In tough economic times like these, even the biggest businesses get the urge to restructure, reorg and reshuffle. Kara reported on several big breakups (of the tech variety), including the separation of AOL from Time Warner. Even ICQ got into the mix.
Before AdMob accepted Google’s $750 million takeover offer, it was approached by Apple. This according to “people familiar with the matter,” who tell Bloomberg that Cupertino was also interested in the mobile advertising company. Odd to learn that Apple was considering such a move. After all, advertising isn’t exactly one of its core businesses.
Looks like Bing’s September market share decline was more an anomaly than anything else. According to the latest figures from Hitwise, Bing’s share of the search market increased seven percent in October, evidently at the expense of both Google and Yahoo.
The Federal Communications Commission likes to describe the enforcement action it took against Comcast for its overzealous network management techniques as “modest.” Which is an apt description, since the FCC measure really contained no substantive punishment. Certainly, requiring Comcast to disclose more information about its traffic management practices seems a mere slap on the wrist for a company that deliberately interfered with BitTorrent traffic in violation of Internet openness principles. But Comcast, which wants a court to reverse and vacate the FCC decision, feels that even it was too much.
According to comScore, Web traffic to Amazon in the U.S. rose 14.8 percent, far outstripping that of overall U.S. Internet traffic, which grew just 3.5 percent. “It appears that Amazon is gaining share the old-fashioned way,” ThinkEquity analyst Ed Weller noted last week, “by acquiring more and more customers…and selling more to each of them.” Judging from the nice gain in third-quarter earnings the company posted after Thursday’s closing bell, that would seem to be the case.
AT&T reports third-quarter earnings Thursday and by all accounts, they should be strong enough, thanks to the sheer size of the company’s footprint and, of course, its exclusive carrier rights to the iPhone.
Cisco CEO John Chambers wasn’t kidding when he said we’d see the company move into a number of new markets via acquisition over the next year. Earlier this year, Cisco acquired Pure Digital, developer of the Flip video camera, for $590 million. Two weeks ago it spent $3 billion on video-conferencing system maker Tandberg. And now it’s purchasing mobile infrastructure outfit Starent Networks for $2.9 billion, or $35 a share.
Add another voice to the cacophony around net neutrality: Qualcomm’s. Speaking at the CTIA wireless industry conference in San Diego Thursday, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs warned of a looming crisis in wireless capacity and said it must be met with some form of traffic shaping.
Looks like Bing’s steady upward trend of market share gains may have reversed itself. Microsoft’s new search engine saw its U.S. search share fall in September, according to figures from Hitwise. Troubling news for Microsoft. Hitwise’s latest numbers are the second set of metrics from a Web analytics firm showing Bing’s market share in decline.
AT&T has finally completed the very important “internal system upgrades” that prevented it from supporting multimedia messaging service on Apple’s iPhone. And at some point late tomorrow morning, the carrier will release an update enabling MMS.
Most entry-level phones in AT&T’s handset lineup have been able to send multimedia messages for years. Soon the most advanced will as well. The carrier on Thursday confirmed that it will offer MMS on Apple’s iPhone starting Sept. 25–about two months after the handset first began supporting the feature.
What’s in a name? Apparently, the answer to Microsoft’s many search problems. As we previously reported, the software behemoth plans to debut its new search service at our D: All Things Digital conference later this week, and when it does it may have a new name. Reports claim that Microsoft Live Search, once known as Windows Live Search, and prior to that as MSN Search, will henceforth be known as… Bing.
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.
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!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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