Archive for August 7th, 2007
Amazon is forging ahead in digital music, leading a first round of investment for Amie Street, a music startup that is banking on a demand-based pricing system.Founded in the Spring of 2006 by then Brown University seniors — Josh Boltuch, Elliott Breece, and Elias Roman — AmieStreet.com puts the power in the hands of community members to determine the price of songs.
“Amie Street has a very smart and innovative team,” Jeff Blackburn, senior vice president for business development at Amazon.com, said in a statement. “The idea of having customers directly influence the price of songs is an interesting and novel approach to selling digital music.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
August 7th, 2007
orget about the trademark battle with Cisco over the use of the name iPhone and prepare for the onslaught of patent claims against Apple’s latest device. One of the first is a patent suit over the iPhone’s touch-screen keyboard.SP Technologies has sued Apple for infringement on a patent that SP filed in August 2000. SP Technologies, a Florida company, is seeking a permanent injunction against the Mac-maker. SP also seeks damages and attorney fees.
SP’s patent, which was awarded in August 2004, is for a “method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of user termination.” The document describes software that allows users to input directions on a virtual keyboard that cannot be minimized or closed. That description sounds much like the iPhone keyboard.
“Apple is bumping up against intellectual property portfolios of other companies that have been in the area perhaps longer than Apple,” said Ilan Barzilay, a member of the Litigation Practice Group at Wolf, Greenfield, & Sacks PC. “When you stick your head out, everyone notices. The iPhone is huge, so people who have patent portfolios that may not necessarily attract a whole lot attention, they look at a big product launch and go after them.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
August 7th, 2007
The jig is up. The fun is over. The New York Times has pulled the mask off a blogger known affectionately as “Fake Steve Jobs,” author of “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,” a satirical blog based on Apple’s chief. Fake Steve is really Dan Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes.Lyons launched the blog 14 months ago to comment on Apple, the technology 
industry, and the music business. But the news media was determined to discover Fake Steve’s identity. Some thought it was tech columnist Andy Ihnatko. Others thought it was actor Harry Shearer. Still others called out various well-known tech bloggers as the true Fake Steve.
“Well it had to happen,” Lyons, 46, wrote in his August 5 blog post. “Honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken this long. But as you may have heard, I’ve been busted by a newspaper reporter. My cover has been blown.”
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.com.
August 7th, 2007
The Wall Street Journal got the GPhone rumor mill churning. Now London’s Telegraph is adding grist to the mill, reporting that Google services including search, e-mail, and interactive maps will come preloaded on the device that the company has yet to admit exists.Anian, a Reuters company that keeps an eye on industry trends for institutional investors, is at the root of the rumor. Anian reported that Google has enlisted Taiwan’s HTC to design a Linux-based phone. T-Mobile would be Google’s U.S. partner, Anian maintains, while France Telecom’s Orange would push the GPhone in Europe. The launch date, Anian said, will be during the first quarter of 2008.
The potential opportunities for Google entering the mobile market with an ad-subsidized phone are clearly vast. Frost & Sullivan figures the mobile advertising market in the U.S. alone will generate $2.12 billion in revenue by 2011 compared to $301 million in 2006. The Shoesteck Group estimates $10 billion globally by 2010, while EJL Wireless Research pegs the worldwide mobile advertising market at $9.5 billion by 2011.
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
August 7th, 2007
