“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” goes the old saying, but beleaguered RIM seems to have decided on its own interpretation: “If you can’t beat ‘em, license to ‘em.” Talk of RIM sweet-talking rivals like Samsung and HTC into adding BlackBerry 10 to their line-up of supported platforms has resurfaced, with Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek suggesting that the great Canadian software coax has already begun. Question is, who’d fall for it?
Speculation that Yahoo! could chase a Netflix acquisition has erupted today, in the aftermath of the web company's new CEO Scott Thompson hinting at changes in content and media yesterday. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were some big moves on the content side, to make Yahoo! a more compelling destination for consumers" Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster told CNBC in a segment you can see after the cut. "In the back of my mind, I wonder if they buy Netflix, that would make a lot of sense."
Read The Full Story
The reasons behind RIM's BlackBerry 10 device delay continue to be debated, with analysts joining the ranks of those doubting simple chipset patience is the cause of the late-2012 launch and instead suggesting significant problems with the new software. Speculation that the slower than expected debut of the next-gen smartphones was down to poorly functioning software came to a head last month, with controversial claims allegedly from an exec at RIM accusing co-CEO Mike Lazaridis of lying to investors.
Read The Full Story
The battle of the browsers continues, with Microsoft's Internet Explorer losing market share to Google's Chrome and others, while analysts predict a sub-50-percent dip for IE as early as March 2012. Counting all versions, Internet Explorer dropped to 51.9-percent market share in December according to Net Applications, ComputerWorld reports, with Chrome ending the year at 19.1-percent. However, Microsoft maintains that the most important number to consider is the growth in IE9 installs on Windows 7.
Read The Full Story
T-Mobile USA may take away a "record high break-up fee" from AT&T's failed takeover bid, but the carrier still faces a roughly $9bn spend if it wants to compete in the US market. Despite receiving a chunk of AT&T's spectrum covering 50m people, analysts warn that owner Deutsche Telecom will have to spend three times the $3bn fee from Ma Bell on improving the network and acquiring further spectrum. That will likely mean dreary prospects for investors, Businessweek reports, facing reduced dividends after next year.
Read The Full Story
Nokia sale rumors continue, with Danske Bank predicting that the company will sell its smartphone unit to Microsoft in a deal announced as early as the first half of 2012. The Finnish company's share price rose over 3-percent over the speculation, Bloomberg reports, though Nokia itself remains adamant that a deal is not in the offing. Nokia launched its first two Windows Phone handsets - the Lumia 800 and 710 - within the past two months, and has embarked on a broad promotional campaign that saw it dismiss the iPhone as unfashionable and Android as over-complicated and insecure.
Read The Full Story
The Apple iPad 3 will launch in February 2012, analysts have predicted, complete with the double resolution "Retina Display" that has been well rumored over the past few months. Citi analyst Richard Gardner suggested the date in a note to investors this week, Business Insider reports, quoting "several sources" that say not only is a mid-Q1 2012 reveal on the roadmap, but that "there do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining" to delay a launch.
Read The Full Story
Apple could ease itself into the TV market by integrating Apple TV and iCloud functionality into an iMac-style all-in-one, one analyst has suggested, using a hybrid TV/computer in 2012 as a bridging step before its true Apple Televisions go on sale. The existing 27-inch iMac is a likely launch point, Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair wrote in a note this week, with the suggestion that "Apple's redesign of the iMac in the first half of 2012 will likely usher in some … TV capability into the iMac offering first," AllThingsD reports.
Read The Full Story
AT&T’s HSPA+ network is the carrier’s iPhone 4S trump card, according to data speed analysis in the US, delivering websites twice as fast as CDMA rivals like Verizon. The fifth-gen Apple smartphone bested competing carriers on page rendering, uploads and downloads, analysts Metrico Wireless found in their testing of the iPhone 4S, though Verizon proved slightly more stable when it came to connecting – and not dropping – calls.
Apple's iPad is on the cusp of a price cut, analysts are predicting, to counter public perception that the iOS tablet is an expensive option in the slate marketplace. Low-cost rivals such as the $250 B&N NOOK Tablet as well as deeply discounted - and considerably less successful - models like the HP TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook are a sign of "a more realistic pricing approach" Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope reckons, MSNBC reports, warning clients to expect "near-term demand challenges" as consumers grow wary.
Read The Full Story
Apple execs reportedly have no fear of the Amazon Kindle Fire, according to analysts meeting with CEO Tim Cook and others at the firm, because the 7-inch slate will only highlight Android’s growing fragmentation problem. Cook and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer supposedly told Barclays analyst Ben Reizes that the stability of the iOS could prove to be the iPad’s greatest allure, Business Insider reports, and that “the more fragmentation, the better.”
Amazon's loss-leader strategy with the Kindle Fire ereader tablet, as well as a growing US sales tax bill, could lead to significantly reduced income this quarter analysts have predicted. The retailer is expected to announce earnings figures today, but already there are concerns that Amazon's net income may be just half of Q3 2010, according to an estimate average crunched by Businessweek. Part of the issue is the $199 Kindle Fire, hardware sales of which Amazon is believed to be taking a loss on, and instead relying on subsequent digital media sales to buoy profits.
Read The Full Story
