An Apple rumor a day keeps a slow news day away. Right? Though idle chit chat about tech's most gossiped-about company pops up all the time, they tend to be quashed or talked to death before another one comes along that's juicier. One recent rumor is still floating around the Web.
Sometimes the rumors are generated by simply making logical leaps, as in Wednesday's Apple-will-use-Atom-processors yarn, which my colleague Tom Krazit flatly dismisses. Other times, they're based on rumors overheard in Asia, like last week when Gartner's Ken Dulaney said he heard that Apple has ordered 10 million 3G iPhone units that will carry AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) displays. Using those screens would allow Apple to make thinner phones that consume less power.
Gadget blog Gizmodo took exception to Dulaney's prediction, writing that OLED displays are too expensive, not as good as LCD screens in direct sunlight, and that Apple won't use an unproven technology.
That was last week. Now DisplaySearch is weighing in. Analyst Barry Young, who follows the AMOLED industry, says both are wrong--kind of.
Young points out that Samsung SDI is the only mass producer of AMOLEDs, and their maximum output is around 4 million units, which doesn't jive with the 10 million figure Dulaney gives. But he also disagrees with Gizmodo's assessment of AMOLEDs' performance, and points out that Apple has no problem using higher-end components and that the costs are already coming down since LG, Samsung, iRiver, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, and others are already incorporating the technology into their handheld devices.
So while neither is completely right, Young says that he knows Apple and Samsung SDI are at least talking to each other, so if anything, Dulaney may have just jumped the gun a bit. But it seems like this rumor just won't go away.
Bottom line, Apple is secretive. Until then, we can only speculate.
Google shouldn't buy Apple. Google should buy Venus.
The second planet from the sun remains an untapped market for search, and the overall opportunity for desktop applications has yet to be taken over by Microsoft, giving the search giant the chance to establish a working lab for its plans to move into online applications.
Plus, if science fiction films are to be believed, people from other planets often dress in flowing robes and have nightclub haircuts, which would fit in nicely with the hipster motif down in Mountain View, Calif.
It's either that, or they should develop a mini-sub to travel with Raquel Welch through the digestive tract of the president, a la Fantastic Voyage. Keeping billionaires occupied is no easy task.
Merger rumors--without them, I'd probably be out of a job. Not a week passes without some publication or analyst firm floating rumors that company X is about to invest in, or take over, company Y. Sometimes it isn't even a rumor: often, the reporter or analyst just sketches out why the two companies should get together.
Ironically, the fevered speculation rarely does any good. Reporters, and often those inside the companies, almost never accurately predict these things far in advance. Who saw the $850 million purchase of Bebo coming in the distance? Time Warner-AOL took everyone by surprise.
Hewlett-Packard buying Compaq also came as a surprise. "It is hard to find a successful example of one PC company buying another," said Webb McKinney, vice president of HP's personal computing group. He said that in April 2002, five months before the still-debated merger.
Meanwhile, the stadium is littered with predictions--IBM will buy Advanced Micro Devices; Microsoft will buy SAP; Dell will buy EMC--that come to naught.
You also might say it's pointless to listen to a beat reporter pulling in $71,500 a year on financial issues. But with the Bear Stearns meltdown, their opinion is just as good. Besides, since speculation won't stop, here's a guide to how to start successful rumors:
Go with big brand names
"Grand Auto to buy Kragen in hostile takeover." "Macrovision eyes Metabeam." "Is Cypress Semiconductor ready to make a play at Flatwire to get into WPAN market?" Those headlines don't really jump off the page, do they?
The public only cares about a few names--Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Dell, Sony, Time Warner--so stick to those. It doesn't even matter if a company is well-known. You could start a rumor tomorrow that Acer, which is bigger and more successful than Apple in the PC market, planned to buy Trinidad, and it would barely raise a ripple.
Keep the reasons to a 3x5 card
Don't think too deep. Pitching a merger is like pitching a film. If you think about it, the plot of No Country for Old Men is like Witness without the Amish, and look where it got the Cohen brothers.
Microsoft will go after Ask.com because it gives it insurance against the Yahoo deal. Social networking is big, and other people have money, so Facebook will be bought.
Never underestimate the power of shallow thinking. Acquicor went public in 2006 on the strength of a simple-as-dirt idea. The company was going to succeed because it would be run by Gil Amelio, Ellen Hancock, and Steve Wozniak, three Apple alum. Ignore for a moment that Amelio and Hancock oversaw Apple during its major decline and Wozniak has spent a good part of the last 30 years teaching at a junior high. Forming a merger company based on Apple talent raised $160 million. Afterward, it narrowed down its focus to the chip industry. Since then, the $6 stock has gone down to 70 cents, it's changed its name to Jazz Semiconductor, and it's looking at strategic options.
Find the hidden connections
This is perhaps the most crucial element in starting a good rumor. One computer company buying another is boring--too obvious. A merger rumor should try to push the acquirer into a new market, or uncover some hidden trait of the acquiree, that will subsequently flower. To do it successfully, you need to sound like a strategist and think like a stoner.
Thus, MySpace.com isn't a social network. It's the future of TV. Wikipedia will morph from a nonprofit collaborative information site to a start-up incubator based around novel, open-source IP. Intel needs its own TVs to sell Canmore, so expect it to purchase, or invest in, Pioneer. Solar companies don't make products as much as they deliver services, so expect to see Salesforce.com try to replicate its software-as-a-service plan here.
And don't forget: Google consumes an inordinate amount of electricity per year. If they can't tap that on Venus, then they should buy some undersea thermal vents.
Dell has long been rumored to be working on a handset, and the latest speculation is that Google will be part of those plans.
MarketingWeek reported Wednesday that the two companies are teaming up on a handset based on Google's Android mobile platform, and the official announcement will come at next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The report cites "senior industry sources," but notes that Google insiders are denying any such announcement is imminent.
Dell isn't talking either. Company spokesman David Frink told CNET News.com that the Marketing Week report is "speculative" and that the company has "no comment at all."
While rumors about a possible Dell handheld have been swirling since the hiring of Ron Garriques from Motorola a year ago, Google's name hadn't yet been thrown into the mix. Dell and Google do have an established relationship through the Google Toolbar that's available on Dell PCs, notes industry analyst Roger Kay. "Google has already done the work on Android. A more formal partnership would certainly be easy enough to establish," he said. Considering that, Kay says he judges the likelihood of a coming Google/Dell announcement to be "fairly high."
Dell hasn't done anything in the red-hot handheld market since it killed its Axim line of PDAs last April, and its recent moves toward a flashy design of its PCs and putting its products in retail outlets show it wants to court consumers. A nicely designed handset with multimedia functionality would do more to achieve that goal and show what kind of technology the company has up its sleeve.
(Credit:
Crave UK)
Our continental brethren at Crave UK have heard from a source at Asus that Apple's plans to build a tablet computer are definitely under way. Yes, the rumor has been around for years, but Asus is one of Apple's contract manufacturers, and we all know that it's all about the touch screen these days down in Cupertino.
According to the source, the tablet will supposedly be based on an entirely new blueprint, though no specs or other details are known. And it's always possible that a prototype is being made without any definite plans for production. Until we know more, Apple fanboys everywhere can only hope.
Read the full Crave UK item here.
LG Rumor
(Credit: Sprint)It hasn't been a rumor for a couple weeks now, but today the announcement came from Sprint on the release of the LG Rumor. (There's one name we really don't get).
Based vaguely on the earlier LG F9200, the Rumor has a slider design that hides a full QWERTY keyboard. You can get it in an eye-catching blue-and-black color scheme, pictured here, or a more pedestrian silver. The feature set isn't too shabby. It includes Bluetooth, a media player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, integrated access to Facebook and Xanga, a 4GB capacity MicroSD card slot, and POP3 e-mail. Missing, however, is support for Sprint's 3G network; instead the Rumor's data speeds top out at 2.5G 1xRTT.
Sprint is positioning the Rumor as an "affordable" device--the EV-DO support does cost a few extra pennies--so we'll be curious to see how all those multimedia services will fare in a 2.5G world. The Rumor will be available for purchase for $79 with service.
Throughout Facebook's recent and meteoric rise, one of the detractors raised by skeptics has continually been the social networking site's failure to show concrete proof of a strong revenue model.
But that all might change very soon.
According to a report on the Wall Street Journal's Web site, the social network is "quietly" assembling a new advertising model that will take advantage of the copious personal information that its members post on their profiles. These new advertisements would not be in the form of traditional graphical advertisements but would rather pepper the "news feed" of network activity, closely monitored by Facebook members who want to see what their friends have been up to.
"People familiar with the plan say Facebook wants to accomplish what Google Inc. did with AdWords, which lets anyone place ads next to search results by buying "keywords" online," the Journal's Vauhini Vara wrote. Considering AdWords was an arguably revolutionary step in Internet advertising, this is potentially a very big step for Facebook. This hazy new advertising model would let marketers take advantage of the fact that members of the social-networking site share not only basic data like their date of birth, gender, and ZIP code; but also more targeted data like favorite bands, notable quotations, and occupation.
Currently, much of Facebook's advertising revenue relies on a deal with Microsoft. There's no word on what this amorphous new advertising model would do to affect that partnership.
This post has been updated to include the Facebook app creator's statement on the issue.
Ouch, here's a zinger: contrary to reports, travel site TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. The news was originally reported on Inside Facebook on Thursday night.
A statement from a TripAdvisor representative read, "This is untrue. Beyond that, we do not have any comment."
The company isn't saying any more, obviously. You could really dig into the nuances of the statement, implying it to mean that either the entire rumor of the purchase is untrue, or just the price, or even just some of the details. However, we're going to assume that we should take this at face value and consider the entire acquisition to be an incorrect rumor.
UPDATE (1:53 p.m. PDT): Craig Ulliott, creator of the Where I've Been app, has confirmed that TripAdvisor has not acquired his creation. In a statement, he explained the situation: "There have been some rumors in the market that we have sold our business. These rumors are not true. Our future development plans, combined with our robust community of users, current growth rates, and the attractiveness of the travel vertical, have led to a number of strategic discussions with potential partners/acquirers, but we have not agreed to any deals and we are committed to building Where I've Been into a sustainable and profitable standalone business."
But, Ulliott added, we shouldn't wholly discount the possibility of an acquisition: "We are, however, exploring all avenues to maximize the value and usefulness of our product for our user base and we expect to announce new product features/enhancements," he explained, "from both internal development and through strategic business partnerships, in the weeks and months ahead."
Update 9:37 a.m. PDT: It turns out TripAdvisor apparently did not purchase the Facebook Platform application Where I've Been for $3 million. Here's our follow-up story.
Who knew that Facebook Platform applications might one day be million-dollar acquisition targets?
Inside Facebook is reporting that Where I've Been, a third-party application developed with the Facebook Platform APIs, has been acquired by online travel company TripAdvisor for somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million. Inside Facebook blogger Justin Smith did not cite any sources; we have sent requests to both Smith and TripAdvisor for comment.
Where I've Been was created by Craig Ulliott, a Philadelphia-based developer, and counts 2.3 million users. Through a clickable map interface, users can color-code countries and U.S. states that they've visited, lived in, or want to visit, and display the whole chart on their profiles.
This isn't the first Facebook app acquisition, as photo widget creator Slide purchased the 'Favorite Peeps' application a few months ago for $60,000 and travel site SideStep bought the 'Extended Info' app as well, but the TripAdvisor buy (if it is indeed true) is likely the first multimillion-dollar one.
Samsung U900
(Credit: Phone Arena)Remember back when Verizon Wireless COO Jack Plating scoffed at the iPhone in a company memo, calling it the "iWhatever"?
Yeah, we all chuckled. Although he couldn't point to a single device that would command the attention of the Apple phone, he tried to rally his troops by saying that AT&T wouldn't be able to compete with Verizon's choice of phones.
UTStarcom XV6800
(Credit: Phone Arena)Meanwhile, gadget blog Phone Arena says it's found Verizon's road map for which products are in store for what remains of 2007. Is this likely to erase the iPhone from our collective memory? Of course not. But here's what may be coming down the pipe.
Not all of these are new rumors--Samsung Electronics' SCH-i760 showed up on the "interwebs" last month, as did a Verizon-stamped Palm Treo 755p.
RIM Blackberry Pearl
(Credit: Phone Arena)But check out what else they found: The Motorola Q9m and Q9c--CDMA versions of the Q9h--and the XV6800 and SMT5800 from UTStarcom--both with slide-out keyboards. There's also an improved from Research In Motion.
Motorola Z6c and Z6tv, both multimedia sliders, are on the list, as are clamshells from Motorola (the basic 8630), and Samsung's U410, U700 and U900 (with a 3.0-megapixel camera and, according to Phone Arena, a decent camcorder). Two LG clamshells--the VX5300 and VX8350--round out the list (literally, they both have curiously rounded edges).
VentureBeat reported this evening that "an inside source" had informed them that Forbes Magazine--home publication of the now-outed Fake Steve Jobs--has acquired Clipmarks, a New York-based start-up that allows users to share snippets and bits of Web pages rather than simply a hyperlink or an entire article. This is done through a downloadable browser plug-in that enables "highlighting" up to a certain amount of text on a site.
A look at Clipmarks' downloadable 'highlighting' features.
(Credit: Clipmarks)No financial details were provided, but VentureBeat's Eric Eldon wrote that "Forbes finds the service useful for helping their reporters collect and share information about articles they are reading--and you may soon be seeing Clipmarks used in their stories and blogposts. They'll clip something, and then blog something quickly around it."
Clipmarks representatives were quick to respond to the rumors, and they were strikingly candid. Founder Eric Goldstein addressed the matter (how else?) by "clipping" it and then commenting on the shared text to clarify: "This article is a bit premature," Goldstein wrote. "We have not been acquired by Forbes. However, for the past few months we have been meeting with people at all levels of Forbes and the excitement and support they have shown for what we're creating has been very meaningful to us."
But don't count an acquisition out just yet, Goldstein hinted: "In the coming weeks i hope/expect to have a more definitive announcement about our relationship." Meanwhile, Clipmarks evangelist Eric Skiff had this to say in his Twitter feed: "Wow! I go away on vacation for a few days, and our big news leaks!...Clipmarks + Forbes = <3."
Keep an eye on this one.
