ZDNet Must Read:
With the Chrome OS, Google's software stack is revealed; Shrapnel everywhere
Google is planning to launch lightweight operating system dubbed the Chrome OS that'll target netbooks and Web apps. With the move--clearly aimed at Microsoft--Google's software stack has come into sharp... Continued »
July 9th, 2009
Clippy's back: Can Office 10 live up to the trailer?
Office 10 will take the spotlight next week, but in the meantime we have some funny trailers from the folks at Microsoft.
What follows isn’t going to lead to a lot of Office 10 sales, but it’s worth the two minutes. Enjoy.
July 9th, 2009
Dell's FastTrack: now shipping popular systems overnight
Dell today announced a new service, called FastTrack, that puts the most popular laptops into the hands of consumers or businesses in a day or two.
For consumers, the company is offering next-day delivery on the most popular systems - including a laptop, a desktop and a mini computer. For businesses, the turn-around time is two days for a lineup of four laptop models with seven different configurations.
By tracking customer orders, Dell is identifying which laptops are the most popular and keeping those systems on-hand for quick delivery. In a statement, Erik Dithmer, vice-president and general manager of Dell’s small and medium business division, said:
The new FastTrack for Business program is all about responding to customer requirements and giving them options in how they choose to buy and use Dell technology. The majority of customers will continue to fully configure their Latitude laptops, but we now have an option for those who need mobile solutions quickly for a new employee, before a business trip or when they need a replacement unit fast.
Interestingly enough, the FastTrack program originated in IdeaStorm, the company’s virtual suggestion box that allows customers and employees to offer up suggestions on how to improve business. The suggestion that sparked this program, presumably written by a customer, said it was crazy that a pre-configured laptop showcased on the site and not customized in any way would take as much as five weeks to ship. The customer’s post put it all on the line for Dell when he wrote:
if I am buying a unit that you are showing in the website as your standard, I should be able to get it next week not in 5 weeks. Also consider the fact that I am paying you TODAY and you are not delivering the product for another 5 weeks. That is a loan to DELL with no interest, and DELL is not giving me a discount for waiting either.
Well said.
July 9th, 2009
Sprint outsources network maintenance and operations to Ericsson
Sprint on Thursday said it would outsource its network to Ericsson in a seven-year deal valued at $4.5 billion to $5 billion.
The deal (statement, Techmeme) allows Sprint to offload the costs associated with running its network. Sprint will transfer 6,000 employees to Ericsson. Ericsson will now handle all the day-to-day operations, maintenance, climbing cell towers and other items. The transfer of the network and the employees that go with them will happen in by the end of the third quarter.
Steve Elfman, Sprint’s president of network operations and wholesale, said on a conference call that Sprint still owns its network and is responsible for strategic plans and investments. Elfman added that the goal was to improve the quality of the network and deploy next-generation technologies. Sprint will keep its customer service operations.
Sprint didn’t disclose exact numbers on savings. Elfman said Sprint expects to cut cost per labor unit. Sprint will also avoid investment in the tools that Ericsson already has. Economies of scale will enable Sprint-Ericsson to cut costs on software licenses and other expenses. Those savings will be invested in expanding network coverage.
Among other key parts of the deal:
- Sprint chooses technology platforms and vendors;
- Ericsson maintains Sprint’s wireless and wireline networks;
- Ericsson will optimize Sprint’s inventory of network assets;
- Ericsson and Sprint will focus on improving processes;
- No layoffs are anticipated due to the deal and Ericsson will set up shop in Overland, Kansas, Sprint’s headquarters.
In many respects, the Sprint deal is a straightforward outsourcing pact. However, such deals are rare in the wireless world.
Clarification: My U.S.-centric lens got the best of me. These wireless pacts are common abroad. Camille Mendler, an analyst at the Yankee Group, said:
Outside the United States, deals like Sprint and Ericsson’s are commonplace. Since 2002, wireless operators worldwide have spent $29 billion on network-related outsourcing and managed services deals. It just hasn’t happened in the rather backward US market until now.
July 9th, 2009
Video of the day: Prankster mocks those who linked to fake Chrome OS images
Here in the tech blogosphere, we love our news scoops. And when we can’t get them ourselves, we’re quick to link to those who do get them. Apparently, that’s not always the smartest move.
At some point yesterday, when everyone and his mother was posting news about Google’s Chrome OS, someone created a new blog - called Chrome OS leak - and posted what appeared to be images of the new OS. He explained in his post that he worked for a company that supplies parts for Acer laptops and that a Google rep stopped by to show off some features of Chrome OS in development. This particular person happened to be invited to the demo, he/she wrote, and snapped some quick pics when the Google rep wasn’t looking.
Yes, it was fake. All of it. Images, the story, the whole bit.
Here’s where it gets better. Instead of just letting these images work their way through the blogosphere and having a good laugh over it with his/her buddies, this prankster went out of his way to produce a video (see below) that would highlight how gullible the blogosphere can be. (From what I can tell, none of the ZDNet blogs linked to it.)
In the video, he notes that the site received more than 3,000 pageviews, was tweeted by more than 500 people and linked to by dozens of sites - and then proceeds to list the sites that linked to him.
Ouch. Looks like this prankster earned his “Gotcha!” moment.
July 9th, 2009
Survey: 48% of consumers would drop data plans if cash was tight
Almost half, or 48 percent, of consumers said they would drop their mobile data plans completely if they faced financial hardship, according to a new survey.
In a poll of more than 1,000 consumers by Strategy Analytics, just 17 percent they would move to a cheaper data plan. Meanwhile, only 19 percent said they would give up mobile voice service completely (28 percent said they would just scale back).
It seems obvious, but these figures indicate that customers are indeed aware of how pricey data plans are — and how much they consider them relatively frivolous.
According to eMarketer, in the past 12 months, 22 percent of U.S. adults have cut back on their mobile service to save money, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
July 9th, 2009
SAP: Is the worst over?
Analysts have been tripping over themselves trying to call the trough of demand for SAP applications.
SAP (detailed quote) has been upgraded twice in two days. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded SAP to buy from neutral on Thursday given “the low expectation level.” Simply put, business isn’t getting worse for SAP and that means the second half of 2009 should look better due to easier comparisons.
The latest upgrade echoes comments from Jeffries on Wednesday.
Also see: What should SAP do with its $5bn war chest?
What really happened with SAP Business ByDesign?
Jeffries analyst Ross MacMillan, who also upgraded SAP to a buy from a neutral, wrote in a research note:
July 9th, 2009
The United States of broadband: All of the speed is on the east coast
Akamai’s state of the Internet report for the first quarter illustrates the distribution of broadband speeds in the U.S. The real speed appears to be on the east coast.
Here’s the distribution of broadband in the top 10 states:
Akamai reports:
In looking at the ten states with the highest levels of high broadband connectivity, we find that the distribution of connection speeds above 5 Mbps generally follows a similar pattern. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the high broadband connections measure between 5-10 Mbps, with the next largest grouping between 10-15 Mbps. After that the faster ‘buckets’ struggle to achieve even 3% of connections, as shown in Figure 18. This distribution of speeds is not surprising, as most residential broadband options offer connections in the 5-15 Mbps downstream range, with higher speed options available only in limited areas or at significantly higher prices. We expect that as the adoption and rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 technology by cable Internet providers, as well as other FTTH initiatives by telecom providers, become more widespread that the percentage of connections in the highest ‘bucket’ will grow over time, and that competitive market pressures will drive providers to price the highest speed tiers of service at a level that subscribers find affordable.
Jason Perlow: Optimum Ultra: So how fast is it?
Here’s a look at the states with the highest percentage of speeds topping 25 Mbps.
And here are the slowest states in the union.
Globally, however, the U.S. trails in broadband ranking at No. 33 in Akamai’s first quarter tally. The good news: That’s up from No. 35 in the fourth quarter.
July 9th, 2009
On Wall Street, the time value of money has been redefined. It does not include you
An electric signal takes a nanosecond to travel a foot, essentially.
These days, that distance matters. At least on Wall Street.
If you want to discover prices on stocks first – and act on them first – you have to get them first.
Which means sweeping the market at speeds measured in the millionths of seconds. Every little hardware and software advantage you can think of matters. So does the distance that an electric signal travels, even if it is lightspeed.
Which is why you may want to take note of the data center that the New York Stock Exchange is setting up next year across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
If you’re running a competing electronic exchange or trying to make money on sizable chunks of “dark” investment capital that likes to remain unseen to the public at large, you are going to look seriously at sitting under the same roof as your ostensible competitor.
Why?
Because the nanoseconds (billionths of a second), microseconds (millionths) and milliseconds add up, otherwise. If your data center is, alas, on Wall Street, it might be a full three miles to get across the river to the NYSE’s data center. And three miles back.
Translate that into feet and it’ll take an electric signal – a piece of data – 32 millionths of a second to get there and back.
Those are 32 millionths of a second that you won’t squander, if you sit under the same roof. Your exchange and orders placed through your system will connect directly to the NYSE’s own operations. And the operations of any other exchange under that roof.
“We think of this as a game-changer for us,’’ Murray White, NYSE Technologies’ senior vice president, said in Securities Industry News.
What’s worrisome about a “single co-location environment” is that this will aid and abet Wall Street’s own implementation of Moore’s law.
Right now, it’ll be a big deal to have your exchange’s servers sitting next to that other exchange’s servers so that you save the 15,840 feet that your signals otherwise would have had to travel to get across the Hudson and back. Tomorrow, you’ll be fighting over where your servers are located within the co-location facility – so that your signals don’t have to travel 200 yards and back, if a competitor’s are traveling just 50 feet and back.
You’ll be trying to figure out how to put as much software back into hardware circuitry, to eliminate delay in crunching instructions. You’ll figure out how to route each piece of data in a message as fast as you can, in as direct a route as you can, to save more millionths of a second. So you can spot market opportunities, react and act, before any other high-speed traders do. And certainly the public investor, who still thinks “real-time” data means up-to-the-second information.
The problem here is there’s no semblance of a fair fight, any more. Time is money. And time is getting sliced way too thinly, thanks to increasingly aggressive trading programs. With high-frequency traders running the field with thousands of orders a second – each – everyday investors pretty much have to figure that they can’t really compete.
They pretty much have to buy, hold and pray that they catch broad movement in a stock correctly.
Because they can’t begin to profit – or compete — on the microsecond movement.
Unless they plan to rent space at the NYSE’s new co-location facility. And perhaps eat and sleep there, as well.
July 9th, 2009
Zoho melds Microsoft Access with Creator via plug-in
Zoho on Thursday said that its Creator application can take Microsoft Access information and turn them into Web applications.
For the average bear this move may not be a big deal, but IT pros often use Access, which is essentially a desktop database. On TechRepublic Access is frequently mentioned in the community.
Zoho’s strategy has been to make its Web apps conveniently connect to dominant players in the enterprise via plug-ins and import options. Hooking Microsoft Access to Zoho Creator is one way to do that. Zoho is making it easier to import Access data to Zoho Creator and Reports.
In a blog post, Zoho said the Access plug-in for Creator allows you to:
- Migrate your database from Microsoft Access (MDB File) to Zoho Creator & Zoho Reports;
- Create a web-based database app from your Microsoft Access database;
- And share your applications with others.
July 9th, 2009
Google's Chrome OS: A threat to Intel and the rise of ARM chips
Google’s Chrome OS, which generated an extreme amount of hubbub, is a defensive move as much as it is an offensive one, say analysts. Nevertheless, Google’s move will have a wide impact on the industry.
Analysts were handicapping Google’s move into operating systems on Thursday and some of the ripple effects they cooked up were interesting (Techmeme). Here are the more notable comments from the research notes:
Chrome OS a boon for ARM chip makers? Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell writes:
July 9th, 2009
In an economic downturn, prepaid mobile is big business
Why pay $100 or more each month for a two-year cell phone contract when you can pay $50 and keep yourself off the hook?
At least that’s the thinking behind the latest ad campaign by Boost Mobile, a prepaid, or “no-contract,” mobile service provider whose parent company is none other than Sprint Nextel.
In an economic downturn, consumers are reevaluating the privilege of paying mobile service providers — including Sprint — $50 to $150 (or more) per month for their cell phone. And according to Boost Mobile president Matt Carter, that’s a revolutionary idea worth calling someone about.
ZDNet: How much have sales of prepaid phones increased since the beginning of the economic downturn?
July 9th, 2009
Amazon's Kindle price cut: Thank Prime View's acquisition of E-Ink
Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle 2 to $299, a $60 drop that may stoke demand. But Amazon’s move has more to do with scale than any competitive threat.
Let’s face it: A $299 Kindle 2 still isn’t cheap, but it is quite notable that it’s the same as a 16 GB iPod touch, which is in the running to be my next Kindle. Is Amazon dropping the price to fend off Apple? Nope.
Amazon appears to be the beneficiary of Prime View International’s acquisition of E-Ink. The deal, announced last month, aligns Kindle’s assembler—Prime View—with the maker of the device’s screens (E-Ink). Put them together and it only makes sense that Amazon get a better price.
Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell writes:
Amazon has cut the price of its Kindle digital reader from $359 to $299, after a prior cut from $399 to $359 in May 2008. The prior cut was clearly not due to lack of demand, and we assume that this cut similarly flows from supplier scale in manufacturing key components, such as the E Ink screen; we estimate Amazon has sold around 1.5 million Kindles to date. Amazon’s Kindle assembler, Prime View International, acquired the manufacturer of Kindle electrophoretic screens, E Ink Corporation, for $215 million in June 2009, which may have aligned Amazon’s and Prime View’s interests in favor of price cuts to drive volume.
As Andrew Nusca notes Amazon’s price tag for the Kindle 2 is still to high, but breaking the $300 mark should drive a few more purchases. Nevertheless, the Kindle is one expensive razor considering that Amazon’s real business is selling the blades (the e-books).
Mitchell expects that the Kindle price cuts will boost sales and be neutral to positive to Amazon revenue.
Think Equity analyst Edward Weller is much more enthusiastic. He says:
Benefiting from cost-savings of high-volume sales (according to management), Amazon has cut the price of the Kindle from $359 to $299…. However many have been sold so far, it seems pretty likely that with this lower price, Amazon will sell lots more Kindles… and lots more “books,” lots more subscriptions… and lots more of everything else, too.
It’s surprising that the price cut comes so soon on the heels of the February “upgrade,” “Kindle 2” (now, “Kindle”), especially since the Kindle DX (a 2X larger screen, additional features) sold out at $489 within days of its early-June introduction. (The DX is still $489… and “expected to ship in 3 to 5 weeks” … and both are still US only.) We’re confident in dismissing speculation that the price cut is in reaction to a broad slowdown (certainty will come with the 2Q09 report, scheduled for July 23), but we cannot assert that there was no consideration of “competing” devices.
It might be a stretch to conclude that Amazon will sell “lots more Kindles” over a $60 price drop, but at least the price of the e-reader is headed in the right direction.
July 9th, 2009
News to know: Chrome OS, Sinofsky, Kindle price drop, SEC and Steve Jobs, EMC-Data Domain
Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage.
Google Chrome OS coverage:
- Garett Rogers: Google to create operating system called Chrome OS
- Dave Greenfield: Google Officially Announces OS for PCs
- Robin Harris: Chrome OS: good for you; bad for Microsoft
- Paula Rooney: Will ChromeOS make Google more loved or hated in open source world?
- Dana Blankenhorn: I can’t wait for Google Chrome OS
- Mary Jo Foley: Will Google’s Chrome OS look rusty by late 2010?
- Christopher Dawson: What does the Chrome OS mean for education?
- Larry Dignan: With the Chrome OS, Google’s software stack is revealed; Shrapnel everywhere
- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Google Chrome OS is a game changer
- Dennis Howlett: Google ChromeOS: Have people taken leave of their senses?
Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft promotes Windows chief Sinofsky to president
Larry Dignan: NetApp, Data Domain merger nixed; EMC wins with $2.1 billion bid
Andrew Nusca: Amazon drops Kindle e-reader price to $299; is it enough?
- Jason Perlow: $299 Kindle: Great, now make it read PDF!
Jason D. O’Grady: SEC reviewing Apple disclosures about Jobs’ health
- Sam Diaz: SEC inquiry into Steve Jobs health is too murky to go anywhere
- Richard Koman: Did Jobs and Apple lie about reason for departure?
Larry Dignan: Why Oracle bought Sun: 60% of enterprise software vendors rely on Java
Sam Diaz: CNET: It’s time for Google’s CEO to resign from Apple’s board
Matthew Miller: T-Mobile customers can now pre-order the myTouch 3G and order the Dash 3G
Joe McKendrick: Prediction: cloudy future threatens SOA vendors
Jason Hiner: Generator Research predicts iPhone will overtake Nokia in 2012
Sean Portnoy: Sharp unveils new LED-backlit Aquos LCD HDTVs
Ryan Naraine: Apple plugs dangerous Safari security holes
- Jason D. O’Grady: Safari 4.0.2 patches two security vulnerabilities
Rachel King: HD Camera Guide raffling off cameras and HD camcorders
Oliver Marks: Battling for the Mother Of All Monopolies…
Jennifer Bergen: Gadget Gal’s daily deals: Sharp Blu-ray player, Linksys wireless router, Sony BRAVIA LCD HDTV
Harry Fuller: Has the U.S. already lost green tech to other nations?
Rachel King: Nikon cameras and lenses’ release schedule leaked
Sam Diaz: Sprint beats Verizon, AT&T in nationwide 3G reliability tests
Jason Perlow: Trafficking in Michael Jackson
Harry Fuller: Green Tech gets video home online
Rachel King: London police find four stolen Nikon D3x cameras
Harry Fuller: G-8 not so great?
Christopher Dawson: Can netbook subsidies from wireless companies work for schools?
July 8th, 2009
Generator Research predicts iPhone will overtake Nokia in 2012
Generator Research, a small firm focused on digital media and the Internet, has released a new report predicting that the Apple iPhone’s current growth trajectory will enable it to catch and surpass Nokia for the top spot in the global smartphone market within three years.
The report sees iPhone growth accelerating due to a combination of the rapid multiplication of apps and the price drop of $99 for the lowest-priced iPhone. Meanwhile, Generator Research also predicts that Nokia will stumble and see its market share cut in half from 40% in 2008 to just 20% in 2013.
Chart credit: Electronista
Quick analysis
This report appears to compare Apple and Nokia in a vacuum. It sees only modest growth for other smartphones in the years ahead. That doesn’t take into account the momentum that both BlackBerry and Palm also have right now. I think we have to expect that as the smartphone market grows steeply over the next several years, it’s going to lift several boats, not just the iPhone.
As the smartphone market grows and consolidates, Nokia is definitely vulnerable, as is Windows Mobile. Google’s Android platform is still a wildcard. It has potential, but also has some serious challenges to overcome.
However, this market is still extremely fluid. Nokia has yet to launch its new Symbian OS. Windows Mobile 7.0 comes out in early 2010. And there’s still the possibility that Android could find the right hardware partner and turn its fortunes around.
If there’s anything that could give the iPhone to leap forward in the global market, it could be partnerships with new mobile carriers. For example, if the iPhone comes to Verizon in the U.S. in late 2010 (as rumored), it could have a very disruptive impact on that market.
July 8th, 2009
Sprint beats Verizon, AT&T in nationwide 3G reliability tests
Just about a month ago, I stepped into a Sprint store to learn more about the Palm Pre and walked out ready to switch from Verizon to Sprint, thanks to a knowledgeable clerk who shifted the conversation from devices to plans. It turns out that Sprint’s plans are so competitively priced that I could find myself saving about $100 a month on my existing five-phone family plan.
I know I’d never consider switching to AT&T, given the poor experience I had earlier this year with an iPhone I bought and returned. But I didn’t know enough about the reliability of the Sprint network to make an educated decision about a switch to Sprint
But a news release from Sprint this afternoon has given me the information I need. According to 3G reliability tests conducted by PC World, Sprint beat both AT&T and Verizon in 13 major markets, including Silicon Valley. From the release:
The PC World tests took place in March and April this year in 13 major markets across the country, including Boston, Baltimore, New York, Orlando, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, San Diego and San Jose. In each location, testers measured download speed, upload speed and reliability. In every market, Sprint bested AT&T for reliability. And, overall, Sprint proved more reliable over Verizon with a strong connection 90.5 percent of the time, according to the results. In Boston, Denver and Seattle, Sprint earned perfect scores – 100 percent reliable in connection tests.
Sprint’s Now Network is not only the most reliable according to the PC World 3G tests, it also was applauded for its speed. In most markets, Sprint was competitive with Verizon and AT&T on download speed and was notably faster with better reliability compared with both competitors in the major West Coast cities of Seattle, San Francisco, Portland and San Diego.
Sprint has gone through some rough times in recent years, falling off the radar a bit as both Verizon and AT&T have launched high-end devices that received a lot of publicity, notably the Blackberry Storm and the iPhone.
Palm made a big splash when it announced its new OS and the Pre smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. For me, it raised my awareness of Sprint and the service plans that it offers. Maybe it’s time to give Sprint one of those 30-day cancel-if-you-don’t-like-it tryouts.
July 8th, 2009
NetApp, Data Domain merger nixed; EMC wins with $2.1 billion bid
NetApp couldn’t outbid EMC for Data Domain. The company said Wednesday that it wouldn’t up its offer for Data Domain and a proposed merger agreement was terminated. EMC will now acquire Data Domain for $33.50 a share in cash.
On Monday, EMC offered $2.1 billion for Data Domain in an effort to either complete a takeover or at least force NetApp to increase its bid for the third time. However, NetApp was stretching itself thin relative to EMC, which analysts estimate could have continued to bid higher for Data Domain.
Instead, NetApp will get a $57 million break-up fee from Data Domain. NetApp hinted that it wouldn’t up its bid forever on Monday when it noted that it would keep a disciplined acquisition approach.
In a statement, NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven said:
NetApp applies a disciplined approach to acquisitions, one focused intently on creating long-term value for our stockholders. We therefore cannot justify engaging in an increasingly expensive and dilutive bidding war that would diminish the deal’s strategic and financial benefits.
Data Domain said in a statement:
Data Domain’s board of directors has unanimously determined that the definitive merger agreement with EMC and the terms of the EMC tender offer are advisable, fair to and in the best interests of Data Domain and its stockholders.
Overall, it’s a good move for NetApp. Although the Data Domain acquisition would have been nice you can’t mortgage the company simply to thump your chest over beating EMC. Now NetApp can continue its solid business and retain cash throughout the downturn.
Here’s the history:
- EMC ups Data Domain bid as NetApp deal proceeds
- Data Domain officially rejects EMC: Will cash be king?
- EMC CEO Tucci pens dear Data Domain workers letter
- NetApp, Data Domain ink revised deal; EMC says bid still superior
- NetApp ups ante for Data Domain; Not giving into EMC easily
- EMC spars with NetApp over Data Domain
- NetApp buys Data Domain for $1.5 billion
July 8th, 2009
CNET: It's time for Google's CEO to resign from Apple's board
In an open letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, CNET’s Tom Krazit this morning calls for his resignation from Apple’s Board of Directors, citing an inevitable collision course for the companies as competitors now that Google has announced plans to build a computer operating system called Google Chrome OS.
(Image Credit: Dan Farber/CNET)
Also see: ZDNet’s coverage of Google Chrome OS
Krazit is absolutely right on this one, pointing out that Schmidt is already recusing himself from board discussions about the iPhone - seeing how smartphones built on Google’s Android competes with the it. Does this mean that Schmidt will now recuse himself from discussions about Mac OS X development, too? Krazit writes:
It was pretty clear before, but now it’s completely obvious: you are overseeing two companies on a collision course. How can you possibly claim that you’re guiding the best interests of each company when the best interest of each company in two years will be to out-maneuver the other?
What’s left for Schmidt to discuss at Apple board meetings - the iPod? I would argue that the iPod Touch is so closely related to the iPhone, given all the apps and such that work on it, that discussions about that product might also require a recusal for Schmidt. Krazit sums it up best:
If Apple’s board doesn’t ask you do to so, please submit your resignation so both companies can free themselves of this obvious conflict of interest, and continue to develop the amazing products and services you have been separately creating.
July 8th, 2009
SEC inquiry into Steve Jobs health is too murky to go anywhere
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to know what Apple’s board really knew about Steve Jobs’ medical condition when Jobs announced on Jan. 5 that he had hormone imbalance and, nine days later, said his condition was more complex and that he would take a medical leave through the end of June.
A Bloomberg report this morning cites unnamed sources that say that the SEC wants to know if Apple or Jobs misled investors when the announcements were made. But a source also told Bloomberg the investigation doesn’t necessarily mean that the SEC will accuse Jobs or the board of any wrongdoing.
In fact, it’s probably unlikely that this investigation will go anywhere, largely because of the murky circumstances surrounding it. In both announcements, it was Jobs - not the company - who offered details about his own medical condition, which, as a private individual, he can do if he so chooses. If the company had issued those statements, it might have been construed as a violation of Jobs’ right to privacy.
Here’s the thing: we can have this debate over right to privacy vs. right to know until we’re blue in the face. But, now that time has passed, we know a couple of more things we didn’t know back in January. We know that Apple’s business as a whole was not impacted by Jobs being on medical leave. At the worldwide developers conference a couple of weeks before Jobs returned to work, the company launched updates to the Mac line and introduced the new iPhone 3G S, a device whose opening weekend sales of more than 1 million devices far exceeded the projections set by analysts.
And while Jobs likely had his hands in the development of these products long before he went on leave (and likely had some input during his leave), it further clouds the issue of what investors needed to know about his medical condition. After all, the argument is that it’s a material fact because it will have an impact on the company.
But did it have an impact on the company? Apple seemed to do just fine with folks like COO Tim Cook at the helm. Maybe that means it wasn’t much of a material fact after all.
My guess is the SEC’s investigation into Apple and disclosures into Steve Jobs health eventually will become a quietly closed file.
July 8th, 2009
Why Oracle bought Sun: 60% of enterprise software vendors rely on Java
AMR Research has recapped its annual ranking of the top 50 enterprise software vendors, but the real story may be in its findings that more than 60 percent of the top dogs have applications that rely on Java.
And of the top 50 enterprise software vendors 33 offer applications that rely on Java. Add it up and this group represents more than $38.5 billion, or 77 percent of the top 50’s revenue.
Anyone out there still think Oracle’s acquisition of Sun was about hardware?
Simply put, Oracle through Java has its hand in most of the enterprise application market. AMR reckons that these Java-reliant vendors will have to reevaluate their commitment to Java. That’s putting it mildly.
Here’s a look at the top 50 enterprise application vendors by revenue.
Also see: Can Oracle give Java a boost (and monetize it better)?
July 8th, 2009
Analyst: iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre gang up on BlackBerry sales
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry sales had a rough June at AT&T and Sprint as those wireless carriers talked up the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre, respectively.
Those findings come courtesy of Piper Jaffray’s Michael Walkley. In a research note, Walkley writes:
Our checks indicated BlackBerry sales declined in June at AT&T and Sprint due to increasing smartphone competition, as BlackBerry sales appeared to lose share to the Palm Pre at Sprint and the new 3GS iPhone and older $99 iPhone at AT&T. BlackBerry sales at T-Mobile remained solid, but Verizon sales were slightly weaker following the termination of the buy one, get one promotion.
In addition, Walkey says that the Pre is snagging sales from the Curve at Sprint. At AT&T the new iPhone 3GS and older 3G at $99 are squeezing BlackBerry unites. Verizon is promoting LG handsets right now, but the launch of RIM’s Tour should fix that. “Sales of the Tour are key in our opinion, as our checks indicated RIM may need strong July and August sales to meet its guidance,” says Walkley.
Also see: RIM: We “don’t fret” new competition; reports solid Q1, outlook
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
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