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Matt's take on interesting news.
Apple Deal Bites Into AT&T
http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlttt/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10350951.html
The coming release of Apple's iPhone will give the tech titan more than a toe in the mobile phone market, according to one observer. The hotly anticipated iPod-inspired cell phone also will give Apple a nice handle on a partner's pocketbook, a Wall Street analyst said Tuesday. The iPhone, due out from Apple in June, commands enough potential sales leverage that AT&T is willing to share some of the proceeds, says American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu, in a note Tuesday.
My View: Excellent move on Apple's part. As the article mentions, this deal will give them a steady stream of revenue that investors will be able to count on. On top of that, AT&T will be more willing to promote the iPhone so that they can attract new subscribers.
Labels: apple, att, electronics, entertainment
:: Permanent Link :: Posted 4/24/2007 :: 0 Comments :: Links to this post ::
SpeedBit's Incredible Shrinking Download
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2007/gb20070411_663218.htm
Downloading a movie or a TV episode over the Internet and watching it in the comfort of your own home may become the next major consumer trend. But even with a high-speed Net connection, a full-length movie clocking in at 1.5 gigabytes still takes hours to buy and download. Industry analysts concede that this remains the major roadblock preventing online video from catching on as quickly as music did. After all, even compressed movie files are at least 100 times larger than a song. Now an Israeli startup called SpeedBit says it has devised a solution that can dramatically accelerate video downloading over the Net - potentially opening the door to much wider use of the technology.
My View: What a great story. I just commented on Internet video on March 20th with my analysis of Viacom's move to build its video sites. While broadband internet is reaching more and more people, it still takes a long time to download any kind of large video file. If large videos can be downloaded quicker, it will greatly increase the attraction of the online movie market. The movie distribution industry should evolve quite a bit in the next five years.
Labels: entertainment, tv, youtube
:: Permanent Link :: Posted 4/18/2007 :: 0 Comments :: Links to this post ::
TheStreet.com TV Recap: JP Morgan Coup
http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlbooyah/funds/realmoneyradiowrap/10350618.html
The most notable part of student loan lender Sallie Mae's $25 billion buyout is JP Morgan's participation in it, Jim Cramer said on TheStreet.com TV's Wall Street Confidential Web video Monday." JP Morgan has moved aggressively into student loans" and may "pretty much have a monopoly" in the area once the deal is completed, he told Gregg Greenberg, the host of Wall Street Confidential. "That's a great niche business for them."
My View: I don't think I like the idea of having an almost "monopoly" in the student loans industry. The SEC will have a look at it and determine if it will be classified as a monopoly or not but I am sure JP Morgan will work as hard as possible in order to allow the deal to pass. From a financial standpoint, this is a huge deal. From everything I have heard, JP Morgan has made great progress in the student loan business and this is simply icing on the cake. Sallie Mae investors are sitting pretty right now.
Labels: buyout, jp morgan, sallie mae, school
:: Permanent Link :: Posted 4/16/2007 :: 0 Comments :: Links to this post ::
Google Reaches Deal With Clear Channel to Sell Radio Ads
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16radio.html
Google will begin selling advertisements across all of the stations of Clear Channel Communications, the No. 1 radio station owner in the United States, at the end of June, the companies will announce today.
My View: Google is taking a liking to the Microsoft strategy... get in to every possible market you can in order to build a sort of monopolous (no, it's not a real word) web of projects which throws their name in front of everyone. It's hard to remember back when Microsoft used to be liked, but it did happen at one point in time. Does Google face the same fate? Anyways, to the topic at hand. I think Google's experience with Adsense for Sites will be a huge help in this market. While taking the same approach with radio space seems like a longshot, the same was said about Adsense when it first came about. One can definitely say that Google's play into traditional media should be interesting to watch.
Labels: advertising, google, radio
:: Permanent Link :: Posted 4/16/2007 :: 0 Comments :: Links to this post ::
Mini Web grows on small business
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/122/story/76087.html
Johannes Tromp says the Web site for his Lancaster, S.C., bed-and-breakfast generates good business. But last fall, he found a way to reach even more potential customers: He made a version of the site for cell phones. Tromp signed up for a mobile Web address with the newly available suffix ".mobi" and used a self-starter kit from a company called Roundpoint Ltd. to build "www.kilburnie.mobi," the mobile site for his Kilburnie, the Inn at Craig Farm. He says he's gotten a surprisingly good response, with 30 to 40 new calls per month from interested travelers who heard of his inn by accessing the cell phone site.
My View: Mobile web is by far the industry with the most potential for growth. I think that within the next 10 years (if that long), almost everyone in modern society will be connected to the net at all times, including via cellphones or the equivalent device which might be invented in the future. As they said, domain name registrars such as GoDaddy opened the Internet to small businesses with their low cost ".com"s and I think they will do the same for the mobile web. Eventually, having a mobile-enabled site will become yet another necessary piece in the business operations puzzle.
Labels: advertising, mobile web
:: Permanent Link :: Posted 4/06/2007 :: 0 Comments :: Links to this post ::
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