Global News

Friday, April 17, 2009

Verizon Announces Plans for Hub Application Store

Posted by admin at 7:50 AM

Verizon plans to allow users of rival services to use Hub

Across the country, the number of people using traditional landlines for their home phone service is dwindling. Many consumers are finding in the tough economy that home phone service can be disconnected and mobile phones used exclusively.

Shedding the home phone line is something that many consumers find appealing, but the providers of landline phone service are looking for ways to halt the progression to an all-wireless society. One of the ways Verizon is looking to lure people back to using home phones is with home phones that offer some of the capabilities we associate with smartphones.

The Verizon Hub is a home phone that features an internet-connected base that offers users access to V Cast entertainment services, messaging, and email among other features. Those features are common on many mobile phones today, but are new for the home phone. The big catch for the Verizon Hub is that along with features of a smartphone, it also gets some features of smartphone plans. The device costs $199.99 and requires a 2-year contract.

Verizon has announced today that it plans to offer an application store for the Hub, much like the App Store for the iPhone. The Hub app store would open the market up for third-party developers to offer programs for the Hub expanding its usability. One example of possible application for the Hub is Internet radio.

Verizon also says that it is working to remove one of the most restrictive requirements for using the Hub -- that Hub users must be Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon's John Gravel said, "We're in the process of getting rid of that restriction. Why would you limit anyone from using this?"

The bigger issue in analyst's eyes is that the Hub is expensive -- it costs $199 to buy, there is a two-year contract, and the service costs $34.99 per month. In the economy today that sees people shedding home lines altogether to save money, increasing the cost of the landline is going to be a hard sell.

Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said, "It's a tough time to be marketing a device and service like this. The first order challenge is to explain to consumers why this is an improvement over a home phone ... why it's worth paying $35 a month on top of their broadband bill."

Many consumers can access the same services that Verizon is talking up for the Hub via devices already in the home like smartphones and computers. Simply adding these common features to a home phone seems to be of dubious value.

One significant drawback to the Hub is that customers of rival providers like AT&T and Sprint could be prevented from sending and receiving text messages between the Hub and their mobile phones. Verizon is betting that the app store for the device will be enough to draw attention back to the home phone. That is a big bet and one that Verizon is likely to lose.

The device has been on the market since February 1 and Verizon won’t offer firm information on how many have been sold. All Gravel will say is that demand is tracking with expectations.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Australian Government to Be Majority Owner of $30.6B USD 100 Mbps Broadband Network

Posted by admin at 1:02 PM

None of the bidders for the national broadband network met the requirements, so Australia will build its own network

In many parts of Europe and Asia, broadband speeds on wired and wireless networks are much faster than the speeds that American consumers have available. The U.S. has plans to use the wireless spectrum vacated by analog TV broadcasts to help fix the broadband availability issue, but it will be years before most of the new networks are up and running on the spectrum.

Other countries around the world are also working to make broadband connections faster and available to more of the population. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an announcement today that none of the five bidders for the national network for broadband were able to meet the needs of consumers.

Australia has been taking bids for a national fiber optic network for a while. Among the bidders were Telstra and Optus, two of the largest networks in the country. With none of the five bidders meeting the needs of the national fiber optic network, Rudd announced that the Australian government and private industry would be investing $30.6 billion USD over the next eight years in a speedy fiber optic network that will include fiber optic cable connected to homes, not just to the street corner telco boxes.

By providing the majority of the $30.6 billion investment, the Australian government will be the majority owner of the fast network when it is fully installed. Private sector investment will be limited to 49% of the network costs to ensure the government is the majority owner. Plans for the network call for download speeds of up to 100 Mbps and the network will be operated independently of the Telstra and Optus networks.

Rudd says that at the peak of construction the new network will provide 37,000 jobs, a significant boost to the economy during the global recession. When complete, the fiber-to-the-premises network will run to 90% of the homes and business in the country with the additional 10% being served by speedy wireless and satellite connections good for up to 12 Mbps. The initial investment from the government will be $4.7 billion and the government will sell its interests in the network within five years of completion.

Analyst Lauren Holt said, "The investment by the Government creates an alternative to Telstra's fixed-line network over time, effectively re-nationalizing part of the fixed-line industry in Australia."

The new network will mean that Telstra will have less of a chokehold on internet access in Australia and the company is expected to fight the government in courts to try to prevent the new network from accessing its existing network of copper wire. Some analysts say that the network could be delayed by five or ten years as Telstra fights a long legal campaign. However, the Australian government says that it will change legislation to prevent Telstra from harming the project and preventing the fast network from being installed.

Australia's planned 100 Mbps network is fast, but in Japan the J:Com network runs at 160Mbps, making it significantly faster than what Australia has planned. At the same time the speeds for broadband downloads are going up, many providers are setting caps on the download limits that offset some of the usefulness of the faster platform. In the U.S. Time Warner is rolling out metered internet access to some parts of the country.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

RIM BlackBerry Sales Up, Almost Doubles Q4 Revenue From Last Year

Posted by admin at 7:23 AM

What recession? RIM is doing great

In a sign that the economy may be improving, Research In Motion, the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, has announced record sales and revenue for the fourth quarter of their fiscal year ending February 28, 2009.

RIM shipped approximately 7.8 million BlackBerry devices in the fourth quarter and approximately 26 million devices during fiscal 2009. Around 3.9 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added. As of the end of February, the total number of BlackBerry subscriber accounts was approximately 25 million.

Revenue from the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009 was $3.46 billion. This is up 24.5% from $2.78 billion in the third quarter, and up an astounding 84% from $1.88 billion in the same quarter of last year.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $518.3 million, or $0.90 per share diluted, compared with net income of $396.3 million, or $0.69 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $412.5 million, or $0.72 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year.

The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 83% for devices, 12% for service, 2% for software and 3% for other revenue.

Revenue for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2009 was an impressive $11.07 billion despite a sluggish economy, up 84% from $6.01 billion last year. For the fiscal year 2009, net income was $1.89 billion, or $3.30 per share diluted, up 46.3% over fiscal 2008.

"We are very pleased to report another record quarter with standout subscriber growth that speaks volumes about the early success and momentum of our new BlackBerry products,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM.

“RIM experienced an extraordinary year in fiscal 2009, shipping our 50 millionth BlackBerry smartphone and generating $11 billion in revenue. Looking ahead into fiscal 2010, we see exceptional opportunities for RIM and its partners to leverage the investments and success of the past year to continue growing market share and profitability."

Friday, December 12, 2008

China "cancer village" pays ultimate price for growth

Posted by admin at 7:55 AM

By Emma Graham-Harrison and Vivi Lin

XIDITOU COUNTY, China (Reuters) - Once an isolated haven, the Chinese village of Liukuaizhuang is now a tainted hell, surrounded by scores of low-tech factories that are poisoning its water and air, and the health of many villagers.

One in fifty people there and in a neighboring hamlet have been diagnosed with cancer over the last decade, local residents say, well over ten times the national rate given in a health ministry survey earlier this year.

Many fear they are paying for the country's breathtaking economic expansion with their lives, as surrounding plants making rubber, chemicals and paints pour out health-damaging waste.

"They asked in the hospital whether my family had a history of cancer. I said: 'No, in the last three generations no one had it'," one villager told Reuters, pulling out his x-rays and doctor's diagnosis that he had lung cancer. "It must have a lot to do with the pollution here."

Three decades of reforms and opening up since 1978 have transformed China from a rigidly ideological backwater into the world's fourth largest economy, lifting millions out of poverty, but not without a price.

Nationwide there are dozens of places like Liukuaizhuang, where factories have blackened streams, poisoned farmland and choked the air.

Just 120 kilometers south of Beijing, Liukuaizhuang was a quiet village before the dramatic economic boom was kicked off by a series of low-key Communist reforms on Dec 18, 1978.

Twenty years later almost 100 chemical plants were scattered across what used to be farmland and thirty years on someone in almost every family is dead or dying of cancer -- the youngest just seven years old -- according to a local activist.

Officials agree that the area, dubbed a "cancer village" in domestic media, had a huge pollution problem, although they insist cancer rates are below the national average and all the worst-offending factories are now shuttered.

"The factories were not far from homes and to a certain degree influenced the normal life of the villagers," said the Communist Party spokesman for the county, Huo Junwei.

"(But) we think figures provided by individuals exaggerate pollution problems in our area," he said. "For several years we have been looking into whether there is a link between cancer and chemical production and have not yet got a scientific answer."

QUESTIONS AND SILENCE

In recent years, national leaders worried about the mixed legacy of chasing economic expansion at almost any cost have stepped up calls for a more equitable society and cleaner industry nationwide.

But the pollution around Liukuaizhuang was so rampant that a crackdown driven partly by health concerns began in 2003, long before greener growth became a ubiquitous government mantra.

And activists say waste water and toxic gasses are certainly causing some illness there, even if an apparent link with cancer has not been proved.

"Pollutants including heavy metals like mercury and lead have already got into the food chain and all these chemicals will affect the normal function of cells," said Gao Zhong, an environmental economist with a non-governmental organization that works to clean the country's polluted water.

Wong Tze-wai, an environmental health expert at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, said it would be premature to assume a link, but authorities should look into whether the number of cancer cases in the village was abnormally high, and if so, why.

"It's important to investigate. We know that many industrial chemicals are carcinogenic and it is not unlikely that they can get into the eco-system," he told Reuters.

The village's richer inhabitants have backed that view by moving away, locals say, leaving behind the old, poor and ill. Some cannot afford even the most basic health precautions.

"We don't have enough money to clean the water we drink. We put it all in a basin and let the pollutants sink," said the daughter-in-law of one lung cancer sufferer.

All are reluctant to discuss the illness as they say health benefits were cut to victims who spoke out in the past, as well as one activist, Wang Dehua, who was jailed for several years.

"A lot of journalists came and went, but it did not change the situation at all," said one middle-aged liver cancer patient whose husband was also diagnosed with cancer recently. Like all the other interviewees she refused to be named.

CLEAN REVOLUTION?

Some hope may ironically come from the global economic crisis, which is threatening so many Chinese jobs, as the world slowdown has dented demand for the products churned out from the country's factories and so cut their waste.

The villagers say some of Liukuaizhuang's bare bones factories, where paint is mixed in open drums in fume-filled warehouses guarded by vicious dogs, have already gone bust.

The crisis has also spurred Beijing to line up a multi-billion dollar stimulus package. Activist Gao hopes some of the cash will be spent on cleaner technology.

"Now we are facing financial turmoil. There is a good way to stimulate domestic demand and also keep society stable, which is to improve the environment to invest more into this so ... the country will be able to develop with quality," he said.

However there is also a risk that Beijing's leaders, facing rising unemployment and the social problems caused by a slowing economy, will relinquish environmental goals and ease pressure on the heavy industries that have created so much of both the country's growth and its pollution.

Many in the "cancer village" fear the clean up is too late for them but they cling to hope that it will save their children and grandchildren from terminal illnesses.

"Of course I am worried, but what is the use of being worried?" said a lung cancer patient.

"We have to save our concern for the next generation."

(Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Tech firms stand out for climate efforts: study

Posted by admin at 7:47 AM

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp, Dell Inc and Intel Corp stand out among technology and consumer-products companies for their policies directed at averting climate change, according to a study released on Thursday.

Ceres, an investor coalition focused on environmental concerns, commissioned the study evaluating how effective 63 companies in the tech, consumer products, leisure and drug sectors have been in institutionalizing policies intended to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

IBM, Dell and Intel ranked first, third and fourth among the companies studied, while British retailer Tesco PLC came in second. At the bottom of the list were U.S. apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co, Canadian coffee-and-doughnuts chain Tim Hortons Inc and Burger King Holdings Inc, the world's No. 2 hamburger chain.

"What we're really looking at here is the degree to which companies are incorporating climate risk and opportunities into their core business strategy," said Anne Kelly, director of Boston-based Ceres' corporate governance program. "It isn't an add-on, it's not a question of philanthropy ... It's really core to their strategic thinking."

Reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas associated with global warming, has become a priority for many businesses as consensus grows that under President-elect Barack Obama the United States will eventually adopt a system that attaches a cost to carbon.

The sectors covered in the survey, while less energy-intensive than businesses like power generation or transportation, were chosen because they are less likely to be subject to specific emissions regulations.

ENERGY-EFFICIENT DESIGNS

The tech companies stood out for their focus on making their products more energy-efficient. That drive provides other benefits, making servers cheaper for corporations to run and allowing laptops to operate longer on battery power.

They have also been quick to embrace technologies that can reduce their energy needs. For instance, more than 100,000 IBM employees work from remote locations, rather than commuting daily to an office -- thus saving the energy that would otherwise be needed to transport them.

The issue of energy efficiency drew ever more corporate attention over the past few years as prices rocketed higher. The spreading global recession, however, has driven costs down, with crude oil now trading at less than one-third its record high of July.

But Wayne Balta, IBM's vice president of corporate environmental affairs, argued that businesses will not forget the importance of energy efficiency so quickly.

"Good environmental management makes good business sense," Balta said. "When you make your business more efficient it is inevitably good for the environment and vice-versa: When you achieve things that are more positive for the environment they are nine times out of ten more efficient for your business."

Companies fell toward the bottom of the list if they had no clear policies intended to track or reduce their energy usage and emissions. Falling into the bottom third of the list, at No. 43, was Whole Foods Market Inc, a high-end U.S. grocery chain with a focus on natural foods and a green image.

The study evaluated the companies' environmental policies based on publicly available statements, though each business was given an opportunity to respond to the initial evaluation.

(Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Matthew Lewis)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved