Thursday, November 19, 2009
Google’s Chrome OS: “It Just Works”
Speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans this past July, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said of Google’s forthcoming Chrome OS, “Who knows what this thing is?” Today, he found out. The operating system, a direct challenge to Microsoft Windows, was on display at a media gathering at the company’s HQ this morning, and in the words of Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, it is intended to make computing a “delightful” experience.
Univision, home to Spanish-language TV staples “Sabado Gigante,” “El Show de Cristina” and “Tormenta en el Paraiso,” is coming to YouTube. This morning, the Spanish-language media outfit announced a deal that will see its programming featured on Google’s video site.
Here’s an interesting data point from Apple’s recent 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: The company has budgeted $1.9 billion in capital expenditures for fiscal 2010. That’s 70 percent more than the $1.1 billion it spent in 2009. What does Apple plan to do with those additional funds? 
Sony’s second quarter was another sorry one marked by the company’s fourth loss in as many quarters. Still, it was smaller than expected.
It has been about two years since Apple last released a major firmware update for its Apple TV platform, so the release of Apple TV 3.0 today will come as welcome news to those who own the device. 3.0 is largely as rumored: Adding support for both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras.
So much for Xbox 360’s game console exclusivity on Netflix streaming. This morning, the DVD-by-mail pioneer said that beginning sometime next month, owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix. 
Verizon posted a decent third quarter this morning, besting consensus estimates. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been expecting earnings of 59 cents on revenue of $27.17 billion. Excluding one-time costs, Verizon reported a profit of 60 cents a share on revenue of $27.3 billion. 
Netflix is headed to the iPhone–at some yet-to-be-determined point in the future. Asked by Reuters if he’d ever consider a partnership with Apple, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he would, but only after the company had secured its foothold on videogame consoles and elsewhere.
Speaking at Apple’s music event, CEO Steve Jobs, in his first public appearance since his medical leave of absence, introduces iTunes 9. After noting that iTunes is the largest music store in the world, boasting some 100 million accounts, Jobs rattles off some of the software’s new features. Among them: Genius Mixes and improved synching. The latter enables more specific synching and supports a new way of managing applications for the iPhone and iPod touch with a nice drag-and-drop feature. Very easy to organize and reorganize applications. The crowd really likes this one. 
More bad news from Sony. This morning the electronics giant posted its second straight quarterly loss and reiterated its forecast for another year of red ink. Clearly, Sony must do more than just slash jobs and suppliers if it ever hopes to regain its position in the market.
Microsoft COO Kevin Turner must be so disappointed. Remarking on the company’s “PC Hunter” ad campaign last week, Turner said he’d been ebullient when attorneys for Apple called to complain. But now the company has quietly modified the ad in question to address Apple’s complaints.
Facing back-to-back full-year net losses, Sony is taking a hatchet to its fixed costs in a yet another bid to return to profitability. The company plans to halve its roster of suppliers to 1,200, shaving a clean 20 percent off its procurement bill. 
Antipathy toward a Dell smartphone is building and the device hasn’t even exited the rumor stage yet. When last we discussed the Dellephone, wireless network operators had reportedly been unimpressed, criticizing it as dull compared with current and upcoming handsets. Now comes further criticism from Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi Jr., who believes that Dell will announce a smartphone in the next six months but will most likely bungle it. 
With Microsoft’s February share of the search market weighing in at a paltry 8.2 percent and declining, the company is going to extraordinary lengths to reverse the public’s indifference to its search offering. It tried loyalty programs. It tried rewards programs. Now, as it prepares to rebrand its search engine under a new name–Kumo–it’s turning to a more proven method: an $80 million to $100 million advertising campaign.
