As the Occupy Wall Street movement keeps growing, many of the issues raised by the protestors continue to gain support from the average American. In particular, the erosion of the middle class due to job losses and the increasingly large income gap have become key issues in the 2012 presidential elections.
At the moment, Wall Street and big corporations are getting the lion’s share of blame for these issues, but the reality is that no single region or industry is solely responsible for our current woes. In fact, we’re all doing our part – including us here in Silicon Valley. → Read More
A guest post by Adam L. Penenberg
While researching my latest book, Viral Loop, an in-depth look at how companies like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Skype and others grew so big so fast, it occurred to me that each of them was founded when the economy was flat, bad, or worse, in recession. I suppose that describes virtually any company founded since the dot com bust, but what’s interesting is that it also characterizes some of the most successful companies in history, some that trace their roots back more than a century.
Since 1851, the US economy has been in periods of contraction roughly one-third of the time, yet sixteen of the blue-chip companies that comprise the Dow 30 were founded during recessions and almost 60% of Fortune 500 companies began business in a bear market, according to a June 2009 report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Proctor & Gamble survived the panic of 1837, then the worst recession in our young nation’s history, while General Electric came out of the economic chaos of 1872 and Hewlett Packard was born in the Great Depression. McDonald’s fried its first french fry just before the onset of World War II. Charles Schwab sprouted out of the early 1970s as rampant inflation threatened to get out of control. → Read More
The Media Democracy Survey tries to ascertain America’s entertainment habits. It comes out every year, and this year’s edition just went live. As you might image, the terrible economy played a major role in the way Americans went about their business this past year. In fact, it turns out that Americans now watch (well, watched in the past year) an average of 18 hours of TV per week, which is up from 16 hours from last year. And this is TV on TV, not Hulu or anything like that. → Read More
Writing about tech is so peculiar. On one hand we’re expected to be enthusiastic about the things we cover; no one wants to see us being negative and dismissive about every little thing. That’s no fun. On the other hand, you don’t want a bunch of ninnies bleating on about how great this year’s piece of plastic is compared to last year’s. How is that useful to anyone? A bit of skepticism is necessary so we don’t come across as cheerleaders for this or that company, or for this or that device. You can’t be objective if you worship the ground that the two Steves—Jobs and Ballmer—walk on. → Read More
Let’s pour a little out for Sony Ericsson because if they’re not dead now they’re dying rapidly. The phone maker posted a loss of $300 million for Q2, it’s fourth consecutive quarter of lagging earnings. What’s the problem? They’re not releasing anything anyone wants. The X1 was a dud and the rest of their new line hasn’t been announced yet. They’re basically sitting out the smartphone revolution. → Read More
Dell, a company that makes computers, is down 63 percent from $784 million last year, leaving them at $290 million in net income. Total revenue fell $12.34 billion.
Mr. Dell himself isn’t very worried – he expects a replacement cycle to hit with the launch of Windows 7. Market share fell 34 percent in desktop sales and 20 percent in notebook sales, leaving plenty of room for growth, I guess. → Read More
Well, now I’m not shopping at CircuitCity.com or Best Buy. Seriously. The new CircuitCity.com launched under new management last week we found the following statement within the return policy section.
Some manufacturers have implemented returns restrictions that prevent CircuitCity.com from being able to accept returns or offer exchanges, replacements or credits on their products for any reason. Products from manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson, and others are not returnable to CircuitCity.com FOR ANY REASON. All support as well as exchanges or replacements for DEFECTIVE merchandise, including within the first 30 days of ownership, must be handled directly with the product manufacturer. CircuitCity.com cannot accept any returns nor offer replacement, exchanges or credit for ANY product missing the UPC code. Only the product manufacturer can replace any DEFECTIVE item missing the UPC sticker.
Distimo, a young Dutch company that is entering the slowly but surely saturating market of mobile application distribution and monitoring services, has just released an interesting report about Apple’s App Store. It contains some noteworthy findings about iPhone app pricing and the significant influence prices have on ranking.
Eventually, Distimo aims to release market-wide data on all application stores (Android, Blackberry, etc.) on a monthly basis, free of charge for broad reports on the U.S. and as a paid service for people who would like to get some insight into what’s happening in other countries or specific verticals. They’re starting with the grand daddy of all app stores, Apple’s, and deliver some interesting findings in a first report based on publicly available data for the month of April, 2009, which you can download here.
We got a first look at it, and the key findings we took away from the report are the following: → Read More
T-Mobile USA announced today a new campaign dedicated to helping people save money on their wireless service, and the carrier is not only using the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones as the face of the campaign again, they’re also giving a huge vote of confidence and a heap of exposure to Redwood City, CA-based startup BillShrink.
People can now visit the T-Mobile website or one of its retail stores for a so-called “Mobile Makeover”: free, unbiased and personalized savings recommendations for wireless plans, powered by BillShrink. → Read More
Sony Ericsson will need a hot cash injection of 100 million euro ($135 million) to survive after March 2010. Sony and Ericsson will both be raising cash in order to keep this dog afloat for a while longer and the company is cutting “one in five” jobs. The real question: Will they be missed? → Read More
By adding higher-end, interactive displays, Wal-Mart intents to grab big box shoppers who might have once gone to dedicated electronics stores but are now looking for something a bit more interesting. That’s right: Wal-Mart looking to take over where Circuit City left off – offering high-priced electronics in a physical environment reminiscent of the canteen on a prison planet staffed by the sub-literate – in order to grab some of those sweet electronics profits. → Read More
Sony wasn’t the only major CE manufacturer to lose a bunch of cash last year. Panasonic did too. Except Panny’s loss was to the tune of $3.95 billion, which is slightly more than Sony’s $1.03 billion write-down. Panasonic (JP:6752) said the result reflected the impact of the stronger yen, collapsing demand and persistent price-deflation in electronics goods. There you have it. Did you expect anything less? It’s pretty basic: US consumers didn’t buy as many of Panasonic’s wares because of the failing economy. Ah, well. What can you do. It’s just $3.95 billion. → Read More
A report by NPD Group founds that Blu-ray players sold over 400,000 units, an increase of 72 percent over 2008 while sales increased 14 percent. Also, folks are more likely to get a Blu-ray player sooner than later. → Read More
Would you still consider your TV to be a necessity, or has its functionality largely been replaced by other devices such as your computer? Well, the largest number of Americans since 1973 no longer see television as a necessity. Only 54 percent of Americans think TV is a necessity these days. Not surprisingly, young people are least likely to call TV a necessity. → Read More
Sucks to be an Apple retail employee. Apple has reduced the hours of of their be-t-shirted geniuses have been fired this quarter, down from 15,600 in Q1. They are also planning fewer retail locations this year and are ramping down the use of part-time employees. → Read More
So due to the financial crisis, you’ve lost your mcmansion, the wife left and took the kids, the bank took the car, and all you’ve got left are your clothes, and maybe your bicycle. Don’t despair, you can still look stylish while being homeless! → Read More
So maybe the company/venture isn’t OK as the previously released company statement indicated. Now, a few months later, word hits that 2,000 peeps are about to lose their jobs due to decline sales. → Read More
In news that will surely shake the computer world to its very core, it has been revealed that Apple has shipped less computers this last year than the previous one. Mother of God. We may as well all just surrender to oblivion. → Read More
Ah OQO. You basically made us all want you. You teased, you upgraded, and now, in the middle of this downturn and, in the face of massive competition by far inferior netbooks, you might be dying.
JKOntheRun is reporting that the OQO Model 02+ won’t be sold, the company is in grave financial trouble, and eXpansys, an OQO reseller, has pulled the new product off the shelves. → Read More
