In a statement to All Things D, Microsoft said: “We are still working to get the release out. Stay tuned, we’ll have an update this afternoon on when it will begin rolling out.”

(Update: By late afternoon, Microsoft said the rollout would begin gradually in a few hours.)

The free over-the-air software update was due to hit the Xbox this morning.

As part of the update, the Xbox is getting a major face-lift that would give users the ability to control the interface with the Kinect using voice and gestures.

It also aims to turn the game console into an entertainment hub for the living room through the addition of several new content deals that will provide access to more movies and TV.

The delay was first reported by Xbox employee Larry Hryb, who goes by @majornelson on Twitter. At roughly 7 am PT, he tweeted: “FYI: The timing for Xbox 360 dashboard update has been slightly delayed. I’ll have a status update later today.”

In a follow-up tweet, he added: “I’ll share additional details when I have more to share. Until then, thanks for you patience.”

I hate to use a personal story to make a professional point — but when I was in the hospital recently, after suffering from a mini-stroke, I got an important piece of health advice that, oddly enough, applies perfectly to Yahoo, the Silicon Valley Internet icon I cover very closely.

I know, I know, but listen up …

When I was close to going home, one of my doctors told me I had to make sure I paid attention to any signs that might indicate a recurrence. The issue around any possible future ischemic attack taking place, he said, is speed in getting critical care once any unusual symptoms become apparent, such as numbness, tingling, confusion and cognitive difficulty.

That’s because every second of delay translates to increased damage to cerebral cells that could badly impact speech, movement and worse.

“Remember,” the doctor intoned with great and very appropriate gravity. “Time is brain.”

Yes, indeed it is — for me, and also very much so for Yahoo these days.

Leaving aside my own mortality, one of the most important issues going forward for Yahoo’s long-hoped-for revival will be how quickly the company moves in the next month, in what has so far been a lugubrious and rumor-heavy process to figure out its strategic plan in the wake of the firing of CEO Carol Bartz in early September.

That means — going into a major holiday season — Yahoo has about 30 working days to make what has to be a complex and multiparty deal. It is likely to include private equity firms, big companies, Asian partners, investment bankers, major shareholders and scrutiny from the media, in an effort that is approximately akin to herding cats.

This from a board that has often moved with snail-like reflexes in the midst of much more minors crises, and has shown a talent for disaster.

So, while speed is sometimes the enemy of reason, in this case, it is now more necessary than ever before.

There are three key reasons why Yahoo’s leaders have to perform quickly now, each of which could spell even more turmoil for the long-troubled company, if botched.

The first is the possibility — actually, the probability — of a proxy fight that might begin informally just after the new year.

That’s when you could start hearing from someone like activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point — who has been vocal about ousting Yahoo board members, including co-founder Jerry Yang. Yahoo directors are fully aware that he is eyeing this ugly option, which will include readying an alternate slate of directors.

According to a Yahoo spokeswoman, the earliest nominations for directors can be submitted is February 24 for those “shareholder proposals not intended for inclusion in proxy materials and for nomination of director candidates.”

But while there is a formal process, you will hear it coming long before that, unless Yahoo gives Loeb board seats to quiet him down — which is unlikely but possible.

Such a noisy fight is not one Yahoo can afford to have, and it has already shown some cloddish sensibilities in its response to a recent letter by Loeb — who has many more shares than Yang, and should still be accorded a certain amount of respect, no matter what he says.

Given how badly the last Yahoo shareholder tussle with Carl Icahn went, another proxy battle could be deadly, and might drag on through the first half of 2012. In his Yahoo tussle, Icahn ultimately got three seats on the Yahoo board, but eventually went away with everyone the poorer.

Second, Yahoo will report its fourth-quarter earnings in late January, which will likely continue to show weakness in key sectors of its business. While interim CEO Tim Morse is doing a laudable job given the shaky circumstances, drops in advertising revenue growth, engagement and search are not anything Yahoo can keep making excuses for.

While it is likely the company’s beleaguered operating execs will pull out the stops to make the numbers look better — a new game I like to play is “how many homepage ads can they jam in there at the quarter’s end?” — it’s no panacea for the kinds of dramatic and even drastic changes that new ownership will have to make, sooner than later.

And, speaking of beleaguered, perhaps the most important reason that Yahoo has to get the lead out and clarify its situation is due to one consistent thing about the company: Talent attrition and employee fatigue.

Speaking to one exec after another in recent weeks, it is dead clear that Yahoo is increasingly hard-pressed to hold on to the best of its current employees, or to attract any terrific new ones.

The impact on product innovation, morale and more is obvious.

One exec who has long been one of the more cheerleader types for Yahoo — often calling me out in the past for being too negative on the company’s prospects — has recently turned weary, cynical and even depressed about the future — so much so that I now find myself bucking up the worker.

“You can’t hire anyone, since you can’t tell them honestly who their bosses might be in three months,” said the staffer. “And you can’t look anyone who works for you now in the eye and tell them it will turn out right in the end, either, given the track record so far.”

Indeed. And, more than any other factor that could hurt Yahoo in the competitive tech sector, brain drain is what will always get you in the end.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM made the announcement in a blog posting late Tuesday.

RIM executives had originally signaled that its next tablet version, dubbed BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, would be available sometime this month.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Earlier today, CNBC reported that the regulatory review of Groupon’s questionable use of certain accounting metrics in its IPO filing was delaying its offering until later in September.

While more questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission about how it accounts for its revenue and profits might indeed eventually push the IPO debut out, according to sources I have interviewed for months now, an offering in mid to late September was actually when the social buying company was planning to take its company public.

It makes sense, since August is seldom used for road shows for companies headed for an IPO — think Wall Street in the Hamptons and you’ll get why.

That said, the continued scrutiny by the SEC is not a welcome development for Chicago-based Groupon, which filed its S-1 documents in June.

In coming weeks, sources said, the company will be filing new financial information about both its growth and costs, which will undoubtedly be put under a microscope by investors and regulators.

That’s no surprise since the contents of the original filing immediately caused controversy, especially over the amount of its venture funding paid out to insiders and also over an unusual accounting treatment called adjusted consolidated segment operating income, or Adjusted CSOI.

As I wrote at the time:

Let’s be clear, this is a number that does not include important costs, such as critical online marketing expenses to attract new customers to Groupon.
Such accounting is called non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles).

In 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, Groupon said its Adjusted CSOI was $60.6 million and $81.6 million, respectively.

On a GAAP basis, Groupon lost $413.4 million million for 2010 and $113.9 million in the first three months of 2011.

Said Groupon about its accounting in its S-1 filing: “We believe Adjusted CSOI is an important measure of the performance of our business as it excludes expenses that are non-cash or otherwise not indicative of future operating expenses.”

Definitely sketchy enough to attract an SEC look-see, which caused Groupon to back away from Adjusted CSOI as a “valuation metric” in a recently amended S-1 filing. Groupon also stepped back a sloppy comment made after the filing by its Chairman Eric Lefkofsky — in a interview he apparently thought was off the record — that the company would be “wildly profitable.”

One thing is certain: There will surely be more amending of the Groupon S-1 in the weeks ahead as it stumbles toward its IPO, which will be one of the most prominent of the Web 2.0 era.

Purchase an iPad 2 online today and you’ll have to wait four to five weeks for it to arrive. And the device’s international launch is fast approaching. It’s scheduled to go on sale in over 20 more countries on March 25.

Will whatever combination of overwhelming demand, constrained supply and impact from the recent earthquake in Japan that’s causing ship times in the States to slip, force Apple to postpone the iPad 2′s international debut? Or are slipping ship times in the U.S. simply evidence of Apple stockpiling supply in preparation for it? Remember, the company did postpone the international launch of original iPad by one month following similarly strong demand…

In a statement, Microsoft said that the update, which CEO Steve Ballmer said would come early in the month, now won’t arrive until late in March. The update, known as No Donuts (NoDo) is slated to add performance updates, copy and paste features and support for CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

“After careful consultation with the team and our many partners, we’ve decided to briefly hold the March update in order to ensure the update process meets our standards and that of our customers,” Microsoft said in a statement to Mobilized. “As a result, we will plan to begin delivering the update in the latter half of March.”

The delay comes after the company encountered several problems with a preliminary update designed to pave the way for NoDo.

Microsoft is counting on this update, and a more substantive one planned for later this year, to help the company be more competitive with Android and Apple’s iPhone. The bigger update is supposed to bring faster browsing, improved multitasking and native Twitter support, among other features.

Redmond insisted the delay of NoDo should not be equated with a delay in the more substantive update.

“This short pause should in no way impact the timing of future updates, including the one announced recently at Mobile World Congress featuring multitasking, a Twitter feature, and a new HTML 5-friendly version of Internet Explorer Mobile,” Microsoft general manager Eric Hautala said in a blog post.

Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week’s planned launch, according to sources familiar with the companies’ plans. The delay is supposed to give Apple time to tweak its new subscription service for publications sold through its iTunes platform.

Plans to debut the iPad newspaper at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art next Wednesday have been tabled “for weeks, not months,” I’m told.

The issue isn’t with the app itself, which News Corp. executives and their proxies have been showing off over the last few weeks, but a new subscription feature that Apple is building into iTunes.

As I noted last month, the Daily was supposed “to use a new “push” subscription feature from Apple, where iTunes automatically bills customers on a weekly or monthly basis, and a new edition shows up on customers’ iPads every morning.”

A PR rep from News Corp., which also owns this Web site, confirmed the delay, but wouldn’t comment further. Apple declined to comment.

However, even with the masses descending upon Las Vegas this week, Cricket has decided to delay the Muve music service and the launch of its first Muve-compatible phone.

Cricket had hoped to launch service in Las Vegas this week along with a number of other markets later this month.

Under its revised time frame, Cricket plans to launch the service in Las Vegas later this month, add nine more cities in February and roll it out to the rest of its markets this spring.

Although all the necessary licensing is in place, Cricket spokesman Greg Lund said that the company needed the extra time to ensure all of the software bugs were ironed out before it started asking customers to pay for the service.

“It’s got to be just perfect,” Lund told Mobilized in an interview at CES in Las Vegas.

It seems like every day, a different Silicon Valley company is in the crosshairs of one of the alphabet soup of federal government regulators over a range of concerns.

Whether it is privacy issues at Facebook, search market share at Google (GOOG), iPhone hijinks at Apple (AAPL) or a hacking breach at Twitter, digital firms are ever more closely watched by agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

But one of the more important digital inquiries these days is the hairy-eyeball once-over Comcast (CMCSA) is getting in the vetting of its deal to acquire NBC Universal.

The FCC, about a third of the way to its 180-day deadline, stopped the clock yesterday over incomplete answers to a request for information.

One of the many issues of concern is how Comcast is going to put content online when it owns a company that makes a lot of it.

The so-called “clock” has been stopped once already, over online distribution issues, according to a report yesterday in Broadcasting & Cable noting that “the commission also gave commenters a chance to weigh the impact, if any, of the April 6 BitTorrent decision that called into question the FCC’s ability to regulate broadband.”

While it’s only one of the areas of inquiry, it is perhaps the most important for Silicon Valley companies, which are also moving aggressively into the space, especially in the wake of the recent Google legal victory over Viacom (VIA) in the long-running YouTube copyright-infringement case.

While Comcast noted that the FCC delay is simply a technical filing issue, and most observers expect the deal to eventually be approved, it’s clear that the company is going to have to answer mounting questions about how it plans to conduct itself online.

We’ll soon be posting the full interview BoomTown recently did with Comcast COO Steve Burke at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference earlier this month.

Until then, here’s a video of Burke at D8 talking about the upcoming competition with Silicon Valley companies:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100625/feds-hairy-eyeball-on-digital-not-just-for-silicon-valley-comcastnbc-deal-continues-to-undergo-stop-start-vetting/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100406/you-still-cant-buy-plastic-logics-que-e-reader-want-to-buy-plastic-logic/ http://allthingsd.com/20100406/you-still-cant-buy-plastic-logics-que-e-reader-want-to-buy-plastic-logic/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:43:54 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=18234 UPDATE: Plastic Logic investor Hermann Hauser says the company is not for sale. His statement, forwarded to me via Plastic Logic: “My comments were taken out of context. I was talking about partnerships we are working on, the value of Plastic Logic technology and its potential for the future–not a sale of the company. The Company is not for sale.”

---

Want to buy an e-reader from Plastic Logic? You will have to wait until “sometime this summer.” Want to buy the whole company? That’s a different story.

That’s the message U.K. investor Hermann Hauser is delivering via the Financial Times (via Engadget). Hauser, who owns a chunk of Plastic Logic via his Amadeus Capital Partners, doesn’t come out and say the company is for sale. But he spends a chunk of the story explaining why someone would be smart to take the investment off his hands.

Why would that be? Plastic Logic, after all, has been in the e-reader business for years, but has yet to actually start selling one. It finally showed off its Que Reader in January and promised delivery in April. But last month, the company told customers the Que would be delayed until summer–practically daring them to buy a competing product from Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Sony (SNE) or Barnes and Noble (BKS).

Hauser’s pitch: Plastic Logic is a technology company whose real value is the plastic chips that power the Que.

“Plastic Logic is using the simplest invention in plastic electronics, a single transistor that switches a particular pixel on or off,” says Mr Hauser. The real potential, he explains, is in creating plastic integrated circuits capable of complex functions, a feat that Plastic Logic co-founder Henning Sirringhaus has just achieved. Mr Hauser says: “Plastic electronics will spawn dozens of companies taking advantage of different aspects of integrated circuits in the same way that silicon has.”

How much is that worth? The FT helpfully suggests a buyer should pony up a multiple of the $200 million Hauser and others have bet on the company. But if that’s above your spending limit, you should be able to get a Que for less than $800 in a couple months.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100406/you-still-cant-buy-plastic-logics-que-e-reader-want-to-buy-plastic-logic/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100317/palm-att-delay/ http://allthingsd.com/20100317/palm-att-delay/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:39:12 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=36585 Palm’s fourth quarter may turn out to be no better than its third–an ugly period marked by a grotesque 30 percent revenue shortfall, poor sales and tepid interest in the company’s new line of smartphones.

In his latest note on the company, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek says Palm’s (PALM) already substantial troubles are mounting. Palm’s latest problem: Delays in the long-rumored launch of its smartphones on AT&T (T). Originally expected this spring, sources now say the debut of new Pixi and Pre models has been pushed back until summer.

“Beyond generally lacklustre handset sales in the current quarter, which are already reflected in our previous estimates, we have recently learned that AT&T has delayed the planned launch of the Pre and Pixi on its network from April to June/July,” Misek writes.

“Moreover, we believe that this is more than just an ordinary delay,” the analyst adds, “as AT&T has cited a long list of technical issues with the Pre and Pixi. Furthermore, the carrier has decreased its initial order size and has decided to sharply reduce its marketing budget for the launch.”

So: A delayed launch on another major carrier, a smaller first order and a soft marketing budget. On top of these issues, Misek cites a mysterious “list of technical issues.” I’m not quite sure what he is hinting at; my sources tell me there are no problems with the devices on AT&T’s network–but perhaps Misek knows something they don’t.

Leaving the mystery list aside, this is bad news all around for Palm, which clearly needs the additional distribution it will get through AT&T sooner rather than later. Misek is slashing his February quarter unit shipment forecast to 670,000 from 720,000 and his 2011 forecast to 3.58 million units from four million.

Honestly, this getting difficult to watch.

Palm is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings after Thursday’s closing bell.

FURTHER READING:

• Could WebOS Licensing Be Palm’s Salvation?
• Palm’s Salvation? Less Push, More Pull.
• And if Palm’s Project JumpStart Doesn’t Work Out, There’s Always “Project Defibrillator”
• Double Face-Palm: Analysts React to Palm’s Lowered Guidance
• Time to Start Looking for a Buyer, Palm?
• 2010: Year of the Palm? Maybe Not…
• Analyst: Palm May Be Acquired in the Next Two Years

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100317/palm-att-delay/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100305/about-that-march-ipad-release-date/ http://allthingsd.com/20100305/about-that-march-ipad-release-date/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:11:29 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=36211 When Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPad on Jan. 27, he said it would be “available” in 60 days, implying an on-sale date of March 25. By announcing a pre-sale date of March 12, as it did this morning, the company has technically fulfilled that promise–yet it is not delivering the device to customers until April 3, about a week later.

If the ship date was to be April 3, why didn’t Jobs say so at the January event?

Obviously, it’s impossible to say. Though it’s certainly interesting that Jobs couldn’t offer a hard ship date for a major product that was just two months out.

Does this mean Apple (AAPL) may have run into a bit of an iPad manufacturing hiccup after all? I suppose it’s possible. Cannaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, who first reported alleged production issues with the iPad, certainly thinks so.

“In our previous note we discussed that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production,” Misek wrote in a research note to clients this morning. “We also suggested that there is a possibility that the launch will be delayed by a month due to a limited number of units available.”

Updating his assessment, the analyst notes, “According to today’s announcement, iPad is delayed by a week in the U.S. and by a month for some international markets. We believe the delay was caused by an unspecified production problem at the iPad’s manufacturer as we indicated earlier this week.”

Or perhaps this is simply about Apple’s level of visibility into its supply chain. After all, you’d think if there really had been production issues with the device, we would have been looking at delays of far longer than just a few days.

Either way, it’s really not of consequence to the company in any material sense. At $218.50, Apple shares are up nearly four percent on news of the April ship date. Obviously, Wall Street doesn’t care whether the iPad is late or not. And in the end, does it really even matter?

UPDATE: John Gruber has some interesting thoughts on all this over at Daring Fireball.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100305/about-that-march-ipad-release-date/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100304/ipad-production-is-on-track-no-its-not-yes-it-is/ http://allthingsd.com/20100304/ipad-production-is-on-track-no-its-not-yes-it-is/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:59:00 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=36104 Seems there’s a bit of disagreement over those rumored iPad production issues we’ve been hearing about.

Last week, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek warned that a bottleneck at Apple’s manufacturing partner might limit initial availability of the device or delay its launch. Then yesterday, Digitimes–not the most reliable of sources–published a report suggesting there would be no such inventory issues or delays.

Now, ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh has issued a note echoing Misek’s claim.

“Our checks in Taiwan indicate some minor delays on the iPad,” Rakesh writes. “The manufacturing of the iPads was supposed to pick up in February, but volumes even in March are still low. Current volumes are much lower than the market expected but most checks are indicating minor delays.”

Rakesh says his checks suggest that iPad production volumes are currently at about 200K to 250K for the month, but should ramp up to 800K to one million per month by April or May. “We believe this is just a minor hiccup in a longer-term entirely new revenue stream and product roadmap for [Apple],” he says.

Who best to believe, if we are to believe anyone at all? Honestly, I have no idea. As I mentioned, Digitimes doesn’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to Apple (AAPL) rumors. Neither does Misek, really. That said, the fact that channel checks conducted by two research houses both found production issues in Apple’s iPad manufacturing, suggests there may be something here.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100304/ipad-production-is-on-track-no-its-not-yes-it-is/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100301/ipad-inventories-may-be-tight-at-launch/ http://allthingsd.com/20100301/ipad-inventories-may-be-tight-at-launch/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:21:23 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=35763 When Apple’s new iPad slate begins to arrive at market later this month, limited availability may leave some early adopters empty-handed–assuming it goes on sale this month at all.

In a research note this morning, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek says he has heard rumblings that production issues at Apple’s (AAPL) manufacturing partners may keep the company’s iPad in short supply when it first goes on sale.

“We have…heard that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production of Apple’s newest device,” Misek writes.

“An unspecified production problem at the iPad’s manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision,” the analyst explains, “will likely limit the launch region to the US and the number of units available to roughly 300K in the month of March, far lower than the company’s initial estimate of 1,000K units.”

Looking ahead, he adds, “The delay in production ramp will likely impact Apple’s April unit estimate of 800K as well. It is also possible that, given the limited number of units available in March, the launch will be delayed for a month.”

If Misek is right–and that’s a big if; Misek’s prediction earlier this year that Apple would debut a brand new iPhone on Verizon (VZ) at its January special event proved woefully off–it’s a slight setback for Apple, which obviously wants to take good advantage of enthusiasm for the device to really blow out first-year sales. That said, since this would be only a temporary production delay, it probably wouldn’t have that much effect on sales.

Says Misek: “We believe that the only material impact from the iPad delay could come in the form of frustrated consumers and some modest loss of lustre for the company’s product launch.” He figures Apple will sell 550,000 units in its third quarter, which ends in June, 1.2 million in fiscal year 2010 and 3.5 million in 2011.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100301/ipad-inventories-may-be-tight-at-launch/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100119/china-to-google-no-worries-we-were-planning-to-clone-those-android-phones-anyway/ http://allthingsd.com/20100119/china-to-google-no-worries-we-were-planning-to-clone-those-android-phones-anyway/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:29:45 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=32948 Google’s newfound morality in China may cost it dearly, and not just in the search market but in the mobile services sector as well. This morning, the company said it is delaying the release of two Android superphones that were to debut this week on China Unicom (CHU). And it canceled a ceremony tomorrow at which it was to launch a brace of Android-based devices–one from Motorola (MOT) and one from Samsung.

“The launch we have been working on with China Unicom has been postponed,” a Google spokesperson explained.

The company offered no reason for the postponement, though it is obviously related to new uncertainties around its presence in China. Sources close to Google (GOOG) say the company simply felt it would be “irresponsible” to launch the phones in China at this time.

Google says it plans to hold meetings with Chinese authorities in “coming days,” though they’re not likely to be easy-going given recent messages from Beijing. This morning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman again stressed that foreign companies doing business in China must respect Chinese laws and regulations, adding, “Google is of course no exception.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100119/china-to-google-no-worries-we-were-planning-to-clone-those-android-phones-anyway/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091119/the-apple-tablet-is-delayed-so-what/ http://allthingsd.com/20091119/the-apple-tablet-is-delayed-so-what/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:00:14 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=29513 Apple has reportedly decided to postpone the launch of its rumored tablet/slate until the second half of 2010. That’s the latest rumor from the occasionally reliable Digitimes, which claims that the device’s original March 2010 debut target became untenable after some component changes.

The report, should it prove true, will no doubt be a disappointment to overanxious tabletites awaiting the mysterious device’s arrival, but really, that’s immaterial to Apple (AAPL). In the end, a six-month delay is simply six more months of rumor and speculation with which to build the bonfire of publicity that will erupt when (and if) the tablet/slate arrives.

Moreover, the tablet market is a nascent one; it’s not as if Apple is losing market share to its rivals by delaying entry. It’s best, then, for the company to take it’s time and uncrate the tablet/slate when confident that it has everything right. As Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a research note to investors Thursday, “the exact timing is irrelevant given Street models do not currently reflect the tablet, expectations for actual units in 2010 are low, and investors focus is more on whether the tablet is real and less on timing.”

Munster, it’s worth noting, envisions Apple’s tablet/slate as a $500-700 device about three times the size of the iPod touch.

“We expect the tablet hardware to be similar to an iPod touch but larger; we expect the key differentiator of the device to be its software,” Munster writes. “While there are several options ranging from a touch screen Mac OS X to an iPhone-like OS, we expect the tablet to be driven by a new version of Apple’s iPhone OS that runs a new category of larger apps alongside all the current apps from the App Store. We believe Apple’s tablet would compete well in the netbook category even though it would not be a netbook.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091119/the-apple-tablet-is-delayed-so-what/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090630/china-delays-filtering-initiative/ http://allthingsd.com/20090630/china-delays-filtering-initiative/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:00:52 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=20521

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090630/china-delays-filtering-initiative/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081003/yahoogle-delayed/ http://allthingsd.com/20081003/yahoogle-delayed/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:17:05 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=4807

Yahoo and Google have agreed to delay their online search advertising partnership to give the Justice Department more time to evaluate the deal.

A Yahoo spokesman confirmed the move in a statement: “The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice. We have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement.”

A Google spokesman also added: “When we announced our advertising agreement with Yahoo! in June we agreed to delay its implementation until October to give regulators time to look at the details. As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue.”

The delay could impact Yahoo’s share price on Monday, given the deal for Google to serve some of its search ads promised to give Yahoo (YHOO) hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue.

Still, the pair had few options of late but to cooperate fully with regulators.

Although Google (GOOG) execs have been especially adamant that the arrangement was going forward no matter what, the delay is now not as surprising, given the increasing opposition to the deal involving the No. 1 and No. 2 online search leaders in recent weeks.

So much so, that, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation, staffers at the Justice Department had recommended to their superiors that the deal be investigated further and even blocked in court.

Top Google execs have been in Washington, D.C. over the last week, seeking to change regulators’ minds, sources said, including offering up more proof that the deal would not result in a Google search ad monopoly and necessarily raise online ad prices.

But the problem has been that more critics have been joining the just-say-no-to-Yahoogle bandwagon–questioning the controversial ad deal for Yahoo to outsource some of its search ads to Google and its aggressive, damn-the-torpedoes approach to pushing the deal forward.

Just a few weeks ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporters the deal would not be delayed by Justice Department mulling. “Time is money in our business,” he said.

That might be, but time now apparently waits for regulators.

The partnership was set to start up around mid-October and promised to give the much-suffering Yahoo a huge boost in revenues.

Of course, the deal has been much lobbied against aggressively by Microsoft (MSFT), especially since Yahoo used it as a way to escape the software giant’s takeover clutches.

Nonetheless, critics like Microsoft have a lot of ammo, especially because Yahoo and Google together will claim over 80 percent of the search market.

That has caused a big outcry among advertisers and publishers to prevent the top two players from partnering at all.

BoomTown has been one of those objecting to the deal too.

In a post recently, I wrote: “Because while Google displays none of the bullying tactics of Microsoft in its glory days–think of it more like a giant that could accidentally squash all us little people with its big dumb feet–the worries about it amassing too much power are well-founded.”

What’s next is anyone’s guess. Google and Yahoo could agree to certain parameters in the deal, in order to assuage critics, or they could fight any regulatory action.

And, of course, they could abandon the deal, a move that most agree would hurt Yahoo more than Google–whose search market share has been ever-growing, even as Yahoo’s and Microsoft’s has declined.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

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