Well we posted about EMI possibly withdrawing from the RIAA. Warner Bros. Music posts a 58% reduction in profit. Could it be in order to realign the balance sheet they too might cut their RIAA participation back? I would say there is a good chance. External cash flows are the first thing the MBA types look out for.

We’ll keep you posted. Linky.

Well looks like another CEO bites the dust as the data transport industry and its satellite players adjust. Motorola jumped early onto the cellular game and won big by doing so. Even now Motorola has a huge lead in market share. But profits? Ahhh they have taken a slide. The Board must assuredly be getting heat from the institutional investors.

Rather than me speculate, here’s a roundup of the news on Mr. Zanders demise.

Motorola CEO Ed Zander to be replaced by COO Greg Brown
Motorola CEO Ed Zander heads for the exit
Ed ‘Screw the Nano’ Zander Leaves Motorola
Handsets Moto’s Only Disappointment: Why Zander Is Leaving
Zander’s payout $5.3 million

Enjoy!

I wasn’t surprised to learn Google really does intend to bid on the C block of spectrum to be auctioned in January, nor is it any surprise they intend to roll their own network if they win. They already have most of the necessary pieces in place, data centers and back haul, and they can hire out the wireless build to experienced contractors, just like to duopoly does.

The great unknown is what the duopoly and wireless cartel will do. Will they aggressively bid against Google as a defensive measure? It’s plausible that duopoly players could win the C block and endlessly drag out the deployment to extend their hold on the status quo. In this strategy, the worst thing to happen would be to lose the rights to the spectrum, and there is a 10 year deployment requirement.

Oz. Australia has created a new Cabinet level post whose purpose is to promote the internet there. Really don’t know how to take it since I don’t live under a parliamentary system of government. Were something like this proposed in the US it would probably be looked on as feather bedding and double effort since we have an FCC created by Congress to over see issues like this. Hopefully this is a positive development at least from the perspective of awareness. Possibly the ‘Net will be treated as a critical infrastructure component that it is.

Any Australians want to chime in with an opinion? We’ll post them here as we get them.

Linky.

Oz. Australian wireless providers Optus and Vodafone are reducing prices in an attempt to match the new ADSL pricing schemes. New $40AUD plans are being offered by both carriers. Price of the network card varies but typical pricing in the $300 price range or part of the contract rental from Optus.

Article here.

Our so very tech illiterate, good for nothing that is good congress is at it again. Isn’t it time for their month long holiday recess yet? With so much news about dirty tricks to manage net traffic by Comcast and others, many of our “representatives” are determined to grab attention by passing new laws. Very bad idea. Most new laws regulating commerce declare someone a winner, and it is never the consumer. How about open competition? Sure, in totally open markets bad stuff happens, but in the end the consumer has more choices, and service providers are more compelled to satisfy them. If a company is behaving very badly, the consumer votes with their feet and puts them out of business. The problem with open markets for politicians is there is no special interest to serve, and no one collect protection money from. And there is no way to win elections by promising to protect consumers who are much better at doing it for themselves. By they way Congress, the way we stretch the application of existing law, I think the 1st amendment has net neutrality covered. (article on Cnet)

I predict if we get a “net neutrality” law from our Congress, it will result in a network managed with a heavy hand. Here’s a glimpse of what “net neutrality” as defined by congress could bring us:

Jonathan Zittrain, who has written a book due out in April called The Future of the Internet–And How to Stop It, gave a public talk on the issue Wednesday night at CNET’s offices here. News.com hosted the talk–a first for our newsroom. The event, which drew 120 people, was sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

You can call Zittrain’s theme the AOL-ization of technology. Instead of personal computers being able to run any program from any source without approval from a third party–which many of us were used to in the 1980s and 1990s–Zittrain fears we’re entering a world where centralized approval becomes necessary. (also from Cnet)

If you think central management is a great idea, go spend a few days in Cuba. I think you’ll change your mind.

London. This is one of those, ‘why didn’t I think of this?’ ideas. Got a SMS capable handset? Well for .52c you can query for the closest toilet from where you are standing. Link.

The article asks if the .50c is worth it. Trust me when you absolutely positively have to have it NOW, $3 will sound cheap let alone .50c.

Content will not be contained. Herein is another example of the content escaping from its regularly scheduled delivery slot. From Netflix –

Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, and NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution today announced an agreement through which current episodes of the network’s top-rated prime time series, “Heroes,” can be watched online by Netflix subscribers the day after their network airings.

The deal follows NBC Universal’s announcement with G4 and Mojo as the off-network cable homes for “Heroes” and makes Netflix the exclusive SVOD outlet for the series and the third arm of the studio’s syndication deal.

In addition, Netflix also offers prior season episodes of other popular NBC series including “30 Rock,” “Friday Night Lights” and “The Office.” For these shows, Netflix subscribers will have the option of enjoying them on DVD or watching them instantly on their PCs at Netflix.com.

Pretty cool huh? Let me tell you, I think so. If Netflix can get the other 2 network majors to cut a similar deal who the heck needs a Tivo? Tivo’s and VCR’s from the consumers perspective were used as time shifting schemes. With a Netflix account that becomes passe’.

For the content haulers (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, TimeWarner) this does not necessarily make their job harder in their managed content schema at this time. But what it does do is make it less and less necessary for the end user to stay with their managed line up and Tivo like devices. But this does something else. It takes the major networks programming divisions and turns them into movie production houses. I mean come on, some MBA type at one of the 3 is going to say, “want to really cut costs. Get rid of the on air network infrastructure. Expand the deal with Netflix for distribution. Save a couple of billion a year.” Their affiliates will scream bloody murder or course, but the networks have thought of them as pains to begin with.

But the media ecosystem keeps expanding. As the content becomes more diverse and tunneled the task of developing a managed line up becomes not only harder, but the value of doing it in the eyes of the end user diminishes as the ecosystem expands.

HT: Consumerist.

Sprint said they would go it alone when they recently dissolved their Xohm partnership with Clearwire. Apparently they mean it.

Sprint Nextel Corp. rejected a $5 billion investment offer by South Korea’s SK Telecom Co. and buyout firm Providence Equity Partners Inc., according to a person familiar with the offer. (from Bloomberg)

$5 billion may have been enough to complete the new Xohm  Wimax network ahead of schedule.

Remember this story we posted? Well the authorities are reporting that the battery may not be the primary culprit. The man’s injuries were too extensive for the battery to be the cause.

More here.