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Posted on 03.13.07 by Nikhil @ 12:20 pm
A number of wireless Chinese stocks recently got hit with a triple whammy. Chinese companies with shares traded in the U.S. were hammered by the recent plunge in the Chinese market, the fall in the U.S. market and then, once again, by the recent actions of the Chinese government, which has been regulating the ways wireless content providers can market and sell their content. The situation has been so difficult that Tom Online (nasdaq: TOMO - news - people ), one of the biggest wireless portals in China, will soon be taken private by its parent company, Tom Group, so that its business can be restructured and its business strategy can be optimized without the pressures that face public companies. But while Tom goes private, there could now be some good opportunities for investors. One company that I think will reward investors this year is Beijing-based Hurray! Holdings (nasdaq: HRAY - news - people ). The company’s American Depository Shares, which now trade around $4.93, are down nearly 50% from the company’s 52-week high in April. Yet Hurray! is taking aggressive steps to revamp its business. Filed under: Stock Watch and Wireless Gaming and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 02.13.07 by Nikhil @ 5:12 pm
Last week, Polycom, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based manufacturer of video and audio conferencing systems, said it agreed to buy communications equipment company SpectraLink for $11.75 per share, or about $220 million cash. The purchase price represented a 33% premium to the stock’s closing price last Wednesday, when the deal was announced. It was exactly what shareholders of SpectraLink needed. But is it a good deal? Earlier this year, shares of SpectraLink (nasdaq: SLNK - news - people ) were on a tear. The company, which provides phones that work off a wireless local area network (WLAN)–a Wi-Fi network designed for the workplace–had recently acquired KIRK Telecom, a privately held Danish provider of wireless communications products. SpectraLink paid $62 million ($30 million in cash and $32 million in debt). In addition to selling its phones to big retailers like Home Depot (nyse: HD - news - people ), where salespeople can always be reachable no matter where they are located, the belief was that KIRK, which develops and markets wireless voice and data systems for corporate customers throughout the world, would be a big boost for SpectraLink, broadening its market share to England and Germany, among other countries. It also seemed that KIRK, which provided wireless voice networks based on the European system, DECT, would find growth in the U.S., since that particular technology is less expensive to deploy for small- and medium-sized businesses. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 02.07.07 by Nikhil @ 4:12 pm
Many investors fear Novatel Wireless. The company, which was supposed to ride the wireless broadband wave in 2006, instead ran into a number of problems. Its shares fell about 19% in 2006, hitting a low of $8.14 in November. But there is good news. The company is riding the demand for increased broadband wireless services; its developing new applications business is turning around; and the stock is beginning to rebound as well. I believe that this year, demand for Novatel’s products will grow and investors will be rewarded. To put Novatel’s (nasdaq: NVTL - news - people ) rebound into some perspective, let me quickly explain what happened over the past two years. No question, Novatel went through a difficult time in 2005 and early 2006. The company, which makes wireless PC card modems, reported disappointing earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005. Even so, the company ramped up its R&D spending to develop several technologies that would one day be embedded into laptops to provide high-speed connectivity rather than relying on add-on PC cards. Novatel took a charge of $2.3 million to write down its inventory of old 2.5G data cards. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 10.19.06 by Nikhil @ 4:05 pm
For wireless carriers, business is becoming increasingly complex. In addition to handling voice calls, the carriers are now faced with distributing games, ringtones and multimedia messaging. Even television is on its way. But one problem that the carriers still haven’t figured out is how to make sending and receiving e-mails from a cellphone easy. Now, there is a little-known company, Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Voice Genesis, that has come up with a product it calls Vemail. It could be the answer. WiMax is coming, and 3G networks are already being rolled out. Are you profiting from wireless broadband? Click here for analysis on undervalued wireless companies set to soar. Vemail, which is based on Qualcomm’s BREW platform, is currently used by 28 carriers in 50 million mobile phones, and it is remarkably simple. The idea is fast message review. E-mails come in and you read them. To respond quickly, you speak the response instead of trying to type a response using the tiny keys on a mobile phone. The system then records your voice and sends an e-mail to the recipient with a hyperlink. The recipient clicks on the hyperlink and hears the recording of your message. Please click here to read the rest of the story at Forbes.com Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 10.13.06 by Nikhil @ 4:26 pm
Qualcomm got a boost recently. The FCC had ruled that Qualcomm could not deploy its MediaFlo service (which allows broadcast quality TV on your cell phone) on Channel 55 in some areas because of potential interference with broadcasters that operate on Channel 54 and 56. This was a blow to Qualcomm, which owns the 700 Mhz band inteded for mobile TV use. Qualcomm filed a petition with the FCC to allow relief from certain interference protection rules. The FCC responded by specifying the permitted level of minimal interference. It also expalined how interference would be calculate from MediaFlo to televsion and DTV stations. This new ruling will hold until DTV transition ends on February 17, 2009–when the stations must move off those channels. You can get more details on this at Qualcomm’s site. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:47 pm
Mobile TV, I believe, is one of the most exciting applications in wireless. Since the end of May, four companies - E-Plus, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone have been working on mobile TV applications, having launched limited mobile TV service in Berlin, Hanover, Munich and Hamburg using the DVB-H standard. The service demonstrated the future potential of handset TV. Now, it looks like the service is soon to be widely available across the country. Read more in Cellular News. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/19024.php Filed under: Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 10.01.06 by Nikhil @ 2:16 pm
I went to an Electronic Arts showing of its newest products for 2007. They games were fascinating – they seem to keep getting better. There were also a number of games available on mobile phones. I played Bejeweled with one of the EA’s representatives (he was on one phone, I was on another) and it was a lot of fun – and worked well. Now, of course, EA is pinning its hopes on a successful holiday season. A big part of its success will depend on how well Nintendo’s Wii does when it is launched in November. At the showing/cocktail party I went to with EA reps, most of the attendees were gathered around the Wii from Nintendo. If the buzz around Wii is any indication, it oculd mean good things for both Nintendo and EA. Big News from EA this month. Electronic Arts reached an agreement with Nokia where EA will provide games that will be available to owners of Nokia devices. This is great news for distribution of EA’s games – however financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Filed under: Stock Watch and Wireless Gaming and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.29.06 by Nikhil @ 4:25 pm
There is a transition taking place among wireless carriers, and Motricity, based out of Research Triangle Park, N.C., is in the middle of it. Until recently, U.S. carriers such as Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ), Sprint Nextel (nyse: S - news - people ) and Alltel (nyse: AT - news - people ) have been notorious for guarding how their wireless networks are used and what kinds of content their subscribers can see. By doing so, they have been able to differentiate themselves from one another. The content made available to their subscribers could easily be found on a cellphone’s “deck.” Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 09.28.06 by Nikhil @ 5:57 pm
Shares of Novatel Wireless (NVTL) fell more than 18% last week. The reason: Nokia (NOK) and Intel (INTC) announced that the two companies would work together to make notebook computers able to access cellular networks through high speed downlink packet access technology (HSDPA). The idea is to have product out in 2007. Nokia plans to make the cellular module while Intel would embed the module into a platform and handle sales and marketing to notebook vendors. Shares of Novatel were hit hard because Novatel dominates the sale of embedded wide area wireless modems. These are the radios that go inside a laptop, such as one from Dell, that are then activated by a wireless carrier, such as Verizon or Cingular, for use on their high speed data network. For Novatel, this is a growing part of its business. Of course, when you have a big opportunity like this and you hear that not just one Goliath, but two are coming into your turf, it’s not good news. It means that Novatel will now have a new competitor in the marketplace – one that could be very tough. Besides that, Intel was not considered a real threat, prior to this announcement. After all, in June Intel took steps to reduce its exposure to wireless, selling some of its wireless business to Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). Now, Intel is coming back strong with Nokia. Let me say, however, that right now, all this is nothing more than announcements. Intel and Nokia have not announced any particular product yet and obviously have no customers. They have just stated their intent. Shares of NVTL have fallen because investors are discounting the stock for a less competitive environment. This may, however, not be all bad news. With Intel now entering this market for wireless laptops, can Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) be far behind? If so, from where will AMD get its radios? It could be from a number of companies including Novatel or from others such as Sierra Wireless (SWIR) or Motorola (MOT). Enabling wireless laptops promises to be a big business worth half a billion dollars or more. I believe there will be room for many players. I’ll continue to watch this company and update readers of Forbes Wireless Stock Watch. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.20.06 by Nikhil @ 2:12 pm
I found this news from Alltel Wireless interesting and innovative. Alltel said this month that it would partner with a company called JumpTap, which specializes in the development of innovative, carrier-centric mobile search and advertising. The plans is for the two companies to work together to develop a mobile search system so that Alltel subscribers can search for information from a host of different mobile, local and web-based providers. Alltel says that these new capabilities will be offered to its subscribers at no additional cost. The search technology will let Alltel customers quickly search for things like ringtones and wallpapers, maps and directions, news and sports, flight updates, weather, white pages, stock quotes, chat services, and any mobile website included in JumpTap’s Mobile Search Index. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Cutting Edge and News Comments: None |
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