Bloomberg
Latest
Bloomberg: Apple prepping cheaper phones?
Rumors of a smaller, cheaper iPhone are definitely not new and have floated around for nearly the life of the device. But Bloomberg has an article out today saying that Steve Jobs, despite being out on medical leave, is involved in strategic decisions involving a smaller, cheaper, more universal iPhone. Bloomberg quotes its unnamed source by saying the new phone would retail for about $200, lose the contract, have a universal SIM card and be a third smaller than the current iPhone 4. Bloomberg points out how Apple released the iPod mini at a time when iPod sales were rising, but the mini addressed a new market segment that couldn't afford the larger version. It makes sense for Apple to eventually expand into the "smaller, cheaper" phone market, if only to go toe-to-toe with the myriad Android handsets now flooding the market.
Bloomberg: Apple's net income rose 47 percent
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is helping to drive U.S. corporations to the most-profitable Q4 since Bill Clinton's early days in the White House, when the PowerBook Duo was the latest in subnotebooks (and only weighed a mere 4.1 pounds!) Of course, this isn't exactly news to us, as Deutsche Bank speculated a couple days ago that holiday Mac and iPad sales were far better than expected. Bloomberg estimates that Apple's net income rose 47 percent to US$4.97 billion during its fiscal first quarter, which ended in December and included those all-important holiday sales. We'll know exactly how well Apple made out during the company's quarterly earnings call on Jan. 18, with the possibility of a Verizon iPhone announcement just a couple days later.
JPMorgan iPad distribution confirmed, says Bloomberg
According to an email obtained by Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase & Co will be handing out free iPads to all associates in its global investment banking division (that's investment bankers for you and me). In a pilot program to last until May 2011, the bankers will trial the device to see how well it fares as an additional mobile tool as well as being allowed to take advantage of the device for personal use. "We believe there are real benefits in our working environment that can be realized using this device - as well as the personal productivity and enjoyment that come as part of the package," said two New York-based JPMorgan managing directors in the email. The news comes as the BlackBerry trend at Wall Street seems to be shifting more and more towards the iPhone and the iPad. It's no secret the Apple is pushing hard to expand from its well-established consumer market into the corporate world. Bloomberg reports that banks including Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG have recently revealed apps built for the iPad, and that Citi Group and Bank of America are considering the iPhone as an option for their employees. According to Brian Marshal, an analyst at Gleacher & Co, "Apple represents a clear and present danger for RIM going forward. For the first time you have a viable alternative to secure mobile communications and by and large we see people moving away from the BlackBerry platform in droves in favor of the iPhone and the iPad." BlackBerry's PlayBook, which is being touted as a real competitor to the iPad, is due out next year. RIM has got some serious catching up to do considering Apple's head start into the tablet-computing world. However, the question is, though the PlayBook seems to fare better against the first generation iPad, will it be able to compete as well with the iPad 2 (rumored for release early next year)? And whether Wall Street's BlackBerry faithful can hold out until next year for the the PlayBook's release?
Trion CEO introduces MMO investing to Bloomberg TV
Have you ever wondered where to invest your savings for the future? Have you thought about the MMO market? Apparently, multimedia companies like Time Warner, NBC Universal, and Bertelsmann believe it is worth their money. These three media giants have invested over $100 million into Trion Worlds, the top-tier gaming company featuring upcoming MMOs like Rift: Planes of Telara and End of Nations. Yesterday, Trion's CEO Lars Buttler was featured on Bloomberg's CEO Sitdown. In the interview, Buttler mentioned the role that games, specifically MMO games, will play in the future economy. "This is actually one of the fastest-growing segments of the games industry. And there are markets like Korea or China where you can see what a massive potential these online premium games already have," Buttler explains in the video. As MMOs become more mainstream, the media industry is beginning to see them as a viable form of entertainment. They are not just pretend fun for teenage boys anymore. Buttler expounds later, "It's really once-a-gamer-always-a-gamer, so as people get older they stay with their favorite game types." The industry is constantly growing because the audience sticks to its favorite form of entertainment. For more on this story check out the full video on Bloomberg's website.
Zynga passes EA in estimated worth rankings
Like a horde of unstoppable zombies, social titles are devouring the domestic and worldwide gaming industry at an alarming rate. The latest example of the brain-sucking apocalypse comes courtesy of a Bloomberg report on Farmville-maker Zynga's estimated worth. It clocks in at $5.51 billion, placing it squarely in front of industry titan Electronic Arts ($5.22 billion). Despite potential hits like BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic waiting in the wings, EA seems to be losing ground in the war for your online entertainment dollar. Since March 1st, EA's shares have declined 6.3 percent, while Zynga's estimated value has more than doubled in the same period. That said, while Zynga has leap-frogged EA, they still have a ways to go to catch Activision ($13.9 billion estimated worth), as well as China's Tencent Holdings ($43 billion).
Bloomberg Game Changers to feature segment on Steve Jobs
The brand-new documentary series Bloomberg Game Changers will air its second episode on Thursday, October 14th at 9:00 PM ET with Steve Jobs as the subject. It will feature interviews with a who's who from Apple's history, including Steve Wozniak, John Scully, Robert X. Cringley and Guy Kawasaki. Additionally, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Moritz will appear. The hour-long special will follow Steve's career from the infamous garage to the release of the iPad and everything in between. The first episode in the series featured Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and was very well done. Be sure to check it out episode two on Thursday, even if you think you know the story. You can watch a teaser video after the break.
HBO heading to iPad and mobile devices 'in six months,' still cold on Netflix
"There is value in exclusivity... [Consumers] are willing to pay a premium for high quality, exclusive content." There is something to HBO Co-President Eric Kessler's words that ring true with his company's goals, and unfortunately for Netflix enthusiasts, that subscription service isn't part and parcel with his philosophy. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kessler reportedly offered the previous statement as an explanation to why the two companies would likely not make a deal together, despite Netflix's best efforts. That's par for the course, so far, but what is new and exciting from the interview is an off-hand comment that in six month's time, HBO Go would be available "through all major cable systems, on Apple Inc.'s iPad, on mobile devices and elsewhere," free for those already signed up to HBO. We've seen the former option, but portable? Consider our interests very piqued. While far from official, we also think it's worth listening to a co-president on his own company's dealings -- at least a little bit. Hey, we're all for going the Hulu route if it's implemented well enough, but it looks like we won't be canceling our cable subscription in favor of going steady with Ol' Red Envelopes anytime soon.
Apple: No early knowledge of iPhone 4 antenna issues
What a roller-coaster day! The Wall Street Journal is now quoting Apple throwing cold water directly on today's Bloomberg story. Bloomberg had reported that an Apple engineer had warned company execs about the problems with the new iPhone 4 antenna design early in the development process for the phone. The Journal quotes an Apple spokesperson as saying: "We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It's simply not true." The Journal also cites sources as saying there will be no recall of the iPhone 4 announced at the press event tomorrow. It's anyone's guess as to what Apple will say tomorrow. The company may say there is a problem and continue to offer penalty-free refunds, it may give free bumpers to insulate the external antenna to customers who want them, or it may say everything is fine. We can't wait. [Hat tip to Loop Insight & Business Insider]
Bloomberg: Apple engineer was concerned about iPhone 4 antenna early on
As if we needed any more drama in this situation, Bloomberg has someone "familiar with the matter" that claims Apple's own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Apple management that the iPhone 4 antenna design could cause reception problems, dropped calls, and a serious engineering challenge. Caballero is a senior engineer for Apple with a large quantity of antenna patents under his belt, and while we certainly don't know the whole story -- perhaps his claims were somehow quelled by Apple's own testing -- it certainly adds a twist to this story if Steve Jobs and co. had been alerted to this very real problem during the design phase. The Bloomberg article also claims, from a different source, no less, that a carrier partner also raised antenna concerns before the release. Apple and Caballero naturally did not comment on this report. We're not really sure about the real-world implications of all this behind-the-scenes drama, but we suppose we'll see what Apple has to say for itself tomorrow.
Bloomberg: vPhone coming in January
That iPhone on Verizon rumor just won't die -- Bloomberg is now reporting that we'll see an iPhone on Verizon's service in January of next year. "Two people familiar with the plans" say that AT&T exclusivity will finally end next year, and analysts say that if that happens, Apple will sell lots more iPhones, up to 3 million more per quarter to Verizon's 90 million or so customers. Of course there's no comment by Apple or Verizon so far, and I'll point out that we've heard this rumor time and time and time again -- first back in January of this year, then for the new iPhone 4 announcement and WWDC, and now pushed off until next year. Basically, don't hold your breath. It wouldn't be bad to get away from the often complaint-worthy service at AT&T, but if Apple hasn't seen fit to end exclusivity so far (and don't forget that we're still seeing record iPhone sales), why would it do so next year?
Amazon Kindle slimming down in August?
Color might still be out of the question -- both now and far into the future -- but Amazon seems fit to take out some of the Kindle's fat. Bloomberg has it on word that the company will debut a thinner version of its e-book reader in August, and the new workout regiment will also enhance its screen sharpness and responsiveness. No word on if this'll apply to current models or be an entirely different variant, but in addition to no color, we do hear it lacks a touch screen. Bummer, but if the price is right, we'll bite.
EpixHD to appear on Cox next?
Looks like EpixHD may have a second distribution partner soon, Bloomberg is reporting rumors that it is close to a deal with Cox to bring the premium movie network / online streaming service to its network in 2010. Analys reports peg as many as 1,000 FiOS subscribers per day signing up for the channel in its first month there, but that investors are currently focused on the slow progress in expanding to other carriers for Epix. more than a third of them take advantage of the online streaming, we'll see if capped & throttled cable customers have the same response.
Midway mystery man Mark Thomas settles with creditors, receives $5 mil
We'll be straight with you -- the whole Midway legal debacle is far from over. We are, however, one step closer to the dissolution of Midway as it stands now, with the company's creditors and 87% shareholder Mark Thomas reaching an agreement and ending at least one lawsuit. After purchasing the stocks from former majority shareholder Sumner Redstone for the low, low price of $100k, Thomas is cashing out -- he'll be receiving "as much as $5 million ahead of other creditors, whose claims aren't backed by collateral," according to Bloomberg. The lawyer representing Midway's creditors, Linda Dakin-Grimm, told Bloomberg, "The committee is satisfied with the settlement," noting that it would allow for efforts to collect on other debts to proceed. Warner Bros. Interactive has already put in its $33 million bid for the company, whose auction will end on June 29. Though many questions remain unanswered regarding the relationship between Sumner Redstone, Midway's Board of Directors and Mark Thomas, one thing is absolutely certain: the folks still employed by Midway are not profiting from the executive shenanigans. We wish them the best and encourage any employee who would like to speak up about their time at the troubled publisher to contact us, anonymity ensured.[Via GamePolitics]
The 30-second iPhone finance app shootout: Apple vs. Daily Finance vs. Bloomberg
Our corporate cousins at AOL Money & Finance (by AOL, Engadget's parent company) just released their Daily Finance app for the iPhone, and since it's kinda cool when someone in the family releases a top-rated mobile app, we thought it'd be a good opportunity to sit down for a second and compare it to Stocks -- the built-in "finance" app that every iPhone owner has whether they want it or not -- and another top-rated finance app, Bloomberg. The screen shots tell much of the tale; read on for the quick take, but here's a preview of what we found: Apple should get out of this business and let the big boys play.
AOL Daily Finance app raises the bar for iPhone investment tools
The Finance section of the App Store does feature some heavy-hitters (Bloomberg, ATM Hunter) and some fairly weak beer too. A lot of these apps are unitaskers, particularly when it comes to stock quotes and charting. For a full-featured and free investment information portal, and a strong competitor to the Bloomberg iPhone app, you may want to try the newly-released AOL Daily Finance, powered by the dailyfinance.com site. The first key feature to note is the free real-time equity quote service, provided from the BATS Exchange; major exchange (NYSE & Nasdaq) quotes are delayed, though. You can quote individual symbols or watch your entire portfolio with ease, whether you enter it on the device or link to your existing lineup under your AOL or AIM screenname; up to 25 separate portfolios can be managed. You can also view up-to-the-minute financial and market news from the AP and other sources. The other standout feature of this app is its comprehensive charting support. Clicking the chart button on an equity page brings up a straightforward chart, but rotate your device into landscape mode and you're in a Cover Flow-esque lineup of all the charts in your portfolio. Double-tap a chart to access a full suite of advanced comparison options (vs. markets, vs. peers, seasonality, showing events like earnings & splits, and custom symbol comparisons). Holding down a finger on a single-line chart enables a crosshair cursor that lets you see the specific data for any point on the chart. All the functions are intuitive and easy to use; the charts are cached so you can see most of your data even if your device is disconnected from WiFi or cell service. If you're of a mind to keep an eye on the markets while you're on the move, you may find this app has the tools you're looking for. Check out the gallery below for a few screenshots. %Gallery-50309% Editor's Note: TUAW's parent company Weblogs, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL.
Apple makes Fortune's list of bonehead moves (twice), still a best place to work
With the end of the year comes the cavalcade of best and worst lists, just in case you didn't know what was best and what was worst over the course of the year. Apple made glassdoor.com's list of "50 Best Places to Work," placing 19th. It scored a 3.8 out of five, and 90 percent of employees approved of the job that CEO Steve Jobs was doing. 303 employees completed reviews at the site, contributing to its score. (The reviews themselves are interesting to read, incidentally, if you have a few minutes to kill.) On the other hand, Apple made Fortune magazine's list of 21 Dumbest Moments in Business for the year, twice -- but the second time really wasn't its fault. The first head-smacker, at number six, was for the approval (and subsequent removal) of the "I Am Rich" iPhone application. "The real losers?" Fortune asks: "The eight suckers who bought it." The second blooper, number 19, actually goes to CNN and Bloomberg for two false stories about Steve Jobs' health. Bloomberg accidentally released an obituary on August 28, and retracted it the same day. In a similar gaffe, a post on CNN's iReport site falsely claimed that Jobs had suffered a heart attack. CNN took down the post -- but not after Apple's stock dipped 10 percent in 10 minutes. Ouch. [Via Macsimum News and MacNN.]
Courts dismiss iPhone battery lawsuit
If you remember when the first, first-generation iPhone launched, Jose Trujillo sued Apple over the fact that the handset has a non-removable battery. That lawsuit has now been dismissed. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said in his opinion, "Apple disclosed on the outside of the iPhone package that the [battery has] limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by [an] Apple service provider." "Under the circumstances, no reasonable jury could find that deception occurred." Trujillo sued Apple in Illinois state court in July 2007, accusing the company of consumer fraud. [Via MacRumors and Bloomberg.com.]
Fear the Bloomberg Bozo
One of my Denver-area buddies, fellow Apple consultant J. Charles Holt of PEBMAC, was checking the Bloomberg Mobile iPhone application (click opens iTunes) this morning to see how the market was doing. What he found in the app is something downright weird -- Bozo the Clown. Charles originally posted this find on MacRumors. Being the skeptic that I am, I followed his instructions, took a screenshot of the app's opening screen. As you can see from the image below, there doesn't appear to be anything odd with the picture: At certain angles it does appear that there is something in the leftmost monitor. Charles sensed this, brought the photo into Photoshop, and did a bit of work with the Brightness / Contrast feature. (see the results on the next page)
Rumors of Steve Jobs' death greatly exaggerated
You have to figure that major news outlets keep obituaries on hand for all kinds of public figures and celebrities -- still, you can't help feeling a bit of a chill upon learning that notice of Steve Jobs' death mistakingly hit the wires yesterday afternoon. A slip-up at news outlet Bloomberg caused the lengthy obituary to roll across a number of screens before being pulled -- but not before a Gawker tipster was able to send off a copy to the gossip site. Under normal circumstances, this would probably come off as a random gaffe with minimal impact, but given recent reactions / over reactions concerning Jobs' health (thanks in no small part to his appearance at WWDC, pictured above), this comes off as a rotten-timed moment in journalistic and technical butterfingerism. We can only hope this didn't send too many investors into a tailspin -- we'd hate to see any War of the Worlds moments caused by something so silly.[Via CNET]
Linden Lab sets terror-alert level to 'Google'
Linden Lab certainly showed signs of fear when Google's Lively kicked off its public beta. Now we're seeing signs more akin to terror, panic or desperation. 'Who wouldn't be concerned when Google comes after their business?' said new Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon to Bloomberg. Given recent changes and marketing pushes, you can see Linden Lab's management showing a sheen of sweat. Curiously, it seems that Google isn't after Linden Lab's business -- Lively's certainly no competitor to the business that Linden Lab has. However, what Google represents seems to be a threat to the business that Linden Lab wants to have. This week saw the hiring of Frank Ambrose (AOL's head of technology for infrastructure and network services for a decade) as Senior VP of global technology. While Ambrose has more tech knowledge than the average suit in his position, his primary competencies seem to be negotiations, coordination, contracts and costs -- which all marries up nicely with Linden Lab making a push into corporate, government and military sales, and hiring additional staff to do just that. We're not sure what they're going to be selling, exactly, but virtual environment meeting spaces are probably right at the top of the list. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
