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AMD Breaks from Business Applications Performance Corp. (BAPCo) , The Publisher of SYSmark 2012 (SM2012)

By
Tekedia Editors
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1

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), arch-ravl of Intel,  and a computing performance  benchmarking consortium have broken their relationships over fairness. It is always this suspicion of Intel and AMD which will never cease until both are made non-factors by new technologies or major new entrants which will not happen in our lifetimes.

 

AMD has withdrawn from the consortium named Business Applications Performance Corp. (BAPCo) and will not be endorsing the SYSmark 2012 (SM2012) it publishes.

 

 

“Technology is evolving at an incredible pace, and customers need clear and reliable measurements to understand the expected performance and value of their systems,” said Nigel Dessau, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD, in a statement. “AMD does not believe SM2012 achieves this objective.”

 

 

But many commenters have noted that the real deal is perceived favoritism to Intel by the benchmark body.

 

BAPCo, Business Applications Performance Corporation, is a non-profit consortium with a charter to develop and distribute a set of objective performance benchmarks for personal computers based on popular software applications and operating systems. BAPCo’s current membership includes, ARCintuition, Atheros Communications, CNET, Compal Electronics, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, SAMSUNG, SanDisk, Seagate, Sony, Toshiba, VNU Business Publications Limited (UK), ZDNet, and Ziff Davis.

 

SYSmark® 2012 is the latest version of the premier performance metric that measures and compares PC performance based on real world applications. SYSmark 2012 supports 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows® 7 or Windows® Vista®* SYSmark 2012 extends the SYSmark family, alongside MobileMark® and EEcoMark® which has been widely accepted by IT Managers, PC OEMs, press and analysts worldwide.

 

 

BAPCo, Business Applications Performance Corporation, is a non-profit consortium with a charter to develop and distribute a set of objective performance benchmarks for personal computers based on popular software applications and operating systems.

BAPCo’s current membership includes, ARCintuition, Atheros Communications, CNET, Compal Electronics, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, SAMSUNG, SanDisk, Seagate, Sony, Toshiba, VNU Business Publications Limited (UK), ZDNet, and Ziff Davis.

Bubble-meter – Hoping for Next Facebook, Investors Are Risking Funds in Some Startups

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

 

Have you heard of the startup named Color? Yes, the name is  color and they have raised $41 million to make apps that will enable people share photos, easily.

 

Color is a fun way to create a public photo album with your friends using multiple iPhones. Everything is instantly shared among everyone taking photos and videos using the Color app. Color’s app allowing people to share photos without logging-in, raised $41 million. Some analysts saw those figures as a warning sign.   In March, Color unveiled its photo-sharing cellphone application — and revealed that it had raised $41 million from investors before the app had a single user. Despite the company’s riches, the app landed with a thud, attracting few users and many complaints from those who did try it.

 

 

As the CEO of Color proudly stated, the purpose of Color is to “collect massive amounts of data about what people are doing and where they’re doing it” – that is thrilling news for advertisers and corporations! Imagine happy Color app users snapping and sharing all their personal picture moments with not only nearby strangers but with the titans of business. Speaking of strangers, all you lecherous anti-social creepers need to run down to your local swimming pool, beach, playground, or shopping mall – the free Color app is the perfect 21st century electronic voyeur but do be cautious as the app will certainly put a gleam in the eye of law enforcement, lawyers, spooks, and tabloids.

 
But a New York Times piece cautioned:

Since then, Color has become a warning sign for investors, entrepreneurs and analysts who fear there is a bubble in start-up investing. They say it shows that venture capitalists, desperate to invest in the next Facebook or LinkedIn, are blindly throwing money at start-ups that have not shown they can build something useful, much less a business that can provide decent returns on investment.

According to the National Venture Capital Association, venture capitalists invested $5.9 billion in the first three months of the year, up 14 percent from the period a year earlier, but they invested in 51 fewer companies, indicating they were funneling more money into fewer start-ups.

 

This is a roll call of the signs of the bubble – some will make it, while some will crash. But the prices are insane.

 

  • Color raised $41
  • The Melt plans to sell grilled-cheese sandwiches and soup that people can order from their mobile phones. Raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital, which also invested in Color.
  • Airbnb, which helps people rent rooms in their homes, is raising venture capital that would value it at a billion dollars
  • Scoopon, a kind of Groupon for Australians, raised $80 million
  • Juice in the City, a Groupon for mothers, raised $6 million
  • Scvngr, which started a Groupon for gamers, raised $15 million.

Nigerian Developers, Android Is Now Set With Starcomms Launch of Huawei IDEOS C8150 Android Phone

By
Tekedia Editors
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1

 

 

Guardian reports that Starcomms has introduced Huawei IDEOS C8150 Android  Phone.

 

STARCOMMS Plc, the leading CDMA operator in the country, has introduced Huawei IDEOS C8150 Android phones into Nigeria market in order to meet the cravings of its teeming customers.

 

Huawei C8150 is a smart mobile phone that allows a customer to apply voice and data services on its network such as calls, web access, application download, e-books and information search on the web for exciting places at the touch of the button.

 

The phone features Google Android 2.2 and it is supported on EVDO Rev A network with pre-loaded Google applications.

 

Presenting the new hand set, the Chief Operating Officer of Starcomms Plc, Logan Pather, said: “Android has continued to maintain its position as the most innovative smart phone operating system in the telecomm world. Starcomms has a culture of applying cutting edge technology for the benefit of our customers. That is why we will continue to give them value for their money.”

 

He also said: “C8150 phone is a mobile phone with full touch screen. The Android 2.2 OS supports push mail on its platform and suitable for mobile entrepreneurs and business executives who need to stay connected with clients, business partners and also have access to vital information on the go.

 

Now, this gets very interesting. Android is evolving to become the tablet and phone of choice globally and Nigeria will not be an exception. What has to happen is that the nation will move forward in the developer community with the launch of IDEO. It means there will be more devices for the market.

 

As Starcomms has started it, watch out for more networks to bring smartphones that are enabled by Android. It is just a start and before you know it, Android will rule the land. Of course, Blackberry must not be discounted especially with the purchase of Scoreloop – a German gaming company. That can turn out to be a change changer.

Tekedia Mid-2011 Award for Public Commentary on ICT Goes To ATCON

By
Tekedia Editors
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0

Tekedia mid-year Award for public commentary on information and telecommunication sector  goes to Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). Though their website is down or maybe they have moved it and we do not know the new one, we are impressed on the eloquence, presence and quality of the President of this body. He is very analytical, poised, factual and insightful in his statements. He is simply a technocrat with no elements of politicking.  It is refreshing to see a leader who honors his nation through service and yet boldly states what needs to happen for progress. For that, we recognize ATCON with

 

Tekedia Mid- 2011 Award for Public Commentary on Information and Telecommunication Sector

 

About ATCON

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is a professional, non-profit umbrella organisation of all telecommunication companies in Nigeria.

Inaugurated on December 10, 1993 as a national trade organisation, ATCON has its membership drawn from Nigerian and multi-national companies which provide telecommunications and information technology products and services in Nigeria.

Mission Statement

To serve as the voice of all telecommunications companies in Nigeria and to contribute to the growth of telecommunications in Nigeria and thereby enhance the growth of our national economy resulting in better living conditions for our people

Objectives

 

  • To serve as an umbrella organisation for companies which provide telecommunication products and services in Nigeria for the purpose of enhancing a viable environment for good business and orderly practices.
  • To project the views of the Association on subjects of interest and concern to its members and to influence and shape public policies for the real development of the Nigeria telecommunications industry.
  • To protect the interest of members without necessarily jeopardising those of users and consumers of telecommunication services in Nigeria.
  • To serve as a clearing house for the attestation of companies which meet acceptable standards of business practices in telecommunications.
  • To promote human resource development by way of providing executive training in telecommunications and informatics to the personnel of members.
  • To organise exhibitions, seminars, conferences and workshops which popularise the availability of members’ services and those which are available in the international community to the users and consumers of telecommunications in Nigeria.
  • To develop strategies and encourage innovations and technological advancements that will facilitate accelerated growth and rapid expansion of the Nigeria telecommunications sector.
  • To provide information about members of the Association, the services they offer, the strength of their organisations, and other information which may promote the growth of their business within and outside Nigeria.
  • To engage in activities which can generate funds for the Association provided that such activities do not constitute direct competition with those of its members.

 

 

 

The Tech Bubble Is Brooding – Tekedia Intelligence Predicts 2014 For It To Happen

By
Tekedia Editors
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1

 

Tekedia Intelligence has concluded its study on the triggers and enablers of tech bubble. Our data shows that the industry is headed for a bubble.  But it will take three years for it to mature. There will not be any tech bubble until after 2014 especially in the United States.

 

Last few weeks, we reported that the industry is healthy because the big players are choosing well. They are investing in very healthy and strong companies and jacking up the valuations of those companies. In that report, we quoted the Economist thus:

 

But trouble may be brewing out of sight: although 80% of publicly-listed tech companies are trading within their historical valuation ranges and recent IPOs are few in number, valuations in the private market are skyrocketing too. There is a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming IPOs of high-profile Internet companies such as Facebook (which is valued at around US$76bn, more than Boeing or Ford), Zynga, a virtual gaming company valued at around US$9bn, and Groupon, which sells online coupons to its subscribers and is valued at around US$15bn-20bn. By contrast, Twitter, a highly popular social-networking site also tipped for an IPO in the near future, is valued at around US$7.7bn, although it has yet to find a profitable business model.

 

Immediately, we commissioned our own study using our economists who looked at some numbers in the US. We looked at the recent data available in AOL Tech Crunchbase. In other words, we wanted to know what people were raising in new startups.  Our data is surprising. Raising funds have become easier even for the smallest and simplest idea in Silicon Valley.

 

A start-up company called Color – that makes apps so that people can share photos without logging in got
$41 million. The product was so bad that the bad comments exceeded the good ones. Yes, investors are looking for the next Facebook and why not spread money around? They are putting money in any idea that flies across them. This is a very bad sign in making. More on Color later today as we have a post on it.

 

The arrival of LinkedIn in the stock exchange was a wake up sign in the tech world. It traded in the three digits before it cooled. That euphoria was a sign of non-fact based exuberance and that is a sign of bubble. Pandora is holding up since it launched, but Tekedia things those companies are not receiving good analytical valuations. They are over priced because they trade many multiples than their revenues. Though Skype got billions more than its 2010 revenue, Microsoft is such a healthy beast for us to worry. The investors are those that will crack the market and not the behemoths like Microsoft.

 

So, these are our numbers which do not look good and some happenings in the industry:

  • The Russian Yandex raised $1.3 b at its IPO. This is a search engine for Russia and it leads the market there. But recall that Russia is a risky place to do business because of government controls. Yet, investors hoping to catch the next Google put that money

-U.S. is now the place for foreign companies to raise tech funds.  In U.S., they like technology. Contrast with Nigeria where all tech companies lag the market. Chams is a junk stock, the same goes for Omatek and many other technology firms in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

  • In 2010 U.S. exchange, aggregating all the IPOs, 32% were American companies, China provided 21%, UK 9% and Germany 6%.

 

The valuations are beyond reason for some. Most of these companies have no revenue model. The  numbers we picked from some legacy companies in the Second Market confirms our fears.

 

SecondMarket is an SEC-regulated alternative trading system, registered broker dealer and member of FINRA, MSRB and SIPC. SecondMarket has brought significant market structure to these asset classes, and in the process, improved liquidity for sellers and enhanced opportunities for investors.

 

The numbers in SecondMarket is troubling. People are hedging their fortune on the likes of Facebook, Zynga,etc without caution. Yet, these ones are healthy and will survive the crash. The worries are the small fringes that receive millions.

 

Of course, there are still good deals in the market. Blackberry acquisition of Scoreloop is a good one. Scoreloop is a German gaming company. Price was not disclosed but insiders noted that it was tens of millions for a company with no major revenue.

 

The complete report, :The Tech Bubble Is Brooding, from Tekedia will be released when we finish the formatting in PDF. It will come as a PDF document and available free on our site. But remember that in 1998, the ramp up to the Tech Bubble , we had 19% of all IPOs to be tech and 17% foreign. Today, it is 32% and 39% foreign. Either Americans are not creating enough companies to go public or that people have figured that American tech investors are not getting the valuations rights, we will help you answer those questions.

 

This is Tekedia – we have a foundation of having won a 2010 “Book of the Year” when our founder edited a groundbreaking book that shaped the future narratives of nanotechnology and microelectronics. We have that tradition and you will like this report on tech bubble.

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