Apple rolled out a new iPhone today. Sort of.

Except it did not have a bigger, flatter screen. It did not have a sleeker, thinner body. It would not need all new polypropylene sleeves and other fancy accessories.

In other words, it was not an iPhone 5.

Oops, after all the breathless stories about this ideal and groundbreaking new device and predictions — including here — that this was the name of whatever Apple was releasing.

In fact, everyone was using that moniker for it, from local television news to vendors to my mother.

Instead, the tech giant launched the new iPhone 4S, which has a faster processor, an improved camera and Siri voice control feature, at a cheaper price.

Very slick, as usual, and full of cool Apple bells and whistles.

Still. Prolonged sighs could be felt all over the blogosphere and on Twitter, where Steve Brown tweeted me: “Can I be bummed now?!?”

You may.

Better still, Davin Bentti wrote: “The ‘S’ stands for ‘Steve, come back!’”

He was referring to the missing Apple icon Steve Jobs, who recently turned over leadership at the company to new CEO Tim Cook. Jobs’s Apple event performances are legendary.

Wall Street also had its iPhone 5 bubble burst, with investors shunning Apple stock. Shares are down almost five percent now.

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According to DisplaySearch, Apple shipped 10.2 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2010–iPads, MacBooks and MacBook Pros–to claim a 17.2 percent share of the mobile PC market. That makes it the new global leader, a title it wrests from Hewlett-Packard, which shipped 9.3 million units during the same period for a 15.6 share and a second-place ranking. Acer ranked third, with 14 percent of the market and 8.4 million units shipped. Dell ranked fourth, with 5.9 million units shipped and a 9.9 percent market share.

An interesting rebalancing of market power and one that DisplaySearch believes is the result not just of first-mover advantage from the iPad, but notebook shipment growth that exceeds the industry average. Said Richard Shim, senior analyst at DisplaySearch, “Apple is currently benefiting from significant and comprehensive growth from both sectors of the mobile PC spectrum, notebooks and tablet PCs.”

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter Ahubbuch]

“Apple’s share of the PC market has been below 5 percent for most of the past 15 years, and even with the much-hyped “iPod halo effect,” this level hasn’t changed in recent years,” Shope writes. “With the iPad, however, Apple is now offering a unique computing device that is priced for the mass market. In fact, our Apple forecast assumes that the iPad segment will surpass Apple’s Mac business in revenues and profits by the end of fiscal 2011–the first full year of iPad shipments….If we include tablets in our PC unit forecast, then our estimates suggest Apple’s combined iPad and Mac market share would reach 12 percent in 2011. Based on the current market share breakdown in the PC market, this could presumably make Apple one of the largest vendors in the combined PC and tablet market.”

As Shope concludes, that would represent a profound change in the PC industry’s competitive landscape. Apple’s share of the total PC market currently stands at around 4.4 percent, and that’s the highest it’s been since early 1996. For it to spike to 12 percent in 2011 on the strength of the iPad suggests that the traditional PC vendors need to redouble their tablet efforts to maintain market share.

Oh, one last thing. Shopes’s target on AAPL? $430

Of course he used the opportunity to engage in his favorite new hobby: Taunting rival Hewlett-Packard.

The announcement was straightforward. Oracle’s forthcoming SPARC T3-4 Supercluster has achieved a performance record of more than 30 million transactions per minute, as verified by the Transaction Processing Performance Council, an industry benchmarking organization. This bested the previous record holder, a model of IBM’s Power 780 Server, which delivered more than 10 million transactions per minute.

Farther down on the TPC’s list, in fifth position, is HP’s Integrity Superdome, clocking a performance of a little more than 4 million transactions per minute. Oracle is using the results in ads that portray Oracle as a cheetah, IBM as a respectable stallion and HP as a poky turtle. (Full disclosure: This ad ran in today’s print edition of The Wall Street Journal, which like this Web site is owned by News Corp.)

At this point in his remarks, Ellison beat the war drums against HP rather loudly: “We think the HP machines are vulnerable. We think they’re expensive. We think they’re vulnerable in the marketplace. We’re going to go after them. We’re going to go after them in the marketplace with better software, better hardware, and better people.”

I’ve asked HP for a response, and will update if I get one. [Update: And here it is, courtesy of company spokesman Michael Thacker: "HP is the number one provider of enterprise servers in the marketplace. We are focused on our customers, and the combination of our technology leadership, product performance, and pricing continues to meet the needs of those customers. The numbers prove it--we experienced 25 percent revenue growth year over year during our last quarter, and we are the only major UNIX vendor that reported server growth."]

[Another update: An HP spokesperson just sent the following additional statement: "Larry Ellison bought a money-losing business that had steady market share declines for years, and which still ranks at the bottom of the market. Customers aren’t fooled by outdated benchmarks, no matter what Oracle says. HP’s market share results prove it. Sun customers are running to HP in droves because they recognize we deliver superior technology, performance and pricing."]

One thing HP and IBM have going for them is that the Oracle system in question won’t be on the market until next June.

This one, which Editor Terry McDonell showed off at Google’s I/O developer conference today, looks a whole lot like the one the publisher says it is bringing to Apple’s gadget soon. The real difference here is the way readers/buyers get their hands on the thing: Rather than buying it from Apple’s App Store and downloading it to your iPad, you would access it via your Web browser, after purchasing it from an app store Google manages.

For most users, this may not matter very much. Regardless of which store you buy it from, the magazine should function the same way. (Don’t get hung up on the fact that it’s a Web-based app.)

But for publishers like Time Inc., the Time Warner (TWX) unit that puts out Sports Illustrated and titles like Time and People, it’s potentially a big deal: It opens up a much wider audience for the company’s publications, since they should work on any device that supports Google’s Chrome browser. Just as important, it gives Time Inc. another vendor to work with, one that might be willing to grant it concessions Apple (AAPL) won’t–like control over subscriber information, perhaps.

But all of this is a little speculative, as neither Time Inc. nor Google (GOOG) has released concrete details about the app store or the magazine. But the hope is that both will be ready in the fall.

Meantime, here’s McDonell’s presentation. He’s introduced at the event by Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management.

And here’s cleaner version of a similar demo, which McDonell taped in advance:

This doesn’t look remarkably different from the tabletized magazine demos Time Inc. and Sports Illustrated have shown off before. That is, SI (and mag publishers in general) are still primarily concerned with porting their printed product to digital form, adding some audio and video, as well as selected links to the Web. This makes sense given that both demos were produced with the Wonder Factory design shop.

See for yourself: Compare and contrast today’s demo with the one SI showed off last fall:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100519/video-sports-illustrated-shows-off-a-google-ready-magazine/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091223/philip-pud-kaplan-talks-about-blippy-the-twitter-of/ http://allthingsd.com/20091223/philip-pud-kaplan-talks-about-blippy-the-twitter-of/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:59:37 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=22323

To start, let’s just dispense with huffing and puffing angst over whether or not people should broadcast their credit card transactions online.

Because that’s what you can do on a new site, with the unlikely name of Blippy, headed by longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Philip “Pud” Kaplan.

Blippy has already gotten a lot of oh-dear attention for its premise, which is yet another step in the continuing socialization of everything a person does–the inevitable trend toward radical transparency online.

Now in invitation-only private beta, the new service sends out messages about the type and amount of the transaction, every time you use your credit card–at least the one you designate your “Blippy” card–for others to see and comment on.

In other words, a kind of Twitter for spending.

The twist of Blippy–whose motto is: “What are your friends buying?”–is that it is more passive than the more active tweeting or texting.

(Presumably someday, your body will tweet from the gym, or while you are sleeping.)

While most of the transactions don’t contain a lot of information–for example, “cat spent $3.55 at In-N-Out Burger”–Blippy is obviously going for deeper information and already has it for sites like Apple (AAPL) iTunes and Amazon (AMZN).

Retailers and restaurants and any vendor might also benefit from the flow of information, finally knowing who their best customers really are and perhaps rewarding them.

And, of course, the key part is that your friends see what you are buying and you can all jabber online about what you bought, how much you paid and what you thought.

How it is all going to make money is being pondered, of course, but you might imagine a dedicated Blippy credit card or some kind of analysis of the data or sale offers to users.

And integration with Facebook and Twitter seems inevitable, eventually widening the circle of nosy friends, as does the emergence of reviews, mobile apps, search and more.

Kaplan came to All Things Digital Worldwide HQ–also known as the cottage behind my house–to chat about all this and more.

He is, of course, best known for a site he created during the Web 1.0 bubble, called FuckedCompany, which chronicled the ongoing start-up implosion as it happened.

Kaplan later started online advertising service AdBrite and was an Entreprenuer-in-Residence at Charles River Ventures for a short time after he left AdBrite.

It was there that he met Blippy co-founders Ashvin Kumar and Chris Estreich. Funding for the trio is forthcoming, said Kaplan.

Here’s Kaplan holding forth in a longish video interview, where we curse and discuss my porn-and-Cheetos spending habits (don’t judge!):

And, in the spirit of full transparency, here is Kaplan in two videos on YouTube–in one he is sweetly singing “Easy” with his wife and in the other, he is drumming like a heavy metal lunatic:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091223/philip-pud-kaplan-talks-about-blippy-the-twitter-of/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20091217/plurk-milking-this-microsoft-thing-for-all-it%e2%80%99s-worth/ http://allthingsd.com/20091217/plurk-milking-this-microsoft-thing-for-all-it%e2%80%99s-worth/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:58:24 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=30985 As earnest as it might have been, Microsoft’s apology to Plurk, the microblogging service whose code and design it copied, has not eased the start-up’s outrage over the incident or its desire to squeeze all the PR it can out of it.

Though Microsoft (MSFT) has taken responsibility for the offense–perpetrated by a third-party vendor with which it contracted–it has not offered accountability, says Plurk. And that makes the microblogging outfit inclined to pursue legal action, or threaten it, anyway.

“We are currently looking at all possibilities on how to move forward in response to Microsoft’s recent apology statement,” Plurk co-founder Alvin Woon wrote in a post to the company’s Web site. “We are still thinking of pursuing the full extent of our legal options available due [to] the seriousness of the situation….”

Elaborating, Woon added, “This event wasn’t just a simple matter of merely lifting code; Due to the nature of the uniqueness of our product and user interface, it took a good amount of deliberate studying and digging through our code with the full intention of replicating our product user experience, functionality and end results. This product was later launched and heavily promoted by Microsoft with its big marketing budget.”

It would seem, then, that Plurk is angling for some sort of financial settlement. And given the situation, it may get one–though perhaps it would be better off seeking it not from Microsoft, but the vendor that actually pilfered Plurk’s code. Not as good a PR angle there, though, I suppose.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091217/plurk-milking-this-microsoft-thing-for-all-it%e2%80%99s-worth/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091215/microsoft-pulls-plug-on-plurk-pilferer/ http://allthingsd.com/20091215/microsoft-pulls-plug-on-plurk-pilferer/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:37:06 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=30820

“Here’s what we know at this point. Our MSN China joint venture contracted with an independent vendor to create a feature called MSN Juku that allowed MSN users to find friends via microblogging and online games. This MSN Juku feature was made available to MSN China users in November and is still in beta.

Because questions have been raised about the code base comprising the service, MSN China will be suspending access to the Juku beta feature temporarily while we investigate the matter fully.”

– Microsoft’s statement on the Plurk-Juku debacle

If Microsoft didn’t know what a Plurk was before, it knows now.

The software giant has suspended MSN Juku, its Chinese microblog site, following accusations that it copied the design and code of Plurk, a Twitter rival popular in Taiwan and Indonesia.

In a blog post earlier this week, Plurk alleged that Juku bore an uncanny resemblance to its service, right down to the code base and data structures.

“From the filter tabs, emoticons, qualifier/verb placement, Karma scoring system, media support, new user walkthroughs to pretty much everything else that gives Plurk its trademark appeal, Microsoft China’s offering ripped off our service,” the company claimed in a blistering blog post.

“We’re still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of wilfully plagiarising a young and innovative upstart’s work rather than reach out to us or innovate on their own terms,” the post continued. “Of course, it just hits that much closer to home when all your years of hard work and effort to create something unique are stolen so brazenly. All the more ironic considering Microsoft has often been leading the charge on fighting for stronger IP laws and combating software piracy in China.”

Indeed. If this is a theft, it’s a serious and embarrassing infraction for Microsoft (MSFT)–even if, as the company claims, Juku’s code was provided by a third-party vendor hired by its MSN China joint venture. Microsoft should have vetted the vendor more thoroughly, particularly since the software giant just suffered a similar embarrassment with its Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which borrowed a bit too heavily from the GPLv2-licensed ImageMaster project.

UPDATE: Microsoft has determined that the company that developed MSN Juku did indeed copy Plurk’s code. “The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied,” Microsoft said in a statement. “This was in clear violation of the vendor’s contract with the MSN China joint venture, and equally inconsistent with Microsoft’s policies respecting intellectual property.”

Microsoft said it is now suspending access to Juku “indefinitely. We are obviously very disappointed, but we assume responsibility for this situation. We apologize to Plurk and we will be reaching out to them directly to explain what happened and the steps we have taken to resolve the situation.”

Here’s Microsoft’s full statement about the incident:

On Monday, December 14, questions arose over a beta application called Juku developed by a Chinese vendor for our MSN China joint venture. We immediately worked with our MSN China joint venture to investigate the situation.

The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied. This was in clear violation of the vendor’s contract with the MSN China joint venture, and equally inconsistent with Microsoft’s policies respecting intellectual property.

When we hire an outside company to do development work, our practice is to include strong language in our contract that clearly states the company must provide work that does not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. We are a company that respects intellectual property and it was never our intent to have a site that was not respectful of the work that others in the industry have done.

We will be suspending access to the Juku beta indefinitely.
We are obviously very disappointed, but we assume responsibility for this situation. We apologize to Plurk and we will be reaching out to them directly to explain what happened and the steps we have taken to resolve the situation.

In the wake of this incident, Microsoft and our MSN China joint venture will be taking a look at our practices around applications code provided by third-party vendors.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091215/microsoft-pulls-plug-on-plurk-pilferer/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091027/microsoft-bails-on-%e2%80%9cfamily-guy%e2%80%9d-special/ http://allthingsd.com/20091027/microsoft-bails-on-%e2%80%9cfamily-guy%e2%80%9d-special/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:12 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=27594

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091027/microsoft-bails-on-%e2%80%9cfamily-guy%e2%80%9d-special/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm/ http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:43:53 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=26233 It has been nearly eight years since the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to dissolve its 1956 consent decree with IBM, lifting restrictions that had prevented the company from becoming a monopoly in the market for punch card tabulating and later, electronic data processing machines.

But perhaps those restrictions were better left in place. Because on Thursday, the DOJ opened a preliminary investigation into IBM’s business practices, seeking to determine if the company has abused its monopoly position in the mainframe market. The inquiry stems from a complaint filed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association that claims IBM (IBM) has undermined sales of competing mainframe hardware products by refusing to license its mainframe operating system and certain other intellectual property.

“IBM has used its power to resurrect and create a formidable set of barriers in the mainframe market by their misuse of intellectual property,” CCIA CEO Edward J. Black, told the New York Times. “Once IBM walls are taken down by the government enforcing the law, there will be a rush of people looking to get part of this marketplace.”

Perhaps. Certainly that’s not really the case now. As the CCIA and T3 Technologies–which filed an antitrust complaint against IBM in Europe earlier this year for similar reasons–would argue, IBM has essentially left the industry with a single mainframe vendor: itself. And if that sounds like an exaggeration, consider this: A few years back, a company called Platform Solutions attempted to license IBM’s mainframe software. IBM refused and then sued Platform, accusing it of a raft of IP-related violations. Platform countersued. And then, in 2008, IBM acquired the company and promptly shut down its operations.

“For decades, IBM licensed its system software and intellectual property to other computer manufacturers,” T3 president Steven Friedman said earlier this year. “However, for no reason other than to remove all competition from the mainframe market, IBM eliminated programs to allow customers to buy its mainframe software for use on non-IBM mainframe solutions….[Now] only IBM…offers IBM- compatible mainframes and, based on IDC reports, controls over 99% of all existing IBM-compatible mainframes in use today.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm-2/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:43:53 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=26233 It has been nearly eight years since the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to dissolve its 1956 consent decree with IBM, lifting restrictions that had prevented the company from becoming a monopoly in the market for punch card tabulating and later, electronic data processing machines.

But perhaps those restrictions were better left in place. Because on Thursday, the DOJ opened a preliminary investigation into IBM’s business practices, seeking to determine if the company has abused its monopoly position in the mainframe market. The inquiry stems from a complaint filed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association that claims IBM (IBM) has undermined sales of competing mainframe hardware products by refusing to license its mainframe operating system and certain other intellectual property.

“IBM has used its power to resurrect and create a formidable set of barriers in the mainframe market by their misuse of intellectual property,” CCIA CEO Edward J. Black, told the New York Times. “Once IBM walls are taken down by the government enforcing the law, there will be a rush of people looking to get part of this marketplace.”

Perhaps. Certainly that’s not really the case now. As the CCIA and T3 Technologies–which filed an antitrust complaint against IBM in Europe earlier this year for similar reasons–would argue, IBM has essentially left the industry with a single mainframe vendor: itself. And if that sounds like an exaggeration, consider this: A few years back, a company called Platform Solutions attempted to license IBM’s mainframe software. IBM refused and then sued Platform, accusing it of a raft of IP-related violations. Platform countersued. And then, in 2008, IBM acquired the company and promptly shut down its operations.

“For decades, IBM licensed its system software and intellectual property to other computer manufacturers,” T3 president Steven Friedman said earlier this year. “However, for no reason other than to remove all competition from the mainframe market, IBM eliminated programs to allow customers to buy its mainframe software for use on non-IBM mainframe solutions….[Now] only IBM…offers IBM- compatible mainframes and, based on IDC reports, controls over 99% of all existing IBM-compatible mainframes in use today.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091008/doj-ibm-2/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue/ http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:02:44 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=23940 As of this week, pretty much anyone can tell you–“Skank” blogging just doesn’t pay. Unless your $15 million privacy lawsuit against Google ends up going your way, that is. Rosemary Port, the person who used Blogger to anonymously insult former model Liskula Cohen, was unmasked last week after months of speculation, and promptly sued Google (GOOG) for turning over her information. Hilarity ensued, complete with dueling morning TV appearances. More details on MediaMemo, though Peter doesn’t usually follow that kind of stuff. Looks like Amazon’s Kindle has a couple of new competitors. Sony’s (SNE) “Reader Daily Edition” and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS) and Irex’s as-yet-unnamed Kindle-like device will join the as-yet-unnamed Kindle-like device from Barnes & Noble and Plastic Logic on the playing field. Apple (AAPL) approved at least one app this week–the one for Spotify, which is rumored to be “the best streaming music service in the world.” But as MediaMemo points out, it’s worthless without any deals with big music companies.

The Open Book Alliance formally launched the manifesto this past week with which it’s challenging Google’s settlement with authors and publishers. The organization now has a Web site and quite an array of allies–which include, of course, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and Amazon (AMZN). And as if Google doesn’t have enough on its plate, turns out that all along, Microsoft has been holding regular “Screw Google” meetings, the bastards. Uh, I thought that’s what people pay good money to learn in Business School. On a happier note, Howard Stern fans everywhere were happy to learn that Sirius XM (SIRI) has debuted a device that can turn an iPhone or iPod touch into a full-fledged satellite radio.

Over in Personal Technology, Walt reviewed Snow Leopard and found it to be an improvement on its predecessor, but with a lot of the upgrades under the hood invisible to most users. Not the typical object of desire we’re trained to expect out of Apple. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answers reader email about choosing a vendor to buy a computer online and setting parental controls in Firefox. In The Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret explores the trials and tribulations of BlackBerry and iPhone users switching one for the other.

More next week.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue-2/ http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue-2/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:02:44 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=23940 As of this week, pretty much anyone can tell you–“Skank” blogging just doesn’t pay. Unless your $15 million privacy lawsuit against Google ends up going your way, that is. Rosemary Port, the person who used Blogger to anonymously insult former model Liskula Cohen, was unmasked last week after months of speculation, and promptly sued Google (GOOG) for turning over her information. Hilarity ensued, complete with dueling morning TV appearances. More details on MediaMemo, though Peter doesn’t usually follow that kind of stuff. Looks like Amazon’s Kindle has a couple of new competitors. Sony’s (SNE) “Reader Daily Edition” and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS) and Irex’s as-yet-unnamed Kindle-like device will join the as-yet-unnamed Kindle-like device from Barnes & Noble and Plastic Logic on the playing field. Apple (AAPL) approved at least one app this week–the one for Spotify, which is rumored to be “the best streaming music service in the world.” But as MediaMemo points out, it’s worthless without any deals with big music companies.

The Open Book Alliance formally launched the manifesto this past week with which it’s challenging Google’s settlement with authors and publishers. The organization now has a Web site and quite an array of allies–which include, of course, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and Amazon (AMZN). And as if Google doesn’t have enough on its plate, turns out that all along, Microsoft has been holding regular “Screw Google” meetings, the bastards. Uh, I thought that’s what people pay good money to learn in Business School. On a happier note, Howard Stern fans everywhere were happy to learn that Sirius XM (SIRI) has debuted a device that can turn an iPhone or iPod touch into a full-fledged satellite radio.

Over in Personal Technology, Walt reviewed Snow Leopard and found it to be an improvement on its predecessor, but with a lot of the upgrades under the hood invisible to most users. Not the typical object of desire we’re trained to expect out of Apple. In Mossberg’s Mailbox, Walt answers reader email about choosing a vendor to buy a computer online and setting parental controls in Firefox. In The Mossberg Solution, Katie Boehret explores the trials and tribulations of BlackBerry and iPhone users switching one for the other.

More next week.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090829/weekend-update-82909-the-skank-issue-2/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090821/ganging-up-on-google/ http://allthingsd.com/20090821/ganging-up-on-google/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:00:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=23487

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090821/ganging-up-on-google/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090810/an-oversized-ruckus-about-tiny-web-addresses-bitlys-bigfoot-offer-to-the-rest-of-the-business/ http://allthingsd.com/20090810/an-oversized-ruckus-about-tiny-web-addresses-bitlys-bigfoot-offer-to-the-rest-of-the-business/#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:31:41 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=9746 Are you up in arms about the impending demise of tr.im, one of the many services that shorten long Web addresses? Here’s a possible solution, offered by bit.ly, the industry’s bigfoot: A nonprofit archive/graveyard for tr.im’s tiny addresses, along with anyone else who wants to participate.

John Borthwick, who funded bit.ly via his Betaworks investment group, explains the details of his offer here, along with a bit of pro forma condolence for the demise of his competitor: “Sad day yesterday to see tr.im announce that they are shutting their doors, after failing to make a business of a nice service with a great URL.”

To me, that sounds a bit like a mafia don shaking his head a tad wistfully after hearing that one his old rivals got bumped off, then sending a big bouquet to the funeral. And I think that the tr.im team, as well as some of bit.ly’s other competitors, may take it in the same vein.

UPDATE: I spoke to Eric Woodward, CEO of Tr.im’s parent company Nambu Networks. As I thought, he’s uninterested in working with Bit.ly, either directly or via 301works, the third party archive Borthwick has proposed. His response: “Why would I want to upload all my of data to Bit.ly?” When I suggested that this might be a good move for his users, he allowed that it still might happen — if he can’t find a buyer for Tr.im. And that’s a distinct possiblity: Woodward said he has been looking for a buyer for the past few months, without success.

But Borthwick’s proposal also sounds like a good one to me. I’ll let the wiser Webheads explain whether it’s a real solution for the problem that tr.im’s failure will create for the Web, namely, the notion that lots of Web addresses, shortened for use in social Web services like Facebook and Twitter, will stop working one day.

And if you do think it’s a real problem and not just an annoyance for the service’s users, as well as for Web sites that got referral traffic from the service, then someone’s going to need to think of something. We’re going to see more of this.

That’s because if there is any business at all in URL-shortening, it’s going to be a scale business that ends up in the hands of a couple competitors, max. Just like search. And that means that dozens of mom-and-pop competitors (here’s a visual snapshot, taken last fall, of 117 URL-shorteners) are going to fall by the wayside.

Right now Bit.ly looks to be the Google (GOOG) of URL-shortening, and there is some griping that it got that status unfairly, via a deal with Twitter that made it the service’s default shortener last May (type a long Web address into the message box on Twitter’s Web page, and the service will automatically convert it into a bit.ly link–like this). Not true, says Borthwick–the Twitter deal helped, but it’s not responsible for the majority of Bit.ly’s traffic.

But there’s no reason for Borthwick, Bit.ly or Twitter to be defensive about the deal. If Twitter wants to pick a preferred vendor/partner/developer for any or all of its services, it should do so. It’s not going to do that very often; one of the main reasons that Twitter has taken off is the ecosystem of developers who have built innovative stuff using the service’s open architecture, and it won’t want to discourage that.

And if Twitter wants to work with someone it’s already doing business with–prior to Twitter’s most recent funding round, Betaworks owned a sizable slug of Twitter’s stock, via Twitter’s acquisition of Betaworks portfolio company Summize a year ago–there’s no problem with that, either.

In any case, the Bit.ly/Betaworks guys have other things to worry about. They still need to figure out how to take the data stream they’re mining from all those tiny Web addresses they’re making and do something useful/valuable with it.

Then again, so does Twitter.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090810/an-oversized-ruckus-about-tiny-web-addresses-bitlys-bigfoot-offer-to-the-rest-of-the-business/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090716/pink-slip-thursday-at-cisco/ http://allthingsd.com/20090716/pink-slip-thursday-at-cisco/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:00:55 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=21593

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090716/pink-slip-thursday-at-cisco/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090715/microsoft-apple-stores/ http://allthingsd.com/20090715/microsoft-apple-stores/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:08:34 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=21459 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?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090715/microsoft-apple-stores/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20090708/netapp-data-domain-end-merger-agreement/ http://allthingsd.com/20090708/netapp-data-domain-end-merger-agreement/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:22:13 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=20992 EMC has long claimed that its bid for Data Domain is clearly superior to NetApp’s, and today, NetApp finally agreed. After market close Wednesday afternoon, NetApp said it has terminated its merger agreement with Data Domain, giving the data storage technology vendor leave to accept EMC’s (EMC) unsolicited takeover bid–at $33.50 per share cash, an 11 percent premium over its own.

Which is exactly what Data Domain did.

One consolation: NetApp (NTAP) may have failed as a suitor, but it received a $57 million breakup fee from Data Domain (DDUP) as a result of the termination of the agreement.

Still, it’s a tough blow for NetApp (NTAP), which will now focus on “existing growth opportunities” instead of ill-starred bidding wars with rivals.

Said Dan Warmenhoven, NetApp’s chairman and CEO: “While NetApp’s acquisition of Data Domain would have produced benefits for customers and employees and complemented NetApp’s existing growth trajectory, we remain highly confident in our already compelling strategic plan, market opportunities, and competitive strengths.”

“NetApp applies a disciplined approach to acquisitions, one focused intently on creating long-term value for our stockholders.” Warmerhoven added. “We therefore cannot justify engaging in an increasingly expensive and dilutive bidding war that would diminish the deal’s strategic and financial benefits. NetApp has established leadership positions in virtualized infrastructure, storage efficiency, and unified storage, even in these difficult economic times, by helping customers meet their business objectives with less physical storage while reducing costs. That commitment will not change. We look forward to continuing to build on our foundation of innovation and customer service, and to continuing to execute our successful growth strategy.”

[Image credit: despair.com]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090708/netapp-data-domain-end-merger-agreement/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090708/new-from-google-google-windows/ http://allthingsd.com/20090708/new-from-google-google-windows/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:00:46 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=21033

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090708/new-from-google-google-windows/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090610/sap-to-make-online-software-push/ http://allthingsd.com/20090610/sap-to-make-online-software-push/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:00:30 +0000 Ben Worthen http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=12534 Software maker SAP (SAP) is about to make its second foray into the world of online software.

In September 2007, SAP unveiled an online version of its management software aimed at small businesses. The product languished, with the company’s co-CEOs last year saying that they wouldn’t sell it because it didn’t make any money.

SAP plans to unveil a new online software strategy later this week. This time the target audience is the large businesses that make up SAP’s core customers, says John Wookey, the SAP exec in charge of the project. Wookey has spent the last six months crafting the company’s online-software strategy.

SAP’s software, which businesses use for tasks like balancing the general ledger and tracking inventory, is installed on servers that businesses buy and operate themselves. Businesses pay a hefty upfront fee for it and ongoing payments for product support. Online software is accessed over the Internet through a Web browser. It’s run on servers operated by the vendor, and customers typically pay a monthly subscription fee. Online software is commonly viewed as a threat to companies that sell traditional software because it tends to be less expensive for customers and less profitable for sellers.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090610/sap-to-make-online-software-push/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090316/cisco-to-rivals-tonight-you-sleep-in-hell/ http://allthingsd.com/20090316/cisco-to-rivals-tonight-you-sleep-in-hell/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:06:48 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=14963 Cisco has finally crossed the Rubicon.

Long a partner to the big server makers, the networking equipment giant today became a competitor, announcing an aggressive push into the server market. No longer content to peddle switches and routers alone, Cisco (CSCO) is now selling what it calls a unified computing system–a full-blown data center solution that encompasses everything from servers and storage to connectivity and virtualization services. The move is a brazen challenge to IBM (IBM), HP (HPQ) and other vendor partners with whom Cisco had once cooperated. “We’re going to compete with HP,” Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior told The Wall Street Journal. “I don’t want to sugarcoat that. There is bound to be change in the landscape of who you compete with and who you partner with.”

Of course, but “change” is rather a tame word for a potentially market-disrupting expansion of Cisco’s business. This is a power grab, plain and simple. A game-changer. Cisco is offering an integrated approach to what’s long been a multivendor arrangement. Whereas before, CIOs would purchase servers from one company, virtualization software from another and networking from yet another, the networking giant is proposing they now purchase them together from a single vendor: Cisco. And that puts it on a collision course with IBM and HP.

“H-P, IBM and Cisco are the new four horsemen of IT infrastructure and they are all fighting to increase their share of the enterprise IT wallet,” Forrester Research analyst James Staten told Marketwatch. “They have all benefited from growth of the market and by taking share from weaker players, but are now needing to go after each other’s strongholds to keep growing. They are definitely leveraging technology evolutions that drive unification, so customers win through this competition, but it’s going to be a bloody fight.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090316/cisco-to-rivals-tonight-you-sleep-in-hell/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081223/report-nortel-mulling-1b-offers-for-various-assets/ http://allthingsd.com/20081223/report-nortel-mulling-1b-offers-for-various-assets/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:00:04 +0000 Tiernan Ray http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=7068 Nortel Networks (NT) the once multibillion-dollar telecom vendor now trading as a micro cap, may be considering offers of as much as $1 billion for its product portfolio of gear that lets phone companies string Ethernet networking to homes and businesses, according to a report in the Toronto Globe & Mail. Avian Securities’ analyst Avi Cohen argues the most likely bidders are Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia’s (NOK) Nokia Siemens, and Cisco Systems (CSCO), with Alcatel Lucent (ALU) and Motorola (MOT), less likely because of their own titanic problems.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20081223/report-nortel-mulling-1b-offers-for-various-assets/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081215/oh-one-more-thing-goldman-sachs-youre-dead-to-me/ http://allthingsd.com/20081215/oh-one-more-thing-goldman-sachs-youre-dead-to-me/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:44:24 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=9679 Apple may not have yet succumbed to the economic malaise that hangs heavy over consumer tech, but it will soon. According to Goldman Sachs, anyway. This morning Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey downgraded Apple’s stock to neutral from a buy, claiming the company will suffer when consumers continue to rein in spending next year. “Although our checks in Asia for the December quarter were better for Apple than for the other PC and smartphone vendors, some nicks have started to emerge,” Bailey wrote. “Specifically, shipments of MacBooks, iPod nanos, and iPhone were all slightly lower than what was expected going into the quarter and Apple should face a tougher environment in the March and June quarters as consumer demand takes another leg down.”

A disheartening prediction. And to make matters worse, Bailey speculates that Apple (AAPL) won’t unveil any new product categories at MacWorld come January, and because of that won’t see the sort of near-term pop it typically experiences after the introduction of a compelling new product. Said Bailey, “[The] nearer-term outlook is less positive, as it now looks unlikely that Apple will launch a new product category at MacWorld in early January, taking away a potential catalyst for the shares and causing Apple to try to generate demand in a tough environment without the benefit of a new offering in the first part of 2009.”

Apple shares closed at $94.75, down 3.58 percent for the day on the news.

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