Digital Daily » Stifel Nicolaus

Sprint to Rejuvenate Network No One Will Buy

John Paczkowski — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:24:48 +0000

Looks like Sprint is going to keep Nextel after all. Seems it views Nextel’s iDen walkie-talkie network as a “key differentiator” against rivals and plans to aggressively rejuvenate it. Never mind that Nextel might fetch as much as $5 billion that could be used in the company’s market share battle with Verizon Wireless (VZ) and AT&T (T). Never mind that it has been hemorrhaging customers even faster than Sprint (S), adding to the company’s financial woes. Never mind that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse earlier this month said an iDEN sale was a possibility, telling reporters that “everything is on the table.”

Apparently, everything but Nextel is on the table.

Or, rather, Nextel is still on the table, but no one’s interested in buying it at the $5 billion+ price Sprint’s asking. Said Chris King, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, “I’m not sure they were going to see that kind of valuation, especially in this type of capital markets environment.”

Jerry Brown Tops Google/Yahoo Antitrust Pig Pile

John Paczkowski — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:08:10 +0000

Now that the Justice Department has asked a hotshot litigator to review the proposed search-advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo, everyone seems to be getting into the act. California Attorney General Jerry Brown is reportedly looking askance at the deal, apparently with an eye toward an investigation. While Brown’s office hasn’t yet taken any formal action, it is said to be sharing documents with the Justice Department through “a confidential online document repository.”

Google (GOOG), for its part, continues to claim its pact with Yahoo (YHOO) is beneficial to competition, and seems prepared to go through with it. “While there has been a lot of speculation about this agreement’s potential impact on advertisers or ad prices, we think it would be premature for regulators to halt the agreement before we implement it and everyone can judge the actual impact,” the company said after the Association of National Advertisers sent a letter to the Justice Department opposing it. Of course, the flip side of that is that it might be premature for Google to move ahead with the agreement before regulators say they’re comfortable with it. Said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin, “it would be risky … to proceed if they are getting signals that the agency has serious concerns.”

Best Buy Lands iPhone Deal

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:00:12 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

No, Steve Won't Be Attending the Best Buy Launch. Your Logo Hurts His Eyes.

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:08:10 +0000

Come next month there will be another retail outlet at which to wait in line for an iPhone. On Sept. 7, Best Buy will become the first U.S. retail chain to sell the iPhone outside of the Apple-AT&T duopoly.

The deal is an obvious coup for the big-box retailer, which, with the exception of Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T), has a national exclusive on the device through Christmas. Just a few weeks back, Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Schick suggested that availability of the iPhone only at Apple and AT&T Wireless stores could “hurt demand or at least foot traffic to Best Buy and Circuit City.” Now that appears to be the fate of Circuit City (CC) alone.

“It solidifies us as the place to go for the cool stuff,” Best Buy Mobile President Shawn Score told Reuters. “Our customers are looking for this product. We do believe that broadening our assortment and having iPhone in our stores is certainly going to be very important [heading into the holiday season].”

Important for Apple as well, assuming the company works through its iPhone shortage problems. Offering the device for sale in Best Buy’s (BBY) 970 stores will certainly make it quite a bit easier for Apple to reach its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008. Not that it really needs any help in that department. According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster Apple is on track to sell 4.47 million iPhones in this quarter alone.