Common Paradox Tech Blog

Everyone is still trying to figure out just how big a business social networks are, how much is Facebook worth, and how much money it’ll be making in a couple of years. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, doesn’t seem worried at all.

Asked about Facebook’s plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO), he said the company will do it eventually, but it’s “definitely in no rush.” The reason for the leisurely approach, according to Zuckerberg, is the simple fact that Facebook doesn’t need money.

“If you don’t need that capital, then all the pressures are different, and the motivations (to go public) are not there in the same way,” he said.

While estimates about Facebook’s future earnings vary wildly, Facebook recently turned cash flow positive, which is a big deal for a company many once thought was pure vaporware. As long as Facebook keeps it that way, it can calculate and delay the IPO for as long as it deems necessary.

Tags: facebook, ipo, wall street

We can talk about the iPad as much as we want, but we all know that cold, hard sales numbers will do the real talking. When iPad lands in stores, if it doesn’t fly off the shelves, it will be further proof that Apple has made a rare stumble this time.

AppleInsider rounded up some predictions from Wall Street analysts, and boy, do they not agree. Some of them are calling the iPad “risky”; some are saying that it “has potential”, and some are saying it’s “another winner”. How does that translate into numbers? Anywhere from one to five million in the first year.

Mike Abramsky from RBC Capital Markets forecasts first-year sales of 5 million, claiming the iPad is “a revolutionary e-reading, browsing, media, gaming experience,” but also noting that it lacks certain sought-for features, like multitasking and a camera.

Kaufman Bros’ Shaw Wu didn’t predict sales, but claims that Apple intends to build 5 million units in the first year, and 10 million by the end of the second year. Analyst Charlie Wolf from Needham & Company is predicting that Apple will sell 4 million units in the first twelve months, but Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner and Brian Marshall from Broadpoint.AmTech are far more cautious, predicting 1.1 and 2.2 million units sold in the first year, respectively.

Apple has surprised us many times in its history, and no one can be certain just how well the iPad will sell. If it beats these estimates, though, it will cement its place in history as one of the most successful tech companies of all time.

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad, wall street

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Dell plans to slash 16 percent of its 4,500 workforce in Malaysia, which breaks down to 700 pink slips by the end of June 2010. About the same time the job cuts were announced, several price mistakes began appearing on Dell’s website. Coincidence? Perhaps, but as a modern day Spock would say, that s**t ain’t logical (NSFW – language).

The pricing SNAFUs inevitably ended up on deal sites like SlickDeals.net, including a 3.2GHz dual-core Xeon 5060 processor for $10.99, Xeon E3110 for $16.99, Xeon E5450 for $39.99, and a Xeon L5340 for $12.99. We’d go with the Xeon 5060, or maybe one of each at those prices.

Not all of the pricing mistakes worked to the consumers advantage. For example, Dell’s website listed a 120GB SATA HDD for a Dell Studio 1735 at $21,000, a laser mouse at $4,000, and an Inspiron AC adapter for $710. Not a big deal if you’ve ever shopped at an Apple Store.

So what do you think, an honest mistake (several of them), or scorned employees? Sound off in the comments section below!

Oracle didn’t exactly stick it to Wall Street, but the world’s No. 2 software maker did manage to post a quarterly profit above what analysts were expecting, eWeek reports. Not by a wide margin, mind you, but still 3 cents higher than the average Wall Street forecast of 36 cents per share.

The better-than-expected performance can be attributed to an unexpected increase in sales of new software licenses, which rose 2 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter ended Nov. 30. And it was just 3 months ago that Oracle said sales would probably be down 10 percent, or at best, fall flat.

Oracle wasn’t the only one with reason to celebrate. The company’s numbers has analysts and other vendors optimistic that technology spending is on the rebound after suffering through a rough year. Because of its size, Oracle reports earnings a month before most of its peers.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

How Should AT&T Fix Their Network?(polls)

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega has told the Wall Street Journal that despite what he said back in October and earlier in December:

“We have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing.”

Which is a weasel-wordy way of saying, contrary to previous statements that suggested they [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T Has “Not Made Any Decision to Implement Tiered Pricing”

When Sony announced the Reader Daily Edition back in August, they hadn’t confirmed which newspapers would be offered alongside the ebooks. It’s just News Corp titles for now, with The Wall Street Journal and New York Post being confirmed.

A daily news summary will be on offer for WSJ readers, in addition to the digital version of the paper. The digital copy of the paper will sell punters back $14.99 a month, with the daily summary another $5, and the New York Post will cost $9.99 a month, exclusively sold on the Reader Daily Edition.

On sale sometime before 2010 (that’s 13 days, then), it’ll cost $399.99. [WSJ]

MySpace, The Wall Street Journal and the World Economic Forum have announced their second annual contest to send a citizen journalist to Davos, Switzerland.

The user will be a special correspondent at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010. It’s important to note, however, that only users from the United States and the United Kingdom may apply.

If you’re keen to experience some of that high politics glamor (and visit Switzerland), here’s what you need to do: First, you must explain why you deserve to be a reporter at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. Second, you must answer (in video form) one of the questions below:

· Name two issues — one global and one local — in which you’ve been actively engaged over the past year. What have they taught you about your impact in the world?

· Which country caught your attention most this year? What are the primary issues facing its citizens and how would you resolve them?

· What pressing global issue has been underreported? Why is the international community neglecting the topic? How would you draw attention to mobilize support?

For more information on the “MySpace Citizen Journalist” contest, visit www.myspace.com/myspacejournal.

Tags: citizen journalism, myspace, wall street journal

Once again, MySpace is partnering with The Wall Street Journal, which are both owned by News Corp, to send one MySpace user to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January. Dubbed the “MySpace Citizen Journalist,” the contest will let one lucky winner, who is chosen by a panel of correspondents, join the Davos press corps.

The winner will have to use the MySpace platform to report on conference news. And MySpace will expand the contestant pool and accept entries from users in the United States and the United Kingdom this year. Details are here. You choose one question to answer and record a video with your response to one of the questions below:

Here’s a new one. As Facebook continues to grapple with the negative press over its privacy overhaul, it’s now suggesting a new way to protect your personal information: lie about it. At least, that’s what Barry Schnitt, Facebook’s Director of Corporate Communications and Public Policy, told the Wall Street Journal in an article this evening. From the story:

Facebook also made public formerly private info such as profile pictures, gender, current city and the friends list. (Mr. Schnitt suggests that users are free to lie about their hometown or take down their profile picture to protect their privacy; in response to users’ complaints, the friends list can now be restricted to be viewed only by friends).

Of course, this directly violates Facebook’s own Terms of Service, which stipulate that users may not provide false information.

Just last week, Aol celebrated its re-emergence as an independently-traded company. But its one main advantage is that it still commands a large audience, and in fact was the fourth largest Website in the U.S.—until last month. ComScore data for November, 2009 shows that Facebook surpassed Aol with 102.9 million unique visitors in the U.S., versus 99.7 million for Aol.

Although Aol’s unique visitors grew by nearly a million since October 2009, Facebook grew by more than 5 million. On an annual basis, Facebook’s U.S. audience grew 104 percent since November 2008 (from 50.5 million visitors). During the same period, Aol’s audience declined by 8 percent. That decline is worrisome to Wall Street.