Hasta La Gadget!

During its strategic review period, when BlackBerry was actively seeking a buyer, a number of companies and even individuals were rumored to have interest in taking the company private. Apple’s name never surfaced once, until now in a Reuters report, which claims that Cupertino was interested in BlackBerry’s intellectual property and patents but the board decided not to break up the company. Even when there was a lot of speculation about its buyout, a number of analysts predicted that the company will be broken up and sold off in parts. It was also rumored that even BlackBerry itself had warmed up to that idea, but in light of these new claims, it seems that breaking up was never an option.

Reuters cites “people familiar with the discussions,” who claim that the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Lenovo were all interested in acquiring parts of the company. Another recent report suggested that the Canadian government was not open to the idea of Lenovo taking over BlackBerry, so perhaps the Chinese manufacturer might have settled for a part of BlackBerry had it been broken up. While BlackBerry’s hardware division was expected to be of no value in such a situation, analysts predicted that the company’s patent portfolio could start a bidding war that might see only the patents being sold for as high as $5 billion. Apparently the board decided against breaking up the company because such a step would not “serve the interest of all stakeholders.” Instead, the company opted for a $1 billion investment from Fairfax Financial Holdings as well as other unnamed institutional investors and showed CEO Thorsten Heins the door.

BlackBerry Board Reportedly Refused To Break Up Company Despite Interest From Apple And Others original content from Ubergizmo.

This article was written on March 10, 2008 by CyberNet.

The last time I was in a Circuit City store, it seemed a little empty and cold compared to the Best Buy up the street that had all kinds of people bustling about. What I saw was no different than what many of you have probably seen at your local Circuit City stores which makes it clear that they’re struggling.  To define struggling, Circuit City hasn’t seen a quarterly profit since the 2nd quarter of 2007, almost a full year ago. Things aren’t going so well for them, but they’re not ready to give up. Their strategy is to open “The City” stores which they hope will help improve their image and sales.

A recent article published by the Associated Press explains these news stores and their employees. They say, “dressed in jeans and black t-shirts and armed with touch-screen laptops, Generation Y employees at “The City” help customers choose the latest gadgets.” So it appears as though they want their employees to look sophisticated yet laid back at the same time. “The City” stores themselves are much smaller too.  The AP says they feature “special fixtures and lighting, streamlined product selection and a new feel – as well as being about two-thirds as big as Circuit City’s traditional 30,000-plus square-foot stores.”

More than ever, new technology gadgets are a necessity and not a luxury. You’d think then that this would mean that electronic stores would be having no issues with sales, even with a sluggish economy. They’re not though. More people buy their electronics online where they can find reduced prices and more people find other ways like online downloads to get their media like music and movies. Circuit City hasn’t been the number one American consumer electronics chain since the 1990′s and they’re hoping the new concept stores will change this.  With 50-60 “The City” stores opening during their fiscal 2009, expect to see these smaller but updated stores popping-up in a city near you.

Image Source: Gizmodo

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

McDonald’s Happy Meal toys have been a staple of the restaurant chain for quite a long time. But the company that has served billions upon billions of burgers to the public may be considering using 3D printers inside of its stores in order to create those very toys that children go crazy over with each visit. (more…)

McDonald’s Considering 3D Printing For Happy Meal Toys original content from Ubergizmo.

Remember the other day when we reported that the team who manages Microsoft co-founder’s considerable stock in the company suggested that Microsoft should spin off their Bing search engine and Xbox gaming business? It would seem as though they are not alone in thinking that, and Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund seems to agree with that idea as well, but who is Rick Sherlund and why would his comments be that important? Well Sherlund used to work at Goldman and was acting as point when they took Microsoft public, with some describing him as a long-time friend of Bill Gates, so he might have a bit more clout than your average analyst.

According to Sherlund, he states that Microsoft is currently losing anywhere between $3 billion to $4 billion from both Bing and Xbox combined. While losing money from Bing might be possible, especially given that it would be pretty hard to compete against the likes of Google, the idea of Xbox losing money for Microsoft is hard to believe. In any case he seems to believe that selling or even giving away Bing, or spinning off Xbox or selling the brand would be the best course for the company because as it stands both brands are putting a $0.30-$0.40 drag on Microsoft’s EPS. Sherlund states, “The even bigger issue is that this business does not drive traction in smartphones or tablets and does not contribute to PC demand or enterprise products. They are not strategic and are a costly sideshow.”

Yet Another Analyst Thinks Microsoft Should Sell Off Bing And Xbox original content from Ubergizmo.

There has been a lot of speculation about BlackBerry’s future over the past few months. Uncertainty about it going private has finally ended, Fairfax is not going to acquire it rather it has pumped in an investment of $1 billion with other institutional investors. As a result, BlackBerry has shown CEO Thorsten Heins the door and has brought on distinguished turnaround expert John S. Chen as the interim CEO and executive chairman of the board. Chen said yesterday that there are no plans to shut down BlackBerry’s ailing handset business and that the company won’t be jumping on the Android bandwagon anytime soon.

Quite a lot of people are of the view that BlackBerry should simply adopt Android as the OS, seeing as how even its BB10 platform failed to turn its fortunes around. Chen doesn’t think that way. He tells CrackBerry that they “need to preserve the reason why BlackBerry is around,” which is obviously its own software platform and handset division. When queried about a possible jump on the Android bandwagon, Chen says that at this point in time “jumping to anything is inappropriate.” BlackBerry hasn’t said for how long Chen is going to stay on as interim CEO, though he says that he’s searching for a “software person” who also understands the services side of the business to come on as permanent CEO.

BlackBerry Won’t Be Jumping On Android In The Near Future original content from Ubergizmo.