RogerMcnamee
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Is Apple 'killing the World Wide Web'?
That's a really nice internet you have there. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it. That's the threat Apple's app-centric approach has leveled against the World Wide Web as we know it, according to Roger McNamee, co-founder of the private equity firm Elevation Partners. "There's a titanic clash for control of the internet. Fundamentally, this is between the world-wide web on the one hand and Apple's app model on the other," McNamee told CNBC in an interview. "Right now Apple is just killing the World Wide Web. Apple will do almost 100 million [iPads and iPhones] this year -- the numbers are staggering." McNamee contrasted Apple's "staggering" success with two of the biggest players in the internet space: Microsoft and Google. Apple's iPhone and iPad are eroding Microsoft's once formidable stranglehold of the web. For example, McNamee says the Redmond-based company's share of internet-connected devices will fall below 50% this year -- down from 97% a decade ago. Similarly, McNamee thinks Google, who he characterizes as a good company and leader of the world-wide web group, is losing its influence. Google's primary search business is losing ground to specialized sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp. Much like Microsoft, Google has watched its 90% share of the search market shrink to less than half in the last few years. The Elevation Partners co-founder said Google's core challenge is overcoming limitations in the underlying software for the web, HTML, which hasn't changed for a decade. But, he says, Android is "too wild west" to be successful. Google will need to address some significant security concerns and prove the platform can support a commercially-viable ecosystem for developers and hardware manufacturers before it can be considered a long-term challenger. Meanwhile, Apple's app model offers an innovative new approach to deploying engaging content and experiences to the web. As more customers buy iPhones and iPads, the Cupertino company will build momentum at the expense of its rivals. He sees the company entering a 10-year cycle of growth that will boost the technology sector as a whole. Is Apple killing the web as we know it or simply making a killing with its popular mobile devices? Keep reading to state your case in the comments or watch the CNBC interview with McNamee.
Roger McNamee says Pre launch was a "dream come true," hints that all Palm devices will have physical keyboards
There's never a dull moment when Palm investor Roger McNamee sits down for an interview, and his latest chat with Fox Business is no exception -- in addition to saying that the Pre launch was a "dream come true," he more or less implied that all future Palm devices will have hardware keyboards: "Our goal is to address all of those people who say I cannot have a real life without a keyboard -- I can't live doing one thing at a time." Yeah, it's not much, but taken in context it seems like he's saying that keyboards and multitasking will be Palm's major differentiators against the iPhone. That's not to say he thinks the Pre is destined to kill Cupertino's baby -- in addition to calling Apple "the most successful company in the history of Silicon Valley," McNamee also reiterated Palm's characterization of the iPhone as primarily a consumer-centric media phone: "If what you care about most is listening to music or playing back videos, the iPhone is probably the right phone for you." That's a pretty slickly-delivered backhanded compliment, if you ask us -- although from El Rog we'd expect nothing less. Check the whole interview after the break -- it's a good one.[Via Everything Pre]
Palm live from D7
It's already been a crazy day for Palm news -- so who knows what Palm's Jon Rubinstein and Elevation Partner's Roger McNamee have in store (well, we have a few ideas). We're live at their D7 session and the fun is set to begin any moment, so stay tuned.Thanks to our editor-at-large and gdgt co-founder Ryan Block for handling photo duties during the show!
Roger McNamee self-parodies his Palm Pre superlatives: "it eats iPhones for breakfast"
The ever-quotable, perennially unkempt Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners fame indulged in a bit of self-parody in a mock-commercial screened at D7 before he and Jon Rubinstein took the stage. While incredibly entertaining, the video also acts as a bit of damage control for Roger, who infamously stated that there would be a massive and sudden exodus from the iPhone to the Pre once those original iPhone contracts are up. Palm naturally distanced itself and "clarified" the comments, but that doesn't seem to have dampened McNamee's spirit: in the video he calls the Pre, among other things, "better than Viagra." Unfortunately for McNamee, he might've been better served by a damage control video after his time on stage with Walt and Kara: his semi-sexist "It has a mirror on the back... there's never been a phone like this for women before" line -- not to mention a general disregard for sane conversation -- isn't winning him many points with the crowd. Video is after the break.
Roger McNamee's wild predictions shot down -- by Palm itself
Remember wild-man McNamee's predictions last week of death to the iPhone and all sorts of other Pre-related wonderment? We read and we chuckled and we moved on, but someone took his statements a little more seriously -- Palm. Yes, the company Roger was talking up, the company in which his firm Elevation Partners owns a particularly large stake, submitted a document to the SEC that summarily disputes all of his hyperactive talking points. It's full of facts and figures and is completely dry, but, like an episode of Yes Minister, is also full of comedic brilliance. Here's the company's reaction to our favorite bit, about the death of the iPhone:The statement in the second paragraph of the article that "not one" person who bought an Apple, Inc. iPhone on the first shipment date "will still be using an iPhone a month" after the two-year anniversary of that day is an exaggerated prediction of consumer behavior pattern and is withdrawn.It's good to know that, even in these tough times, there's still some comedy left in the corporate world. More boardroom humor after the break.[Via Palm Infocenter]
