Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
From Bloomberg | BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion reported fourth-quarter sales and shipments that missed analysts’ estimates. The company spent 46 percent more on research last quarter, as it develops devices that can replicate the success of Apple’s iPhone or Motorola’s Droid.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Associated Press | Facebook is about to change the way it asks
its users to connect to brands on the site. Instead of asking people to
“become a fan” of companies such as Starbucks, Facebook will let them
click on a button that indicates they “like” the brand.
Facebook already lets people show that they like comments or pictures
posted on the site, and it says users click that term almost twice as
much as they click “become a fan.” Facebook says changing the button
will make them more comfortable with linking up with a brand.
Dow Jones Newswires | Apple’s upcoming iPhone, reportedly compatible with Verizon Wireless’
network, could help the carrier take the lead in its fierce two-horse
race with AT&T and have a domino effect throughout the smartphone
industry.
The nation’s two largest carriers are neck-and-neck each quarter in
nabbing the highest quality customers. But where Verizon Wireless has
done it with a myriad of products and its reputation for network
quality, AT&T has heavily relied upon its exclusive agreement with
Apple to sell the iPhone.
Companies that could be threatened if Verizon strikes a deal with Apple
include Motorola, which sells Verizon Wireless’s flagship Droid, and could struggle to create devices to match the iPhone’s hype. Motorola
shares rose 1 cent to $7.23 on Tuesday.
Dow Jones Newswire-WSJ | Apple Inc. is developing a new iPhone to debut this summer and also
appears to be working on another model for U.S. mobile phone operator
Verizon Wireless, say people briefed on the matter.
The people briefed on the matter said that the next iPhone is being
manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision
Industry Co., which produced Apple’s previous iPhones. The
other iPhone model that has CDMA capability is being manufactured by
Pegatron Technology Corp., the contract manufacturing subsidiary of
Taiwan’s ASUSTeK Computer Inc., these people said.
By Zoe Galland | What demographic is going to buy the iPad? According to market research firm The NPD Group, awareness of the iPad is high among Apple owners, people who make over $100,000, and 18-34 year olds. Among all consumers, 18 percent expressed an interest in buying an iPad, compared to 27 percent of 18-34 year olds and 24 percent of Apple owners.
Even if Apple owners and young adults are the ones most interested in the iPad, the 18 percent figure is still formidable. Investors are anticipating high sales for the iPad; by Monday’s market close, Apple shares had increased to $232.39.
Apple began taking preorders for the iPad on March 12, but Apple announced on Sunday that some online orders will take longer to arrive than expected — orders placed after March 27 will be shipped out on April 12. Customers can buy iPads right away in Apple’s stores on Saturday.
Tribune staff report | FedEx unveiled the first all-electric, full-size delivery vehicle in the U.S. Monday. The delivery truck was rolled out this morning at Soldier Field, before beginning a two-week road trip on Route 66. The zero-emission truck, built by Navistar, is designed to offer a full eight-hour shift of power before needing a recharge.
Associated Press | Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computer hits U.S. shelves on Saturday, but fans who want the new touch-screen gadget shipped directly to them must wait a week.
The company began taking preorders for the iPad on March 12, promising to get the device to eager buyers by its store launch date of April 3. Customers who placed pre-orders by March 27 will receive the device by that date, where Saturday delivery is available, but Apple said Sunday that new pre-orders won’t be shipped out until April 12.
By Wailin Wong
| Sprint Nextel Corp. has lost its appeal to an advertising watchdog
because of its boast of being “America’s most dependable 3G network.”
The dispute stemmed from a claim against Sprint that rival Verizon
Wireless made in November to the National Advertising Division of the
Council of Better Business Bureaus. The NAD asked that Sprint
discontinue its claim, prompting the company to appeal the decision to
the National Advertising Review Board.
A group of Chinese college students hold a candlelight vigil outside Google’s head office in Beijing on March 23. The placards say “We Love Google.” (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Associated Press | China issued a blistering public attack against Google on Wednesday and appeared to quietly begin getting businesses to abandon the U.S. Internet giant after it moved its controversial Chinese search engine offshore.
The critical remarks in a high-profile Communist Party newspaper, coupled with souring business deals, underscored Beijing’s determination to settle scores with Google after a public two-month dispute over stringent Chinese censorship policies. By challenging the often tetchy government, Google appears to have violated an unspoken rule of doing business in China, especially in the Internet industry, whose control Beijing sees as crucial to maintaining its authoritarian rule.
Associated Press | A computer hacker who helped orchestrate one
of the largest thefts of credit and debit card numbers in U.S. history
faces sentencing this week for hacking into computer systems of major
retailers, including TJX Cos., BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sports Authority.
Prosecutors plan to ask for a 25-year prison sentence for Albert
Gonzalez, a former federal informant from Miami who pleaded guilty last
year in three hacking cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New
York.
By Wailin Wong | Clearwire Corp., the telecommunications company that launched 4G mobile
broadband service in Chicago last year, said it has started upgrading
its network and expects to increase potential speeds by about 20 to 30
percent.
Chicago is one of 27 markets where Clearwire operates its 4G network.
Current speeds are comparable to a DSL connection, Clearwire said in a
press release, with average mobile download speeds coming in between 3
and 6 megabits per second. Clearwire’s network is designed to deliver
residential broadband-like speeds even when consumers are accessing the
Web from a mobile device and moving around the city. Sprint and Comcast
also offer 4G service under their own brands and using Clearwire’s
network.
Associated Press | Looking for its next big hit, Nintendo said
Tuesday it would begin selling a 3-D version of its popular handheld
console within a year.
The “Nintendo 3DS” will feature a 3-D display without the need for
glasses. The new portable gaming device will be compatible with
software made for earlier DS models, the company said.
Nintendo revealed little else in its brief statement, except to say
that it would offer details in June at the Electronic Entertainment
Expo in Los Angeles.
| Associated Press | Google Inc.’s partial withdrawal from the China market brought swift condemnation from the government Tuesday while leaving Chinese Web surfers to wonder whether they would be able to access a new offshore search engine site or be blocked by censors.
Google’s decision to move most of its China-based search functions to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world’s most powerful Internet company against a government that tightly restricts the Web in the planet’s most populous market.. |
See also • Google wins key EU ruling on fake Vuitton link |
By Wailin Wong | It may be a dirty job, but somebody has to speak up for Motorola’s phones.
The Schaumburg-based mobile phone maker has tapped Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” show, as the new spokesman for Motorola’s iDEN portfolio.
IDEN is a proprietary technology used for rugged, push-to-talk phones that run on Sprint’s Nextel service.
By Wailin Wong | The first U.S. smartphone by Dell will arrive “soon” at AT&T, marking the computer maker’s long-awaited debut in mobile phones.
Dell’s efforts in phones are led by Ron Garriques, the former chief of Schaumburg-based Motorola’s cell phone unit. He was hired by Dell to lead the company’s portfolio of consumer products, which includes phones. Dell has a small office in the Chicago area dedicated to mobile phones.
