Tag Archives: merger

AT&T Buys T-Mobile: Good For Anyone?

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A few hours ago the news broke that AT&T has agreed to purchase rival mobile carrier T-Mobile for $39 billion.  As that news sinks in the big question becomes – is it good for consumers?  AT&T says that the U.S. wireless industry is “one of the most fiercely competitive in the world, and will remain so after this deal.”

I tend to feel otherwise.  After all, has anyone noticed the pricing plans seem to be a bit similar?  Has anyone noticed the ridiculous pricing of text messages?  I am not accusing them of collusion, but if forced, I could make that argument.

So now, years after breakup of Ma Bell, the telco’s have moved another step closer to regaining that old “one company to rule them all” feel.  AT&T, however, would like you to think otherwise.  In their press release they lead one to beleive this is about infrastructure and moving their network closer to 4G.  That makes sense because AT&T has gained a notoriously bad reputation in recent years due to connectivity issues, mainly with iPhone users.

So what does everyone think?  Will this be good for consumers because it will bolster the under-powered AT&T network?  Will it be bad for consumers because it takes away another option for those shopping for a wireless plan?  I tend towards the latter, but if you feel differently then let us know in the comments.

HP to buy 3Com

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3com-logo-rgbRemember the early 90’s dialup internet? Back in those days, you were likely using a US Robotics modem. US Robotics was taken over by 3Com in 1997. Now, 12 years later, 3com itself is being bought up by Hewlett Packard (HP).

HP announced that they will pay $2.7 Billion in cash for 3com Corporation.

This will put HP in the Networking Hardware business. David Donatelli, H-P’s vice president in charge of the corporate-computer division, said 3Com has a better set of networking products for large corporate clients than H-P currently sells and a market share of more than 30% in the China networking market. With the deal, Mr. Donatelli said, “we get industry-leading products.”hp

“By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry. By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com’s extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center.”
Read the press release from 3com here

Yahoo is Done Searching. Microsoft Gets Their Way (Sort of)

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bing yahoo

Well, it was a deal that was a year and a half in the making. Actually, it’s been longer than that – nonetheless, Microsoft has finally gotten what they want. While it still needs to have a final stamp of approval, it looks like Yahoo search will become Yahoo Search powered by Bing.

The real history is this: Back in 2005, Microsoft talked ‘Partnership’ with Yahoo to thwart the ever growing Google. That was during the Instant Messaging days – When it was announced that MSN Messenger and Yahoo IM would be able to talk to each other.

By May of 2007, Microsoft and Yahoo were in talks of an apparent $50 Billion dollar merger. While that didn’t happen, we started seeing the beginnings of the Mass Exodus of Yahoo. Employees such as Farzad Nazem – who was Yahoo’s CTO at the time – took retirement. That was followed by other key players in Yahoo’s stable.

However, the battle didn’t really start until Feb 3rd, 2008, when Steve Ballmer offered $41 Billion to take over the company. It was a long – drawn out battle that gave people like Carl Icahn a seat on Yahoo’s board and Jerry Yang the heave – ho as CEO. Since then, Yahoo has plummeted in stock price.

Carol Bartz took over as CEO in January 2009 with a renewed hope. However, the Yahoo name has been pretty stagnant until just a couple weeks ago when they revamped email. Closing services like Yahoo Music and Geocities helped Yahoo score a profit in Q2, but the search side had remained at a plateau.

Then along came Bing.

“I think actually Bing is a good product. ” Carl Bartz announces in a transcript. “It actually extends sort of the experimentation around search and how people use it instead of just thinking like a standard blue link.” She goes on with “…Microsoft should be given kudos for Bing.”

What is supposedly proposed is that Microsoft will take over the search engine side of things. Yahoo will continue with ad placement on the site. Yahoo is expected to get 110% of search ad deals until 2011, in which it will drop to 90%, according to Allthingsd.com.

The drama is expected to unfold in the next 24 hours as it is said to be a ‘done deal – with the formalities happening later today’. Right now, neither side is ready to comment.