Apple and Research in Motion may disagree on many things, but they’re of the same mind when it comes to the the netbook phenomenon: It will be short-lived. Asked about Apple’s interest in the category during a late-April earnings call, COO Tim Cook said the company has none. Turns out, Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie feels pretty much the same way.
Verizon Wireless is reportedly working with Microsoft to develop a new smart-phone. Plus, layoffs at Nokia and Microsoft’s “societal network.”
Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, will soon be just a tad smaller. This morning the company said it will sack a further 450 employees in its mobile services business, a division charged with developing and delivering the Ovi-branded Internet services tied to Nokia devices. Seems the still souring economy has undermined Nokia’s ambitions in that area, and Apple’s success with the iPhone App Store has inspired it to look to third-party developers to bring new applications to its devices.
Nokia is following up the voluntary redundancies it announced last month with a few involuntary ones. Its hand forced by the continued deterioration of the mobile phone market, the company said this morning that it will sack 1,700 employees.
Palm hasn’t yet set its price or launch date, but it already has a winner on its hands in the Pre. That’s the word from RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky, who gave the device one hell of a write-up this morning. Seems Abramsky, who had previously been neutral on Palm, now believes the company has a chance at “smartphone leadership.”
Sack yourself now or risk being sacked by us later. That’s the choice Nokia presented to its employees today, announcing plans to offer severance packages to the first 1,000 workers who resign their posts. The resignation-for-severance deal is aimed at reducing personnel-related costs and, in the words of Hallstein Moerk, Nokia’s head of human resources, “lessening the need for involuntary redundancies.”
“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” Turns out Apple CEO Steve Jobs was off by about two years when he made that statement in January of 2007. Looking over the announcements coming out of GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, it’s clear that many owe a debt of thanks to Apple, whose presence is felt at the event even though it can’t be bothered to attend.
Not two months into 2009 and already the year is turning out to be the weakest the industry has seen in some time. With the economic downturn slowing growth in developing markets, consumers delaying cellphone purchases and retailers destocking them, cellphone juggernaut Nokia is scaling back production at its key Salo plant in Finland.
Since 2005, the South Korean government has required all cellphones sold in the country to support WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability), the country’s cellular middleware platform. And for Apple, as well as other handset manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, redesigning their devices to do so is a costly proposition. So costly, in fact, that they didn’t bother, leaving the country’s handset market to Samsung and LG, which now dominate it.
On April 1, 2009, that will all change.
Today brought with it nasty news for Motorola. Standard & Poor’s slashed its corporate credit rating on the long-suffering handset maker, noting that the company’s troubled mobile business is likely to continue what is already a two-year downward slide.
Oh, they’re all piling on now. This week has brought with it bad news from Palm, Research In Motion, Adobe, AT&T, and Nokia. Now AMD has joined them as well. In a terse statement issued this morning, the company warned that its fourth-quarter revenue will come in significantly lower than previously expected, thanks to souring computer sales.
Nokia’s Capital Markets Day event is proving quite the downer, and the day’s only just begun. This morning the company cut its global handset market forecast for the second time in three weeks, warning that the slowdown in the industry is worse than expected.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best use of the Beeker “meee” ever.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
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