem aligned with his staff's insistence on price-time priority. "Competition between buyers and sellers is the essential competition, not the competition between market centers," Donaldson told BusinessWeek in June.
And if the SEC rejects the exchange petition? "They can continue to do business just as they are," says Nazareth. But that would leave NASDAQ in purgatory. At the SEC's insistence, NASD remains NASDAQ's regulator -- and keeps voting control of the company. As long as NASD can call the shots, investors aren't likely to scarf up NASDAQ shares in an IPO. And relations between the two are increasingly bitter, as they feud over details of their separation and the relatively high price NASDAQ pays for regulation compared to ECNs.
Even as it struggles with a messy divorce and an uncertain future, NASDAQ must clean up the shambles of its broken ambitions. Many of NASDAQ's global ventures -- one board member calls them "ego trips" -- became black holes for money. Even after the bubble burst, NASDAQ kept investing overseas. In March, 2001, it bought majority control of NASDAQ Europe for $12 million, on top of its earlier $25 million stake. NASDAQ Japan, which never took off, was even costlier, reporting cumulative losses of $88 million from 2000 to 2002.
When Zarb retired in 2001, Hardwick Simmons, a former Prudential Securities (PRU ) CEO, was hired to carry out the strategy. When it became clear that the ECNs were eating NASDAQ alive, the market hatched SuperMontage as the killer app to restore its supremacy. The ECNs were furious and hit back. They claimed NASDAQ could use SuperMontage -- along with its links with NASD, their regulator -- to gain unfair advantages. Their complaints to the SEC, echoed by friendly lawmakers on Capitol Hill, delayed the new system for two years and forced NASDAQ to make compromises. NASD, for example, agreed not to require dealers and ECNs to post their quotes on SuperMontage.
While NASDAQ haggled with the SEC, competition among the ECNs turned brutal, slashing more than a dozen players down to six major firms. So by the time SuperMontage finally launched last October, "[NASDAQ] hopped into a shark tank with some pretty hungry sharks," says Gerald D. Putnam, CEO of Archipelago, one of the largest ECNs.
Instead of being the hunter, NASDAQ turned out to be the prey. Its system lacked many of the gee-whiz features that attract big institutions to ECNs. Large traders don't dare advertise that they want to buy, say, 100,000 shares of Cisco for fear other players will bid the stock up. ECNs allow traders to trickle out orders without revealing their full hand. To avoid angering the market-makers, SuperMontage left out such features. Says Putnam: "SuperMontage was antiquated from the day it came out."
SuperMontage failed to halt the slide in NASDAQ's share of trading its own stocks, and Simmons didn't respond to shrinking revenues quickly. Hellman -- who became a director in 2001 when his San Francisco firm lent NASDAQ $240 million to buy back its shares -- and his fellow board members stepped in. Simmons left, and Greifeld came on board. The incumbent management's choice for CEO, President Richard G. Ketchum, departed to become general counsel of Citigroup's investment-banking unit. Also out in short order: Steven Dean Furbush, an executive vice-president who oversaw the main trading business, and William S. Harts, director of strategy. Simmons says his plan would have worked if stocks had stabilized in 2002. "We made what I thought were the right decisions," Simmons says. Harts declined to comment on the record. Ketchum and Furbush did not return several calls.
Greifeld brings a nose-to-the-grindstone ethic to NASDAQ, which long behaved as a complacent bureaucracy. And he has the outsider's ability -- and the board's mandate -- to slash expenses. He has cut about 80 staff and chopped five noncore products.
Former NASDAQ officials say most of the downsizing so far was already in the works, and Greifeld will need to go much further -- cutting payroll by an additional 300 staffers -- to bring NASDAQ's costs in line with those of the lean ECNs. For now, the board seems elated with Greifeld: "Bob is exactly what we hoped he would be -- a no-nonsense manager," says Hellman.
Greifeld realizes that NASDAQ can't cut its way back to prosperity. His first challenge is to recapture institutional business from the ECNs. Soon, dealers and brokers will be able to post anonymous quotes on SuperMontage. But there's a catch: Traditional NASDAQ market-makers complain bitterly that by improving SuperMontage, NASDAQ is cutting them out of the picture. "Market-makers can't trust NASDAQ," gripes Arthur J. Pacheco, senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Co. "Do they intend to be in direct competition with us?"
Even with a larger share of trading, NASDAQ will spiral downward if it doesn't reverse its decline in listings. So Greifeld plans to go toe-to-toe with the NYSE. In marketing campaigns and personal visits to CEOs, he will argue that NASDAQ is the better place to list. It set up a Market Intelligence Desk to alert companies of unusual trading activity in their shares. But few industry mavens think Greifeld can win a prolonged shootout with NYSE Chairman Richard A. Grasso. Says Bernard L. Madoff, a former NASDAQ chairman whose firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, does about 10% of NYSE trades: "Take it from me, as someone who's been competing against New York for 40 years, NASDAQ will have a tough time."
NASDAQ does have some ammunition. Since the price-fixing scandal, trade execution on NASDAQ has improved immensely. Indeed, some institutional traders say they now prefer trading NASDAQ stocks over the Big Board's. "I'd much rather trade Microsoft [on NASDAQ] than IBM [on the NYSE] because trading a NASDAQ stock is that much easier," says Holly A. Stark, director of trading at New York money-management firm Kern Capital Management.
Greifeld could try to buy market share by acquiring an ECN. "Acquisitions are certainly something we should be thinking about, no denying that," he says. In one move, he could nearly double SuperMontage's share of trading and radically upgrade NASDAQ's technological underpinnings. Privately held Archipelago might be the most alluring: Since it merged with the Pacific exchange in 2001, it has had the exchange license that NASDAQ so ardently desires. In fact, NASDAQ has flirted with Archipelago before. A source close to both markets says the two discussed a merger earlier this year but couldn't agree on a price. Former NASDAQ execs also say Putnam and Greifeld didn't hit it off.
Instinet, 63% owned by Reuters, is an alternative. It executes about 28% of NASDAQ trades, vs. Archipelago's 15%. Instinet CEO Edward J. Nicoll is now moving Instinet's trading business to its Island subsidiary -- potentially setting up a sale of the trading system, industry sources say. But Instinet, with a market cap of $1.6 billion, wouldn't come cheap. The enlarged Island could fetch $750 million -- a hefty chunk of change for NASDAQ -- says Benn Steil, an expert on global stock exchanges and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
In any case, an acquisition won't guarantee NASDAQ the exchange status and freedom it craves. The SEC would have to approve any transfer of Archipelago's license. Since the Pacific exchange has price-time priority, adopting that would likely be a condition for NASDAQ to buy Archipelago.
How did NASDAQ get into this corner, where every strategy seems to force a choice between its independence and its dominant market-makers? Counselor Knight gripes that the SEC led NASDAQ on by approving its private issuance of shares in 2001. "Those shares were premised on us becoming an exchange," he says. Not so, say SEC officials. "They jumped the gun," says Nazareth. "We could not have anticipated all of the details of their application. They should've waited for the exchange application to be approved."
Why didn't they? "They were pursuing the riches of the Internet bubble," says Instinet's Nicoll. Some former NASDAQ officials think stock options were the lure. "It was an attempt to become a real company," says one, "but you could say a major motivation was to get stock options." Zarb, who received 2 million options over two years, says that idea is "ridiculous." The market issued shares to gain "an equity base so NASDAQ could separate from its regulator [NASD] and support itself."
That separation now looks like a distant dream. A financial crunch looms as NASDAQ figures out how to repay its venture backers. Some industry players and SEC officials think that has made NASDAQ more attuned to Hellman's interests than to its own constituencies. "Clearly, it's dominated by the venture capitalists now," says Madoff. A former top NASDAQ exec agrees: "At this point, Bob Greifeld's job is to dress up NASDAQ long enough for Warren Hellman to get his $240 million back." Greifeld says only: "I am here to protect and grow our shareholders' interests."
In the long term, NASDAQ could struggle to remain just a player, let alone become the world-beater it once was. It has long odds of winning exchange status from the SEC. And despite its for-profit status, it will have a tough time raising the capital it needs as long as it's tethered to NASD. Owned by a stodgy regulator, NASDAQ remains flat-footed and ill-equipped for the cutthroat competition that's taking over markets worldwide. It will have to make far more painful cuts to payroll and operations to joust with the lean-and-mean ECNs. And its quest to lure companies away from the NYSE is a long shot.
Even if it cannot break free, NASDAQ won't disappear overnight. The screens will still flash on Times Square, and for many, NASDAQ will still evoke the glamour of high tech and go-go growth. But those technicolor panels already seem a facade for a shrunken market. The trading venue that once called itself the stock market for the next 100 years could become a mere shadow of what it was in the last decade.
By Paula Dwyer and Amy Borrus
PUCK THEFT! First Ever Audio On Demand Bluetooth MP3 Player
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C1450/
Dave Conabree on February 3, 2003 12:36 PM EST
OpenBrain has announced the first ever Bluetooth AOD MP3 Player. When wirelessly connected to a mobile phone users can listen to high quality streaming stereo music. The coolest part is you can save these streams as MP3. Being the first of its kind in the world, this Bluetooth AOD Player will change the paradigm of portable music devices.
AOD stands for Audio On Demand. Unlike ordinary broadcasting system wherein the listener can only listen to predefined audio programs, AOD service allows the user to select and listen to audio contents of their choice.
The audio streaming function lets you listen to real-time music via access to the Mobile Cellular Network. (High quality stereo sound) You can even download and save music files in memory for future listening with the download option. More than 30 music files can be saved in memory.
The Hands-free function lets you receive and make calls wirelessly via mobile phone. A Bluetooth USB adaptor enables wireless transfer of music files between PC and headset.
Specifications
- Standard Bluetooth Spectification V1.1
- RF Frq. Range : 2402 ~ 2480 MHz
- Tx Power : 0.25 ~ 2.5 mW (Bluetooth Power Class 2)
- Rx Sensitivity : < - 80 dBm (PER 1 %)
- Distance : < 10 m (Open Space)
- Compressed Audio Format
MP3 8 ~ 320 kbps, 44.100 kHz
WMA 8 ~ 193 kbps, 8.000, 11.025, 16.000, 22.050, 32.000, 44.100 kHz
- Audio Freq. Range : 20 Hz ~ 22 kHz
- Bulit in Memory : 32 ~ 128 MB Flash Memory
- Audio S/N : > 95 dB
- Audio THD : < -83 dB
- Audio Output Power :> 20 mWrms
- Battery : Lithum Polymer Battery > 250 mAH, 3.7 V
- Battery life : Standby > 150 hours, Music Play > 6 hours, Streaming/ Download > 3 hours
- Charge Time : < 2.5 hours
- AC input : AC 110 ~ 220 V
- Operationg Temp. : - 10 ~ + 50 ¡É
- Rel. Humidity : 0 ~ 95 %
- Weight : 72 g (ear - wear type, including battery)