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Here's the actuals
- Nasdaq: IDCC
Time & Sales most recent next page
Rec. Time Action Price Volume
9:31:30 AM Bid 25.77 500
9:31:27 AM Ask 25.84 100
9:31:27 AM Bid 25.77 400
9:31:20 AM Ask 25.84 200
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9:31:18 AM Bid 25.77 400
9:31:18 AM Ask 25.84 100
9:31:18 AM Trade 25.77 500
9:31:18 AM Ask 25.85 100
9:31:18 AM Bid 25.77 200
9:31:16 AM Trade 25.79 100
9:31:16 AM Bid 25.77 200
9:31:16 AM Ask 25.86 200
9:31:16 AM Bid 25.78 200
9:31:16 AM Trade 25.79 100
9:31:16 AM Ask 25.86 100
9:31:16 AM Trade 25.79 100
9:31:16 AM Bid 25.79 100
9:31:15 AM Ask 25.87 100
9:31:15 AM Bid 25.79 100
9:31:14 AM Ask 25.87 300
9:31:14 AM Bid 25.77 200
9:31:14 AM Bid 25.83 100
9:31:14 AM Trade 25.83 100
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9:30:55 AM Trade 25.83 100
9:30:55 AM Trade 25.87 100
9:30:55 AM Trade 25.87 200
9:30:54 AM Trade 25.88 100
9:30:51 AM Trade 25.88 500
9:30:51 AM Ask 25.88 300
9:30:48 AM Ask 25.88 100
9:30:42 AM Ask 25.89 100
9:30:41 AM Trade 25.87 300
9:30:41 AM Trade 25.87 400
9:30:41 AM Trade 25.87 200
9:30:41 AM Ask 25.89 700
9:30:41 AM Ask 25.9 200
9:30:41 AM Bid 25.83 200
9:30:39 AM Trade 25.89 100
9:30:39 AM Trade 25.89 100
9:30:28 AM Trade 25.87 100
9:30:27 AM Ask 25.9 100
9:30:27 AM Bid 25.87 200
9:30:19 AM Bid 25.83 100
9:30:19 AM Trade 25.78 100
9:30:16 AM Trade 25.77 900
9:30:16 AM Trade 25.78 125
9:30:16 AM Ask 25.9 200
9:30:16 AM Bid 25.78 100
most recent next page
9:46:39 AM EST - Friday, January 8, 2010 - data is delayed 20 minutes
DJIA
Even Cramer's Pumping the Tech Sector:
The Biggest First Quarter for Tech in a Decade (12/23/09)
Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Wednesday December 23.
The Biggest First Quarter for Tech in a Decade: EMC (EMC), Micron Technology (MU), Microsoft (MSFT), Jabil Circuit (JBL), Cisco (CSCO), Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT), Arrow Electronics (ARW), Avnet (AVT), On Semi (ONNN), STMicroelectronics (STM), Texas Instruments (TXN), Sandisk (SNDK), MicroChip Technology (MCHP), National Semiconductor (NSM), Xlinx (XLNX), Altera (ALTR)
Even though the first quarter is historically weak for the tech sector, Cramer gave ten reasons why 2010 will be different:
1. There is a supply shortage of DRAM, a kind of memory used in computers and other devices.
2. EMC's (EMC) performance improved in Q4, setting the stage for continued strength in the new year.
3. Micron Technology (MU) is finally profitable after three slow years thanks to increased demand for memory and servers. Mircosoft's (MSFT) Windows 7 release has been good news for Micron.
4. Jabil Circuit (JBL) reported strong numbers and raised guidance three times its previous levels. Jabil's results are a tell on tech in general, since its clients include Cisco (CSCO), Nokia (NOK) and Motorola (MOT).
5. Arrow Electronics (ARW) with 800 suppliers and 130,000 customers, is also a tell on tech; Arrow announced that demand for semiconductors is increasing.
6. Avnet (AVT), which has 100,000 customers predicting accelerating growth in the first quarter.
7. ON Semiconductor (ONNN) CEO Keith Jackson says demand is increasing for autos, video games and cell phones.
8. Infineon is seeing its industrial and auto pace picking up, and its rivals STMicroelectronics (STM) and Texas Instruments (TXN) are seeing an even greater increase.
9. While the price for memory chips should be decreasing, Sandisk's (SNDK) customers Samsung, Hynix and Toshiba are functioning at full capacity because of a lack of supply.
10. MicroChip Technology (MCHP), National Semiconductor (NSM), Xlinx (XLNX), Altera (ALTR) and Texas Instruments (TXN) are all seeing strong sales.
After giving ten reasons to buy tech, Cramer says selling any tech stock is "just plain nuts."
RIM Outselling Nokia in Europe
By Scott Moritz 12/22/09 - 10:04 AM EST
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10651112/1/rim-outselling-nokia-in-europe.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Nokia's (NOK Quote) stumbles on its home turf have opened the gates for Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) and Apple (AAPL Quote).
Dumb moves in smartphones haven't helped Nokia keep its top position, but recent checks by MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen show RIM's BlackBerry phones are now outselling comparable Nokia models in Europe.
Nokia's weak product lineup and software problems with fading rival Sony(SNE Quote)Ericsson (ERIC Quote) phones "are giving RIM a rare opening in Europe," Kuittinen writes in a research note Tuesday.
RIM and Apple Travel Abroad
RIM's blowout earnings report Thursday was the strongest indication yet that the North American smartphone vanguard -- RIM, Apple and Motorola (MOT Quote) -- may be expanding significantly beyond our borders. The BlackBerry maker reported that a record 37% of its third-quarter revenue came from overseas sales.
"Europeans are finally making a real difference in RIM's financial performance," Kuittinen writes. "The company has some of the best-selling contract devices in several European countries, including the U.K. and Germany -- the continent's two biggest mobile handset markets."
Apple, the leader in the big touchscreen, Web-oriented phones, has saturated the U.S. market and now enjoys a rapid international expansion. The iPhone has been a huge hit in places like Japan and France, according to JPMorgan. An analysis of AdMob numbers shows that the iPhone has grown 350% in Japan and nearly 300% in France, according to JPMorgan. By contrast, U.S. was Apple's ninth fastest growing market.
Apple and RIM have been chipping away at Nokia's large slice of the smartphone market for the past year. The big problem for Nokia has been its stubborn adjustment to the touchscreen trend. The Finnish phone giant arrived late with a limited assortment of small, cheap screens and expensive clunky devices.
Nokia N97
(open URL for more)
Can AT&T Tame the iHogs?
Talk of tiered pricing angers iPhone users, but there may be no other choice
By Peter Burrows and Olga Kharif
BW Magazine
*
Pity poor AT&T (T). The wireless operator with exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the U.S. is bashed incessantly for service that rarely lives up to the elegant promise of Apple's (AAPL) sleek device. Now, when many consumers feel they should be receiving rebates, the company is getting lambasted for hinting it might take measures to rein in the heaviest iPhone users. Some customers even planned to crash the company's wireless network on Dec. 18 in protest.
Yet Ma Bell, for all her shortcomings, has a point. With the smartphone fast replacing the PC as the center of many consumers' digital lives, changes in the way people use mobile computing are inevitable. Analysts and other experts say wireless operators need to train American consumers that bandwidth isn't unlimited. That won't just be good for phone companies; it'll be good for virtually all mobile phone users. Today, AT&T says 3% of iPhone users account for 40% of the traffic on its data network. The other 97% may get better, cheaper service if YouTube (GOOG) video and online radio addicts paid more for the network upgrades required to support their habits. "It's not a question of if this changes, it's a question of when," says analyst Charles S. Golvin of Forrester Research (FORR).
The moment may be upon us. In an interview, AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega says the carrier is mulling changes to the $30-a-month unlimited data plan that most of the company's smartphone customers use. He emphasizes that no final decisions have been made, but AT&T could institute tiered pricing models similar to today's voice plans or caps on the amount of bandwidth a consumer could use before getting bumped to a slower, cheaper network. "Carriers need to end up with a sustainable model," says de la Vega.
TRAFFIC JAMS
The old model is certainly looking dated. Verizon Wireless introduced the first unlimited wireless data plan in 2002, when most subscribers simply made voice calls and swapped e-mails on their phones. Today, iPhone users think nothing of listening to hours of online music and playing games over the Web. The difference in data use is enormous. A short video takes as much bandwidth as 500,000 text messages. In the three years since the iPhone's debut, data traffic on AT&T's network has soared 5,000%.
De la Vega is certain it's just the beginning. Tens of thousands of software developers are dreaming up applications to run on the iPhone and devices from Research In Motion (RIMM), Motorola (MOT), and Nokia (NOK). Several apps already use unprecedented amounts of bandwidth: Ustream allows people (like actor Ashton Kutcher) to broadcast live video to millions of fans over the iPhone. "Other carriers are just getting a glimpse of what's coming," says de la Vega.
Many analysts think other U.S. operators are just waiting to follow AT&T's pricing lead, in part because AT&T's exclusive right to the iPhone is expected to lapse next summer. As other carriers get hit with the tsunami of data from the iPhone and other devices, they will "need to introduce tiered pricing," says Forrester's Golvin.
The approach is already widespread abroad. In Britain, Orange and O2 offer cheaper data packages for iPhone owners who stay below a monthly minimum. In Australia, Telstra offers four pricing plans. And in countries such as Canada, there are caps on monthly data usage.
There's no question that AT&T has made mistakes in managing its network. Consumer advocates point out it has relied heavily on cost savings from acquisitions to boost profits rather than innovations or reliable customer service. The company also clearly underestimated the demand for iPhones and the amount of data customers would use. In a December survey by Consumer Reports about wireless operators, AT&T came in dead last.
Verizon Wireless has mocked the company in TV ads for its spotty network coverage. The campaign prompted a lawsuit from AT&T, but the suit was later withdrawn after Verizon held its ground. Verizon Chief Technical Officer Anthony Melone tells Bloomberg BusinessWeek that his company has been investing ahead of time to handle iPhone traffic, should it ever get rights to sell the device. "We have put things in place already," he says. "We will handle it if we ever get it."
AT&T, meanwhile, is racing to improve. It's upgrading software that should double the speed at which bits move from a phone to the nearest cell tower and digging trenches to add 100,000 fiber-optic lines to connect cell towers back to the Internet. Overall, the company is expected to invest $7.5 billion in its wireless network this year, says market research firm Ovum, slightly more than Verizon. Whatever his pricing strategy turns out to be, de la Vega says the company will improve its reputation for service. He recognizes, however, that may take time. "Perceptions are a tough thing to change," he says. "We understand that."
With Spencer Ante in New York
InterDigital, Inc.: Warming Up or Cooling Off?
By Motley Fool Staff
December 10, 2009 | Comments (0)
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/12/10/interdigital-inc-warming-up-or-cooling-off.aspx
Together, we are all trying to build our fortune by finding well-run companies at bargain-basement prices. But it takes work -- scouring company earnings reports, scrutinizing key data, and assessing the competition.
Because of that, we've created a screen based on the massive data aggregated from the more than 140,000 investors competing on our Motley Fool CAPS platform. Each quarter, we check in on select companies after they file a 10-Q and track community sentiment -- so you can see how your company is doing.
Here's the community sentiment on InterDigital, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC) both this quarter and last (for comparison), as well as opinions on some related companies.
Metric InterDigital, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC) Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA) ViaSat, Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) Research In Motion Limited (USA) (Nasdaq: RIMM)
This Quarter (12/9/2009):
Price: $25.34 $6.83 $30.89 $64.14
% of Members Rating Outperform 96% 79% 91% 84%
% of All-Star Members Rating Outperform 95% 67% 100% 79%
CAPS Rating (out of 5) 4 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars
Last Quarter (9/10/2009):
Price: $22.84 $6.79 $25.48 $78.95
% of Members Rating Outperform 96% 79% 93% 83%
% of All-Star Members Rating Outperform 95% 64% 100% 81%
CAPS Rating (out of 5) 4 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 2 Stars
Badger, Right on!
OT I worked in the Casino Industry a while back, and walked the Casino(s)floor with the Head Guy (over 4 casino properties). I kept noticing that he continued to look up at the ceiling, and I asked him, Why? He told me that he was checking for burned out light bulbs (his on-the spot measure of Quality). Then went on to explain, that if "they" (supervisors and employees) didn't notice and fix them, What Else Have They Let Slip By Them?
The little things are the indicators for the Big Things.
DR - My immediate reaction to this great presentation is the amount of overlap with what WM described in his London presentation. Am I correct or Off Base?
Publishers Make Plans for Devices Yet to Come
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/business/media/09newsstand.html?_r=1&ref=media
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: December 8, 2009
Five major magazine and newspaper publishers announced plans on Tuesday to build an industry-standard platform to present their work on the Web, smartphones and electronic readers in a richer, more flexible and more lucrative form than is possible today.
The consortium of Time Inc., Condé Nast, the Hearst Corporation, Meredith and the News Corporation does not lack for ambition, hoping to create software primarily for devices that do not yet exist — cellphones that are somewhat more advanced than anything now on the market, and e-readers far more sophisticated than today’s mostly static black-and-white devices.
The unnamed venture, whose outlines were reported last month, was originally envisioned as being mostly about magazines, though John Squires, who will serve as interim general manager, says the final product will work for newspapers, books and other media, as well. He said that he could not offer a guess as to when the project would have a product, but that when sophisticated, full-color e-readers reach the market, “we need to have an application or experience that is beautiful for readers.”
James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said of the venture: “It’s very speculative right now, but what they’re trying to do is plant a flag in the ground, and say, as e-readers evolve, don’t forget that magazines are different from books.”
Time Inc. has released a video giving some idea of what it has in mind — a full-color, touch-screen digital version Sports Illustrated that readers would find not only more attractive than what is now available on most mobile devices, but also vastly more interactive and adaptable to their tastes.
The consortium envisions selling these versions of their publications through an online store akin to iTunes from Apple. The hope, Mr. Squires said, who has been executive vice president of Time Inc., is to grab not just readers but also advertisers, allowing publishers to charge higher rates for digital ads, which now are much cheaper than print ads.
Mr. McQuivey questioned the wisdom of using the new software to charge for magazines, saying it might not be enough of an improvement over the free experiences available online.
The five partners own the venture — they have not disclosed how much they have invested — but they hope to recruit other publishers to use the software they develop. Time, Condé Nast, Hearst and Meredith are among the largest magazine publishers in the world; Hearst and Condé’s parent, Advance Publications, also have large newspaper chains. The News Corporation is a major newspaper and book publisher and also has extensive television holdings.
Nokia, Samsung step up smartphone battle:
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSLA63723620091110
By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent
HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's two largest cell phone makers, Nokia and Samsung Electronics, have unveiled their latest attempts to keep pace in the battle with smartphone rivals like iPhone and Blackberry.
Nokia said on Tuesday it has started deliveries of its top-of-the-range N900, while Samsung announced it will launch its own open mobile platform, bada, in December as it tries to make up for a late start in the smartphone market.
Nokia and Samsung together sell around 60 percent of all cellphones globally but have lost ground against rivals Apple and RIM in smartphones.
The N900 model is Nokia's first phone running the Linux Maemo operating system, which analysts see as key for Nokia to regain ground in the coming years.
"The Maemo platform, which powers the N900, reflects Nokia's need to replace its legacy software platforms with something more powerful to compete with Apple and others," said Ben Wood, head of research at British consultancy CCS Insight.
"Samsung's announcement of bada shows it has also identified the same requirement. The big question is, does the mobile phone world need yet another operating system?" Wood said.
While Nokia has lost ground in the smartphone business, it is still the world's largest smartphone maker by volume. However, Samsung's volumes are well behind Apple, RIM and HTC.
High-end products are important for Nokia because the company has not only lost market share there, but its average selling prices have declined faster than the industry average.
Goldman Sachs has said it expects Nokia's value share -- a measure reflecting average prices and underlying market share -- for phones costing more than $350 to decline to 13 percent this year from 33 percent just two years before.
(Reporting by Tarmo Virki, Brett Young in Helsinki and Marie-France Han in Seoul; Editing by Joel Dimmock)
Justices Poke Fun at Patents for the Abstract
Published: Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009 | 8:11 AM ET
By: John Schwartz
The New York Times
Supreme Court justices took up a case on Monday that could reshape the realm of what can be patented, and expressed skepticism about giving protection to abstract business innovations.
During arguments, several justices, including the court’s newest member, Sonia M. Sotomayor, seemed to disagree with arguments advocating a patent for a method of hedging.
The case, Bilski and Warsaw v. Kappos, concerned a business method patent that had been denied to Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw, who in 1997 applied for a process that could help institutions like utilities, or even factories and schools, have more predictable energy costs.
The justices peppered J. Michael Jakes, a lawyer for Mr. Bilski and Mr. Warsaw, with hypothetical patents that they clearly found ludicrous.
Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that under Mr. Jakes’s argument, a patent for “somebody who writes a book on how to win friends and influence people” might be allowed, while Justice Sotomayor suggested a “method of speed dating.”
Justice Stephen G. Breyer set off a ripple of laughter when he brought up his “great, wonderful, really original method of teaching antitrust law” — one in which 80 percent of students actually stayed awake — and asked if that could be patented.
Mr. Jakes argued that some of the examples were potentially patentable, though other considerations would be brought to bear by examiners, including the question of whether the method was obvious.
The patent process is a balancing act with origins in the United States Constitution, which called for legal protection for authors and inventors “to promote the progress of science and useful arts” for a limited time.
Initially, patents chiefly concerned tangible things like new machines and novel chemical compounds. Over time, the rules about what could be patented have come to include increasingly abstract business methods — roughly, ways of doing things.
The high-water mark for such patents was a 1998 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group, which has led to the issuance of thousands of business method patents. In that case, the court ruled that a method of processing mutual fund data could be patented.
In the Bilski case, the Patent and Trademark Office, pulling back from the realms of abstraction, denied the patent. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the patent office’s decision, writing that such patents should be “tied to a particular machine or apparatus” or transform something “into a different state or thing.”
The case has drawn intense interest, and nearly 70 amicus briefs by interested parties, including Microsoft, Google, Bank of America and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I think this case is the case of the century for patent law,” said John F. Duffy, a professor at the George Washington University Law School. Mr. Duffy, who was co-author of a brief on behalf of several technology companies, favors a broad reading of patent law for financial engineering tools and other emerging technologies.
“There’s a tremendous public benefit that could come from encouraging innovation in this space,” he said. Similar views have been advocated in briefs from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as technology companies like Yahoo.
Pamela Samuelson, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said, “It’s not very often that some obscure issue of patent law can excite so much attention.”
Professor Samuelson, who was an author of a brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties group, and others, said it was time for the court to tap the brakes on the business patents rush. The earlier State Street decision, her brief stated, had the effect of “knocking patent law loose from its historical moorings and improperly injecting patents into business areas where they were neither needed nor wanted.”
Briefs from technology companies like Microsoft and Google also recommended greater restrictions on business method patents.
During the one-hour oral argument on Monday afternoon, the Bilski patent and its ilk also seemed to sit poorly with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who raised questions that suggested an interest in narrowing the scope of patents to more squarely focus on physical inventions and not abstract ideas and processes.
Justice Kennedy described the beginnings of the insurance industry in the late 17th century, thanks to the development of calculus and the ability to create actuarial tables. “It’s difficult for me to think Congress would have wanted to give only one person the capacity to issue insurance,” he said.
Chief Justice Roberts wrangled with the lawyer for the government, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm L. Stewart, over the final footnote in the government’s brief, which conceded that a business method might be fit for patenting if it was tied to a computer. Chief Justice Roberts said that that footnote “takes away everything you spent 53 pages establishing.”
Mr. Stewart noted that the government had actually argued against having the court take up the case, since there were “difficult problems out there” in areas like software innovation and medical diagnostics that have yet to be satisfactorily worked through.
Justice Kennedy broke in and joked that the government “thought we would mess it up,” eliciting laughter from the gallery. Mr. Stewart said instead that the patent at issue in this case was simply “an unsuitable vehicle for resolving the hard questions,” and that those were likely to remain unresolved at the end of the day.
“But this case could be decided without making any bold steps” that would complicate future decisions, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg interjected.
Are we the potential "acquirer," or, the "acquiree????"
Hostile Takeovers Heating Up
Posted by: Jessica Silver-Greenberg on November 09
Who said dealmaking is dead? While overall merger and acquisition activity has plummeted, there is one area of the deal market that’s abuzz with activity: the hostile takeovers, or unsolicited takeover bids, for those who’d like to put a friendlier gloss on the transaction. Kraft Foods made a $16.3 billion bid today for British candy-maker Cadbury. The food giant isn’t the only well-heeled company to launch that kind of bid. In May PepsiCo tried to acquire PepsiAmericas Inc. And recently Roche, Samsung, and InBev tried their hands at takeovers as well. In fact, hostile takeovers actually make up over 10% of M&A activity in the past 12 months. That means the vultures are feasting.
With overall deal-making still in the doldrums, why are hostile bids on the rise? Cash is the key. Buyers have more cash on hand than just a year earlier. Aggregate cash currently available at the 500 companies listed on the Standard and Poor’s index has ballooned in the past year. The financial crisis basically forced companies to massively cut operating costs, to slim down and hoard cash for the coming frozen credit markets. In an effort to save some cash, many companies didn’t do shareholder-buyback programs. Now, companies have the cash to buy, and the credit markets are opening up as well. Hungry buyers with cash on hand can essentially go on a shopping spree.
There’s a Cinderella quality to this whole tale—a sense that at midnight the ball could end. Buyers are beginning to notice signs that deals will begin in force again. Credit is slowly becoming available and can be borrowed at historically low-rates. Companies that are now reasonable targets, with relatively low valuations, might see their prices rise, and fast. Buyers want to swoop in before prices rise and pick up companies at a bargain.
Further driving the vultures is the weakness of potential target companies. Stock prices are low and worse, for those taken over, the arsenal of defense weapons is sparsely filled. Back just 10 years ago, boards had a number of tactics that they could employ to halt a hostile bid in its tracks. Now those defenses are largely gone. Now less than a quarter of S&P 500 companies have shareholder rights plans. Few companies maintain staggered boards either. Under the old model, board members were purposely given different term-limit dates to prevent an acquiring company stocking a targets’ entire board with allies.
Adding fuel to the takeover craze is absence of any public outcry. The days of howling public outcry when a hostile bid emerged are over. It’s respectable now, in the quest for higher returns, to make a strategic purchase, even if it means a hostile one. Once murmurings of a hostile takeover catch on, there is a great pressure for directors of the target companies to at least entertain the bid and maximize return for shareholders. It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: it’s a buyers market.
Maybe this will help show what Ge-Jim is pointing out to us:
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=IDCC&p=D&yr=0&mn=6&dy=0&id=p44274261513
Apple, RIM grab market share from Nokia
by Lance Whitney November 4, 2009 11:10 AM PST
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10390525-1.html
As Apple and Research In Motion have won a greater share in the Wi-Fi handset market over the past year, Nokia has lost share.
Though Nokia is still the leading vendor for dual-mode smartphones (Wi-Fi and cellular), its market share dropped to 35 percent in the second quarter, compared with 50 percent in the same period a year ago, according to a report released Monday from In-Stat.
The report "Wi-Fi in Mobile Phones: Dual Mode Becomes the In Thing" tracked the major Wi-Fi phone vendors, including Nokia, Apple, Research In Motion, HTC, and Samsung. Among those, Apple has enjoyed the greatest growth in market share, from 3 percent in the second quarter of 2008 to 20 percent in this year's second quarter.
Market share for both RIM and Samsung has also weakened the past few quarters, though less so than Nokia's. RIM's 15.7 percent chunk of the market for the second quarter of the year was down from its first-quarter high of 17.6 percent. Samsung's share has been relatively flat but usually dips a bit from the first to the second quarter, notes In-Stat.
In sheer unit volume, Nokia has done well the past few quarters, with 9.3 million Wi-Fi handsets shipped in the second quarter of the year compared with Apple's 5.2 million shipments. However, Nokia's shipments have dropped since the first quarter of 2008 when it saw 12 million units fly out the door. Over the same period, Apple, RIM, and HTC have seen their shipments grow.
As the No. 2 Wi-Fi handset vendor, Apple has also outsold third-place RIM in dual-mode phone shipments, says In-Stat. Though RIM still has a larger market presence, not all of its Blackberry devices include Wi-Fi. HTC and Samsung rounded out In-Stat's list as the fourth and fifth top Wi-Fi handset vendors, respectively.
(Credit: In-Stat)
The report also detailed the growth of the Wi-Fi smartphone market overall. The industry shipped 37 million handsets in 2007, and 103 million units in 2008. That rise is because of several factors, notes In-Stat, including greater functionality, lower prices, and carrier promotions. Initially targeted to the business market, smartphones are also now an entrenched hit with consumers, which In-Stat attributes to the success of the iPhone.
Wi-Fi handset shipments are expected to rise just 25 percent to 128.4 million units for 2009. That compares with a nearly 180 percent jump in 2008.
But In-Stat sees gains ahead. By 2010, the growth rate is likely to climb to 43 percent. Though that rate may not be sustainable, it should remain strong in the coming years. Wi-Fi will also become more prevalent in mobile phones. This year, 11.5 percent of handsets include Wi-Fi; by 2012, that figure will grow to 25 percent, predicts In-Stat.
To compile the report, In-Stat relied on its own data as well as interviews with Wi-Fi equipment vendors.
Doyle, Nicely said.
Thank you for giving some of us those words to use for Raymond and Amy.
STINVESTOR - Thank you. I included that bottom portion in my personal post to the many IDCC people I've enlisted over the years. I felt however that the first part was the most important for this Bd to see.
Appreciate you adding it.
Respone from Bill N to over 22 shareholders:
From: Michelle Sanville-Seebold [mailto:msanville@heartlandfunds.com]
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 12:58 PM
To:
Subject: I appreciate your interest in IDCC
Because of the tremendous response to the IDCC conference call I can not talk to each of you directly.
As a long term, patient, IDCC investor I am frustrated by management's inability to communicate the intrinsic worth of IDCC
to the investment community. Thus I believe our company sells at a valuation level which is a fraction of that accorded to peers.
In my view this is unacceptable and is management's responsibility to correct. My frustration is heightened by management's
failure to capitalize on market inefficiencies and aggressively buy back stock at $20 a share or less. With the stock priced at this level,
or 8X estimated 2009 earnings, throwing off an earnings yield of 12.5%, it would seem to make sense to buyback.
Why not? vs holding such a cash hoard of $429 million which earns shareholders < 1%.
Hopefully management will take advantage of this opportunity.
Sincerely,
Bill
Here's what I found so far:
HEARTLAND ADVISORS I... 6/30/2009 1,824,145 351,250 23.85% $33,874
IDCC
InterDigital, Inc. NASDAQ-GS
Institutional Holdings Description | Hide Summary
Company Details
Total Shares Out Standing (millions): 43
Market Capitalization ($ millions): $801
Institutional Ownership: 47.6%
Price (as of 10/28/2009) 18.57
Ownership Analysis # Of Holders Shares
Total Shares Held: 169 20,538,092
New Positions: 23 1,173,880
Increased Positions: 73 3,365,244
Decreased Positions: 81 5,227,699
Holders With Activity: 154 8,592,943
Sold Out Positions: 28 1,471,379
Click on the column header links to resort ascending (ar_bk_up.gif (64 bytes)) or descending (ar_bk_dn.gif (64 bytes)).
Owner Name
Select a name below for more information. Date Shares Held Change
(Shares) % Change
(Shares) Value
($1000)
BARCLAYS GLOBAL INVE... 6/30/2009 2,158,844 158,217 7.91% $40,090
HEARTLAND ADVISORS I... 6/30/2009 1,824,145 351,250 23.85% $33,874
VANGUARD GROUP INC 6/30/2009 1,721,381 125,107 7.84% $31,966
RENAISSANCE TECHNOLO... 6/30/2009 1,565,693 (121,907) (7.22%) $29,075
INVESCO LTD. 6/30/2009 1,024,072 (718,080) (41.22%) $19,017
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Paheka, Heartland and Nasgowitz each owned significant amounts of Idcc. Did you hear from him whether that was still the case???
Here's today's call, .....including the Nasgowitz portion at the end.
http://ir.interdigital.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=73388
Here it is and Nasgowita is on it. It's heartwarming at a minimum.
http://ir.interdigital.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=73388
Where did you access it? I understand that the Nasgowitz piece was deleted. Is that correct?
Jim, As the song goes, "This could be the start of something BIG."
Nokia’s New CFO Takes On IPhone at AT&T, Seeks to Revive Stock
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=atfQu0w7cztw
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj’s Timo Ihamuotila helped convince AT&T Inc. to offer one of the Finnish company’s most expensive handsets this year, letting the device share shelf- space with the iPhone at Apple Inc.’s exclusive U.S. carrier.
Now, he has to use those skills to persuade investors Nokia stock is still a “buy,” after the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker lost 6 points of smart-phone market share in three months and posted its first quarterly net loss, while rival Apple had its most profitable quarter. The 43-year-old sales executive takes over as chief financial officer on Nov 1.
“Nokia has struggled,” said Andy Perkins, an analyst at Societe Generale in London, who recommends selling Nokia shares. “Apple is an extremely serious threat just because of the excellence of the iPhone, which has really captured people’s imagination.”
Nokia’s market share in smart phones with advanced features such as Internet browsers fell in the three months to 35 percent from 41 percent, as it posted a 559 million-euro ($834 million) loss, the company said Oct. 15. Nokia has lost 20 percent this year in Helsinki trading, while Apple has gained 140 percent. The iPhone, carried by AT&T since its debut in the U.S. in 2007, has been the symbol of cool among consumer handsets.
In his new role, Ihamuotila has to figure out how to better use Nokia’s resources to fight Apple and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry at the top of the market and Chinese phone makers that sell products for as little as $20. His tenure in sales shows he will probably take an active role in showing investors Nokia is a serious contender to take on Apple and RIM in smart phones, the industry’s fastest-growing market.
‘Good Fit’
“This is a guy who’s been out there with some of Nokia’s biggest customers and understands their requirements and their disappointments within the last year or so,” said Ben Wood, a London-based industry analyst with CCS Insight, who’s met Ihamuotila at company events. “He’s a good fit.”
Ihamuotila, a former Citibank derivatives salesman whose family members have run three Finnish companies and include a former agriculture minister, wasn’t available to comment since he hasn’t started in the new job yet, spokeswoman Arja Suominen said. Suominen declined to comment further, saying it was against company policy to discuss individuals.
Since becoming sales chief in April 2007, Ihamuotila has focused on making Espoo-based Nokia more open to changes from carriers, which resell handsets and have complained that the company was unwilling to let them customize the high-end phones with their own logos and software.
AT&T Deal
Nokia this year introduced the 7705 Twist, a square phone marketed by Verizon Communications Inc. Ihamuotila helped reach a deal in April with AT&T to offer Nokia’s first smart phone with a Qwerty keyboard in the U.S. This month, Nokia signed an agreement with AT&T, Microsoft Corp. and retailer Best Buy Co. to sell the new Booklet 3G mini-laptop in the U.S.
“Only now is Nokia seriously willing to listen to AT&T,” said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at Greenwich, Connecticut-based MKM Partners LLC. “AT&T demands a high level of customization and co-branding, more than European carriers Nokia is used to working with.”
Even in Europe, carriers are pressing Nokia. Last year, Ihamuotila brokered an accord with Norway’s Telenor ASA, allowing it to offer its own services on Nokia phones it sold.
“The relationship has deepened in the sense that we are not only talking about handsets but we are also talking about the relationship on the services side,” said Nils Katla, Telenor’s Nordic region vice president.
Risk Management
Spokesmen for Verizon, Vodafone Plc, Deutsche Telekom AG and TeliaSonera AB declined to comment for this story. Mike Woodward, a vice president at AT&T’s wireless division, said he couldn’t comment on Nokia’s executives.
Ihamuotila started in Nokia’s risk management department in 1993 and left the company three years later. He rejoined in 1999, serving as treasurer, head of finance and strategic development in the U.S. and sales chief. During his U.S. stint, he lived for three years in San Diego.
Nokia had a strategy of developing phones for the U.S. market that worked well in the late ‘90s, Ihamuotila said in a video interview with bloggers at a company event last month. Early this decade the company shifted to developing products for Europe and then trying to sell them in the U.S.
“We just simply have not been responsive enough in the U.S.,” he said. “When we come up with new U.S.-specific products, the market has already moved. The market has moved the fastest in the U.S.”
Apple Rises
Apple had a 25 percent increase in revenue last quarter, compared with a 20 percent drop at Nokia. Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, while Nokia delivered 5.7 million touch- screen devices. The iPhone is sold in about 80 countries and goes on sale this month in China, Nokia’s biggest market by revenue. Nokia, with handsets available in more than 150 countries, sold 16.4 million smart phones last quarter including devices without touch-screens.
Nokia last week sued Apple in a U.S. court, claiming infringement of 10 patents and seeking back royalties on the 33.7 million iPhones sold since the device’s introduction in 2007. Apple declined to comment to pending litigation.
Ihamuotila comes from a family well-connected in Finnish business and political circles. His father Jaakko was the CEO of refinery Neste Oil Oyj. His cousin Mika Ihamuotila is the current CEO of retailer Marimekko Oyj and was previously the head of Sampo Bank Oyj. Other relatives headed the University of Helsinki and served as agriculture minister.
Family Connections
“I haven’t seen any description of him that didn’t refer to his family, though he’d be the last person to raise it up,” said Vesa Puttonen, a professor who taught Ihamuotila during business school at the Helsinki School of Economics.
Ihamuotila began his career as an asset and liability analyst at Finland’s KOP Bank, now part of Nordea AB, and spent three years in derivative sales at Citigroup in the late 1990s. While at KOP, he started postgraduate studies.
In 1997 he completed a 95-page, equation-studded thesis on interest rate hedging in a multicurrency environment that was reprinted as a research report. Nokia made use of the work in its treasury department, which he later returned to run, according to the final chapter of his thesis.
Ihamuotila now makes the move to CFO and will have to prove his abilities to analysts and shareholders. He gets his first chance at the annual investor meeting on Dec. 2.
“He’s going to have to elaborate on the company’s plans and discuss Nokia’s road map, so investors can decide whether to put money in it,” Michael Walkley, a Piper Jaffray analyst in Minneapolis who has taken investors to meet Ihamuotila. “Apple clearly has momentum behind it, but Nokia’s got a strong global brand.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki at dbenaaron1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 25, 2009 20:01 EDT
Jim, Is Ronnie Marchma no longer providing the Bd with his earnings analysis and estimates? I truly hope not.
pochemunyet - You are absolutely correct. The SEC is worthless. See my post 273607, or, open this URL
http://www.deepcapture.com/congress-prepares-to-bypass-impotent-sec/
jeffree - Here's your link. Might be helpful if a few of us jumped on board this bus, contacted our Senators and supported this bill. I did!
http://www.deepcapture.com/congress-prepares-to-bypass-impotent-sec/
"NOW...Lets see if the SEC pays attention...(they May need to be prompted)
Naked shorting rules...???...Do they Ever enforce them...??!
imo...This is Very Important to the trading of this stock...
Raise a stink... Need a link..."
LG profits up 50%
LG Elec trumps forecasts on strong phones, TV sales
Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:03am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSTRE59K0WI20091021
By Marie-France Han and Rhee So-eui
SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc's (066570.KS) quarterly profit jumped nearly 50 percent thanks to strong sales of mobile phones and TVs, but the company is headed for a weaker fourth quarter on higher marketing costs and price competition.
LG, which trails leader Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and No. 2 Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) in mobile phones, may also take a hit from a recovery in the Korean won after the local currency's weakness helped LG weather the global crisis.
"A stronger won will definitely hit its overseas sales," said Chang In-whan, CEO and fund manager at KTB Asset Management, which owns LG shares.
"It wouldn't be a big problem if the won remains at around 1,150 per dollar, but the currency is seen strengthening past the 1,100 level next year."
Other than the currency factor, analysts were confident about LG's ability to perform well in 2010.
"It is just a matter of time. By the second or third quarter of next year, LG should notch up significant sales of LED TVS," said Harrison Cho, an analyst at KB Investments and Securities.
LG shares ended up 1.7 percent, recovering from early losses, versus a 0.3 percent fall in the broader market . The stock is up about 60 percent so far this year, outperforming the market's 47 percent gain.
LG earned an operating profit of 850 billion won ($733 million) in the third quarter, beating a consensus forecast of 757.8 billion won by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The profit includes LG's foreign affiliates which are important revenue sources for this export-oriented company.
PLAYING CATCHUP FOR LED
LG, which battles Japan's Sony (6758.T) for the world's second place in LCD televisions, should have little problem expanding its sales of premium LED televisions, a market so far dominated by Samsung.
"It is just a matter of time. By the second or third quarter of next year, LG should notch up significant sales of LED TVS," said Harrison Cho, an analyst at KB Investments and Securities.
LG sold a record 4.01 million LCD TVs in the third quarter. It also sold a record 31.6 million handsets in July-Sept, up from 29.8 million units sold in April-June.
While profit margin was steady in TVs, LG saw its handset margin slide to 8.8 percent from 11 percent in the previous quarter, as heightened competition pushed the company to spend more on marketing.
Last week, Nokia reported its worst results, hit by a major writedown and as it lost market share in smartphones.
LG benefited from strong sales of flat-screen TVs and record operating profits at affiliate LG Display Co Ltd (034220.KS). Continued...
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Jim, Nasgowitz, of Heartland, asked a question yesterday about the Buy-Back yesterday. WM said that, "it's still active."
Some detail on Apple's quarter
http://seekingalpha.com/article/167411-another-strong-quarter-for-apple-credit-iphone-mac-sales?source=email
Another Strong Quarter for Apple: Credit iPhone, Mac Sales 3 comments by: Sam Diaz October 19, 2009 | about: AAPL
Apple (AAPL) said Monday that Mac computers and iPhones saw strong year-over-year sales jumps in the fourth quarter, allowing the company to once again beat Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter and sending the stock surging in after-hours trading.
Apple reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per share, on sales of $9.87 billion, up from $7.9 billion in the year ago quarter. Wall Street analysts had been expecting an eps of $1.42 on revenue of $9.2 billion. (Statement, Techmeme)
For the fiscal year, the company reported earnings of $5.7 billion, or $6.29 per share, on sales of 36.5 billion, up from $32.5 billion last year. In a statement Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said:
We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results. For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times.
Looking forward, Oppenheimer said it expects revenue for Q1 2010 to be between $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and earnings per share of $1.70 to $1.78.
The fourth quarter was a busy one for Apple. Steve Jobs made his first public appearance since undergoing a liver transplant during a medical leave of absence earlier this year. Jobs hosted a a September event in San Francisco, where he announced a refresh to the iTunes and the iPod line. During the quarter, the company also released Snow Leopard and plans for the iPhone in China were unveiled as China Unicom said it reached a three-year deal to sell the 3G and 3GS in the country. It also faced Washington regulators in the ongoing questions over the Google Voice app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Among the highlights from the quarter:
Mac sales: The company shipped 3.05 million Mac computers, up 17 percent from the year ago quarter. In its third quarter reports, IDC and Gartner showed market share gains for Apple in the U.S., up to 9.4 percent, a year-over-year gain of nearly 12 percent.
iPod: The company sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, an eight percent unit drop from a year ago. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky has said in an investor’s note that he sees iPods as a shrinking market - despite the addition of one with video recording capabilities - that’s being replaced by interest in the iPhone and other smartphones. Analysts had expected sales of 9.9 million iPods.
iPod Touch: The company doesn’t break out iPod Touch sales but did say that sales were up 100 percent and that the company anticipates greater growth with the new $199 entry-point price tag.
iPhone: The company sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, a seven percent jump over a year ago. During the quarter, China Unicom announced a three-year deal to sell the iPhone in the planet’s most populated country.
Corporate: Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple’s Board of Directors on concerns that the competitive landscape between the two companies (notably the Android smartphone vs. iPhone and Mac OS X vs, the forthcoming Chrome OS.)
Accounting: During a call with analysts, executives explained changes in accounting rules that will likely benefit Apple as it allows the revenue from iPhones and Apple TV to be recognized immediately, instead of over a 24-month period. Adopted earlier this year, companies have until this time next year to adopt the new accounting processes. Apple said it believes the new rules will allow a better reflection of its performance - and analysts believe the numbers will increase Apple’s earnings - but is still looking into how it will transition. It does not yet have a set timeframe for the changover and the forecasts for the next quarter reflect the deferred revenue method.
Shares of Apple were up less than one percent in regular trading, closing at $189.86. Shares were surging in after-hours trading, up more than eight percent.
Revlis, A couple of posters today said that IDCC had guided down on upcoming earnings, I don't recall that. Could you or OldDog find the company's release that speaks to upcoming earnings?
Thanks for all that you and OD do in your research and keeping us informed.
Apple's Profit Burden: Great Expectations
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125590493348892957.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Apple has shown few signs of being slowed down by the recession. That's likely to continue when it reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Monday.
[Great Expectations]
The maker of iPods, iPhones and Macintosh computers is projected to post a 13% year-over-year earnings increase to $1.42 a share, according to Thomson Reuters, well above the top end of Apple's own forecast of $1.18 to $1.23. But some on Wall Street are quietly expecting even more -- Apple has a record of exceeding estimates and some investors are anticipating around $1.60. Apple's revenue is forecast to rise 17% to $9.2 billion.
Analysts believe sales of Apple's new iPod Touches, released in early September, as well as the iPhones were strong. Apple also started selling Snow Leopard, an upgrade to the Macintosh operating system during the quarter. That will allow the company to maintain its already high gross profit margin because software is more profitable than hardware.
Still, Wall Street has worried recently that expectations for Apple could be too high. The company's shares, up 93% in the past year, had risen since the end of September in anticipation of strong quarterly results but fell 1.3% to $188.05 on Friday.
[A customer walks near a screen showing an iPhone at a local store in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. South Korea's telecommunications regulator said Wednesday it has given approval for Apple Inc.'s hit iPhone to be sold in the country. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)] Associated Press
A customer walks near a screen showing an iPhone at a local store in Seoul, South Korea.
Some analysts say the company may not live up to the high expectations because of iPhone supply constraints. Apple launched its latest iPhone 3GS, with a faster processor and new features like video recording, in June and has been rolling it out in markets overseas.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see near-term profit taking," said Shaw Wu, an analyst for financial-services firm Kaufman Brothers.
As it has in the past, Apple will likely once again make a conservative forecast for the current quarter. But investors and analysts are wising up to that tactic. Officially, Wall Street is forecasting December quarter earnings of $1.91 a share, according to Thomson Reuters, but analysts say Apple will probably forecast $1.68 a share.
Apple will "do all they can to lower expectations for the next quarter, which is going to be tough because it should be huge," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of New York-based Solaris Asset Management, which owns Apple shares.
Write to Yukari Iwatani Kane at yukari.iwatani@wsj.com
Nokia reshuffles executive team after poor 3Q
The Associated Press
Posted: Friday, Oct. 16, 2009
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/136/story/1004166.html
FILE - This is a Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009 file photo of Nokia's Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo speaking during a conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. World-leading mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. on Thursday Oct. 15, 2009 reported a loss of euro559 million (US$832 million) in the third quarter, taking hits from a 20 percent drop in sales and a one-time charge for the fallen value of its network equipment unit.
HELSINKI Nokia Corp., the world's biggest cell phone maker, announced changes to its executive team on Friday - a day after it reported a sharp fall in market share of smartphones and a net quarterly loss.
The company said Timo Ihamuotila, head of global sales, will replace Rick Simonson as the chief financial officer on Nov. 1. Simonson will head the mobile phones sector in the devices unit.
Simonson has been CFO since 2004 and will continue to be on the executive board, Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said.
"After six successful years as CFO, it is great to have Rick move to such an important operational role," Kallasvuo said. "Rick Simonson's deep knowledge of the business and its financials will be valuable for the significant part mobile phones play in Nokia's business."
Ihamuotila, who joined Nokia in 1993 and has also been the Finnish company's corporate treasurer, will remain on the board.
On Thursday, Nokia reported a third-quarter net loss of euro559 million ($832 million) following a 20 percent drop in sales and a one-time charge for the fallen value of its network equipment unit. It was the company's first quarterly loss since it became the world's biggest mobile phone maker in 1998.
In the report, Nokia said its volume sales of mobile devices fell 8 percent in the period compared to an industry average of 7 percent. Nokia's share of global smartphone sales was an estimated 35 percent, unchanged from the previous year but down from 41 percent in the second quarter of this year.
Nokia also said it had retained a 38 percent global market share of all mobile devices, selling 108.5 million units in the period.
Nokia employs 123,350 people worldwide. Last year, it sold 468 million handsets, up 7 percent on 2007.
M2M up 250% by 2013, per Sprint CEO
Sprint CEO Hesse: M2M Key to Company’s Growth
Exec Delivers Keynote Speech at Fall COMPTEL Show
Kelly M. Teal
10/12/2009
COMPTEL PLUS — Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) CEO Dan Hesse is looking to machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies to fuel much of his company’s growth in the next few years.
Revenue from that burgeoning market is projected to soar 250 percent by 2013, Hesse said on Monday evening at the Fall 2009 COMPTEL PLUS Conference & Expo in Orlando. Sprint, he added, expects to lead its peers in the M2M arena, which ranges from smart grid initiatives to vehicles to e-books. Current partners include Ford Motor Co.
But M2M is just one area where Sprint is working to increase revenue. The service provider has fallen behind in launching innovative mobile devices, for example; this year, however, Sprint has worked hard to reverse that trend with the introduction of 16 new touch-screen phones, Hesse said.
It’s also relying on developers to create applications for its devices. Sprint, he noted, has an “open philosophy with no undue restrictions.”
“We consider developers an essential creative force for mobility,” Hesse said.
Sprint is diving into other waters as well. For instance, it’s tackling the wholesale market with femtocells, VoIP and wireless products and services. And wireless is perhaps the most important piece of Sprint’s growth opportunity. Before that can happen, though, telecom regulations need to be fixed, particularly the intercarrier compensation and special access regimes, said Hesse. Those rules subsidize outdated LECs and services, he said.
Part of the impending regulatory changes that could impact Sprint are coming from the FCC right now. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has declared his intent to impose net neutrality regulations to keep operators from blocking and controlling content. Hesse said he wants to avoid “any unintended consequences,” especially when it comes to network management.
“The antithesis of open is clogged,” he said.
Users of the Slingbox video appliance, for example, can take down an entire cell site just by forgetting to disconnect the devices. Hesse said Sprint will work with the FCC to ensure that, relative to net neutrality, the many are not harmed by the few.
Finally, Hesse said Sprint has no plans to pursue a video strategy that would pit the carrier against AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. The company is happy being tops in 4G, he said, and working with cable operators and MVNOs to boost its strength in voice, data and wireless.
New Huawei CTO will focus on cracking North America
China's Huawei Technologies has named former BT Group Chief Technology Officer Matt Bross as its global CTO. The company said one of his main goals would be to help the equipment vendor increase its North American business. Huawei's product line includes IP, mobile and optical platforms, but the company has failed to make a major dent in the U.S. market. Light Reading (9/30) LinkedInFacebookTwitterEmail this Story
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=182467&f_src=lightreading_sitedefault
China Mobile still in iPhone talks after Unicom deal
By Owen Fletcher
September 1, 2009 04:07 PM ET
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137382/China_Mobile_still_in_iPhone_talks_after_Unicom_deal
IDG News Service - China Mobile is still in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone in China even though rival China Unicom last week announced a distribution deal for the handset.
The talks between Apple and China Mobile, the world's biggest carrier by subscribers, have reached no conclusion yet, a China Mobile spokeswoman said Tuesday. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the company's three-year distribution deal with China Unicom is not exclusive, but did not say if the company is in talks with other potential partners.
China Unicom will offer the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, with the first handsets going on sale in the fourth quarter. China Mobile started its talks with Apple two years ago, but China Unicom, which operates a 3G network compatible with the iPhone, became seen as the favorite for an iPhone deal in recent months.
One snag in China Mobile's talks with Apple was the carrier's plan for its own mobile application store, in potential competition with the iPhone App Store. Another was China Mobile's use of a mobile standard for its 3G network that was domestically developed and is not compatible with current iPhone models -- although many Chinese owners of unlocked iPhones smuggled into the country use the handsets on China Mobile's 2G network, which uses the GSM and GPRS standards supported by Apple's first iPhone model.
The app store and 3G standard snags could remain in any talks. The China Mobile download store went online last month and supports handsets including "Ophones," or devices that run a China Mobile operating system but have a layout very similar to an iPhone.
Some details of the iPhone launch could still pose problems for China Unicom as well, including how and whether revenue from the App Store should be shared, one analyst said.
IDCC makes A "Growth Report" list.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/159399-q2-growth-report-part-i?source=email
NEC, Hitachi, Casio May Form Mobile-Phone Venture, Yomiuri Says
By Tak Kumakura
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd., and Casio Computer Co. are in talks to merge their mobile-phone businesses by April 2010, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
The venture, of which NEC may own more than 50 percent, will have more than 20 percent of Japan’s mobile-phone market. Sharp Corp. is currently the biggest maker of mobile phones in Japan with a market share of 22 percent, the newspaper said.
Last Updated: August 27, 2009 17:21 EDT
Loads of Benefits in this opinion for IDC - From WSJ
* OPINION
* AUGUST 19, 2009
Why AT&T Killed Google Voice
By ANDY KESSLER
Earlier this month, Apple rejected an application for the iPhone called Google Voice. The uproar set off a chain of events—Google's CEO Eric Schmidt resigning from Apple's board, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigating wireless open access and handset exclusivity—that may finally end the 135-year-old Alexander Graham Bell era. It's about time.
With Google Voice, you have one Google phone number that callers use to reach you, and you pick up whichever phone—office, home or cellular—rings. You can screen calls, listen in before answering, record calls, read transcripts of your voicemails, and do free conference calls. Domestic calls and texting are free, and international calls to Europe are two cents a minute. In other words, a unified voice system, something a real phone company should have offered years ago.
Apple has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S., stirring up rumors that AT&T was the one behind Apple rejecting Google Voice. How could AT&T not object? AT&T clings to the old business of charging for voice calls in minutes. It takes not much more than 10 kilobits per second of data to handle voice. In a world of megabit per-second connections, that's nothing—hence Google's proposal to offer voice calls for no cost and heap on features galore.
What this episode really uncovers is that AT&T is dying. AT&T is dragging down the rest of us by overcharging us for voice calls and stifling innovation in a mobile data market critical to the U.S. economy.
For the latest quarter, AT&T reported local voice revenue down 12%, long distance down 15%. With customers unplugging home phones and using flat-rate Internet services for long-distance calls (again, voice is just data), AT&T's wireline operating income is down 36%. Even in the wireless segment, which grew 10% overall, per-customer voice revenue is down 7%.
Wireless data service is AT&T's only bright spot, up a whopping 26% per customer. How so? As any parent of teenagers knows, text messages are 20 cents each, or $5,000 per megabyte. After the first month and a $320 bill, we all pony up $10 a month for unlimited texting plans. Same for Internet access. With my iPhone, I pay $30 a month for unlimited data service (actually, one gigabyte per month). Is it worth that? The à la carte price for other not-so-smart phones is $5 per megabyte (one-thousandth of a gigabyte) per month. So we buy monthly plans. Margins in AT&T's Wireless segment are an embarrassingly high 25%.
The trick in any communications and media business is to own a pipe between you and your customers so you can charge what you like. Cellphone companies don't have wired pipes, but by owning spectrum they do have a pipe and pricing power.
Aren't there phone competitors to knock down the price? Hardly. Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and others all joined AT&T in bidding huge amounts for wireless spectrum in FCC auctions, some $70-plus billion since the mid-1990s. That all gets passed along to you and me in the form of higher fees and friendly oligopolies that don't much compete on price. Google Voice is the new competition.
By the way, Apple also has a pipe—call it a virtual pipe—to customers. Its iTunes music service (now up to one-quarter of all music sales, according to NPD Market Research) works exclusively with iPods and iPhones. The new Palm Pre, another exclusive deal, this time by Verizon Wireless, tricked iTunes into thinking it was an iPod. Apple quickly changed its software to lock the Pre out, and one would expect Apple locking out any Google phone from using iTunes.
It wouldn't be so bad if we were just overpaying for our mobile plans. Americans are used to that—see mail, milk and medicine. But it's inexcusable that new, feature-rich and productive applications like Google Voice are being held back, just to prop up AT&T while we wait for it to transition away from its legacy of voice communications. How many productive apps beyond Google Voice are waiting in the wings?
So now the FCC and its new Chairman Julius Genachowski are getting involved. Usually this means a set of convoluted rules to make up for past errors in allocating scarce resources that—in the name of "fairness"—end up creating a new mess.
Some might say it is time to rethink our national communications policy. But even that's obsolete. I'd start with a simple idea. There is no such thing as voice or text or music or TV shows or video. They are all just data. We need a national data policy, and here are four suggestions:
• End phone exclusivity. Any device should work on any network. Data flows freely.
• Transition away from "owning" airwaves. As we've seen with license-free bandwidth via Wi-Fi networking, we can share the airwaves without interfering with each other. Let new carriers emerge based on quality of service rather than spectrum owned. Cellphone coverage from huge cell towers will naturally migrate seamlessly into offices and even homes via Wi-Fi networking. No more dropped calls in the bathroom.
• End municipal exclusivity deals for cable companies. TV channels are like voice pipes, part of an era that is about to pass. A little competition for cable will help the transition to paying for shows instead of overpaying for little-watched networks. Competition brings de facto network neutrality and open access (if you don't like one service blocking apps, use another), thus one less set of artificial rules to be gamed.
• Encourage faster and faster data connections to our homes and phones. It should more than double every two years. To homes, five megabits today should be 10 megabits in 2011, 25 megabits in 2013 and 100 megabits in 2017. These data-connection speeds are technically doable today, with obsolete voice and video policy holding it back.
Technology doesn't wait around, so it's all going to happen anyway, but it will take longer under today's rules. A weak economy is not the time to stifle change.
Data is toxic to old communications and media pipes. Instead, data gains value as it hops around in the packets that make up the Internet structure. New services like Twitter don't need to file with the FCC.
And new features for apps like Google Voice are only limited by the imagination. Mother-in-law location alerts? Video messaging? Whatever. The FCC better not treat AT&T and Verizon like Citigroup, GM and the Post Office. Cellphone operators aren't too big to fail. Rather, the telecom sector is too important to be allowed to hold back the rest of us.
—Mr. Kessler, a former hedge-fund manager, is the author of "How We Got Here" (Collins, 2005). Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A15
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
OT - Just a thought about today's trading (which appears to be slightly OT given the recent posts I've read today.) I was having a bit of trouble with our falling SP with a Market that's up 3 digits. And then I looked at the options expiring today. At the $22.50 strike price, there are 3000+ Puts and about 1000 Calls expiring today.
It appears that "The Boys" are wanting a close at 22.50 so they all expire with zero consequence.
Slacker, Thanks. Appreciate your help as well as your posts.