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Form 4
InterDigital, Inc. - N/A
Filed: March 28, 2008 (period: March 26, 2008)
Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities
FORM 4
¨ Check this box if no longer subject to Section 16, Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b).
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES
Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940
OMB APPROVAL
OMB Number: 3235-0287
Expires: February 28, 2011
Estimated average burden hours per response... 0.5
1. Name and Address of Reporting Person *
CLONTZ STEVEN T
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC)
5. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer
(Check all applicable)
__X__ Director _____ 10% Owner
_____ Officer (give _____ Other (specify
title below) below)
(Last) (First) (Middle)
781 THIRD AVENUE
3. Date of Earliest Transaction (Month/Day/Year)
03/26/2008
(Street)
KING OF PRUSSIA PA 19406-1409
4. If Amendment, Date Original Filed (Month/Day/Year)
6. Individual or Join/Group Filing(Check Applicable Line)
_X_ Form filed by One Reporting Person
___ Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
(City) (State) (Zip)
Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
1.Title of Security
(Instr. 3)
2. Transaction Date (Month / Day / Year)
2A. Deemed Execution Date, if any (Month / Day / Year)
3. Transaction Code
(Instr. 8)
4. Securities Acquired (A) or Disposed of (D)
(Instr. 3, 4 and 5)
5. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned Following Reported Transaction(s)
(Instr. 3 and 4)
6. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I)
(Instr. 4)
7. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership
(Instr. 4)
Code
V
Amount
(A) or (D)
Price
Common Stock
03/26/2008
M
18,448
A
$ 5.6875
67,448 (1)
D
Table II - Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
( e.g. , puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)
1. Title of Derivative Security
(Instr. 3)
2. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security
3. Transaction Date (Month / Day / Year)
3A. Deemed Execution Date, if any (Month / Day / Year)
4. Transaction Code
(Instr. 8)
5. Number of Derivative Securities Acquired (A) or Disposed of (D)
(Instr. 3, 4, and 5)
6. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date
(Month / Day / Year)
7. Title and Amount of Underlying Securities
(Instr. 3 and 4)
8. Price of Derivative Security
(Instr. 5)
9. Number of Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned Following Reported Transaction(s)
(Instr. 4)
10. Ownership Form of Derivative Security: Direct (D) or Indirect (I)
(Instr. 4)
11. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership
(Instr. 4)
Code
V
(A)
(D)
Date Exercisable
Expiration Date
Title
Amount or Number of Shares
Options (Right to Buy)
$ 5.6875
03/26/2008
M
18,448
06/18/1998(2)
06/17/2008
Common Stock
18,448
$ 0
0
D
Explanation of Responses:
1. On March 26, 2008, the Reporting Person exercised 18,448 options (set to expire June 17, 2008) and held the underlying shares of Common Stock thereby increasing the Reporting Person's direct beneficial ownership to 67,448 shares.
2. A grant of 18,448 options awarded to the Reporting Person on 06/18/1998, and which vested as follows: 2,448 options on 06/18/1998 and 16,000 options on 06/03/1999.
/s/ Steven W. Sprecher, Attorney-In-Fact for Steven T. Clontz
03/28/2008
** Signature of Reporting Person
Date
Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.
* If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4(b)(v).
** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.
Persons who respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB Number.
_______________________________________________
Created by 10KWizard www.10KWizard.comSource: InterDigital, Inc., 4, March 28, 2008
Thanks Doc
Thanks Mike
Pre-Market Trade Reporting
Pre-Market
Last: $ 20.97 Pre-Market
High: $ 20.97
Pre-Market
Volume: 1,200 Pre-Market
Low: $ 20.45
Pre-Market
Time (ET) Pre-Market
Price Pre-Market
Share Volume
08:51 $ 20.97 400
08:43 $ 20.47 200
08:43 $ 20.66 100
08:43 $ 20.45 200
08:36 $ 20.67 100
08:36 $ 20.66 100
08:36 $ 20.66 100
Briefly: NYC iPhone sellout;
new Jersey store; 2008 PC shipments
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/25/briefly_nyc_iphone_sellout_new_jersey_store_2008_pc_shipments.html
Manhattan iPhone sellout
Apple's Manhattan-based retail stores and others are having trouble maintaining stock of iPhones.
The Huffingtonpost is reporting that not a single iPhone -- either 8GB or 16GB -- was available for purchase on Tuesday from any of the company's three flagship retail stores on the island.
"Apple Store employees at all three New York locations -- the original SoHo store, the 59th Street location, and the most recent addition, on West 14th Street -- have confirmed that each store is sold out of iPhones, and they don't know when they'll be getting new ones," the paper said.
AT&T retail stores in Manhattan aren't yet feeling the affects of the shortage, though Apple's online store is also reflecting an approximate 1 week delay for all new orders, suggesting that considerable backlog currently exists for whatever reason.
Cherry Hill store grand opening
Meanwhile, this weekend will see New Jersey gain its 10th Apple retail store when the Apple Store Cherry Hill opens to the public on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.
Located at the Cherry Hill Mall, the shop is just a short drive from the Apple Store Sagemore in Marlton, New Jersey on Route 73 South.
2008 PC forecast
Gartner said Tuesday that worldwide PC shipments are forecast to total 293 million units in 2008, up 10.9 percent from 2007 shipments of 264 million units. However, analysts warned that growth could fall into single digits if global economic headwinds strengthen.
"In many respects, the PC market is fundamentally in good shape. Mobile PCs continue to exhibit strong momentum, emerging-market growth remains robust, and desk-based PC replacement activity is stirring," said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. "However, a deepening U.S. recession, the rising possibility of a sharp slowdown in China's economy following the Beijing Olympics, and the elevated price of oil mean global PC shipments face increasing economic headwinds."
Worldwide demand for mobile PCs remains one of the key drivers of strong PC market growth, according to Gartner, which added that technology and design improvements have not only lowered the price of mobile PCs but also significantly improved their value proposition relative to desk-based PCs.
The relative value of mobile PCs has also been bolstered by the continued expansion of mobile access, which continues to stimulate strong demand for mobile PCs across both mature and emerging markets. Gartner analysts said mobile PC shipments will gain additional momentum as so-called "affordable" mobile PCs, which address price points once thought impossible for mobile PCs, become more widely available.
45nmm Xeons in low-power configs
Intel today used little fanfare to introduce new Xeon 5000-series quad-core processors that promise lower power without the accompanying drop in performance.
The 2.33GHz L5410 and 2.5GHz L5420 are built on the smaller 45 nanometer Penryn architecture that underpins most of Intel's lineup but are tuned to consume much less power than standard Xeons.
At their thermal design limits, both of the new Xeons consume no more than 50 watts, according to the chipmaker. This advancement allows for smaller, more efficient workstations and servers that can still handle heavy-duty tasks.
iPod Reset Utility 1.0.3
Apple on Monday evening released iPod Reset Utility 1.0.3 for both Mac and Windows PCs.
First- and second-generation iPod shuffle owners can use iPod Reset Utility to restore the players back to their factory settings.
PluginManager 1.7.3
On Tuesday evening, Apple released PluginManager 1.7.3 (864KB).
The update is said to improve the reliability of most Apple professional apps, including Aperture, Logic, Final Cut Express, Final Cut Studio, and "related SDKs."
Upgrading requires at least Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.9 or Mac OS X Leopard.
After Hours
Time (ET) After Hours
Price After Hours
Share Volume
18:56 $ 21.37 100
18:56 $ 21.37 100
17:56 $ 21.3675 400
17:50 $ 21 150
17:50 $ 21.25 200
17:50 $ 21.25 100
17:40 $ 20.70 500
17:32 $ 20.45 200
17:32 $ 20.74 200
17:32 $ 20.45 200
17:32 $ 20.70 100
17:32 $ 20.70 100
17:32 $ 20.70 100
17:32 $ 20.70 100
17:32 $ 20.74 100
17:32 $ 22.10 100
17:32 $ 22.10 100
17:32 $ 22.10 100
17:32 $ 20.70 100
17:32 $ 22.10 100
17:32 $ 22.10 100
17:23 $ 20.45 100
17:02 $ 22.103 276,300
16:22 $ 20.36 100
16:17 $ 20.4558 20,000
16:17 $ 21.0817 2,600
16:12 $ 21.1652 300
16:09 $ 21.1652 1,200
16:08 $ 21.1652 1,638
16:07 $ 20.36 980
1
Oh stop with the sarcasm.
Count, You have a PM.
That was not our Miller.
Rumor: Digg founder claims 3G iPhone to do video chat
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 10:00 AM EST
Digg founder Kevin Rose, whose first-generation iPhone rumors fell short of their mark last Spring, is citing different sources this year in predicting that the 3G version of the handset will boast video chat capabilities.
During a 90 second segment of his weekly Podcast show "Diggnation" this past Friday, Rose told viewers that Apple may be restricting third parties from authoring applications that run in both the foreground and background partly because it doesn't want a competitor to its own mobile iChat application that will do just that.
More specifically, he claims that a 3G version of the iPhone hardware due in a few months will employ two digital cameras situated back-to-back -- one on the front side of the unit behind the transparent touch-screen, and a second one on the back of the handset as it exists today.
Combined with the mobile iChat application, the front-mounted cam will pave the way for live video conferencing over AT&T's high-speed 3G wireless network with computer-based iChat users, as well as other second-generation iPhone owners, according to Rose.
In the week's leading up to last year's iPhone introduction, the Digg founder cited sources in saying Apple would introduce the handset with a slide-out keyboard, two separate battery compartments, and make it available for both CDMA and GSM networks -- all of which turned out to be false.
Despite those misses, Rose has made some accurate predictions in the past, most notably his last minute reports of an iPod nano ahead of the player's inaugural release in 2005.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/24/rumor_digg_founder_claims_3g_iphone_to_do_video_chat.html
InterDigital In Settlement Talks With Nokia >IDCC
Mar 24, 2008
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
InterDigital Inc. (IDCC) on Monday said it is in settlement talks with Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. (NOK)and has made "substantial" progress towards resolution of all patent disputes between the companies.
InterDigital, of King of Prussia, Pa., said a federal court in New York decided last Thursday that Nokia is likely to prevail on the issue of whether its alleged entitlement to a license is arbitrable, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. But the court didn't consider or rule whether Nokia is entitled to the license.
InterDigital provides wireless technologies and products for voice and data communications.
Nokia filed a lawsuit against InterDigital in February to stop the company from proceeding against Nokia in the investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission, or ITC, over a complaint related to certain third-generation mobile handsets and components filed by InterDigital last August.
Nokia alleges that it has a license to the patents as a result of a TDD development project between Nokia and InterDigital completed in 2003.
According to Monday's SEC filing, the federal court has ordered InterDigital to cease participation in the ITC investigation by April 11, but only with respect to Nokia. The court also ordered Nokia to post a $500,000 bond by Friday, the SEC filing said
InterDigital said it disagrees with the court's decision and has filed a notice of appeal and plans to request an expedited resolution of the appeal.
The company said it expects to continue to participate in the ITC inquiry against Nokia to the extent allowed by the court's order or any change in that order that might occur as a result of InterDigital's appeal.
InterDigital said the court's order has no effect on the ITC probe relating to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (005930.SE) and certain of its affiliates, for which the evidentiary hearing continues to be scheduled to start April 21.
The company said the patents asserted against Nokia in the ITC inquiry are also being asserted against Samsung and will continue to be part of the evidentiary hearing in the ITC investigation regarding Samsung.
-Gee L. Lee, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-1346
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
it will...:)
Jim, When that happens, expect a 10.00 or more $$ pop!
worth a repeat:Form 8-K :)
InterDigital, Inc. - N/A
Filed: March 24, 2008 (period: March 19, 2008)
Report of unscheduled material events or corporate changes.
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
DATE OF REPORT (Date of earliest event reported): March 20, 2008
______________
InterDigital, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Pennsylvania
1-11152
23-1882087
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)
(Commission File Number)
(IRS Employer Identification No)
781 Third Avenue, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
19406-1409
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 610-878-7800
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
⃞ Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
⃞ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
Item 8.01 Other Events.
Nokia Updates.
1. Nokia Corporation and InterDigital are in settlement discussions and have made substantial progress towards resolution of all disputes between them.
2. On February 13, 2008, Nokia Corporation filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") seeking to preliminarily enjoin InterDigital from proceeding against Nokia Corporation and Nokia, Inc. in the United States International Trade Commission investigation captioned In re Certain 3G Mobile Handsets and Components Thereof, Investigation No. 337-TA-613 (the "Investigation"). Nokia alleges that it has a license to the patents asserted against it in the Investigation as a result of a TDD development project between Nokia and InterDigital completed in 2003 . InterDigital believes that Nokia does not have such a license and, in any event, that Nokia is not entitled to arbitrate whether it has such a license.
On March 20, 2008, the Court, ruling from the bench, decided that Nokia is likely to prevail on the issue of whether its alleged entitlement to a license is arbitrable. The Court did not consider or rule on whether Nokia is entitled to such a license. As a result, the Court ordered InterDigital to participate in arbitration of the license issue. The Court also ordered InterDigital to cease participation in the Investigation by April 11, 2008, but only with respect to Nokia. The Court also ordered Nokia to post a $500,000 bond by March 28, 2008.
InterDigital disagrees with the Court’s decision and has filed a notice of appeal and intends to request an expedited resolution of the appeal. InterDigital expects to continue to participate in the Investigation against Nokia to the extent permitted by the Court's order or any change in that order that might occur as a result of InterDigital's appeal. The Court’s order has no effect on the Investigation with respect to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and certain of its affiliates ("Samsung"), for which the evidentiary hearing continues to be scheduled to commence April 21, 2008. The patents asserted by InterDigital against Nokia in the Investigation are also being asserted against Samsung in the Investigation and will continue to be part of the evidentiary hearing in the Investigation with respect to Samsung.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Current Report on Form 8-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
INTERDIGITAL, INC.
By:
/s/ Steven W. Sprecher
Steven W. Sprecher
General Counsel and Gov’t Affairs Officer
Dated:
March 24, 2008
_______________________________________________
Created by 10KWizard www.10KWizard.comSource: InterDigital, Inc., 8-K, March 24, 2008
It finally looks like this is the year!
Nokia Corporation and InterDigital are in settlement discussions and have made substantial progress towards resolution of all disputes between them.
Form 8-K
InterDigital, Inc. - N/A
Filed: March 24, 2008 (period: March 19, 2008)
Report of unscheduled material events or corporate changes.
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
DATE OF REPORT (Date of earliest event reported): March 20, 2008
______________
InterDigital, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Pennsylvania
1-11152
23-1882087
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)
(Commission File Number)
(IRS Employer Identification No)
781 Third Avenue, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
19406-1409
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 610-878-7800
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
⃞ Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
⃞ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
⃞ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
Item 8.01 Other Events.
Nokia Updates.
1. Nokia Corporation and InterDigital are in settlement discussions and have made substantial progress towards resolution of all disputes between them.
2. On February 13, 2008, Nokia Corporation filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") seeking to preliminarily enjoin InterDigital from proceeding against Nokia Corporation and Nokia, Inc. in the United States International Trade Commission investigation captioned In re Certain 3G Mobile Handsets and Components Thereof, Investigation No. 337-TA-613 (the "Investigation"). Nokia alleges that it has a license to the patents asserted against it in the Investigation as a result of a TDD development project between Nokia and InterDigital completed in 2003 . InterDigital believes that Nokia does not have such a license and, in any event, that Nokia is not entitled to arbitrate whether it has such a license.
On March 20, 2008, the Court, ruling from the bench, decided that Nokia is likely to prevail on the issue of whether its alleged entitlement to a license is arbitrable. The Court did not consider or rule on whether Nokia is entitled to such a license. As a result, the Court ordered InterDigital to participate in arbitration of the license issue. The Court also ordered InterDigital to cease participation in the Investigation by April 11, 2008, but only with respect to Nokia. The Court also ordered Nokia to post a $500,000 bond by March 28, 2008.
InterDigital disagrees with the Court’s decision and has filed a notice of appeal and intends to request an expedited resolution of the appeal. InterDigital expects to continue to participate in the Investigation against Nokia to the extent permitted by the Court's order or any change in that order that might occur as a result of InterDigital's appeal. The Court’s order has no effect on the Investigation with respect to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and certain of its affiliates ("Samsung"), for which the evidentiary hearing continues to be scheduled to commence April 21, 2008. The patents asserted by InterDigital against Nokia in the Investigation are also being asserted against Samsung in the Investigation and will continue to be part of the evidentiary hearing in the Investigation with respect to Samsung.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Current Report on Form 8-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
INTERDIGITAL, INC.
By:
/s/ Steven W. Sprecher
Steven W. Sprecher
General Counsel and Gov’t Affairs Officer
Dated:
March 24, 2008
_______________________________________________
Created by 10KWizard www.10KWizard.comSource: InterDigital, Inc., 8-K, March 24, 2008
BREAKING NEWS Must read.
updated 2 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Adm. William Fallon is stepping down as head of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military matters in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday.
Gates said Fallon took the decision because of recent statements attributed to him that Fallon felt had created a misperception about his goals and those of President Bush.
Gates said Fallon had asked Gates for permission to retire and that Gates agreed.
Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to Bush’s Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.
Fallon has had a 41-year Navy career. He took the Central Command post on March 16, 2007, succeeding Army Gen. John Abizaid, who retired. Fallon previously served as commander of U.S. Pacific Command.
Gates said Fallon would be "difficult to replace" given his "strategic vision."
This report will be updated as information becomes available.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Man Between War and Peace
As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William "Fox" Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world. Now, as the White House has been escalating the war of words with Iran, and seeming ever more determined to strike militarily before the end of this presidency, the admiral has urged restraint and diplomacy. Who will prevail, the president or the admiral?
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
[more from this author]
Peter Yang
1.
If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance. His name is William Fallon, although all of his friends call him "Fox," which was his fighter-pilot call sign decades ago. Forty years into a military career that has seen this admiral rule over America's two most important combatant commands, Pacific Command and now United States Central Command, it's impossible to make this guy--as he likes to say--"nervous in the service." Past American governments have used saber rattling as a useful tactic to get some bad actor on the world stage to fall in line. This government hasn't mastered that kind of subtlety. When Dick Cheney has rattled his saber, it has generally meant that he intends to use it. And in spite of recent war spasms aimed at Iran from this sclerotic administration, Fallon is in no hurry to pick up any campaign medals for Iran. And therein lies the rub for the hard-liners led by Cheney. Army General David Petraeus, commanding America's forces in Iraq, may say, "You cannot win in Iraq solely in Iraq," but Fox Fallon is Petraeus's boss, and he is the commander of United States Central Command, and Fallon doesn't extend Petraeus's logic to mean war against Iran.
So while Admiral Fallon's boss, President George W. Bush, regularly trash-talks his way to World War III and his administration casually casts Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as this century's Hitler (a crown it has awarded once before, to deadly effect), it's left to Fallon--and apparently Fallon alone--to argue that, as he told Al Jazeera last fall: "This constant drumbeat of conflict . . . is not helpful and not useful. I expect that there will be no war, and that is what we ought to be working for. We ought to try to do our utmost to create different conditions."
What America needs, Fallon says, is a "combination of strength and willingness to engage."
Those are fighting words to your average neocon--not to mention your average supporter of Israel, a good many of whom in Washington seem never to have served a minute in uniform. But utter those words for print and you can easily find yourself defending your indifference to "nuclear holocaust."
How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief?
The answer is that he might not get away with it for much longer. President Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough.
Just as Fallon took over Centcom last spring, the White House was putting itself on a war footing with Iran. Almost instantly, Fallon began to calmly push back against what he saw as an ill-advised action. Over the course of 2007, Fallon's statements in the press grew increasingly dismissive of the possibility of war, creating serious friction with the White House.
Last December, when the National Intelligence Estimate downgraded the immediate nuclear threat from Iran, it seemed as if Fallon's caution was justified. But still, well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring, maybe as early as this summer, in favor of a commander the White House considers to be more pliable. If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way.
And so Fallon, the good cop, may soon be unemployed because he's doing what a generation of young officers in the U. S. military are now openly complaining that their leaders didn't do on their behalf in the run-up to the war in Iraq: He's standing up to the commander in chief, whom he thinks is contemplating a strategically unsound war.
It's not that Fallon is risk averse--anything but. "When I look at the Middle East," he says late one recent night in Afghanistan, "I'd just as soon double down on the bet."
When Fallon is serious, his voice is feathery and he tends to speak in measured koans that, taken together, say, Have no fear. Let Washington be a tempest. Wherever I am is the calm center of the storm.
And Fallon is in no hurry to call Iran's hand on the nuclear question. He is as patient as the White House is impatient, as methodical as President Bush is mercurial, and simply has, as one aide put it, "other bright ideas about the region." Fallon is even more direct: In a part of the world with "five or six pots boiling over, our nation can't afford to be mesmerized by one problem."
And if it comes to war?
"Get serious," the admiral says. "These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
2.
It was Rumsfeld's fall that led to Fallon picking up his greatest and, inevitably, final mission. Smart guy that he is, Robert Gates, the incoming secretary of defense, finagled Fallon out of Pacific Command, where he'd been radically making peace with the Chinese, so that he could, among other things, provide a check on the eager-to-please General David Petraeus in Iraq.
As the head of U. S. Central Command, his beat is the desert that stretches from East Africa to the Chinese border--a fractious little sandbox with Iraq on one edge and Afghanistan on the other and tens of thousands of American boots already on the ground in both. Pakistan's there in one corner, threatening to boil over and spill its nuclear jihadists forth upon the world; in another, the Gaza Strip continues to hum like a bowstring; and up north, the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, the 'Stans, rattle along under dictators who range from the merely authoritarian to the genuinely insane. And right in the middle lies Iran.
Where there's peace in the region, how do you keep it? Where there's war, how do you contain it or end it? Where there are threats, how do you counter them? For starters, you might want to make some friends. Which is what Fallon was doing recently on a tour of his area of responsibility.
It's late November in smoggy, car-infested Cairo, and I'm standing in the front lobby of a rather ornate "infantry officers club" on the outskirts of the old town center. Central Command's just finished its large, biannual regional exercise called Bright Star, and today Egypt's army is hosting a "senior leadership seminar" for all the attending generals. It's the barroom scene from Star Wars, with more national uniforms than I can count.
Judging by Fallon's grimace as his official party passes, I can tell that the cover story in this morning's Egyptian Gazette landed hard on somebody's desk at the White House. U.S. RULES OUT STRIKE AGAINST IRAN, read the banner headline, and the accompanying photo showed Fallon in deep consultation with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Fallon sidles up to me during a morning coffee break. "I'm in hot water again," he says.
"The White House?"
The admiral slowly nods his head.
"They say, 'Why are you even meeting with Mubarak?' " This seems to utterly mystify Fallon.
"Why?" he says, shrugging with palms extending outward. "Because it's my job to deal with this region, and it's all anyone wants to talk about right now. People here hear what I'm saying and understand. I don't want to get them too spun up. Washington interprets this as all aimed at them. Instead, it's aimed at governments and media in this region. I'm not talking about the White House." He points to the ground, getting exercised. "This is my center of gravity. This is my job."
Fallon was quietly opposed to a long-term surge in Iraq, because more of our military assets tied down in Iraq makes it harder to come up with a comprehensive strategy for the Middle East, and he knew how that looked to higher-ups. He also knows that sometimes his statements on Iran strike the same people as running "counter to stated policy." "But look," he says, "yesterday I'm speaking in front of 250 Egyptian businessmen over lunch here in Cairo, and these guys keep holding up newspapers and asking, 'Is this true and can you explain, please?' I need to present the threats and capabilities in the appropriate language. That's one of my duties."
Fallon explains his approach to Iran the same way he explains why he doesn't make Al Qaeda the focus of his regional strategy as Centcom's commander: "What's the best and most effective way to combat Al Qaeda? We tend to make too much or too little a deal about it. I want a more even keel. I come from the school of 'walk softly and carry a big stick.' "
Fallon is the American at the center of every circle in this part of the world. And it is a testament to his skill, and to the failure of American diplomacy, that so much is left for this military man to do himself. He spends very little time at Centcom headquarters in Tampa and is instead constantly "forward," on the move between Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and all the 'Stans of Central Asia.
He was with Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf the day before he declared emergency rule last fall. "I'm not the chief diplomat of this country, and certainly not the secretary of state," Fallon says in Kabul's Green Zone the next night. "But I am close to the problems." So, he says, that leaves him no choice but to work these issues, day in and day out.
Late that night, I am sitting with Fallon deep in the compound that encompasses the presidential palace and the International Security Assistance Force. We are alone inside the cramped office of ISAF's chief public-affairs officer.
Fallon had spent several hours with "Mushi" the day before in Islamabad, discussing his impending decision. The press coverage would emphasize how Fallon had sternly warned Musharraf not to impose emergency rule. But on this night, the admiral seems neither alarmed by the move nor resigned to its more negative implications. As he talks, Fallon casually takes off the elastic bands that clamp his camo pants to his regulation tan boots. He's beat after a long day that included meetings with President Karzai and a helicopter trip to Khost, Osama bin Laden's pre-9/11 Afghanistan stronghold. But it was the martial law next door in Pakistan that is the focus of the world. Fallon has been through this before.
"I didn't do any preaching," Fallon says about his talks with Musharraf. "In a previous life here, I had two extra constitutional events: a coup in Thailand, and a head of the military took over in Fiji. So I talked to the president for quite a while yesterday, both with the ambassador and then alone. He walked me through his rationale for what he was going to do and why he was going to do it and why he thought he had to do it. We talked about what planning he'd done for this, the downsides of this, what could happen, and how that could screw up a lot of things. At the end of the day, it's his country and he's the boss of it, and he's going to make his decision."
Before he walked into that room in Islamabad, Fallon had plenty of calls from Washington with instructions to pressure Musharraf down another path.
"I'll talk to him," Fallon replied. "There's an awful lot of china that could break. So I'll do it in a professional manner, because I still have to work with him."
As the admiral recounts the exchange, his voice is flat, his gaze steady. His calculus on this subject is far more complex than anyone else's. He is neither an idealist nor a fantasist. In Pakistan, he has the most volatile combination of forces in the world, yet he is deeply calm. "Did I tell President Musharraf this is not a recommended course of action? Of course. Did I tell him there are very negative effects that this could have? Of course. Is he aware of these? Yes.
"He's made his calculations. He feels very strongly that he's responsible for his country. His alternative is to step down. That would not be the most helpful thing for his country."
Why not?
"It's a very immature democracy. Look at the history of the place. It's rough. Musharraf knows his country. He knows what he's got. Their factions, their tribes. There's that group of folks that wants nothing more than to start war with India, another group that wants to take over the FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], another group that wants to take over part of Baluchistan. He's got a tough road. Most guys in his position do."
As for Washington's notion that Benazir Bhutto's return to the country would fix all that, Fallon is pessimistic. He slowly shakes his head. "Better forget that."
Less than two months later, of course, his rueful prophesy will be confirmed when Bhutto is murdered by militants in Rawalpindi.
Meanwhile, Fallon argues that with U. S. plans in the offing to arm Pashtun tribes against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the FATA, now would not seem to be the time to be pushing the democracy agenda in Pakistan.
When Fallon asked Musharraf, "How long do you expect to have to do it?" the general answered, "Not long." And twenty-four hours later, Fallon counseled patience. After all, he said, think about how strong America's military relationship is with Egypt despite Hosni Mubarak's twenty-seven-year "emergency rule."
But that doesn't mean the relationship building remains limited to just Musharraf, and so the rest of Fallon's long day in Islamabad was spent networking with General Ashfaq Kayani, former head of Pakistan's much-feared Interservices Intelligence agency and new chief of army staff. If Musharraf were ever to step or be pushed aside, Kayani is a leading contender to replace him.
But more to the point for Fallon, Kayani becomes the operational point man for any increased collaboration between the U. S. military and the Pakistani army to tackle the issues of the FATA, which a Centcom senior intelligence official calls "the huge elephant in the closet."
That's putting it mildly. The tribal region is where, according to our own National Intelligence Estimate last year, Al Qaeda was reconstituting its operational capacity, and was now in its strongest position since 9/11.
As with Pakistan, Fallon keeps his powder dry when he deals with Iran. He doesn't react like Pavlov's dog to inflammatory rhetoric from inflammatory little men. He understands the basic rule of international diplomacy: Everybody gets a move.
"Tehran's feeling pretty cocky right now because they've been able to inflict pain on us in Iraq and Afghanistan." So the trick, in Fallon's mind, is "to try to figure out what it is they really want and then, maybe--not that we're going to play Santa Claus here or the Good Humor Man--but the fact is that everyone needs something in this world, and so most countries that are functional and are contributing to the world have found a way to trade off their strengths for other strengths to help them out. These guys are trying to go it alone in this respect, and it's a bad gene pool right now. It's not one with much longevity. So they play that card pretty regularly, and at some point you just kind of run out of games, it seems to me. You've got to play a real card."
And when the real cards finally get played, that's when Fallon will double down.
Page 2
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
[more from this author]
Peter Yang
3.
The first thing you notice is the face, the second is the voice.
A tall, wiry man with thinning white hair, Fallon comes off like a loner even when he's standing in a crowd.
Despite having an easy smile that he regularly pulls out for his many daily exercises in relationship building, Fallon's consistent game face is a slightly pissed-off glare. It's his default expression. Don't fuck with me, it says. A tough Catholic boy from New Jersey, his favorite compliment is "badass." Fallon's got a fearsome reputation, although no one I ever talk to in the business can quite pin down why. There are the stories of his wilder days as a young officer, not the partying stuff but more the variety of rules bent to the breaking point, and he's been known as anything but a dove in his various commands, which makes his later roles as champion for engagement with both China and Iran all the more strange.
In keeping with the naval-officer tradition of emasculating bluntness, Fallon can without remorse cut the nuts off peers and subordinates alike. But it is more the intimation of his ferocity than its exercise that has the greatest effect. And Fallon has recently discovered that his reputation can leave him open to stories that might sound true but are not. Last fall, it was reported in the press that Fallon had called General Petraeus an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" for being so willing to serve as the administration's political frontman on the Iraq surge. The old man had told reporters that it hadn't happened like that--that that's not the way he operates, and, in fact, any time he talks with Petraeus, there are only two men in the room--the admiral and the general--and their exchanges remain private. And when they're not in the same room, "We e-mail each other constantly and talk by phone just about every day." Just the two of them, he says. No outsiders observing. The press sources had an overactive imagination, Fallon said. Now when the subject comes up, he dismisses it with a wave of his hand.
"Absolute bullshit," Fallon tells me.
Fallon and his executive assistant, Captain Craig Faller, say that they both suspect "staff agitation" to be behind the story. Interservice rivalry is mighty strong, and Admiral Fallon is the first navy man to be head of Centcom, so it's not hard for them to imagine somebody from the Army stirring the pot.
Fallon says the tip-off that the story was bogus was the word chickenshit. "My kids called me up laughing about that one, saying they knew the story wasn't true because I never use that word."
So put Fallon down as a "bullshit" and not a "chickenshit" kind of guy.
And in truth, Fallon's not a screamer. Indeed, by my long observation and the accounts of a dozen people, he doesn't raise his voice whatsoever, except when he laughs. Instead, the more serious he becomes, the quieter he gets, and his whispers sound positively menacing. Other guys can jaw-jaw all they want about the need for war-war with . . . whomever is today's target among D. C.'s many armchair warriors. Not Fallon. Let the president pop off. Fallon won't. No bravado here, nor sound-bite-sized threats, but rather a calm, leathery presence. Fallon is comfortable risking peace because he's comfortable waging war. And when he conveys messages to the enemies of the United States, he does it not in the provocative cowboy style that has prevailed in Washington so far this century, but with the opposite--a studied quiet that makes it seem as if he is trying to bend them to his will with nothing but the sound of his voice.
So when, during a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, Fallon whispers, "The public behavior of Iran has been unhelpful to the region," with his pissed-off glare and his slightly hoarse delivery, he is saying, I'm not making you an offer; I'm telling you what your options are right now.
"Iran should be playing a constructive role," he continues. "I hear this from every country in the region."
Translation: I've got you surrounded.
He'd rather not do it, but if he has to go to war, there won't be any anguish. Whatever qualms Fallon had about using force were exorcised long ago in the skies over Vietnam.
"I try to be reasonably predictable to my own people and very unpredictable to potential adversaries," he tells me.
No wonder Fallon sticks out like a sore thumb with the neocons, who have the unfortunate tendency to come off as unpredictable to their allies and predictable to their enemies. Which is the opposite of strategy. He knows this stuff cold, because he's had his hand on the stick for a very long time. The oldest of nine kids, Fallon's old man was a mailman in Merchantville, New Jersey, following his World War II stint in the Army Air Corps. As a boy, Fallon delivered newspapers, bagged groceries, worked in the local Campbell's Soup plant, and would become the first in his family to attend college. His dad's military experiences, along with those of several of his mom's brothers, naturally pushed him in the direction of West Point.
But his local congressman screwed up his application, and so Fallon chose the naval ROTC program at nearby Villanova, a Catholic haven that has produced three Centcom commanders. More than thirteen hundred carrier landings later, Fallon began his long climb through various combat command experiences--including Desert Storm and Bosnia--to the pinnacle of his profession: four four-star assignments that include vice chief of Naval Operations, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, and then boss of Pacific Command and Central Command in rapid succession.
Sitting in his Tampa headquarters office last fall, I asked Fallon if he considered the Centcom assignment to be the same career-capping job that it'd been for his predecessors. He just laughed and said, "Career capping? How about career detonating?"
At the time, I took that comment to be mere self-effacement. I have since come to think that Fallon was deadly serious.
Weeks later, back in that hotel lounge in Kazakhstan, after a brutal eighteen-hour day of wall-to-wall summits and meetings, Fallon is in a more pensive mood, admitting that he never expected to stay this long in the service. At sixty-three, he's one of the oldest flag officers in uniform, and if you count his ROTC time, he's been in for a whopping forty-five years total. And at this cookie-cutter chain hotel deep in the 'Stans, Fallon wears an expression that is equal parts fatigue and bewilderment. "I expected to be running a start-up company by now," he says.
But something else came up.
4.
When the Admiral took charge of Pacific Command in 2005, he immediately set about a military-to-military outreach to the Chinese armed forces, something that had plenty of people freaking out at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. The Chinese, after all, were scheduled to be our next war. What the hell was Fallon doing?
Contrary to some reports, though, Fallon says he initially had no trouble with then-secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld on the subject. "Early on, I talked to him. I said, Here's what I think. And I talked to the president, too."
It was only after the Pentagon and Congress started realizing that their favorite "programs of record" (i.e., weapons systems and major vehicle platforms) were threatened by such talks that the shit hit the fan. "I blew my stack," Fallon says. "I told Rumsfeld, Just look at this shit. I go up to the Hill and I get three or four guys grabbing me and jerking me out of the aisle, all because somebody came up and told them that the sky was going to cave in."
But Fallon stood down the China hawks, because as much as military leaders have to plan for war, Fallon seems to understand better than most the role they also have to play in everything else beyond war. And like a good cop, Fallon doesn't want to fire his gun unless he absolutely has to. "I wouldn't have done what I did if I didn't think it was the right thing to do, which I still do. China is our most important relationship for the future, given the realities of people, economics, and location. We've got to work hard and make sure we do our best to get it right."
For Fallon, that meant an emphasis on opening new lines of communication and reducing the capacity for misunderstanding during times of crisis. But beyond that, it meant telling the Chinese, "If you want to be treated as a big boy and a major player, you've got to act like it."
If you want recognition of your power, then you have to accept the responsibility that comes with such power. That's the essential message Fallon delivered to the Chinese, and if that meant he was out of line with the Pentagon's take on rising China, then so be it. If it seemed as though Fallon was downplaying the threat of North Korea's missiles, it was because he preferred pushing a regional response that signaled a united front but still left the door open for North Korea to come in from the cold.
Fallon now brings the same approach to Iran in Central Command: "I want to go through something positive rather than a negative like Iran, which is a real problem." To that end, and right on the heels of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's meetings with Middle Eastern ministers of defense, Fallon held a similar summit of Persian Gulf chiefs of defense in Tampa earlier this year, something Centcom has never attempted before.
Could Iran be a participant in something like this down the road?
"Oh, absolutely, eventually. It's like the Chinese," he says. "It would be great if Iran turned into a team that decided to play ball in the end."
So how does something like this happen?
How do you turn Iran into a responsible regional player? How can the United States even approach Iran when the regime seems populated by only hard-liners and ultraconservatives?
You start down low, says one of Fallon's senior intelligence officials. For example, there's the shared interest in stemming the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan to Iran. "Iran has a huge drug problem," so that's "a potential cooperative area." More recently, the Iranians promised to stop the flow of munitions into Iraq, arguably contributing to the dramatic decrease in U. S. casualties from roadside bombs. After three sets of talks with the Iranians last summer that went nowhere, another round is being teed up. To Fallon, this sort of engagement is crucial, given America's overall lack of experience in dealing with Iran.
"I don't know as much as I'd like about Iran," he says. "You've got to go elsewhere, to people in other countries. There aren't many Americans who've had extensive experience with these guys. So that puts us both at a disadvantage. Plus they're secretive--intentionally so--about us. It makes it more of a challenge."
Early in his tenure at Pacific Command, Fallon let it be known that he was interested in visiting the city of Harbin in the highly controlled and isolated Heilongjiang Military District on China's northern border with Russia. The Chinese were flabbergasted at the request, but when Fallon's command plane took off one afternoon from Mongolia, heading for Harbin without permission, Beijing relented.
The local Chinese commander was beside himself. It was the first time in his life he had ever met an American military officer, and here he was at the bottom of a jet ramp waiting for the all-powerful head of the United States Pacific Command to descend. Then, to his horror, he realized that Fallon had brought his wife, Mary, along for the trip. Scrambling to arrange the evening banquet, the Chinese commander brought his own wife out in public for the first time ever.
When the time came for dinner toasts, after the Chinese commander thanked Mrs. Fallon for coming, the admiral returned the favor by thanking the commander's wife for her many years of service as a military spouse. The commander's wife broke down in tears, saying it was the first time in her entire marriage that she had been publicly recognized for her many sacrifices.
And there was peace in our time.
Page 3
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
[more from this author]
5.
Fallon is what is called a "four-star action officer," meaning he tries to do too many things himself. He spends no more than a week each month in Tampa, Centcom's headquarters. Captain Faller jokes that if it weren't for federal holidays, Fallon's staff wouldn't know what a day off even was.
Fallon travels at least three weeks out of each month, spending, on average, two weeks in theater, meaning the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia. He travels to Iraq and Afghanistan every month like clockwork.
It's an unseasonably warm early-winter morning in Kabul, and Fallon is out in the field, walking his beat. And short of the president of the United States himself, this convoy is the richest and most opportune terrorist target in the world at present. So everybody wears the heavy armor. Weighed down by a helmet that feels like twenty pounds--applied directly to my forehead--and a desert-camo flak jacket that's decidedly heavier, I climb into the back of an armored Suburban that'll play third-on-a-match in Fallon's three-vehicle convoy. We are told to expect a bumpy ride, as ours is the vehicle that will routinely swerve from side to side to position itself to ram any vehicle that might approach the command vehicle from the side.
It's like riding in a car with the biggest asshole in the world behind the wheel. We almost pass Fallon's vehicle--time after time--only to slam on the brakes, slip back behind, lurch over to the other side, and do the same thing. A word of advice: Don't do this on a heavy breakfast. Fallon's personal enlisted aide, strapped in next to us, says our driver is actually being fairly mellow, on the admiral's orders. That's good to hear, as the streets are full of women and children on foot.
Thirty minutes after we've left the maze of barricades that line every entrance into the Green Zone, giving the place a sort of Maxwell Smart sense of never-ending doors, we arrive at a military airport where two Black Hawk UH-60's await. I ride with Fallon's senior aides in the second one. I am strapped into a four-part harness, the body armor keeping me well cocooned. Minutes after takeoff, as is the universal custom among military personnel, everyone but the personal-security-detail soldiers is asleep.
I scan the moonscape that is the mountains west of Kabul.
Traveling at high speed, we've been dipping ever so gently around the mountains as we travel to Bamiyan Province, ancient home to the giant Buddhas that are no more--parting shots from the once and future Taliban. I can spot Fallon's Black Hawk out the window, framed from above by the sky and below by the barrel of a large machine gun sticking out of our helicopter's side. It's manned by a rather short fellow whose face is almost completely obscured by his Star Wars blast shield.
The view is amazing and reminds me why banditry and smuggling remain dominant industries here. Every road seems to lie at the bottom of a narrow, meandering ravine, and every walled compound looks like a fort out of America's Wild West days. Most of the time, the only things moving across this barren landscape are the shadows from our helos.
We alight from the Black Hawks after touching down on a strip of asphalt located in the center of the wide, flat plain that is Bamiyan Valley. Immediately your eyes are drawn to the dominant geological feature: cliff walls as high as skyscrapers that run along the valley's northern edge as far as the eye can see. Carved into the stunning vertical cliff are two empty frames, each running fifteen or so meters deep into the rock. Here stood the gigantic stone Buddhas carved hundreds of years ago by monks who lived in a warren of caves connecting the statues.
We're met at the landing zone by the Kiwi colonel, Brendon Fraher, who leads a small unit of New Zealand's finest civil-affairs specialists operating out of a small fort a few clicks away. The camp is home to a Provincial Reconstruction Team manned by the Kiwis, who work hand in glove with U. S. State Department, U. S. Agency for International Development, and ISAF personnel in coordinating coalition reconstruction aid to this province.
As we head to a convoy of armored Ford F-350 pickups, Fallon says that Fraher reports two enemy rockets landed nearby yesterday, but other than that, all's quiet. We speed off to meet the only female provincial governor in Afghanistan. Pulling up to the local government building, we pile out of the pickups and file into a large receiving room blanketed by modest Persian rugs and surrounded by even more modest couches. Just inside, we strip off the helmets and vests and heap them into a pile of fabric-covered metal and ceramic in the corner, all of it too heavy to hang on any coatrack.
Fallon--who's done this sort of thing so often, he seems to glide through the protocol--zeroes in on Governor Habiba Sarabi, a middle-aged woman of average height who's dressed in a reform sort of way--head covered but face exposed. Despite all our accompanying security, you've got to believe she's the biggest Taliban target in the room.
Tea is served and formal greetings are exchanged with no need for translation, as the governor speaks English with calculated fluency, a skill she demonstrates a half hour into the meeting, when Fallon makes clear that he wants to hear her complaints.
It's a tricky moment for Sarabi, because she's basically critiquing Western aid and the military agencies represented by the officials surrounding her now. It's like bitching about your parents in front of Child Protective Services: Strike the right note and you might suddenly find yourself free of them for good.
Speaking about a road long-promised by Kabul and the coalition that would connect this isolated valley to Afghanistan's central circular artery, the Ring Road, she suddenly blurts out, "This is three years that the Bamiyan people have been waiting for this road!"
Fallon aggressively queries the assembled officials in order, running from the deputy chief of mission at the U. S. embassy to the USAID leader to the ISAF officers and, finally, the local Kiwi PRT commander. Each offers a typically complex, bureaucratic response in turn. Glancing at the governor, I can almost feel her anger rising.
With obvious passion, Sarabi interrupts the proceedings with a stream of complaints about the length and complexity of USAID's planning process. This is where her fluency in English suddenly falters, as Sarabi's sentences start trailing off, leading the assembled officials to fill in the blanks.
"It is very . . . "
"Long?" chimes in the USAID official.
"And there is such a lack of . . . ahh." Sarabi raises a finger to her chin, scanning the far wall as if the word lingers there.
"Coordination?" offers the deputy chief of mission.
"It all makes me so incredibly . . . how do you say?"
"Mad?" one officer suggests.
"Depressed?"
"Angry?"
It's almost like an auction now as the bids keep rising. I'm just about ready to toss in my personal favorite, "pissed off," when Fallon weighs in with "frustrated"--no question mark.
Sarabi turns toward the admiral, a sly smile passes across her face.
Fallon starts probing yet again, this time cutting off officials, as their answers obscure rather than illuminate.
Emboldened, the governor piles on with a new complaint: Every winter, a local river becomes impassable for a local migratory tribe that is then stranded outside the valley.
Fallon asks the deputy chief of mission, "Are you aware of this?"
The DCM replies, "No, I wasn't, and I promise to look into that."
Fallon's on a roll now, and the governor is beaming, but his efforts soon head into a bureaucratic cul-de-sac that no one in the room can fix. Kabul's central government simply does not prioritize this heartland province. Fallon asks the senior American ISAF officer if the coalition could arrange a Bailey pontoon bridge just for the winter months. In return, he gets a complex answer about past surveys.
Fallon cuts him off and turns to the governor. "I tell you what, I'm not getting a satisfactory answer here. I'll be honest. I don't think we can do anything for you this winter. However, I will try to get, from many miles away, a screwdriver big enough to push this process for next year."
The governor immediately thanks Fallon for his promise.
Fallon doesn't forget details like that. Six months earlier, he noticed that the American flag flying outside the Hyatt hotel in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was frayed. He had told one of the defense attachés at the U. S. embassy to get it replaced. The beaten-up flag was still there when we arrived. It's late on the fifth straight day of nonstop travel that has taken Fallon's entourage from Florida to Qatar to Pakistan to Afghanistan and now to Kyrgyzstan. Tomorrow, Tajikistan, where he'll have to put up with the Putin clone who is president. So at the moment, maybe the flag is not all that's frayed. His gaze fixed on it, Fallon quietly repeats his order, his voice so low and so quiet that you can almost hear somebody's next promotion getting axed.
Page 4
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
[more from this author]
6.
Unlike his Arabic-speaking predecessor, Army General John Abizaid, Fox Fallon wasn't selected to lead U. S. Central Command for his regional knowledge or cultural sensitivity, but because he is, says Secretary of Defense Gates, "one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today."
If anything has been sorely missing to date in America's choices in the Middle East and Central Asia, it has been a strategic mind-set that consistently keeps its eyes on the real prize: connecting these isolated regions in a far more broadband fashion to the global economy. Instead of effectively countering the efforts of others (e.g., the radical Salafis, Saudi Arabia's Wahhabists, Russia's security services, China's energy sector) who would fashion such connectivity to their selfish ends, Washington has wasted precious time focusing excessively on transforming the political systems of Iraq and Afghanistan, as though governments somehow birth functioning societies and economies instead of the other way around.
Waiting on perfect security or perfect politics to forge economic relationships is a fool's errand. By the time those fantastic conditions are met in this dangerous, unstable part of the world, somebody less idealistic will be running the place--the Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, Indians, Turks, Iranians, Saudis. That's why Fallon has been aggressively hawking his southern strategy of encouraging a north-south "energy corridor" between the Central Asian republics and the energy-starved-but-booming Asian subcontinent (read: Islamabad down through Bangalore and then east to Kolkata), with both Afghanistan and Pakistan as crucial conduits.
On this trip, he's been shepherding a new bridge that links isolated Tajikistan with Afghanistan. The potential here is huge: Tajikistan is 95 percent mountainous and extremely food dependent. Its main asset is its untapped hydroelectric capacity. Afghanistan presents just the opposite picture--food to export but most of the country lacks an effective electric grid.
So what should America be pushing first in both states? Free-and-clear elections for massively impoverished populations, or whatever it takes to get Tajikistan's resource with Afghanistan's resource? Which path, do you think, would scare the Taliban and Al Qaeda more? To Fallon, there isn't even a question to answer.
But this part of the world is defined by its fortresses, and is not known for willingly connecting to the outside world. Tajikistan's powerful security chief, Khayriddin Abdurahimov, had been doing his best to gum up the works on the just-finished bridge, which he allowed to open for business only four hours a day. Having just achieved control of the country's border-security agency, Abdurahimov believed the bridge made the country vulnerable to Afghanistan's dangerous drugs and nothing more.
On the eve of Fallon's arrival, President Emomali Rahmon intervened and extended the bridge's operating schedule to eight hours a day, admitting to Fallon in their first summit that he needs to do more to champion the economic potential.
But Fallon doesn't stop there. Immediately following his meeting with Rahmon, he meets face-to-face with the highly secretive Abdurahimov, who almost never meets with foreign officials.
Just as with Musharraf, Fallon does not preach. He suggests, he encourages, he cajoles, he offers, and he debates, but he does not preach--save the gospel of economic connectivity. Even there, he is not eager to appear competitive with any regional power. "I don't want to create the impression that we're just replacing the Russians," he says.
He just wants a damn bridge.
Fallon gets his bridge.
7.
Fallon's got a spread in a little town in Montana. The streams of this town seem to be full of eighteen-inch fish that he says he'd like to take a crack at someday soon. But the fish of Fallon's town are safe for the moment.
While Condoleezza Rice and the State Department manage a vague endgame on the two-state solution in Palestine, Gates and Fallon have begun the regional-security dialogue that's truly regional in scope.
The rollback of Al Qaeda seems to be both real and continuing, save for the border region of Pakistan. And to gain greater flexibility to plan for the region, Fallon says that he is determined to draw down in Iraq. One of the reasons Fallon says he banished the term "long war" from Centcom's vocabulary is that he believes real victory in this struggle will be defined in economic terms first, and so the emphasis on war struck him as "too narrow." But the term also signaled a long haul that Fallon simply finds unacceptable. He wants troop levels in Iraq down now, and he wants the Afghan National Army running the show throughout most of Afghanistan by the end of this year. Fallon says he wants to move the pile dramatically in the time he's got remaining, however long that may be. And he gets frustrated. "I grind my teeth at the pace of change."
Freeing the United States from being tied down in Iraq means a stronger effort in Afghanistan, more focus on Pakistan, and more time spent creating networks of relationships in Central Asia. With Syria and Lebanon recently added to Centcom's area of responsibility, look to see Fallon popping up in Beirut and Damascus regularly. And he says he is more than willing to take on Israel and Palestine to boot, which for now remains a bastard stepchild of European Command.
The Persian Gulf right now is booming economically, and Fallon wants to harness that power to connect the failed states that pockmark the landscape to the outside world. In this choice, he sees no alternative.
"What I learned in the Pacific is that after a while the tableau of failed, failing, or dysfunctional states becomes a real burden on the functional countries and a problem for their neighborhood, because they breed unrest and insecurities and attract troublemakers very well. They're like sewers, and they begin to fester. It's bad for business. And when it's bad for business, people tend to start restricting their investments, and they restrict their thinking, and it allows more barriers, so we're back to building walls again instead of breaking them down. If you have to build walls, it means you're moving backward."
Fallon has no illusion about solving the Middle East or Central Asia during his tenure, but he's also acutely conscious that with globalization's rapid advance into these regions he may well be the last Centcom commander of his kind. Already Fallon sees the inevitability and utility of having a Chinese military partnership at Centcom, and he'd like to manage that inevitably from the start rather than have to repair damage down the line.
"I'd like to continue to do things that will be useful to the world and its inhabitants," he says. "I've seen a lot of good things, and I've seen a lot of stupid things."
And then there is Iran. No sooner had the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei signaled a willingness to deal with any American but George W. Bush, and no sooner had Fallon signaled America's willingness to refrain from bombing Tehran, than a little international incident occurred.
Just the kind of incident that doughy neocons dream sweetly about. Right after the new year, three American ships were passing through the Strait of Hormuz, exchanging normal greetings with Gulf State navies, checking them out as they passed. The same with the Iranian navy. And then, suddenly, small Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps boats started speeding toward the American ships, showing, the admiral says, "very stupid behavior, showboating, and provocative taunts. Given that it was a small boat that did in the USS Cole, this was very dangerous behavior."
The Iranians dropped boxes in the water, simulating mines.
"Remember," he says, "my first day on this job, I was greeted by the IRGC snatching the British sailors, and so it was a sense of here we go again. You wonder, Are they really acting on their own, because the pattern seems clear."
Fallon's eyes narrow and his voice becomes that whisper: "This is not how a country that wants to be a big boy in the neighborhood behaves. How are we supposed to take these guys seriously as players in the region? You'd like to deal with them as big-league players, but when they do this, it's very tough."
As before, there is the text and the subtext. Admiral William Fallon shakes his head slowly, and his eyes say, These guys have no idea how much worse it could get for them. I am the reasonable one.
And time will tell whether being reasonable will cost Admiral William Fallon his command.
He speaks and we go POP!
'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff
ALEXANDER PANETTA
The Canadian Press
March 5, 2008 at 8:53 PM EST
OTTAWA — If the Prime Minister is seeking the first link in the chain of events that has rocked the U.S. presidential race, he need look no further than his chief of staff, Ian Brodie, The Canadian Press has learned.
A candid comment to journalists from CTV News by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's most senior political staffer during the hurly-burly of a budget lock-up provided the initial spark in what the American media are now calling NAFTAgate.
Mr. Harper announced Wednesday that he has asked an internal security team to begin finding the source of a document leak that he characterized as being "blatantly unfair" to Senator Barack Obama.
What is now a swirling Canada-U.S. controversy began on Feb. 26, when the usually circumspect Mr. Brodie was milling among droves of Canadian media on budget day in the stately old building that once housed Ottawa's train station.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff Ian Brodie watches from the back of the room during a photo op before the government caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
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Reporters were locked up there all day, examining the federal budget until they were allowed to leave once it was tabled in the House of Commons at 4 p.m.
Since the budget contained little in the way of headline-grabbing surprises, some were left with enough free time to gather around a large-screen TV to watch the latest hockey news on NHL trade deadline day.
Mr. Brodie wandered over to speak to Finance Department officials and chatted amiably with journalists — who appreciated this rare moment of direct access to the top official in Mr. Harper's notoriously tight-lipped government.
The former university professor found himself in a room with CTV employees where he was quickly surrounded by a gaggle of reporters while other journalists were within earshot of other colleagues.
At the end of an extended conversation, Mr. Brodie was asked about remarks aimed by the Democratic candidates at Ohio's anti-NAFTA voters that carried serious economic implications for Canada.
Since 75 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S., Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton's musings about reopening the North American free-trade pact had caused some concern.
Mr. Brodie downplayed those concerns.
"Quite a few people heard it," said one source in the room.
"He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry."
Government officials did not deny the conversation took place.
They said that Mr. Brodie sought to allay concerns about the impact of Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton's assertion that they would re-negotiate NAFTA if elected. But they did say that Mr. Brodie had no recollection of discussing any specific candidate — either Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama.
CTV News President Robert Hurst said he would not discuss his journalists' sources.
But others said the content of Mr. Brodie's remarks was passed on to CTV's Washington bureau and their White House correspondent set out the next day to pursue the story on Ms. Clinton's apparent hypocrisy on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Although CTV correspondent Tom Clark mentioned Ms. Clinton in passing, the focus of his story was on assurances from the Obama camp.
He went to air on Feb. 27 with a report that the Democratic front-runner had given advance notice to Canadian diplomats that he was about to engage in some anti-NAFTA rhetoric, but not to take it too seriously.
The report wound up on YouTube and caused an uproar in the U.S. race — influencing the final days of the critical Ohio primary, with every indication it will also play a role in the upcoming Pennsylvania vote.
Mr. Obama has been pilloried by his opponents and faced the most aggressive questioning of his heretofore smooth-sailing campaign.
Clinton used the story to cast him as a double-talking hypocrite — winking and nudging at Canadians while making contrary promises to American voters.
Republican nominee John McCain — who proudly dubs himself a straight-talker — has also seized on the incident to paint the Democratic front-runner as anything but.
When Mr. Obama's campaign and the Canadian government denied the allegation, a leaked document was obtained by The Associated Press written by a Canadian diplomat. It chronicled a conversation between Obama economic adviser Austan Goulsbee and diplomats at Canada's Chicago consulate.
The Obama aide has challenged the wording of the memo and says it characterized the conversation unfairly. A government official said that memo was initially e-mailed to over 120 government employees.
Mr. Harper has rebuffed opposition requests to call in the RCMP and also investigate the source of the original tip that led to the CTV report that triggered the diplomatic tempest. But a team of internal security agents has begun an investigation that will see dozens of bureaucrats and political staff questioned about their knowledge of the leak.
"This kind of leaking of information is completely unacceptable. In fact, it may well be illegal," Mr. Harper told the House of Commons.
"It is not useful, it is not in the interests of the government of Canada — and the way the leak was executed was blatantly unfair to Senator Obama and his campaign.
"Based on what (investigators) find, and based on legal advice, we will take any action that is necessary to get to the bottom of this matter."
NDP Leader Jack Layton is asking Mr. Harper to call on the Mounties to find out how the leaks occurred, and whether the Security of Information Act or any other privacy legislation was breached.
"There can be no doubt about it: the leak from within the Canadian government has had an impact now on the American elections," Mr. Layton said Wednesday.
"That is about the worst thing a country could do to another country — to have an effect on their democratic process. . . If Mr. Harper isn't willing to call in the RCMP that confirms our suspicion that this was intentional."
Mr. Layton said Canadians would never accept Americans interfering in our elections, and we shouldn't tamper with theirs.
He said the incident is far more serious than another one last year in which the government called in the RCMP.
A temporary employee at Environment Canada was arrested in his office and marched out in handcuffs for allegedly leaking details of a government climate-change plan to the media.
Mr. Layton said that's small potatoes compared with inflicting political damage on one of the three contenders to lead the world's biggest superpower, and Canada's neighbour and largest trading partner.
"He's unwilling to treat it with the level of serious attention that he did when there was a junior bureaucrat at environment. . . He called in the RCMP on that one."
Recommend this article? 461 votes
Let's keep politics off the board.
February 11, 2008 01:00 PM Eastern Time
InterDigital Announces Date for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2007 Financial Results Release and Conference Call
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) announced today that it will release its fourth quarter and full year 2007 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, February 28, 2008.
InterDigital will host a conference call on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2007 performance and other company matters. For access to the conference call within the U.S. please dial (888) 802-2225 by 9:50 a.m. EST on February 28 and ask the operator for the InterDigital Financial Call. Participants calling from outside the U.S. should dial (913) 312-1254.
InterDigital also will provide live access to the call on its web site at: www.interdigital.com. The company encourages participants to take advantage of the Internet option if possible. For the live Internet broadcast, click on link to the Live Web Cast on the homepage.
In addition, a replay of the call will be available from 1:00 p.m. EST February 28 through 12:00 p.m. EST March 6. To access the recorded replay, dial (888) 203-1112 or (719) 457-0820 and use the replay passcode 4837775. A replay of the conference call will be available for 30 days on InterDigital’s web site in the Investor Relations section.
About InterDigital
InterDigital designs, develops and provides advanced wireless technologies and products that drive voice and data communications. InterDigital is a leading contributor to the global wireless standards and holds a strong portfolio of patented technologies which it licenses to manufacturers of 2G, 2.5G, 3G, and 802 products worldwide. Additionally, the company offers a family of SlimChip™ high performance mobile broadband modem solutions, consisting of Baseband ICs, Modem IP and Reference Platforms. InterDigital's differentiated technology and product solutions deliver time-to-market, performance and cost benefits.
For more information, visit the InterDigital website: www.interdigital.com.
InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.
Clinton's campaign manager stepping down.
Apple, RIM to benefit from shift away from basic cell phones - study
By Slash Lane
Published: 11:00 AM EST
Record numbers of consumers are abandoning their basic cell phones for more advanced models -- with Research-in-Motion and Apple the primary beneficiaries, according to ChangeWave’s latest consumer cell phone survey.
The January survey of 4,182 consumers focused on key market share changes among cellular manufacturers and service providers -- and the results show a continuing seismic shift in the cell phone market.
Among respondents who said they plan to buy a new cell phone in the next six months, the Apple iPhone remains the top choice, with 17 percent of the votes -- up one point from ChangeWave's previous survey. The RIM BlackBerry came in a close second, however, rising 3 points to 15 percent and showing the most momentum going forward.
On the downside, one-time market dominator Motorola declined another 4-pts in terms of future planned purchases, garnering just 11 percent of the votes and continuing "a horrendous slide that began immediately after Apple chief executive Steve Jobs’ announcement of the iPhone."
The survey also found that Apple is maintaining a commanding lead in customer satisfaction with 72 percent of customers saying they are "Very Satisfied" compared to the other major manufacturers. RIM came in second with 55 percent of its customers saying they are "Very Satisfied" with their Blackberry handsets.
Meanwhile, Palm (30 percent) ranked at the very bottom in terms of customer satisfaction, while Motorola (34 percent), Sony/Ericsson (34 percent) and Samsung (34 percent) are all tied in next-to-last place.
"The accelerating shift to advanced smart phones comes at a time when overall consumer cell phone buying appears to be weakening," an unidentified ChangeWave analyst wrote in the report. "Just 23 percent of respondents say they'll buy a cell phone over the next six months -- 3 points less than at any other point of the past year."
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/02/07/apple_rim_to_benefit_from_shift_away_from_basic_cell_phones_study.html
AT&T plans major 3G expansion ahead of second-gen iPhone
By Katie Marsal
Published: 01:00 PM EST
AT&T said Wednesday it plans a major expansion of its wireless network during the 2008 calendar year, including the deployment of third-generation (3G) wireless broadband service to more than 80 additional cities in the United States through the course of the year.
The news comes just months before Apple is expected to announce availability of its second generation iPhone, which, unlike the existing version, is expected to make broad use of the carrier's 3G network. The current version of the iPhone only functions on AT&T's slower 2.5G network dubbed Edge.
The planned expansion is expected to deliver AT&T 3G services to nearly 350 leading U.S. markets by the end of 2008, AT&T said in a statement, including all of the top 100 U.S. cities. The 3G initiative will also include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide. Other plans for the new year include completion of the nation's first High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)-enabled network by the middle of the year.
According to AT&T, its 3G network now delivers typical downlink speeds ranging between 600 and 1,400 Kilobits per second (Kbps), as well as faster uplink speeds, ranging from 500 and 800 Kilobits per second (Kbps). The faster uplink speeds allow AT&T's HSUPA-enabled laptop users to more quickly send large files and take full advantage of the latest interactive Internet and business applications.
"Fast wireless broadband is the foundation for a whole range of new and emerging applications that our customers are adopting, including everything from social networking to sending live video and large business files," said AT&T Wireless chief executive Ralph de la Vega. "With these aggressive initiatives, we're expanding the scope and the speed of our 3G capabilities, connecting people with their world and enabling more customers to do more with their wireless devices, wherever they may be."
De la Vega added this firm has also begun planning for the future by establishing a clear path to a 4G network that will meet the needs of its customers for years to come.
The deployment of HSUPA this year is the next step in the evolution of AT&T's 3G network, with further enhancements and speed boosts expected in the near future. This year's HSUPA deployment will complete the transition of the AT&T 3G network to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standards, the carrier said, marking the only full transition by any wireless provider in the United States to this latest generation of wireless broadband capabilities.
"From the beginning, our wireless network has been designed with the future in mind," said de la Vega. "The capabilities of 3G standards will continue to expand over the next several years, enabling us to stay well ahead of our customers' broadband needs. And looking even further into the future, our existing technologies provide the ideal platform for a smooth transition to next-generation platforms."
http://www.appleinsider.com/
Form 8-K
InterDigital, Inc. - N/A
Filed: February 05, 2008 (period: February 05, 2008)
Report of unscheduled material events or corporate changes.
Table of Contents
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
SIGNATURES
EXHIBIT INDEX
EX-99.1 (EXHIBIT 99.1)
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
DATE OF REPORT (Date of earliest event reported): February 5, 2008
______________
InterDigital, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Pennsylvania 1-11152 23-1882087
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)
781 Third Avenue, King of Prussia, PA 19406-1409
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 610-878-7800
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
The slide presentation attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 will be presented by InterDigital, Inc. (the Company) at the Thomas Weisel Partners Technology, Telecom & Internet Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California on February 5, 2008. This presentation may be used by the Company at future investor conferences or meetings.
The information in this report, including Exhibit 99.1, is being furnished pursuant to Item 7.01 of Form 8-K and shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that Section, nor shall such information be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(c) Exhibits.
99.1 Investor presentation of InterDigital, Inc. dated February 5, 2008.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Current Report on Form 8-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
INTERDIGITAL, INC.
Dated: February 5, 2008 By: /s/ Steven W. Sprecher
Steven W. Sprecher
Assistant Secretary
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit No. Description
99.1 Investor presentation of InterDigital, Inc. dated February 5, 2008.
1 February 5, 2008 Positioned to Capitalize on Growth in 3G Market THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS TECHNOLOGY, TELECOM & INTERNET CONFERENCE
2 This presentation contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding InterDigital, Inc.’s (“InterDigital”) current beliefs, plans and expectations as to: (i) future results, projections and trends; (ii) our strategy; (iii) our 3G revenue growth potential and the future growth potential of our 3G patent licensing program; (iv) future global mobile device sales and market opportunities; (v) our SlimChip™ Mobile Broadband Modem Solutions and the competitive advantages of such solutions; and (vi) selective acquisitions and investment opportunities. Such statements are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Words such as “believe,” “continue to,” “develop,” “driving,” “emerging,” “enabling,” “estimate,” “exceeds,” “expect,” “future,” “goal,” “growth,” “increase,” “initiative,” “intend,” “invent,” “opportunity,” “position,” “potential,” “projected,” “may,” “recurring,” variations of such words and similar expressions, and graphical charts and timelines representing future estimates or events are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results and events may differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statement as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation: (i) the market relevance of our technologies; (ii) changes in the needs, availability, pricing and features of competitive technologies and product offerings as well as those of strategic partners or consumers; (iii) unanticipated technical or resource difficulties or delays related to further development of our technologies and products; (iv) our ability to leverage or enter into new customer agreements, strategic relationships or complimentary investment opportunities on acceptable terms; (v) our ability to enter into additional patent license agreements; (vi) changes in expenses related to our technology offerings and operations; (vii) potential difficulties in the production of our SlimChip™ family of offerings; (viii) whether we have the appropriate financial assets and/or cash flows; (ix) unfavorable outcomes in patent disputes and the expense of defending our intellectual property rights; (x) changes in the market share and sales performance of our primary licensees, and any delay in receipt of quarterly royalty reports from our licensees; and, (xi) changes or inaccuracies in market projections, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statement contained herein. This presentation includes various "non-GAAP financial measures" as that term is defined in Regulation G, which are reconciled to GAAP financial measures at the end of this presentation.
3 Shaping the Future of Digital Wireless Technologies (Gp:) Invent Wireless Technologies (Gp:) Contribute to Standards (Gp:) License Patents (Gp:) Develop
Wireless Products (Gp:) 35 Year Digital Cellular Technology Pioneer Thousands of patents worldwide Inventions used in every mobile device (Gp:) Key Contributor to Standards 2G, 3G, and the future – 4G and beyond Wireless LAN & Mobility/Convergence (Gp:) Mobile Broadband Modem Solutions High performance baseband ICs, modem IP,
and complete reference platforms (Gp:) Highly Successful Licensor Patents have generated ~ $1.5 billion in cash Licensing leading manufacturers
4 Title: The Mobile Device Market Opportunity Over 1.3 Billion HandsetsExpected to Ship by 2012 70% to be 3G Sixty Percent of 3G HandsetsExpected to be HSxPA by 2012 Our Goal - Secure Cash Flow On Every 3G Mobile Device Millions of units Source: Strategy Analytics, July 2007
5 Title: A History of Innovation… Body: Starting in the early 1980s, developed key inventions used in 2G systems today: Fundamental system architecture Roaming and handoff techniques Distributed base station technologies In the early 1990s, continued pioneering work with 3G systems and developed key inventions relating to, among other things: Power control Handoff Pilot codes Multi-channel arrangements Today, driving technology evolution in LTE and advanced 802 technologies Over a quarter century of advanced R&D, amassed a large patent portfolio worldwide covering 2G/3G cellular and emerging technologies 3,000+ Patents Issued Worldwide and growing Ranked 94 among companies worldwide with patents issued from USPTO in 2006
6 Title: ..Drives Solid Financial Results Body: Approximately $1.5 billion in cash from patent licensing overpast 7 years Strong results for the first nine months of 2007 Net income of $22 million, or $0.44 per share $85 million free cash flow* Expanding recurring royalties New $100 million stock repurchase program Positioned for growth Limited exposure to 2G royalty roll-off Majority of revenue driven by high growth 3G market New or expanded license agreements: Apple Q3, RIM Q4 Significant opportunity to increase 3G licensing share Operating leverage in business * InterDigital defines “free cash flow” as operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment and investments in patents
7 Title: Leading Brands License Our 3G Patents All trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners. 30 - 35% of WCDMA and cdma2000® mobile devices licensed
8 Title: Solid Recurring Royalty Revenue *** *** Excludes revenues for past sales $ in Millions ** Due to a transition in revenue recognition, includes only 3 quarters of per unit royalties * * Includes estimate for Q4
Slide: 9 Title: Strong Free Cash Flow* Drives Shareholder Value Body: Solid Balance Sheet $ in Millions $ in Millions Returning Value to Shareholders & Investing in the Business * InterDigital defines “free cash flow” as operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment and investments in patents
10 Title: Enabling Mobile Broadband Devices 2006 2007 2008 High Performance Baseband ICs Reference Platforms 2G/3G dual mode baseband modem with HSDPA/HSUPA Mobile Broadband IP NXP (formerly Philips): 3G HSDPA IC design Infineon: WCDMA/HSDPA protocol stack General Dynamics: 3G WCDMA modem Enabling high-volume semiconductor suppliers Enabling mobile device manufacturers 2005 Pre-certified chipsets, software, and reference designs InterDigital SlimChip™ Mobile Broadband Modem Solutions
11 2G 3G / Mobile Broadband Basic Mobile Phones Feature/Smart Phones Data-Centric Devices Projected Annual Mobile Device Shipments (M units) Emerging mobile broadband segment exceeds 400M units in 2012 Feature phones exceed 1B units and smart phones reach 250M units in 2012 Plays to our strengths in high- performance modem technology Source: Strategy Analytics, July 2007 Flexible Solutions for Distinct Market Segments Modem IP Reference Platforms Baseband ICs InterDigital SlimChip™ Family of Offerings
12 Title: Key InterDigital Takeaways Body: Leading Developer of Digital Wireless Technology Consistent track record of successful innovation and licensing programs with top tier OEMs Advanced family of SlimChip modem solutions Influential member of multiple standards bodies Large, diversified and high value patent portfolio: 3,000+ patents issued and nearly 9,000 pending Strong 3G patent portfolio and established licensing programs Multiple Opportunities to Drive Growth 3G royalties from existing licenses and royalties from new licenses Significant operating leverage Product initiative a substantial longer-term growth opportunity Selective acquisition and investment opportunities
13 Title: 3G Revenue Growth Potential $950 $700 $475 $240 $1.00 $1,425 $1,050 $700 $350 $1.50 $1,900 $1,425 $950 $475 $2.00 Potential Annual Revenue per 3G device in 2012 ($ millions) 25% 50% 75% 100% Patent position drives market penetration Product drives value per device Today we derive cash flow on 30 - 35% of 3G mobile devices sold
14 February 2008 Positioned to Capitalize on Growth in 3G Market
15 Title: Appendix
16 Title: Licensees as of January 15, 2008
17 Title: Cash Flow Reconciliation This presentation includes free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial item. The table above presents a reconciliation of this non-GAAP line item to net cash provided by operating activities. Management believes that investors may find this non-GAAP financial measure useful in understanding the company's operating results. This information is intended to provide more meaningful comparisons of the company's results. InterDigital, Inc. Reconciliation of Pro Forma Free Cash Flows to InterDigital (GAAP) Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities (In millions) (Unaudited)
_______________________________________________
Created by 10KWizard www.10KWizard.comSource:
Mike, Don't let it discourage you.
:)
BREAKING NEWS: Fed cuts key interest rate another half-percentage point
InterDigital’s ability to deliver its SlimChip ICs, licensed IP and complete reference designs is significant given the transition at the OEM and even ODM level from single-vendor to multi-vendor strategies,” noted John Jackson, Vice President of Enabling Technologies at Yankee Group. “Market conditions are also favorable for expanded connectivity in numerous device categories. Beyond the performance specifications of the SlimChip products, which are considerable, InterDigital’s flexibility in terms of technology delivery format is a strong match to the evolving manufacturing landscape.”
CAROLINE KENNEDY BACKS OBAMA
Posted: Saturday, January 26, 2008 9:20 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Obama
From NBC's Abby Livingston and Donna Nelson
Caroline Kennedy is off the fence. After making twin $2,300 donations to Obama and Clinton in 2007, she is endorsing Obama in Sunday’s New York Times -- in a piece entitled "A President Like My Father."
Bill Clinton at his worst:
BILL: 'MY MESSAGE' 99.9% POSITIVE
Posted: Saturday, January 26, 2008 6:13 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Clinton
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
COLUMBIA, SC -- At the end of a week in which he’s often been the center of attention, former president Bill Clinton struck a conciliatory note, admitting that he has gotten “hot” defending his wife even as he defended his campaign role.
"I have not said anything that is factually inaccurate," he said.
Clinton had some scrambled eggs and grits with supporters this morning before setting off to visit polling locations here and upstate. As he greeted voters at the Meadowlake polling station, a woman greeted him and said, “You’re doin’ good. Just watch what you say.”
“My message has been 99.9% positive for 100% of this campaign,” Clinton said to reporters later. “I think that when I think she’s being misrepresented, I have a right to try to with factual accuracy set the record straight, which is what I’ve tried to do.”
A number of prominent Barack Obama supporters and neutral observers have criticized Clinton’s vocal role on his wife’s behalf. John Kerry told National Journal that “being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth.”
“Did you notice he didn’t specify?” Clinton said when asked about the comment. “They never do. They hurl these charges, but nothing gets specified. I'm not taking the bait today. I did what I could to help Senator Kerry every time he needed me, and every time he asked me. He can support whomever he wants for whatever reason he wants. But there's nothing for me to respond to.”
Another reporter asked what it said about Obama that it “took two people to beat him.” Clinton again passed. “That’s’ just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama's run a good campaign here, he’s run a good campaign everywhere.”
The reference to Jackson seemed a way to downplay today's result in a state where a majority of voters are African American. Clinton was also asked today about charges of race baiting, and defended himself by citing testimony from John Lewis and Andrew Young, who marched with Martin Luther King. "I don't have to defend myself on civil rights," he said.
Clinton repeated that it’s been harder dealing with the barbs of a campaign as a surrogate rather than a candidate. “I think it’s harder to take when you hear people say things and call them names for months,” he said. “I think I was a little hot in New Hampshire. And I think I got criticized for that.” He said one person told him he told the truth, but that people “don’t wanna see you mad about it.” He said, “I think that’s advice that I should have taken."
And to those who worry that the infighting threatens Democrats’ chances in the fall, Clinton said simply, “We’ll be fine... We've got to try and hold the thing together here, because we have a big campaign in the fall whatever happens in this primary,” he said.
While voting took place in Meadowlake, there was also a volleyball league in action. A beaming Clinton detoured into the gymnasium, and revealed that volleyball was actually one of his favorite sports.
“I used to play when we were in law school -- played on the beach a lot. And then after Hillary and I went home to Arkansas and we taught at the university law school, we played every Sunday,” he said. “We had a whole big group and we played for hours. I love it, it’s a great sport.”
Ranger,
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Here you go Jim-
UK Court rules on non-essentiality on patents
Emma Barraclough, London
The UK High Court has made its first declaration of non-essentiality (DONE) in a patent dispute between two telecoms companies
After a three-week trial between Finland’s Nokia and US company InterDigital, in which the Court was asked to decide whether four of InterDigital’s European patents were essential to the 3G telecoms standard in Europe, Lord Justice Pumfrey ruled that three of the patents, and one claim of the ‘610 patent, were not essential.
But the Court agreed with InterDigital that a second claim of the ‘610 patent, which relates to loop power control – a key aspect of 3G technology – was essential to the 3G UMTS WCDMA European standard published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
According to ETSI rules, patents that are essential to the standard should be licensed on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. If users of the technology do not take a licence, they are technically infringing.
In a statement, InterDigital said it believed that the High Court’s ruling is the first in which a court of law has found any patent to be essential to the 3G standard.
William Cook, an IP partner at Simmons & Simmons, said that as this is the first English judgment on essentiality of patents to a technical standard, it is likely that InterDigital will appeal the decision. In an emailed statement, a spokesman for InterDigital said that the company would not comment on litigation matters.
The case began when Nokia asked the High Court to declare that 29 of InterDigital’s telecoms patents are not essential to the frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode of operation in the 3G standard in Europe set by ETSI.
During the litigation, Nokia withdrew its challenge to one InterDigital patent and InterDigital conceded the non-essentiality of several more. As a result, by the time the trial began, only four remained in dispute.
The case is unusual in that involves the Court being asked to make a so-called negative declaration.
In his judgment, Pumfrey explained that the Court of Appeal had agreed that the courts have the power to do so: “From the Court of Appeal's judgment I think it is established that there is jurisdiction to entertain an action like the present where negative declarations as to the essentiality of a patented invention to a standard are sought is established if the Court has personal jurisdiction over the defendant and if sufficient facts are alleged that it is possible that the Court might grant declaratory relief. Whether declaratory relief will be granted is a matter of a discretion to be exercised on all the relevant available material in every case.”
Cook said that it was uncertain how the High Court’s decision would affect licensing disputes between the two parties over patents relating to 3G technology.
In a complaint filed at the International Trade Commission in Washington DC in August, InterDigital sought to bar imports of Nokia phones which, it claims, infringe two of its US patents. The two companies are also involved in an infringement lawsuit in a federal court in Delaware.
“In the meantime, the case is certain to generate further interest in the Court’s ability to determine issues of essentiality, as well as related issues concerning FRAND licensing obligations,” said Cook. “At the same time, businesses with an interest in seeking such relief must be prepared for involvement in substantial and possibly costly litigation, including a trial that may last several months.”
The High Court’s decision is subject to appeal by either party if permission to appeal is granted. There will be a further hearing in 2008 to determine the form of order to be made as well as any orders relating to attorneys' fees.
Nokia was advised by Bird & Bird and represented in court by a team of barristers led by Simon Thorley QC. InterDigital was advised by Wragge & Co and represented in court by a team of barristers led by Antony Watson QC.
The November issue of Managing IP included a detailed analysis of disputes between telecoms companies, including Nokia and InterDigital, over 3G technology. Subscribers and those with free trial access can read it here.
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Mike, Keep up the great work.
From AB-beonning and scattergood...reiterate buy
By: teecee in IDCC | Recommend this post (0)
Fri, 21 Dec 07 11:27 AM
beonning and scattergood...reiterate buy
Monterey-lol...I like this part "The result is an extremely favourable outcome for Nokia and other industry participants," Nokia said in a statement.
Japan's largest mobile operator confirms Apple talks
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 12:00 PM EST
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile wireless carrier, confirmed Wednesday that its president has met with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, presumably over the prospect of launching the iPhone exclusively on its Japanese network.
"It is true that Mr. Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. and our president (Masao) Nakamura held a meeting," an NTT DoCoMo spokesman told the Agence France-Presse, declining to reveal the timing or content of the discussions.
Kyodo News in its own report said DoCoMo is Apple's first choice to market the iPhone to Japanese consumers. However, the carrier may be reluctant to accept Apple's demand for a share of subscriber revenue, the news agency added.
The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier this week that Jobs met with Nakamura, but that Apple has also been talking to Japan's No. 3 operator, Softbank Corp.
A subsequent report by way of Reuters suggested the iPhone maker was playing the two Japanese carriers off of one another ahead of a deal to launch the iPhone in Japan sometime in 2008.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/20/japans_largest_mobile_operator_confirms_apple_talks.html
walldiver-
Nokia, Samsung Accused Of Infringing New 3G Patent
Portfolio Media, New York (December 13, 2007)--InterDigital Inc. is asserting a new patent against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Nokia Corp. in an infringement case over 3G cellular phone handset patents before the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The commission ruled on Wednesday that it would not review an administrative law judge's order which allowed InterDigital to add the new patent in a complaint against Samsung. The commission had issued a similar order earlier in the month regarding a complaint against Nokia. The...
http://ip.law360.com/Members/ViewArticlePortion.aspx?Id=42272&ReturnUrl=..%2fsecure%2fViewArticle.aspx%3fId%3d42272
Second-gen iPhone in final phase; Apple TV update planned - report
By Katie Marsal
Published: 10:00 AM EST
After meeting with key component suppliers and manufacturers in Asia, researchers for investment bank Goldman Sachs said this week they believe Apple will introduce two revisions to the iPhone in 2008 -- one minor, one major -- in addition to an Apple TV overhaul during the second half of the year.
In a note to clients on Tuesday, analyst David Bailey advised clients that his Far Eastern contacts have lead him to believe that "Apple has several important new products lined up for 2008," though none of them are expected to pack the same punch as the company's inaugural iPhone handset.
Among them is a second-generation iPhone currently in the "final design phase," the analyst said. The handset is expected to "have a similar form factor as the current version although it could have a different look and will probably include 3G capability."
Bailey estimates that the next-gen iPhone will launch sometime during the second half of the year, but also believes the company will tie over consumers with "a smaller upgrade with more flash memory earlier in the year."
Meanwhile, the analyst's Asian contacts have also led him to believe that "Apple will be making changes to Apple TV" sometime in the second half of 2008 "which could include an LCD display."
"Apple will refresh its entire Mac line-up throughout 2008, but information about the potential launch of a subnotebook was scarce, with one supplier saying that the product may be pushed out, citing possible design issues," he added.
In general, Bailey said several of the companies he met with suggested that they were seeing higher than expected shipments of iPods this quarter, with one commenting that Apple adjusted orders upward in October during the peak holiday season manufacturing build.
"Both the iPod Touch and nano are seeing strength while iPod shuffle demand seems stable, which should cause blended average selling prices (ASPs) to come in above our $150 estimate," he wrote.
This data point appears to corroborate recent comments from CNBC's Jim Goldman, who last week cited his own sources in Asia as saying that the iPod Touch was selling "far better than expected," compelling one of the Apple's manufacturing partners to increase production to 5.1 million units for the current quarter.
For his part, Bailey added that his supply chain contacts are expecting another year of double-digit iPod growth in 2008. On the Mac side, he said, Apple’s notebook demand remains strong and should drive above-market growth for the seventh quarter in a row – a trend that suppliers expect will continue in the new year.
Goldman Sachs maintains a Buy rating on Apple shares with a 12-month price target of $205 per share.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/12/second_gen_iphone_in_final_phase_apple_tv_update_planned_report.html