"AAPL and RIMM are both pushing all of the other manufactures to the sidelines. It's clear that RIMM's BlackBerry is the dominating force in the corporate smartphone market, but the Apple iPhone has shaken things up quite a bit on the consumer side.
"The combination of the new Apple model flying off the shelves, and rumors of a postponement for one of RIMM's new releases, has raised questions among some analysts as to RIMM's ability to fight back.
"Research in Motion may be planning to release several new smartphones this year, including the KickStart, the Thunder and the already announced Bold.
Verizon Wirless Thursday agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by California customers upset with the company's early termination fees, the Associated Press reported.
Details are still pending, but Alan Plutzik, Alameda County (California) Superior Court judge said "we are recovering cash" that would "be available" to Verizon mobile phone subscribers who paid fees to end their contracts early, AP reported.
Shares of Verizon Wireless' parent Verizon (NYSE: VZ) were virtually unchanged on the news, dipping just 8 cents $34.58 in mid-day Thursday trading. Warranted reimbursement or California dreamin'?
Stock analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Thursday that, while he abhors cell phone / PDA termination fees as many others do, thinking that mobile phone / phone service providers can eliminate the $100-$250 fee without increasing charges elsewhere does not represent clear thinking.
Readers of this space know that one of the preferred plays is a utility company with a demonstrated business model, solid balance sheet, ample cash, decent dividend, and with an extra revenue stream / business that could provide additional growth. Verizon is one such company.
Verizon is not your typical, former AT&T (NYSE: T) unit. Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is a modern, diverse telecom provider for the early digital age.
Verizon has three impressive divisions: landline, wireless, and business services. And the numbers speak for themselves: the landline unit has an astounding 41.4 million subscribers in 28 states, Verizon Wireless is the U.S.'s second largest wireless provider, and business services is making inroads on medium/large enterprise customers and government agencies.
Further, the company's fiber optic broadband/video service, FiOS emerged as a competitor to comparable cable broadband/video services: look for VZ to continue to grab market share in key markets, as the service is rolled-out in the years ahead. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for VZ are $2.65/$2.92.
For some mobile subscribers, it can be scary to look at a monthly bill. But things are changing and now Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) has launched a new flat-fee plan for unlimited domestic calls. The fees range from $99.99 to $139.99 per month.
True, this may pinch revenues in terms of forgoing lucrative overage charges. But then again, Verizon must deal with the competitive environment.
To get a perspective on things, I interviewed Allan Keiter, who operates MyRatePlan. According to him:
"It was inevitable that this would eventually happen, as per minute costs in rate plans have continued to drop and regional carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket have had some success with an unlimited product.
Readers of this space know that the investment bias is toward large-cap companies with demonstrated business models and who have a competitive advantage in established markets, preferably with a favorable global trend as a support. But every once in while an exception is made for a non-conforming but innovative/promising company, and along this line Skyworks looks attractive. (Note: Skyworks is only for investors who can tolerate high-risk.)
Analysts really like Skyworks' radio frequency and manufacturing expertise, which enables the company to secure design wins with existing and new customers.
Skyworks, which began as a defense contractor, makes its integrated circuits out of gallium arsenide, a material that performs at higher speeds and with less energy consumption than the sector standard, silicon.
The new product turnaround at Motorola (NYSE: MOT) may already be crippled. One analyst, quoted byBloomberg said, "The Razr 2 didn't set the world on fire and it won't be a phenomenon like the original one."
The cause of Motorola's problem with its newest product may be the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, which appears to have sold more than two million units in the last quarter of 2007.
While the RAZR2 may be a better product than its predecessor, Apple, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung and Sony Ericsson have all introduced similar products to take advantage of the high-end multimedia handset space. Motorola may be squeezed out of a market it helped create.
With its shares trading just above $13, near a 52-week low, a weak fourth quarter earnings report could take the stock much closer to $10.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Sprint's shares plunged more than 15% Friday morning after the company said it will cut about 4,000 jobs and close 125 stores to cut costs to improve its financial performance, the company announced Friday in a statement. Sprint's shares sank $2.06 to $9.51 in early trading Friday.
Sprint (NYSE: S), the No. 3 wireless carrier, said the action would lower labor costs by about $700-$800 million annually. Sprint said the jobs cuts would occur nationally, and would include managers.
The action comes after the company announced that it lost an additional 683,000 customers last quarter, which brought 2007 customer losses to 1.2 million.
No 3. carrier Sprint has been stung by customer departures, as customers have been lured to competitors AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), which feature more-popular phones/PDAs and better service. Moreover, although Sprint's call quality and network has improved in the past six months, Sprint has found it difficult to reverse the company's earlier reputation as one of the worst call networks in the mobile sector. In addition to Sprint's aforementioned attrition problem, analysts believe that reputation is holding down subscriber recruitment.
In an effort to keep bottom-line growth alive, Intel is trying (again) to move into the mobile phone market. Speaking from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Pentium parent's CEO, Paul Otellini, told Bloomberg that Intel is focused on "where we think phones are going, not where they are today."
Last year, Otellini put to rest his predecessor's $5 billion, six-year effort to produce mobile-phone chips designed to run the communications features of cellular phones. Now, the Intel CEO is taking a different approach to the new marketplace, designing chips for phones that can surf the web and master mobile video and music. The goal for the new chip is to provide increased processing power while exerting less electricity.
In the first half of 2008, Intel will be unveiling its package of mobile chips. A successful shift toward this technology could be a boon for the company, as mobile handsets currently outsell personal computers by a 4-to-1 margin.
Imagine a global cell phone network. Now imagine a global cell phone network for a low monthly fee.
True, a system of that sort is not likely to happen overnight, but a company that's headed in that direction is United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE: VOD).
Vodafone Group is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a substantial presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia/Pacific and the United States.
Along with VOD's strong balance sheet and solid dividend, analysts like Vodafone Wireless, the company's most profitable division, which contributes 22% of operating earnings. About 80% of VOD's revenue is Europe-based, a maturing market, so VOD has beefed-up its emerging market expansion plan with asset purchases in India and Turkey.
As investors/readers know, in this market, all stock pullbacks are not alike. Some signal a company's misfortune; others, the end of a growth cycle.
Then there are those companies with solid fundamentals who experience a healthy pullback after a substantial price gain. Put Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: NOK) in the latter category.
In this case Nokia's pullback from about $42 to the $38-$39 range follows an impressive gain from about $28, with recent stock market choppiness undoubtedly contributing to the sell-off. Caution would typically prevail here regarding a communications equipment provider but Nokia's positives are so impressive, the stock is worth a review, for moderate-risk investors.
Nokia's major positives: double-digit revenue growth in 2007, and likely double-digit revenue growth in 2008 (despite an expected decline in average handset prices), economies of scale, a solid presence in Europe, strong positions is China and India, and a +45% market share in the high-end handset segment, globally.
Analysts estimate Nokia's mobile device shipments will increase 12%-16% in 2007, with a 37%-39% market share of the 1.1 billion devices in use; analysts see that market share increasing to about 40% in 2008. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for NOK are $1.95 to $2.24.
The risks? A global economic slowdown would certainly hurt NOK's results, the company is facing pricing pressure in a variety of handset categories, and then there's the competition from that high profile / high-end device: Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s iPhone.
But keep in mind that not everyone will buy (or need) a $399 iPhone, and that fact, combined with Nokia's modest p/e of 15, tips the risk/reward needle in favor of a purchase of NOK's shares.
The First Call mean rating for NOK is: Buy. [27 firms.] Mean 2008 target: $43.10. [high: $51, low: $36.50.]
Stock Analysis: Nokia is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 2 years should be rewarded from NOK's shares. Sell / Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $24.
This is becoming very Google-esque -- a major partnership announcement! Google watchers (and shareholders) can appreciate that Google does not want to be in the hardware business, at least not right now. The company is in the partnering business. It has made the very wise decision to create as many partnerships as it can, attractive to both parties given that partners will make money by working with Google, without a new cost. Its selling point to Internet users: we are the nice guys and we bring you so many features that make your life easier and fun (sounds like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL)). How can someone resist that?
Google hopes to create not 'a' new platform for cell phones, but 'the' new platform for cell phones. In doing so the company will be expanding the Google universe.
Net income was $60 million, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of $8.81 billion. Profit was 6 cents excluding one-time costs, beating the 4-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The cell phone maker expects to earn 12 cents to 14 cents this year, surpassing the 11 cents analysts had expected.
The question is whether these results are good enough to convince billionaire Carl Ichan to back off from his campaign against Chief Executive Ed Zander who has been trying to boost profit by reducing costs including the elimination of 5,000 jobs. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Lawrence Harris told Bloomberg News that he believes the "turnaround is here" and that Zander's turnaround plan is "working."
By the end of the year, Disney (NYSE: DIS) is going to ditch its mobile phone service. Basically, the company wants to rethink things.
Despite its mega brand, Disney realized that the competitive environment is extremely tough. Interestingly enough, it was last year that the company closed its ESPN mobile service (and took a charge for $30 million).
I talked to Daniel Neal, CEO and Founder of kajeet. His company has a popular cell service for kids. So how can this company succeed whereas mighty Disney has failed?
"At kajeet, we've set out to prove that there is a formula for success in focusing on a cell phone service for kids. Our singular focus is to super-serve our tween and teen customers with a totally customizable pay-as-you-go wireless service that addresses their unique mobile technology needs. Instead of building our own handsets, content or stores, We purposefully developed strong relationships with established partners that greatly appeal to our customers."
Or, perhaps a better approach for Disney is just to buy kajeet.
Age-old telecom company and brand AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) is launching a new advertising campaign to convince younger customers that the company is hip. Naturally, the new ads will be edgier and flashier, which apparently everyone in the 18-34 age bracket responds to according to most marketing mavens. But can a company just put some pizazz in their marketing and instantly gain younger customers, or are those customers smarter than these companies realize? Maybe a little of both, right?
Truth is that marketing is what makes most economies go 'round, and AT&T glitzing it up in this department is a testament to that claim. AT&T's purchase of the Cingular brand (and company, heh) earlier in 2007 meant that the company sees the future coming from wireless services and other areas instead of landline telephones and older technology that 10 years from now younger customers won't even know existed.
In a move back to the power of the Cingular brand (which AT&T dumped unceremoniously), the color orange will also be used as the company's primary corporate color instead of blue. The blue AT&T 'world swirl' logo has been around for decades in one form or another, and in addition to changing the color, will AT&T change the corporate logo as well? Maybe it is time to make this move, since many youngsters connect the current AT&T logo with the Death Star from Star Wars. That's not a good thing to have in mind when you're buying a phone.
Forget Fake Steve Jobs. The fake iPhone is here. According to Bloomberg, there is the beginning of a booming market for counterfeit Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones in Taiwan and China. "With a touch-screen and Apple Inc.'s logo on the back, the iClones look just like the real thing," the story says.
Apple will probably not offer the iPhone in Asia until next year.
The news points out the Chinese dexterity in stealing consumers electronics designs and it is a significant threat to Apple. China has the world's largest cellphone market and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) is the world's largest cellphone company. And, the phones are being sold into markets including Australia and the U.S.
The fake phones have two advantages. First, they are less expensive than iPhones. Second, they can work on networks outside AT&T (NYSE: T), which currently has the U.S. exclusive for the hot handset.
Steve Jobs may want to take a look over at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which claims that about 85% of the copies of Windows sold in China are counterfeit. That represents hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, perhaps more.
"Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) are taking the smartphone market by storm," says Toby Smith in his ChangeWave Investing.
"The combination of the new Apple model flying off the shelves, and rumors of a postponement for one of RIMM's new releases, has raised questions among some analysts as to RIMM's ability to fight back. 
For some mobile subscribers, it can be scary to look at a monthly bill. But things are changing and now 
The new product turnaround at 
Sprint's shares plunged more than 15% Friday morning after the company said it will cut about 4,000 jobs and close 125 stores to cut costs to improve its financial performance, the company announced Friday i
In an effort to keep bottom-line growth alive, Intel is trying (again) to 
In the world of 
By the end of the year, 
and 
. He also operates 
Age-old telecom company and brand 
The week in preview: Chicken soup (or a doughnut) for the recession-weary soul?
Comfort Zone Investing: Oil's down, which is a start, but not good enough
Stocks have their worst week in six years
