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		<title>Investors undaunted as Apple&#039;s Jobs steps aside</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/investors-undaunted-as-apples-jobs-steps-aside/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:39:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple Wed, Aug 24 2011 Apple Share Crunch Overdone, Nomura analyst says Ode to Steve Jobs Apple's loss may be Samsung's gain Apple suppliers fall in Asia, rivals up 1 of 9. Steve Jobs stands beneath a photograph of him and Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak from the early days of Apple during the launch of Apple's new ''iPad'' tablet computing device in San Francisco, California, January 27, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Kimberly White By Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES &#124; Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:19am EDT SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Apple Inc began a new era on Thursday without Steve Jobs as chief executive, a momentous shift that surprised investors, but barely dented confidence in the near-term outlook for the stock. In announcing that he could no longer fulfill his duties, Jobs stepped away from his CEO duties and cleared the way for Tim Cook to take over leadership of one of the world's best known and valuable companies. Cook, 50, must now convince investors that Jobs' vision and spirit have been institutionalized within Apple, a company that revolutionized entertainment and communication with its iPod, iPad and iPhone devices. Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, will stay on as chairman. "Investors are coming to the realization that this is a natural transition. It may have already been built into Apple's valuation," said Hendi Susanto, a Gabelli &#038; Co analyst. Apple's shares were down less than 2 percent in early trading on Thursday, showing more resilience than when the departure was initially announced late Wednesday. "Over the course of last year, investors have become more comfortable with the idea of life after Jobs," said Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones. "I think it is encouraging that he will remain with the company as chairman but the real story is that Tim Cook has emerged as a capable successor." Jobs, who has fought a rare form of pancreatic cancer, is deemed the heart and soul of a company that became the most valuable in the world for a brief period this year. "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," Jobs wrote in a brief letter announcing his resignation. While it is unlikely that his departure as CEO will derail Apple's ambitious product-launch roadmap in the near term, there are concerns about whether the company will be as creative without its founder and visionary at the helm. Jobs' battle with pancreatic cancer, which has stretched over several years, has been of deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board. Over the past two years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, was not being forthcoming with directors about the true condition of his health. Wall Street also wanted a clearer picture of plans at Apple. "I think a lack of clarity of its succession plan in the past has been a distraction so we appreciate that this plan represents a smooth and orderly transition," Kreher said. Jobs, 56, has been on medical leave since January 17, with his duties being filled by Cook, who was chief operating officer. Jobs had briefly emerged from his medical leave in March to unveil the latest version of the iPad and later to attend a dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for technology leaders in Silicon Valley. But his often-gaunt appearance had sparked questions about how bad his illness was, and his ability to continue at Apple. Cook, a former Compaq executive and an acknowledged master of supply-chain management, has taken over the helm in each of Jobs' three health-related absences. One Silicon Valley CEO, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive issues involved, said the tone of Jobs' statement indicated his health may be worse than feared. The Apple chieftain has earned a reputation for commanding every aspect of operations -- from day-to-day running to broad strategic decisions -- suggesting he would not give up the job if he had a choice. "It's really sad," the CEO told Reuters. "No one is looking at this as a business thing, but as a human thing. No one thinks that Steve is just stepping aside because he just doesn't want to be CEO of Apple anymore." "It feels like another shoe is going to drop." Brand research company Millward Brown said Apple's brand, which it values at over $153 billion, should remain intact. "Steve Jobs resignation from Apple is sad for him as it presumably presages more illness. However he has left the Apple Brand in rude health so that the company is still poised for future growth," global brands director Peter Walshe wrote. "The future direction is mapped out, the successor is in place (also a designer by background), and consumers rate the brand uniquely 'creative', 'fun' and 'adventurous.'" 'ARTISTS' TOUCH' While Jobs did not give details on the state of his health, oncologists who have not treated the Apple founder said he could be facing several problems tied to his rare form of pancreatic cancer and subsequent liver transplant. Such problems include possible hormone imbalances or a recurrence of cancer that is harder to fight once the body has already been weakened. "Steve Jobs is the most successful CEO in the U.S. of the last 25 years," Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a statement. "He uniquely combined an artist's touch and an engineer's vision to build an extraordinary company." Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said in a statement: "Steve Jobs is a visionary in the computing industry. We look forward to both Steve and his team having a positive impact on our industry for many years to come." Elop was appointed last year to lead Nokia's fightback against Apple, whose iPhone posed a challenge that the world's biggest cellphone maker has yet to meet. Analysts again expressed confidence in the Apple bench, headed by supply-chain maven Cook. "I will say to investors: 'Don't panic and remain calm -- it's the right thing to do. Steve will be chairman and Cook is CEO," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. Nomura's Global Technology Specialist Richard Windsor agreed, although he said rival smartphone makers would be quick to take advantage of any Apple weakness. "This looks like a pretty smooth transition with the slight risk of a dent to its image if the next product launches are not perfect. Its competitors are waiting to pounce and here we think that HTC has the most to gain," he wrote. Apple previously did not have a chairman, but had two independent co-lead directors. (Additional reporting by Bill Rigby , Alexei Oreskovic , Sarah McBride and Jim Christie in San Francisco, Lisa Richwine and Nichola Groom in Los Angeles, Peter Lauria , Paul Thomasch , Liana B. Baker and Tiffany Wu in New York, Tarmo Virki in Helsinki and Georgina Prodhan in London) (Editing by Andrew Callus and Maureen Bavdek) ]]></description>
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		<title>Without Jobs, Apple must show it can still deliver 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/without-jobs-apple-must-show-it-can-still-deliver-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:39:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; With Steve Jobs bowing out as CEO, Apple Inc. must persuade investors and consumers that it doesn't need the force behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad in charge to keep the technology hits coming. Tim Cook, his hand-picked successor, has handled the top job repeatedly in the absence of the ailing Jobs, who resigned as chief executive Wednesday and was elected chairman of Apple's board. Though not nearly as recognizable as Jobs, Cook had been running Apple since January. The company's stock has risen 62 percent during that time. Jeff Gamet, managing editor of Apple-focused news site The Mac Observer, said Jobs' departure has more sentimental than practical significance. He said he has been telegraphing the change for several years. "All Apple really has done is made official what they've been doing administratively for a while now, which is Tim runs the show and Steve gets to do his part to make sure the products come out to meet the Apple standard," he said. But Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research, said Jobs' maniacal attention to detail is what has set Apple apart. He said Apple's product pipeline might be secure for another few years, but he predicted that the company will eventually struggle to come up with market-changing ideas. "Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," Chowdhry said. "You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation. ... Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing." Jobs' resignation appears to be the result of an unspecified medical condition for which he took a leave from his post in January. In a letter addressed to Apple's board and the "Apple community," Jobs said he "always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come." Jobs' health has long been a concern for Apple investors, who see him as an oracle of technology. He had previously survived pancreatic cancer and received a liver transplant. The company said Jobs gave the board his resignation Wednesday and suggested that Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, be named the company's new leader. Apple also said Cook is becoming a member of its board. Genentech Inc. Chairman Art Levinson, in a statement issued on behalf of Apple's board, said Jobs' "extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company." He said that Jobs will continue to provide "his unique insights, creativity and inspiration," and that the board has "complete confidence" that Cook is the right person to replace him. "Tim's 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does," Levinson said. Earlier this month Apple briefly became the most valuable company in America, surpassing Exxon Mobil. At the market close Wednesday, Apple's value was $349 billion, just behind Exxon Mobil's $358 billion. Jobs' hits seemed to grow bigger as the years went on: After the colorful iMac computer and the now-ubiquitous iPod, the iPhone redefined the category of smartphones and the iPad all but created the market for tablet computers. His own aura seemed part of the attraction. On stage at trade shows and company events in his uniform of jeans, sneakers and black mock-turtlenecks, he'd entrance audiences with new devices, new colors and new software features, building up to a grand finale he'd predictably preface by saying, "One more thing." Jobs, 56, shepherded Apple from a two-man startup to Silicon Valley darling when the Apple II, the first computer for regular people to really catch on, sent IBM Corp. and others scrambling to get their own PCs to market. After Apple suffered a slump in the mid-1980s, he was forced out of the company. He was CEO at Next, another computer company, and Pixar, the computer-animation company that produced "Toy Story" on his watch, over the following 10 years. Apple was foundering as he returned as an adviser in 1996 &#8212; a year it lost $900 million as PCs based on Microsoft Windows dominated the computer market. The company's fortunes began to turn around with its first new product under Jobs' direction, the iMac. It launched in 1998 and sold about 2 million in its first 12 months. Jobs eventually became interim CEO, then took the job permanently. Apple's popularity grew in the U.S. throughout the 2000s as the ever-sleeker line of iPods introduced many lifelong Windows users to their first Apple gadget. Apple created another sensation in 2007 with the iPhone, the stark-looking but powerful smartphone that quickly dominated the industry. The iPad was introduced less than a year and a half ago but has already sold nearly 29 million units as it inspired myriad rivals in a tablet computer market that scarcely existed before Apple stepped in. There have been some setbacks. Apple was swept up in a massive Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into stock options backdating in the mid-2000s, a practice that artificially boosted the value of options grants. But Jobs and Apple emerged unscathed after two former executives took the fall and eventually settled with the SEC. ___ AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Dell cuts guidance, showing industry uncertainty (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/dell-cuts-guidance-showing-industry-uncertainty-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:51:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; Dell Inc.'s decision to cut its revenue forecast for the year shows how computer makers are getting pulled in two directions at once, stretching some investors' faith to a breaking point. Corporate and government demand for PCs has been strong for the past year, helping to lift the industry after the Great Recession. But consumer demand has collapsed because of high unemployment and the lure of new gadgets such as tablet computers and smartphones. Worrisome new economic signs and budget cuts threaten to hamper the recovery. They have cast doubt on the ability of Dell and other PC makers to lift themselves in a meaningful way. Dell's stock fell more than 7 percent Tuesday even as the company said its net income rose 63 percent in the latest quarter. The company lowered its revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending in January. It blamed "a more uncertain demand environment" than previously envisioned and a corporate decision to focus on more profitable deals. The downgrade followed a barrage of bad news in recent months about the computer industry's health, and it could be a harbinger of tough times for other computer makers. Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's No. 1 PC maker, reports its results Thursday. Shaw Wu, a technology analyst with Sterne Agee, said Dell's forecast was surprisingly weak and reflects economic troubles that are leading to lower spending globally on information technology. He added that it "definitely dampens expectations" for HP. However, Wu added that part of Dell's troubles come as another company &#8212; Apple Inc. &#8212; is benefiting with a stronger push into small and medium businesses. Apple, a key player in inventing the PC some 30 years ago, is thriving even as the PC industry suffers because of the company's pioneering of new markets, including tablet computers with the popular iPad. Over the past week, Apple has traded places with Exxon Mobil Corp. as the most valuable company in the world. Outside of demand for Apple's Mac computers, consumer demand for PCs has cratered, reducing growth and even leading to contraction in the U.S. and Europe. Although consumers make up only 20 percent of Dell's PC business, they remain a powerful force in the digital economy. By snapping up iPads and smartphones, consumers are demonstrating that some hot new technologies &#8212; just not PCs &#8212; can be strong sellers even in hard economic times. Meanwhile, government austerity measures have fueled uncertainty. That is threatening to depress not just government spending but consumer spending as well. The pressures have deepened doubts about the industry's recovery. Dell's revenue from large corporations and consumers each rose 1 percent during the quarter from last year, to $4.6 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively. But revenue from the public sector fell 3 percent to $4.5 billion. Revenue from small- and medium-sized businesses, where analysts say Dell is losing ground to Apple, grew 5 percent to $3.7 billion. But that growth rate is lower than previous years. In the same quarter last year, revenue grew 25 percent. Where growth is occurring, it's generally not in Western countries. Dell indicated that India and China were two of its strongest-growing regions in the three months ended July 29, its fiscal second quarter. After the market closed, Dell said net income rose to $890 million, or 48 cents per share, primarily on the strength of corporate and government spending. Companies have been banking record profits and upgrading older PCs and servers even as hiring remains tepid. Dell earned 54 cents per share on an adjusted basis, which beat the average estimate of 49 cents per share from analysts polled by FactSet. A year ago, Dell earned $545 million, or 28 cents per share. But Dell's revenue fell short. Although it rose 1 percent to $15.66 billion, analysts had been expecting $15.75 billion. The company, which is based in Round Rock, Texas, also said it now expects revenue to grow 1 percent to 5 percent, compared with its previous forecast of 5 percent to 9 percent. The new forecast translates to $62.1 billion to $64.6 billion. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Google makes bold bid for Motorola Mobility</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-makes-bold-bid-for-motorola-mobility/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:09:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video Google deal sparks speculation Mon, Aug 15 2011 Breakingviews: Motorola a win for Google, concern for others Stocks recover from downgrade drop 1 of 2. A Motorola Droid phone is seen displaying the Google search page in New York August 15, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid By Sinead Carew and Alexei Oreskovic NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:25am EDT NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's biggest deal ever, acquiring Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, is an attempt to buy insurance against increasingly aggressive legal attacks from rivals such as Apple Inc. The acquisition of one of the mobile telecommunications industry's most storied names is Google co-founder Larry Page's boldest move since taking over as CEO in April, launching the Internet giant into a lower-margin manufacturing business and pitting it against many of the 38 other handset companies that now use its Android software. Motorola Inc was split this year into two: Motorola Mobility, which got the faster-growing cellphone and TV set-top box businesses; and Motorola Solutions, which sells gear like walkie-talkies to corporate and government clients. Google is paying a massive 63 percent premium to gain access to one of the mobile phone industry's largest patent libraries. The company had been under pressure to build a patent portfolio after losing out to Apple, Microsoft Corp and others in a recent auction of bankrupt Nortel's assets. Unlike the Nortel deal and others, the fact that Google avoided having to compete in an auction for Motorola by engaging in exclusive negotiations for the company underscores the pressure it was under to bolster its patent portfolio. Paying such a rich premium even though it was the only buyer dovetails with analysts' view that the increasingly litigious posture its competitors have taken over intellectual property left the Internet search giant with no choice but to pay up. "No matter how you think about this, you have to look at it through the spectrum of the Android ecosystem under incredible attack from an IP (intellectual property) perspective. And this is Google going out and trying to fix that," said W.P. Stewart Advisors Chief Investment Officer Jim Tierney. "The biggest implication here is that Google wants Android to be one of the dominant phone operating systems for years to come." Wall Street quickly anointed Microsoft a winner in this deal, with Windows benefiting should the move spur current Android partners to explore other options. The deal also stoked speculation that struggling Nokia and Research in Motion would become takeover targets themselves, sending Nokia's shares up 17.35 percent and RIM's up 10.3 percent. Google made its first foray into hardware by co-developing the Nexus One phone with HTC in 2010 -- an effort that met mixed results. Monday's deal, however, could mark the start of a shift to an Apple-style model, integrating mobile hardware with underlying software. "Google decided to cross the Rubicon on the device side," said Fred Huet, head of telecoms and media consultancy Greenwich Consulting. "There has been growing frustration (at Google) about the lack and speed of internet centric devices. "With Nexus they tried to show the industry what they thought was the right evolution for handsets and it did not have an impact .... With the patents they make sure that Android stays strong." THE MORE THINGS CHANGE ... The acquisition is likely to draw even closer regulatory scrutiny than usual, with the search leader already the subject of antitrust inquiries. Experts will want to review how it affects mobile industry competition. But the deal -- which took Wall Street by surprise -- appears to mark a shift in strategy from Google's traditional Internet search and advertising empire and forays into video and social networking. "The danger is that other handset makers feel disenfranchised," said Nomura Securities global technology specialist Richard Windsor. "Motorola is the weaker player. This could actually collapse the entire community." Page, who also launched the ambitious Google+ social network since taking over as CEO, reassured investors on Monday this would not happen, saying Motorola will be run as a separate company licensing Android software in the same way as rivals like HTC Corp and LG Electronics. Phone makers including Samsung officially said they welcomed a deal that will aid their own legal battles, but some analysts questioned the sincerity of those claims, noting that rival companies would now be unlikely to heavily promote Android since it would benefit a direct competitor. Andy Lees, president of the Windows Phone Division at Microsoft, said in a statement that, "Investing in a broad and truly open mobile ecosystem is important for the industry and consumers alike, and Windows Phone is now the only platform that does so with equal opportunity for all partners." Some analysts also doubt that Google will continue manufacturing handsets in the long term. "We don't think they necessarily want to be in the handset business. They want those patents first and foremost," said Brian Pitz, an analyst at UBS. "This is really a game of protection." Analysts say that Google's rivals are likely to continue to enforce their patent rights on mobile devices through legal means. Microsoft, for instance, recently settled a lawsuit with HTC over the Taiwanese company's Android devices. Oracle is also seeking billions of dollars from Google for infringing on Java patents. Analysts expect Apple to continue its increasingly effective patent war against its rivals as well, which could hurt Google by potentially raising licensing costs that need to be paid to Apple. While Apple's iPhone leads in market prestige and is considered more innovative, Android has managed to quietly surpass it in market share. Android held a 43.4 percent share of the smartphone market at the end of the second quarter, ahead of Nokia's 22 percent, according to Gartner data. Apple ranked third with 18 percent, the data showed. Shares of Motorola Mobility jumped more than 55 percent on the news, while Google shares fell by roughly 1 percent. The deal values Motorola Mobility at $40 per share in cash, a 63 percent premium to its Friday closing price. The terms of the deal also features an unusually rich reverse breakup fee of $2.5 billion, according to a source close to the situation. "It's a deal that will take time to pay off, but they have a lot of cash and they want to chase after profit," BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said. The deal delivers a windfall for investors including Carl Icahn, Motorola's top shareholder with a stake of just over 11 percent. The activist shareholder had been urging Motorola to look into splitting off its patent business -- one of the biggest in the industry -- from its handset business, ranked eighth in the world by Gartner in terms of unit sales. In late July, Icahn even went so far as to estimate that Motorola could be worth $44 per share, or $13 billion in a sale. Despite cashing out for $4 less than what he estimated the company was worth, Icahn said he was "quite happy with this result." It's unclear how much Icahn spent on his stake in Motorola since he started scooping up shares in 2007, but regulatory filings indicate it may have been about $3 billion. His stake in Motorola Mobility is worth about $1.34 billion at the deal price, up by $520 million since Friday. Including his stake in Motorola Solutions, Icahn's total stake is about about $2.9 billion in the two companies. INTO THE LIVING ROOM As part of the deal, Google also gets Motorola's set-top box businesses, giving its nascent TV operation a much-needed boost by providing it with a more direct route into the home. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett noted that Google, a frequent disrupter of the pay-television market via its ownership of YouTube and launching of over-the-top TV products that allow consumers to get streaming video in the home, will now be one of its largest suppliers. "It will be fascinating to see whether this tempers their enthusiasm for disruptive business models as they have to face the practical realities of satisfying their cable customers," said Moffett. "I think the cable industry would be delighted to see Google inside the tent." Google said it expects the deal to close by the end of 2011 or early in 2012, and that it was confident it would gain the regulatory approvals required in the United States and Europe and the blessing of Motorola Mobility's shareholders. Others aren't so sure. "The legal question here is would this deal give Google the incentive to make Android less open or somehow discriminate against the other smart phone and tablet makers," said Beau W. Buffier, a lawyer with Shearman &#038; Sterling LLP. "That will be the key issues in any review both here in the U.S. or in Europe." The fact that the deal has the support of other major mobile device players who have a stake in the matter should help Google in the regulatory process. Lazard advised Google on the deal, while Motorola used Centerview Partners and Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners, sources told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore, Nadia Damouni , Phil Wahba and Franklin Paul in New York, Lilly Kuo in Washington; Writing by Edwin Chan ; Editing by Peter Lauria , Richard Chang , Phil Berlowitz) ]]></description>
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		<title>Analysis: Apple going after Google in tablet spats?</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/analysis-apple-going-after-google-in-tablet-spats/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:09:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ An Apple store employee gives a class on how to use the new iPad 2 during the China launch at an Apple Store in central Beijing May 6, 2011. Credit: Reuters/David Gray By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Thu Aug 11, 2011 5:18pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's increasingly effective patent war against rivals like Samsung Electronics may mask its real target: arch-foe Google Inc. The maker of the iPad and iPhone has sued three of the largest manufacturers of Google's Android-based devices -- Samsung, Motorola and HTC -- for multiple patent infringements across multiple countries, pointing out "slavish copying" of design and "look and feel." And the courts are beginning to listen: recent success in blocking sales of Samsung's latest Galaxy tablet in most of Europe and Apple's challenges to the Korean giant in Australia reflect an aggressive effort to defend its top position in the red-hot mobile market from the runaway success of Android. While the lawsuits don't take direct aim at the operating software -- yet -- many of the features under contention are connected to and enhanced by it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs once referred to the software as being the soul of any device when he introduced the company's iOS 5 system in June. Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher &#038; Co, said Apple is starting to flex its patent muscle with some early success but its real battle is with the Android software. "Apple doesn't really care too much about the actual OEMs." Apple's lead is now under siege in smartphones from Google's free Android software, already the world's most-used mobile system with 550,000 devices activated every day. Its momentum could be hampered by successful patent infringement lawsuits against adopters like Samsung. "The way Google gets sucked into it is through the marketplace," Ron Laurie, managing director and patent consultant at Inflexion Point Strategy, said. Any injunction won by Apple, if enforced, could mean that Android may be forced to take out the offending feature from its software design. "That would make it less attractive and people would go elsewhere," Laurie said. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said rivals are responding to Android's success with lawsuits "as they cannot respond through innovations." HIGH STAKES At stake is a booming one-year-old market that analysts are already predicting will eclipse the decades-old PC market in a matter of years, a market that Apple fears Google's software could eventually dominate the way it now leads the smartphone arena. The tablet market is expected to grow from under 20 million tablets last year to over 230 million in 2015. While Apple is still the leader by far in the tablet market, research firm Informa expects tablets running Android to catch up with Apple's iPad and surpass it in 2016. Samsung, experts say, has the best chance of attacking the iPad's commanding hold on the market. Apple's 75 percent share is expected to fall to 39 percent in 2015, when Android's will grow to 38 percent, according to Informa. A less visible benefit of Apple waging and winning patent battles against the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola would be that Android may effectively no longer be free because of potential licensing costs that need to be paid to Apple. Android's major vulnerability lies in the patent arena. Being a fairly new entrant in this market, Google hasn't built up enough intellectual property in the way Apple or Microsoft has. "All this will end up making Android less 'free', Jean-Louis Gassee, venture capitalist and a former Apple executive, said. "But by how much? Five dollars a handset, no problem. Fifteen dollars -- then it is trouble." Apple knows the power of licensing -- from the losing side as well. It recently forged a cross-licensing patent deal with Nokia, agreeing to make a one-time payment in hundreds of millions of dollars and pay continuing royalties. But it is Google that had been caught off guard in the patent battle, being historically and philosophically opposed to gathering them as a defensive or offensive move. But that is changing with Google now in the hunt for key patents. This has sparked an expensive arms race between technology giants as they try to outbid each other to stockpile on valuable patent portfolios up for grabs. In the high-profile tussle for 6,000 wireless patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks, Google kicked off the tug-of-war with a stalking horse bid of $900 million -- far greater than anyone expected. But Apple -- allying with Microsoft, Sony and others -- swooped in to snap them up eventually for $4.5 billion, a price tag that sent shockwaves through the industry. Google's chief lawyer, David Drummond, last week lashed out against Apple and others, accusing them of "a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents." In the wake of the injunction against the Galaxy in Europe, Apple is seeking a similar ruling against Motorola's Xoom in German court. It won a preliminary ruling last month from a U.S. trade panel that HTC infringed two of Apple's patents. But Apple is not the only one enforcing patent rights on Android mobile devices. Microsoft recently settled a suit with HTC over the Taiwanese company's Android devices. Oracle is seeking billions of dollars from Google for infringing on Java patents through its Android system. Analysts expect Apple to continue to be the aggressor. "It's clear that the tablet wars are going to be fought on many, many fronts," Michael Gartenberg, technology analyst with Gartner. "Clearly lots of companies are seeing opportunities here who don't plan on ceding the market to Apple, and Apple is using everything in its arsenal to defend itself." (Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Edwin Chan , Gary Hill ) ]]></description>
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		<title>Pay TV industry loses record number of subscribers (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/pay-tv-industry-loses-record-number-of-subscribers-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK &#8211; The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set. They're canceling or forgoing cable and satellite TV subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of the companies' quarterly earnings reports. The U.S. subscription-TV industry first showed a small net loss of subscribers a year ago. This year, that trickle has turned into a stream. The chief cause appears to be persistently high unemployment and a housing market that has many people living with their parents, reducing the need for a separate cable bill. But it's also possible that people are canceling cable, or never signing up in the first place, because they're watching cheap Internet video. Such a threat has been hanging over the industry. If that's the case, viewers can expect more restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they produce. In a tally by the AP, eight of the nine largest subscription-TV providers in the U.S. lost 195,700 subscribers in the April-to-June quarter. That's the first quarterly loss for the group, which serves about 70 percent of households. The loss amounts to 0.2 percent of their 83.2 million video subscribers. The group includes four of the five biggest cable companies, which have been losing subscribers for years. It also includes phone companies Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&#038;T Inc. and satellite broadcasters DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. These four have been poaching customers from cable, making up for cable-company losses &#8212; until now. The phone companies kept adding subscribers in the second quarter, but Dish lost 135,000. DirecTV gained a small number, so combined, the U.S. satellite broadcasters lost subscribers in the quarter &#8212; a first for the industry. The AP's tally excludes Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company, and a bevy of smaller cable companies. Cox is privately held and does not disclose subscriber numbers. Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett estimates that the subscription-TV industry, including the untallied cable companies, lost 380,000 subscribers in the quarter. That's about one out of every 300 U.S. households, and more than twice the losses in the second quarter of last year. Ian Olgeirson at SNL Kagan puts the number even higher, at 425,000 to 450,000 lost subscribers. The second quarter is always the year's worst for cable and satellite companies, as students cancel service at the end of the spring semester. Last year, growth came back in the fourth quarter. But looking back over the past 12 months, the industry is still down, by Moffett's estimate. That's also a first. The subscription-TV industry is no longer buoyed by its first flush of growth, so the people who cancel because they're unemployed are outweighing the very small number of newcomers who've never had cable or satellite before. Dish CEO Joe Clayton told analysts on a conference call Tuesday that the industry is "increasingly saturated." But like other industry executives, Clayton sees renewed growth around the corner. Though his company saw the biggest increase in subscriber flight compared with a year ago, he blamed much of that on a strategic pullback in advertising, which will be reversed before the end of the year. Other executives gave few indications that the industry has hit a wall. For most of the big companies, the slowdown is slight, hardly noticeable except when looking across all of them. Nor do they believe Internet video is what's causing people to leave. Glenn Britt, the CEO of Time Warner Cable Inc. said the effect of Internet video on the number of cable subscribers is "very, very modest;" in fact, so small that it's hard to measure. SNL Kagan's Olgeirson said the people canceling subscriptions behind, or never signing up, are an elusive group, difficult to count. Yet he believes the trend is real, and he calls it the "elephant in the room" for the industry. Anecdotal evidence suggests that young, educated people who aren't interested in live programs such as sports are finding it easier to go without cable. Video-streaming sites like Netflix.com and Hulu.com are helping, as they run many popular TV shows for free, sometimes the day after they air on television. In June, The Nielsen Co. said it found that Americans who watch the most video online tend to watch less TV. The ratings agency said it started noticing last fall that a segment of consumers were starting to make a trade-off between online video and regular TV. The activity was more pronounced among people ages 18-34. Olgeirson expects programmers to keep tightening access to shows and movies online. A few years ago, Olgeirson said, "they threw open the doors," figuring they'd make money from ads accompanying online video besides traditional sources such as the fees they charge cable companies to carry their channels. But if looks as if online video might endanger revenue from cable, which is still far larger, they'll pull back. "Are they really going to jeopardize that? The answer is no," Olgeirson said. Already, News Corp.'s Fox broadcasting company is delaying reruns on Hulu by a week unless the viewer pays a $8-a-month subscription for Hulu Plus or subscribes to Dish's satellite TV service. Other subscription-TV providers may join in the future. TV producers and distributors want to discourage people from dropping their subscriptions. Moffett believes it's hard to separate the effect of the economy from that of Internet video. Subscription-TV providers keep raising rates because content providers such as Hollywood studios and sports leagues demand ever higher prices. That's causing a collision with the economic realities of American households. "Rising prices for pay TV, coupled with growing availability of lower cost alternatives, add to a toxic mix at a time when disposable income isn't growing," Moffett said. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Groupon doubles users, will drop controversial metric</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-doubles-users-will-drop-controversial-metric/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ An online coupon sent via email from Groupon is pictured on a laptop screen November 29, 2010 in Los Angeles. Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Fri Aug 5, 2011 9:08pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc, which more than doubled subscribers this year to 115 million, plans to abandon the use of a controversial financial measure it once touted as a good indicator of performance, two sources with knowledge of the situation said. The No. 1 daily deals website, which now dwarfs closest rival LivingSocial's membership base, caved to pressure from investors and will stop referring to a metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) that excludes marketing costs, one of the sources told Reuters. Groupon, speeding toward one of 2011's most highly anticipated IPOs, plans to file amended S-1 IPO documents next week giving an update of its performance, both sources said. The phenomenal pace of growth will be unveiled in that filing and likely give its IPO a boost, despite fears about its need to spend heavily to lure new users and worries of another dotcom bubble brewing reminiscent of the late 1990s. "There are few growth opportunities on the scale of companies like Groupon," said Lou Kerner, vice president in equity research at Wedbush Securities. "That's really what a lot of investors are seeking today." Founded by Northwestern music major Andrew Mason in 2008, Groupon filed to raise $750 million in an IPO this year. In April, a source said Groupon could raise $1 billion, valuing it at $15 billion to $20 billion. Social media firms like LinkedIn Corp have had spectacular debuts, stoking interest for offerings by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. But doubt is growing on Wall Street about whether the buzz surrounding the new Web generation is justified, with the hype recalling the atmosphere prior to the dotcom collapse of 2001. That caution may have led some to question Groupon's use of "ACSOI", which excludes not just online marketing expenses but also stock-based compensation and acquisition-related items. Other investors question whether Groupon will be able to cut marketing spending in future. In the first quarter of 2011, Groupon reported a $117 million operating loss, but ACSOI was almost $82 million. That's because some $180 million of online marketing spending -- plus more than $18 million of stock-based employee compensation -- had been stripped out. Tech blog All Things D first reported that Groupon would drop all references to ACSOI in future IPO filings. The news comes after reports the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was taking a closer look at Groupon's IPO -- and ACSOI. A spokesman for the company declined to comment. DOUBTS GROWING Groupon offers discounts on everything from dining to sky-diving excursions. The "group" in its name refers to the fact that many deals are activated only when a certain number of people sign up. Discounts often run from 50 to 70 percent. It had 50.58 million subscribers at end-2010. That jumped 64 percent to 83.1 million at the end of the first quarter. Since March 31, that number of subscribers climbed about 38 percent to 115 million -- several times LivingSocial's. Revenue surged to $713 million last year from $30 million in 2009. In the first quarter of this year alone, revenue topped $644 million. Most of the recent growth came organically rather than through acquisitions, a second source added, noting that Groupon has not bought many companies lately. Despite a sizzling pace of growth, some critics remain wary about piling into a business -- essentially a coupon service -- that can be easily replicated both by startups and existing Web powerhouses. Google has already begun such a service. And while it shares the spotlight trained on social media companies such as Zynga, it needs resources others don't: a huge sales staff to enlist merchants and handle customer service. Groupon has spent a lot to lure subscribers and generate revenue growth. It shelled out $208 million on marketing alone during the first quarter of this year, up from $4 million in the same period a year earlier. "The key question is how much money are they spending per new subscriber, and how much revenue are they generating per existing subscriber?" asked David Sinsky of Yipit, which aggregates daily deals and tracks the industry. "If you assume that revenue per subscriber has held flat and costs for new subscribers were also the same, then profitability may look better." (Additional reporting by Edwin Chan ; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Bernard Orr ) ]]></description>
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		<title>Exclusive: Blu-ray sales up as home entertainment spending drops</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/exclusive-blu-ray-sales-up-as-home-entertainment-spending-drops/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:01:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A shopper walks past a Blu-ray Disc logo at an electronic shop in Tokyo February 18, 2008. Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES &#124; Fri Aug 5, 2011 3:55pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. sales of Blu-ray movie and television discs rose this year as overall spending on home entertainment dropped and viewing habits shifted, new figures from an industry group showed. Rentals through subscription plans and kiosks also gained sharply while consumers again turned away from traditional video stores, according to a report to be released on Friday by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. A copy of the report was provided to Reuters. Total consumer dollars spent on home entertainment products -- including DVDs, video on demand and online streaming -- fell 5 percent to $8.3 billion in the first half of 2011. Industry executives pointed to a weaker movie line-up compared with a year earlier when the blockbuster "Avatar" was released. Sales for Blu-ray and DVD discs combined in the first half of this year fell 18 percent to $3.9 billion, driven by a decline for traditional DVDs, compared with the same period a year ago. But Blu-ray on its own gained 10 percent, the industry group said. It did not release dollar figures for Blu-ray and traditional DVD separately. Blu-ray's high-quality picture appealed to viewers as more homes added Blu-ray players, industry officials said. "It's getting very well-established in households. Consumers are getting more and more comfortable with buying Blu-ray," said Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video and head of the industry group. Homes with Blu-ray capable devices rose by 2 million in the second quarter to 31.6 million as prices for many players fell below $100. Blu-ray discs, digital sales and video-on-demand are higher-margin products for studios that all grew this year, DEG said. At the same time, subscription rentals through mail and online streaming services such as Netflix Inc jumped 46 percent and brick-and-mortar stores dropped 28 percent. Rentals from kiosks, mainly Coinstar Inc's Redbox, rose 40 percent. While streaming options have grown, spending on subscription plans reached less than half of Blu-ray and DVD sales, hitting $1.6 billion, in the first half of the year. Kiosk sales were $805 million. Weaker theater performance for films released for home viewing likely drove the overall spending drop, Sanders said. Box-office receipts for new releases ranked 16 percent lower than a year earlier. "Avatar," the all-time box-office leader, sold more than 12 million discs in the second quarter of 2010 alone. The recession also hit home-entertainment sales in recent years, Sanders said. Broken down by quarter, spending slid 6.4 percent in the first quarter and 3.6 percent in the second quarter. That showed "a stabilization and improvement in the market," said Amy Jo Smith, DEG's executive director. The second half should benefit from a handful of blockbuster movies set for release including "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," officials said. The Digital Entertainment Group represents 70 companies including studios Walt Disney Co and Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros. plus hardware makers Samsung Electronic Co Ltd and Panasonic Corp. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Matthew Lewis) ]]></description>
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		<title>Panasonic reports quarterly loss on quake, tsunami (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/panasonic-reports-quarterly-loss-on-quake-tsunami-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:34:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ TOKYO &#8211; Panasonic slumped to a 30.4 billion yen ($389 million) quarterly loss, hit by lower sales after the earthquake in northeastern Japan, and announced the sale of part of its refrigerator and washing machine business to Chinese rival Haier. Panasonic Corp., which makes Viera TVs and Lumix cameras, said Thursday the deal for Haier Group to buy the Sanyo brand home appliances businesses in Japan and Southeast Asia is set to be completed by March 2012. It did not give a value for the deal. It would be the first large-scale acquisition of a major Japanese home appliance business by a Chinese company, and highlights a key shift in the industry &#8212; with the spotlight on a rising China. Panasonic is in the middle of streamlining its businesses and cutting jobs this year after acquiring Sanyo Electronics Co. Some Panasonic and Sanyo products, including refrigerators and washing machines, overlap. Panasonic has said it hopes to focus on relatively new areas such as solar panels and expensive gadgets. More changes are in the works to avoid overlap with Sanyo, said Makoto Uenoyama, a company executive. Panasonic maintained its forecast for a 30 billion yen ($385 million) profit for the fiscal year ending March 2012, which would be about half the profit for the previous year. It had chalked up a 43.7 billion yen profit for the April-June period the previous year. Like other Japanese manufacturers, Panasonic suffered a huge setback from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeastern coast and killed more than 22,000 people. Consumer spending has dropped amid national mourning over the disaster. The tsunami also sent a nuclear power plant into meltdown, spewing radiation into the air and water and contaminating beef, vegetables and other products, further crimping spending. Panasonic's quarterly sales dropped 11 percent to 1.93 trillion yen ($25 billion), mainly because of the earthquake, the Osaka-based manufacturer said. Sales were down in flat-panel TVs, auto electronics, cell phones and devices, it said. Sales were down not only in Japan but also in Europe and the U.S. Air conditioner sales in Japan were one exception because of worries about a power crunch caused by the nuclear crisis. Consumers have been snatching up energy efficient appliances. A strong yen also hurt Panasonic, erasing 19 billion yen ($244 million) from its operating profit for the latest quarter. Haier Vice President Du Jingguo welcomed the Sanyo deal, calling it an "important milestone for both companies." Haier has been trying to expand its business in Japan but struggled to woo finicky Japanese consumers and remains a small player, unlike in the rest of the world. Under the deal, Haier will acquire a range of Sanyo businesses, including washing machines, refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, rice-cookers, coffee-makers, juicers, toasters and irons in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, it said in a statement. "Haier aims to be a leader in the global white goods business," said Du. "Acquiring the white goods business of Sanyo is an important part of Haier's overall growth strategy," he said. Sanyo said the deal will ensure employees have jobs and that consumers will continue to enjoy Sanyo products. Panasonic officials said they were confident about competing because of Panasonic's strengths in more sophisticated gadgets and ecological technology. Panasonic stock inched up 0.5 percent to close at 929 yen in Tokyo, where trading ended before earnings were announced. ___ AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed. Yuri Kageyama can be reached at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>China officials find 5 fake Apple stores in 1 city (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/china-officials-find-5-fake-apple-stores-in-1-city-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:29:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ BEIJING &#8211; Chinese officials have found five fake Apple stores in the southwestern city of Kunming, and ordered two of them to suspend business while they're investigated, a local government website said Monday. Officials couldn't do anything about the other three stores &#8212; which prominently displayed Apple signs and logos &#8212; because they did not find any fake Apple products for sale, according to a report by a local newspaper posted on the Kunming city government's website. The investigation follows a blog post last week by an American woman who lives in Kunming in Yunnan province, who stumbled across three shops masquerading as bona fide Apple stores in the city. She took photos and posted them on her BirdAbroad blog. She said they were modeled on the company's iconic stores right down to the winding staircase and the staff wearing the customary blue T-shirts. After the blog appeared on Wednesday, the Kunming Trade and Industry Bureau inspected more than 300 electronics stores in Kunming and found the five fake Apple stores, the city government's website said. Calls to the Kunming Trade and Industry Bureau rang unanswered Monday. The maker of the iPhone and other hit gadgets has four company stores in China &#8212; two in Beijing and two in Shanghai &#8212; and various official resellers. The proliferation of the fake stores underlines the slow progress that China's government is making in countering a culture of a rampant piracy and widespread production of bogus goods that is a major irritant in relations with trading partners. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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