A group of Congressmen have sent letters to the US International Trade Commission asking the organization to decide against a ban of the Xbox 360 console. ITC administrative law judge David Shaw recommended a ban after Microsoft's console was found to infringe on patents held by Motorola Mobility. The Congressmen accused Motorola of abusing fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) patents to seek an exclusion order. They join a growing chorus against the ban on the console, including recent additions Activision and IBM.
"It would be severely detrimental to the U.S. economy to allow an essential patent holder to obtain an injuction against an industry participant instead of licensing their patents on FRAND terms," patent lawyer Mark G. Davis of Weil, Gotshal & Manges wrote to US ITC secretary Lisa Burton.
Eight members of the US House of Representatives wrote a letter to ITC chief Deanna Okun opposing the ban: Rep. Dave Reichert, Rep. Norm Dicks, Rep. Jim McDermott, Rep, Doc Hastings, Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Rick Larsen, Rep. Cathey McMorris Rodgers, and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler.
"An exclusion order against the Xbox 360 consoles could threaten high-paying America jobs and continued economic growth in Washington and throughout the nation," they said in their joint letter.
Other tech companies including HP and Nokia have backed Microsoft in this matter. The US Federal Trade Commission also came out against the ban last week, according to Bloomberg. At the time, Motorola said it was willing to license the patent, but Microsoft and Apple were not willing to come to terms.
"To date, however, neither party has been willing to enter into a cross-license on reasonable terms and thus we all find ourselves in seemingly endless litigation," said Motorola in a statement.
[Via Engadget]
Vodafone unveils signal-boosting umbrella for music festivals - Digital Spy
Vodafone's CWW ambitions get heavyweight backing - The Guardian
The scales have tipped a little further in favour of those long suffering Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) shareholders who want to approve a Vodafone takeover offer when it is put to the vote on Monday.
Glass Lewis, a shareholder advisory firm with some big North American pension fund members, has come out in favour of Vodafone's low-ball £1bn cash offer. Roughly 10% of CWW investors are from across the pond and this is good news for Vodafone, which needs all the support it can get.
The deal requires acceptance from 75% of votes cast but the largest shareholder, an investment fund called Orbis, thinks CWW is being sold on the cheap. It has yet to give its blessing and stands a chance of blocking the takeover.
Vodafone already has the blessing of UK adviser Institutional Shareholder Services, popular with smaller investors, who control about 10% of the stock. The CWW board and four top six holders have declared their support too, accounting for over 18%. The odds are beginning to stack in favour of a deal, but that does not make it a good one for investors.
The 38p a share offer is 2% less than the company's average price over the past 12 months. Glass Lewis's own analysts note that one of Britain's biggest fibre networks is going for a song, well below the average paid for the 26 western European companies sold for over £1bn in the last year.
On the other hand, there have been profit warnings, a collapse in the shares and lots of bad news from Europe in recent months. Better to take the cash than back a halfhearted turnaround plan by a chief executive who was hired, many think, to sell the company. Gavin Darby worked at Vodafone before joining CWW late last year, and his strategy for an independent future looks more like a bargaining tool to squeeze more from the buyers than a recovery story shareholders are expected to buy into.
"We believe a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, in this case," Glass Lewis has written in a note to members.
Turnaround, Darby's board has pointed out, would require more capital with few returns in the medium to long term, at a time of economic uncertainty. Not so much a bird in the bush as a bird perched on a flying pig.
Motorola’s Droid RAZR Maxx Now Top Seller at Verizon - Gotta Be Mobile
It appears that Apple’s iPhone is beginning to lose momentum at Verizon Wireless where Motorola’s Droid RAZR Maxx smartphone is now the top selling smartphone as of the June quarter, edging out Apple’s iPhone models. Though the Android-powered Droid RAZR Maxx has gained the top seat at Verizon Wireless, the iPhone is still the top selling devices at other U.S. carriers where it is available.
Likely, Verizon’s heavy marketing muscle behind 4G LTE and the Droid RAZR campaigns have helped the RAZR Maxx. The device is an evolution of the Droid RAZR, sharing many of the same design and aesthetics as the slimmer RAZR but the Maxx has a much more capacious battery that will last longer coupled with 4G LTE.
According to Barron’s, analyst Anil Doradla continues to recommend people buy Apple’s stock as Doradla believes that the next iPhone to launch this fall will have 4G LTE network capabilities and will level out the playing field.
Since Apple’s iPhone launch in North America, we believe this was the first quarter where the iPhone was not the best‐selling smartphone at a North American mobile operator (where it was available). While Apple continued to maintain its top position at AT&T and Sprint, Motorola’s Droid RAZR MAXX was the best‐ selling smartphone at Verizon. Our checks also indicate that at this stage consumers are not pausing in front of the iPhone launch as it is not influencing their purchasing decisions (but we expect it to start impacting over the next couple of months). Despite the “increased competitive landscape from 4G devices (and the iPhone 4S is not 4G),” Doradia is “not worried” as the next iPhone model, a true 4G phone, “will be an important catalyst for the company,” he believes.
That device has also been rumored to have a slightly larger display to compete in an era where Android smartphones are getting bigger and bigger screens.
According to that analyst, Samsung holds the third spot at Verizon Wireless with the Android 4.0-powered Galaxy Nexus trailing the Droid RAZR Maxx and the iPhone.
Category: Mobile
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