Week in Review (Week of Jan. 7)
Wow, what a week: an iPhone, a ton of new Nokia hardware, Motorola’s lower guidance, – the list just goes on and on. Definitely an exciting way to start the New Year.
First up, Motorola: After issuing a profit warning for the 2006 4th quarter, investors sent the stock crashing down almost 8%. Sorry, but the RAZR just isn’t cool any more. People have moved on to…
…the iPhone. Or is that IPhone? Either way, Apple Inc’s latest showing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas was just as everyone expected: slim, high-tech, and just oh-so-cool. Regardless of the fact that it has a wimpy 2 megapixel camera or runs Mac OS X. I want one too, dammit! The official announcement sent Apple’s share going entirely skyward, gaining almost 10% in two days. Of course, success doesn’t come easily. Which is why…
…Cisco Systems is suing Apple over the name “iPhone.” Cisco already sells VoIP (voice over ip) phones that make phone calls over the Internet (also called “iPhones”, and claims that Apple’s name clearly infringes on their products. On the other hand, Apple says the two products are different enough that they can just co-exist peacefully. The law is definitely on Cisco’s side on this one, but we’ll how it plays out in the future.
Going back to the Consumer Electronics Show, Nokia provided some insight into its new Nseries handsets – the N93i, N800, and N76. The only really noteworthy of the bunch was the N76, which is to say a complete RAZR look-alike with a Nokia logo stamped on it. Although under the hood, it’s still way more functional that Motorola’s KRZRs.
Nokia and Visa are teaming up to bring NFC (near field communication) to a vending machine near you. NFC, for those out of the loop, is a short-range protocol that allows sensitive data to be exchanged wirelessly – kind of like those magnetic cards that you might use to get into high-tech buildings. So instead of bungling around your wallet or panhandling for loose change, you can just use your Nokia phone to purchase that bag of chips.
And a sad wake-up call for Sprint/Nextel fans: Sprint sucks. Nextel sucks. You suck! The company announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs after a less than stellar subscriber month – Sprint lost over 300,000 monthly customers due to “service quality” issues.
And that’s – pant – all for this week. There’s actually a ton of more news out there, but I’m just too tired to think up anything creative.
this iphone is wicked! good job
Gadgets and gizmos galore!
Admit it. You’re a gadget freak. And even if you’re not? You don’t want to be left out of the cool-dude world of iPods, BlackBerries, RAZRs or TVs that connect to everything but your dog’s dishbowl. Once again, gurus Gates,…