Out of Many, One

New Blackberry Targets iPhone

And that one, still, is the iPhone. This is just a simple user review of the new Blackberry Storm from boston.com, outlining the features and comparing the Storm to the hallowed iPhone. The author goes through a number of bonuses that the Storm provides it users, but in the end determines that the Storm is "no would-be iPhone killer." Surprise, surprise.

Now I don't own either a Blackberry or an iPhone, and maybe it'st just a matter of personal preference. But I've been eager to get an iPhone since they came out, and if I don't receive one for the holidays this year (it is on mywishlist, mom, dad, and girlfriend, please take note), i'll probably bite the bullet and just buy one for myself. Why? The iPhone is just cooler. It just is, plain and simple. As we discussed in class, Apple still has the best designers and really has cornered the market on "cool." And for a sucker like me, well, that's enough.

Now I realize that at some point I may have a job that requires me to own a Blackberry, but for now, my cell phone is a personal item and I want the one that's going to make me happiest. So there you have it.

One of the stats I found interesting in this article is as follows:

"Apple's sold only 13 million iPhones [Blackberry has sold 19 million]. But it [Apple] sold nearly 7 million of those in the third quarter, giving it higher quarterly sales than BlackBerry for the first time."

Will the iPhone eventually catch Blackberry? Who knows. But my guess is that as long as Apple continues to innovate and design in the manner they've been doing, those Apple devotees aren't going anywhere.

So wait - Google doesn't rule the world?

Yahoo's Fate Unclear as Google Abandons Ad Deal

Turns out Google can't quite do everything it wants to. This article outlines how Google has scrapped it's proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo, anticipating that the objections of antitrust regulators might prove too strong to defeat. Not entirely surprising, I guess. Given that this partnership would have given them control of 90 percent of the search advertising market, I'm sure they would have been found in violation of some type of antitrust laws (not that I have extensive knowledge on the subject, but it seems like this would be a blatant violation).

I did learn a few interesting things that I didn't know. The authors, Joelle Tessler and Michael Liedtke, discuss the involvement of that other tech giant, Microsoft:

"The collapse of the Google-Yahoo alliance could become a coup for Microsoft.

Although it has publicly said it's no longer interested in buying Yahoo, Microsoft spent a lot of time and money trying to keep Google and Yahoo from coming together.

The world's largest software maker provided evidence that helped persuade regulators that the partnership would diminish competition. Microsoft also helped orchestrate the campaign that prompted major advertisers to lodge complaints against the partnership."

The plot thickens...

Apparently Yahoo is really struggling, and some of their board members are pissed that they didn't sell to Microsoft back in May, when their shares were at $33 a piece. Now, they're down to $14.20, and apparently considering approaching AOL/Time Warner about an acquisition.

Also news to me was the connection between Larry and Sergey and Jerry Yang:

"The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's main incentive for entering the deal was to keep Yahoo out of Microsoft's hands. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin also wanted to help Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who had encouraged them to turn their search engine into a business more than a decade ago."

Anyway, just a small roadblock on Google's path to conquering the universe...but a noteworthy one.