Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Sprint Has No Plans to End Unlimited Plans

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said the carrier doesn't have plans to implement tiered pricing for mobile data--but he didn't rule out such a move at some point in the future.

'We are watching very closely,' Hesse said. "Clearly, I'm not ruling out metered."

On the other hand, he said, customers value simplicity. Put another way, they value predictability, and an unlimited plan provides protection from overage charges.

Blockbuster Declares Bankruptcy

Call it a commentary on the retail rental model, changes in end user preferences or simply the rise of online and other forms of distribution, but Blockbuster, to almost nobody's surprise, has declared bankruptcy.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Best Buy CEO Now Says Tablet Sales are Incremental to PCs

Brian J. Dunn, CEO, Best Buy Co. is "walking back" a comment reported by the Wall Street Journal, where Dunn said Apple's iPad might have cannibalized as much as 50 percent of Best Buy's PC sales over the last quarter.

Later, Dunn appeared to want to soften the reported remarks. "We see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity," Dunn now says.

We might not know whether the latter statement, or the first statement, is closer to the truth until the round of quarterly reports.

At&t could lose 1.4 million iPhone subs to Verizon, if Verizon gets the device.

That might not be a disaster, but it is somewhere between 1.5and nearly twice the total number of net new subs Verizon gets in three months.

http://www.google.com/reader/i/?source=mog&gl=us#stream/user%2F05579064408535224496%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list

Apple's profits in mobile business are almost shocking

In a supposedly commodity business, Apple is anything but.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/21/pie-chart-apples-outrageous-share-of-the-mobile-industrys-profits/

Google vs. Skype: Who Will Win the Internet Telephony Battle? And Does it Matter?

Maybe, maybe not, in a broader sense.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/09/17/google-vs-skype-who-will-win-the-internet-telephon.aspx

Media Business at a Gutenberg Moment?

The internet obviously disrupts many legacy businesses, print among them.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/knowledge/interview-knowledge/exclusive-media-legend-larry-kramer-says-media-business-is-in-a-gutenberg-moment/?p=8087/

Directv-Dish Merger Fails

Directv’’s termination of its deal to merge with EchoStar, apparently because EchoStar bondholders did not approve, means EchoStar continue...