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Microsoft’s Nokia Purchase Torches $16.6 Billion In Market Cap, Almost As Much As Ballmer’s Exit Added; Why Microsoft Had No Choice But To Purchase Nokia’s Handset Business; why Microsoft raced to Nokia deal

Microsoft’s Nokia Purchase Torches $16.6 Billion In Market Cap, Almost As Much As Ballmer’s Exit Added

ALEX WILHELM

posted yesterday

On the news that Microsoft will purchase substantial assets from Nokia, including its handset business and intellectual property, company investors have discarded its stock, sending it down 6 percent in regular trading. At current trade, that decline represents $16.6 billion in market capitalization, a stunning repudiation of the plan by investors. To put the decline in perspective, when current CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he will relinquish his role at Microsoft, the company picked up $18 billion in value. Read more of this post

Is the Kindle really the only e-reader that matters?

Is the Kindle really the only e-reader that matters?

BY NATHANIEL MOTT 
ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Reports of the Kindle’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Reports of other e-reader’s continuedslide into obsolescence, however, appear to be spot-on.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Kindle’s share of the Japanese market dwarfs that of homegrown products made by Sony and Rakuten — not because the Kindle’s competitors are technologically inferior, but because the Amazon Web Store is easier to use than Rakuten or Sony’s online marketplaces. Read more of this post

Kodak Exits Bankruptcy as Printer Without Photographs with ‘tech’ focus

Kodak emerges from bankruptcy with ‘tech’ focus

September 4, 2013 – 12:21PM

Bree Fowler

A slimmed-down Kodak has emerged from bankruptcy protection and says it will specialise in technology focused on imaging for businesses.

You can feel the spirit of George Eastman in Antonio Perez’s office. A picture of Eastman, who founded Kodak in 1880, sits among the current chief executive’s collection of family photos. The outer areas of Perez’s office, built and first inhabited by Eastman about a century ago, include some of Kodak’s Oscar and Emmy awards, along with a collection of historic photos. A large portrait of Eastman, who died in 1932, hangs near the entrance. Perez’s surroundings serve as a constant reminder of Kodak’s hallowed history in the print and movie film industries – and of the pressure he is under to revive the ailing company. Read more of this post

Microsoft Brings New ESPN And NFL Experiences To Xbox One

Microsoft Brings New ESPN And NFL Experiences To Xbox One

RYAN LAWLER

posted 18 hours ago

When Microsoft’s next-generation video game console launches in the fall, it wants to provide users with plenty of reasons to buy one. And what better reason is there than sports? With that in mind, the new Xbox One will feature improved apps for sports fans tuning in to ESPN and the NFL. The new ESPN app is designed to provide a personalized experience for users, highlighting all content that is relevant to them. There’s a fair amount of customization available for users — for instance, they can designate specific sports leagues or teams to follow and having clips, highlights, and news shown when they log in.

Read more of this post

Sony Eyes Sensors in Wearable Computers to Gesture TVs

Sony Eyes Sensors in Wearable Computers to Gesture TVs

Sony Corp. (6758) is considering applying its image sensors to wearable computers and hand-gesture TVs for growth as it expects smartphone revenue to peak around 2015.

The company plans to seek growth in developing the chips, already used in smartphones and digital cameras, for products such as self-driving cars and medical equipment, Yasuhiro Ueda, senior vice president for Sony’s image sensor unit, said in an interview. Read more of this post

Tesla Is the New Apple: Najarian; Any mention of the electric car industry leader’s stock in a favorable light is met by the sneering contempt unique to bears

Tesla Is the New Apple: Najarian

By Jeff Macke | Breakout – 17 hours ago

Tesla’s (TSLA) stock has done nothing but make people money but you wouldn’t know it from the Twitter-sphere. Any mention of the electric car industry leader’s stock in a favorable light is met by the sneering contempt unique to bears. Sure there are devotees but for the most part Tesla is regarded as a stock for cult-members, not investors. “If you talk positively about Tesla you’re some sort of fiend,” says OptionMonster’s Jon Najarian. “There are so many haters… you can see it by the 30% short interest.” In that sense Najarian says he hasn’t seen such instinctive contempt for “cult-ish” shareholders since the days when Steve Jobs was running Apple (AAPL). Read more of this post

The next version of Google’s Android operating system will be named KitKat

Sep 3, 2013

KitKat, Google’s Purely Promotional OS Flavor

By Greg Bensinger

GoogleGOOG +1.59% raised eyebrows Tuesday when it announced that the next version of its Android operating system will be named KitKat, after the trademarked NestleNESN.VX -0.73% candy bar. Sundar Pichai, Google’s head of Android, said in a blog post on Google+ that he was surprised to return from a trip to Asia only to find a giant statue of an Android-looking KitKat bar on the lawn. That Google named the latest version of its mobile OS after a sweet treat isn’t a surprise. Previous versions of Android software have been named after ice cream sandwiches, gingerbread and jelly beans. Naming it after a well-known brand, though, is a first. (We hardly knew ye, Android Key Lime Pie.) Is there more to this alliance? Will Nestle and Google somehow profit with money changing hands? Nope, says a Google spokesman. The KitKat promotion is just that — a promotion. Neither Google nor Nestle gets paid or pay as part of the accord. Still, KitKat packages will be graced with the familiar Android robot logo, and the two companies announced a sweepstakes for a limited number of robot-shaped KitKat candy bars, free Google Play app store credits and Nexus 7 tablets. But there will be plenty of marketing prowess on display. A verified Twitter account for KitKat, replete with the confectionery Android robot, retweeted praise for what many called Nestle’s marketing “win” and kept up with its own tweets. Google is only now getting to letter K in its march down the alphabet of OS names. What will future letters hold? Oreo? Whatchamacallit? Will OS names, like professional sports arenas, go to the highest bidder? Google isn’t saying.

Vodafone Decade of Patience Pays $125 Billion

Vodafone Decade of Patience Pays $125 Billion: Real M&A

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s payout from a decadelong dance with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) over the fate of their U.S. wireless joint venture was worth the wait.

By holding off until now to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone secured $130 billion, adding to more than $15 billion in dividend payouts since the venture was formed in 1999. With Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. estimating Vodafone’s initial investment at $20 billion, the company is getting as much as $125 billion more than that for a sixfold return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Read more of this post

YouTube marketing pioneer BH Cosmetics named to the Inc 500, proving the power of online brand building

YouTube marketing pioneer BH Cosmetics named to the Inc 500, proving the power of online brand building

BY MICHAEL CARNEY 
ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Nearly every brand and aspiring self promoter has a YouTube channel today that they use to “engage” with their fans. But this was hardly the case in 2009 when BH Cosmetics launched their first video content marketing initiative in 2009. At the time, BH founder Fred Sadovskiy, a former ad agency owner, was well ahead of his time. This foresight enabled the founders to build a massively popular online-only cosmetics brand without ever raising a dollar of outside financing. Last week, BH was named to the Inc 500 list (No. 448) as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, a feat that Sadovskiy attributes largely to the more than 200,000 videos his company his published and the more than 100 million total video views they have amassed over the last four years. Read more of this post

Verizon to Microsoft Buoy M&A Surge to Counter Tech Disruption

Verizon to Microsoft Buoy M&A Surge to Counter Tech Disruption

Ask telecommunications and technology bankers what they did this summer and many will have a simple answer: Deals.

There have been more than $240 billion of tech and telecom takeovers this quarter, led by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)’s $130 billion buyout of Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s stake in their wireless venture, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That puts the period on pace to be the busiest quarter since 2000, when AOL Inc. and Time Warner Inc. announced their merger, then valued at as much as $186 billion. Read more of this post

Timing of bullish Nokia options trades raises questions

Timing of bullish Nokia options trades raises questions

Tue, Sep 3 2013

By David Gaffen

(Reuters) – A flurry of bullish bets on Nokia just before markets closed on Friday are in line to pay off handsomely as a result of Microsoft’s move to buy the Finnish company’s handset business, and has once again raised questions about suspicious timing of such trades. Microsoft Corp said Monday that it would buy Nokia’s handset business for $7.2 billion in a bid to win market share in the mobile business. The announcement sparked a massive rally in Nokia’s U.S.-listed shares, which were up 30 percent on the day. Read more of this post

Why Nokia didn’t sell its patents to Microsoft

Why Nokia didn’t sell its patents to Microsoft

Tue, Sep 3 2013

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Nokia may have sold its handset business to Microsoft Corp, but by hanging on to its valuable patent portfolio, the Finnish company could also get a big future payoff at the expense of Android phone makers. Microsoft agreed on Tuesday to pay 3.79 billion euros ($5 billion) for Nokia’s handset business and another 1.65 billion euros for a 10-year license for Nokia’s patents, considered some of the highest-quality patents in the mobile market. Read more of this post

Why Microsoft and Nokia won’t live happily ever after

Why Microsoft and Nokia won’t live happily ever after

September 4, 2013 – 11:07AM

Stephen Hutcheon

Flashback: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, right, and Stephen Elop share the stage in November 2012. Photo: Bloomberg

Two-and-a-half years ago, the then recently recruited Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop fired off an email to his staff which became known as the “burning platform” memo. The email spelt out the uncomfortable truth: Nokia, the one-time mobile phone industry leader, was on the ropes and faced some difficult decisions. Those choices, he explained using a metaphor, were not unlike those facing a man working on a North Sea oil rig that had just caught fire. Read more of this post

Nokia Sale Marks End of an Era; Former Tech Giant Has Long History of Reinventionk

September 3, 2013, 5:23 a.m. ET

Nokia Sale Marks End of an Era

Former Tech Giant Has Long History of Reinvention

JOHANNES LEDEL

Nokia Corp.’s NOK1V.HE +33.94% decision to sell its handset business to MicrosoftCorp. MSFT -4.55% and focus on wireless-network equipment is the Finnish company’s latest attempt in its 148-year history to reinvent itself during a crisis. It also marks the effective end of a national champion and onetime global tech giant. “This is end of an era in Finland,” Jan Vapaavuori, the country’s minister of economic affairs said Tuesday. The deal with Microsoft will have a “mental effect,” he said, since Nokia long has been an important international brand with Finnish roots. Read more of this post

Microsoft-Nokia deal not necessarily good news for fellow device maker BlackBerry

Microsoft-Nokia deal not necessarily good news for fellow device maker BlackBerry

Matthew Braga | 13/09/03 | Last Updated: 13/09/03 4:50 PM ET
On the surface, BlackBerry Ltd. and Finland’s Nokia Corp. share much in common: both are struggling smartphone manufacturers fighting against fierce competition from Apple Inc. and devices running Google Inc. software in the battle for third place — with one key difference. Read more of this post

In Nokia, Microsoft Bets on Apple-Like Revival

September 3, 2013

In Nokia, Microsoft Bets on Apple-Like Revival

By NICK WINGFIELD

SEATTLE — With its purchase of Nokia’s phone business, Microsoft is taking inspiration from Apple’s way of making products, bringing hardware and software under a single roof where they can be more elegantly woven together. But Microsoft already bears a striking resemblance to Apple — the Apple of two decades ago, not the trailblazer of the mobile era. The $7.2 billion Nokia deal, which was reached late Monday, is unlikely to change that and catapult Microsoft up the ranks in the smartphone market. Read more of this post

Don’t cry for Nokia, Finland

Don’t cry for Nokia, Finland

By Michal Lev-Ram, writer September 3, 2013: 2:53 PM ET

Why the Microsoft acquisition — and Stephen Elop — may turn out to be Nokia’s greatest hope.

FORTUNE — It’s a sad day for Finland. Or is it? Sure, much of the phonemaker’s storied legacy — and future — is now in Microsoft’s hands, a bitter pill to swallow for many Finns. And yes, 32,000 Nokia employees will become part of the Redmond-based tech giant’s empire overnight, whether they like it or not. But Nokia’s (NOK) downward spiral began a long time ago, and the company wasn’t headed toward any kind of happy ending, with or without Microsoft (MSFT) swooping in to buy its devices and services business for $7.2 billion. What’s more, the deal may actually give the Finnish brand a sliver of a chance to regain some of its lost momentum. Especially if Stephen Elop — yes, the Nokia CEO and former Microsoft exec now blamed for this most recent turn of events — lands the top job in Redmond. Read more of this post

Australian billionaire James Packer bought 9.4 percent of Zillow Inc., becoming the second-biggest shareholder in the U.S. real-estate website

Billionaire Packer Buys Zillow Stake as Housing Rebounds

By David Fickling – Sep 4, 2013

Australian billionaire James Packer bought 9.4 percent of Zillow Inc., becoming the second-biggest shareholder in the U.S. real-estate website amid a recovery in the housing market. Cavalane Holdings Pty bought about 3 million shares, Seattle-based Zillow said in a filing, without giving financial terms. The stake is valued at $298 million based on Zillow’s last closing price. Cavalane, controlled by Packer, is Zillow’s largest shareholder after Caledonia Private Investments Pty, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Packer, who has a net worth of $6.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is betting on improving demand in the U.S. housing market. Confidence among U.S. homebuilders climbed in August to the highest level since 2005 as demand for new homes supports the market amid rising mortgage rates. In August, Packer sold about A$261 million of shares in jobs website Seek Ltd. (SEK) and fund manager Magellan Financial Group Ltd. (MFG) that were held by Cavalane, the vehicle he used in 2010 to buy into broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd. (TEN) Zillow climbed 2.7 percent to $99.09 yesterday. The stock has more than tripled this year, after advancing 23 percent in 2012.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Fickling in Sydney at dfickling@bloomberg.net

Apps bring lock and key into the digital age

Apps bring lock and key into the digital age

Tue, Sep 3 2013

By Natasha Baker

TORONTO (Reuters) – The lock and key has been a mainstay of security for thousands of years, but companies developing new apps are bringing them into the digital age, allowing people to share keys digitally and gain keyless access to homes. KeyMe, an app for the iPhone, aims to modernize the way spare keys are stored, and how copies are shared with family and friends. With KeyMe, home owners can photograph their keys, which the app converts into instructions that a locksmith can follow to replicate the key. Read more of this post

5 reasons 3-D printing isn’t quite ready for prime time

5 reasons 3-D printing isn’t quite ready for prime time

September 3, 2013: 3:02 PM ET

The 3-D printing market could triple by 2018, but don’t confuse that with a 3-D printing revolution.

By Clay Dillow

FORTUNE — If there was any doubt Wall Street is warming up to 3-D printing it was extinguished last week when Citi analyst Kenneth Wong initiated coverage of 3-D printer manufacturers Stratasys (SSYS) and 3D Systems (DDD), at the same time expressing in a client note that he believes the market for 3-D printing equipment and services will triple by 2018. The market “is on the cusp of seeing much broader adoption across more upstream production applications and the consumer end market,” Wong wrote. Shares of Stratasys and 3-D Systems — as well as others in the space — spiked. Read more of this post

Health.com.au’s Andy Sheats eyes health insurance shake-up

Health.com.au’s Andy Sheats eyes health insurance shake-up

PUBLISHED: 03 SEP 2013 00:05:00 | UPDATED: 03 SEP 2013 12:39:45

‘Health insurance is a massive industry and there is plenty of room for everybody,’ says Andy Sheats. Photo: Michel O’Sullivan

MERCEDES RUEHL

Former REA Group executive Andy Sheats wants to shake up the $16 billion private health insurance sector, the way realestate.com.au transformed buying and selling houses. The last new substantial health insurance company to open its doors was Medibank Private in 1997, according Mr Sheats. Even though the industry has moved online, he feels there is room for a new, more modern player. Launched in April 2012, his online health insurance company, health.com.au already generates sales of $45 million and employs 23 people. It has grown to cover 40,000 Australians. “Health insurance is a massive industry and there is plenty of room for everybody,” Mr Sheats said. “We are only doing $45 million out of a possible $16 billion so we are not really concerned about new entrants.” Read more of this post

Chinese Courier SFExpress Testing Parcel Delivery with Robotic Drones; China could become the first country to legalize parcel delivery by drone

Chinese Courier SFExpress Testing Parcel Delivery with Robotic Drones

By Tracey Xiang on September 3, 2013

S.F. Express, one of the largest couriers in China, is testing delivering parcels with robotic drones. It is reported that it is developed in house (in Chinese). The drone can fly as high as one hundred meters. With built-in navigation system, a drone carrying a parcel can arrive at a place by a route pre-set by S.F.Express staff. The company claims the maximum distance error is only two meters. The maximum weight a drone can carry is not disclosed. Currently several major Chinese couriers like S.F.Express have expanded to counties or even villages. But there are still areas that are more remote or with poor transport infrastructure. It is expected the drones will be useful for delivering online shopping goods to those places. Read more of this post

Baidu’s IQiyi to Sell TCL Smart TVs to Compete With Alibaba

Baidu’s IQiyi to Sell TCL Smart TVs to Compete With Alibaba

Baidu Inc. (BIDU), the owner of China’s most-popular Internet search engine, will start selling smart TVs with TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd. (1070) to compete with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the growing online video business. Baidu and TCL’s 48-inch TV will go on sale online tomorrow at 4,567 yuan ($746), the companies said in a joint statement ahead of a news conference in Beijing today. A second model priced at 2,999 yuan will go on sale in November. Read more of this post