Tokyo
Today in Tech: Is Microsoft's new logo hit or miss?
August 23, 2012: 1:11 PM ETSony Mobile laying off 1,000 people; why the freemium business model isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Microsoft gets a new logo [THE SEATTLE TIMES]
The new logo, which incorporates a multicolored Windows symbol in addition to the "Microsoft" name in straightforward, lighter type, is intended to "signal the heritage but also signal the future — a newness and freshness," said Jeff Hansen, Microsoft's general manager of brand strategy. It's coming at a time when the company is preparing to launch new or significantly updated versions of nearly every one of its products, from Windows to Windows Phone to Office.
OnLive owed $30 million to $40 million, was facing imminent shutdown [SILICON VALLEY MERCURY NEWS]
"It was a company that was in dire straits. It only had days to live in terms of cash flow and the like," said Weinberg, whose firm's role in the OnLive insolvency process is similar to that of a bankruptcy trustee. "Something had to be done immediately or there would have been a hard shutdown, which would have been a disaster."
When freemium fails [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
Yet for some, the "freemium" strategy is turning out to be a costly trap, leaving them with higher operating costs and thousands of freeloaders. That's what happened to Chargify LLC, a provider of billing-management software to small businesses, which used the freemium business model when it started out in 2009.
Sony Mobile to lay off 1,000 people, move HQ to Tokyo from Sweden as part of restructuring [TECHCRUNCH]
Today, Android OEM Sony announced that its loss-making mobile handset division Sony Mobile Communications would be laying out 15% of its workforce — 1,000 people approximately — as part of a bigger restructuring. It will also move its HQ and "certain other functions" from Lund, Sweden to Tokyo, Japan in October 2012. It looks like the main impact will be in Sweden in terms of layoffs, as Sony moves the operation closer to home base: 650 in Lund, with the rest "primarily consultants in Sweden." The process is due to complete by March 2014 "as the company seeks to increase operational efficiency, reduce costs and drive profitable growth."
Facebook rewrites its code for a small-screen world [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
Facebook's executives say the company is diving deep into mobile, starting with new versions of its apps for the iPhone and iPad, which it released Thursday. Users had complained that the apps were terribly sluggish; more than half of those who have rated the iPhone app in the Apple App Store gave it one star out of five. The new apps are faster because they were rewritten in the native programming language of Apple's devices, replacing most of the Web-based technology used in previous versions.
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Videos: Customers queue for the new iPad around the world
Apple's (AAPL) latest is greeted with the usual display of fervor and endurance
Paris, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney:
Sydney:
Singapore:
Tokyo:
London (Regents Street):
London (Covent Garden):
More as they come in.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 16, 2012 9:25 AM ET -
Briefs: Steve Jobs' folly, Apple's ads
A round-up of the week's Apple news
Jackling Mansion coming down: Preservationists who had fought for six years to prevent Steve Jobs from razing a 14-bedroom Spanish colonial mansion he bought in 1984 but never really liked have finally thrown in the towel. Under a plan approved by the city council of Woodside, Calif., last summer, a wealthy Silicon Valley investor -- Gordon Smythe, founder of Propel Partners -- MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 20, 2010 7:37 AM ETPosted in: Advertising, Apple, Foxconn, iPad, Jackling House, Kickback, Quattro, Steve Jobs, Time Inc., Tokyo -
Melting iPod snarls Tokyo rush hour
Japanese commuter train halted by the smell of an overheated iPod nano
The iPod nano may be one of the world's most popular music players, but it's been a headache for Apple (AAPL) in the Japanese market.
The devices have been known to overheat, burst and, in some cases, burn their owners.
Only last Thursday did Japan's trade ministry pronounce itself satisfied with Apple's efforts to comply with a government order to alert MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 16, 2010 7:22 AM ET -
Japan avoids an iPhone 4 meltdown
The servers slowed but didn't crash in Tokyo Tuesday as customers queued up for hours
For reasons that aren't immediately clear, Japan didn't suffer the nationwide meltdowns that brought Apple's (AAPL) and AT&T's (T) servers to their knees Tuesday, the first day of pre-orders for the iPhone 4 that goes on sale June 24.
There were glitches that slowed the computers at SoftBank, Apple's exclusive carrier in Japan, and customers MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 15, 2010 3:38 PM ET -
iPad madness in Munich
Plus videos from the launch in Frankfurt, Milan, Tokyo, Paris, Sydney, London and Zurich
Apple's (AAPL) international fan base greeted the iPad in nine countries Friday morning with the usual hoopla -- albeit in different accents and with various degrees of self control. The Germans, for some reason, seem to have the most fun at these events.
Munich:
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 28, 2010 6:21 AM ET -
iPad camp outs hit Tokyo, Sydney, London
Customers camped out overnight in cities around the world to buy Apple's tablet computer
[UPDATE: About 1,200 customers had lined up outside Apple's flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district when the doors finally opened at 8 a.m., according to Reuters.]
Rahul Koduri, 22, had been sitting in front of an Apple Store in Sydney, Australia, since 2 a.m. Thursday.
In Tokyo, Takechiyo Yamanaka planted his folding camp chair outside Apple's Ginza store on MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 27, 2010 3:36 PM ET -
Lines form for the new iPhone in New York and Tokyo
Here are two postcards from the front lines of the smartphone wars.
The first, at right, shows three college students from Monclair, N.J. -- Matt Dodd, 18, Sam Epstein,18, and Keith Hobin, 19 -- huddled under borrowed umbrellas in front of Apple's (AAPL) flagship New York Fifth Avenue store to buy the latest in multitouch cellular technology.
They arrived at 7 a.m. EDT, 24 hours before Apple is scheduled to begin selling MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 18, 2009 3:14 PM ET
