Sonos–the maker of innovative wireless music systems that has been boosted by its Apple iPhone and iPad Controller app–is set to roll out one for Google’s Android mobile operating system.

The Sonos Controller for Android will officially introduce the app at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, although the Santa Barbara, Calif., company is announcing it today.

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Sonos CEO John MacFarlane in an interview with BoomTown yesterday. “It basically doubles our market space.”

The free app allows you to control Sonos’s various players wirelessly with a smartphone or tablet.

The impact of the iPhone and the iPad on sales of its various devices has been clear enough, said MacFarlane, as registrations of the app have escalated.

“There is more usage of the smartphone, but tablets are clearly happening, said MacFarlane. “But I have the same view of both that these devices are the Holy Grail everyone has always wanted.”

The move to Android will take longer to beta test, he said, since its ecosystem has a plethora of unit types from a variety of handset makers.

The app will be out in March.

Here’s an image of the app on an Android phone and the official press release:

ROCK THE HOUSE: SONOS INTRODUCES SONOS CONTROLLER FOR ANDROID

Wireless Music System for Android Provides Unlimited Music, Incredible Control and Amazing Sound in Every Room

SANTA BARBARA, CA–February 10, 2011–Sonos, the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced the Sonos Controller for Android, a free app that transforms most Android™ smartphones into a wireless music controller for the award-winning Sonos Multi-Room Music System. The Sonos Controller for Android, available in late March as a free download from Android Market™, will make its public debut next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. To watch a video introduction of the Sonos Controller for Android, please visit www.sonos.com/android.

With the award-winning Sonos S5 in any room and an Android phone in hand, music lovers will enjoy an unmatched wireless music experience in the home. You’ll be able to access and play all the music on earth–from the Internet and your personal music library–throughout the home, wirelessly. Use the free Sonos Controller for Android app to control all your music and rooms, all from the palm of your hand. And, Sonos Controller for Android features Sonos’ latest innovation in the home music experience–music voice search–allowing users to find any artist, album or track by simply speaking into the phone.

“Sonos’ mission is to fill every home with music,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “We are thrilled to bring the joy of music to the homes of Android fans worldwide.”

To get started enjoying music in any or every room of the home, all you need is a Sonos ZonePlayer and a Sonos Controller such as the free Sonos Controller for Android. The most popular Sonos ZonePlayer is the Sonos S5, an all-in-one wireless music system you can plug in anywhere. Now you can play any track you like, anytime you like, in any room you like. Wirelessly play the same song in every room of the house–perfectly synchronized. Or, mix it up and play different songs in different rooms.

When it comes to controlling Sonos, you simply reach into your pocket for your Android smartphone. With Sonos Controller for Android, you can search for songs and stations by typing or speaking, choose the music and control the volume in as many rooms as you like. And because your Android phone is controlling the music, and not the source of it, when a text comes in or you need to make a phone call, the music doesn’t stop.

Sonos connects directly to the Internet so you can access a world of music without ever turning on your computer. Search and play more than 100,000 Internet radio stations, shows and podcasts–from around the world. Play songs, playlists and radio from the most popular music services like Deezer, iheartradio, Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rdio, Rhapsody, SiriusXM Internet Radio, Spotify, Wolfgang’s Vault, and more. And of course, Sonos can play your entire digital music library (such as iTunes) stored on a computer or Network Attached storage drive.

The Sonos Controller for Android is designed to work on any Android smartphone running Android 2.1 or later with a screen size of HVGA 320 x 480, WVGA 480 x 800 or WVGA 480 x 854. Sonos Controller for Android joins the family of Sonos Controllers which includes free apps for iPhone and iPad, a dedicated touchscreen controller, the Sonos Controller 200, and free software for your Mac or PC, included with every ZonePlayer. All controllers work together seamlessly.

Sonos will be demonstrating the Sonos Controller for Android at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 13-17, 2011. For a demonstration in person, you’ll find Sonos at the following locations:
• Android: Hall 8; Booth 8C25
• Motorola: Hall 8, Booth 8A28
• Sonos: Hall 7; Suite 7HS11

For more information about Sonos or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer in your area, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

“Each new product category typically causes a significant shift in market shares,” said Canalys senior analyst Daryl Chiam. “Apple is benefiting from pads, just as Acer, Samsung and Asus previously did with netbooks. The PC industry has always evolved this way, starting when Toshiba and Compaq rode high on the original notebook wave.”

And to those who contend that the iPad and similar devices shouldn’t be tallied in the same category as laptops and desktops?
“Any argument that a pad is not a PC is simply out of sync,” said Chiam.

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter Ahubbuch]

CityVille now has 61 million active users, compared to 56 million for FarmVille, according to AppData. Having only launched at the beginning of this month, it’s gotten huge faster than any game in history.

CityVille added 6.9 million users on Thursday alone. I had previously noted the game gained 10 million users between Sunday night (when I first drafted a story about my addiction to it) and Wednesday morning (when we published that story). Those numbers are unheard of.

(By the way, I’m now at level 29, up from 26 at the time of writing, though I’ve had a busy week.)

Of course, these social games all experience dropoff, and it’s unclear where CityVille’s numbers will eventually settle. FarmVille’s all-time high number of monthly active users was more than 83 million.

Zynga hasn’t hit it out of the park every time with its previous FarmVille follow-ups. The company’s most recent launch, FrontierVille, which like CityVille was notable for its amped-up social features and was considered quite successful, is currently at 30 million monthly active users.

Two years later, Palm no longer has a share price, having been acquired by Hewlett-Packard, and Rubinstein, no longer its CEO, runs HP’s new mobile devices unit. But with the iconic Silicon Valley company backing it and “doubling down on webOS” and a new tablet based on the OS headed to market, its future is perhaps equally as promising, if not more so.

2:57 pm:
The session kicks off with video of a previous interview with Rubinstein in which he–the “father of the iPod”–claimed never to have used an iPhone.

So, have you touched an iPhone yet? Kara asks.

Rubinstein laughs. “Oh, we’re going to go through this again? Have I used one as my own device? No. Have I touched one? Yes.”

2:58 pm: Rubinstein continues: For me personally, we have lots of people who use iPhones and we have competitive analysis groups who review competing products, but I don’t want to be tainted by another experience. I want to come at this with a fresh perspective and I think what we’re seeing now in this industry is that everyone is copying the iPhone.

3:00 pm: Sorry, we’re having some connectivity issues here….

Moving on now to Palm and its ultimate acquisition by HP.

I think we did have many of the elements to be successful. We had a great team, a great product, a great product pipeline….But I think the market moved too fast and when we looked forward we saw a very clear way to where we could get the company to profitability, but we didn’t see a way to get it to scale….We could have been a small, successful company, but I don’t think that’s long-term sustainable in this business.”

So it was an issue of scale and not the “creepy lady marketing?” Kara asks.

Rubinstein says no, though he concedes the Palm Pre could have been marketed better.

3:04 pm: Ultimately, says, Rubinstein, we just ran out of runway…. We looked at a variety of different alternatives, and at the end of the day we decided that the best thing to do was to hook up with a partner that could get webOS to scale….The most expeditious outcome was to partner with HP.

3:05 pm: What other companies were interested in acquiring you? Kara asks. Rubinstein won’t say. What he will say is that the one that made the most sense was HP. “They didn’t have a great mobile strategy, but they had the means to get webOS to scale….A company like HP needs to be in control of its own strategy….This is not ‘game over.”

3:07 pm: How badly did HP need Palm? “Look,” says Rubinstein, “HP is the largest computer company in the world…it needs a mobile strategy. And it needs a mobile OS of its own….They needed to be in this space, and now they’re very jazzed about webOS.

3:08 pm: How about the Mark Hurd scandal? Was it much of a distraction for Palm? Rubinstein says it wasn’t. Palm was relatively new to the company when it occurred and was thus unaffected. “There was some turmoil for a few days,” he says. “That’s about it.”

3:10 pm: Moving on now to Palm’s role within HP. “What we chose to do as part of the acquistion was to integrate part of Palm into HP and keep part of it separate….The engineering team is essentially separate…things like HR and finance are handled by HP….From my perspective, what we were planning on doing and what HP wanted to do were very well aligned.”

Post acquisition, says Rubinstein, as soon as we aligned our road maps, we were off and running. He notes that internal relationships with divisions like HP Labs have been quite helpful.

Will the Palm name continue? asks Kara.

[Sorry, more connectivity problems.]
Rubinstein: That’s something we’re debating. What do you think we should do?

Kara: Get rid of it.

Rubinstein: Okay [jokingly]….I don’t really have much of a connection to the Palm brand.

3:16 pm: What’s Rubinstein’s view on the competitive environment? “Look, this is a huge market. The growth is phenomenal. If we roll back three years to when I started this Palm adventure, mobile was the place to be. And it still is today. I think we still have the chance to become a major player if we do the right things.”

3:20 pm: What’s the more important device, the phone or the tablet? asks Kara. Rubinstein says he doesn’t think people will have just one device. “It used to be that people shared a device. These days, people have multiple devices. So the new question is how do these devices interact so there’s a seemless user experience across devices….The ability to have a unified experience on all your devices is very important.”

3:21 pm: The conversation moves on to carrier relationships. Rubinstein observes that AT&T is doing pretty well in the Bay Area. “Just for you,” quips Kara.

3:23 pm: And on to the Q&A. First question from Engadget’s Josh Topolsky. What’s the Palm story that’s going to make people buy your phones? How do you convince a consumer to buy your stuff when you’re competing with the likes of Google and Apple?

Rubinstein: We really do have a unique experience compared to everyone else….The other concept around this is the connected device strategy. We’re in this transition now where we’re integrating into HP, so we’re still ramping up.

3:25 pm: Kara circles back, asks about differentiation and how HP can break through all the marketing noise. Where do you think the next radical change in the mobile market is going to come from? she asks.

I think it’s going to be incremental change, not a radical. I think it’s all about bringing this vision of a more connected world to our users.

Kara asks about forthcoming webOS devices.

Rubinstein gives the standard answer: “Stay tuned.” But he added, “This will be a very different conversation next year.”

3:25 pm: And that’s it.

Thus, the San Francisco-based makers of DODOcase have managed to sell tens of thousands of their pricey $55 to $65 cases. For many, the signature black faux-leather cover and elastic band give the hard-edged iPad an old-world tangibility and bespoke countenance, looking like–as it does–the famous Moleskine notebook that hipsters favor.

Today, the cult-popular business is releasing its second product, an Amazon Kindle-size DODOcase that wraps the plastic e-reader in its signature book-like binding.

Founders Patrick Buckley (the maker guy) and Craig Dalton (the business guy) have spent the last seven months tweaking the product and building the brand. But they took some time to give us a look into their Dogpatch manufacturing facility, which doubles as an actual book bindery, to see exactly what goes into the product.

As it turns out, the main ingredient is time.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101118/heres-how-that-50-apple-ipad-dodocase-is-made-plus-a-look-at-the-new-kindle-cover/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100824/dell-starts-selling-first-u-s-smartphone/ http://allthingsd.com/20100824/dell-starts-selling-first-u-s-smartphone/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:39:20 +0000 Ian Sherr http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=28673 Dell Inc. put its first U.S. smartphone on sale on Tuesday, making the computer maker the latest technology manufacturer to enter the competitive mobile handset market.

The Round Rock, Texas, company said its 3.5-inch touchscreen phone, dubbed the “Aero,” runs on Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android operating system and is available for $99.99 with a new two-year contract from AT&T Inc. (T) and $299.99 without. It can be ordered via Dell’s (DELL) website.

The move comes as the manufacturers jockey for position in the increasingly competitive smartphone market ahead of the critical holiday shopping season.

Energized by the release of Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone in 2007, sales of smartphones have become increasingly popular and a driver of sales for many hardware makers. Global smartphone sales are expected to double to 506 million units within four years, industry tracker iSuppli said earlier this summer.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100824/dell-starts-selling-first-u-s-smartphone/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100426/inside-fords-app-happy-fiesta-but-no-manilow/ http://allthingsd.com/20100426/inside-fords-app-happy-fiesta-but-no-manilow/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:51:41 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=27665 Last week, outside the Facebook f8 developers conference, BoomTown checked out the new 2011 Fiesta model, which will be the first vehicle in which smartphone apps can be voice-controlled via its in-car synching software.

While getting a test, I interviewed the Ford dude–Julius Marchwiki–who has been in all the YouTube videos of late touting its digital prowess.

Ford has been trying to fast-forward its automobiles in the digital space to try to differentiate itself from other car makers, using SYNC AppLink, as well as other innovative Web-friendly features.

In December, Ford (F) said it would make the next generation of its SYNC-enabled vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing drivers and passengers to connect to the Internet everywhere much more seamlessly in a moving car.

Presumably, the ultimate in mobile.

One speed bump: SYNC AppLink will work only with Google (GOOG) Android and Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry devices for now, although Ford promises an Apple (AAPL) iPhone solution soon.

Pandora Internet radio, online talk radio aggregator Stitcher and mobile Twitter client OpenBeak are the first SYNC-enabled mobile applications.

Here’s my interview with Marchwiki, as well as Scott Monty, Ford’s social media guru:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100426/inside-fords-app-happy-fiesta-but-no-manilow/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20100309/what-is-cisco-announcing-this-morning-to-forever-change-the-internet-a-foursquare-enabled-jet-pack/ http://allthingsd.com/20100309/what-is-cisco-announcing-this-morning-to-forever-change-the-internet-a-foursquare-enabled-jet-pack/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:15:53 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=25193

Bright and early this morning at 8 am PT, BoomTown will be jacked into the matrix for an invitation-only media and analyst briefing to hear exactly what the heck Cisco (CSCO) has been yammering on about of late.

Last month, the networking giant said in a mysterioso email that it would be making “a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.”

Significant? Forever? It had better be good.

Like a jet pack from which you can communicate your Foursquare location (“I’m Mayor of the Clouds!”).

Or perhaps a chip you can implant in your head that will give you live updates of every single Apple (AAPL) iPad rumor.

Or a cogent explanation of how to extricate yourself from Google Buzz.

Or, at long last, maybe Cisco has figured out a way to fix the dropped calls crisis on the AT&T (T) mobile network–a tech solution I would nominate for a Nobel Prize if it ever came to pass.

In all seriousness, due to the speculation around what Cisco will unveil, its stock hit a 52-week high yesterday–up 92 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $26.13–and analysts were speculating on what the company will say.

The consensus: A new router to improve–please, oh Lord, please–wireless transmission of Web video and heavy data that often slow mobile and ISP networks.

It’s part of a new focus on the ever-growing but ever-slowing wireless data networks.

Google (GOOG) said recently that it was planning to build a superspeedy broadband service. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil its own ambitious plan to improve high-speed Internet access across the United States.

Well, it’ll be good, since the consumption of video online is growing like crazy and a constant bottleneck is likely without some relief.

Cisco has gotten deep into video of late, both in pushing networking gear and in acquiring video device maker like Pure Digital, the company behind my beloved Flip digital camera.

It is also working on innovative holographic and television-based home telepresence technologies.

So, is it too much to ask Cisco for a simple jet pack that works? I think not!

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100309/what-is-cisco-announcing-this-morning-to-forever-change-the-internet-a-foursquare-enabled-jet-pack/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20091125/apple-to-psystar-and-dont-get-any-bright-ideas-about-a-black-friday-sale-either/ http://allthingsd.com/20091125/apple-to-psystar-and-dont-get-any-bright-ideas-about-a-black-friday-sale-either/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:00:29 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=29818 Having diligently hewn Psytar’s legal coffin over the past year and a half, Apple has now taken up its hammer and set about nailing the Mac clone maker into it. This week, the company called for a permanent injunction against Psystar’s operations.

“Psystar…has built its business on infringing Apple’s copyrights and trademarks, free-riding on Apple’s research and development efforts, and trading on Apple’s hard-earned reputation for high quality, innovative and easy-to-use computers,” Apple said in its motion.

“Psystar’s appropriation of Apple’s intellectual property and goodwill has been systematic and brazen, from the name of Psystar’s ‘OpenMac’ computers to its deliberate pirating of Apple’s Mac OS X,” the company added.

“Psystar even seeks to profit from Apple’s efforts to protect its rights, extolling this litigation as Psystar’s ‘opportunity to gain market share,’ in a pitch to venture capitalists….Unless Psystar is permanently enjoined, it will not stop its unlawful conduct–conduct that is causing irreparable harm to Apple’s business, brand and goodwill.”

Catch that? Psystar was pitching VCs on its plan to use Apple’s IP to “compete directly against Apple.” Shameless. Little wonder Cupertino is so intent on burying the would-be rival.

And make no mistake, Apple legal is going to grind Psystar into fine silicon dust. In addition to the injunction, Apple is requesting compensation for legal costs and statutory damages owed under the Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. And according to Apple’s expert witness, statutory damages for the former should run “between $1500 and $300,000″ and for the latter “between $449,500 and $4,495,000.”

Suffice it to say, that’s quite a bit more than the current value of Psystar’s assets which, according to its bankruptcy filing, are no more than $50,000.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091125/apple-to-psystar-and-dont-get-any-bright-ideas-about-a-black-friday-sale-either/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090819/a-nokia-netbook-seriously/ http://allthingsd.com/20090819/a-nokia-netbook-seriously/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:05:00 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=13678 Microsoft (MSFT) is prepping a slimmed down version of the forthcoming Windows 7 operating system to work on so-called netbooks. Asustek is mulling a mini-laptop that runs on Google’s (GOOG) Android OS. Now, Nokia (NOK) is looking with interest at the netbook market as well.

“…the PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge,” Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said at a press conference in New Dehli. “A lot of opportunity can be seen in this converged area. We at Nokia is actively looking at this converged market….We are looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there.”

Likely a decent one for a cellphone maker like Nokia looking to diversify a bit from its core business. The company’s Symbian smartphone platform could likely be optimized for the task were Nokia to bring some of its $6 billion R&D budget to bear on it. The OS already has a Microsoft-compatible office suite in MobiSystems OfficeSuite 4, so Nokia’s ahead of the game there. Question is: Might the company’s efforts be better directed toward developing a credible competitor to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090819/a-nokia-netbook-seriously/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse/ http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:33:54 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=20731 NetApp has cleared all necessary U.S. regulatory hurdles to proceed with its acquisition of Data Domain, though it seems unlikely that the company will prevail now that rival EMC has trumped its bid for the storage vendor.

This morning, EMC raised its offer for Data Domain to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion, an 11 percent increase over its previous all-cash bid. Data Domain’s board had previously recommended that shareholders reject EMC’s $30-a-share cash bid in favor of a $30 cash-and-stock offer from NetApp (NTAP).

Hard to see the board doing so again now that the EMC (EMC) has sweetened the financial end of its proposal and removed some deal-protection provisions with which Data Domain (DDUP) had taken issue. With those gone, EMC’s bid is clearly superior to NetApp’s, CEO Joe Tucci claims, and it would be hard to argue otherwise.

“Over the past several weeks we’ve received strong support from many Data Domain stockholders and customers, validating our belief that EMC is Data Domain’s best choice,” Tucci wrote in a letter to Data Domain’s leadership. “With regulatory requirements now fulfilled, and in light of the clearly superior proposal we submitted to Data Domain’s Board of Directors today, we expect Data Domain to sign our definitive agreement that will deliver superior value in cash to the Data Domain stockholders in as little as two weeks.”

Data Domain has until midnight on July 17 to accept the offer.

UPDATE: NetApp responded to EMC’s announcement with the following statement:

“In response to EMC’s revised, unsolicited offer, the NetApp Board of Directors will carefully weigh its options, keeping in mind both its fiduciary duty to its stockholders and its disciplined acquisition strategy. We will provide an update shortly.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse-2/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:33:54 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=20731 NetApp has cleared all necessary U.S. regulatory hurdles to proceed with its acquisition of Data Domain, though it seems unlikely that the company will prevail now that rival EMC has trumped its bid for the storage vendor.

This morning, EMC raised its offer for Data Domain to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion, an 11 percent increase over its previous all-cash bid. Data Domain’s board had previously recommended that shareholders reject EMC’s $30-a-share cash bid in favor of a $30 cash-and-stock offer from NetApp (NTAP).

Hard to see the board doing so again now that the EMC (EMC) has sweetened the financial end of its proposal and removed some deal-protection provisions with which Data Domain (DDUP) had taken issue. With those gone, EMC’s bid is clearly superior to NetApp’s, CEO Joe Tucci claims, and it would be hard to argue otherwise.

“Over the past several weeks we’ve received strong support from many Data Domain stockholders and customers, validating our belief that EMC is Data Domain’s best choice,” Tucci wrote in a letter to Data Domain’s leadership. “With regulatory requirements now fulfilled, and in light of the clearly superior proposal we submitted to Data Domain’s Board of Directors today, we expect Data Domain to sign our definitive agreement that will deliver superior value in cash to the Data Domain stockholders in as little as two weeks.”

Data Domain has until midnight on July 17 to accept the offer.

UPDATE: NetApp responded to EMC’s announcement with the following statement:

“In response to EMC’s revised, unsolicited offer, the NetApp Board of Directors will carefully weigh its options, keeping in mind both its fiduciary duty to its stockholders and its disciplined acquisition strategy. We will provide an update shortly.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090706/emc-makes-data-domain-an-offer-it-cant-refuse-2/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090615/data-domain-to-emc-nix-null-nein-nyet-non-nuh-uh-nope-nay/ http://allthingsd.com/20090615/data-domain-to-emc-nix-null-nein-nyet-non-nuh-uh-nope-nay/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:00:19 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=19538 What part of “No” does EMC not understand?

On Monday the company once again said its bid for the data storage equipment maker Data Domain is “superior” to a competing offer from NetApp. This, despite the fact that Data Domain earlier in the day issued a statement recommending that shareholders reject EMC’s $30-a-share cash bid and instead accept a $30 cash-and-stock offer from NetApp.

“Our Board is committed to enhancing stockholder value and, after careful review with our outside advisors, determined that the $30 per share EMC Offer is not in the best interests of our stockholders at this time,” said Frank Slootman, president and CEO of Data Domain.

Why not? Well, among other things Data Domain hasn’t been able to discuss EMC’s offer because EMC hasn’t yet accepted the confidentiality and standstill agreement that would allow it to do so. For another, Data Domain must pay a $57 million termination fee if it should abandon its deal with NetApp–and that’s on top of a host of other considerable transaction expenses.

That’s understandable, I suppose. Still, it’s difficult to see why Data Domain insists that EMC’s all-cash offer is worth less than NetApp’s cash-and-paper bid. Unless it’s doing so to force EMC’s hand deeper into its wallet. And, indeed, that may be exactly what’s happening here. Sources say. EMC (EMC) could raise its offer to as much as $35 per share to win Data Domain (DDUP) or force NetApp (NTAP) to pay more than it can afford for it. “EMC is in the win-win box and NetApp is in the lose-lose box,” a source close to the company told Reuters. “EMC can pay more than NetApp can in a reasonable range. If NetApp wants to pay at an unreasonable range, that’s good for EMC.”

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