AllThingsD » retail stores

RadioShack's Loss Widens as Revenue Slips

Saabira Chaudhuri — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:30:59 +0000

RadioShack Corp.’s first-quarter loss widened sharply, bringing in results well below Street views as revenue tumbled and margins narrowed, even as the company’s new chief executive hinted at changes to come.

RadioShack’s growth strategy in recent years has focused on selling popular tablet computers and smartphones to help offset declining sales of consumer electronics such as computers and cameras. But smartphones carry lower profit margins than its traditional products, and RadioShack has logged a string of losses recently.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

LG to Expand Retail Stores

Min-Jeong Lee — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:30:51 +0000

LG Electronics Inc. is expanding the number of its retail stores in emerging markets as it seeks to increase market share in smartphones and gain a stronger global presence in consumer electronics.

Executive Vice President Kim Ki-wan said in a recent interview the company plans to increase the number of overseas retail stores this year from more than 3,000 currently and open new stores in India, the Middle East and Africa. The number of LG brand shops will likely grow by as much as 20 percent this year, the company said, and they will display and sell the South Korean company’s products ranging from smartphones to televisions to home appliances.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Barnes & Noble Aims to Whittle Its Stores for Years

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:15:19 +0000

Barnes & Noble Inc. expects to close as many as a third of its retail stores over the next decade, the bookseller’s top store executive said, offering the most detailed picture yet of the company’s plans for the outlets.

“In 10 years we’ll have 450 to 500 stores,” said Mitchell Klipper, chief executive of Barnes & Noble’s retail group, in an interview last week. The company operated 689 retail stores as of Jan. 23, along with a separate chain of 674 college stores.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Microsoft Announces Its Next Six Store Locations

John Murrell — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:37:55 +0000

Microsoft wrapped up a year in which it opened 51 new retail stores by announcing where the next six will show up. The first batch of 2013 will be opening in malls in San Francisco, Miami, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and Beachwood, Ohio, outside of Cleveland.

Microsoft Dives Into the Retail Scene

Shira Ovide and Ann Zimmerman — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 01:00:01 +0000

Microsoft Corp. typically lets its software out in the world and leaves decisions about how to sell computers to retailers. This time, though, the company is taking matters into its own hands.

As systems running its latest operating software go on sale Friday, Microsoft is playing an unprecedented role in dictating how computers should be displayed in big-box stores and how they should be pitched and explained to shoppers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

The Next Blue Nile? Ritani Launches Jewelry Site With a Bricks-and-Mortar Twist.

Tricia Duryee — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 07:00:52 +0000

Steve Padis opened his jewelry store 30 years ago in San Francisco.

From where he sits now, high-tech companies surround him: Zynga is across the street, and Airbnb will soon move in upstairs. But even though the young professionals are buzzing all around him, they rarely patronize his store.

Based on watching his four twentysomething children, Padis says he understands why: “Literally, all of their processes start online,” he said. “A great deal of young people don’t even think of walking into a store to make their decision and purchase.”

That reality is hard for most local retailers to swallow. Online retailers continue to gobble up local sales with the lure of convenience and, often, cheaper prices. In the jewelry business, the main opponent has been Blue Nile, which got its start selling engagement rings online back in 1999, and now operates as a lucrative publicly held company.

But instead of bemoaning this trend, Padis now hopes to benefit from it by partnering with a new e-commerce site that is launching today.

Ritani, a New York-based designer of engagement rings and other jewelry, is unveiling a new way to buy engagement rings that unifies both the online and offline shopping experiences. Under the new model, consumers will be able to purchase an engagement ring from the Web site and have it delivered directly to their home. Or it can be sent to a local jewelry store, where they can decide whether to buy it or return it.

The new business marks a major transformation for Ritani, which quietly got started about nine months ago with $15 million in funding led by Cantor Ventures.

As part of the overhaul, it hired a 20-person e-commerce team in Seattle, and named Brian Watkins president. Watkins, who previously worked at Blue Nile and Nordstrom, said the first-generation of online engagement stores, like Blue Nile, are missing out on the opportunity to offer personal service. He estimates the engagement ring business at $60 billion annually, of which less than 10 percent occurs online today.

Watkins said Ritani is going after the substantial percentage of people who like shopping online and doing research online, but are uncomfortable with buying one of the biggest purchases of their life without seeing it first. “That’s the gap we are going after,” he said.

Ritani’s main purpose, however, is not to take away sales from local retailers.

Generally, you can think of local jewelry stores as an extension of Ritani. Customers can create a custom engagement ring online and have it delivered to a local jeweler, without any obligation to buy it. Since Ritani is a manufacturer, rings can easily be sent back to its New York plant, where the metals will be melted down and the diamonds will find new settings. Every order offers free overnight shipping and a 30-day return policy, no questions asked.

That’s the process that the customers will see, but on the back end, Ritani has formed tight partnerships with local retailers to make it work. The most complicated part is in the revenue share: Ritani will share a percentage of every sale made within a certain distance of a jeweler, regardless of whether it played a role in the sale. Likewise, if that customer ends up patronizing that retail store in the future — to service a ring or to buy a watch — the retailer must share a percentage of the revenue back to Ritani.

“If you truly believe in integrating the online and offline experience, then putting people out of business is not good,” Watkins said from the company’s Seattle offices, which are a short drive from Blue Nile, his old employer and new competitor.

For Padis, it was easy to say “I do”: “These are customers that we otherwise may not have seen. I like the idea of a revenue share; it eliminates the animosity between online and offline retailers. We are cooperating.”

In addition to working with Steve Padis Jewelry, Ritani has partnered with a handful of other stores for today’s launch: London Jewelers in New York; Underwood Jewelers in Jacksonville, Fla.; Fink’s Jewelers in Virginia and North Carolina; Bachendorf’s in Dallas; and Brown & Co. Jewelers in Atlanta. More territories will come as Ritani expands the number of jewelers it works with. It plans to lean heavily on the 380 stores that sell its jewelry today.

In addition to setting up the back-end infrastructure, the company also had to completely redesign its Web site. Previously, it was just a catalog of rings; now, it has the look and feel of a glossy magazine with joyful pictures of newly engaged couples. Watkins said they were also careful to create some balance, so the site was attractive to both women and men. For men, that meant having a heavy spreadsheet component, where diamonds could be compared side by side. Other features include high-end photography and videos that offer 50-times magnification of the diamonds. There’s also a service called “Virtual Gemologist,” which provides one-on-one consultations with diamond experts.

Watkins said all those steps are necessary in order to make customers comfortable about buying online. Even as the head of merchandise at Blue Nile, which is the largest diamond buyer in the world, he would order four diamonds and inspect each one before selecting the very best.

Carlson Chief to Take Best Buy's Top Job

Anupreeta Das and Sharon Terlep — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:35:36 +0000

Best Buy Co. Monday said it has chosen a new chief executive to lead the company as it struggles with falling sales and manages a public back-and-forth with founder Richard Schulze, who proposed to take the retailer private earlier this month.

The new CEO, Hubert Joly, was chief executive of hospitality and restaurant giant Carlson — which includes businesses such as Radisson and T.G.I. Friday’s — before he stepped down Sunday for the Best Buy job. Carlson announced that the board had selected its chief financial officer, Trudy Rautio to take his place.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Best Buy Cuts 2,400 More Jobs

Andria Cheng — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:38:55 +0000

Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, is cutting 2,400 jobs, or 1.4 percent of its total, as the retailer seeks to cut costs amid increased competition from online retailers and lower sales of its bread-and-butter televisions and notebook computers.

About 600 of the jobs will be from its 20,000-person Geek Squad service and repair unit with the other 1,800 coming from store staff. Best Buy has a total of 167,000 employees.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Best Buy Tries on Apple's Sleek Look

Ann Zimmerman — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 15:00:30 +0000

Best Buy Co. is testing a new turnaround strategy: Making its cavernous electronics emporiums look more like Apple Inc.’s sleek retail outlets.

The heart of a test store near Best Buy’s headquarters here is a Solution Central help desk, rimmed with chairs and manned by the company’s black-tied Geek Squad. It strongly resembles the Genius Bar at Apple’s stores.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Best Buy Founder Weighs Buyout

Ryan Dezember and Ann Zimmerman — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:50:48 +0000

Best Buy Co. founder Richard Schulze is working with Wall Street bankers to explore taking the electronics retailer private, according to people familiar with Mr. Schulze’s thinking.

The company’s largest shareholder, Mr. Schulze controls slightly more than 20 percent of Best Buy stock. He abruptly resigned his post as chairman and director at the Richfield, Minn., company earlier this month, saying he was pondering options for his stake.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

A Look at Walmart's Plans for Making Commerce High-Tech (Video)

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:20 +0000

Walmart is typically associated with its everyday low prices, not with technology.

But the mega-retailer is trying to change that by building a tech center in San Bruno, Calif., just south of San Francisco, which houses Walmart.com and a growing team of researchers.

The mission of @WalmartLabs is to study how mobile and social platforms are changing commerce, and how the line is increasingly blurring between online and offline shopping.

The lab, which now has a headcount of around 200, was founded about a year ago, when the Bentonville, Ark.-based company purchased Bay Area start-up Kosmix.

In an interview last week, SVP of global e-commerce Anand Rajaraman, who founded Kosmix along with Venky Harinarayan, said the group has had near-autonomy in trying out several experiments, some of which you might have thought would be taboo for such a large physical retailer.

For instance, the team rolled out Shopycat over the holidays on Facebook, which recommended gifts based on a friend’s interests.

The notable part was that the gifts did not necessarily come only from Walmart, but other retailers, as well. “It was the first time we sent traffic to a non-Walmart site,” Rajaraman said. “But if we want to be a place to find gifts, we thought the right thing to do was to include other retailers.”

More recently, the lab launched a contest called “Get on the Shelf,” which allowed small businesses to submit a video featuring a product they had invented. Starting on March 7, visitors to GetOntheShelf.com will be able to vote on those products they think deserve shelf space. Among the submissions is a product called “the Catcher,” which, as it implies, can be used to catch your dog’s poop before it hits the ground.

In the interview video below, Rajaraman also addresses another unfavorable topic among large brick-and-mortars — the shift from buying offline to online. It is a trend that Walmart’s big Internet competitor, Amazon, is benefiting from.

Today, retailers are fighting hard not to become showrooms, places where consumers go to decide what to buy before then making the purchase online. But Rajaraman suggested that maybe the concept can be embraced, and physical locations will indeed become showrooms, where shoppers pick up items that were ordered online, or try out products that are ultimately shipped to their homes.

And perhaps Rajaraman will help invent the technology that will make it all happen.

[ See post to watch video ]

Ex-Googlers Raise $5.8 Million to Help Retailers Track Foot Traffic

Tricia Duryee — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:00:20 +0000

Euclid Elements is hoping to be the Google Analytics of the physical retail world.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company helps brick-and-mortar retailers track shopping behavior by putting sensors in their stores; the sensors pick up Wi-Fi signals from smartphones.

Euclid has raised $5.8 million in capital, led by New Enterprise Associates with Harrison Metal, Triple Point Capital and other investors also participating.

Euclid’s CEO Will Smith said the system tabulates anonymous foot traffic and collects the data on a dashboard, where retailers can track loyalty by a phone’s unique user ID.

Challenged with the suggestion that most people turn off Wi-Fi on their devices to save battery life, Smith disagreed. “It’s accurate,” he said, adding that the sensors can even tell whether someone is entering the store, or just walking by.

The system cannot collect any information on a person and can’t communicate with them. But it can track whether the same person visited a coffee shop in the morning and returned for lunch in the afternoon.

The company’s COO, Scott Crosby, is the co-founder of the original Urchin team that was acquired by Google in April 2005, and which became the basis for Google Analytics.

Microsoft Opens Colorado Retail Store in Wyoming

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:45:13 +0000

Microsoft currently has 11 retails stores in the United States. Three years from now it will have 86.

During Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference today, COO Kevin Turner said the company will open 75 more brick-and-mortar storefronts over the next two to three years. Said Turner, “We’ve got a huge opportunity to get the Microsoft story out there.”

This will account for a significant expansion of Microsoft’s first retail settlements which to date have been limited to cities in California and a handful of other states, including Colorado — which Microsoft evidently believes to be located in Wyoming.

A wise move, particularly with more Windows Phones headed to market. As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer conceded last week, Microsoft’s smartphone share has gone from “very small to very small.” An expanded retail presence in key markets could do something to change that.

Time's Ripe for Apple Execs to Enjoy the Fruits of Their Labor

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:15:50 +0000

With Apple’s shares trading near all-time highs, a few of the company’s top lieutenants are cashing in some of their equity for big paydays. Earlier this month, Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Macintosh Hardware Engineering, exercised 40,000 stock options with a strike price of $36.54, selling them at $308 apiece to clear $10.8 million.

Now Ron Johnson, Apple’s SVP of Retail Operations, has followed Mansfield’s lead. According to an SEC filing made public over the weekend, Johnson–the guy responsible for putting the Genius Bars in Apple retail stores–exercised 150,000 options at a strike price of $11.73, selling them at an average price of $306.07 per share to pocket $44.1 million.

Rich rewards and well-deserved. Remember, Mac sales accounted for $22 billion in revenue in Apple’s fiscal 2010. That’s 33 percent of the company’s revenue–enough to make its Mac business No. 110 on the Fortune 500 if it were a standalone operation. Mansfield and Johnson did much to make that possible.

iPad Sold Out at Many Apple Stores

John Paczkowski — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:15:39 +0000

Did Apple underestimate the iPad’s early popularity? It certainly seems that way. Amid reports that the device is now outselling the Mac, comes news that iPad supplies are increasingly constrained as Apple (AAPL) prepares for its international launch.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster checked in with 50 U.S. Apple retail stores and found the iPad sold out or in limited supply at many of them.

“74 percent of the stores we checked were completely sold out of all iPad models. 26 percent had some WiFi models in stock, and no stores had any 3G models available,” the analyst reports.

“We note that the stores have implemented a reservation system, by which customers can request to be placed on a waitlist for future iPad shipments, notified upon arrival, and given 24 hours to pick up the iPad,” Munster adds. “One Apple store representative indicated that the in-store reservation system typically takes 4-7 days.”

Given that, the fact that iPad orders made at Apple’s online store are now listed as shipping in “7-10 business days,” up from a previous range of “5-7 business days,” and the international iPad launch next week, Munster figures supply constraints will easily last through the June quarter, reaching equilibrium in late fall.

“[The iPad launch] far exceeded our expectations. We were shocked by U.S. demand,” Apple COO Tim Cook said during Apple’s last earnings call.

Evidently that continues to be the case.

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter Ahubbuch]

Munster: Apple Is Selling Every iPad It Can Build

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:56:30 +0000

With Apple no longer promising delivery of new Wi-Fi-only iPad orders on April 3 and its retail stores calling customers to confirm iPad pickup reservations, some analysts are beginning to think that demand for the device may be a bit stronger than their early predictions suggested.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said this morning that his initial estimates of 900,000 iPads sold in the June quarter and 2.7 million in calendar year 2010 “may prove to be conservative.”

Munster figures Apple (AAPL) is poised to sell between 200,000 and 300,000 iPads this weekend–in line with the 270,000 first-gen iPhones it sold at launch. And he thinks the chances are good that the company will sell out of the device.

“When Apple began taking pre-orders customers could pre-order for home delivery on April 3 or in-store pickup on April 3,” Munster writes. “A week before the launch (on March 27) the company pushed back the shipping date to April 12 and ended the in-store reservation program for the launch. And in preparation for the launch, on March 31 Apple retail stores began calling those with iPad pickup reservations to confirm the reservation.”

What does it all mean? Says Munster: “We believe these signs indicate that initial demand for iPads was stronger than the company expected, and/or minor supply issues have slightly constrained availability for the launch. We believe the supply constraints are minor because the new ship date is not a significant delay. Ultimately, both strong demand and somewhat constrained supply appear to be resulting in the fact that Apple is selling every iPad it can build.”

Munster’s bullish estimate follows two others issued earlier this week–one from Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who expects iPad sales to hit five million units in the first year, and another from Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Katy Huberty, who expects the company to sell over six million units.

[Image credit: Panelfly]

Apple Has Hired an M&A Specialist? What’s Adobe's Market Cap, Again?

John Paczkowski — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:14:12 +0000

“We have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn–we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

— Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Oct. 21, 2008

Apple made its first acquisition on March 2, 1988, with the purchase of Network Innovations. Since then, Apple has bought just 23 more companies (see table; click to enlarge), including Quattro Wireless, which it purchased for $275 million. Which isn’t all that many for a company with $23 billion in the bank (as a point of comparison, Google has acquired 11 companies in the last 18 months alone).

But that may soon change, because Cupertino finally has a dedicated acquisitions specialist, Adrian Perica. According to BusinessWeek, the former Goldman Sachs (GS) banker, who was brought in after Apple reportedly lost AdMob to Google (GOOG), is believed to have quarterbacked the company’s purchase of music site Lala in December and Quattro Wireless earlier this month.

Both were executed uncharacteristically quickly for Apple, which suggests that the company’s lackadaisical, ad hoc approach to M&A has been recast to make it, necessarily, more nimble. Said one Silicon Valley banker: “[Apple has] always gone slow on M&A, but that’s changing.”

Perhaps it’s a good time for that long-rumored merger with Adobe (ADBE). Then again, it’s probably never a good time for something like that.

Fitbit Sees How You Run, Walk and Sleep

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:28:38 +0000

Everyone knows they ought to be eating well, exercising and getting enough sleep. But when they take the elevator up one flight of stairs, drive six blocks instead of walking and skimp on sleep to watch the end of the big game, it’s their little secret.

Not for long.

[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve been testing Fitbit, a tiny $99 device with a motion-detecting sensor that, when worn, digitally records one’s distance (walking or running), calories burned and steps taken—as well as sleep patterns. The Fitbit wirelessly sends the data to its Web site, fitbit.com, for storing these minute-by-minute details. And the site has space where users add details like food and water consumption so it provides a more accurate picture of calories burned versus calories consumed.

I’ve been using Fitbit almost nonstop for the past week. I occasionally forgot to wear this lightweight tracking device because I was dog-sitting for a friend’s puppy and barely remembered to wear my shoes, much less Fitbit, as we dashed out the door for walks at 5:30 a.m. But after just a couple days of using Fitbit, I got hooked on the idea of keeping digital tabs on myself, and I liked looking back at my activity log over a period of time. I started taking the long way walking to and from my Washington, D.C., Metro stop. Rather than rolling my chair over to the printer to grab a printout, I stood up and walked the four feet over to it so I could log a few extra steps.

The idea of tracking one’s own fitness is nothing new, as anyone with an old pedometer will tell you. But Fitbit’s technology makes it easier to record and store data, and its corresponding Web site analyzes the data in relation to personal information like gender, age, weight and height. Unlike some other products, it attempts to track your body’s activity while you’re asleep and awake, rather than one or the other. For instance, the $29 Nike + iPod Sport Kit specifically monitors running or walking; the $399 Zeo Personal Sleep Coach records people’s brain waves to analyze sleep behavior.

The $99 Fitbit has a motiondetecting sensor and measures distance, calories, steps and sleep patterns.

But the Nike + iPod and Zeo offer Web components that Fitbit currently lacks. The Nike + iPod lets you upload your workout details to see how you stack up against others or to compete against friends. The Zeo, too, lets you upload your data to its Web site, where sleep patterns can be analyzed and daily coaching tips are offered.

Fitbit data is automatically transferred to Fitbit.com, but for now, this site isn’t particularly social and doesn’t offer as much in-depth personal analysis and coaching. The site doesn’t allow you to use your data to interact with a community of other users. The company says it plans to launch its online community by December, giving people a forum for anonymously comparing their data or working with a group toward a goal, like losing a certain amount of weight. And while the Fitbit.com site is free, the company is considering plans to charge a monthly fee for additional personal data analysis and coaching—a feature that may launch early next year.

At two inches high and a half-inch wide, Fitbit reminded me of the rectangular iPod Shuffle that clips onto clothing. It weighs just four-tenths of an ounce. The device also has a tiny holster for a firmer hold. I used this holster just to be on the safe side and the combination was still so small and weightless that I often forgot I was wearing Fitbit. While sleeping, I wore a Velcro wristband that held the device in place. Fitbit Inc. says the wrist is the best place to measure activity during sleep; let’s just hope you don’t dream about conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.

A button on the Fitbit shuffles through four blue screens that show calories, distance (in miles), steps, and a Tamagotchi-like flower that grows when your activity increases and shrinks when it decreases. This flower learns your behavior over time, so if you start working out heavily, it raises its standards and won’t grow as quickly.

Along with its holster and sleeping wristband, Fitbit comes with a base station—a small USB-connected stand for charging. The battery takes an hour to fully charge and lasts five to 10 days. Battery status can be checked through Fitbit.com.

First-time Fitbit setup isn’t as easy as it should be, though. Unlike some USB devices, this one doesn’t come with preloaded software, so you have to go to Fitbit.com/start to download software for the Mac or PC. This allows the plugged-in base station to act as a receiver: Whenever a Fitbit is within 15 feet of a base station plugged into a computer that’s turned on and has Fitbit software installed, its data is automatically sent to Fitbit.com in 15-minute intervals.

The device will hold seven days of minute-by-minute data and 30 days’ worth of daily data, so you don’t have to worry about losing everything if you aren’t near your base station for a while. Using the device is as simple as moving; it’s always on—there’s no on/off button. Setting the Fitbit to record sleep sessions is almost as easy: You press and hold its button for two seconds until “Start” appears; do the same until “Stop” appears when you wake in the morning.

The data that show up on Fitbit.com reflect the device’s 3-D motion-detecting sensor. Rather than simply counting your steps, Fitbit can accurately read your motion intensity and therefore sorts motion into sedentary, lightly active, fairly active and very active. Running with the dog registered as very active movement, as did my power-walking trips to the Metro. Predictably, my time spent writing this column registered as sedentary. I got up and did five minutes of jumping jacks, which were recognized on the Web site minutes later as very active movements. If you change data on Fitbit.com, like your weight, this transfers to the device so it’s calibrating as accurately as possible.

According to my sleep records, I wake up often while I sleep—11 different times in one night—but don’t remember doing so. I wanted to know more about these different sleep states, but Fitbit doesn’t analyze that sort of thing.

Fitbit.com bases its Web-site information on biomechanical studies performed by government agencies and universities over several years. It sets goals for each person according to his or her base metabolic rate, which is determined by gender, age, weight and height—all details that users can opt to enter, or not, during setup. On a typical workday, I met 80% of my calorie-burning goal and 71% of my miles-traveled goal. All of these goals can be adjusted from what Fitbit.com sets. An easy-to-read pie chart displayed my four levels of motion in color-coded percentages.

Extra activities and food consumption can be manually added, and though bookmarking tools make it easier to do this, I opted not to do this.

Fitbits began shipping at the end of September and will continue shipping to customers who pre-ordered the devices. In January, Fitbit Inc. will start delivering new orders and Fitbits will appear in retail stores.

–Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Operating Systems Offer New Choices in PC Shopping

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:02:04 +0000

Now that both Microsoft and Apple have finally shipped the new versions of their operating systems, Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, respectively, it’s time for my annual fall computer-buying guide.

This guide stresses laptops, which have become the prevalent choice, but most of its specs also apply to desktops. As always, it is aimed at average consumers doing typical tasks, such as Web surfing, email, social networking, word processing, photos, video and music. It doesn’t apply to businesses, hard-core gamers or serious media producers—groups that need specialized or heftier hardware.

[ See post to watch video ]

Consumers shopping for new computers this fall have a wide variety of choices with the new operating systems pre-installed, making the machines faster and better. Windows PCs are no longer burdened with the disliked Vista OS.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Windows hardware makers and retailers generally are trying to nudge you to spend more. They are anxious to guide consumers away from the popular, but low-profit, stripped-down netbooks to somewhat larger Windows 7 laptops from which they can make more money. This larger-size category goes by a variety of names, which can be confusing.

Windows vs. Mac: The arrival of Windows 7 makes PCs from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL) and others much better choices than their Vista-equipped predecessors were. Microsoft (MSFT) has closed most of the gap with Apple’s (AAPL) Mac OS X operating system. Also, Windows PCs are often priced hundreds of dollars lower than Macs, and offer many more choices.

But Apple’s hardware is stylish and sturdy, and, in my tests, Macs usually boot faster than Windows machines. Plus, Apple’s chain of retail stores offers a better buying experience and strong post-purchase support. Also, in my view, Apple’s built-in software still has the edge. Snow Leopard is fast and reliable. And it comes with a full suite of excellent built-in programs, including email, photo and video software. Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of such programs. Some PC makers have restored some or all of these in certain models, although I consider Apple’s counterparts better. Another huge plus: The Mac isn’t susceptible to the vast majority of viruses and spyware.

Cost: Prices on Windows PCs are creeping upward. You can buy a Windows PC for under $500, but many stores are pushing costlier models. And those $250 netbooks are much scarcer. Now, they typically run between $300 and $450. Apple has mostly stuck with its same, higher, prices, though it has boosted the specs on many models. The cheapest Mac desktop, the minimalist Mac mini, is $599. The cheapest Mac laptop, the new MacBook, is $999. The heart of Apple’s line starts at $1,199.

New category: Windows PC makers this season are pushing a category of laptop that is meant to fit between a netbook and a full-size laptop. It goes by a variety of confusing names, such as “ultrathin” or “thin and light,” though these models are often no thinner or lighter than some laptops of the past. They typically cost between $500 and $800, and often have 13-inch screens.

Memory: All Macs come with at least two gigabytes of memory, which is plenty for running Snow Leopard well. Mainstream Windows PCs have at least three gigabytes. But the cheapest Windows machines sometimes come with less. I recommend at least two gigabytes.

64-bit: PCs have long been based on something called a 32-bit architecture, but many models now use a 64-bit architecture, allowing properly written software to use more memory and run faster. If possible, buy a 64-bit computer, which is likely to dominate eventually, even though some software and add-on hardware may be incompatible at first.

Graphics: The new operating systems allow software makers to speed up some tasks by offloading them from the main processor onto the graphics chip. So, if possible, get a “discrete” graphics processor, which has its own memory. Otherwise, find a potent “integrated” graphics chip, which shares your main memory.

Processor: Mainstream Windows PCs sport fast, dual-core processors from Intel (INTC) or its rival, AMD (AMD). These pack the equivalent of two brains onto one chip. But many lower-price Windows PCs have slower processors, such as the Intel Atom, which are best suited for light duty. Apple models all use Intel’s dual-core processors, except for the highest-priced desktops, which come with quad-core chips.

Hard disks: A 250-gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs. On a netbook, look for at least a 160-gigabyte disk. Solid-state disks are faster and use less battery power, but often add hundreds of dollars to the price tag.

Touch: Windows 7 lets you control the computer by touching the screen with your fingers, and some PC makers add their own touch-screen features. But this only works fully with newer types of touch screens, adding cost. Make sure any touch-screen model you buy has a full multitouch screen that supports all Windows 7 gestures. Apple uses the laptop touch pad, or its new mouse, as the multitouch, finger-gesture mechanism, instead of the screen.

As always, don’t buy more machine than you need.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

UPS Offers Web-Print Service

Mike Esterl — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:11:22 +0000

After decades of wrestling for dominance in the U.S. shipping industry, United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) are squaring off on another front: the growing world of online printing.

UPS is rolling out marketing Monday to highlight a push into Web-based printing, in which clients can send documents such as business presentations to UPS retail stores via the Internet to have printed copies made. FedEx already offers online printing at its FedEx Office/Kinko’s locations.

The competing retail chains, acquired by the two shipping companies earlier this decade, serve small businesses and executives who frequently travel. In addition to shipping packages and documents, the more than 6,000 stores combined offer services such as packaging, photocopying, printing business cards and notarizing signatures.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

No Matter How Hard You Try, You Can't Get Apple to Say Anything Nice About a Netbook

Peter Kafka — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:32:04 +0000

This is now an Apple earnings-call tradition: Analysts try their hardest to convince Apple (AAPL) executives to express interest in the booming market for cheap netbooks and Apple executives make it perfectly clear how much disdain they have for netbooks.

If that’s the kind of thing that makes you happy, then you would love today’s call, in which the exact same thing happened again. Twice! From my transcription/paraphrase this afternoon:

Q: What about getting into the low priced/netbook category?

Apple COO Tim Cook: “Our goal is not to build the most computers, it’s to build the best. Whatever price point we can build the best in, we will play there. At this point, we don’t see a way to build a great product at that price point, $399, $499.” We think many customers buying those find themselves “disenchanted” after buying cheapo/netbooks.

Q: Do you think there is an emerging market for a “truly mobile device” with a larger screen, a market big enough that you may want to participate?

Cook: “Never want to discount anything in the future,” and never want to answer specifically your question about new products. [Duh.] But boy, do we think netbooks are lousy, and we think customers agree.

Two things here:

Apple has a history of disparaging products and markets right before they unveil their own. So it’s not unreasonable for analysts to keep asking about the prospects for a supercheap Mac laptop. But Apple really is emphatic about its distaste for these machines.
Apple is not ruling some sort of device that’s more expensive than a netbook and less expensive than a $999 MacBook…and may have a big touchscreen…and is bigger than an iPhone, etc. Something, perhaps, like an $800 iTablet. We’ll see.

EARLIER:

Joining call late; analysis of Q3 results here.

Reading from prepared statement:

Eight billion songs purchased and downloaded from iTunes store.
Slight uptick at Mac retail stores. 50 percent of Macs sold at stores to customers who didn’t own Macs before. 258 stores. 27 store remodels.
Gross-margin improvement: Component cost increase not as high as expected; weaker U.S. dollar helped.
Cash pile: Will be invested in short-term investments. First week of Q4, made $500 million payment to Toshiba for future supply of NAND flash memory.

Q&A:

Please talk about your relationship with wireless carriers (i.e., when will you dump AT&T (T) for Verizon (VZ). Tim Cook: “I think that most of the carriers we’re doing business with are thrilled with lower churn…and, of course, their customers are demanding the iPhone.” Do you see opportunity beyond the iPhone, like data plans for laptops with AT&T? “Nothing to be announced today.” How’s your relationship with AT&T? “I think it’s an excellent relationship and we’re very happy with it.”
Discussion of education and professional market for Mac laptops/PCs–both affected by economy more than consumer market, i.e., schools and corporations are less likely to spring for shiny new Macs than Joe Sixpack.
How is the $99 iPhone performing? As we made changes–launch of 3Gs and lower-priced iPhones–we saw acceleration of unit sales. But won’t break down mix. Supply of phones has been “constrained” and demand is robust. Opportunity for enterprise sale? Big opportunity. Doing well with small business, and with big corporations and agencies where employees can purchase for themselves.
Guidance details? No change in thinking regarding guidance offerings. We usually see an increase in Mac units from June to September, but we think the sequential increase will be less than in previous years since we’ve refreshed our lines a while back. Also, education sales are “under pressure from budget shortfalls.” Same thing with the iPod: We think we’ll see a decline for regular players but an increase for the iPod touch. Seasonality makes projections a little funky this time around given timing of product launches.
Channel inventory for iPhone lower is than we would like; there are 1.83 million phones in inventory.
Given the $999 MacBook and price cuts for the Mac line, is the MacBook more or less elastic than anticipated? As we expected, some people are now buying up, because they can get the Macbook Pro for $1,199, down from $1,899. “We’re not thinking fundamentally different about the Mac business than we were before.” If we can build great Macs at lower prices, we will, but we won’t put the Mac brand on products that aren’t up to our standards.
Update on Snow Leopard? Why such a low price point? Snow Leopard is priced aggressively so that all our users can upgrade to it, and we expect that they will. What commodity prices are you worried about, what should we think of the Toshiba prebuy? Are others coming? The market for DRAM and large-size LCDs has “shifted to constrained environment” and prices have moved accordingly. The NAND supply is getting better. We have a long-term supply agreement with Toshiba. We view flash as key component because we use it in so many products, and we’re a big consumer on a worldwide basis. We’re always open to similar deals. We’ve done one with LG on LCDs. We may do others, but we’re not working on one now.
Please talk more about consumer demand for lower-priced laptops. No details forthcoming. But on macro level: Once price changes, people are upsold from $999 unit to $1,199 unit. [We just heard that.] Prior to change, we had seen people leaning toward the $999 product. What about pricing on iPhone side? Sounds like $99 3G iPhone helped drive traffic to the $199 3GS iPhone. Was that the plan? We’re focused on total iPhone units. So we’re psyched about 5.2M iPhones sold. Also, take note that the 3GS is in short supply and not available in all territories. Also, early in cycle, you have more upgraders, and upgraders are more likely to get higher priced phones. Still, too early to tell about product mix.
Competitors are now finally coming out with rival app stores–Pre (barely), BlackBerry, etc.). What are you up to in answering back? Well, we just launched OS 3.0. That’s pretty great. It has an Installed base of 45 million (iPhones and iPod touch). We have a gazillion apps. According to the latest numbers from Nokia (NOK) and RIM (RIMM), they have a couple thousand each; Android has maybe 5,000. “We feel extremely good about our competitive position and continue to believe that we’re light years ahead of other people.”
What about getting into the low-priced/netbook category? Tim Cook: “Our goal is not to build the most computers, it’s to build the best. Whatever price point we can build the best in, we will play there. At this point, we don’t see a way to build a great product at that price point, $399, $499.” We think many customers buying those find themselves “disenchanted” after buying cheapo/netbooks.
Is the carrier network strong enough to handle all the apps and the more robust apps you’re coming out with every day? Non-answer. Do you think you guys will make investments on the side to take pressure of carrier-capacity issues? No plans. When we entered business, we looked at it, decided what we could do well was deliver the handset. I think there are other people that have more skills in the network area, and I think we have a lot of those partners.
Back to netbooks and things like netbooks, but better, like the iTablet: Do you think there is an emerging market for a “truly mobile device” with a larger screen, a market big enough that you may want to participate? Cook: “Never want to discount anything in the future,” and never want to answer specifically your question about new products. [Duh.] But, boy, do we think netbooks are lousy and we think customers agree.
Any info on iPhone sales split between new buyers and upgrades? Nope. Okay, how about the app store? It looks like prices are in a “race to the bottom”; there are lots of 99 cent apps. Are you worried about that? And can you help customers distinguish between good ones and “garbage”? Cook: “We realize there’s further opportunity for improvement” regarding promoting quality apps, etc. Regarding price: It’s up to the developers. As the installed base grows, it makes more sense to have lower prices, but that’s up to the developers.

Call finished.

Do You Have a Reservation at the Virus Bar or Are You Here for the All-Day Workshop on Printer Drivers?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:08:34 +0000

Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) have long competed for market space. And soon they’ll be competing for retail space as well.

In remarks at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference today, COO Kevin Turner said Microsoft has settled on a location for the retail stores it announced earlier this year: Within spitting distance of Apple stores. “We will have some retail stores that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall,” he said.

There goes the neighborhood, right? Anyway…

So Microsoft is going to play McDonald’s (MCD) to Apple’s Burger King (BKC). Makes sense. Apple’s retail locations are very well chosen. Microsoft, if it’s going to go this route, would be wise to have stores there as well. As economic theorists Charles ReVelle and Harold Hotelling once observed, “The best position for a new vendor is back-to-back with the well-positioned first vendor, allowing an even split of the market. Any other position of the new vendor would have given that new entrant a smaller market share.”

And one could argue that Redmond might benefit from a retail presence that brings all its wares together in a single “shopping experience”–Windows, Xbox, Zune. All that partner hardware. Surface. Put a Project Natal booth at the back of the store to draw foot traffic and who knows what might happen?

iPhone 3GS Launch AT&T's "Best-Ever Sales Day" [Internal Memo]

John Paczkowski — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:36:09 +0000

It took Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) 74 days to sell the first million iPhones back in 2007. This year it took just three. No wonder AT&T is crowing about first-day sales. In an all-hands memo to employees this week, the carrier, which sold “hundreds of thousands” of iPhones during its pre-order process, said first-day sales of the 3GS were off the charts. The memo, below.

iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:

Best-ever sales day in our retail stores

Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores

Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day

Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day

Largest order day in att.com history

Largest features sales day in att.com history

On this year’s launch day, iPhone sales exceeded sales recorded on 2008′s iPhone launch day, Black Friday 2008 and Dec. 26, 2008–all heavy-volume sales days. In fact, this year we surpassed 2008′s launch day sales at about noon Central time, and sustained our previous peak hour record, also set in 2008, for 11 straight hours.

[Image credit: Gizmodo]

iPhone 3GS Launch AT&T's "Best-Ever Sales Day" [Internal Memo]

John Paczkowski — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:36:09 +0000

iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:

Best-ever sales day in our retail stores

Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores

Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day

Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day

Largest order day in att.com history

Largest features sales day in att.com history

On this year’s launch day, iPhone sales exceeded sales recorded on 2008′s iPhone launch day, Black Friday 2008 and Dec. 26, 2008–all heavy-volume sales days. In fact, this year we surpassed 2008′s launch day sales at about noon Central time, and sustained our previous peak hour record, also set in 2008, for 11 straight hours.

[Image credit: Gizmodo]

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson: "Wireless Is the Priority of This Business"

John Paczkowski — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:17:09 +0000

Randall Stephenson is just two years into his tenure as CEO of AT&T (T) but he faces challenges that have been decades in the making. Among them: remaking AT&T amid the steady decline of its landline business, future-proofing its business as our appetites for bandwidth grow, competing with the likes of Comcast (CMCSA) in the cable TV market and fending off the proponents of Net neutrality, who don’t care much for the idea of a two-tiered Internet.

Beyond this there is the issue of continuing to build out AT&T’s wireless business, which–if not iPhone-dependent–is certainly nursing a hell of a habit. In its fourth-quarter AT&T added 2.1 million wireless subscribers. 1.9 million of them were iPhone accounts. Astonishing. But AT&T’s exclusive deal to peddle the Apple iPhone in the U.S. expires next year. The company is obviously eager for an extension. But what is it willing to do to get it?

Incidentally, we had a fairly big announcement from AT&T this morning. The company said it is upgrading to High Speed Packet Access 7.2 technology. That means considerably faster mobile broadband speeds. The upgrade is slated to begin later this year, with completion expected in 2011.

Session Highlights

[ See post to watch video ]

Live Blog

After some brief introductory remarks from Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson, who jokes about implementing an 18-second delay for expletive-fond Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, and a welcome song from Jill Sobule, Walt welcomes Randall Stephenson to the stage and the second day of D7 begins.
For a first question, Walt, referring to poll data, asks Stephenson why some folks might not be interested in buying an Apple iPhone because of AT&T. Stephenson notes that AT&T is improving network quality and reducing churn.
Walt says he gets frequent reader mail complaining about AT&T service coverage. Stephenson says the company is way down the road in terms of the level of data traffic on the networks. Behavior changes radically. He says AT&T is a year ahead of other carriers in terms of network management, managing the volume and behavioral changes from adoption of new devices.
Walt: Let’s talk for a moment about the iPhone. It’s a data-intensive device. You weren’t ready when you first launched the iPhone 3G. What happened? Stephenson says the company wasn’t quite ready. “But we’re improving.”
Walt asks the audience how many people use AT&T. Many hands raised. How many had it before the iPhone? A fair bit. How many are satisfied with the service? Also a fair bit. Clearly, AT&T’s service must be getting better.
The level of data volumes we are seeing on our networks is changing customer behavior dramatically, says Stephenson. This is challenging, but the company is addressing it.

Walt: If we project out farther past the iPhone, are the mobile networks we have going to be able to handle these new data-intensive devices? Stephenson: The answer is clearly no. That’s why we’re buying more spectrum and moving toward LTE. What’s so good about LTE? Speed levels of 20 megs plus, for one, says Stephenson, who admits that real-world performance will be somewhat less than that.
Stephenson says AT&T is more than doubling the theoretical speed of the network. Does this mean the speed of our handsets will also double, asks Walt. Not on current handsets. But on future ones, which will all be backward-compatible.
When you upgrade the network to 7.2 will it have any negative impact on the network as data demands grow, asks Walt. Stephenson says no. “It’s all network management….We’ll have a whole new capacity.”
Walt: In a world where both you and Verizon (VZ) go to LTE, will I be able to take my handset and switch to Verizon’s network? Stephenson says the LTE standard is consistent and should permit that.
The conversation shifts to Wi-Fi. Walt asks about AT&T’s Wayport efforts. “When we look at the world today and the world of the future, the fixed-line bandwidth requirements are not slowing. Then you move to the wireless broadband world, where bandwidth requirements are not slowing either. You need a bridge between the two.” That bridge is WiFi, adds Stephenson, noting that the company sees extraordinary WiFi usage among it smartphone users.
Stephenson talks for a moment about automatic authentication and says AT&T is working to implement it. “The current system is kludgey. People want it seamless.”
Walt asks about the company’s broadband business. Stephenson says it’s doing well. Notes that it is doing nearly as well as Verizon’s FIOS business.

Walt asks how the economy is affecting AT&T’s various businesses and the advance of the company’s capital spending plans. Stephenson says the board business has obviously been affected. Business is slowing especially in enterprise and the consumer phone business. Interestingly enough, people are more apt to disconnect the home phones than they are broadband. So AT&T continues to aggressively invest in mobile apps and in wireless infrastructure. He notes that the company is really pushing hard to build out its U-verse network. “I’ve been through a few of these recessions in my 20 years in this business, and it will turn. So you must continue to invest and prepare for the day when it does.”
What about competitors? What are they doing? In wireless, says Stephenson, competitors also investing. A lot of capital is coming into the wireless business. In broadband, cable guys have not slowed down. Telecom structurally in a good place. Regulatory structure continues to bring in capital.
Back to the issue of the iPhone. Was it worth it to sign the deal with Apple (AAPL)? How has it worked out? “It’s worked out terrific. We have no complaints.” He notes that the company incurred dilution, but has benefited by getting the premier customer in the space–one with high data usage and low churn. “I’m very pleased with the deal.”
Walt asks if the company has suffered from the iPhone’s fixed data charges. It’s not a variable charge. How does that offset the dilution that AT&T has to pay? We made a bet, says Stephenson, that the industry was heading toward smartphones, and that was a good bet. Now we’re seeing dramatic uptakes in usage, so the pricing model must change. And it will change. The market will dictate that change more than anything else. But right now the economics of the iPhone are very good for us.
Walt: Have you ever called Steve Jobs and just asked him to put a keyboard on the iPhone? Stephenson chuckles. No. “If Steve wants to put a keyboard on the iPhone, I’m sure he will.”
Walt: Are all these new operating systems arriving at market problematic for AT&T? The iPhone, Palm’s (PALM) WebOS, Android? Would it be easier if there were fewer platforms? Stephenson: Do I want to see fewer platforms? Yes, it’s better for my business. Will I see fewer platforms? I don’t think so. So we need to take advantage of it and use it as an opportunity.

What about the Palm Pre? “Would I like to see the Pre on our network some day? Of course I would,” says Stephenson. “We obviously talk to all the handset manufacturers. We want a broad selection of devices in the lineup. That’s important. Devices right now are what’s driving the customer adoption as much as anything.”
Stephenson says he’s seeing dramatic uptakes in data usage. Pricing models will change over time, he says. How it changes will depend who you are. He notes that costs are variable in wireless–every new bit has a direct cost tied to it, unlike wireline business. AT&T margins are 40 percent-plus in Q1 on wireless business.
Walt: Can you foresee a day when you’re not running retail stores? Why do you want to run stores when you’re really a network company? Stephenson says distribution is changing. But a retail presence is always going to very important, and I always want to have a part of that.
Moving on to the Q&A: How do you transform wireline customers into wireless and broadband customers? Integration is very important, says Stephenson. If you already have AT&T Wireless, it’s a natural step to add broadband and even wireline if it’s offered as a bundle.
Why can’t we have data roaming on LTE from the beginning and avoid the mistakes of the 3G networks? Stephenson says the LTE network will have similar roaming agreements as those on the current networks. “It’s in all our best interests.” The industry always evolves to a point where broader coverage is needed and these agreements become necessary. You’ll see that with LTE as well.
Question about SlingBox on 3G network being rejected: Who decided that? Stephenson says that terms of service agreement for the customer do not allow customers to move live stream video over the wireless platform. Not like the fixed line side. If you start congesting network with data, voice quality goes down. We have to maintain some quality, so it’s not allowed under terms of service.
Responding to a question on warrantlessly providing data about customers to the government, Stephenson says AT&T will act within the law in all regards to customer information and privacy. “We will comply with the law, absolutely,” he says.

A note about our coverage: This liveblog is not an official transcript of the conversation that occurred onstage. Rather, it is a compilation of quotes, paraphrased statements and ad-lib observations written and posted to the Web as quickly as we were able. It was not intended as a transcript and should not be interpreted as one.