Hedgehogging
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.
–So last week we pointed out that Steve Jobs must think his lawyers are smarter than Cisco’s lawyers since Apple is using the iPhone name even though Cisco owns the trademark. Turns out Jobs may know more than we do. Jobs’ Apple Inc. and the Beatles have settled their nearly 30-year trademark dispute over the Apple name. (Apple is the company that oversees the Beatles interests.) Financial details are secret (and really, do Jobs or the Beatles need money?) but the move paves the way for a potential explosion in the ringtone market as all the 60-year-olds finally have a reason to buy a ringtone. The Beatles were one of the largest holdouts in the digital download phenomenon.
–This week’s 3GSM conference is apparently so important companies went nuts last week putting out press releases on the press releases they were going to announce this week. We’re just hoping we get some post-show press releases on how important the show press releases were, or at least a hug.
–Verizon sent out a press release earlier this week warning customers in West Virginia about “an increasing number of criminal acts that have caused major telephone service outages, creating risks to public safety for thousands of customers across the state.” The “acts?” People stealing copper telephone cables and electronic equipment. The counties hardest hit include Boone, Logan and Kanawha counties, with a recent incident of a 20-foot section of cable that housed 600 telephone lines stolen in the Weirton area. Verizon claimed that last year alone more than 26,000 feet of copper cables were stolen. We hate to put a blanket label on people from certain states, but stories like this make it tempting.
–A handful of mobile-phone operators reportedly have plans to take on Google in the mobile-phone search arena. Is this something wireless carriers need to be worrying themselves about? We know they want to control all aspects of the mobile experience, but Google makes a product that people like and use, so why not let them continue to use it? Also, Google has all the money in the world and from what we hear an army of robotic monkeys programmed to subjugate all humans should anyone question Google’s superiority. You’ve been warned.
