Friday, November 20, 2009
Google Books Settlement Proceedings to Drag on Until Mid-February
The latest revision of the Google Books settlement has been granted preliminary approval by a New York district judge, though it will be some time before that approval is finalized–if it is finalized. Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York said Thursday that he will hold a hearing Feb. 18 on the new agreement, which will restore access to millions of out-of-print books, but may also one day give the company a monopoly on the largest digital library in the world.
When it opens Nov. 14, Apple’s new Upper West Side store in Manhattan will be the company’s 280th worldwide, but it won’t be the newest store in the Apple empire for long. The company plans to open 40 to 50 more in 2010, some in locations like Shanghai, London and Paris. A few of these will be what Apple refers to as “significant stores,” outlets that are striking in both appearance and location. 
Wow. Intel and AMD’s seemingly endless legal battles have finally ended. The two companies said early Thursday that they have reached a comprehensive agreement that resolves their many antitrust and patent disputes. Under its terms, Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion and agree to “abide by a set of business practice provisions” presumably crafted to temper its alleged anticompetitive practices.
AMD has been carping about Intel’s alleged anticompetitive acts without satisfaction for so long that the company evidently feels entitled to a bit of gloating now that its rival has found itself in the legal crosshairs of the European Union and New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, among others. In remarks made during AMD Financial Analyst Day, CEO Dirk Meyer said that Intel’s current legal woes “ratify” AMD’s allegations. 
Looks like it’s going to be a very busy fall for Intel legal. This morning, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the company, alleging that it violated state and federal laws with a “systematic campaign” of illegal conduct.
Tagged.com claims it is the third-largest social network in the U.S., in terms of total monthly visits. And now, perhaps, we know why: Tagged lured new members to its site by tricking users into providing it with access to their personal email contacts. The company then spammed those contacts with promotional emails disguised as invitations to view personal photos. And when they registered with Tagged to view those photos, the company spammed their contacts as well. An interesting variation on the “membership drive” and one that’s gotten Tagged in hot water with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who intends to sue the company.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was right. The iPhone 3GS didn’t sell as well as the iPhone 3G did during its launch weekend last year. But it did quite a bit better than he thought. In an investment note issued this morning, Munster estimated the company sold 750,000 iPhones over the weekend.
“iPhone 3G S Available at AT&T Tomorrow.” That’s the title of the press release that just landed in my inbox–even as the lines form in New York City and Tokyo. Never hurts to state the obvious, I suppose.
The econalypse and the job losses and lower housing starts it’s brought with it are having a nasty effect on Comcast’s bottom line. And according to CEO Brian Roberts, that’s not going to change any time soon. “It’s still a scary time,” he said in remarks at Sanford Bernstein’s 25th annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York. 
For a company whose business is built on the recession-brutalized fine-dining industry, OpenTable’s IPO last week was impressive. Must have made for quite a windfall for the company’s larger investors. Especially those who took the opportunity to dump their stakes in their entirety.
What propitious timing. At a press conference in New York City later this morning, Amazon is expected to announce a new large-screen Kindle designed for reading periodicals and textbooks. And yesterday, on the eve of that announcement, came word that the company had been awarded a patent on the original Kindle design. The patent, #D591,741, is entitled “Electronic media reader” and it makes just a single claim.
“Sponsors of Tomorrow” is the new “Intel Inside.” The chipmaker is gearing up to launch a massive new advertising campaign, and that slogan is to be its anchor. Its purpose: to make us all more familiar with the Intel brand–as if it wasn’t ubiquitous enough already.
