LarryCohen
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The AT&T / T-Mobile senate hearing: deciphering the war of words
Over the course of the next year, AT&T and its opponents will be in the ring, duking it out in a war of words in attempt to convince the government that a $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T should or should not take place. Consumers have the most to win or lose here, yet we are resigned to watching from the sidelines as both sides lob countless facts and stats at each other like volleys in a tennis match. If you look at the merger process as a stairway to climb up, AT&T is still near the very bottom. Every rung will be full of intense scrutiny as it is: if the two companies are allowed to merge, the national GSM market becomes a monopoly, and the wireless industry as a whole would shift to only three national players plus a handful of less-influential regional carriers. The carrier's going to blow as much as $6 billion if the merger is not approved -- almost enough to buy Skype -- it can't just expect to put up some feel-good facts and stats to win the hearts of the decision-makers. AT&T has to be absolutely sure it'll come out victorious in the war, else it risks losing the trust (and money) of its shareholders. But to accomplish such a feat, it has to be on top of its game. There was no better time to show off what it's made of than last week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing conducted by the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. When the Committee entitles a hearing "Is Humpty Dumpty Being Put Back Together Again?," it's either exercising a sense of humor or a preconceived notion of the merger due to the implication that Ma Bell is simply reforming. CEO Randall Stephenson appeared as a sacrificial lamb, going before Congress and his opponents to explain his side of the story, answer hardball questions, and endure a hard-hitting round of criticism. Continue reading as we take you topic by topic and examine what he -- and his opponents -- had to say about the merger.
Silicon Valley Homebrew Mobile Phone Club formed
Generally we're not the type to engage in wild and baseless speculation, but we imagine that if the just-formed Silicon Valley Homebrew Mobile Phone Club produces even a fraction of the wealth-producing talent of its namesake, the area's venture capitalists would be wise to show up to a few meetings and press some flesh. This new club, an homage to the Homebrew Computer Club that included Apple founders Steve and Steve, was organized by Matthew Hamrick and Larry Cohen as a first step in turning cellphones into the configurable platforms that PCs have become. Hamrick and Cohen envision hackers and modders worldwide (but no cloners, thank you) sharing information on their disparate wireless tinkering, meeting both virtually on the 'net and face-to-face at regular gatherings, with the goal of creating more feature-filled, individually-tailored convergence devices. Our first request for the members? We want a Motorola MPX-styled handset running Vista for Tablet PC on a 1.xGHz dual core processor with 4GB of RAM, 30GB hard drive, SLI-enabled graphics (good luck with that!), eight megapixel camera, and of course, 802.11a/b/g/n, WiMax, Bluetooth 2.0, and, just for fun, both HSDPA and EV-DO Rev. B.
