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ComScore’s latest tally of smartphone OS market shares in the U.S. showed Google’s Android fast gaining ground, behind RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iOS. As for the world leader — Nokia’s Symbian OS — it didn’t even make the top five. It now appears Nokia is bent on doing something about that.
Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry mobile phones and the new Torch handset, is looking to make a play in the mobile ad market. RIM reportedly has held talks with mobile ad firm Millennial Media, but they broke down over acquisition price. Millenial was said to be asking between $400 and $500 million, a price that RIM executives felt was far too high.
Cable premium channel HBO has all but come right out to say it intends to compete head-to-head with online streaming video service Netflix. Remaining exclusive has a value of its own, according to HBO co-president Eric Kessler, and it can command a hefty price tag when consumers want the content badly enough.
There was a time, early this decade, when every day saw a new technology company make an initial public offering. Talk of stock options and vesting schedules was common coffee break fare. Lately, the flow of capital for startups is much more like a trickle, and IPOs are sparse. Still, some partnership or venture-backed companies are managing to make it to market, and Hulu may be one of the next big ones.
As expected, sales of mobile devices are up considerably from last year, showing an increase of nearly 14 percent worldwide over the second quarter of 2009. However, the margins that manufacturers are making on sales of those phones fell more than expected, according to Gartner.