Vision-less desperation doesn't take you anywhere

Sometimes it feels great to be right. Back in February HP announced FUD in the form of WebOS for PCs. I wrote at that time. 

Considering where they (actually Palm) are with WebOS (remember Palm Pre) over the last two years, it will be interesting to see how soon, if ever this translates into a reality. I think it will, but will it succeed, I have my doubts. As for the TouchPad release by HP today, Good Luck with the summer release, by then Apple would have released iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom will be a bigger reality.

And now, this.

Hewlett-Packard to Buy Autonomy for $10.3 Billion, Weighs PC Unit Spinoff

By discontinuing WebOS products, Apotheker is backtracking on a strategy he announced just five months ago to put WebOS software on every Hewlett-Packard computer. The operating system runs the company’s TouchPad tablet and a range of smartphones.

I was wrong about Xoom but right about everything else.

That leaves Windows Phone & Windows 8 as the only alternative to OEMs now. I see this as a consolidation of a kind. Few good platforms are better than hundreds of misguided, visionless ones. Somehow I am getting a feeling Microsoft is getting stronger day by day with their persistence and focus on evolving their platforms to the next generation. 

Windows Phone converts, one at a time

Windows Phone converts, one at a time. This time it's Dilbert creator Scott Adams:

Windows Phone Challenge Results

The Windows phone has the best user interface experience, although the onscreen keyboard is problematic just as it is with the other phones I used. The Windows interface is intuitive, simple, and has a liveliness that I find appealing. Voice call quality was good, and battery life seemed good too. I declare it the winner compared to my iPhone 3GS with AT&T and my HTC EVO 3D with Android on the Sprint network.

...

If you want a smartphone that is easy to use, performs well, has a good battery life, and doesn't frustrate you, the Windows phone is the best choice of the three options I tested. All you give up is some hipster credibility and access to lesser-used apps.

iPad's first mover advantage kicking in

Great example of first or early mover advantage. iPad being the early mover has technology leadership and control over the resources which disallows others to match its price. It will be tough to displace iPad from its current position in the near future.

OuchPad: Best Buy Sitting on a Pile of Unsold HP Tablets

According to one source who has seen internal HP reports, Best Buy has taken delivery of 270,000 TouchPads and has so far managed to sell only 25,000, or less than 10 percent of the units in its inventory.

A second person who has seen Best Buy’s TouchPad sales figures confirmed the results as “consistent with what I’ve seen,” and went so far as to say that 25,000 sold might be “charitable.” This source suggested that the 25,000-unit sales number may not account for units that consumers return to stores for a refund.

Ballmer - Told you so...

Atleast one person in Redmond has a smirk on his face today.

Farhad Manjoo - Android Isn't Free

In other words—and I never thought I'd say this—Steve Ballmer was right. Android isn't free. In fact, it's not even cheap. As Daring Fireball's John Gruber points out, the $12.5 billion that Google is spending for Motorola amounts to almost two years' worth of the search company's profits. No company—not even Google—can throw around that kind of cash without envisioning a direct return on its investment.

Read also, Google Concedes that Technology Isn't Free. 

The cost of technology has become a large and rapidly increasing part of the cost of goods sold in the products that we buy. That's not surprising when you consider the amount of technology that's crammed into an Android phone or the many other tech-heavy products we use. Gone are the days when companies competed primarily over manufacturing costs. Today, managing technology acquisition is the essence of modern strategy. Companies that are most successful at developing and owning new technology and acquiring and controlling the cost of technology will win in the marketplace. Those that fail to effectively manage internal and external technology acquisition will fall behind in the technology race and will find that they cannot afford to pay the fiddler.

 

Ouch...

Ouch.

Ballmer-bashing fund manager ups Microsoft stake

David Einhorn, the hedge-fund manager who called for Steve Ballmer's head three months ago, just increased his stake in Microsoft.

Einhorn's Greenlight Capital reported holding 14.8 million shares of Microsoft as of June 30, according to a regulatory filing dated yesterday. That's up from 9.1 million shares Greenlight held at the end of the previous reporting period, March 31. The Wall Street Journal first reported Greenlight's increased stake.

Google acquires Motorola Mobility

Google is buying Motorola Mobility

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. 

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

My Immediate views:

1. Google is not buying a hardware company, Google is buying patents. Patents don't come cheap. This is the reason why Nortel patents went for $4 Billion+ to Microsoft/Apple'Oracle etc. Motorola was smart to sell hardware business along with the patents.

2. Google becomes a competitior to other Android focussed OEMs like HTC and Samsung. This will cause a lot of heartburn to these OEMs irrespective of the quotes Larry Page has gathered. This along with the pending issue of patent use payment to Microsoft will force the OEMs to look at Windows Phone as an focussed alternative. 

3. Google gets another way to reach consumers. Motorola mobility has consumer home portfolio which includes video, voice and data solutions. The FIOS set-top box in my home is a Motorola device. 

4. We will see more such acquisitions in the near future from companies who have large cash at hand (Google/Microsoft/Apple). Nobody wants to sit on cash with zero return. Acquisitions is one good way to spend this money.One caveat though, investors don't like these companies spend cash. 

 

NYT Paywall

How the NYT paywall is working

I’m in England right now, home to both of the sights above: the polite request to “please keep off the grass”, accompanied by tiny iron hoops; and the forbidding walls surrounding the gardens of Buckingham Palace. The former encapsulates everything which people like about England; the latter is the dark and regrettable side of things.

Now imagine that both of the gardens above were open to anybody paying an annual membership fee. The gardens on the left would have many more freeloaders — people who just saunter onto the grass and enjoy the sunshine without paying. The ones on the right would be much more effective in keeping such people out.

But here’s the thing about freeloaders: if they value what they’re getting, a lot of them will end up paying anyway. What happened when the Indianapolis Museum of Art moved to a free-admission policy? Its paid membership increased by 3%. When the Minneapolis Institute of Arts did the same thing, paid membership increased by 33%.

Google just hit a hammer....on their foot

Oh Google, what have you done, don't you know that People who live in glass houses (shouldn't throw stones). 

David Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer writes:

But Android’s success has yielded something else: a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents.

They’re doing this by banding together to acquire Novell’s old patents (the “CPTN” group including Microsoft and Apple) and Nortel’s old patents (the “Rockstar” group including Microsoft and Apple), to make sure Google didn’t get them; seeking $15 licensing fees for every Android device; attempting to make it more expensive for phone manufacturers to license Android (which we provide free of charge) than Windows Phone 7; and even suing Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it.

...

This anti-competitive strategy is also escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they’re really worth. The winning $4.5 billion for Nortel’s patent portfolio was nearly five times larger than the pre-auction estimate of $1 billion.

Microsoft's stunned, what is this David guy talking about:

 “Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no,” Brad Smith, Microsoft General Counsel tweeted out in response.

Damn. Shit just got real.

Just in case that wasn’t enough, Frank Shaw, Microsoft Head of Communications, followed up with the real heat-seeker. “Free advice for David Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog. :) ,” Shaw tweeted, referring to another Google SVP and General Counsel. Attached to that tweet was the picture of an email Walker apparently sent to Smith on October 28, 2010. It reads as follows:

Brad –

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you — I came down with a 24-hour bug on the way back from San Antonio. After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn’t be advisable for us on this one. But I appreciate your flagging it, and we’re open to discussing other similar opportunities in the future.

I hope the rest of your travels go well, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

– Kent

 

Other notable response from Daring Fireball - Google: Patently Absurd.

My 2 cents - This is a case of sour grapes for Google. They bid for Novell patents and went upto $3.14Billion to buy these and when they were unsuccessful they are crying foul. They know that Android has lesser chances of survival without paying the patent fees it has used or getting sued for the ones its infringed upon. It will be tough for Google without such patents in their pocket.

Outrageous - IE IQ Story is a hoax

Last week a story made round on Interwebs on how Internet Explorer users have a lower IQ than people who chose other browsers. Problem with the story, IT WAS A HOAX. Bigger problem, all large media houses fell for it including CNN, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, BBC and Forbes. The famous blogs also picked it, couple of them being The Business Insider and Mashable and the result being it featured on Techmeme also.

My guess is that this could be one of the many instances where something came from a said research house and media reported it, without verification, only difference being in this case, it was caught as an hoax. How do we trust such studies going forward. Is there a mechanism to verify the validity of these reports/surveys, even those coming from Gartner, comScore and other so far reputable research companies. 

Airbnb set to become a Social Media Case Study

Lots of talk today on Airbnb's high-handedness in the ransacking of a user's house. Airbnb has not realized that Social Media can be brutal and if you throw in the traditional Media mix, serious damage ensues. Soon it will be a SM case study on how to manage such fires.

Airbnb Nightmare: No End In Sight

And since June 30? On this same day, I received a personal call from one of the co-founders of Airbnb. We had a lengthy conversation, in which he indicated having knowledge of the (previously mentioned) person who had been apprehended by the police, but that he could not discuss the details or these previous cases with me, as the investigation was ongoing. He then addressed his concerns about my blog post, and the potentially negative impact it could have on his company’s growth and current round of funding. During this call and in messages thereafter, he requested that I shut down the blog altogether or limit its access, and a few weeks later, suggested that I update the blog with a “twist" of good news so as to “complete[s] the story”. 

Reason why Steve Ballmer is still the CEO of Microsoft

Microsoft: An Objective View of Ballmer's Successful Leadership

After a thorough examination of Microsoft's transition during the last 11 years under Ballmer's leadership, it is clear from a long-term investment perspective that Microsoft has dramatically improved as a business and especially as a potential investment.

Although Microsoft does not currently enjoy the positive market sentiment of Apple, Google, or IBM - when compared to similar blue-chip players with a strong moat, MSFT is a clear winner.

Microsoft is currently trading ($27.50) at an Ex-Cash P/E of 7.88. If you don't trust MSFT with its cash pile, than the straight P/E is 10.22. The ex-cash trailing 10yr PEG ratio of MSFT (my personal valuation favorite) is a shocking 0.52.

While the rest of the investment world treats Ballmer with scorn, you can now cite his strong track record of corporate performance and rest safely with a man who truly "loves his job:"

 

 

 

Fresh tasty Mangoes coming this fall

Fresh tasty Mangoes coming this fall.

Fujitsu Toshiba announces au IS12T, the world's first Mango phone

Fujitsu Toshiba mobile communications -- now there's a mouthful -- just unveiled the IS12T: Japan's first Windows Phone 7 device, and according to Microsoft prez Yasuyuki Higuchi, the world's first Mango handset. The sexy and IPX5 waterproof (!) 3.7-inch WVGA slate is powered by Qualcomm's MSM8655 CPU of undisclosed clock speed (which we've seen running at 1GHz in the Incredible 2 and Thunderbolt), and goes on sale in "September or beyond" on KDDI's au network. The pink gizmo packs a 13.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and has a plentiful 32GB of flash storage for housing whatever content you'd fancy toting around. The usual Bluetooth (2.1 + EDR) and WiFi (802.11b/g/n) suspects are also onboard. 

WP7 "Mango" RTMed

On time for Fall release. 

Windows Phone “Mango” – Released to Manufacturing

Earlier this morning, the Windows Phone development team officially signed off on the release to manufacturing (RTM) build of “Mango” – the latest version of the Windows Phone operating system. This marks the point in the development process where we hand code to our handset and mobile operator partners to optimize Mango for their specific phone and network configurations. Here on the Windows Phone team, we now turn to preparing for the update process. The Mango update for current Windows Phone handsets will be ready this fall, and of course will come pre-installed on new Windows Phones.

Indians seem to love Google+

comScore is estimating Google+ had 2.85 visitiors from India, second only to US at 5 million. Indians seem to have a fascination with all things Google, first Orkut and now Google+ although Facebook is the most popular SN site in India today.

Google+ Pulls In 20 Million in 3 Weeks 

On Wednesday, Web-traffic watcher comScore Inc. estimated Google+ has had 20 million unique visitors since its launch, including five million visitors from the U.S.

Apple still clueless on guidance

Guess Steve Jobs doesn't spend much time with his Finance team. They seem to miss out on Guidance quarter over quarter. Apple provided a guidance of $23B revenues on $5.03 EPS for the recent quarter and ended up at $28.57B with $7.79 EPS. Dude, that's like 5.5B difference in what Apple thought they would make and what they ended up making. 

Nonetheless, a stellar quarter - 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads. Wow.

Perseverance

Speech by Anthony Robles, born without a right leg after receiving the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.

2011 NCAA wrestling champ Anthony Robles doubly honored at ESPY Awards

Every soul who comes to earth with a leg or two at birth must wrestle his opponents knowing it's not what is, it's what can be that measures worth. Make it hard, just make it possible and through pain I'm not complain. My spirit is unconquerable, fearless I will face each foe, for I know I am capable. I don't care what's probable, through blood, sweat, and tears, I am unstoppable.

Google now activating 550,000 Android Activations Per Day

Impressive. Redmond's grinning.

GOOGLE: 550,000 Android Activations Per Day

During Google's Q2 earnings call, Larry Page just announced that 550,000 Android devices are being activated every day. It was just over two weeks ago that Android boss Andy Rubin announced 500,000 Android devices were being activated per day. And if you think way back to Google I/O in May, Google said it was activating 400,000 Android devices per day. That's a lot of growth in just two months.

 

Newswordy

Newswordy

Buzzwords are frequently used in news media. These are words that do not typically occur in everyday speech, but are common among newscasters, talking heads, and pundits on cable news.

These ‘news words’ are accepted by audiences for their implied meaning. But often loaded words are misused or used out of context. The actual definitions can be different than what is implied.

Newswordy is a growing collection of these words, updated every weekday. Along with each word is a definition, a quote with its use (or misuse) in the media, and a news and Twitter feed on the subject.