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Leaked Facebook memo: 'Ugly truth' justified any growth tactics
Buzzfeed has published an internal Facebook memo entitled "The Ugly" from 2016 that shows just how much emphasis the social network places on growth above safety, privacy and everything else. Written by Facebook VP Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, one of Mark Zuckerberg's staunchest allies, the memo tries to defend the social network's "questionable contact importing practices" and pretty much takes a very "ends justify the means" tone. Part of the memo reads:
Alleged Microsoft memo says Surface reliability issues are fixed
Last week, Consumer Reports removed its "recommended" rating from four of Microsoft's Surface laptops and tablets, citing reliability concerns: 25 percent of the 90,000 users they surveyed reported freezing and shutdowns in the first couple years of device use. The tech giant took issue with the publication's data and reported significantly lower failure rates. But a company VP allegedly sent an internal memo picking apart which device failures tipped the scales and caused Consumer Reports to slam the whole Surface family.
Microsoft kills what's left of the old Nokia
Last week, Microsoft sold off what remained of Nokia's feature phone business while Windows Phone's market share slid below a single percent. Now, the company has taken what's clearly the last step in correcting Steve Ballmer's decision to purchase the mobile world's former number one. The Verge has secured an internal memo from Microsoft's Terry Myerson saying that the company will cull 1,850 jobs, 1,350 of which are in Finland. The company has also recorded a $950 million impairment and restructuring charge on its balance sheet, of which $200 million will be severance payouts to those employees.
Samsung issues memo to employees after loss to Apple
Samsung issued a memo to its employees today in response to the Friday verdict finding that the company willfully infringed on a number of Apple patents. Apple CEO Tim Cook was quick to send an email to employees on Friday stating that "The jury has now spoken. We applaud them for finding Samsung's behavior willful and for sending a loud and clear message that stealing isn't right." Samsung's employee memo wasn't so upbeat. The Samsung email (see full text below in press release box) is pure sour grapes, stating that "History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation." [via 9to5Mac] Show full PR text On Friday, August 24, 2012, the jury verdict in our trial against Apple was announced at the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The following is an internal memo that reflects Samsung's position regarding the verdict: We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers. However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue, so that we can protect our company. Certainly, we are very disappointed by the verdict at the US District Court for the Northern District of California (NDCA), and it is regrettable that the verdict has caused concern amongst our employees, as well as our loyal customers. However, the judge's final ruling remains, along with a number of other procedures. We will continue to do our utmost until our arguments have been accepted. The NDCA verdict starkly contrasts decisions made by courts in a number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Korea, which have previously ruled that we did not copy Apple's designs. These courts also recognized our arguments concerning our standards patents. History has shown there has yet to be a company that has won the hearts and minds of consumers and achieved continuous growth, when its primary means to competition has been the outright abuse of patent law, not the pursuit of innovation. We trust that the consumers and the market will side with those who prioritize innovation over litigation, and we will prove this beyond doubt.
HP TouchPad price drop goes permanent (update: confirmed)
Pricing has long been one of our biggest concerns with HP's webOS-tastic TouchPad. So, when the company offered up a $100 discount on the slate, things certainly seemed headed in the right direction. The drop was only tease, sadly, and the price went right back to normal levels two days later. Apparently consumers liked the price cut as well, and HP, in turn, liked that, moving the company to implement the reduction on a more permanent basis. This is according to a reported internal memo from the company highlighting the decision to permanently price the 16GB and 32GB WiFi versions of the tablet at $399 and $499 "effective immediately." Update: We just heard back from an HP representative, who confirmed the pricing is indeed legit and in fact is in effect on HP's site. [Thanks all]
HP releases 2011 Q2 earnings early, following leak of foreboding internal memo
HP kicked off this morning's Q2 earnings call citing a leaked company memo that recently popped up at Bloomberg. That memo, which had the outfit's CEO, Leo Apotheker warning of "another tough quarter," resulted in a five percent drop in HP shares in after-hours trading Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal, and prompted the release of the outfit's Q2 earning a day ahead of schedule -- an earnings call was originally slated for Wednesday. According to the report, the company managed to pull in $31.6 billion in revenue and $2.3 billion in earnings, compared to $30.8 billion in revenue and $2.2 billion in earnings the same time last year. So what brought about the pot-stirring internal memo? Well, it seems HP's struggled to keep up with the competition when it comes to consumer computer sales. Despite an increase in revenue in every other segment of the company's business, HP's Personal Systems Group (which covers enterprise and consumer sales) saw revenue decline five percent year-over-year, with the portion covering consumer computers down 23 percent. That might seem like a big dip, and it is, but Apotheker says the company is "excited by the tablet opportunities," continuing on to say that the impending release of the company's TouchPad "will be an exciting product release for HP." For now, we'll just have to sit back and see if the webOS slate has the stuff to pull HP out of the consumer computer lurch. Full PR after the break.
