E-Commerce Blog

Last year, when Apple unveiled its iPhone and made it available in the U.S. exclusively from AT&T, the debut sent ripples throughout the cell phone industry. Handset maker Palm suffered as consumers swooned for Apple’s phone, according to surveys by consultancy NPD. AT&T benefited by pulling subscribers from rival carriers Alltel and T-Mobile USA. So, will Apple’s new phone, the iPhone 3G, have a similar effect? Early evidence since the new device’s July 11 debut suggests it will have even broader impact, in part because the entry-level model sells for $199.

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Apple’s iPhone Takes a Toll

Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony have joined forces with Amimon, a developer of wireless home digital interface technology. The companies have pledged support for the creation of a new interoperable industry standard for audio, video and control that could connect multiple high-definition devices around a home without the use of wires. The group’s goal is to enhance the current WHDI technology in order to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between consumer electronic devices.

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CE Makers: What the World Needs Now Is Another Wireless HD Standard

I like writing about conflict because it gives you more than one dimension to a story, and there were two interesting conflicts that I ran into last week. The first, more near-term, will likely define the direction of the notebook market, and it is important because it implies an ether/or decision when most of us want both. The other is the constant conflict inside Apple — which, as was explained to me last week, results in regular and famous screaming matches that in turn help create products like the iPhone.

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The Power of Balance

Former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee saw the suspension Wednesday of his prison sentence in a tax-evasion conviction, a move that confirmed South Koreans’ view that tycoons are immune from jail. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Lee for failing to pay tens of millions of dollars in taxes, and imposed a hefty fine of about $109 million against the man who led the country’s most powerful business conglomerate before he resigned in April over the allegations that included a range of fiscal crimes.

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Former Samsung Chief Convicted but Won’t Do Time

Sprint may be seeing a resurgence in the mobile market. The company’s stock climbed 13 percent last week following reports of a Verizon exec telling investors Sprint had started “doing better.” The industry has since seen intense speculation that fewer Sprint subscribers are deflecting to the top two carriers, Verizon and AT&T — a notion on which neither company will comment. Sprint has been struggling for some time. The nation’s No. 3 carrier lost more than a million customers in the first quarter of 2008, following scores of deflections in 2007 and 2006.

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Sprint Showing Signs of Resurgence