September 8, 2011
A Canadian merchant bank has called on Research In Motion to consider a sale of the company or its patent portfolio in order to return the cash to the shareholders.Jaguar Financial is recommending that RIM's Directors appoint a Special Committee of the Board consisting of four or five of the current seven independent directors to pursue a shareholder value maximization process.The bank argues that the company's "chronic underperformance and repeated delays in executing its strategy" have led it to the conclusion that fundamental change at RIM is requiredThe do acknowledge that while few would question the email and security capabilities of RIM's BlackBerry platform, the state that the reality is that RIM has failed to develop the multi-purpose device that meets the requirements of today's dynamic consumer landscapeJaguar believes RIM's current corporate structure, which includes James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis as Co-Chief Executive Officers and Co-Chairmen of the Company, is ineffective and requires meaningful change. The company is however already looking into that specific issue following a previous shareholder revolt.The bank also noted the current patent-bubble with sales generating substantial pots of cash for sellers, although there is concern in the industry that the bubble may be about to burst, so pressure to sell the patents before prices drop will intensify. Vic Alboini, Chairman and CEO of Jaguar, stated: "The status quo is not acceptable, the Company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The Directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost."
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 7, 2011
The days of waiting for smartphones to upload video may be numbered. Rice University engineering researchers have made a breakthrough that could allow wireless phone companies to double throughput on their networks without adding a single cell tower. Rice's new "full-duplex" technology allows wireless devices like cell phones and electronic tablets to both "talk" and "listen" to wireless cell towers on the same frequency -- something that requires two frequencies today. In 2010, Sabharwal and R... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 7, 2011
 IT.Telecom DeskNokia Symbian Anna, the latest software update for Symbian smartphones has been made available for download using the latest Ovi Suite (version 3.1.1) on a PC, or over-the-air directly to smartphones, says a press release. The Anna significantly enhances the user experience on Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7. A new user interface, virtual QWERTY keypad in portrait mode, split-screen messaging, enhanced Nokia Maps, better web browsing and stronger security are among o... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 7, 2011
These are momentous times at Apple (AAPL). Just a couple of weeks after Steve Jobs stepped down, new CEO Tim Cook gets to launch a major product: the iPhone 5. With Apple under increasing pressure from a deluge of Google (GOOG) Android devices, the stakes are high for the new iPhone, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at research firm Digital Route."Given that Android has become much stronger competitor since the last iPhone release, Apple must show some killer features/apps to make a bigger de... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 6, 2011
A restructuring at Telefonica will see the company shift around 2,500 jobs from Spain to offices around the world as it folds its Spanish networks into its larger European division.Currently, the company has a European division, made up largely of the former O2 mobile networks, but treats its home market of Spain as separate from that. Under the plans announced today, the company will retain its global HQ in Spain, but the management of the Spanish networks will be combined with the rest of t... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 6, 2011
The UK's telecom regulator, Ofcom has pushed back the country's radio spectrum auction by at least three months following rumoured threats of legal action from the main mobile networks.The auction paperwork was due to be published by the end of this year, but will now be published sometime in the first quarter of next year, with the auction itself taking place about thee months later.The auction - offering 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum blocks -- is estimated to raise upwards of UK£3 billion for... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 6, 2011
Links to share products on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter are now available for all items sold in Apple's online store, including third-party products.
The gradual roll-out of the social networking features began last month, but was initially limited to only a handful of Apple-specific products, namely the iPod classic and Mac Pro. But as of Monday, all products in Apple's online store now sport links to Facebook and Twitter.
Using the links, users can share products with their fr... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 5, 2011
A number of major websites -- including Vodafone's Group website -- were disrupted yesterday after an apparently Turkish group of hackers were able to break the DNS server that underpins them. When you type in a website address, your ISP looks up the underlying IP address of the website via a DNS service. If that is compromised, then it might send back the wrong IP address -- which is what appears to have happened in this case. None of the company's actual websites were directly targeted by the... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 5, 2011
Following the report that an Apple employee lost one of the company's
prototype iPhone 5 handsets a couple of months ago, there has been some
confusion over the role of the San Francisco Police Department in the affair.
Some reports suggested that although no formal complaint was filed with the
police, when Apple staff visited the home where they had tracked the phone to,
they were accompanied by police officers.
This had raised some queries as to how the police could ... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
September 2, 2011
An Apple employee has reportedly lost one of the company's forthcoming handsets -- reportedly an Apple iPhone 5 -- after taking it out with them to a local Mexican restaurant and bar.Unlike the lost iPhone last year, this handset appears to have simply been sold on eBay by someone presumably unaware of the significance of their find.According to a report by Cnet, the phone went missing in late July and Apple's security have been working to recover the missing phone. Apple hasn't filed a lost... Continue reading...
Posted by Arin Ahamed. Posted In : mobile news
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