Thursday, October 7, 2010

How Do You Pitch an Angel Investor?

Basically, you pitch an angel investor in the same way you have to pitch anything: clearly, quickly and with obvious emphasis on value for the buyer.

Cloud Computing: the Revenue Model, Not the Technology

Cloud computing has immediate revenue implications for hosted service providers now. Down the road, it is going to create new revenue models for all sorts of companies that used to sell in a "location-limited" manner. Whether you want to consider this "over the top everything" or just the extension of browser-based and Internet-based application delivery is sort of a matter of taste and your own preferences. But is will be a big deal. Here's one practical look at the matter.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

PayPal To Launch Micropayments

PayPal will be launching a payments technology for micropayments.

According to the company, the new product will include specialized payment support for micropayments for online video, music, games (including the sale of virtual goods and currencies), paid content, books and software.

Apple iPhone Will be Available on Verizon Wireless in 2011

Verizon Wireless will be selling the Apple iPhone in 2011, the Wall Street Journal now reports, potentially ending the seemingly-endless speculation about whether that would happen.

The new iPhone would be similar in design to the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T.

As with the ramped-up Long Term Evolution deployment plan Verizon Wireless also has announced, Verizon getting the iPhone would close a window, ending AT&T's years-long exclusive on the device.

With Verizon Wireless also saying it will activate 4G networks in 38 U.S. cities before the end of the year, Verizon is ending the relatively-brief window of time when Clearwire and Sprint Nextel could claim to operate the only nationwide 4G networks.

Consumers Like Video Content from New Sources but Few Are Ready to “Cut the Pay-TV Cord,” According to Survey | Press Release | ABI Research

A recent ABI Research consumer survey of 1005 consumers revealed that about 32 percent of those surveyed are interested in watching Internet video on their TV, nearly double the number who expressed the same interest in a similar 2008 survey.

In 2008 only 13 percent said they would consider cancelling their pay-TV services and receiving video content just from the Internet, rentals or off-air broadcast television.

According to ABI Research practice director Jason Blackwell, “The alternatives to pay-TV — online services from Netflix, Hulu and the like — are decentralized and can be complicated to negotiate.”

Of course, the question might not suggest as much current interest as might seem to be the case. If you ask people whether they'd like something, in the abstract, without including price and content availability, they might say "yes" because there is no cost to the answer.

If you ask whether a user would spend $200, be able to access YouTube video, movie trailers and some content, you'd get fewer people reaching for their wallets. If you then asked whether access to popular content, time shifted a bit, would be available for additional payments ranging from about a dollar to $3, you'd get fewer hands reaching for wallets.

The survey results are not surprising. They just don't predict actual behavior very well.

Android a serious threat to iPhone and RIM, study suggests

Sometimes a story has to be retold only to emphasize and confirm what you already know, pointing out that something still is a trend. This is one of those types of stories.

http://latestgeeknews.blogspot.com/2010/10/android-serious-threat-to-iphone-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LatestGeekStuff+%28Latest+Geek+Stuff%29

Equinix Revises 3Q, Full-Year Guidance 2.2%

Equinix expects 2010 third quarter and full year revenues will be below the company’s previous outlook, and it expects 2010 third quarter and full year adjusted EBITDA will be above the Company’s previous outlook, both provided on July 28, 2010.

Equinix now expects third quarter revenues to be in the range of $328.0 to $330.0 million, the midpoint of which is 2.2 percent lower than the midpoint of its previous outlook, and total revenues for the full year to be approximately $1,215.0 million, which is 1.2 percent lower than the midpoint of its previous outlook.

This updated guidance is due to underestimated churn assumptions in Equinix’s forecast models in North America, greater than expected discounting to secure longer term contract renewals and lower than expected revenues attributable to the Switch and Data business acquired in April 2010.

Zoom Wants to Become a "Digital Twin Equipped With Your Institutional Knowledge"

Perplexity and OpenAI hope to use artificial intelligence to challenge Google for search leadership. So Zoom says it will use AI to challen...