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Ross Fadner, Monday, April 27, 2009, 11:30 AM
Report: MySpace To Name New COO
TechCrunch
TechCrunch reports that former AOL exec Mike Jones has become the new chief operating officer of MySpace, making him the number 2 executive at the newly reorganized News Corp. company. He will report to new CEO Owen Van Natta. He, Van Natta, and Jonathan Miller, News Corp.'s CEO of Digital Media, will address MySpace employees today at the social network's Los Angeles headquarters.
Jones is actually the founder of Userplane, which AOL bought in 2006 while Miller was that company's CEO. As Michael Arrington notes, "Jones knows Miller well." He left AOL in 2008 to start another company, called Tsavo, which sources said is "off to a very fast start." Jones will remain on the Tsavo board of directors in an advisory role.
Jones' appointment is part of Miller's sweeping house of the top executives at MySpace. So far, co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, respectively the former CEO and former President of MySpace, are both out. Arrington thinks that CTO Aber Whitcomb, another co-founder, will be next to go. "This is the kind of executive that many hoped Miller would bring in to run the massive MySpace property," Arrington says, adding that another good sign is that Jones is a longtime active user of MySpace, whereas Van Natta "barely has a presence" and Miller doesn't even have a profile.
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With Permission, Facebook To Open User Data To Developers
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook will open up the stream of updates that appear on its users' pages to third-party developers so that they can build new services on top of that information. Sources say the announcement is expected sometime today. The move allows developers to build -- with users' permission -- services that access the photos, videos and comments users upload to Facebook. Says the Journal's Jessica Vascellaro, "That's a big change for the social-networking site, which has exercised tight control over the look and feel of its service and how developers can interact with it."
Facebook isn't charging developers for the feature, which it hopes will build user loyalty and get people to engage with the site more. Developers, for example, could build a Web site that aggregates articles their friends upload to the social network. Of course, users would have to allow these companies to receive access to their Facebook data, sources noted, and users' privacy settings on Facebook will extend to any new services built.
Additionally, Facebook is expected to announce that developers can pull the data from users' pages using an open standard that other Web sites can also use. All is expected to be unveiled at a developer event at Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters on Monday.
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For Yahoo, Four Reasons Not To Sell Search To Microsoft
Silicon Alley Insider
A source who is "very familiar with Yahoo's advertising business" gives Silicon Alley Insider four reasons why Yahoo must not sell its search business to Microsoft. First and foremost, the source claims that the number of agencies wanting a one-stop shop for search and display advertising is growing, and that by next year, nearly 70% of buyers will prefer taking their business to Web giants like Google that offer this convergence.
If Yahoo sells search to Microsoft, then Google would also be the only major Web company to sell both forms of advertising. This would drastically damage Yahoo's display business, the source points out, as about 25% of Yahoo's display revenues come from behavioral targeting, which doesn't work as well if Yahoo doesn't have search data to help it construct audience segments. Selling search would also make it much tougher for Yahoo to recruit top engineers and sales people, lessening its chances of competing with Google.
Of course, these claims sound like a laundry list of demands Yahoo could make before it commits to any deal with Microsoft, SAI's Nicholas Carlson points out. Specifically, Yahoo should demand that it be able to feed display advertising buyers into the search buying process without any help from Microsoft. It should also guarantee access to all search activity on both Microsoft and Yahoo's search engines, and, "for good measure," Carlson says, Yahoo ought to throw in the ability to track how users interact with Microsoft's Web properties, including ads.
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Verizon Looking To Sign IPhone Distribution Deal With Apple
USA Today
USA Today reports that Verizon and Apple are discussing the possible development of an iPhone for Verizon users, which would be introduced next year, after AT&T's exclusivity contract with Apple expires. AT&T has exclusive distribution rights to the iPhone in the U.S. into 2010. The move would mark the first time Apple has produced an iPhone for a CDMA wireless network, which is a different protocol from AT&T's GSM technology.
According to the report, New York-based Verizon entered into "high-level" discussions with Apple management a few months ago, when Steve Jobs was still overseeing day-to-day operations at Apple. The sources declined to be named because they weren't authorized to talk publicly. A deal would give Apple access to Verizon's 80 million customers.
The iPhone has been a huge boost to AT&T, which is why many analysts believe the telecom giant is trying to persuade Apple to extend its exclusivity contract for another year, at least. If Verizon succeeds, it would be a huge loss for AT&T. As Roger Entner, head of telecom research for Nielsen, says, "Breaking the (iPhone) exclusivity with AT&T is a huge thing. That would send shivers into AT&T's stock and senior leadership." He adds that it would be a huge win for consumers.
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The Inexorable March Of Internet TV
The Economist
In the U.S., "the land of free enterprise and the home of discount shopping, there can sometimes be an appalling lack of competition," notes The Economist. High-speed access to the Internet is one instance, and cable television is another. The reason for this "appalling lack of competition" is that cable television providers are also cable Internet providers, and they don't want one service cannibalizing on the other.
In Japan, consumers get speeds of 160 megabits a second from their local ISPs for $60 a month. In the U.S., Comcast and Cablevision want up to $140 per month for "a stingy" 50 megabits per second. Meanwhile, selling broadband connections to the Web is the most profitable business for cable companies in the U.S., costing a mere $100 per household to upgrade their networks to the latest broadband technology standard, called DOCSIS 3. Yet they want to charge $140 per household per month. It costs phone companies, on the other hand, $1500 per household to wire a neighborhood with fiber optic cable. Why aren't the cable companies taking advantage of their price advantage?
In short, they are afraid of the consequences, says The Economist. Cable companies make a pile of money ($700 per household per year) selling TV packages, even though most consumers only watch 15 or so channels. The fear is that they might jump at the chance to watch only those channels they want to watch, rather than pay for hundreds just to get the 10 or so they like. The cable ISPs fear that higher-speed Internet may one day give them that choice. In other words, they are trying to suffocate Internet television, but as the Economist warns, they may already be too late.
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Coming Soon: Online Sales Tax
BusinessWeek
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Former MTV Exec To Lead Project Playlist
D: All Things Digital
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A Second Chance For Online Gambling In The U.S.?
The New York Times
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