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Imagine how difficult it would be to keep enterprises locked into proprietary Cisco hardware and software if another vendor offered a compelling and cost-effective alternative
“Imagine how difficult it would be if you were limited to calling people who only use the same carrier or if your phone could only call certain brands and not others,” De Beer wrote. “Cisco wants to avoid this future for video communications,” and so has filed the appeal. Messagenet, a European IP calling service, joined Cisco in filing the appeal. Both had commented to the European Commmission during initial hearings on the deal before it was approved.
Cisco doesn’t want the merger rescinded, but rather wants the… Continue reading: Cisco Appeals EU Approval of Microsoft’s $8.5 Billion Skype Acquistion – Arik Hesseldahl – News – AllThingsD
Excerpt from an overview of the emerging battle of the ecosystems
“It’s not about brands or devices or platforms anymore,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner. “It’s about the ecosystem. The idea is to get consumers tied into that ecosystem as tightly as possible so they and their content are locked into one system.”
So Facebook, which has half of its users accessing it from mobile devices, has dabbled in phones and is said to be moving even more firmly in that direction. Apple, once just a computer maker, already gets most of its profit from mobile devices and is eyeing televisions, which would play content from iTunes.
… Continue reading: Digital Services Seek a Captive Consumer – NYTimes.com
Sign of the times
Apple’s been having a great week in the stock market and is now hovering at $495 per share as of noon Friday. The rally on the market also gave the Cupertino, Calif.-based company some additional bragging rights: As of Thursday morning, Apple’s market cap was bigger than the values of Google and Microsoft combined.
You read that right. Apple’s market cap is around $462 billion as of mid-Friday. Microsoft’s is about $257 billion and Google’s weighs in at about $197 billion.
Apple worth more than Google, Microsoft combined – The Washington Post
Continue reading: Apple worth more than Google, Microsoft combined – The Washington Post
Signs of the times
Tech writer MG Siegler just noted a remarkable fact:
Apple’s iPhone business alone is now bigger than Microsoft.
Not Windows. Not Office. Microsoft.
[…]
The iPhone also appears to be considerably more profitable than Microsoft.
In the December quarter, Apple’s iPhone business generated $24.4 billion of revenue. Microsoft’s whole company, meanwhile, from Windows to Office to servers to XBox, generated $20.9 billion.
If we assume that Apple generates the same operating profit margin on its iPhone business that it generates on its overall business–38%–the… Continue reading: Apple’s iPhone Business Alone Is Now Bigger Than All Of Microsoft [Business Insider]
I suspect Tim Cook finds this amusing
As part of Thursday’s earnings report, Nokia noted it received $250 million from Redmond in the first of many quarterly “platform support payments.” It’s part of what the company says will ultimately be billions of dollars in support of its shift to Windows Phone.
Nokia also notes that it pays Microsoft royalties on each phone and has guaranteed minimum commitments, an amount it also expects to ultimately be measured in the billions of dollars.
Microsoft’s Pays Nokia Millions During Windows Phone Transition – Ina Fried – Mobile – AllThingsD
Continue reading: Microsoft’s Pays Nokia Millions During Windows Phone Transition – Ina Fried – Mobile – AllThingsD
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