Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 234

Even though EA hasn't been doing so well financially lately, they've managed to scrape some cash together to acquire the online gaming studio ESN. ESN is the developers of the Planet web-based games framework. ESN announced the acquisition on their blog and declined to disclose the purchase price.

The two companies had worked together previously, most notably on Battlefield's Battlelog.

The ESN team is extremely happy to announce that we now are a part of the Electronic Arts family. During the past few years we have been working closely together with EA and DICE to build Battlelog for Battlefield 3. We couldn't be more excited about this opportunity and the team is looking forward to focus all of its energy on DICE, Battlelog and the Battlefield series.

Apple made the decision to jump ship to its own Maps creation over a year before the contract between the two companies was set to expire, according to The Verge, who cites two independent sources familiar with the matter. The decision came sometime before Apple's WWDC event last June and sent Google off to the races to develop an iOS Google Maps App.

The sources say that the app is incomplete and not set to be released for several more months, but there is one coming. Apple appears to have decided to go with their own Maps app mainly because they felt that the older Google Maps in iOS were falling behind Android, namely the fact they lacked turn-by-turn directions.

Google's CEO has been quoted as saying, "what were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call." He added that Google has "not done anything yet" in regards to an iOS Maps app. Besides, any app would still have to be approved by Apple. Google Maps VP Brian McClendon has stated that he's committed to offering Google Maps on all platforms, a sign that an iOS app should be forthcoming.

Apple sure knows how to turn a profit. A preliminary virtual teardown by IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service tries to take a stab at what the individual parts cost and how that all adds up. This preliminary teardown found that the estimated cost for materials that go into the iPhone 5 16GB is $199.

Apple sells that same iPhone 5 16GB, which costs $207 after adding manufacturing costs, for $649. Of course, this bill of materials doesn't include any software costs or research and development costs. Moving up the ladder, the 32GB iPhone runs $217 and the 64GB costs Apple $238. The only difference between these models is the NAND memory.

"With the base model carrying a $199.00 BOM, the iPhone 5's components are expected to be slightly more expensive compared to the iPhone 4S model," said Andrew Rassweiler, senior principal analyst, teardown services, for IHS. "The low-end iPhone 4S with the same memory density as the base-model iPhone 5 carried a BOM of $188.00, according to a preliminary estimate issued by IHS in October 2011. While the price of some components, such as NAND flash, has fallen during the past year, the iPhone 5's overall BOM has increased mainly because its display and wireless subsystems are more expensive compared to the iPhone 4S."

I'm sure everyone remembers where they were on that fateful day when Apple was awarded $1 billion for Samsung infringing on their patents. Well, in a case like that, the plaintiff can request that the judge triple the damages awarded and, according to an unnamed source cited by The Korea Times, it looks like Apple is planning to do just that.

As if the $1 billion wasn't enough, Apple could very well be planning on going for $3 billion. The Korea Times believes that this is "when the world sees the American technology giant turn into a patent monster." And it's very likely. As of late, Apple has been increasingly litigious and it shows no signs of stopping.

However, there are signs that the judgement could be overturned during an appeal by Samsung. For starters, the jury foreman has been doing too much speaking to the media proudly proclaiming, "We wanted to make sure the message we sent was not just a slap on the wrist ...We wanted to make sure it was sufficiently high to be painful, but not unreasonable."

Struggling chip maker AMD has lost yet another one of its top executives. Thomas Seifert, former CFO for AMD, has joined the ranks of the departed. Not too much is known about why he is leaving, other than the uninformative "to pursue other opportunities" reason that is always included in a company's press release when an executive leaves.

"We thank Thomas for his many contributions to AMD and for serving as interim CEO in 2011," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "Thomas' personal commitment to the highest standards of accountability and financial integrity has helped define how AMD does business today. Devinder is an experienced financial executive whose financial expertise and semiconductor experience developed during his 28 year tenure at AMD is an asset to the company."

Seifert will remain the CFO until September 28 at which time Devinder Kumar, senior vice president and corporate controller, will take over as interim CFO. He will remain there while the search for a new, permanent CFO is under way.

Everyone has seen those social reviews posted online. A friend recommends a product or writes a review on Amazon that makes its way onto Facebook. You trust it because it's one of your friends, right? Well, it looks like you'll start having to be a little more careful about which you trust. A new study shows that 10-15% of social media reviews will be paid for by companies by the year 2014.

Companies are already paying customers or giving them discounts to write a positive review of a product or service, but this practice is starting to grow more into the mainstream. Research firm Gartner provides a bit of insight into the practice with their new study which makes this powerful prediction.

"With over half of the Internet's population on social networks, organizations are scrambling for new ways to build bigger follower bases, generate more hits on videos, garner more positive reviews than their competitors, and solicit 'likes' on their Facebook pages," Jenny Sussin, senior research analyst at Gartner, said today in a statement. "Many marketers have turned to paying for positive reviews with cash, coupons, and promotions including additional hits on YouTube videos in order to pique site visitors' interests in the hope of increasing sales, customer loyalty, and customer advocacy through social-media 'word of mouth' campaigns."

If you haven't heard the news, the iPhone 5 is pre-selling like crazy. The initial pre-order stock was exhausted from Apple's store in just one hour, leaving those who didn't stay up out in the cold. Customers are now being quoted up to two weeks for the device to ship, instead of arriving on the 21st of September.

Apple has issued a statement regarding the incredible demand seen: "Pre-orders for iPhone 5 have been incredible. We've been completely blown away by the customer response." Of course, this wasn't too unexpected. Analysts estimates put the number of iPhones sold in the first week somewhere near the 10 million mark.

It's now expected that 5-10 million will be sold in the first weekend. If you still want to get an iPhone 5 on launch day, Sprint is still quoting September 21 as the date. Otherwise, you can queue up outside an Apple store at 8am, or outside an AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint store. At least they had the courtesy to launch it before winter!

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has weighed in on the Apple vs. Samsung patent lawsuit, and has said that he hates the result, and doesn't agree with it, and he thinks that it will ultimately be overturned.

Wozniak told Bloomberg in Shanghai:

I hate it. I don't think the decision of California will hold. And I don't agree with it - very small things I don't really call that innovative. I wish everybody would just agree to exchange all the patents and everybody can build the best forms they want to use everybody's technologies.

The online auction house giant eBay has updated their logo. Following in the footsteps of Microsoft, the new logo features a cleaner, more modern design, which eBay says is to reflect who they are today. It's taken them 17 years, but they finally took out a ruler and managed to get all four letters in a straight line.

Seventeen years ago, eBay created a new way for people to buy and sell. Since that time, we've enabled millions of people to launch their own businesses, and helped change the way the world shops for things they need and love. We're pleased to introduce our refreshed logo. It reflects who we are today - a global online marketplace that offers a cleaner, more contemporary and consistent experience.

The new logo will begin to show up across eBay's sites and marketing campaigns in mid-October. As the years have progressed, eBay has tried to diversify into a multi-platform e-commerce giant, which they have seemingly done to great success. As it stands currently, the majority of items sold are listed as new and with a fixed BuyItNow price.

Apple's new iPhone 5 is only a few hours old, with no consumers actually laying their hands on one just yet, the legal battles have begun. Samsung did threaten Apple that they would "immediately sue" the company if they used 4G LTE connectivity, and according to an industry source the Korean Times are reporting:

Samsung Electronics has decided to take immediate legal action against the Cupertino-based Apple. Countries in Europe and even the United States ― Apple's home-turf ― are our primary targets.

Samsung haven't taken legal action just yet, but I do not doubt we'll see some legal movement from the South Korean company. But, and here's the big but, HTC have already come out, lawyers swinging. The struggling device maker has lawyered up, presenting a patent claim to the US International Trade Commission Judge. Judge Thomas Pender has told Apple: