Iphone 3G go or no go ?

Often times there are products which captivate the world and leaves just enough for the average consumer craving for more, in terms of features revisions and abilities. The iphone is just that product; one which was elegant, revolutionary in its ability of touch and web browser integration into the phone. It had all the features to make it a threat but not enough to make it a sustainable product. I think Steve jobs knew this was the best method to execute the launch and keep the average consumer wanting more. Thus every software update led to more features being updated and implemented that require a legal version of the phone and not unlocked. And of course every time there is a unlock hack which leads to the phone being usable.

Thus now the present with rumors galore about the iphone 3G will be announced during the WWDC (June 9th). Course these are rumors but the good folks over at boygenius obtained a letter which states ATT saying the following:

To: All Employees

Last year at this time we asked that all vacations be scheduled before June 15 or after July 15, to ensure adequate store staffing and to give everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from an exciting product launch.  Thanks to your hard work, we experienced excellent sales during the mid-summer period.  This year, the numbers you produced in 2007 will be hard to beat; but as a business, we must rise to the challenge, and make every effort to exceed last year’s sales results.  Your management team is counting on you!

To ensure proper staffing during this period, Sales personnel planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their vacations before June 15 or after July 12 to participate in the heavy selling period

This letter which can be found in the article : http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/05/06/apple-and-att-to-launch-iphone-3g-a-lot-sooner-than-we-think/ clearly makes a point that we will have launch occurring during that time frame. But those dates do not correlate with the WWDC conference, which leads us to the question of when exactly will the announcement take place? We all know the phone is on its way (as i have read about it and even conversed with a few ATT reps about it as well) due to the rumor mill spinning and the hype building. But one needs to ask the question of what exactly is ensuring a date to be set in the middle of the end of the month ? As there is suggestion that Apple may not be able to get enough memory to supply the huge demand that they anticipate due to Infenion’s stating less then stellar earnings for the quarter.

The Infenion announcement led a couple analyst to make the assumption  this would impact iphone sales due to the chip “supposedly being” in the iphone. I would have to disagree with this assumption, as Apple has openly stated it will meet its goal of 10 Million iphones by year end. They would not limit themselves with a reasoning of not placing enough orders to Infenion for the chip. Thus my real big concern with the phone stems from the battery, will the battery be replaceable by the user??!!

Since they will be going to 3G and maybe even including GPS (fingers crossed) this leads to more consumption of battery in a shorter time frame. Leading to more charges, and requiring a new battery replacement sooner then later. Thus will the user have the ability to have multiple batteries, and be allowed to change them. This could be the deal breaker with many of the cooperate clients Apple is trying to capture with its PUSH sync on entourage and Outlook (RIMM server) in the SDK 2.0 kit. Thus if there is not enough juice, is it worth the squezz of paying for one at this level where your data is more critical and curcial to your productivity.

Belichick, League’s golden boy

“The New England Patriots, 3 time NFL world Champions, 16-0  record, most  TD passes in a season etc etc” These are the accolades which often go hand in hand with the New England Patriots. As they have proven over and over again they are a team to be taken seriously, and demand the up most attention of whomever they play. Thus when a story leaks out calling for the suspension of one of the most admired coaches in the league people start to take notice of what exactly transpired in Spy gate.

The story of Spy gate involves the Patriots stealing signals (with a video camera) during the game. Then reviewing these signals during and after games for better preparation when refacing the opponent. This type of signal stealing is considered illegal and a violation of NFL policies. Thus when the Patriots were caught for this type of misconduct they were punished with a 1st round pick and 500,000 fine for Bill Belichick and 250,000 for the Patriots.

This brings the situation to the present, with one recorder (Walsh claiming to have more evidence of this type of on going recording occurring for the past 8 seasons). EIGHT seasons of signal stealing, how MIND boggling is that??!! This begs the question of how can a team get away with signal stealing for that long and what type of impact did it have on the teams success? This type of impact is immeasurable as well as unknown due to the nature of the game that is football.

Thus with all this new evidence, a senate investigation is being called for by Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania who was notified by Walsh that he was told to “avoid detection and use cover stories if asked why he was taping”. If the Patriots are instructing their personal to bend the rules, and cheat and lie to gain the ultimate point in the W column then what is the point in suspending players whom run into the law  (Ricky Williams, Pac-man Jones) when this type of dishonesty is occurring on the field. This leads one to question if the type of punishment that was served to Bill Belichick was truly enough for the type of crime committed.

The impact of the tapes can not be measured, and those wins and championships still should be accounted for. But letting the culprit who was behind this dishonest act walk away with nothing more then a slap on the wrist is unfair and shows to the world  ” Go ahead, cheat and lie, no one will punish you.” This type of message is one that needs to be altered, with the NFL in particular Goodell coming down with a hammer on Belichick. The hammer being a suspension of some kind, a season, half a season. Anything to let the rest of the league and the impressionable children who watch every Sunday, cheaters do not win.

The suspension suites the crime, shown in the article below:http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/080517&sportCat=nfl

shows no remorse except “I made a mistake. I was wrong.” If that constitues an apology, then let me be the first person to say its not acceptable as Commisioner Goodell has stated. A harsher punishment is the only way the league will send a message to its Coach staff; regardless of where you are on the playing field coach or player ingrity is a requirement to play in this league.

Facebook Site Maintenance

As I was logging into my Facebook account to change my note feed, Facebook proceeded to crash on me then state that my account was down due to site maintenance.

Upon reaching this notice i began to suspect this may actually have to do with the  100 million in debt face-book stated it took on to “buy new servers”. Or is this the new facelift that was reveled to occur in the future to optimize growth and easy of use? In the article by Business week http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080514_205389.htm

There is talk about how decreasing the amount of clutter, and optimizing user growth by enabling more efficiency in the process of signing up as well as enabling more simplicity in the sites management of modules on ones personal landing page. The aim is to simply be simple and not get in the way of the user, but rather be part of the experience. Thus maybe i am one of the few affected in this round of face-lifts, but once its done I shall let you know if the results are worth the upgrades. Comment if you have gotten the facebook face-lift as well, any insight to how it is would be great.

Icahn attempts to cause headaches, prompting others to join

Today was the official announcement of Yahoo!’s slow march  towards  death. Over the past few months all of Wall Street and  Internet community had to witness the saga of “Will Microsoft raise its bid” or will “Yahoo! accept”. Those concerns were laid to rest about two weeks ago when Microsoft pulled its bid off the table. Of-course most of the investment and strategists stated that was just a tactic and the offer was  there if Yang (Yahoo!’s CEO and Chairman) would return to the table to talk. But upon the announcement revoking the bid, Yang proceeded to high five his co founder and state “They can return to business”.

Thus the onslaught of shareholder investor disappointment and fund managers rage began to surface due to Yang’s inability to maximize share holder value. As this was stated by Gordon Crawford who was “extremely angry” with Jerry Yang for blowing the original Microsoft (MSFT) deal. This has impacts as Gordon Crawford of Capital research has about 16% stake in Yahoo!.

This leads us to the present;it was  a given that someone would get Microsoft back to the table. It was not clear who that someone was. A majority share holder, outsider or even Yang for that matter. It was only with due time would we know who it was. Carl Icahn was the outsider who set his sights on Yahoo, and realized what the gain could be if enough majority share holders agreed to the bid. Causing about 50 million shares being purchased with in the last 1.5 weeks and keep Yahoo! share price above the predicted collapse price of $20.

With Carl Icahn controlling about 4% stake and getting fellow investor John Paulson, head of merger-arb shop Paulson & Co.  who owns 50 million shares to join in. Resulting in a of 8% stake of Yahoo!, along with another 4% that Icahn has been cleared to purchase. Thus having about 12%  between the two, and convincing Carwford to join in would result in about 28% of Yahoo!. Seeing a tread here right? Slowly but surely Icahn sees that he can amass enough people wanting to maximize their return who would agree to remove the current board and allow another board to be placed.

This entire situation of Yahoo! having its board replaced with one willing negotiate with MSFT would result in huge profits for Icahn and maximize shareholder value.  Yahoo! and its board should have  realized long ago that its fight for Independence was doomed the day it released its first quater results. Those results may have warranted a higher bid but not certainly not any signs that this company would any time in the near future maximize share holder value more then the bid would (near future being 12-18months). Thus causing the share holders and even employees to demand negotiations start occurring and creating a sense of urgency to get it all done. But as we all know that’s not how it played out, and now we are finally on the road after the big circling of the wagons to witness the slow march towards merging with Microsoft. This will happen and it will happen due to Shareholders realizing how much Yahoo! fighting for its independence will not maximize anything except loss.

Its a sad fate for a great company, one that excelled in pioneering the way for Internet generation as my self amongst the millions. One can only hope this becomes an example of how not to manage a gem into the ground. Thoughts ? Remarks? Post them I say!

Till another post ~Aditya

New tunes to ponder about

I was recently told by my good friend (Jayesh) about the new Death Cab Album, and said that it was very intense and totally on a different level versus the previous album( Plans). I recently just got the album and started listing to it heavily the last couple of days. First and foremost I do not claim to be a music critique or even can state I understand tunes and rifts well at all. I speak of this album from a purely listening pleasure and lyrics stance.

I started to listen to the first song which for me was “I will possess your heart”. The tune was completely different from the previous album. It was contains about a 2 min solo guitar intro which was enjoyable, it  sets the tune for the song (edgy and intense yet welcoming to the ears). The next song that i proceeded to listen to was Bixby Canyon Bridge, this definitely was more down toned and more of a dark song which gears itself towards loathing and despair with referencing to the lyrics. The tones are upbeat and energetic through out the song while the lyrics go in the other direction. The last long which really got my attention was “Pity and Fear”. This song really was in my view one of if not the best on the album, the intro is well balanced and sends home the message of thing just folding how they have. The song i would say is the most pleasant and enjoyable in terms of tune and lyrics on the album.

The Album as a whole is definitely going in a different direction than Plans, with a more mature and darker tune. I welcome the change as they have executed it flawlessly and perfected the tunes with lyrics masterfully. Hopefully this is not the last of their creative talent, and they keep delivering this type high quality material for years to come. Thoughts? Responses? Please post

Hello world! or I have found a new home ?

SO  this is another try at creating a blog which i can put time and effort into. I decided to give it an honest appraoch and go with WordPress and actually force my self to update and blog on a regular basis. And try to get my thoughts and views out. Maybe even get people to argue with me? Its see how this venture goes.