Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)
How Steve Jobs convinced AT&T to share revenue (Telegram)
In June 2007 when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s first iPhone was sold, cell phones were already a big market. But by 2009, Apple controlled 30 percent of it. How did Steve Jobs convince AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) to give Apple a groundbreaking deal in exchange for the exclusive right to provide telecommunications service for the iPhone in the U.S.? When he worked at telecommunications consulting firm, Adventis, Raj Aggarwal met with Mr. Jobs twice a week for several months. In an August 15 interview, Mr. Aggarwal explained how Steve Jobs persuaded AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s Cingular Wireless to provide service for the iPhone with an unprecedented revenue sharing agreement.
What if Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer ran Apple? (DailyTelegraph)
And then it would “slowly but surely become irrelevant … just like Microsoft”. Thomson ruminated on his blog about the leadership qualities of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s CEO who announced recently that he would be retiring from the company within the year. “Under Ballmer, everyone at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would be working so hard, and be making so much money, both for themselves and for Apple’s shareholders, that they would ensure that Apple never again reinvents consumer computing,” Thompson wrote.
Google buys up virtual image patents (BusinessTech)
Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry said it sold Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) part of a patent portfolio involving the superimposition of virtual images on real-world photos. The technology, dubbed Head Mounted Display, is commonly used in aviation and ground displays, engineering and scientific design applications, gaming devices and training and simulation tools, the company said on Friday in a statement. It did not disclose the price of the sale.
Apple tries to limit ebook punishment (TechEye)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) lawyers are flat out trying to prevent the US Department of Justice getting an injunction over its ebook antics. The DoJ wants an injunction to stop Apple fixing the price of ebooks and thus keeping the electronic book price high. Apple moaned that the DoJ injunction is designed to “inflict punishment” and must be rejected by the court, What the two sides are trying to sort out is how to stop Apple shafting its customers with its anti-trust antics. On 10 July, US District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had conspired with five major publishers to undermine pricing by rivals including Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) which dominates the market for electronic books.
Someone needs a knock out (FudZilla)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) takes on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Motorola Mobility unit this week in the second of two landmark trials over the patents behind smartphones. The jury trial aims to resolve whether Motorola breached its contract with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to license standard essential patents, covering wireless and video tech used in the Xbox. It follows a complex trial last November that decided what the appropriate fee for Microsoft’s use of Motorola-patented technology should be. US District Judge James Robart came down heavily in Microsoft’s favor, saying it owed only a fraction of the royalties Motorola had claimed. More than Microsoft thought, but much less Motorola’s bill for as much as $4 billion a year.
Google’s secret buy sign (CNBC)
Court reverses Apple, Samsung ruling (ITWeb)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics do not have to make public the financial details submitted to a US court during high-profile patent litigation, a federal appeals panel ruled on Friday. The Federal US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington reversed a lower court ruling that ordered the companies to disclose portions of documents that contain profit and sales information. “We recognise the importance of protecting the public’s interest in judicial proceedings and of facilitating its understanding of those proceedings,” the three-judge appeals panel decided. “That interest, however, does not extend to mere curiosity about the parties’ confidential information where that information is not central to a decision on the merits.”
Microsoft’s stock slumped under Ballmer (LasVegasSun)
When Steve Ballmer took over as CEO in January 2000, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the titan of tech and the world’s most valuable company. My, how things have changed. In the 13 years since Bill Gates handed over the CEO spot, the technology landscape has seen seismic shifts. The Internet bubble popped, erasing paper fortunes built on dot.com companies. Apple’s iPods, iPhones and iPads became ubiquitous. Google became a verb. And Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) turned social networking into something you do by yourself, instead of surrounded by people at happy hour.
Facebook, Google Cannot Flout Indian Law, Says Court (SiliconIndia)
The Delhi High Court Friday said that social networking site Facebook Inc and search engine Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) are bound by the rules of this country and cannot flout the law just because they are foreign companies. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Vibhu Bakhru also directed the two companies to display on their websites the name and contact details of their grievance officers. “We direct Google Inc and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to display the name of grievance officer on their respective sites. We also direct other intermediaries that the compliance (of the rules) be done in two weeks,” the court said.
