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Apple is investing $1 billion in Softbank's Vision Fund
At best, most consumers know Softbank as the Japanese phone carrier that owns Sprint -- but the company is much bigger than that. Softbank has its hands in robotics, smart vehicles, processors and more. It even invests in other companies, and recently set up the Softbank Vision Fund with the goal of pouring billions of dollars into promising start ups. Now that fund is getting another investor: Apple.
Ask Massively: Misconceptions about jerk players, Kickstarters, and untrustworthy studios
Continuing our miniseries theme from the last Ask Massively, today's edition will focus on a brand-new set of misconceptions commonly held by MMO gamers and participants in our comments section: jerk players in MMORPGs, the playerbase of one particular sci-fi sandbox, Kickstarters vs. investments, and learning to trust a studio that's done you wrong. As always, if there's a misconception you want me to add to my list, let me know in the comments!
What do venture capitalists see when they look at games?
Kickstarter has gained a great deal of traction lately, but by and large new games are still funded the same way they've always been funded: by venture capitalists willing to shell out money in hopes of seeing a return on investment. That being said, the games industry looks at venture capitalists more as fountains of money than actual people, a necessary evil at best. A new piece penned by Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners sheds some light on what goes on behind the scenes when capitalists are approached for funding. Liew makes a point of mentioning that one of the features he looks for is the idea that the studio can turn out another good game after the first one, mentioning CCP Games and Jagex as both lagging behind. He also points out the power of community, noting that League of Legends gained much of its current popularity by completely taking over the DOTA community. While the piece is focused on gaming as a whole rather than just MMOs, fans of video games will no doubt find several points of interest within the full article.
Best Buy founder ever closer to finalizing company buyout bid
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze may have stepped down as chairman of the board, but he's certainly not out. His plan to buy the turbulent company has reached the next step -- an agreement which pre-empts the formal offer. Schulze now has access to all the private numbers he'll need to put together an investor group within the 60-day timeframe. And, if this round is unsuccessful, it'll be next January before another bid can go to the Board of Directors, followed by direct shareholder offers if the second attempt fails. Given that Schulze owns 20 percent of Best Buy, he gets two seats-worth of voting power as long as he sticks to the agreed process. So, with a new CEO taking the reigns in September and the acquisition machinery in top gear, is there fresh hope for the big box retailer?
Apple gets paid for products faster than it has to pay for manufacturing
Here's yet another sign of what a great position Apple has put itself in in terms of manufacturing: According to the Wall Street Journal [paywall], the company gets paid by its customers much faster than it is required to pay its suppliers. The difference between the inflow of sales and the outflow of manufacturing capital means that Apple's capital investment is actually negative -- a sort of fiscal antigravity. Apple is getting paid by customers after 18 days on average, but it has leveraged into a position where it has up to 83 days to pay its suppliers. That's phenomenal, and it's a result of quite a few different initiatives by the company in the past. First, not only are Apple's products built around high profit and high demand, but Apple has made various company acquisitions and locked down powerful supply deals. This also means that the companies that Apple has teamed up with end up taking on more of the risk than usual, leaving Apple in a very agile and flexible position. According to the WSJ, in 2011 Apple paid to keep only four days of inventory on hand, versus 10 days of inventory held in 2010. Again, this is of course the product of years of spending on R&D, acquisitions and investments, and Apple's legendary advertising budgets and reputation for quality. But it's obviously a very impressive place for Apple Inc. to perch. [via 9to5Mac] #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Gambitious launching itself as a game-focused crowdsourcing center
Crowdsourcing is becoming the new trend, with Kickstarter projects serving as the new hotness for getting a game start-up funded. So it's not hard to understand why Gambitious is promoting itself as an alternative to Kickstarter, specifically as a means to fund game development via crowdsourced projects. Gambitious has more to it than just the idea being a game-focused alternative to the Kickstarter giant, however; it includes an option for investors and backers to take part in equity funding. Traditionally, Kickstarter backers receive only a few bonuses for funding a project, and if that project goes on to wild success after the initial funding, the backers are left out. Equity funding allows people to play a more traditional venture capitalist role, investing money in return for dividends on successful projects. While this option is available only in Europe at the moment due to legal issues, it's a new take on funding a game, and depending on future developments, Gambitious might make a name for itself in the indie gaming market.
iPhone MMO Shadow Cities raises $2.5 million in investments
As smartphones become increasingly ubiquitous, it's inevitable that we'll start seeing unique uses of the technology involved -- something we're already seeing with Shadow Cities. The iPhone MMO is rather unique, tracking your location and putting you into an active battle with creatures placed on the GPS-enabled map. It's an innovative concept, a sort of game-oriented FourSquare, and one that's apparently intrigued investors enough to pony up big money to the tune of $2.5 million. This infusion of funding ties into plans to release the game in the US soon, as developer Grey Area has currently only released the game in its native Finland. Players will focus on taking dominion over the streets and completing quests, with the game itself following the free-to-play model complete with cash shop. Shadow Cities is certainly a novel product, and we'll be taking the time to chat with the studio about the game's development and future at GDC next week.
GM invests $5 million in Powermat, says wireless charging headed to Volt in 2012
GM may have filed for bankruptcy back in 2009, but a lot has changed since then. GM's venture branch now apparently has enough cash in the bank to drop five million on a multi-year commercial deal for Powermat's wireless charging technology. The terms of the deal give GM the option to convert their investment into an equity stake within the first six months and provide GM exclusive use of Powermat's technology for one year in vehicles worldwide. Subsequently, the Volt is slotted to be one of the first vehicles receiving the new tech and a prototype version with charging mats in the front consoles and back seat will be shown this year at CES. However, the automaker is unsure as to what other models will receive Powermat upgrades. Micky Bly, leader of GM's electric car development efforts, stated though that initial tests did not reveal any significant issues with porting the technology into vehicles, leading GM to shoot for launching commercial integrations sometime in 2012. The automaker hasn't forgotten its an investor however and hopes other manufacturers will join the wireless charging bandwagon to help drive down costs after their exclusive buffer ends.
LG commits to major smartphone, tablet, and smart TV investments for New Year's resolution
LG's set aside quite a big chunk of change -- 21 trillion won (about $18 billion) -- for investments next year, almost 12 percent higher than its 2010 allowance. And a good chunk of that, 14.2 trillion won, is going to electronics: smartphones, tablets, advanced TVs and components for 3DTVs, according to the Wall Street Journal. (The rest, if you're curious, is going into medical products, electric vehicle batteries, and an assortment of other businesses.) True, LG's position in the smartphone market isn't quite what it wanted -- its now-former CEO Nam Yong claimed responsibility and retired in September -- but we'd be lying if we said we haven't been smitten with its Optimus lineup of Android handsets lately, and already we've seen some impressive future devices. Now, those tablet investments... figure out an OS yet? Can we make suggestions?
Goldman Sachs resumes Apple coverage, targets AAPL at $430
Investing firm Goldman Sachs has decided to start covering Apple's stock profile, and that news sent the AAPL stock price up to $325.06 this morning, a nice boost from the day before. And that's not all -- not only did Goldman Sachs pull AAPL into its reporting fold, but it was about as bullish as you can get on a stock, saying through a spokesman that "we believe significant growth and profit opportunities for this platform still lie ahead." The company had been covering Apple previously, but when that special analyst left the firm, it took them a while to find a replacement. But it looks like they've found someone else they feel is qualified to make a prediction. The company predicts a $430 price target for AAPL, so if any of you happen to fall into some money over this coming holiday, you'll now know just where to put it. (Note: this is not actual financial advice, obviously, and there's no guarantee of success in the stock market.) Apple seems to be the success story that keeps on growing -- AAPL has hit a few all-time highs in 2010, and the forecast is pretty sunny all the way around.
Apple sells 250k Apple TVs in six weeks
While Apple TV sales were apparently not published in Apple's quarterly earnings release, during the much-ballyhooed investor conference call yesterday, Steve Jobs noted that as many as 250,000 Apple TVs have been sold since its debut last month. To put that number into perspective, in the first month of sales of the original Apple TV (January 2007), Apple took orders of around 100,000 units. Also, prime contender Roku has reported sales of about 500,000 of its devices after being on the market for a year-and-change. Although Apple stands a good chance of taking the lead over Roku in sales at some point, as far as the company is concerned, those numbers still put the Apple TV in the "hobby" category. iPads and iPhones still reign supreme in terms of sales for the company's fourth quarter.
iFund doubles to $200 million, supporting Ngmoco, Booyah, and others on the iPad
The iFund has been one of the driving forces behind some of the biggest names in iPhone development, so it's not a surprise at all that the investors are expanding their money pool and oversight to include the iPad as well. They're opening up the funding to a full $200 million (double what the original iFund offered to iPhone companies), and they've already got a whole slate of apps lined up from big iPhone companies like Ngmoco, Booyah, and Shazam. There will undoubtedly be a lot of successful apps on the iPad, but these are probably the biggest no brainers we'll see. It is important to note that these are all iPhone-specific companies. While there are lots of companies on the App Store that are doing iPhone as "just another platform" or have the iPhone as part of their overall strategy, the companies spotlighted by iFund all tend to be companies who are focusing on the iPhone (and now the iPad) as their business. Just as the iFund likely paid off for their iPhone investments, odds are good that they'll see the same result on the iPad. We'll have to wait and see.
Quicken Essentials for Mac available for pre-order
Quicken Essentials for Mac is finally available for pre-order. Too little, too late if you ask me. Its taken three years to get this next version of Quicken for Mac out the door. In that time, worthy alternatives have risen, like iBank and Mint.com. While I won't give it a review until I've tried it, it seems that Intuit should just give up until they want to make a financial software package that the Mac deserves. Here are just a few of my peeves from the Quicken Essentials for Mac FAQ (bold added): 1. Can I track my investments? Yes, Quicken Essentials for Mac allows you to track the overall value of your investment accounts and the value of your specific holdings. It will not, however, track investment buys and sells, nor will it provide some advanced investment performance reports. If you need more more advanced investment features, try Quicken Mac 2007. 2. Can I export my data to TurboTax? Quicken Essentials for Mac does not support that capability. If you'd like that functionality, we recommend trying Quicken Mac 2007. 3. Can I pay my bills within Quicken? While you cannot pay bills within the product itself ("direct bill pay"), you can track your bills and make sure you have enough cash to pay them when they're due. A few alternatives available include using Quicken Mac 2007 or using the bill pay functionality on Quicken Bill Pay. Did you see that? If you want to do anything useful, you have to buy their three year-old product. I ditched Quicken for Mac years ago, moved to iBank, then eventually quit that and moved entirely to Mint which has a great iPhone app [iTunes link]. How good is Mint? Good enough that Intuit has since purchased it. I can only hope they plan to leave it good enough alone. Thanks Gilbert
Jobs reassures Apple investors
With Apple's stock plummeting from just shy of $200 to $130.01, as of closing today; AppleInsider is claiming to have gotten a copy of Steve Jobs' letter to investors that he issued last week. In the letter, Jobs urged investors to "Hang in there." "Wow... what a remarkable last few days," Jobs said. "Our stock is being buffeted around by factors a lot larger than ourselves."Jobs went on to say that he believed in Apple's fundamentals. He highlighted Apple stores, Apple's focused strategy, and forthcoming products as reasons why people should worry too much about Apple's stock. Apple does have $18 billion in the vault, as it were, so the company can certainly weather some rough quarters.Jobs is currently the second largest Apple shareholder, behind only Fidelity Investments, with a reported 5.54 million shares. He has, no doubt, been hit hard by the recent happenings on Wall Street; but then again, who hasn't been?
Microsoft's Lionhead acquisition official
The GDC rumour mill had its finger on the pulse where Lionhead and Microsoft were concerned; Microsoft has acquired the British developer, beating out rumoured competition from EA and Ubisoft. It looks as though Microsoft were especially keen to grab Peter Molyneux -- they'll be putting his innovative approach to gaming to use on the Xbox 360 and Vista platforms. This is good news for the struggling Lionhead, although whether it will help Molyneux's games sell any better is yet to be seen. As far as the UK games industry is concerned, international acquisitions like this (and Rare's before it) are interesting -- while there will always be smaller guys going it alone, there's a short supply of big-name British developers who are staying home-grown.
