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In the spectrum of consumer products there are smart phones and laptops and nothing in between.  Some think it should be that way. In late May, the creative minds at struggling hand-held maker Palm boldly declared otherwise. 

Believing there was a sizable market opportunity for a “tween” device, the company unveiled a prototype “Mobile Companion” device called Foleo.  Endowed with a 10 inch widescreen and a full keyboard, it was intended to be used in conjunction with a smartphone, like a feature-packed peripheral.  With pricing around $500, it would ship, they said, by mid September. That’s now changed.

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Last week, NBC and Apple took off the gloves and brawled in the school yard.   This week, NBC is moving forward into the next round.

Things started out innocently enough.  Positioning for greater pricing flexibility and other concessions, NBC notified Apple that they wouldn’t renew their long term contract when it expired in December.   Somehow that contractually required notice became public.  Labels were applied in the media – good guys / bad guys. Sides were taken.   Details slipped out that NBC was positioning for more pricing flexibility and the option of bundling products.   Sources said Apple wouldn’t budge.  Things escalated.    Apple snapped back and said they wouldn’t make NBC’s upcoming fall line up available.  Things simmered.  Tempers boiled. 

Yesterday, NBC fired back.  In a surprise announcement, they said they had struck a partnership deal with Amazon.  Click to Read More

In July, display advertising was a noted weak spot when Yahoo reported 2nd quarter earnings.  In an effort to provide an immediate boost,  Yahoo today acquired internet advertiser Blue Lithium for $300m in cash.

Blue Lithium, which was founded in 2004 and was preparing for an IPO,  is something of a blind-buy network.  They sell a publishers advertising inventory but do not disclose to advertisers precisely what sites the ads will run on.  Instead, they serve them “blind” based on various demographic and targeting criteria.  Many of the Blue Lithium publisher relationships are also not exclusive.

In July Blue Lithium ranked as the 5th largest online ad network according to ComScore. Click to Read More

Joining a growing pool of “Content recommendation” or “content discovery” services, MyStrands, a music discovery service founded in 2003, today revealed their latest development: a free online music video service MyStrands.TV.

Similar to music services like Last.Fm (acquired by CBS), or newer entrant, the Filter, (or MyStrands own music tools), but geared toward music video, the site blends a mix of social networking features like tagging with behavioral tracking (e.g., reviewing the links generated between songs or videos) to generate recommendations.  It also includes a host of tools for the creation of custom groups and pages.

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Tuesdays belong to Apple, like a Hallmark made holiday, they’ve staked their claim for iTunes Tuesday.  Every Tuesday, of every week, except this one.  In this holiday shortened week Apple’s taken liberties with their calendar.  While new music was revealed today, bigger things are planned for tomorrow.  This is poised to be an Apple iTunes Week.

Tomorrow, as announced and discussed a week ago, Apple will reveal its latest and greatest secret to the world.  It’s musical and beyond that, a mystery.  New iPods? The Beatles on iTunes? A ring tone store? a Nano sized iPhone?  What will it be?

Theories and speculation started the moment the news conference was announced.  With less than 24 hrs to go, the speculation has reached a frenzy.   

All will be revealed tomorrow (and then no doubt dissected from blogger to media outlet for the rest of the week) but for one more day, we speculate with some not too scientifically created odds making [Odds are based on circumstantial evidence and popularity of the prediction]

1. New iPod Nano (odds 3:2)  
   Topping the list of most likely, as has been the case for the week, is a new line of iPod Nano’s.  Why? Click to Read More

Is Sony giving up on digital music and instead throwing its significant resources into digital video technology and video downloading services?   They have just shut down their music store; they are revealing video playing MP3 players.  Could it be?  Are they going to create a video store?

An article in the Wall Street Journal is indirectly suggesting as much.  They say CEO Howard Stringer is quietly preparing for a big move.  They hint at news to come.  A competitor to Apple’s iTunes… From Sony? One wonders.

The Journal’s story is big on speculation (fueled by potentially compromised “people close to the situation”) and light on facts.   Still,  there are more than enough  bits of innuendo and circumstantial evidence floating around to suggest the article may not be off the mark even if support is lacking.

Here is a look at a few of the reasons, arguments, and the circumstantial evidence:

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There are all kinds of games built around the idea of six degrees of separation.  Probably the most famous is “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” a game that challenges you to connect two actors by their co-stars to Kevin Bacon in 6 moves or less. It’s so popular, in fact, there’s even a website that will make the connections for you.    Another version of the game ought to be: Six Degrees of Electronic Arts.

The gaming industry is currently popular with investors but especially, it seems,  if a new company includes alumni from Electronic Arts.   Looking back over recent deals, the EA connection seems to be everywhere.

First, there are two newly funded companies: Media Machines and Rocketon, both have leadership schooled on the EA campus.

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