Yahoo Video, which will apparently maunch tomorrow (ooh, this could almost be a scoop!), will compete directly with Google Video but will initially earn revenues only from ads placed on its pages.
We'll update tomorrow - but ad based online video is the future. Finally!Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Yahoo takes on Google with user generated video service
Yahoo is taking on Google and start-up YouTube with a service that allows users to upload and share their videos.
New Sun CEO Schwartz makes his first major move - cost reductions!
Sun Microsystems new CEO Jonathan Schwartz today made his first major move following a month long review of the company. He will lay off 4,000 to 5,000 employees -11% to 13% of Sun's workforce - over the next six months to help the computer maker return to consistent profitability.
Wall Street has for a while been pushing Sun to reduce costs in recognition of the lower growth that they can achieve since the dot com days, but it took founder Scott McNealy moving aside for it to happen.
Given Sun's reorganisation and refocusing toward software and storage as well as more commoditised servers, the cost alignment is probably sensible to do. And with Sun's new product line-up - they may even be able to get back to profitable growth going forwards. Now that would make investaors smile!
Wall Street has for a while been pushing Sun to reduce costs in recognition of the lower growth that they can achieve since the dot com days, but it took founder Scott McNealy moving aside for it to happen.
Given Sun's reorganisation and refocusing toward software and storage as well as more commoditised servers, the cost alignment is probably sensible to do. And with Sun's new product line-up - they may even be able to get back to profitable growth going forwards. Now that would make investaors smile!
Google announces they will not build browser to compete with Microsoft's Explorer
According to Reuters Google has no plans to build its own Web browser software to compete with rival Microsoft, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt stated today.
During a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Schmidt dismissed speculation that the company aimed to tie together its Web search and other services to compete with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the world's dominant Web browser.
Der, of course not - they'll just buy Firefox instead!
AMD takes on Intel with media-center strategy
AMD has just gone 'live' with their media-center chip strategy to take on Inel's Viiv! And PC's running AMD Live will ship in the coming days from HP. AMD's product strategy is aimed at creating a media-center PC that will help people organize, distribute and share their content.
And they are also launching a suite of applications and services meant to assist people in designing and operating digital entertainment systems.
The Live Entertainment Suite will offer a bunch of interesting features. One, called AMD Live On Demand, is designed to offer a service, via Orb Networks, to stream live or prerecorded television shows, photos, music and movies to devices connected to the Internet. The suite will also include an application tool that aims to compress recorded TV shows, allowing more shows to be stored on a PC. It will also offer 25GB of free storage via AMD's Live Media Vault and a service to set up and manage a home network.
AMD is planning to expand its Live product line later in the year with the capability to show Internet content on a user's television screen - which is the way to go, cos people want TV's in their living rooms and not PC's whatever Microsoft say.
And talking of Microsoft - how do they feel about AMD's 'Live' branding which clearly clashes with their software as services play similarly named 'Live'.
Either way, AMD's move is another step toward media centric PC's becoming mass market.
And they are also launching a suite of applications and services meant to assist people in designing and operating digital entertainment systems.
The Live Entertainment Suite will offer a bunch of interesting features. One, called AMD Live On Demand, is designed to offer a service, via Orb Networks, to stream live or prerecorded television shows, photos, music and movies to devices connected to the Internet. The suite will also include an application tool that aims to compress recorded TV shows, allowing more shows to be stored on a PC. It will also offer 25GB of free storage via AMD's Live Media Vault and a service to set up and manage a home network.
AMD is planning to expand its Live product line later in the year with the capability to show Internet content on a user's television screen - which is the way to go, cos people want TV's in their living rooms and not PC's whatever Microsoft say.
And talking of Microsoft - how do they feel about AMD's 'Live' branding which clearly clashes with their software as services play similarly named 'Live'.
Either way, AMD's move is another step toward media centric PC's becoming mass market.
Let the PC price war continue!
Lenovo, the world's third-largest PC maker, said that profit growth will not be a priority this year and that it is ready to cut prices to keep up with rivals, as it focuses on expanding market share.
"For this year, the goal is revenue growth. And we hope profits will improve, but that's not our primary objective," Chairman Yang Yuanqing told Reuters. "This year's profit won't be worse than last year's."
Bingo - let the PC price war begin! Dell, HP and Lenovo are going to go full at eachother this year and they're gonna have to pile the features in as well, cos Wi-Fi, 3G, video, conference calling and music playing are all must haves going forwards.
They all need to watch the left field, because Apple could become the wild card in the space.
Oh, and the ultimate battle may actually be over dominance of the laptop market. That could even bode well for Lenovo.
Disney to sell movies over the Web through CinemaNow
Walt Disney is the latest Hollywood studio to offer movies for sale via the Internet by providing films like recent thriller "Flightplan" to CinemaNow.
CinemaNow, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., said Disney's home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, will offer movies on a download-to-own basis for PCs and portable devices on the same day they are available on DVD, starting June 6th.
And like the standards wars for video and DVD formats the studios are backing two horses. Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures offer download-to-own films via Movielink. While CinemaNow offers movies from Sony, MGM and LionsGate Entertainment.
But it won't be long before the big boys Yahoo, Google, Amazon and Apple will be breathing down their necks.
The US' ADC to buy Andrews in the continued consolidation of network equipment market
US Network equipment maker ADC has agreed to buy smaller rival Andrew Corp for about $2 billion in stock to meet rising customer demand for high-speed data and video services.
ADC Telecommunications Inc.'s wireline technology and Andrew's wireless infrastructure products would bolster the combined company's position amid the convergence of wireless, high-speed Internet, video, data and voice services.
The consolidation of the telco and network equipment market continues unabated. Expect more deals in the not too distant future and expect the Chinese network equipment guys to start getting more agressive internationally.
ADC Telecommunications Inc.'s wireline technology and Andrew's wireless infrastructure products would bolster the combined company's position amid the convergence of wireless, high-speed Internet, video, data and voice services.
The consolidation of the telco and network equipment market continues unabated. Expect more deals in the not too distant future and expect the Chinese network equipment guys to start getting more agressive internationally.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
US Internet advertising soars in 1st quarter
US Internet advertising surged 38% to a record $3.9 billion in the first quarter as marketers moved additional dollars to the Web. It was even up 6% on the seasonally whopping Q4 of last year.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers surveyed leading companies that sell advertising space online, including Yahoo and Google, which are benefiting as consumers spend more of their media and purchasing time on the Internet.
I guess we can expect good results from both companies going forwards - surprise, surprise!! And with Google getting into video ads and Yahoo getting better at search based ads expect both companies too keep growing their market share through this year.
And what a growth market it has been, growing to a $12.5 billion industry last year from less than $1 billion in 1997! I guess TechBoard should advertise more - what do you all think?!
Monday, May 29, 2006
AMD to boost chip production and invest in Germany!
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the No. 2 maker of microchips for PC's, announced today that they will spend an additional $2.5 billion to upgrade and expand their two factories in Germany.
AMD is both boosting production and upgrading chip production methods as they continue to take market share from Intel and prepare to saitsfy Dell's orders for high end servers.
This is also a most welcome boost for Germany and the 420 odd new workers that will be hired a rare kicker for local employment challenges.
AMD is both boosting production and upgrading chip production methods as they continue to take market share from Intel and prepare to saitsfy Dell's orders for high end servers.
This is also a most welcome boost for Germany and the 420 odd new workers that will be hired a rare kicker for local employment challenges.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
The iPod and mobile phone finally take PDA's to the masses!
Apple put out a press release a couple of days ago that got me thinking. It announced Apple selling PowerSchool, their student information systems division, to Pearson. And on the back of it Apple have agreed a ground breaking agreement with Pearson whereby they will develop educational content for teachers and students compatible with iPod. Given that Pearson are one of the largest educational publishers in the world, this is no small achievement.
And what it really proves is that the iPod is fast going way beyond its roots as a music player and is now becoming a powerful handheld computer, which will soon carry a plethora of applications, only one of which will be iTunes. The iPod will take off where the Newton collapsed - as the first truly mass market PDA!
When Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's) hit the market around 25 years ago everyone thought that the killer application which would take the PDA mass market would be the digital diary/agenda. How wrong they proved to be. The diary/agenda PDA managed sales of no more than around 11M per year at its peak.
No, the killer applications for the mass market PDA will prove to be music and mobile communications and the devices that will deliver the promise will be the iPod and mobile smartphones. Both are now selling in the tens of millions.
So to go full circle back to Apple's iPod, they just need launch an iPod Smartphone and they could have it all. If they do not - Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson will one day eat their lunch.
And what it really proves is that the iPod is fast going way beyond its roots as a music player and is now becoming a powerful handheld computer, which will soon carry a plethora of applications, only one of which will be iTunes. The iPod will take off where the Newton collapsed - as the first truly mass market PDA!
When Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's) hit the market around 25 years ago everyone thought that the killer application which would take the PDA mass market would be the digital diary/agenda. How wrong they proved to be. The diary/agenda PDA managed sales of no more than around 11M per year at its peak.
No, the killer applications for the mass market PDA will prove to be music and mobile communications and the devices that will deliver the promise will be the iPod and mobile smartphones. Both are now selling in the tens of millions.
So to go full circle back to Apple's iPod, they just need launch an iPod Smartphone and they could have it all. If they do not - Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson will one day eat their lunch.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Vonage's catch 22
CNET wrote an interesting piece today on 'Vonage future looks troubled'. Indeed poor old Vonage could not have had much worse a debut as a public company. On the first day their shares slumped 13% which is the worse first day performance of any company for 2 years. But then to make matters worse, on their second day (yesterday) they fell another 10% odd.
And the pundits are now betting that their stock will continue to fall into the single digits over the next few days. And more and more people are asking why Vonage went public at all. After all, they have huge losses, they are still a young company and the stock markets in general are in a mess right now.
Having been there myself and having pulled two IPO's of company's I was running at the time, I think I understand the Vonage catch 22. For the reality is that they had little choice but to go public, alomst whatever the circumstances. For the private markets would probably not sustain another offering large enough (they have already raised plenty of private money) and they need the money to keep dominating the market (and now fighting off increased competition).
For even though the timing may be bad from a stock market perepsctive, the timing is correct from a VOIP market perspective. The US VOIP market is taking off big time right now - and the market share battles will probably be won or lost this year and next. So Vonage have to raise the money now or risk losing considerable market share to Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast or Skype.
And if Vonage can only pull the stops out and execute superbly this year then they may even look cheap at the current prices. Some might argue that if Vonage do hit the single digits then that is the time to buy them. Could that include AT&T snapping them up? Let's see.
And the pundits are now betting that their stock will continue to fall into the single digits over the next few days. And more and more people are asking why Vonage went public at all. After all, they have huge losses, they are still a young company and the stock markets in general are in a mess right now.
Having been there myself and having pulled two IPO's of company's I was running at the time, I think I understand the Vonage catch 22. For the reality is that they had little choice but to go public, alomst whatever the circumstances. For the private markets would probably not sustain another offering large enough (they have already raised plenty of private money) and they need the money to keep dominating the market (and now fighting off increased competition).
For even though the timing may be bad from a stock market perepsctive, the timing is correct from a VOIP market perspective. The US VOIP market is taking off big time right now - and the market share battles will probably be won or lost this year and next. So Vonage have to raise the money now or risk losing considerable market share to Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast or Skype.
And if Vonage can only pull the stops out and execute superbly this year then they may even look cheap at the current prices. Some might argue that if Vonage do hit the single digits then that is the time to buy them. Could that include AT&T snapping them up? Let's see.
Murdoch's UK Times newspaper to launch in US
The Times, Rupert Murdoch's London-based newspaper, is launching a US edition next month that will be printed at facilities owned by its News Corp sibling the New York Post. The move apparently comes following the recent popularity of its international online version in the US.
This is indeed an interesting if somewhat strange move at a time when most newspapers are retrenching/struggling following reductions in readership and print ad dollars/pounds/euoro's/whatever!
But it does mark an interesting milestone as the move has been led by the success of its online version. Indeed it could be that online newspapers will increasingly become testbeds for international markets and are certainly a lot cheaper than a full blown print tests.
The questions is who will read the US version of the Times? I guess initially British expats who recognize and value(?) the brand. Mind you, given that they have chosen to launch it as the World Cup soccer commences - no prizes for guessing what content they'll be focussing on to attract new readers.
Oh and it'll cost $1 which will at least make it cheaper than the US version of the Financial Times!! Tough luck America, you're about to experience a daily dose of UK style broadsheet journalism.
This is indeed an interesting if somewhat strange move at a time when most newspapers are retrenching/struggling following reductions in readership and print ad dollars/pounds/euoro's/whatever!
But it does mark an interesting milestone as the move has been led by the success of its online version. Indeed it could be that online newspapers will increasingly become testbeds for international markets and are certainly a lot cheaper than a full blown print tests.
The questions is who will read the US version of the Times? I guess initially British expats who recognize and value(?) the brand. Mind you, given that they have chosen to launch it as the World Cup soccer commences - no prizes for guessing what content they'll be focussing on to attract new readers.
Oh and it'll cost $1 which will at least make it cheaper than the US version of the Financial Times!! Tough luck America, you're about to experience a daily dose of UK style broadsheet journalism.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Google software to come pre-shipped on Dell computers
Google has beaten out Microsoft and Yahoo in a deal which could see their software come pre-installed on up to 100M Dell computers over the next few years. This is a major victory for Google, but probably also an expensive one.
Under a 3 year pact, Google, will pay Dell to have its desktop software for searching the content of a user's hard drive and emails, and a Web browser search toolbar installed on their computers. Dell will also set the default search engine for users to Google's offering. Buyers of Dell PCs will have their browser home page set to a co-branded Dell and Google site.
Industry analysts have apparently proven that software that comes pre-packaged is more likely to be used. Der yeah! So Google can finally take a slice from Microsoft's play-sheet. Expect more such agreements with other PC manufacturers as well as mobile phone operators.
Under a 3 year pact, Google, will pay Dell to have its desktop software for searching the content of a user's hard drive and emails, and a Web browser search toolbar installed on their computers. Dell will also set the default search engine for users to Google's offering. Buyers of Dell PCs will have their browser home page set to a co-branded Dell and Google site.
Industry analysts have apparently proven that software that comes pre-packaged is more likely to be used. Der yeah! So Google can finally take a slice from Microsoft's play-sheet. Expect more such agreements with other PC manufacturers as well as mobile phone operators.
Yahoo and Ebay announce far reaching alliance - what's it really about?
Yahoo and Ebay have just announced a far reaching and not so surprising alliance. It's design is primarily for the web portal king (Yahoo der!) and the e-commerce queen (Ebay with less der!) to get together and initially generate more revenues - Ebay runs text and banner ads for the first time and Yahoo gets a new ad partner/customer. But that's just the short term stuff.
Longer term this partnership is designed to leverage the unique assets that both companies have to keep them strong versus the expanding power of Google and MySpace. For both have cracked a model which allows them to deliver a broad set of ad based and commerce based services. So both Yahoo and Ebay fear that their businesses will suffer increasingly at the hands of the other two.
And yet, neither Yahoo nor Ebay want to (or can afford to) go it alone and fight on both portal and commerce lines. If they join together and cross promote to each other's communities they can focus on their strengths while still undermining Google and MySpace future attempts to bury them both.
So Yahoo will promote Ebay more and more to their users as well as integrating PayPal for Yahoo users to pay for Yahoo goods and services. Yahoo will also likely integrate Skype more closely with Yahoo Messenger - with Ebay "click to call" a good starting point.
But down the line we could see Yahoo and Ebay offering joint products leveraging eachother's core strengths to further hurt their core competitors. Ebay may offer a content marketplace for Yahoo Music and Video etc.
While the partnership is a positive move for both parties it probably will not affect Google or MySpace too much - in fact it may make them compete with Yahoo and Ebay even more as they need not worry about being nice to them any longer.
The competitor that is worse affected by this announcement is Microsoft's MSN for they hoped to partner with both Yahoo and Ebay. Oh well, back to the partner drawing board for Microsoft.
Longer term this partnership is designed to leverage the unique assets that both companies have to keep them strong versus the expanding power of Google and MySpace. For both have cracked a model which allows them to deliver a broad set of ad based and commerce based services. So both Yahoo and Ebay fear that their businesses will suffer increasingly at the hands of the other two.
And yet, neither Yahoo nor Ebay want to (or can afford to) go it alone and fight on both portal and commerce lines. If they join together and cross promote to each other's communities they can focus on their strengths while still undermining Google and MySpace future attempts to bury them both.
So Yahoo will promote Ebay more and more to their users as well as integrating PayPal for Yahoo users to pay for Yahoo goods and services. Yahoo will also likely integrate Skype more closely with Yahoo Messenger - with Ebay "click to call" a good starting point.
But down the line we could see Yahoo and Ebay offering joint products leveraging eachother's core strengths to further hurt their core competitors. Ebay may offer a content marketplace for Yahoo Music and Video etc.
While the partnership is a positive move for both parties it probably will not affect Google or MySpace too much - in fact it may make them compete with Yahoo and Ebay even more as they need not worry about being nice to them any longer.
The competitor that is worse affected by this announcement is Microsoft's MSN for they hoped to partner with both Yahoo and Ebay. Oh well, back to the partner drawing board for Microsoft.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
XM Satellite Radio growth slowing?
XM Satellite Radio, the US satellite radio leader, has just lowered its forecast for new subscribers this year, citing regulatory and legal challenges. And their share price slumped 5% on the back of it.
Could it be that satellite radio subscriber growth is slowing? Or is XM losing the battle to upstart Sirius? I am sure that we will find numerous answers to these questions as more statistics come out over the next few days, BUT, I can't help feeling that satellite radio growth is not only slowing but may peak out earlier than most expect.
Given all the competing media and communications bills we pay today, including cable bills, telephone bills, hi-speed Internet bills, Wi-Fi access fees and mobile phone bills, I can't help wondering whether a satellite radio bill on top of all the other near essentials will cap users at the wealthier few?? Let's see!
Could it be that satellite radio subscriber growth is slowing? Or is XM losing the battle to upstart Sirius? I am sure that we will find numerous answers to these questions as more statistics come out over the next few days, BUT, I can't help feeling that satellite radio growth is not only slowing but may peak out earlier than most expect.
Given all the competing media and communications bills we pay today, including cable bills, telephone bills, hi-speed Internet bills, Wi-Fi access fees and mobile phone bills, I can't help wondering whether a satellite radio bill on top of all the other near essentials will cap users at the wealthier few?? Let's see!
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