by Jason Wilk on January 27, 2009
- Verizon posted Q4 revenue of $24.6 billion and profits of 61 cents a share, right in line with Wall St. predictions of $24.7 billion and 61 cents. Stock was down on the news as investors still bearish on the economy, increasing mobile competition for 2009, faulty RIM products and major infrastructure expenses about to be shelled out to build the new wireless spectrum.
- Stats: The company added 1.4 million net new wireless customers in the quarter, increasing the total to 72.1 million. That was up 9.9%, and does not include Alltel customers from the acquisition, which closed January 9.
- 303,000 new FiOS TV customers and 282,000 new FiOS Internet customers.
- Revenue was up 3.4% from a year ago, or 4.6% on an adjusted, non-GAAP basis.
- At least we’re getting a good idea of who to invest in the next time the economy crashes: Verizon, Google, Apple, very impressive earnings reports.
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by Jason Wilk on January 26, 2009
- eBay CEO John Donahue is rumored to be selling Skype. In a recent interview with Wall St. analysts, he described the world’s most popular VoIP service as a“great stand-alone business”. When asked about how eBay contributes value to Skype, he said “the synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal. We’re going to continue to run and operate the business. It’s not a distraction currently. And at such time when we have further announcements on that, we’ll let you know.”
- eBay revenue was down 30% this past quarter, despite being the most high-trafficked shopping destination on the internet this holiday seasons. Meanwhile, Skype revenues continued to rise by 26% and membership continues to grow with it. Latest figures showing that Skype has 405 million user accounts worldwide, adding 30 million subscribers every quarter.
- It’s tough to say whether or not eBay will actually unload Skype. As loyal auctioneers become continually frustrated with the company’s client service, fees and scams, eBay will continue to lose market share to niche destinations or Amazon. This means they want to surround themselves with as many rising opportunities in close proximity that they can. Donahue said that Skype is a great standalone business, then again so is StubHub, Kijiji and Craigslist which survive entirely on their own and are all strong eBay investments. Skype just happened to be an investment that eBay saw bright hopes for in the midst of their default operation and it flopped. They imagined everyone from major retailers down to Joe Plumber to have a shop set up on eBay, waiting for customers to enter their store and talk via Skype for customer service. Kind of like a weird reinvention of the 1950’s without brick & mortar. Nonetheless, it didn’t happen, but they are hit a home run anyways by turning Skype profitable. Skype is still groundbreaking, recession-happy and if I had to make my pick, I’d say it will not be sold until eBay is desperate.
by Jason Wilk on January 19, 2009
- RIM has released official images of their Blackberry application center, the Blackberry Storefront. RIM is yet another mobile manufacturer who thinks a standard platform that allows third-party developers in to sell applications is going to solve everything for the company. Palm has just released their plans of having a platform for third party developers, Android already has theirs (with paid apps coming soon), and several others are planned to be released this year.
- Research In Motion is looking to launch their store in the next 6 weeks, and it took a major step forward when it started accepting applications from app writers to be included in the launch. Blackberry has a few apps already, but have been widely disliked thus far. Apps like Facebook for the Blackberry aren’t nearly as intuitive and functional as they are on the iPhone.
- Some worry that because of the Blackberry lineup of phones, some developers will be turned off. The Storm’s ‘half-push, half-touch’ screen make it difficult to mimic games already popular for some developers on the iPhone who are interested in testing out another platform. Also, the Blackberry Curve and Bold both have standard non-touch QWERTY keyboards with scroll balls, another turnoff for potential developers not only for non-compatibility, but overall lack of intuitiveness. Apple is currently King of app developers and sales. They just passed the 500 million app download mark this past week. RIM will be succesfful if they can recruit 1/3 of the amount of developers using iPhone’s SDK. They are off to a decent start however, offering a special VC fund to help find developers and grow apps for its platform.
- Do you think other manufacturer’s can compete with Apple in the standard platform market? Does RIM stand a chance with their phone lineup? I think Android Market will be the only real competitor to Apple’s store and that RIM doesn’t stand a chance beyond the no-brainer apps you expect to see on their phones.
by Jason Wilk on January 19, 2009
- We’ve been hearing quite a bit about femtocell technology in the last year as the latest way for both carriers and consumers to help eachother out in getting the best coverage. If you have a weak 2G or 3G network coverage in or around your home/office, buying the new Verizon Wireless Network Extender will make your life a lot easier on you and them. The extender connect to your ehternet cord and emits a wireless signal to boost cell reception and Wi-Fi.
- For most it seems unreasonable right now to add yet another box to the house, but in the coming years it will be in every house. Why? Because with next generation coverage coming (next up 4G), it will be impossible for each carrier to build out a separate network infrastructure. Having femtocells in the house can grab hold of those networks and provide you instantly with the latest technology while you wait for them to build a default tower in your zone. The price is a little much @ $250.00 a box. As we have showed before, Motorola is coming out with their own femtocell box that is disquised as a digital picture frame. At the moment, this seems like a better deal for Verizon. Hold out and prices will come down.
by Jason Wilk on January 15, 2009
- BestBuy will be getting an exclusive deal with Sprint for the Palm Pre release. For 60 days, the largest consumer electronics retailer will be the only place besides Sprint to grab the new highly hyped Pre, featuring Palm’s brand new Web OS.
- Sprint has had previous success with exclusive BestBuy offers like the launch of the Samsung Instinct (which was awful)during the summer of 2008. The Pre is an exciting launch for both companies. Since the early reviews of the new phone came out, Palm’s stock has been doing very well. We’ll see how things go once consumers get their hands on it. This phone is Palm’s last breath, so let’s hope it’s not just another overly anticipated ‘iPhone Killer’ flop. As we have said before, for Sprint and Palm, aside from functionality, the key to success will be all about pricing.
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