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Apr-24-2008Cable companies pull out of Sprint joint venture(topic overview)
CONTENTS:
- Comcast ( NSDQ: CMCSA ), Time Warner ( NYSE: TWX ) Cable and Cox Communications have pulled out of the Pivot joint venture with Sprint ( NYSE: S ) (the fourth cable partner, Advance/Newhouse Communications, declined to comment), and the cable companies have stopped marketing the Pivot service and in the next few weeks will give their customers on Pivot the option of switching to a traditional Sprint plan, confirms AP, following a rash of reports. (More...)
- The $200 million venture, branded as Pivot last year, also included Time Warner Cable Inc and Advanced/Newhouse Communications, but failed to spark much consumer interest. (More...)
- If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET's Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). (More...)
- In November 2007, Sprint halted a plan push Pivot into 10 new markets, which hinted that the cable partnership was in trouble. (More...)
- Williams has worked in wireless for several years. (More...)
- For the past few months, Comcast has quietly added employees to oversee still- ambiguous wireless plans. (More...)
- The enterprise was announced in late 2005, and the companies began marketing Pivot early last year. (More...)
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Comcast ( NSDQ: CMCSA ), Time Warner ( NYSE: TWX ) Cable and Cox Communications have pulled out of the Pivot joint venture with Sprint ( NYSE: S ) (the fourth cable partner, Advance/Newhouse Communications, declined to comment), and the cable companies have stopped marketing the Pivot service and in the next few weeks will give their customers on Pivot the option of switching to a traditional Sprint plan, confirms AP, following a rash of reports. Customers will be able to keep their phones and numbers and receive a month's free Sprint servicesince I'm sure Sprint would like the customers. [1] KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three of the nation's largest cable companies are pulling the plug on their cell-phone joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp. Spokespeople with Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. said Wednesday they have stopped marketing the service, which sold under the Pivot brand. They say they plan to offer their Pivot customers the option of switching to a traditional Sprint wireless plan.[2] Three U.S. cable operators are hanging up on a joint venture with Sprint-Nextel S, although shares of the wireless carrier surged Wednesday on the possibility of adding more subscribers. Comcast CMCSA, Time Warner Cable TWC, and Cox Communications said they will end marketing for their Pivot service, which was established in November 2005 as an attempt to add a mobile phone offering to the cable companies' triple play service bundle. The cable companies said they will give Pivot subscribers the option to swap to a traditional Sprint wireless plan.[3]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two cable companies said on Wednesday they had exited a wireless phone venture with number-three U.S. wireless company Sprint Nextel Corp. Spokesmen for Comcast Corp, the leading U.S. cable operator, and Cox Communications said they were pulling out of the two-and-half-year-old joint venture and switching their mobile phone customers to a similar Sprint package.[4]
Sprint Nextel Corp.' s wireless resale relationship with three of the nation's largest cable companies has come to an end. According to media reports, Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. are pulling out of their Pivot-branded effort with the nation's 3rd largest wireless operator, and will work to move their wireless customers onto Sprint Nextel's books.[5] The partners include Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), Time Warner Cable, Comcast Corp., Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications. Pivot enables customers to link their mobile phone services with their home digital phone and certain high-speed Internet and digital cable services.[6] Cable, apparently, couldn't turn the pivot. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have decided to end their mobile phone joint venture, under the Pivot brand, with Sprint Nextel.[7]
Cox, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, through a joint venture, paid $2.4 billion for 137 licenses covering almost 270 million potential customers in 2006's advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum auction. Earlier this year Cox paid $305 million for 22 licenses in the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction. Neither Cox's Ullman nor Comcast's Demming would discuss their respective companies' wireless plans.[5] The cable providers - Comcast Corp. (CMCSK, CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc. ( TWC), Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse - will discontinue their part in the wireless service and shift the customers over to Sprint, which was first reported by BroadbandReports.com. It marks the end of a service that never really garnered the consumer interest its much-hyped unveiling suggested. The cable operators recently stopped marketing the service and took other steps to back away from their involvement. In November, Sprint said it would cease expanding the service to other markets, effectively scrapping it on its end.[8] The Pivot brand is a coalition between Sprint, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Advance/Newhouse and Comcast that allowed cable customers to purchase rebranded wireless service.[9]
Pivot 'was operationally complex,' said Comcast spokesman John Demming. Those selling Pivot generally agreed the service required significant amounts of time and effort, and changes and updates required widespread coordination. Demming said Comcast stopped selling its Pivot-branded wireless phone service yesterday, and will alert all its current customers of the situation by Friday. He said Comcast will work to move its Pivot subscribers to Sprint Nextel, and customers who move to Sprint Nextel will get a free month of service. Demming said Comcast will wave its early termination fee for all Pivot subscribers. Jill Ullman, a spokeswoman for Cox, said the cable company is making similar moves, and hopes to alert its Pivot subscribers within a month. Those who move to Sprint Nextel will receive a free month of service, said Ullman, and Cox will also give out gift certificates or service credits as a sign of goodwill.[5] Comcast spokesman John Demming said the nation's largest operator stopped selling the Pivot service yesterday. He said communications will be sent out over the next few weeks, telling customers they have the option to be migrated over to a Sprint Nextel wireless plan, with comparable minutes and pricing. Consumers availing themselves of that option will retain their handset and phone number. Such transitions are expected to be completed this summer. After this story was posted, the Web site Gigaom.com reported that Comcast has quietly created a new wireless division and hired former Telefonica O2 Europe chief technical officer Dave Williams as its CTO. Demming confirmed that Williams joined the company about a month ago, as senior VP of wireless technology strategy, but said no wireless division had been created. Comcast has long said it was exploring its options regarding wireless and that Williams brings strong technological expertise along those lines, Demming said.[7] Sources within Comcast tell us that the company has decided to stop offering Sprint Pivot wireless service to new and existing customers starting this week, though an official announcement has yet to be made. According to an internal Comcast announcement, Pivot customers should begin receiving an e-mail by the end of April or May offering them the option to transition to traditional Sprint phone service without an early termination fee.[9]
Pivot customers will receive the option to receive service directly from Sprint, or to cancel service. The story notes that Comcast, Sprint and three other cable companies last year announced plans to spend a combined $200 million on the venture, which was aimed at creating a way for the cable companies to add mobile phone service to their portfolios.[10] The service ended 2007 with 33 markets. Sprint stopped offering Pivot in its retail stores in February. The company wanted to simplify its retail processes, and Pivot services required a lengthy sign-up process, Tiemeyer said. Sprint will not release information about the financial effect of the change and does not release subscriber numbers, she said. When announcing the joint venture in November 2005, the companies said they would invest $200 million in the project, with half from Sprint and half from the cable companies.[6] The Pivot brand was unveiled a year ago. The partnership's goal was to give the cable operators a "quadruple play" of voice, video, Internet and wireless products in their battle against telephone companies that have added TV to their arsenals. The cable companies said the complexity of the offering itself, as well as meshing what was essentially a retail operation with their cable service, made marketing Pivot a chore and controlling the direction of the joint venture difficult.[11]
Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer also confirmed that the Pivot brand would disappear, but added that the Overland Park, Kan., carrier would continue to explore other wireless options with the cable companies. "It doesn't impact our relationship with the cable companies," Tiemeyer said. "We're continuing to talk with them about bringing wireless to its customers." The end of Pivot service may put additional pressure on the cable operators to fund their own wireless services or company.[8] Comcast would not confirm how many subscribers took the Pivot service. Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer referred Reuters to each company for confirmation of their plans, but the other joint venture partners were not immediately available to comment on whether they would also pull out. "We will maintain our relationship with all our cable partners and will continue to talk with them about other wireless ventures going forward," Tiemeyer said.[4] Hot on the heels of a report that Comcast will no longer offer Sprint’s wireless service through Pivot, GigaOM has learned that the cable company is creating its own wireless division and has hired the former CTO of Telefonica O2 Europe, Dave Williams, as the unit's CTO SVP of wireless and technology strategy to "explore wireless options" for Comcast, according to the company. Williams apparently took on the role earlier this month, although no announcement has been made to that effect and Comcast has not responded to a request for comment.[12] This morning we broke the news that Comcast will no longer be offering Pivot wireless service with Sprint. GigaOM has learned that one reason for the move (aside from the fact nobody was buying it) is that Comcast is busy building their own wireless division, which would clearly make the Pivot effort redundant. Comcast has apparently hired former CTO of Telefonica O2 Europe, Dave Williams, as the unit's CTO.[13]
Introduced in 2007, Pivot was heralded as a way for some of the nation's top cable companies to get into the wireless space. The offering allowed the cable companies to sell a wireless service -- which carried Sprint Nextel's brand -- alongside their other telecom offerings.[5] "We remain committed to bringing a wireless component to our portfolio of services, but we don't believe Pivot was the best option," said Cox spokeswoman Jill Ullman. The cable companies refused to say how many customers they had signed up through Pivot, but each said it had launched the service in a limited number of markets. Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley added that it's still unclear how important wireless services are in keeping customers from jumping to other providers. "Wireless in some format may be part of our portfolio, but we haven't seen a tremendous demand for the traditional quad play," he said.[11] According to an AP article, the big three cable companies of Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox Communication are going to stop marketing under the Pivot brand. Going forward, they'll be directing customers to the good ol' fashioned Sprint network.[14] The service, called Pivot, was begun as a partnership between the cable giant, Sprint, Time Warner, Cox Communications, and Advanced/Newhouse Communications in 2006. It offered a package of services, including TV, broadband, and both a landline and wireless phone service.[15] Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley said that the No. 2 cable operator would begin notifying customers over the next couple of weeks, with an eye toward moving the subscribers to a Sprint mobile plan "post-haste." Cox spokesman David Grabert said the operator will be notifying its Pivot customers shortly about their options. "We learned a lot through the experience and remained committed to wireless," he said, pointing to Cox Wireless' successful bid in the recent government 700-Megahertz wireless-spectrum auction "We want to offer our customers mobility -- stay tuned."[7] Time Warner Cable also has stopped marketing Pivot, spokesman Alex Dudley said. The company plans to begin informing customers about the change in the next couple of weeks and to start migrating them to "more traditional Sprint products" shortly thereafter.[6]
Comcast and Time Warner Cable confirmed Wednesday existing Pivot customers will be moved off the service.[8] What few Pivot customers there are will receive a "one month free promotion for monthly recurring voice and data plans," insiders tell us. Update : The Associated Press this afternoon reports that Cox and Time Warner Cable are also pulling out of the Pivot program.[9] The number of Pivot customers hasn't been disclosed. "Ultimately the product proved complicated at both ends - it wasn't working out as we expected it would," said Alex Dudley, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable.[8] Time Warner Cable (TWX) had stopped signing up Pivot customers several months ago, the story said.[10]
Comcast also confirmed it was transitioning subscribers to traditional wireless plans. In late 2007, both Comcast and Time Warner Cable told analysts and investors that they were seeing very little demand for the Pivot offer.[3] "We are going to being rolling our Pivot subscribers over to traditional Sprint wireless plans," Time Warner Cable spokesperson Alex Dudley told TheStreet.com.[3]
Comcast and Time Warner Cable continue to discuss a potential partnership with Sprint and Clearwire Corp. ( CLWR) to create a nationwide network for high-speed mobile Internet service using a technology called WiMax.[8] For $15-$25 (on top of a traditional Sprint mobile plan) the service provided cable customers mobile video content, email access and web browsing. Selling the system to consumers has been a real problem, and both Sprint and Comcast execs had been publicly airing complaints.[9] The cable operators weren't given much freedom in pricing or packaging the Pivot service to make it enticing enough for people to switch carriers. Comcast said its Pivot mobile customers would be switched to a similar Sprint package. CNET News.com's Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report.[15]
A spokeswoman for the fourth cable partner, privately held Advance/Newhouse Communications Inc., declined to comment. Pivot customers will be able to keep their phones and their numbers and receive a month's free Sprint service for their trouble. They'll also be given a set period once they've switched over to cancel their contract without penalties.[11] The cable companies and Sprint had hoped customers would be interested in a single integrated service that combines cable television, Internet access, fixed-line phone and wireless on one bill. It also planned to offer integrated services such as TV clips and e-mails on cell phones or a single voicemail.[4] The aforementioned cable companies remain partners in SpectrumCo, which acquired Advanced Wireless Services spectrum in a Federal Communications Commission auction in 2006. Sprint sold its 5% interest in SpectrumCo in 2007.[7]
According to Phonescoop, Comcast, along with the rest of the Cable companies, have just pulled out from their Joint Venture with Sprint, so this may not involve Sprint, as you assumed.[12] Comcast (CMCSA) has pulled out of Pivot, its mobile phone joint venture with Sprint Nextel (S), Bloomberg reports.[10]
A possible route for a true quad-play service from Comcast would be some type of deal with Sprint and Clearwire over WiMAX, which has been rumored for a while. Comcast didn’t participate in the recent 700MHz auction, so if it is getting out of its partnership with Pivot (apparently customer demand hasn't been all that exciting), it will have to find some way of offering wireless.[12] Overland Park, Kan. -based Sprint Nextel announced in November that it was halting planned expansions of the service as it sought to make the offering simpler and easier for customers to understand. Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer said the company has since pulled marketing materials for Pivot from its retail stores in all but three markets.[11]
A Comcast spokesman said Pivot did not satisfy the cable company's wireless ambitions. "We decided to discontinue the service because the product required a lot of operational complexities, so we decided it wasn't the approach we wanted for the long term," he said.[4] "The driver was there were operational challenges that made it difficult to sell and bring products to market," Tiemeyer said. "It just wasn't a long-term solution." She said the company will continue working with the cable providers to find a way to sell wireless to their customers. Associated Press Writer Deborah Yao in Philadelphia contributed to this report.[11]
The nation's largest cable company appears to be pulling together all the ingredients necessary for the quadruple play of bundled communications services: video, voice, data and wireless. Verizon and AT&T; both offer subscribers a quadruple-play plan in certain geographic areas, and cable providers are working to keep up with the Bells.[12]
Comcast was a no show last month when an expected plan to fund Sprint's Xohm service never materialized. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has also traditionally proclaimed that he doesn't think the quadruple play (adding wireless to VoIP, data and video) would work.[13] Coming together around 2 1/2 years ago, the combined effort between all the parties involved would have provided a "quadruple play" of voice, internet, video, and wireless services. Had this worked out the way it was planned, it could have been like the Voltron of the wireless industry with the end product being one big, unstoppable giant Well, except for the sweet ass sword that materializes out of nowhere.[14] The wireless JV, which also includes Bright House Networks -- officials didn't return phone calls -- was formed in fall 2005, with an eye toward giving cable a "quadruple" play option. The idea add mobile to their respective bundles of video, high-speed data and voice products.[7] The partnership was announced to great fanfare in November 2005 as a way to give cable operators a "quadruple play" of voice, video, Internet and wireless products to better compete against telephone companies.[2]
The business got off to a disappointing start, and didn't even begin using the Pivot identity until a year after the partnership was struck. The competing interests of the different cable companies, plus Sprint's own struggles, led to its eventual demise.[8] Pivot included a number of innovations, including a mobile TV service that featured some, but not all, of the cable companies' channels.[5] Today the cable companies said the complexity of the offering "made marketing Pivot a chore and controlling the direction of the joint venture difficult".[1] The joint venture gave the cable companies the missing service to the "grand slam" bundle of service.[8]
The $200 million venture, branded as Pivot last year, also included Time Warner Cable Inc and Advanced/Newhouse Communications, but failed to spark much consumer interest. [4] The telco's cable clients include Time Warner Cable and Suddenlink Communications.[7]
Back in November Time Warner said demand for Pivot was tepid, but it had no plans to end the service.[1]
Bad news today for home theater fans: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said on a conference call that because Blu-ray discs cost more to purchase, the company plans on charging a premium on accounts that rent Blu-ray movies. Hastings said "consumers are used to paying more for high-definition," but with Blu-ray renters making up only a small percentage of Netflix subscribers, this certainly won't help spur adoption. Previous to this announcement, videophiles have pretty much gotten a free-ride on renting higher-priced high-definition media, as Netflix offered both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs to subscribers for no additional charge over a standard subscription--until Netflix stopped offering HD DVDs in February. Netflix continues to offer the ability to watch some movies online ("Watch Now") at no additional charge, but the selection is still pretty limited at this point (check out our hands-on from last year).[16] Need help? CONFIRM YOUR ACCOUNT We have sent an e-mail to your account. Otherwise, please check your e-mail account now: . or log in manually to your email client and click the link in our email.[17] That chunk of code is BlogRovr, which produces content from pre-selected "favorite blogs" as Web sites are displayed; if the user loads eBay, for example, a BlogRovr tray within the window might display what tech blogs have been writing about the auction giant recently. Financial terms were not disclosed, but BuzzLogic's motives were: It wants to apply the BlogRovr technology, which currently monitors about 200,000 blogs, to the services it offers clients in its Conversational Targeting ad program. This BuzzLogic service identifies the most influential bloggers talking about a certain topic to help advertisers figure out where to put their name out.[18]
If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET's Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). [17] If you put THAT reality show on TV, it would be canceled after a single episode, just like "Secret Talents of the Stars." Reply to this comment by Eastwood April 23, 2008 3:40 AM PDT I cannot thank you enough for the great work you guys do for us consumers!! CNET should be a required viewing site for any family entertaining the purchase of a new product. The transition of TV from analog to digital is confusing to a lot of people, with some I know thinking they are going to get HD from the converter box. Regrettably, I jumped for the coupons as soon as they were available. At least I chose and am happy with the Walmart carried Magnavox unit that sells at $49.00. Reply to this comment by aqw8326 April 23, 2008 4:57 PM PDT You should also add to this, that you have to pay sales tax on the whole amount, not just the amount of cash you are paying above the coupon.[17] A downloadable plug-in (normally $50, but free if you register your Archos TV+ at the company's Web site) available in May will add what Archos is calling "TVportation." It's a nice buzzword, but it basically means that the TV+ can stream your live TV programming to other Internet-connected devices, including (for starters) the Archos WiFi portables, Windows PCs, Windows Mobile smartphones, and Symbian smartphones. The viewing software will be free for those devices, and there's no monthly fee associated with the streaming. (The Windows version of the software looked nearly identical to the viewing software for Hava placeshifting products, and an Archos rep confirmed that Hava was indeed contributing its software know-how.)[19] In addition to the initial partnership with LG, Netflix plans to pair up with two additional major companies, and one additional small company. No details yet about who the small company is, but if we had to take an early guess. maybe Slingbox ? It would certainly be a compelling upgrade to an already excellent product, and it makes sense since a Slingbox is by nature always connected to the Internet.[16] Research In Motion and Palm are also short on certain smartphone models, with RIM's carriers running low on BlackBerry Pearls and Palm's Treo 755p hard to find. Palm isn't expected to launch new Treos until the third quarter, which means it's depending on the low-margin Centro for business in the interim. Tavis McCourt of Morgan Keegan says that ATT has been almost sold out of Pearls since the middle of last month, with the next version not expected until later this week or into next month. Is there some sort of shortage, or manufacturing problem, farther back upstream from Apple, Palm, and RIM? Apple and Palm appear to use Hon Hai, known as Foxconn, for their smartphone product, but it's not clear who is making the Pearl for RIM. Either demand for smartphones is much greater than the three companies forecast, or there's some sort of supply snafu that's affecting more than one company.[20]
Paramount Digital Entertainment partnership: Archos has inked a deal with Paramount, allowing selections from that studio's movie library to be available on Archos video products. In addition to being added to Archos' online Content Portal for purchase, future TV+ units will be sold with several dozen movies preloaded on the hard drive, where they can be unlocked (purchased) for instant viewing. CNET will be updating its reviews of the 605 WiFi, 705 WiFi, and publishing a new review of the Archos TV+ ; as soon as the relevant software updates become available.[19]
We will maintain support of our watch customers and continue to deliver information to the watches, but we do not plan to increase our investment in the watch business going forward." In its launch year, Microsoft put a lot of money behind the Smart Watch and partnered up with Fossil, Suunto, Swatch, and even Tissot, which produced a high-end, touch-screen model that cost $800. (Check out former CNET editor-in-chief Pat Houston in the video below).[21] Taking that into account I would of thought the extra $10 on the price of a disc would pay for itself very quickly in replacement disc cost and shipping costs. Reply to this comment by xavierwalls April 23, 2008 8:46 AM PDT We have been overcharged for the cost of Dvd's the last 5 years, I think it evens out.[16]
The four cable partners invested $100 million and Sprint invested $100 million in the venture, launched a year ago at CTIA.[1] Announced with great fanfare in November 2005, the four cable partners and Sprint each invested $100 million in the venture.[11]
In November 2007, Sprint halted a plan push Pivot into 10 new markets, which hinted that the cable partnership was in trouble. [3] A Sprint spokeswoman said "just because we've discontinued Pivot that doesn't mean we're not continuing to move forward with wireless with cable.[7] The cable operators don't need Sprint, T-Mobile, MSV, Terrestar, or anyone else to build a national wireless offering. They just need the willingness (bravery? idiocy?) to spend the money on build-out.[12] Comcast's CEO admitted there was limited consumer interest, while Sprint complained that the cable operators weren't pushing the service very hard.[9] The suggestion is that mobile services could be offered over a national WiMax network the cable company is rumored to be talking with Sprint about.[1] Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer stressed that the carrier continues to work with a variety of cable vendors for services including Voice over Internet Protocol and backhaul. Such discussions may not pan out to Sprint Nextel's liking.[5] Sprint Nextel still has a number of other business ties to cable, relative to VoIP services, backhaul and access applications.[7]
Pivot eventually reached a total of 33 markets, but Pivot's owners quit expanding the service in December. In February of this year, Sprint Nextel removed Pivot from its retail locations in order to smooth its store sales process.[5]
" didn't provide Comcast with the flexibility it needed for a national wireless service. We continue to explore wireless solutions," he said. Comcast, like the other partners, declined to disclose their Pivot subscriber rolls.[7] Back in the northeast, Pivot was available in Comcast service areas in Massachusetts, Connecticut and southern New Hampshire.[7]
Comcast's Pivot customers will have 30 days to decide whether to remain with Sprint or leave without paying a termination fee.[10] A WiMAX joint venture, a buyout of Sprint or T-Mobile, or perhaps some crazy satellite scheme could justify the creation of wireless division at Comcast be some of the "options" Comcast is exploring.[12] Comcast said Wednesday it has changed its mind on a joint wireless communication venture with Sprint-Nextel, according to a Reuters report.[15]
Comcast could be creating a mobile WiMax Xohm-reseller (most likely). They could be preparing a buyout of another wireless carrier. They could be just starting the long road of building their own wireless network from scratch (probably the least likely). We'd ask Comcast insiders to keep their ear to the ground over the next several months and drop us a line should they hear more.[13] Comcast stock has taken a beating the last few years by investors who were afraid that a massive wireless expenditure was on the horizon.[13]
The financial advisers to Circuit City told company officials Wednesday that they think Blockbuster, which has offered $1 billion for the consumer electronics retailer, doesn't have the proper financing to make good on its bid, according to a Reuters report. In a statement, the company said, "Circuit City awaits a viable financing structure that is predictably executable by Blockbuster given its current constraints of size and capital structure before it would be appropriate to allow further due diligence." Blockbuster's CEO said earlier this week that his company would proceed with its takeover effort only if conditions are right and that it is loath to go through with a hostile bid. Circuit City has essentially stonewalled Blockbuster since the initial bid was made in February, not allowing easy access to its books. Wednesday, a Circuit City investor who owns 6.5 percent of the company's stock sent a letter to Circuit City urging the company to open its books to its suitor and begin negotiations. The retailer responded quickly to Wattles Capital Management, issuing a statement reiterating its position that Blockbuster hasn't answered its questions regarding how it plans to finance a deal.[22] In a new report written for the market research firm, as detailed by Larry Dignan at CNET News.com's sibling site ZDNet, analyst G. Oliver Young predicts that "Enterprise 2.0" applications--buttoned-up versions of the Web 2.0 apps we all know and love--will be a $4.6 billion industry by 2013. Social networks, Young wrote, will make up the bulk of that, with nearly $2 billion invested in them. This means we'll probably see a lot of intra-company networking tools (souped-up corporate directories, for example, or internal forums) as well as more interactive varieties of technical support.[23] Shares of Sprint soared on the news, rising 62 cents, or 8.8%, to $7.67.[3] The news comes as another blow to Sprint Nextel, which has suffered from dwindling subscriber numbers and troubling financials.[5]
Customers will be notified of the change shortly and will have the option of selecting a similar Sprint cellphone plan. They will also receive a free month of service from Sprint and the option to switch carriers without penalty.[8] "While we continue to move forward with MSN Direct and seeking out new opportunities for devices that would benefit from the MSN Direct service, we, along with our watch partners, do not have immediate plans to create a new version of the Smart Watch, as we are focused on other areas of our business.[21]
A recent survey from Compete and Fierce Wireless concluded that consumers are ready to purchase wireless service as part of a bundle and are willing to purchase it from a wireline carrier or a cable provider.[12] Because at the end of the day, a company doesn't hire someone with Williams' experience building and managing networks to resell wireless service from a separate provider.[12]
Combine a somewhat expensive and bulky watch that contained a battery you had to charge every few days with a wireless service that had a subscription fee and you're looking at an uphill battle.[21]
When the deal was unveiled in late 2005, it was hailed as a potential blow to the telecom companies, which, along with telephone, Internet and a burgeoning video service, were able to offer wireless.[8]
"There's, in fact, no reason for China to use Wikipedia, a service based 'out there,'" Chang said at the WWW2008 conference in Beijing on Tuesday. "It's very natural for China to make its own products." I agree that there's not always a reason for people to use global services, especially when what they deal with is primarily domestic.[24]
"We decided to discontinue the service because the product required a lot of operational complexities, so we decided it wasn't the approach we wanted for the long term," said a Comcast spokesperson.[15] Pivot was scheduled to be sold in 40 markets by the close of 2007. Subsequently, Sprint removed the product from its stores.[7] Last fall, it was announced that Pivot wouldn't play past the 33 markets where it was available at the time, and was only available in about 20% of Sprint retail outlets.[7]
Let's not forget that Pivot is/was just one part of the cable industry's wireless efforts.[12] The cable operators say the service proved too complicated to sell effectively.[2]
Williams has worked in wireless for several years. Prior to his role at Telefonica he was the VP for strategic planning at Cingular Wireless, a position he rose to in the wake of the SBC Wireless-BellSouth Cellular merger. Before the merger he was in charge of technological operations for the Western region of SBC Wireless and helped integrate the company into the Pacific Bell Mobile network, which he had also helped create. [12] Who knows when the free market (i.e., paying customers, seeing a value-for-money proposition in their own eyes) would have instigated a transition, if ever? Over-the-air delivery of traditional broadcast fare via special broadcasting transmission standards is becoming increasingly irrelevant -- a better use of spectrum is to create an ultra-fast, ubiquitous wireless internet, by which all manner of content can be delivered immediately to a variety of devices, on demand.[17] While TiVo gleefully celebrated, Dish expressed disappointment, but assured its customers that none of its products would be affected because the software that was in violation had already been remotely updated by the company some months before.[25] Now it appears there's just a bit more to the story. Engadget has a blog pointing to notices Dish sent on Monday. The Colorado-based satellite TV company informed customers that though most of its DVRs are in the clear, there are four models--the 721, 921, 942, and Homezone 1022--that can no longer be sold because their software has not been updated. This only affects hardware bearing those model numbers that have not been sold or activated. If you already have one of those models installed, Dish says it is not subject to the injunction. It's really important to note that these are fairly old models, so this likely won't affect many Dish resellers.[25]
For the past few months, Comcast has quietly added employees to oversee still- ambiguous wireless plans. [8] Called Decision '08, the new site is part of MySpace's " Impact " political channel, and showcases election news (complete with links to MySpace profiles of NBC News anchors and analysts), opinion, video from MSNBC, polls, and a discussion forum. This is very similar to what MySpace rival Facebook is doing through a partnership with ABC News. For NBC, it's a way to reach a younger audience that likely isn't watching nightly news broadcasts.[26]
The enterprise was announced in late 2005, and the companies began marketing Pivot early last year. [6]
SOURCES
1. Comcast, Time Warner And Cox Pull Out Of Pivot | paidContent.org
2. The Associated Press: Cable companies pulling out of venture with Sprint Nextel
3. Cable Companies Walk From Sprints Pivot | Telecom | CMCSA Q S TWC TZ VZ - TheStreet.com
4. Cable companies pull out of Sprint joint venture | Technology | Reuters
5. Cable companies quit 'Pivot' - RCR Wireless News
6. Sprint, cable partners pull plug on joint venture - Kansas City Business Journal:
7. Cable Operators Pivot Away - 4/23/2008 2:16:00 PM - Multichannel News
8. UPDATE: Cable Operators To End Wireless JV With Sprint
9. Sources: Comcast To Sever Involvement With Pivot - Memo obtained by BBR shows mutual decision to part ways. - dslreports.com
10. Tech Trader Daily - Barron's Online : Comcast Pulls Out Of Pivot Mobile Phone Venture
11. The Associated Press: Cable companies pull out of joint venture with Sprint Nextel
12. Update: Comcast Is Serious About Wireless - GigaOM
13. Comcast Is Building A Wireless Division - So much for Roberts not liking the 'quadruple play' - dslreports.com
14. AndroidGuys » Carrier News Recent Headlines Related News » Cable Companies Disconnect Themselves from Sprint Venture
15. Comcast walks away from Pivot | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
16. Netflix to charge more for Blu-ray subscriptions | Crave : The gadget blog
17. 'Free' DTV converter boxes can't be returned? | Crave : The gadget blog
18. Blog 'influence' tracker BuzzLogic to acquire Activeweave | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
19. New online video options and placeshifting support coming to Archos line | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
20. RIM, Palm also seeing smartphone shortages? | Crave : The gadget blog
21. Time runs out on Microsoft's SPOT watches | Crave : The gadget blog
22. Circuit City told Blockbuster can't finance an acquisition | Crave : The gadget blog
23. Forrester: Social networking means business, big business | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
24. Baidu's William Chang: 'No reason for China to use Wikipedia' | Sinobyte: CNET Blog on technology and the impact on China's environment, politics, and international affairs. - CNET Blogs
25. Legal injunction bars Dish Network from selling four models of DVRs | Crave : The gadget blog
26. NBC News powers election site on MySpace | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
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