June 2008

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Today we wrapped up some of the big stories of the week.

We started with iPhone.  The rumors are still rolling strong.  For instance, iTunes 7.7 reputedly has code allowing a remote control app for iPhone / iPod Touch in it that will let you access iTunes from anywhere in your home.  And apparently iPhone will also have… gasp… MMS!    Nearly 7 million searches for iPhone were conducted on the web in April.  The hype machine is in overdrive as we come up on July 11.

Some people are saying that Apple is getting a bye.  That other phones have better capabilities and they’re being swept aside in the wave of Apple hype.  We discussed, debated, and got to the bottom of it.  Apple’s virtue is simplicity and browsing.  Some of us are going to buy iPhone 3G.  But none are planning to give up stalwarts like the BlackBerry or any of the Nokia phones.

And then we talked about Nokia’s N78 for North America announcement.  Now available in North America with North American 3G.  Huzzah! Several of us had seen the phone, and we had a lengthy discussion about the improved GPS.

BlackBerry’s gains, Palm’s losses — Palm recorded a larger than expected loss, and their shares fell 3.4per cent.  One analyst said that the Treo has fallen off a cliff.  But Blackberry, who grew share from 35.1 percent to 44.5 percent and had great revenues, but missed the street by a penny saw their shares PUNISHED with a 9 percent drop.  Palm craters, their stock goes down 3.4.  RIM smacks the ball out of the park and gets reward with a 9 percent drop.

According to Jim Courtney, RIM met guidance.  They missed the consensus estimate, which was above guidance, and that’s why the stock dropped.  A case of over-eager analysts projecting too high, rather than any failure on RIM’s part. I’m sure their reduced guidance for fourth quarter had an impact too.

Jajah’s new deal with Gizmo5 was seen as a blow to Level3.

What about Microsoft partner Intel’s decision not to deploy Windows Vista?  They said there was nothing wrong with it… but they couldn’t see the business benefit. There were several snickers on the line, and the observation that some corporate applications just don’t run on a Vista machine.

And Nokia’s moves with Symbian.  Well, this really remains to be played out.

On the call: Dameon Welch-Abernathy, Hudson Barton, Jim Courtney, Ari Rabban, Ian Hood, Bill Volk, James Body, Jonathan Jensen, Sheryl Breuker

In SquawkBox News: we’re moving to an abbreviated summer schedule.  Shows will still be recorded daily, but Monday through Thursday.  AND, for the next three weeks, enjoy our guest hosts, including Dan York, Carl Ford, and David Spark.

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