Seth's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/80583/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/140118-will-mail-order-game-rentals-push-blockbuster-s-numbers-higher?source=feed#comment-521611 521611
robert - the pricing is variable depending on the number of movies out at a time, and whether the monthly total is unlimited or capped. The range is about $4 to $20 (3.99 to 19.99)]]> Thu, 28 May 2009 13:50:29 -0400
robert - the pricing is variable depending on the number of movies out at a time, and whether the monthly total is unlimited or capped. The range is about $4 to $20 (3.99 to 19.99)]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/119812-live-nation-ticketmaster-merger-terms-announced?source=feed#comment-383442 383442
The first article, which is was written and posted before deal-terms were announced, discusses some of the concerns including antitrust issues, and comments made following the fiasco surrounding Bruce Springsteen tickets. It also includes a broader fact list about the two companies.

That first article is here on S.A too, or available as originally posted on Metue.com here: metue.com/02-10-2009/l.../]]> Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:05:20 -0500
The first article, which is was written and posted before deal-terms were announced, discusses some of the concerns including antitrust issues, and comments made following the fiasco surrounding Bruce Springsteen tickets. It also includes a broader fact list about the two companies.

That first article is here on S.A too, or available as originally posted on Metue.com here: metue.com/02-10-2009/l.../]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/113962-palm-s-pre-goes-a-step-further-than-the-iphone?source=feed#comment-353645 353645
Here, you're correct. No question. The original headline when published on Metue.com was "CES 2009: Palm Pre Gets the Spotlight." The reworked version on SA suggests the Pre is better, or will beat, the iPhone. As you noted, that's not the take of the article.

My take - to restate it in a sentence or two - The Pre and WebOS have some impressive, and well thought out, features. The phone is a slick device. first look, it impresses. Will it help Palm? probably. Will it be enough to grab "real" market share or take away from the iPhone or other devices out there (RIM, Apple, Nokia, etc)...that's much harder to say.

The products all have their strengths and weaknesses and will win raves or critisms depending on the needs of the reviewer.

Palm's facing a lot of challenges. They've made a nice device, and with it, now the company's story is sure to be a lot more interesting. iPhone killer? no. interesting competitor or addition to the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia smartphone world - looks like it.





]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:43:05 -0500
Here, you're correct. No question. The original headline when published on Metue.com was "CES 2009: Palm Pre Gets the Spotlight." The reworked version on SA suggests the Pre is better, or will beat, the iPhone. As you noted, that's not the take of the article.

My take - to restate it in a sentence or two - The Pre and WebOS have some impressive, and well thought out, features. The phone is a slick device. first look, it impresses. Will it help Palm? probably. Will it be enough to grab "real" market share or take away from the iPhone or other devices out there (RIM, Apple, Nokia, etc)...that's much harder to say.

The products all have their strengths and weaknesses and will win raves or critisms depending on the needs of the reviewer.

Palm's facing a lot of challenges. They've made a nice device, and with it, now the company's story is sure to be a lot more interesting. iPhone killer? no. interesting competitor or addition to the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia smartphone world - looks like it.





]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/105619-ea-sued-twice-more-over-use-of-drm-technology?source=feed#comment-305615 305615
Regarding sales rank -- Amazon publishes a number of different sales rankings...The article was referring to rankings in PC and Mac games categories as noted. There the game is #1 in simulation games (sub category), and holds top ten rankings in the PC and Mac categories. You're absolutely correct it's not in the top hundred overall when ranked across all platforms of video games. 109, is the latest I saw there.

Even so, the article should have read "a top seller" not "the top seller". Thank you for raising the point.

]]> Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:44:58 -0500
Regarding sales rank -- Amazon publishes a number of different sales rankings...The article was referring to rankings in PC and Mac games categories as noted. There the game is #1 in simulation games (sub category), and holds top ten rankings in the PC and Mac categories. You're absolutely correct it's not in the top hundred overall when ranked across all platforms of video games. 109, is the latest I saw there.

Even so, the article should have read "a top seller" not "the top seller". Thank you for raising the point.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/99591-how-will-the-market-react-to-apple-s-new-macbooks?source=feed#comment-280933 280933 It'll be interesting to see how the market reacts to whatever is revealed. There's definitely a lot of concern about the holiday quarter and how corporate/consumer spending patterns will impact it. ]]> Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:40:15 -0400 It'll be interesting to see how the market reacts to whatever is revealed. There's definitely a lot of concern about the holiday quarter and how corporate/consumer spending patterns will impact it. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/94850-apple-reveals-new-nanos-touches-in-fall-event?source=feed#comment-251037 251037
Stalky- the graphic does show the vertical first and second generation Nano followed by the squat 3rd, and then the new, again tall, fourth edition that was just revealed. The scale for each picture is staggered to suggest 'evolution.' Maybe that scaling, or the dates, which correspond to the day each model was announced, confused?]]> Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:56:59 -0400
Stalky- the graphic does show the vertical first and second generation Nano followed by the squat 3rd, and then the new, again tall, fourth edition that was just revealed. The scale for each picture is staggered to suggest 'evolution.' Maybe that scaling, or the dates, which correspond to the day each model was announced, confused?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/91719-will-ea-change-the-gaming-industry-s-revenue-model?source=feed#comment-235045 235045
For those tracking related information, the original article on Metue has been updated to cover the FIFA offering as well. the article is available here: metue.com/08-19-2008/d.../]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:30:44 -0400
For those tracking related information, the original article on Metue has been updated to cover the FIFA offering as well. the article is available here: metue.com/08-19-2008/d.../]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/90735-how-much-will-the-app-store-contribute-to-apple-8217-s-bottom-line?source=feed#comment-229657 229657
14% is a number derived from company-wide results and the bulk of Apple’s revenue is generated from product sales that don’t have a comparable rev-share component. It’s not like they’re sharing 60% of MacBook or iPod product revenue with partners.

I chose to apply the margin rate to just Apple’s share (30% of Net Sales) because it yields a more conservative result which takes the revenue sharing component explicitly into account. Is it right? Maybe, maybe not. It’s acknowledged in the article that “using a Net Margin percentage taken as an average from the entire business can’t possibly reflect the differences in the different divisions. 14% works for the sake of putting something together but it’s a guess that could be off in either direction.”

As for the value of including the iTunes calculations - the original title of the article on my own site was “Modeling iTunes AND App Store EPS potential.”
]]> Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:28:00 -0400
14% is a number derived from company-wide results and the bulk of Apple’s revenue is generated from product sales that don’t have a comparable rev-share component. It’s not like they’re sharing 60% of MacBook or iPod product revenue with partners.

I chose to apply the margin rate to just Apple’s share (30% of Net Sales) because it yields a more conservative result which takes the revenue sharing component explicitly into account. Is it right? Maybe, maybe not. It’s acknowledged in the article that “using a Net Margin percentage taken as an average from the entire business can’t possibly reflect the differences in the different divisions. 14% works for the sake of putting something together but it’s a guess that could be off in either direction.”

As for the value of including the iTunes calculations - the original title of the article on my own site was “Modeling iTunes AND App Store EPS potential.”
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/86110-strongest-june-quarter-in-apple-history-doesn-t-satisfy-the-street?source=feed#comment-211910 211910
]]> Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:10:43 -0400
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/84371-will-the-internet-harm-media-s-major-players?source=feed#comment-202651 202651
I completely agree with you on point two. The ala carte ability to buy single songs instead of being forced to a full album is a major distinction I didn't include and should have... next time around, I guess.

On the nit over bypassing encryption, I partly agree there too. It's true, for those who choose to do it, it's not that hard to bypass the DRM on videos. And you're right it only has to happen once before it’s out there. On the other hand, the size of feature length video files requires anybody copying/moving/recodin... them from DVD work through issues of compression, bandwidth and computing power. That’s especially true if they want to re-encode to a DVD they can use with their television. It’ll take software and time. Are those challenges much of a blockade? Probably not. But viewing it in the context of what can be done on "main street" versus by the "tech savvy" leads me to think that added difficulty has some value to the broader debate. How much value though? Not sure.

]]> Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:15:36 -0400
I completely agree with you on point two. The ala carte ability to buy single songs instead of being forced to a full album is a major distinction I didn't include and should have... next time around, I guess.

On the nit over bypassing encryption, I partly agree there too. It's true, for those who choose to do it, it's not that hard to bypass the DRM on videos. And you're right it only has to happen once before it’s out there. On the other hand, the size of feature length video files requires anybody copying/moving/recodin... them from DVD work through issues of compression, bandwidth and computing power. That’s especially true if they want to re-encode to a DVD they can use with their television. It’ll take software and time. Are those challenges much of a blockade? Probably not. But viewing it in the context of what can be done on "main street" versus by the "tech savvy" leads me to think that added difficulty has some value to the broader debate. How much value though? Not sure.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/84108-iphone-3g-plans-around-the-globe?source=feed#comment-200826 200826
I've updated my original article on Metue to cover these changes and will continue to report on it as it unfolds. The update can be found here: metue.com/07-07-2008/i.../

]]> Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:44:45 -0400
I've updated my original article on Metue to cover these changes and will continue to report on it as it unfolds. The update can be found here: metue.com/07-07-2008/i.../

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/82156-inside-the-iphone-who-s-making-what?source=feed#comment-191235 191235 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:31:18 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/82156-inside-the-iphone-who-s-making-what?source=feed#comment-189531 189531 metue.com/06-19-2008/a.../)

For the quick summary here: there are reports Apple's cost structure for hardware may be as low as $100. There are also reports of exactly what AT&T will pay to Apple. Combined, if accurate, the iPhone 3G could be among the most profitable, per product, in Apple's portfolio. More in the link.]]> Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:40:30 -0400 metue.com/06-19-2008/a.../)

For the quick summary here: there are reports Apple's cost structure for hardware may be as low as $100. There are also reports of exactly what AT&T will pay to Apple. Combined, if accurate, the iPhone 3G could be among the most profitable, per product, in Apple's portfolio. More in the link.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/81049-time-warner-invests-in-comedy-website-no-easy-laughs-to-the-bank?source=feed#comment-184493 184493 I can appreciate your looking out for how your company is characterized and am glad you took the opportunity to speak up. It's not everyday two executives take the time to participate in conversation on their company.

To this article: this was primarily about Funny or Die and their new partnership. Since the references to the competitive landscape, which include MyDamnChannel, were intended to provide just a survey of the broad video marketplace, a detailed traffic analysis and discussion of other sites (yours included) was left out. That notwithstanding, the article should have referenced (and has been corrected on Metue.com (and will be adjusted on SA) to refer) to traffic growth for MyDamnChannel.com “in the early days” rather than as it appeared. For that edit that didn’t make the jump from my hand written notes to the final copy, I’ll deservedly take the shot.

As to the data, the linked article, of course, references numbers from its publishing date. With the editorial correction, that should be clearer and stall any confusion.

I also want to point out that the linked prior article noted two other things: 1. It was still too early to judge your traffic fairly, and 2. It said: Along with YouTube, “Adding a second outlet through MySpaceTV, and leveraging the strength of MySpace’s brand should significantly increase [My Damn Channel’s] audience reach and name recognition.”

The intent, then and now, was to revisit MyDamnChannel in a different posting to look in on that; to write an article that takes into account different measurements that are more appropriate to the business model you’ve adopted.

As I’m sure you’d be quick to point out, using Quantcast data, Alexa, ComScore or other page view numbers for your site (as was the original measurement) is potentially misleading. To note Funny or Die is getting 2.7m global unique visitors, or College Humor’s 1.3m, or your own 347k (via Quantcast) doesn’t give a complete picture. Since MyDamnChannel programming draws a sizable amount of views from syndication agreements with YouTube, MySpace etc, better measurement would be to count things like total video clip views and cross-site subscriber numbers.

Besides that, as a further caveat on unique visitors, Quantcast’s own disclosures point out that unique visitor metrics are actually “cookie counts,” a tabulation of total visitors based on the number of unique cookies placed or received by visitors to a site. Since many browsers and security programs routinely delete these cookie files, the actual number of unique visitors for a site can be thrown off due to repetition. The ‘overcount, ’ Quantcast says, can sometimes be a factor of two or three times greater than the actual number.

I’d be glad to touch base and hear your take for an appropriate follow up that focuses on MyDamnChannel, including the business model and audience acceptance.

In the interim, thanks for the messages.
]]> Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:04:41 -0400 I can appreciate your looking out for how your company is characterized and am glad you took the opportunity to speak up. It's not everyday two executives take the time to participate in conversation on their company.

To this article: this was primarily about Funny or Die and their new partnership. Since the references to the competitive landscape, which include MyDamnChannel, were intended to provide just a survey of the broad video marketplace, a detailed traffic analysis and discussion of other sites (yours included) was left out. That notwithstanding, the article should have referenced (and has been corrected on Metue.com (and will be adjusted on SA) to refer) to traffic growth for MyDamnChannel.com “in the early days” rather than as it appeared. For that edit that didn’t make the jump from my hand written notes to the final copy, I’ll deservedly take the shot.

As to the data, the linked article, of course, references numbers from its publishing date. With the editorial correction, that should be clearer and stall any confusion.

I also want to point out that the linked prior article noted two other things: 1. It was still too early to judge your traffic fairly, and 2. It said: Along with YouTube, “Adding a second outlet through MySpaceTV, and leveraging the strength of MySpace’s brand should significantly increase [My Damn Channel’s] audience reach and name recognition.”

The intent, then and now, was to revisit MyDamnChannel in a different posting to look in on that; to write an article that takes into account different measurements that are more appropriate to the business model you’ve adopted.

As I’m sure you’d be quick to point out, using Quantcast data, Alexa, ComScore or other page view numbers for your site (as was the original measurement) is potentially misleading. To note Funny or Die is getting 2.7m global unique visitors, or College Humor’s 1.3m, or your own 347k (via Quantcast) doesn’t give a complete picture. Since MyDamnChannel programming draws a sizable amount of views from syndication agreements with YouTube, MySpace etc, better measurement would be to count things like total video clip views and cross-site subscriber numbers.

Besides that, as a further caveat on unique visitors, Quantcast’s own disclosures point out that unique visitor metrics are actually “cookie counts,” a tabulation of total visitors based on the number of unique cookies placed or received by visitors to a site. Since many browsers and security programs routinely delete these cookie files, the actual number of unique visitors for a site can be thrown off due to repetition. The ‘overcount, ’ Quantcast says, can sometimes be a factor of two or three times greater than the actual number.

I’d be glad to touch base and hear your take for an appropriate follow up that focuses on MyDamnChannel, including the business model and audience acceptance.

In the interim, thanks for the messages.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/79800-iphone-by-the-numbers-apples-sweeping-tide-across-the-globe?source=feed#comment-179811 179811
Softbank has only about 18.8m subscribers (14.5m on 3G) to DoCoMo's 50+ million so its a smaller land grab. Apple was probably able to negotiate better terms. ]]> Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:14:08 -0400
Softbank has only about 18.8m subscribers (14.5m on 3G) to DoCoMo's 50+ million so its a smaller land grab. Apple was probably able to negotiate better terms. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/77229-icahn-has-two-days-to-breathe-life-into-micro-hoo?source=feed#comment-167587 167587
Tuesday, and today, the stock is indeed up higher but that gain happened after the news of Icahn's possible participation broke. It is fueled by the related speculation. That's also visible if you look at trading volume, Tuesday's result was more than double 3 month averages of about 38.5m shares.

Incidentally, if Icahn did buy 50m shares as speculated, he likely bought part of them on the days following Microsoft's withdrawal when trading volume was especially high and large purchases would have been less surprising. Facts: On may 5 trading volume was 279m and the 6th was 179m. The intra day prices on those days ranged from 22.97 to 26.25. ]]> Wed, 14 May 2008 14:29:42 -0400
Tuesday, and today, the stock is indeed up higher but that gain happened after the news of Icahn's possible participation broke. It is fueled by the related speculation. That's also visible if you look at trading volume, Tuesday's result was more than double 3 month averages of about 38.5m shares.

Incidentally, if Icahn did buy 50m shares as speculated, he likely bought part of them on the days following Microsoft's withdrawal when trading volume was especially high and large purchases would have been less surprising. Facts: On may 5 trading volume was 279m and the 6th was 179m. The intra day prices on those days ranged from 22.97 to 26.25. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/76672-take-two-s-new-gta-game-sells-well-ea-nothing-has-changed?source=feed#comment-165956 165956
Here, the initial three comments on this article, and the negative tone in a few of them, seems to reflect some of that frustration. It's clear at least two readers believe Take Two is not getting a fair valuation and that analyst Michael Pachter is not held in their high regard. Fair enough, but directing those criticisms to this article is off base.

This was not an article about valuation, nor Pachter. Nowhere does the article discuss whether EA's offer is fair, or reasonable. Nowhere does it discuss what Take Two might be worth. Nowhere did it take a position on whether Pachter is likely to be right or wrong.

Quite simply, this article was about two things: 1. Adding perspective to GTA IV sales data; and 2. looking at whether or not those sales results are likely to influence EA's current bid.

The research and analysis provided address just those two points. The reference to Pachter in context, as case in point, was an example of how analysts modeled for GTA IV sales before the retail release and how even the stellar sales results isn't changing their opinions. The point wasn't whether his analysis proves accurate but that the analysis didn't change despite GTA IV's sales performance.

]]> Sun, 11 May 2008 19:27:51 -0400
Here, the initial three comments on this article, and the negative tone in a few of them, seems to reflect some of that frustration. It's clear at least two readers believe Take Two is not getting a fair valuation and that analyst Michael Pachter is not held in their high regard. Fair enough, but directing those criticisms to this article is off base.

This was not an article about valuation, nor Pachter. Nowhere does the article discuss whether EA's offer is fair, or reasonable. Nowhere does it discuss what Take Two might be worth. Nowhere did it take a position on whether Pachter is likely to be right or wrong.

Quite simply, this article was about two things: 1. Adding perspective to GTA IV sales data; and 2. looking at whether or not those sales results are likely to influence EA's current bid.

The research and analysis provided address just those two points. The reference to Pachter in context, as case in point, was an example of how analysts modeled for GTA IV sales before the retail release and how even the stellar sales results isn't changing their opinions. The point wasn't whether his analysis proves accurate but that the analysis didn't change despite GTA IV's sales performance.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/74832-microsoft-turns-up-the-heat-on-sony-nintendo-xbox-prices-cut-internationally?source=feed#comment-160474 160474
Re your other comment: that goes to editors choices in choosing the title. I do agree with you, however, price cuts don't automatically "turn up the heat." They are an effort to increase competition (at the expense of margin) but there's no guarantee they will succeed. ]]> Fri, 02 May 2008 00:15:45 -0400
Re your other comment: that goes to editors choices in choosing the title. I do agree with you, however, price cuts don't automatically "turn up the heat." They are an effort to increase competition (at the expense of margin) but there's no guarantee they will succeed. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/73290-is-netflix-a-short-term-sell-or-a-long-term-buy?source=feed#comment-156649 156649 thanks for the comment. Regarding the ad markets, its about segmentation. Google is definitely one barometer but their income draws far less from display advertising then competitors so its an incomplete picture. It's the softness in the display sector at issue here. (That softness has been forecast for a while and can also be seen a little in Yahoo's projections, WPP's, Microsoft's and others).

To throw some numbers at it: Netflix spent more than $69m on display advertising between January and June 2007. Its a big part of SAC costs.

If you look at the mix of top 10 display advertisers back in November, 7 of the top 10 were financial services firms. If you look at the data for Feb '08, it's down to 4 (5 if you include an Auto insurer). Netflix, at the same time, is in the top 10 at number 7.

....Per earnings, their SAC costs were down to the lowest level since going public yet their stake in Display ads was up. That seems to support the argument in my article. ]]> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:43:03 -0400 thanks for the comment. Regarding the ad markets, its about segmentation. Google is definitely one barometer but their income draws far less from display advertising then competitors so its an incomplete picture. It's the softness in the display sector at issue here. (That softness has been forecast for a while and can also be seen a little in Yahoo's projections, WPP's, Microsoft's and others).

To throw some numbers at it: Netflix spent more than $69m on display advertising between January and June 2007. Its a big part of SAC costs.

If you look at the mix of top 10 display advertisers back in November, 7 of the top 10 were financial services firms. If you look at the data for Feb '08, it's down to 4 (5 if you include an Auto insurer). Netflix, at the same time, is in the top 10 at number 7.

....Per earnings, their SAC costs were down to the lowest level since going public yet their stake in Display ads was up. That seems to support the argument in my article. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/72862-is-apple-making-way-for-the-new-iphone?source=feed#comment-153893 153893
Regarding Infineon - The leaks from the Asian manufacturing industry have a spotty track record. Still, the buzz is they do have it.

Regarding the games - that sure looks to be the case. When the SDK was released a number of games were featured in the press show. They included a mobile version of EA's title Spore. And another game built around flying Star Wars spaceships. That model used the accelerometer in the phone to make it function similar to a Wii control..eg/ motion activated. (More on the SDK release can be found in part 2 of this article from Metue for those curious: metue.com/03-06-2008/a.../)

As for the camera - as a factor of battery life and storage, your guess makes sense. There's also been some talk about both a front and rear mounted lens (one to support video conferencing). If that turns out to be true, it would back you up even more.

A final comment - June definitely has the grapevine as the whisper date. On the other hand, an earlier announcement has gotten some rumor mill time too. At this point, the time line is a guess worthy of a betting pool all its own.]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:21:30 -0400
Regarding Infineon - The leaks from the Asian manufacturing industry have a spotty track record. Still, the buzz is they do have it.

Regarding the games - that sure looks to be the case. When the SDK was released a number of games were featured in the press show. They included a mobile version of EA's title Spore. And another game built around flying Star Wars spaceships. That model used the accelerometer in the phone to make it function similar to a Wii control..eg/ motion activated. (More on the SDK release can be found in part 2 of this article from Metue for those curious: metue.com/03-06-2008/a.../)

As for the camera - as a factor of battery life and storage, your guess makes sense. There's also been some talk about both a front and rear mounted lens (one to support video conferencing). If that turns out to be true, it would back you up even more.

A final comment - June definitely has the grapevine as the whisper date. On the other hand, an earlier announcement has gotten some rumor mill time too. At this point, the time line is a guess worthy of a betting pool all its own.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/72862-is-apple-making-way-for-the-new-iphone?source=feed#comment-153044 153044
Looking back over this past years adoption, I'd ask two questions: "how large a group of the phone's potential buyers were aware of the distinctions between EDGE and 3G and would stake their buying decisions on it?" Additionally, "how much, and how effectively, were those concerns handled by marketing materials and in store sales staff?"

Given the initial emphasis on the US market for the first generation, my expectation is the lack of 3G was far less significant than you suggest.


Unfortunately, there's no proof. As far as I know, not even the retail tracking firms have run a survey to ask if EDGE, or lack of 3G, was a factor in buying decisions. Lacking that, or actually sales data that can support either argument - the only way to measure is to see how the next phone sells when its released.

As that happens, I would expect that European/Global marketing becomes more of an emphasis than it was on the first generation. I'd also expect that to have an impact in some markets.

As for phone components and how the next model is bundled, we're all guessing. But regarding a camera, the chipsets I mentioned above (and that are thought to be top candidates for the phone) can support 5 mpix cameras. There's even the prospect of video teleconferencing with a front mounted lens (which has also been speculated about). Whether Apple chooses to add a full function GPS component is another debate.

It's a "wait and see" game but I'd strongly disagree with the idea of "too little too late" as you mentioned in your comment.]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:52:20 -0400
Looking back over this past years adoption, I'd ask two questions: "how large a group of the phone's potential buyers were aware of the distinctions between EDGE and 3G and would stake their buying decisions on it?" Additionally, "how much, and how effectively, were those concerns handled by marketing materials and in store sales staff?"

Given the initial emphasis on the US market for the first generation, my expectation is the lack of 3G was far less significant than you suggest.


Unfortunately, there's no proof. As far as I know, not even the retail tracking firms have run a survey to ask if EDGE, or lack of 3G, was a factor in buying decisions. Lacking that, or actually sales data that can support either argument - the only way to measure is to see how the next phone sells when its released.

As that happens, I would expect that European/Global marketing becomes more of an emphasis than it was on the first generation. I'd also expect that to have an impact in some markets.

As for phone components and how the next model is bundled, we're all guessing. But regarding a camera, the chipsets I mentioned above (and that are thought to be top candidates for the phone) can support 5 mpix cameras. There's even the prospect of video teleconferencing with a front mounted lens (which has also been speculated about). Whether Apple chooses to add a full function GPS component is another debate.

It's a "wait and see" game but I'd strongly disagree with the idea of "too little too late" as you mentioned in your comment.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/71686-prepare-for-the-microsoft-google-gangsta-cloud-wars?source=feed#comment-147802 147802 There's an article on SA from February that gives a plain english primer on Cloud Computing. It also looks at how it might be playing into the Yahoo Microsoft deal. If curious: seekingalpha.com/artic... ]]> Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:19:48 -0400 There's an article on SA from February that gives a plain english primer on Cloud Computing. It also looks at how it might be playing into the Yahoo Microsoft deal. If curious: seekingalpha.com/artic... ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/71287-steve-ballmer-to-yahoo-board-three-weeks-and-then-things-get-nasty?source=feed#comment-146009 146009 www.microsoft.com/pres...]]> Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:17:12 -0400 www.microsoft.com/pres...]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/71287-steve-ballmer-to-yahoo-board-three-weeks-and-then-things-get-nasty?source=feed#comment-146007 146007 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:16:20 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/61997-armed-with-drm-free-music-yahoo-would-be-a-digital-music-force?source=feed#comment-113471 113471 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:13:59 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/60383-macbook-air-in-a-word-impressive?source=feed#comment-110813 110813 ]]> Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:09:52 -0500 ]]>