Patent Issues for Android Growing?

Microsoft is getting a reported $5 intellectual property royalty from HTC on every Android smartphone and tablet HTC sells. Microsoft also reportedly has also struck deals with a handful of other manufacturers for an undisclosed fee on each device they make as well.

Microsoft reportedly also is seeking $15 per Android device from Samsung. That is roughly in line with what Microsoft charges Windows Phone 7 manufacturers for use of that operating system.

The issue is whether there will be other licensing deals sought by Oracle, Microsoft and perhaps Apple, which is also suing some Android makers.

Such deals would be important because they would raise the cost of shipping Android handsets. To the extent that lower licensing costs are an important issue for some models, such potential costs might slow Android adoption by some manufacturers.

Can patent licensing fees derail the Android express?

More Bad News On Job Front

The Labor Department has just released its June unemployment and jobs data, and it is dismal. The June unemployment rate has just ticked up to 9.2% from 9.1% in May and the payrolls creation was a mere 18,000. Read more here..

Consensus estimates were 9.1% for unemployment and the payrolls projections were above 100,000 since the ADP payrolls data came out this week.  Dow Jones was at 125,000 in payrolls, and Bloomberg’s reading yesterday was 110,000.  Apparently this leaves more than 14 million Americans on the sidelines.

To make matters worse, the payrolls data for the prior two months were revised lower by 44,000.

One way of looking at matters is to note that we haven't had this few jobs, as a percentage of people, since about 1983, which was a rough year.

Get Your Facebook News Feed In Google+

"Google Facebook," an extension for Firefox and Chrome that lets you view your Facebook stream in Google and update your status from it. Download here.

Install the extension, allow it to connect with your Facebook account and pull the required information and a Facebook button will be added next to the Home button in the Google interface.

You can update your status (text updates only) by clicking on the What’s on your mind? field box. As of now, you can’t see status likes or post comments from Google. But just wait.

Get Your Facebook News Feed In Google

Amazon Bets Big on Tablets

If you assume a tablet is optimized for media consumption, and is in some ways an e-reader for people who don't want to use a dedicated e-reader, then it is obvious why Amazon wants to be a supplier of branded tablets that immediately become distribution platforms for its content.

And DigiTimes reports that Amazon is placing large orders for tablets.

Remarkable Candor From Facebook Exec

Despite the possibility that we now are in, or building towards, another Internet investing bubble, the amount of innovation we might expect in social and other areas remains extraordinary. And it always is refreshing when a top exec at a category leading company with huge market impact admits that his own firm might not be working on the innovations that might fuel the next great wave of Internet applications development.

Investment Values Twitter at $8 Billion

Twitter is in the process of raising $400 million in a deal that values the company at $8 billion, according to the New York Times.

Rory Maher, an analyst for Hudson Square Research, says Twitter makes about $200 million a year from online advertising and is close to profitability. At those levels, a valuation of $8 billion, or roughly 40 times sales, is difficult to justify."

That is just one more bit of evidence that we might be in an Internet investing bubble, or building towards one. That is no slam on all the social application innovation going on right now. I use Twitter just about every day, and I find it one of the most useful business tools I use on a regular basis. But valuations can diverge from end user value in dramatic ways at times.

Investment Values Twitter at $8 Billion

The competitive prospects of Google — Tech News and Analysis

The obvious competitor Google is taking on with Google+ is Facebook. But there are lots of other applications that might be affected as well. The "Hangouts" app is getting attention for its drop-dead-simple way of allowing users to set up and use multi-party video chats. How Google can track who is speaking at the moment, and needs to have the audio feed, is somewhat amazing. But the issue then becomes whether "Hangouts" can become a popular business tool for multi-party videoconferencing.

That might both stimulate demand for other business-class services, as well as reduce demand for consumer grade video chat services or applications. A survey of 451 GigaOm readers suggests the notion of competition with Skype (especially for video calls), as well as Facebook (social networking) is where the biggest upside for Google+ might be, and where competitors might feel the most pressure.

Competitive prospects for Google+