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| Published: Sunday | May 10, 2009
WITHIN DAYS of being crowned national champions, after defeating the University of Technology team, Northern Caribbean University (NCU) has again commandeered the top spot in the regional leg of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Competition for university students held recently. The NCU team of Shawn Mclean, Trevoir Williams, Derron Brown and Dwayne Samuels, under the guidance of coach Henry Osbourne, and department chair, Kenrie Hylton, outdesigned the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Team AgroNeTT from Trinidad and Tobago, and UNAPEC Team NF4Live from the Dominican Republic. With an average score of 9.33, NCU outperformed the other regional universities in all categories, with not one of the 10 categories in which the team was graded, dropping below eight points out of 10. The UWI Trinidad and Tobago team's average score was 7.83, while the Dominican Republic team scored 8.07 points. The 10 categories in which the teams are evaluated and graded include problem definition, consistency, innovation, impact, effectiveness, user experience, extensibility, administration, functionality and presentation. This year, Microsoft instructed the Imagine Cup teams to address one of the eight United Nations (UN) Millennium Goals. The NCU team is focusing on developing software which will help address UN Millennium Goal number one, which is to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. This year's theme is 'Imagine a World Where Technology Helps Solve The Toughest Problems Facing Us Today'. The mission of the competition is to research, brainstorm, design and develop potential solutions that address the world's toughest problems. Full story |
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| Written by jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, 10 May 2009 That's right, and in addition to landing you in prison it could also cost you a $1 million. The Electronic Transactions Act has been in effect since April 2, 2007. The Act addresses several issues relating to doing business online, however, today I will address the issue of e-mail campaigns or e-mail blasts. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of unsolicited e-mails landing in my mailbox from local businesses advertising their products and services. It is good to see local companies using cost-effective ways to communicate with consumers. However, as with all business activities, it must be legally compliant and effective. Compliant e-mail campaign An e-mail campaign is compliant if it meets the following requirements, as outlined in the Electronic Transactions Act... Full story |
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| Jamaica Gleaner
Published: Wednesday | April 29, 2009 Executives of Columbus Communications, the regional fixed-line telephone, Internet and cable television business in which Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin is a minority partner, are adamant that the company is not up for sale. And regional telecoms carrier LIME has moved to douse speculation that surfaced at the weekend that the Cable and Wireless Caribbean operation had joined the list of bidders interested in the Barbados-based business. At least one local electronic media house reported recently that America Movil, the Mexico-based parent company of Claro, the mobile phone network that recently entered the Jamaican market, had acquired the fibre-optic cable business for approximately US$260 million. The report was apparently based on similar reports out of Mexico. A Wednesday Business story carried earlier this month also alluded to reports of Claro's interest in the Columbus regional infrastructural footprint but, in the absence of any confirmation, reported no such deal. Columbus operates in Jamaica as Flow. Not being sold "Flow is not being sold and I certainly would be aware of it," was the flat denial from Flow Jamaica's president and chief operating officer, Michelle English. "No discussion was held with anyone, Flow is not for sale." The comment from LIME is as unequivocal. "Nothing of the sort, something so sensitive I would be aware of," LIME's vice-president of corporate communications, Errol Miller, told Wednesday Business this week. Lee Chin's stake Lee Chin has pledged his stake in Columbus, along with other assets, as collateral for a US$170 million debt to bond holders. At a meeting in Kingston earlier this month with Jamaican investors in the AIC Barbados bond issue, Lee Chin said steps were being taken to monetise AIC Barbados' stake in Columbus to pay off the debt. AIC Barbados has put the value of its holding in Columbus at around US$300 million. It is unclear whether this includes investments held by AIC's Caribbean Bond Fund, led by Lee Chin, or if the bond fund could be the entity looking to purchase the billionaire's Columbus shares held by his Portland Holdings. AIC's Caribbean private equity fund is jointly financed by entities such as the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the European Investment Bank, the Export Development Corporation of Canada, the Caribbean Development Bank and the pension fund of the US telecoms giant, Verizon. AIC's Caribbean point man, Robert Almeida, head of AIC Global Holdings, has pointed out that Lee Chin's investments, and those of the Caribbean Fund, are managed separately and are not one and the same. In 2004 Chin teamed up with investor, John Risley to form the Brendan Paddick-run Columbus, whose core operating business is providing cable-television services, high-speed Internet access, digital telephone and internet-infrastructure services (retail) and the development of an undersea fibre-optic cable network, as well as the sale and lease of the telecom capacity provided by the network. Risley is the chairman and majority stakeholder of Columbus. "As far as we know, Michael Lee Chin is a minority shareholder in Columbus Communications and is entitled to do what he wants with his shares. Flow is a strong company that is growing every day and it continues to provide broadband and digital services to its growing customer base." Flow Jamaica's English added. Strong impact from Flow Flow has already made a strong impact on the local telecommunications industry, its integrated triple play of services - digital cable TV, digital landline and high-speed Internet - placing Jamaica as a regional industry leader for data connectivity and innovative digital products. In the meantime, apparently acting on reports about the possible sale of Columbus, local cable operators, Amalgamated Cable System (JACS), TLM Communications and Verge Limited last week sought and was granted an Order by the Supreme Court, barring Columbus Communications and its affiliate, Columbus Acquisitions Inc, from disposing of any of its assets. The 14-day injunction was granted last Friday. Flow acquired the assets of several small cable operators as it seeks to consolidate and corner a larger share of the Jamaican market. The applicants for the Order contend that a dispute over outstanding payment of some US$6.5 million to them has not been settled despite Flow's word that it has fulfilled its obligations under the deals. According the the companies, FLOW has not provided accurate revenue figures earned from the cable, Internet and telephone assets it acquired from them in 2007. Full story |
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| The Observer
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 GOVERNMENT on Monday finally released the complete list of items removed from the tax-exempt category and which will now attract the general consumption tax (GCT). Now included on the list of items subjected to the 16.5 per cent tax are imported services supplied by non-residents, while the only removal from the original list released last week is the GCT applicable on live birds and fish for food. Despite public outcry, computers not approved by the education ministry and all printed matter, excluding those for "religious and educational purposes", are still among the products that will now be subjected to GCT. Fish, cock and noodle soups in aluminium sachets, syrup, motor spirit and lubricating oil for commercial fishing, rolled oats and salt, are also included in the items which will now attract the tax, which the finance ministry forecasts will bring in $7.5 billion more into state coffers. Meanwhile, the Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ) has expressed outrage in response to the GCT applied on printed material, which includes books, and has called on the Government to reverse its position. BIAJ chairman Franklin McGibbon, in a press release yesterday, said the commissioner of inland revenue will have the responsibility of certifying the printing matters for education or religious purposes. "... It will have a serious negative impact on education, and additionally, its implementation will be an administrative nightmare," said the association. "It is interesting that the Ministry of Education's push for literacy and reading is now being countered by these tax measures," said the BIAJ. Full story |
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| St Thomas resident Kamoy Brown, 23, is unemployed, but is optimistic that he will get a job soon.
With his newly acquired computer skills, gained from attending classes at the information technology (IT) and homework facility at the Rowlandsfield Community Centre in the parish, Kamoy is confident that his prospects for employment have greatly improved. The former student of Happy Grove High School in Portland tells JIS News that, in addition to basic computer skills, he is now able to prepare and print his résumé at the facility. He is grateful and proud that such a project has come to the rural community, which is located some 30 miles from Morant Bay. Persons benefiting "Truly, I feel really good and proud of the community, because we have been waiting for something like this for a long time," he said with a broad smile. "Students can now do their SBAs (Student Based Assessments) and stuff like that, and those who are not computer literate can come and learn something. So, I'm really delighted about this." His wish is to see the centre expanded so that more persons can benefit. The centre, which was constructed at a cost of some $1.3 million, began operating last May. When JIS News visited the facility recently, Kamoy was among a group of young persons, mainly students, using the five computers in the homework centre. They were being taught computer skills by Dwayne Brown, a volunteer teacher. The other tutors are Kevin Brown and Kevin Smith, a peace corps worker from Iowa in the United States. Computer classes are held on Mondays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the facility is open from 9 a.m. to the public on the other days, to facilitate the printing of documents and other computer-related activities. There is a small fee for the use of the facility, which Kamoy thinks is quite affordable. "Some places, it is $60 an hour, so it's very reasonable" he says. Various donors Howard McLaughin, coordinator of the project, said the idea to offer computer training and services came about after a survey revealed that more than 82 people were interested in developing skills in computer technology. Consequently, a project proposal was formulated with the assistance of the Social Development Commission, and sent to several funding agencies, including the European Union, which provided 75 per cent of the project cost. The remainder was contributed by community members and the Member of Parliament for the area, Dr Fenton Ferguson, who donated $259,000 towards the purchase of computer equipment, including a printer. McLaughin said the centre has been well received by community members. The computer training, he says, is offering a ray of hope to residents, many of whom have been displaced from their jobs, as a result of the closure of the Eastern Banana Estates in the parish. He said the residents are taking advantage of the opportunity to learn a skill, so as to earn a livelihood. So far, 20 people have completed a 10-week training course in basic computer skills and another batch of 20 started similar training in early March. Other needs The project coordinator, however, pointed to the need for additional computers so that more persons can access training. "Currently, the demand for the five computers is great. When we have about 20 persons, we have to have five persons to a computer," he lamented. "We have got some quotations for the cost of the units and how many it would take to cool the centre. We are currently putting the proposal together to find funding." Other needs include a fax machine, and more tables and chairs. In the meantime, he said there are plans to offer Internet service and advanced IT training at a cost, to earn income for the centre. "We are in dialogue with HEART Trust/NTA and they are looking at coming out here to enhance the training offered," he disclosed. Full story |
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| Michael Lee Chin's AIC of Barbados has acquired through a local affiliate Flow, Sauce Cable Company, the acquisition having won the approval of Cabinet.
However, up to yesterday, both parties to the agreement continued to deny that an agreement had been reached even though Cabinet disclosed on Monday that the companies had sought and won its approval for the consummation of the deal. Yesterday, Michelle English, general manager of Merit Communication, which operates under the Flow brand in Jamaica, denied that there had been any agreement to acquire Sauce, and declined to state whether there were any negotiations to acquire that firm. "We haven't acquired Sauce," said English. "We are in discussion with quite a number of (cable) operators.we are under non-disclosure agreement.when a deal is reached we will inform by the way of a press release. Until such time we have no comment." When contacted, Horace Brown, director at Sauce, was equally silent on the issue, telling the Business Observer that his company would not be able to provide any information at this time. "At this time, I will not be able to make a comment" he said. Monday's Cabinet disclosure also came on the heels of the acquisition of CVM Group by Lee Chin. On Monday, the government told members of the press that Cabinet had approved amendments to the commercial television licence granted to CVM Television, to allow it to sell majority shares to AIC Barbados. Information Minister Colin Campbell said that the approval cleared the way for Flow to acquire Sauce to enable capital injections to allow the company to continue to do business in Jamaica. A combination of CVM and Sauce could make Lee Chin one of Jamaica's largest media magnates. Sauce is the largest cable provider in the Corporate Area, with operation in three zones. It was created from the amalgamation of five cable companies on July 2, 1998: Home Commercial Satellite Limited, Affordable Enterprise Limited, Universal Cable Network Limited, Cabana Cable Limited and Eastern Cable Network Limited. From the formal launch of Flow in Jamaica in April, there have been rumours that the company has been approaching various cable and Internet providers with acquisition offers. On Sunday various cable operators, amidst these rumours, placed an advertisement in the print media in which they denied selling their company, and any intention of doing so. These companies were: Allied Cablevision, D & L Cable, Entertainment Systems Limited, Omni Cable Service, Starcom Limited and Telstar Cable Limited. Lee Chin is involved in cable operation in Trinidad & Tobago, and The Bahamas. Full story |
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| To clampdown harder on people in lotto scams
KIMMO MATTHEWS, Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com Tuesday, March 31, 2009 JAMAICA'S Police Fraud Squad yesterday dismissed a recent report about an increase in Internet fraud locally, but warned that they would be reviewing an international report showing a 33 per cent increase in the number of reported Internet-based crimes over the last year in some countries. The Internet Crime Complaint Centre, according to an Associated Press report, said it had received more than 275,000 complaints last year, up from about 207,000 the year before. The centre, which partners with the FBI and a non-profit group that tracks white-collar crime, did not, however, list the countries where the crimes were reported. "Our investigations are not showing us that there has been a significant rise in Internet fraud locally," a spokesperson for the Fraud Squad said yesterday. At the same time, Superintendent Fitz Bailey, head of the Organised Crime Investigation Division, said the police would be reviewing the reports and vowed to launch an assault on the lotto scam, which has been blamed for several deaths and an upsurge of crime in St James, and other violent clashes in other areas. "The police are putting together measures that will create a major impact across the island on the lotto scam," Bailey said. Investigations, he said, showed that the local lotto scam was spreading rapidly into new parishes and forcing local law officials to be spreading their resources thin. The authorities identified the parishes St Ann, sections of Manchester, St Catherine as new areas where frequent reports of the lotto scam were now emerging. A typical lottery scam begins with an unexpected e-mail notification that "You have won!" a large sum of money in a lottery. The recipient of the message - the target of the scam - is usually told to keep the notice secret, due to a mix-up in some of the names and numbers, and to contact a "claims agent". After contacting the agent, the target of the scam will be asked to pay "processing fees" or "transfer charges" so that the winnings can be distributed, but will never receive any lottery payment. Full story |
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| By Julian Richardson Assistant business co-ordinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, April 03, 2009 The bitter feud between Jamaica's two major mobile providers has intensified with Digicel now accusing LIME of refusing to open up toll free numbers to other telecom operators, a charge denied by LIME, the former Cable & Wireless Ja (C&W). According to Digicel, its revenue stream is being adversely affected because, along with other operators, it is unable to sell toll free services to corporate customers. Digicel complained that LIME has a monopoly in that segment of the market and corporate customers are "forced to use C&W/LIME's toll free service and accept whatever prices and service standards C&W/LIME chooses". "By refusing to comply with the OUR's directive to open up toll free numbers to competitors, C&W/LIME is acting in a blatantly anti-competitive manner and making a mockery of the regulatory regime here in Jamaica," Helga McIntyre, legal and regulatory manager for Digicel Jamaica, told Caribbean Business Report (CBR). "It's unacceptable; for the good of corporate organisations, consumers and competition, C&W/LIME must be shown the error of its ways," she added. LIME, however, denied the accusations and said that the firm was in fact instrumental in the creation of a toll free regime in which Digicel can now offer service to its customers. In a statement to CBR, LIME said it wrote to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on March 11, 2009 advising the regulatory body that: - It is not true that LIME is preventing Digicel from providing toll free numbers to its customers. Digicel can assign toll free numbers and provide toll free service to its customers and is not hindered in doing so by LIME; and - LIME is concerned about the use of toll free numbers to provide a particular form of Indirect Access called two stage dialling (2SD) and the matter is currently under appeal and LIME is awaiting a ruling. However, a third party, Flow, has entered the fight, and has supported the argument put forward by Digicel. Flow's public relations manager Denise Williams told this newspaper that Flow's ability to provide cost-effective services to its customers has been hampered. She accused LIME of being "anti-competitive and a major hindrance to the growth of the industry". "In the end, it is the customer who ultimately pays the price," said Williams. Last month, LIME, peeved by a 21 per cent price increase imposed by Digicel on its landline customers, made a formal complaint to the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), appealing to the agency to take action in putting a stop to what it described as Digicel's "anti-competitive, discriminatory and predatory conduct". In February, Digicel filed a $1.7-billion lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Jamaica against LIME contesting the price structuring of LIME's Homefone product and its handling of bad debt regarding retail fixed to mobile rates. Director of consumer and public affairs at the OUR, David Geddes, was said to be off the island and could not be reached for comment yesterday. Full story |
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| Source: Jamaica Observer
Sunday, April 12, 2009 Here comes another buzz phrase called 'SMO'. This is an Internet marketing technique that is used to generate interest about your website and is sometimes referred to as word-of-mouth marketing. Interest is generated by engaging in activities on social networking websites like Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn. The popularity of these websites has been growing worldwide. Online ranking services place Twitter.com as the fastest growing social networking website. The 10 most popular websites in Jamaica are: 1. www.yahoo.com 2. www.google.com.jm 3. www.live.com 4. www.youtube.com 5. www.google.com 6. www.msn.com 7. www.facebook.com 8. www.hi5.com 9. www.tagged.com 10. www.myspace.com Source: Alexa.com While most social sites do not give their geographic population count, we do know that Facebook currently has almost 95,000 members registered as living in Jamaica. Studies continue to show an increase in time spent online at the expense of traditional media in particular, print and radio. This has caused a global trend, with online marketing budgets increasing at the expense of traditional media. SMO provides another medium to market to potential consumers and gain their valuable feedback. We will examine some of the techniques used in SMO. Pages and Profiles Creating a profile or page for your company on MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms is easy and free. These profiles or pages can be used to effectively converse with your 'fan-sumers'. This is an extension of your company and requires constant monitoring and updating. These pages can also be used along with other social media services to enhance interest. For example, Facebook page could be used with Twitter to update friends with alerts such as stock prices, sales, etc. Videos and Photos Sites like YouTube, MetaCafe and Flickr can be used to post your videos and photos. Now, don't go posting your commercials or product brochures on these sites. Instead, find interesting videos or photos from events that you keep or encourage customers to submit creative versions of their own. Many Fortune 500 companies are using accounts (called "channels") on YouTube. Search engines such as Google will rank your video posts highly in search results. Web Widgets Web Widgets or Gadgets are the new cool way of distributing content when it comes to social media marketing. Web widgets are small interactive applications made up of tiny bits of code that can be easily embedded in the user's web page. Web widgets can also run on users' computers with a special widget platform. An example of this technique is Walmart's creation of a widget that allows users to organise a garden party. This mini application allows you to check the weather, send out invitation cards, access food recipes and buy party supplies, of course from Walmart. Chicklets White breath fresheners may be the first thing that comes to mind, however, Chicklets are those little icons on websites that let you do things such as vote for an article (Digg), subscribe to website feeds (RSS), bookmark a page (del.icio.us) or post to your profile (Facebook). So ensure that the next article posted on your website has a Digg Chicklet installed so visitors can vote for it. Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing can be defined as focus groups plus customer surveys on steroids, and it's free. With the use of social media tools you can harness the collective intelligence of your community to complete business related tasks. A popular example of crowdsourcing is to ask the "crowd" of people who are using your product or service to develop an ad for the product. This is sometimes implemented through online contests but these must have an appealing incentive for the winner. Blogging A web log or blog is a web page that contains the opinions or ideas of the author (blogger) and that allows visitors to post comments. This may be one of the most popular components of SMO and the most misused. The two basic elements of a successful blog are relevant content and frequent posts. Get familiar with what your audience is interested in reading about and ensure that you update your blog post at least a few times per week. Paid Marketing (PPC) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing is a quick and easy way to gain visibility on most social sites. This is not SMO but a way of buying your way in. If not measured, it can create a hole in your marketing budget that gives you zero return on investment. In measuring your success you must ensure that you track your conversion rate, ie how successful your PPC ad is in getting your visitor to complete an action on your landing page. Getting Started One of the most popular social media success stories is Barrack Obama's SMO campaign for president of the United States. He uploaded over 1,000 videos to his YouTube channel. He put photos on Flickr and had profiles on Black Planet and LinkedIn. He also used Facebook and Twitter to get his message out and conversation going. Interestingly, the recent revolution in Moldova was organised on Facebook and Twitter. Keep the following in mind as you venture into the world of SMO: 1. Establish a strategy before randomly selecting one of these techniques to begin your SMO campaign. In defining your strategy you must be clear about your objectives and how you will measure success. For example, is your objective to get links to your website or sell your product? 2. Know how each community can actually benefit you. If your end goal is getting links to your website, focus on social news sites like Digg, if it's conversion, focus on social niche sites like LinkedIn. 3. Always remember that you get what you give. If you are only giving a network your dusted-off marketing content, this doesn't add value and you'll get no value in return. 4. Finally, experiment, test and try new things. Don't get caught up in the hype of any one site and pay attention to feedback. Good luck with your social media optimisation efforts. Wayne Marsh is an Internet Marketing Consultant and can be contacted at marshwa@wsiwebprofits.com or www.wsiwebprofits.com. Full story |
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| BBC Technology News
Anyone buying a PC with Windows 7 pre-installed will be able to swap it for XP or Vista. Microsoft has confirmed that the licence conditions under which the software will be sold will allow people to downgrade. The conditions will apply to both businesses that buy licences for Windows in bulk and consumers that get the operating system on a PC or laptop. No firm date has been given for the release of Windows 7's final version. New life Downgrade rights are common in Microsoft licensing terms and conditions but the software giant has been forced to expand and extend them for XP, given user reluctance to move to Windows Vista. Microsoft dispute claims that Vista has not been popular, quoting figures that suggest it has outsold XP over similar time frames. However, Microsoft has twice granted Windows XP a reprieve to allow computer makers to get licences for it for far longer than was originally planned. Windows XP, released to consumers in 2001, was also granted a lifeline to ensure that it could be used on so-called netbooks - cut-down net-capable laptops that are proving very popular. At the same time, computer makers such as Dell and HP have been exploiting clauses in the licensing terms that let them rollback machines with Vista pre-installed to the older operating system. The news comes as the cut-off date for free mainstream support for Windows XP ends. From 14 April, Windows XP and Home plus Office 2003 enter their "extended support" period. This means the only updates and bug fixes these products will get will be to improve security. Microsoft has said that the release candidate of Windows 7, which will be broadly similar to the final version, will be released in late May 2009. The final version is expected in January 2010. Full story |
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| BARCELONA (Reuters) - Copying a few pages from the playbook of Apple Inc's iPhone strategy, which brings many of the powers of the Internet to mobile phones, is no way to beat the computer interloper at its game.
But that's exactly what many of the world's biggest handsets makers are trying to do with new copycat phones and services that ape key features of the iPhone. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's biggest annual trade show for the wireless industry, Apple is everywhere and nowhere. The company avoids such events, preferring to unveil products at its own venues. The handset business will produce more than a billion phones this year, but is suffering a crisis of confidence brought on by sharply changing business models that has only been exaggerated by the global economic slump. "Imagination is expensive in a year such as this," said Richard Windsor, a technology analyst at the conference who is with Nomura Securities in London. The giants of the phone industry -- Nokia, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc, Sony Ericsson and HTC Corp -- are humbling themselves to copy a company whose phones account for only 1 percent of handsets. A year ago, phone makers with quick-acting design teams came out with the first touchscreen iPhone look-alikes. This year, they are going further by seeking to duplicate the iPhone's user interface software. Privately, an executive with a major European telecommunications operator complains: "Everybody is trying to catch the iPhone. They are pushing things out to market that just aren't ready for prime-time." Analysts say the clones often perform slowly and are less intuitive for users than the iPhone. Case in point: South Korean phone maker LG Electronics introduced an entry-level smartphone using Microsoft Corp's Windows Mobile operating system and a new iPhone-like look called "3D S-Class User Interface." The most obvious difference with the iPhone is that LG's GM730 gives users three-dimensional views of its features and applications, which appear like cubes rather than pages, as they do on the iPhone. But a demonstration of the iPhone wannabe reveals a characteristic flaw familiar to personal computer users. LG's logo and then the Windows brand hang on the screen as 5, 10, 15, eventually 30 seconds pass. The phone is booting up, just like a computer, but unlike many of the faster phones. iCLONES Apple has sought to scare away competitors by threatening legal action to defend the hundreds of patented ideas it has rolled into the iPhone. How rivals can work around such patents remains a big question. The proliferation of "me-too" products is a trap because products must take shortcuts or sacrifice profit margins to undercut Apple on price. That digs equipment makers into a deeper hole because smartphones have been faster growing and more profitable than other handsets. And Apple isn't sitting still. Some Wall Street analysts say the Silicon Valley-based company is gearing up to offer a slimmed down $99 iPhone for consumers -- or $299 without carrier subsidies -- by June. A lower-price iPhone would likely run on slower networks, contain less memory and have lower touchscreen and camera resolution, one RBC Capital analyst predicts. Apple, which enjoys estimated margins of 55 percent that are nearly twice the industry average on their current line-up of phones, will need to accept margins around 40 percent if it markets a $99 phone. But that's still well above the 30 percent industry average. The phone industry is envious of Apple's AppStore, which lets iPhone users download thousands of small software programs to personalize the way they play games, listen to music or find directions. Letting users decide what software they add to phones marks an upending of long-standing industry practices of tightly controlling device features, based on what handset makers and their key customers, the operators, thought best. The roll-call of companies announcing their own software stores this week include Nokia, Microsoft, LG and France Telecom SA's Orange mobile network. Samsung and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd had previously announced stores of their own. Orange said its own store will feature only Orange-approved products when it opens in May. Selected outside software developers will be invited "in the future," it promised. Comfortable old habits of control die hard. -- At the time of publication Eric Auchard did not own any direct investments in securities mentioned in this article. He may be an owner indirectly as an investor in a fund. -- Eric Auchard is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own -- (Editing by Andre Grenon) Full story |
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