Tag Archive
Orange, T-Mobile Seek Merger Approval from European Commission
Zacks.com submits: European telecom giants Deutsche Telekom (DT) and France Telecom (FTE) have reportedly filed their appeals to the European Commission for approval of the proposed merger of their UK units in a 50-50 joint venture. The European Commission will review the merger proposal and is expected to provide an initial ruling in... »
1,200 AOL Workers To Go the Way of Dial-Up
Some AOL Inc. (AOL) workers in the United States and Europe lost their jobs today and more will get pink slips on Wednesday.Too few people – only 1,100 – accepted the struggling company’s voluntary buyout offer in December, so now it’s enacting 1,200 layoffs, New York-based AOL said on Monday.The cuts …(194 words) Related Topics: Europe,... »
1,200 AOL Workers To Go the Way of Dial-Up
Some AOL Inc. (AOL) workers in the United States and Europe lost their jobs today and more will get pink slips on Wednesday.Too few people – only 1,100 – accepted the struggling company’s voluntary buyout offer in December, so now it’s enacting 1,200 layoffs, New York-based AOL said on Monday.The cuts …(194 words) ... »
Cisco brings TelePresence to the home
Last week at CES, Cisco unveiled its TelePresence system for consumer homes. The system used a set-top device, a remote control, a high-def camera, microphone, and a standard HDTV. The device is expected to cost around $1,000 excluding the cost of the TV and consumers’ monthly Internet bills. The company plans to trial its telepresence... »
So What Should Motorola Do Now?
Earlier this week, when Google announced its Nexus One phone, it appeared that the new Android-driven connected device ecosystem is going to be a three-headed monster: Qualcomm as provider of the chips, Google as maker of the operating system and HTC as the preferred device manufacturer. (In the PC-centric WinTel world, the infamous troika... »
French President Sarkozy given ‘impenetrable’ superphone
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has been presented with a super-phone with “impenetrable” encryption levels compared to commercial handhelds such as the Blackberry. President Sarkozy got to grips with the Teorem phone, which looks like a regular smartphone, while on a visit to the Thales Communication factory in Cholet, western France. To read this report in... »
Nortel gets court OK on GENBAND CVAS bid
Nortel has obtained Canadian and U.S. court approval for GENBAND’s stalking horse agreement as well as bidding procedures for the sale of its Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions business. Nortel announced that at a joint hearing it obtained orders from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Ontario Superior Court... »
Google unveils Nexus One phone
Google has unveiled an own-brand smartphone called the Nexus One. The wraps were taken off the handset at an invitation-only event held at Google’s Mountain View HQ. The Nexus One is a slim, touchscreen phone built in partnership with Taiwanese manufacturer HTC and runs Google’s Android operating system. To read this BBC News report in full, see: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8442205.stm Also... »
Telefonica buys JAJAH
Rumors just before the year’s end had surfaced that O2 was going to purchase Internet VoIP company JAJAH and it looks like they were true. Telefonica, O2’s parent company, has reportedly purchased JAJAH for $207 million. JAJAH works much like Skype in that users make VoIP calls over the Internet. The purchase will see JAJAH... »
Texting was never actually designed for consumer market
For a technology that has become so all-pervasive that texting has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary, SMS (short message service) was not designed as a mass market consumer communications service at all. “It was designed to use some spectrum and provide an internal messaging service for engineers and maybe become the beginnings of... »
Mobile VoIP: 2010 Will Be An “Exit” Year
A few days ago I posted an article about VoIP as the “industry of the decade“, meaning that VoIP has been the industry with the highest growth in terms of cumulative revenues. 2008-2009 has also been an important period in terms of market consolidation. Ribbit has been acquired by British Telecom after a very... »
The Wish List: 7 Things We Hope Will Come True in 2010
With 2009 coming to an end, it is not surprising that everyone is making predictions about what 2010 has in store. So instead, four of us — Liz, Stacey, Sebastian and I — have put together a wish list of seven things we hope come true in 2010. Facebook Goes Public – What Silicon Valley... »
The Androidification of Everything
A few days ago, Antonio Rodriguez, a Boston-based entrepreneur and founder of Tabblo, emailed to let me know that he was leaving Hewlett-Packard to go do something new. Rodriguez sold Tabblo to HP in 2007 and had been working on some cool stuff at HP, but now he’s decided that it’s time for him... »
MeetingOne Appoints VP of Enterprise, Channel Sales
MeetingOne, a provider of conferencing and collaboration solutions, has appointed Brandon Warren as its new vice president of enterprise and channel sales. Previously, Warren served as a director of channel sales, Americas and Europe at ACT Conferencing, where he was responsible for developing and executing channel sales contribution.With more than …(162 words) ... »
O2/Telefónica Buys Jajah for $207M
Telefónica, the parent company of O2, today announced the acquisition of Jajah for €145 million (about $207 million) in an all-cash transaction. The company had raised $35 million from various investors including Deutsche Telekom, Intel Capital and Sequoia Capital. The rumors of this deal emerged earlier this month. You can read my post, “Why... »
What Is The Industry Of The Decade? VoIP!
Going back to 1999 / 2000 when I was involved in the startup of a new VoIP company, Abbeynet, and the launch of an innovative (but not that lucky) VoIP service, Chocophone, I certainly coundn’t ever imagine that the VoIP industry was going to become the “industry of the decade“. Image via Wikipedia Yes, because it... »
It’s official – Avaya now owns Nortel ES
At long last, months since the September auction which saw Avaya win Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions unit over Siemens, the $900 million deal has gone through. The purchase of Nortel’s ES unit closed Friday and now the industry has to wait and see how the merger will take shape. Some industry voices are wondering if the... »
Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Device Sales on Pace for Flat Growth in 2009, Increase 9 Per Cent in 2010
Stronger than expected sales in Western Europe and an acceleration in the grey market in the third quarter of this year will drive worldwide mobile device sales to end users to 1.214 billion units, a 0.67 per cent decline from 2008, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. In September, Gartner had forecast... »
Google execs face prison over user-generated video in Italy
The city state of Milan is prosecuting Google for defamation and breach of privacy after a video showing a down-syndrome boy being attacked by bullies was posted on the search engine’s video site. Yesterday (16 December), four Google executives were in the stands protesting their innocence under EU laws on Internet freedom. Google, alongside other... »
EU plans to make high-speed Internet compulsory
The incoming Spanish EU Presidency wants to extend universal service requirements to broadband Internet, making it compulsory for member states to make the service available in every corner of their territory. The move is aimed at improving Web access in rural areas but has raised a number of concerns for the telecoms industry. The European... »
New European Telecoms Rules enter into force
New EU telecoms rules will officially become EU law tomorrow following their publication in today’s Official Journal of the European Union. The new rules composed of the Better Regulation Directive and the Citizens’ Rights Directive will need to be transposed into national laws of the 27 EU Member States by June 2011. The new... »
BT and Cisco launch global hosted IP unified communications service
BT and Cisco have announced a partnership to launch a global hosted IP unified communications (UC) service. The new service will require the building of new data centers stateside in addition to BT’s London-based data centers. While rolling out the hosted UC service to the U.S. as well as countries in Europe, the Middle East... »
Europe’s txtr Ready to Fight Amazon’s Kindle
txtr, a Berlin-based startup, is building an e-reader that it hopes will be Europe’s answer to the Amazon Kindle. Christophe Maire, CEO of the company, sat down with me in Paris earlier this week and gave me the details. He is one of the co-founders of gate5, a German navigation/mapping service that was acquired... »
How Hot Is Spotify?
Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek, co-founders of Spotify. (Photo courtesy of Spotify) You know how Apple makes its presence felt at CES by not being there? Well, you can say the same for Spotify, a London- and Stockholm-based digital music service that was co-founded by Martin Lorentzon and Stardoll founder, Daniel Ek. At Le Web... »
Nuance Dragon Dictation for iPhone Rocks!
Nuance Dragon Dictation for iPhone is the most amazing text-to-speech application you will find on the iPhone. Employing a client-server architecture along with the iPhone’s superb high-quality microphone means near dead-on accuracy. When you click the record button your voice is temporarily stored locally on the iPhone. When you are finished recording or reach... »
Microsoft Cedes to Europe’s Antitrust Regulators
Windows users in Europe soon will get to choose which browser they want on their computers.Microsoft Corp. has struck a deal with Europe’s antitrust regulators; it will let consumers choose which browser they want installed. Options will include Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Chrome or Apple’s Safari.The agreement takes effect …(102 words) ... »
European Internet access and use in 2009: One person in two in the EU27 uses the internet daily while three-quarters of young people do
In the EU27 , 65% of households1 had access to the internet during the first quarter of 2009, compared with 60% during the first quarter of 2008, and 56% had a broadband internet connection in 2009, compared with 49% in 2008. These data2 published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, represent only... »
Avaya-Nortel deal meets more Canadian approval
The Avaya-Nortel deal has been getting approval across the board. After the U.S. and the EU, it’s Canada’s turn again. Canada’s Minister of Industry Tony Clement approved Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel Networks enterprise solutions operations on Friday. The $915 million acquisition should be completed by the end of the month and some estimates had wagered... »
FCC Wants to Know Why Verizon Increased Termination Fees
Updated with Verizon’s response: The Federal Communications Commission wants to know why Verizon decided to double its early termination fee (ETF) for new customers who sign on to the wireless service using advanced devices…longhand for smartphones. The FCC today sent a letter to Verizon Wireless seeking answers. The FCC correctly questions Verizon Wireless about its... »
GigaOM Meetup in Paris: Dec. 8, 2009
I am going to be in Paris next week for the Le Web 2009 conference, hanging out with some of the movers and shakers of the European technology scene. Many of you have emailed me asking to meet up before the event. Instead of trying to make individual plans, I decided perhaps it’s time... »