Stephen’s Posterous

Greystripe has raised $2 million in additional Series C funding from Peacock Equity Fund, the joint venture capital arm of General Electric and its NBC Universal unit. The two companies had a prior strategic relationship.

In March 2009, Greystripe raised $5.5 million from Incubic Venture Capital, Monitor Ventures and Steamboat Ventures, the investment arm of the Walt Disney Company.The $2 million investment is an extension of a round that held a $5.5 million first close earlier this year, from Incubic Venture Capital, Monitor Ventures and Steamboat Ventures.

Steamboat Ventures is a Walt Disney Co. affiliate, which means that Greystripe has effectively raised capital from the parent companies of both NBC and ABC.

Greystripe creates advertisements that look like games. The ad-games appear before a free application is used. Currently over two-thirds of Greystripe’s business comes from the iPhone. Larger media companies want a presence on the mobile phone, especially the iPhone.

Greystripe has now raised $17.5 million in total VC funding.

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A Italian-based startup, beeTV, has raised $8 million in Series B funding from the Italian VC firm Innogest, according to TechCrunch.

BeeTV offers a way to change the way that we currently watch TV by using a Personal Content Channel (PPC), which is a personal TV suggestion engine that will suggest TV programs for you.

According to beeTV on its website, the white labeled PCC is designed to serve three screens: TV, mobile and PC. Providers have the option to integrate all three screen PCC's or choose a combination that fits their own marketing and distribution needs. In this way, beeTV delivers a powerful and modular solution that widens the reach of the operator's brand and creates valuable conversions in today's "on-the-go" devices.

TechCrunch writes:

To manage, control and share your online TV viewing experience, the company created a product called beeWeb, and it’s also bringing the PCC to mobile devices to enable always-on connectivity and the ability to interact with set-top boxes on the go.

It currently has an iPhone application in the works that will allow TV viewers to control their STBs, get recommendations for shows & movies that are relevant to them and available in their specific TV subscription, and also enable them to watch trailers and set their STBs to record or create notifications for the shows they would like to watch.

BeeTV is currently focusing on finalizing its 1.5 version and claims to be engaged with some of the leading TV providers in the world for trials that are expected to roll into their commercial phase by the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010.

BeeTV was founded in 2006 by an international team of experienced technology and media experts.

As stated on its website, Innogest is the leading Venture Capital firm in Italy founded by the Managing Partners Marco Pinciroli, previously with BC Partners, and Claudio Giuliano, previously with The Carlyle Group. With $120 million under management, offices in Milan, Padua and Torino, Innogest is the investor of choice of Italian entrepreneurs with global ambitions.

Publishers Nurture Rivals to Kindle by Shira Ovide and Geoffrey A. Fowler, WSJ.com

Some newspaper and magazine companies, feeling let down by the Kindle electronic reader from Amazon.com Inc., are pushing for alternatives.

A few publishers are forging alliances with consumer-electronics firms to support e-readers that meet their needs. Chief among their complaints about the Amazon portable reading gadget is the way Amazon acts as a middleman with subscribers and controls pricing. In addition, the layout isn't conducive to advertising.

Hearst Corp., which publishes the San Francisco Chronicle and Houston Chronicle as well as magazines including Cosmopolitan, is backing a venture with FirstPaper LLC to create a software platform that will support digital downloads of newspapers and magazines. The startup venture is expected to result in devices that will have a bigger screen and have the ability to show ads.

Gannett Co.'s USA Today and Pearson PLC's Financial Times are among newspapers that have signed up with Plastic Logic Ltd., a startup that is readying a reading tablet, the size of a letter-sized sheet of paper, that can displays books, periodicals and work documents. The device, which uses digital ink technology from E Ink Corp., the same firm behind the Kindle, is slated to be rolled out by early next year, and will offer publishers the chance to include ads.

People familiar with the matter have said Apple Inc. is readying a device that may make it easier to read digital books and periodicals, a prospect some publishers are eagerly awaiting. News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, also is exploring a possible investment in a Kindle competitor. Amazon declined requests for comment.

Behind the publishers' e-reader efforts are hopes for a digital-distribution mechanism that offers new venues to expand readership and collect revenue for news and information, publishers say. The tablet-style devices play a role in the debate about charging for electronic content.

Some publishers regret not charging people for newspaper and magazine subscriptions on the Web. They believe mobile devices, whether it's the iPhone or e-readers, re new enough that consumers won't balk at paying for the digital content.

"This channel potentially could revolutionize the consumption of content in much the same way the Internet did," said Rob Grimshaw, managing director for the Financial Times's Web site.

Publishers see an opening in the failings of existing electronic reading devices, the Kindle most prominently. The Kindle, introduced in 2007, has the U.S. periodical market pretty much to itself. Sony Corp.'s Reader is sold in the U.S., but it isn't yet adapted for newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

Sony said it will launch a wireless e-reader device that can download "daily content," and is currently in talks with publishers. A Sony official declined to say when that device would make its debut.

Critics gripe that Kindles don't allow for displaying ads and are poor substitutes for the look and feel of thumbing through pages. Magazine and newspaper executives also stew that Amazon won't let them set subscription prices for their own publications. Publishers keep less than half of the revenue from sales of their subscriptions on the Kindle, according to publishers.

Amazon has kept figures on Kindle hardware and title sales confidential, but the number of people reading periodicals on the Kindle remains small, partly because of price. The latest generation, the Kindle 2, costs $359.

The Wall Street Journal, the second-most-popular newspaper for the Kindle after the New York Times, has more than 15,000 subscribers, according to a spokeswoman for the paper, compared to its paid circulation of more than two million daily.

Fortune magazine has roughly 5,000 subscribers, according a person familiar with the matter, while the magazine has an average print circulation of nearly 866,000. Subscription prices vary, and are set by Amazon. In general, newspaper subscriptions range from about $5.99 to $14.99 a month, and magazines range from $1.25 to $7.99 a month.

Some publishers chalk up any Kindle shortcomings to early growing pains, and Amazon itself is developing a new Kindle, according to people familiar with the matter, with a bigger screen more suited to newspapers and magazines.

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News are placing some bets on the competition, though. They hope to have roughly 100 Plastic Logic devices to test with readers this summer, months after the papers stopped delivery of the print newspaper most days of the week.

"We believe the Plastic Logic experience is going to be so much better," said Janet Hasson, senior vice president of audience development and strategy for the Detroit Media Partnership, which manages business functions of the two Detroit papers. Executives are discussing plans to lease the Plastic Logic e-reader to long-term subscribers, with the money going toward purchase of the device.

The papers also are prepping for sales on the Kindle because readers have requested it, Ms. Hasson said.

Some publishers also are focusing their portable-reading efforts on devices people already use. The new iPhone applications store rolling out this summer will support subscription prices, spurring the Financial Times, Time Inc. and other publishers to tinker with ways to offer subscriptions on the iPhone. Last week, Amazon bought a small startup that makes free e-book reading application Stanza for the iPhone

Van Baker, consumer electronics analyst for research firm Gartner Inc., said e-readers likely will appeal to only small numbers of people because of their cost, and he wonders whether a slew of devices will confuse consumers. "If the newspaper has one reader, and the book store has another reader and the magazine publisher has another reader, it just doesn't make any sense," he said.

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In Major Shift, Apple Builds Its Own Team to Design Chips
By Yukari Iwatani and Don Clark, WSJ.com

Apple Inc. is building a significant capability to design its own computer chips, a strategy shift that the company hopes will create exclusive features for its gadgets and shield Apple's work from rivals. The Silicon Valley trend-setter has been hiring people from many different segments of the semiconductor industry, including engineers to create multifunction chips that are used in cellphones to run software and carry out other chores.

Apple could use the internally developed chips to sharply reduce the power consumption of its hit iPhone and iPod touch devices, and possibly add graphics circuitry to help its hardware play realistic game software and high-definition videos, people familiar with its plans say.

In one sign of the new focus, Apple recently hired Raja Koduri, who was formerly the chief technology officer of the graphics products group at chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Mr. Koduri started at Apple this week, following in the footsteps of Bob Drebin, who had held the same title at AMD and is also now working for Apple. Online job postings from Apple describe dozens of chip-related positions it is trying to fill, some with partial descriptions like "testing the functional correctness of Apple developed silicon."

Besides a desire to beat rivals to market with new features, Apple's shift is also an effort to share fewer details about its technology plans with external chip suppliers, say people familiar with the moves. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The new effort faces plenty of hurdles, and people familiar with Apple's plans don't expect internally designed chips to emerge until next year at the earliest. Still, Apple's aggressive hiring is another sign of how the company's recent success has allowed it to expand while other tech giants have trimmed their work forces in the recession.

Apple's strategy also marks a break from a long-term trend among most big electronics companies to outsource the development of chips and other components to external suppliers.

In 2008, Steve Jobs explained the purchase of Silicon Valley start-up P.A. Semi as a way to acquire expertise and technology to help run increasingly sophisticated software on iPhones and iPods. "You can't just go out and buy the chips off the shelf to do that," said Mr. Jobs in an interview.

Most cellphones are based on chip designs licensed by ARM Holdings PLC to others. For the iPhone, Samsung Electronics Co. supplies an ARM-based microprocessor with custom features developed by Apple, analysts say. People familiar with Apple's thinking say executives have expressed concern that some information shared with outside vendors could find its way into chips sold to Apple competitors. A Samsung spokeswoman declined comment.

People familiar with the situation say Mr. Jobs told P.A. Semi engineers last April that he wanted to develop chips internally and didn't want knowledge about the technology to leave Apple. Mr. Jobs is on medical leave and was unavailable for comment. People familiar with Apple's plans expect former P.A. Semi engineers to help create ARM-based chips that could improve the performance and battery life of future iPhones.

Apple's hiring spree in semiconductors started well before the acquisition and has continued through the past few months, according to postings on the networking site LinkedIn. The site contains more than 100 people listing current Apple job titles and past expertise in chips, including veterans of Intel Corp., Samsung and Qualcomm Inc.

Apple's own job postings, some aggregated by the site Indeed.com, provide clues about possible features to come. Two recent postings involve handwriting recognition technology; several others seek expertise in chips for managing displays.

Apple participated in a job fair earlier this month for soon-to-be-unemployed engineers at memory chip company Spansion Inc., which sought bankruptcy protection in March, people familiar with the situation said.

Nick Wingfield and Justin Scheck contributed to this article.

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IAC Buys Restaurant Recommender Urbanspoon by Anthony Ha, VentureBeat.com

Urbanspoon, the startup behind a popular restaurant recommendation application on the iPhone, has been acquired by web giant IAC. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch hears it was in the millions of dollars.

The Seattle startup has a web-based recommendation service, but it found its biggest success with an app that uses the iPhone 3G’s GPS features and WiFi/cell tower triangulation to provide recommendations based on your exact location. It also uses the device’s Accelerometer to create a fun interface, with users shaking the iPhone to get their recommendations.

Last Month, UrbanSpoon said the app is on 4 million iPhones, and has provided recommendations for 200 million “shakes.” It’s also ranked 11th on Apple’s recent list of the most popular free apps.

The deal reportedly closed on February 13, 2009,  but wasn’t announced until today. In what I’m sure is a complete coincidence, this news comes at the same time as IAC’s bleak first quarter earnings report, in which the company posted a net loss of $28.6 million due to the weak demand for online ads. Other IAC properties include Citysearch and Evite.

UrbanSpoon is self-funded. This is the second acquisition of a popular iPhone app announced this week, following Amazon’s purchase of Lexcycle, the maker of the popular eBook reader Stanza.

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View from the Top, Shantanu Narayen, Chief Executive of Adobe
By Chrystia Freeland and Paul Taylor, FT.com

Shantanu Narayen, aged 45, is modest about his personal accomplishments, which include holding five patents, but passionate about technology, Silicon Valley and Adobe, the $3.6bn-a-year desktop software pioneer he now leads as chief executive.

Before joining Adobe in 1998, Mr Narayen, an electronics engineer from Hyderabad, India, who loves golf and his two sandy-coloured Labrador dogs, worked at Silicon Graphics and Apple, and co-founded Pictra, an early pioneer of digital photo-sharing over the internet.

As Adobe's president and chief operating officer until he took over the chief executive's job in December 2007, he helped spearhead the $3.4bn acquisition of Macromedia, a deal that expanded Adobe's software portfolio and strengthened the company's presence in key markets ranging from enterprises and vertical industries to mobile devices and multimedia publishing.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Narayen discussed the impact of the recession on Silicon Valley, Adobe's strategy for its Flash technology, and cloud computing.

What impact is the economic crisis having on Silicon Valley and on the technology sector? Do you worry about what impact it might have on innovation in the economy?

Most companies have certainly seen a reduction in revenue and that has had an impact. Most then have to think about what they want to focus on and what it means in terms of their long-term strategic thinking.

I hope the crisis won't affect innovation. From our perspective we look at this and say it is such a great opportunity because the strong companies are going to get stronger. It has been a great galvanising opportunity within the company to focus on what we think is really important.

What about the impact of belt tightening on Adobe's culture, which has always been known for taking care of its workers?

Yes, we had a painful task of doing a restructuring in November. We decided as a management team that we really wanted to be transparent with our employees, we wanted to be in front of them and we outlined the measures we were taking. But, more importantly, we talked about the vision we still had for ourselves as a company to get people focused on the future and the vision we had for ourselves. And people responded magnificently.

Will your ability to recruit the best and the brightest young people be improved by this crisis?

There is no question that the ability to recruit right now is at its best because the number of jobs that exist in the Valley [isn't] that high. We have also done a really good job of hiring straight out of college. We love to hire scary, smart young people who don't know what they don't know sometimes.

What about salaries? Can you pay people a little less than you did?

What we did at Adobe this year was to not do a salary increase. And that was pretty consistent with most companies in the Valley. But to us it's a little less about not paying people more salaries, it's really about attracting and retaining the best.

Do you think the iPhone and other cell phones have been quick enough to adopt Flash?

Well, we'd love to see the adoption quicker. We will ship more than 1bn devices that have Flash on them. But one thing we have done is really had a lot more focus on our strategy for smartphones.

What about the competition between Flash and Microsoft, in particular Microsoft's Silverlight?

Adobe has done a fantastic job of changing how video is viewed on the web. About 80 per cent of the video you see on the web today is actually in Flash. Our big customers include the NBA, the NFL - and Major League Baseball just moved to Flash in time for the opening season - and the BBC. So, we continue to think we're innovating at a pace that is greater than the competition and that is what we have to do.

What about cloud computing? How much of a challenge does that pose to you and to the space you work in?

We believe the real opportunity we have is what we call hybrid applications - applications that combine the power of the desktop and the connectivity of the web. And we have been talking about that. We have a great platform in Flash and Air that enables developers to build applications that take advantage of these trends.

And I think the entire industry is moving towards recognising that it is not just about having computing on the cloud, but it is also taking advantage of local resources. So we think cloud is an essential part of computing moving forward, but it's not the only part.

What are the most interesting new developments in the ways people use technology around the world? What is the most exciting thing on the horizon?

I just think it's ubiquitous computing. Wherever you are, you just want access to the information and [this] introduces a whole host of new possibilities. I would also highlight collaborative computing because computing has changed from a very individual activity to a very social activity.

What about pure technology developments? Is there a particular technology you're most excited about?

Video is still such a nascent opportunity in terms of how it can be viewed on the web, so that is an area we have been focused on a fair amount.

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Apple on April 22, 2009, set itself apart from most of the struggling consumer electronics sector as it reported an unexpectedly strong 9 per cent increase in revenues in the first three months of 2009, despite the depth of the recession and a lack of hot new products to draw consumers to its stores.

At the same time, the US technology company continued to offer only the broadest of responses to persistent rumours about the health of Steve Jobs, its chief executive, who has been on leave of absence since January 2009 to battle complications from an earlier bout of pancreatic cancer.

“We look forward to Steve returning to Apple at the end of June,” said Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer, on a conference call announcing the company’s latest quarterly earnings. Apple executives also continued to play down widespread expectations that the company is planning to launch a low-cost laptop to compete in the fast-growing “netbook” segment, which has been the only part of the personal computer business to see growth in recent months.

“For us it’s about doing great products,” said Tim Cook, chief operating officer. “When I look at what is being sold I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware. It is not a space that exists today that we’re interested in.” However, he added that Apple was still studying the new market segment and did not rule out a product of its own.

The company’s latest figures were buoyed by strong sales of the iPhone, as well as the iPod touch, a version of the portable music player that can access the internet over WiFi networks. Strong consumer interest in downloading applications from Apple’s online store, launched in the middle of last year, accounted for the unexpectedly strong interest in the devices, said Mr Cook.

Demand for the handheld devices offset a weaker showing than expected from Mac computers, as the professional and educational markets experienced a sharp retreat, despite more resilient sales to consumers, the company said. Overall, Mac sales fell by 3 per cent to 2.22m units, a stark reversal from a year before, when the launch of the Macbook Air led to a 53 per cent jump in unit sales.

Apple’s latest earnings were also helped by falling prices of computer memory and other components, which led to an unexpectedly strong bounce in its profit margins. Gross profit margins jumped to 36.4 per cent, from 32.9 per cent a year ago. The improvement also reflected a shift in the mix of the company’s sales towards more profitable products.

Component prices were likely to remain in the same range in the current quarter, said Mr Cook, suggesting that Apple’s next set of earnings will also benefit from the lower costs.

The higher than expected sales of the iPod put paid to widespread expectations that this would be the first time in the device’s eight-year life that sales fell from one year to the next. Apple said it had sold 11m of the devices, up from 10.6m the year before.

The company said that revenues in the latest period had risen to $8.16bn, compared with Wall Street forecasts of $7.95bn. Net income rose 15 per cent to $1.21bn, or $1.33 a share, compared with forecasts of $1.08.

Apple issued a downbeat forecast for the current quarter, with revenues estimated at $7.7bn to $7.9bn and earnings at $0.95-1.00 a share. However, its shares edged up more than 3 per cent in after-market trading.

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More than three months into a medical leave from Apple Inc., Chief Executive Steve Jobs remains closely involved in key aspects of running the company, say people familiar with the matter.

Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook runs the day-to-day operations at Apple, these people say. But Mr. Jobs has continued to work on the company's most important strategies and products from home, they say. He regularly reviews products and product plans, and was particularly involved in the user interface of the new iPhone operating system that Apple unveiled last month, these people say.

Apple co-founder Mr. Jobs, who is considered the company's creative leader, is also involved in the development of future projects, they say. People privy to the company's strategy say Apple is working on new iPhone models and a portable device that is smaller than its current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Mr. Jobs, who was treated in 2004 for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, took a medical leave in early January, saying he would return in June and would remain involved in "major strategic decisions while I am out." But he has made no public appearances or statements since then, and it has been unclear just how involved he continued to be. Apple has been mum about how Mr. Jobs's absence is affecting daily operations.

Mr. Jobs didn't respond to requests for comment. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said: "Steve continues to look forward to returning to Apple at the end of June."

Apple's fortunes appear to be linked in shareholders' minds with the health of Mr. Jobs, and Apple stock has suffered since last summer on speculations about his condition. At the same time, Apple has strenuously argued that its management bench is deep, and that while Mr. Jobs is integral to the company and its fortunes, Apple isn't wholly dependent on him.

Information on the health of Mr. Jobs, 54 years old, has long been scarce and contradictory. He has said his cancer treatment five years ago was successful while maintaining that his health is "a private matter."

But concerns among investors mounted, and the share price wobbled, after Mr. Jobs appeared in public looking noticeably thinner. The day after Apple announced in December that Mr. Jobs would not speak at the Macworld trade show, where he had been the keynote speaker since 1997, Apple shares fell as much as 8%.

In early January, Mr. Jobs said he had a hormone imbalance that was "relatively simple and straightforward" to treat and that he would continue as Apple's CEO. About a week later, he announced that the issue was more complex than he had thought, and said in a letter to employees that he would take a leave. He provided few details of his illness, raising concerns that his cancer may have returned.

In an interview last month, Philip Schiller, Apple's head marketing executive, declined to comment on how the company was faring without Mr. Jobs. "We're just trying to do what we do every day," he said.

People familiar with Apple's operations say they still expect to see Mr. Jobs return in June. Some of these people also say members of Apple's board of directors are monitoring the situation directly, communicating regularly with Mr. Jobs's physicians.

People inside the company, business partners and others who are familiar with the situation say life at the Cupertino, Calif., company remains much the same as it did before.

Those at other corporations who deal with the company also say their interactions with Apple haven't changed. Mr. Cook, who had already been handling most of Apple's day-to-day operations, has kept tight control over the company, say business partners and those inside Apple.

Concerns among employees have also eased as its stock price has bounced back, rising 40% since the end of last year, compared with an increase of about 5% in the Nasdaq Composite Index over the same period. Shares of Apple closed at $119.57 on April 9, 2009, up from $85.33 in January when Mr. Jobs announced his leave.

Apple's business has proven relatively resilient to the recession so far. Analysts on average expect the company to have increased its revenues by 5.9% to nearly $8 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended Mar. 31, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters, helped by the launch of new desktop computer models and a smaller iPod shuffle music player. The company will report its quarterly earnings on April 22.

In spite of Mr. Jobs's plan to return, some employees, business partners and investors are considering what Apple would look like if he doesn't. People familiar with Apple's operations have said Mr. Cook and the other veteran executives understand Mr. Jobs's thinking and have a product road map for the next several years. But these same people worry about the period beyond.

Job recruiters say they aren't seeing significant employee turnover at Apple. But executives at several Silicon Valley companies say they are getting more interest than before from Apple managers, particularly those in the mid-to-upper levels. Most recently, Greg Dudey, one of the lead engineers for Apple TV software, left the company to work for Dell Inc. Mr. Jobs's health is not necessarily the driver of such job moves, according to these people.

Shaw Wu, an industry analyst at Kaufman Bros., says investors are prepared for the possibility that Mr. Jobs could play a reduced role. "Most investors have factored in a management transition," he said. "What people are expecting is that Steve Jobs would retain a chairman role, and Tim Cook would formalize his role."

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