split
Latest
Motorola's phone unit starts filing with FCC under post-split name
Divorces certainly can be long, drawn-out processes, can't they? Yes, granted, Motorola's oft-ballyhooed split into two companies is a totally amicable one designed primarily to optimize the chances of the phone unit's survival, but the fact remains that this whole process has been going on since 2008... and it's not over yet. One little step happened this week, though: the phone unit up until this point had been filing RF test reports with the FCC under the name "Motorola Inc.," but they're now filing as "Motorola Mobility, Inc.," which is the name of the phone-focused spinoff. Of course, survival can't be assured (or even be made possible) without a never-ending torrent of awesome hardware... so you're not off the hook yet, guys.
Destiny of Velious details announced for EverQuest II
This year's Fan Faire has been kind to fans of EverQuest II and EverQuest, with the announcement of new expansions and a mysterious further project for the franchise. The fine team at The EQ2 Wire sat in on a discussion of all of the new features and details of the upcoming expansion, Destiny of Velious, and they transcribed their notes from the event. While the notes are a bit disjointed, they should give players quite a bit to look forward to and a number of tidbits to munch on. If there has to be a downside, it's likely the fact that the Othmir will not be added as a playable race -- in fact, no race will be added to the playable roster. But there's a lot for fans to mull over even with the questions that the team declined to answer. Most interesting is that the expansion's release will be split into two parts, with part two possibly coming via update rather than a separate release. There are also plans for flying mounts in every overland zone of the game, rather than the "some" that was announced earlier. EverQuest II players should promptly take a look at the latest news, as it's going to be an interesting ride.
Motorola's split plan calls for a debt-free, cash-heavy mobile unit
Moto's composed of a number of fairly distinct divisions that produce vastly different kinds of hardware for different industries; some are cash cows, others -- namely the handset and set-top box units -- aren't. It looks like the company is preparing a pretty radical plan for its upcoming split that would call those underperforming divisions to get most of the cash reserves and almost none of its debt. Actually, neither Motorola Mobility nor Motorola Solutions (as they'll likely be known) will see much of the combined company's current debt load, as they're currently undertaking a massive debt buyback; afterward, Mobility will allegedly be cut a check for somewhere between $3 and $4 billion to go about its high-stakes business in the ultra-competitive smartphone game. The idea is to position both post-split companies with as much leverage as possible for acquisitions and low-cost borrowing. Solutions shouldn't have a problem, as its businesses already generate the overwhelming majority of Moto's cash -- but for Mobility, this should give the lil' sprout the best chance it has for survival.
Palm splits with ad agency Modernista
According to a report from Advertising Age, Palm has mercifully, finally, really parted ways with its ad agency, Modernista -- the house responsible for some of our least favorite ads ever. If you need a memory jog, here's them telling the world that they loved creeping people out with Palm ads. The AdAge article says that the company is currently in talks with various other ad shops, though there's no clear word on who that new team will be, or when we'll see the fruits of their labor. We don't have much to add to this in commentary except to say that this is probably the second smartest thing Palm has done in a span of seven days -- the first was striking that amazing deal on Verizon for a super-cheap Palm Pre Plus along with free Mobile Hotspot service. Now, we can look forward to a future where our children won't cower in fear when they see a Palm ad on television, and we can sleep at night without the image of that pale woman burned into our minds. Of course, now that we've seen it, we can never un-see it.
Random House leery of iPad over pricing concerns
We've heard that Apple is still trying to hammer down multimedia content, but print may not be in the bag just yet. Random House is apparently applying some last minute pressure to Apple, since the company says that it's not quite sure about how pricing will work on the iPad. Apple's offer is that it will take its 30% of profit in that 70/30 "agency" split, but Random House is waffling and claiming that they need to think about it before anything gets signed. If you ask me, it sounds like they're just pushing for a little more control while they still can. iBookstore pricing all seems pretty solid, and most of Random House's competitors have already signed on. This means that, if Random House does pass on Apple's deal, not only will they not be selling books, they'll also be left in the lurch when the iPad does take off. Right now, before the iPad's actual earnings become anything but hypothetical, Random House can pose all it wants. However, I'm pretty sure that after April 3rd, Apple will have most of the cards in terms of making content deals on the iPad.
Motorola to roll out revised plan, schism not so clear-cut anymore
Remember Motorola's decision to pause the sale of its largest division? Change of plans again, folks. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company's getting ready to reveal a new initiative, whereby it still sells its wireless networking business, but the set-top box and core handset business would instead be spun off into a new, publicly-traded company. That'd invariably leave a pretty small Motorola -- less than one-third its current size in terms of sales, selling primarily public-radio system and bar-code scanners. Would the newly-minted company get a new name, logo, and series of catchy, name-inspired puns? Our guess is it'd retain the Moto name -- why waste such good branding -- but it's not confirmed either way. Plans are still being finalized, but we're watching this closely.
Amazon Kindle moves to App Store's 70/30 revenue split
Most of the rumors coming out about next week's event say that there'll be a tablet with a lot of similarities to the popular Amazon Kindle device, but even before Apple takes the stage, Amazon is taking one of the new ideas for its own. The online retail powerhouse announced that it is adapting a payment model for content providers that's very similar to the App Store, with a 70/30 split on pay sharing. There are a few limitations (there's still a cost for delivery, and the publisher has to conform to a number of price, feature, and location standards), but essentially, Amazon is taking the exact same model that has worked so well for both Apple and its development partners, and bringing it to the Kindle platform. The timing is interesting -- with Apple just about to release what many expect to be a Kindle competitor, you have to wonder what Jeff Bezos is thinking. You have to wonder what Apple will do, too: while there are certainly all kinds of other things the theoretical tablet can do, it's possible that, if they are as close as some people think, Apple and Amazon will end up competing over content delivery, and one or the other may have to change its royalty offerings in order to attract more premium content. That's all a ways down the line, of course -- first, Apple needs to announce the tablet, and then we have to see what happens in terms of releasing content for it. But there's no question Amazon and other companies are watching Apple's plans in the App Store, and it'll be interesting to see what comes next.
Motorola pauses split to mull options
Amazing what a little success will do to a company, isn't it? The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Motorola has put the brakes on its search for a buyer for its Home and Networks Mobility division that's responsible for the company's set-top boxes and network infrastructure equipment. It's easy to see why this might be a good time for Moto to pause and take stock of its situation -- while no one's even close to calling the Mobile Devices division's turnaround complete, the focus on Android appears to have injected fresh interest (and commercial success) in a lineup plagued with countless duds just a year ago. Apparently the company is also discouraged by the fact that suitors have lowballed Motorola's expected sale price by a billion or two, but make no mistake, the split isn't off altogether -- the executive board is expected to convene in the next few days to figure this all out before the next round of bidding is due in February. Stay tuned -- by the end of the year, we could realistically be looking at one, two, or even three Motos depending on how this goes down.
The sudden popularity of GDKP
We've been seeing this GDKP thing sneak up on the forums and elsewhere a lot lately, and while Scott has mentioned it (in a somewhat disparaging way, in fact), we haven't really taken a good look at it yet. So let's do so. GDKP stands for Gold DKP, which is kind of a mishmash of acronyms. DKP, or Dragon Kill Points, are a very popular way of determining loot division in a raid -- the concept dates back to earlier MMOs, and involves players earning points per boss kill that they can then spend on gear. We've talked about other DKP systems before. But rather than awarding loot based on arbitrary points, Gold DKP, as you may have guessed, instead gives loot to the player willing to pay the most gold... to the other players in the raid. The way it works is this: You go into an instance, say Naxx, and everyone knows ahead of time that it is a "GDKP run," or a "gold run," or a "cash run." You down the first boss, and Webbed Death drops. The master looter then takes bids of gold on the item (this can be done via public chat or via an addon), and whoever bids the most gold gets the item. The person who wins then pays that amount of gold (some raids have minimum bids of, say, 100g) to "the pot," and the raid moves on. Another boss drops, another item drops -- usually all items, including recipes and mats, are auctioned off -- and another high bid goes into "the pot." Then, at the end of the raid, the pot is evenly split among all members. Everybody who joined in on the raid gets an even share of the bidded gold, including people who got no items, or the Mr. Moneybags who won them all.
Australian government tells Telstra to split up... or else
Australian giant Telstra is being given the ol' Ma Bell treatment this week, getting slapped with a breakup order courtesy of the government with a steep penalty for failing to comply: blockage from future spectrum acquisitions and a forced sell-off of its cable television business and its 50 percent stake in satellite operator Foxtel. We're no MBAs around here, but that certainly seems like a strong-enough motivator to get moving on a logical breakup of Telstra's many businesses, including Australia's largest wireless provider (and largest everything, come to think of it). As a final warning, there's a threat of a AUD $10 million (about $8.6 million) fine for anti-competitive misbehavior, so all things considered, Optus and Vodafone should be feeling pretty good about the situation at the moment. [Thanks, John]
Sony Ericsson exec dismisses rumors of a schism
Despite some nasty financial losses and a rumored smackdown of a PSP phone proposal, the Sony Ericsson joint venture is apparently as strong as ever. That's what Senior Marketing Manager Richard Dorman is saying, denying any talks of a split. He also noted that both companies had been losing money in their respective handset division prior to the assimilation, and the partnership is "full steam ahead." That's great, now how about showing us some more Hikaru, hm?
DoCoMo and Fujitsu show off splitting phone at CEATEC
DoCoMo and Fujitsu are showing off some interesting phone tech in Japan at this year's CEATEC, particularly a concept device which can be split into two pieces. The gadget features a separate screen and keyboard segment, and the pieces can be configured in a standard flip-phone-like arrangement, or snapped together to form an X1 or Touch Pro-esque landscape QWERTY variation. The two halves are held together by magnets and communicate via Bluetooth. Of course, right now this is very much in the concept phase, and honestly -- aren't we trying to minimize the amount of electronic components we're carting around? Still, it's a fairly slick design, and certainly a new way of thinking about phones. Take another look after the break, and hit the read link for a slew of pics.
Bigwigs tussle over DirecTV Latin America's future
Not that DirecTV CEO Chase Casey and his chairman John Malone have begun grabbing each other by the ties yet, but reports are flowing that the two aren't in agreement about the future structure of DirecTV Latin America. Liberty Media, which has a controlling stake in the satcaster, could actually spin DirecTV LA off once Liberty gains full control -- at least, that's the vibe being felt from Liberty CEO Greg Maffei. Carey commented that he wasn't "a fan of financial re-engineering," noting that spinoffs and "similar engineering options haven't been particularly successful." On a slightly related note, he also made mention that the satcaster's exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket deal may not remain that way after it expired in 2011 due to "cost considerations." Hate to say it, DirecTV, but we're pretty sure cable / fiber users nationwide won't feel sorry for you.[Image courtesy of Business Week, thanks Vanbrothers]
Ubisoft offering to split (s)hares at annual meeting
Ubisoft is planning on putting a two-for-one stock split to a vote at its September 22 annual meeting, Reuters reports. The French publisher's shares closed at €66.64 last Friday.We checked with analyst extraordinaire Michael Pachter to find out what this stock split means. Poking his head up from charts and graphs – flicking his abacus a few times just for show – he simply said, "It's not really a big deal." Pachter explains that commissions are higher if an investor buys fewer than 100 shares so: 100 shares at €65 requires €6500 in funds, or around $10,000. Since individual investors don't like investing that much in a single stock, by splitting the stock, the cost of 100 shares is cut to around $5000.That explained, Pachter turned his attention with giddy anticipation to the crystal ball he just received from Mystics 'R' Us in Eastern Europe and concluded, "It's really that simple."
Motorola to reorganize home and networks mobility business
So we waffled on whether to go with a sad Moto or happy Moto face, but as we've stated in the past, we suppose we'll keep on keepin' on with the former until something marvelous happens. Nearly four months to the day after Motorola split in two, along comes word that the separated home and networks division will now be segmented into three distinct units: broadband home solutions, broadband access solutions and cellular networks. According to a statement put out by the firm, the "organizational change will ensure that home and networks mobility remains agile, focused and ideally aligned to realize its growth potential," which is about as canned a statement as you could ever hope for. We've heard that three's company, but who knows how it'll play out here.
Linkinus 1.3 brings split chats, embedded videos, and a performance boost
Linkinus is the preferred IRC client for a lot of our readers, I know (personally I tend towards Colloquy, but only because I'm a cheapskate and it's donationware), and they kindly dropped us a note to let us know they'd updated to version 1.3. The new build includes the ability to split chat windows (as seen above), in addition to a revamped UI, "major" performance upgrades, plaintext and Spotlight support for logging, and a whole slew of fun things to play around with, including, we're told, a "Whisper" style that will actually embed images, audio files, and YouTube and Google videos right into your chat windows (a la Campfire). Apparently IRC isn't just text anymore.In fact, at $20 for all these features, Linkinus really is a steal for anyone who spends any amount of time in an IRC channel. Colloquy still does everything I need it to when I jump into IRC periodically, but if you want to chat like a pro in there, Linkinus is a great choice.
Motorola splits in two: Mobile Devices, and Broadband and Mobility Solutions
The board of directors has agreed to split Motorola into two independent, publicly-traded companies. The new entities will be called Mobile Devices and Broadband & Mobility Solutions. The Mobile Devices business will focus on the design, manufacturing, and sales of mobile handsets and accessories globally. The Broadband & Mobility Solutions business covers Moto's enterprise, government, public safety, and home and networks business. Greg Brown, Motorola's president and CEO, says the reason for the split is easy, "Creating two industry-leading companies will provide improved flexibility, more tailored capital structures, and increased management focus - as well as more targeted investment opportunities for our shareholders." Right, weren't those the reasons for the Palm split? The matter is of course subject to regulatory approvals, but Motorola hopes that the transaction is complete "in 2009."P.S. We're not sure whether this is a sad or happy Moto logo day. Regardless, we went with sad until we see signs of a turnaround.[Thanks, Matt E.]
Oakley's Split Thump: the relentless pursuit of fail
We're not sure why Oakley keeps gluing MP3 players to semi-fashionable sunglasses and expecting us to be impressed, but they've gone above and beyond this time by calling the latest model the Split Thump. Apart from sounding like a kitchen accident, it's the same old Thump concept you know and avoid, only this time with controls integrated into the O logo and detachable earpieces so you can just be a straight-up Oakley guy instead of a giant Oakley nerd. Pricing should make you feel similarly chumpish, with 512MB going for $249, 1GB for $299, and 2GB for a whopping iPod touch five Zune 30s Archos 605 $399. Coming your way in black and white soon, according to Oakley.[Via Acquire, thanks, Bernard]
BenQ Mobile to divide, be sold in pieces
'Tis a sad day for those at BenQ Mobile, as the Munich-based company will reportedly be split up and sold after failing to turn around the struggling unit it acquired from Siemens AG. Honestly though, this shouldn't come as any major surprise, as the endeavor has already had its plug pulled and suffered through an investigation into its bankruptcy filing, so it's simply following the unfortunately necessary series of events as its dwindles into oblivion. The outfit's insolvency administrator announced that there would be "no realistic chance" of it being sold off as a whole, but didn't elaborate on exactly which portions would be segmented for bidding. Furthermore, it's suggested that "nearly all of the 3,000 jobs" at the division would vanish, but at least 550 have purportedly already found employment in other areas. I guess we should now cue the sappy background music as we sneak a peek at BenQ mobiles that could have been, but sadly never were never will be.
