Cisco kills Flip camera in first revamp step
BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc will dump its Flip video camera division, retiring the popular brand in a first step towards reviving a company its CEO John Chambers admitted has lost its way.
The move to kill a gadget that won rave reviews for jump-starting low-cost handheld video and was the top-selling camcorder in the United States last year comes less than a week after Chambers said he had to make “tough decisions” about cutting spending on some product areas.
Cisco kills Flip camera in reorganization
BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc will ditch its Flip video camera division as it overhauls its troubled consumer business, following chief John Chambers’ recent admission that the company had lost its way.
The move comes less than a week after Chambers said that he had to make some “tough decisions” about cutting spending on some product areas.
Cisco CEO warns tough decisions ahead
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Cisco Inc Chief Executive John Chambers, days after admitting that the company he has led for 16 years had lost its way, warned of competitive pressures, depressed public sector spending and “tough decisions” that lay ahead.
Chambers told analysts and investors at a Wells Fargo technology conference on Thursday that Cisco is a “company that has many strengths, and a company that has some weaknesses,” pointing to slow decision-making and weak execution.
Amazon faces backlash over ‘music locker’ service
NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) – A new Amazon.com Inc service
that lets customers store songs and play them on a variety of
phones and computers is facing a backlash from the music
industry that could ignite a legal battle.
Amazon’s (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Cloud Drive, announced on Tuesday, allows
customers to store about 1,000 songs on the company’s Web
servers for free instead of their own hard drives and play them
over an Internet connection directly from Web browsers and on
phones running Google Inc’s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Android software.
iPad 2 heads abroad after U.S. sellouts
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will stick to plans to roll out its newest iPad on Friday to 25 more markets, including France and the United Kingdom, even as it fails to meet the high demand for the gadget in the United States.
Apple, in affirming its international plans, did not provide any hard figures for U.S. sales since the newest iPad, a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for video chat, was introduced on March 11. Prices start at $499.
Apple’s Jobs ordered to answer iTunes questions
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, March 22 (Reuters) – Apple Inc
(AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO Steve Jobs, who is out on medical leave, has been
ordered to answer questions from lawyers for a group of
consumers accusing the company of creating a music-download
monopoly.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd, based in San Jose,
California, ruled on Monday that lawyers representing the
plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit may question Jobs for a
total of two hours.
Apple’s iPad 2 heads abroad after U.S. sellouts
NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will
stick to plans to roll out its newest iPad on Friday to 25 more
markets, including France and the United Kingdom, even as it
fails to meet the high demand for the gadget in the United
States.
Apple, in affirming its international plans, did not
provide any hard figures for U.S. sales since the newest iPad,
a thinner and faster version that features two cameras for
video chat, was introduced on March 11. Prices start at $499.
What’s all this about TV cord cutting?
When media bigwigs argue that they haven’t seen any evidence of real cord-cutting — and, believe us, they love to argue this point – they can back it up with some new statistics from researchers over at SNL Kagan. For those of you who have fallen behind with industry jargon, cord-cutting is the idea that Americans are canceling cable and satellite television subscriptions because so many movies and TV shows can now be found on the Web — for far less than the cost of pay-TV. Huge issue, obviously, since these subscripti0ns are a pillar of today’s TV business. Not only are they the chief source of revenue for cable and satellite companies, but they help line the pockets of media companies such as Time Warner or Disney who collect fees for the TV shows they create.
Understandably, industry executives often downplay cord-cutting, attributing subscriber losses to factors like a bad housing market and high unemployment. For sure, it’s hard to know exactly why the industry lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers over the second and third quarters of last year. But SNL Kagan’s figures suggest the picture may not be as bleak as many feared.
TV executives await blockbuster ad sales
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. television executives are banking on a white-hot season for advertising sales, saying strong demand from automakers and telecommunications companies could drive prices up at least 10 percent.
Sales for the 2011-12 television season will not begin in earnest until May, leaving plenty of time for worries about unemployment, the housing market and high oil prices to chase away advertisers.
Comcast seeks edge in Hispanic market with website
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Comcast Corp, the cable and entertainment company, is making a major push into Spanish-language TV with plans to roll out a website featuring hundreds of shows and movies for Hispanic audiences.
Comcast’s plans allow its digital subscribers — wherever they are — to log into a website where they can pick from more than 500 Hispanic movies and shows from partners including Univision, Cine Mexicano, Gran Cine, Caracol TV, Discovery Familia.
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