Solidly Stated by Judy Mottl (bio)

Yes, I'm a BOGO person. I love those buy one, get one free deals.

Especially when the products offered are useful and present a chance at substantial savings.

That's why Verizon Wireless's new BlackBerry BOGO campaign is interesting to me.

Launched on February 6, and running through March 31, it's the first time the wireless carrier is using a BOGO approach for Research in Motion smartphones.

And yes it includes RIM's iPhone-killer smartphone - - the touch-screen Storm.

"It is pretty common in the retail trade to do a buy one, get one free offer and we have used this kind of promotion in the past. It isn't unusual in the retail trade," a spokesperson told me.

But it is the carrier's first BOGO for RIM products, she acknowledged.

Of course buyers have to get data plans for both - - no surprise as that's what's subsidizing smartphone costs these days.

But two Storms for the price of one, which is $199, is pretty amazing in terms of a retail deal and prompts questions about whether it means Verizon Wireless is looking to unload inventory or just boost RIM sales.

While Verizon Wireless calls it "ordinary," there are something things that don't strike me as ordinary.

First, most retailers send up balloons and blow horns when running a BOGO sale. You can't miss the fact that one is happening.

But at Verizon Wireless it's easy to miss the BlackBerry BOGO campaign.

You essentially have to hunt for this deal as it's no where to be found on the front pages or even under the wireless carrier's link to special offers or current promotions.

Even a link to "brilliant savings" with smartphones on the main door doesn't mention it, though there is a deal for a free BlackBerry Pearl with a services plan.

But no BOGO news anywhere.

In fact I had to email Verizon Wireless to track it down.

You have to click on 'BlackBerry' under the "phone & accessories" menu in the top red navigational bar on the site.

There you'll see the eight BlackBerries (including Pearl, Curve, Storm and World Edition devices) listed with the marketing offer in the price section.

I emailed Verizon Wireless again to find out more on what the strategy is.

Here is their response:

*We are responding to the market and providing customers with the data devices they want and need. More and more customers are upgrading to smart phones so this promotion provides them with an affordable means of doing so. These are data users so their ARPU is higher. *

Okay, I can see why trying to boost the user base of high-end phones has a clear payoff. They'll spend more money on services.

But I still don't understand why it's such a well-kept secret on their site.

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February 7, 2009, 12:41 PM

A peek at Kindle2?

MobileRead, an e-reading forum site is offering up what it calls the first official photos of Amazon's new Kindle set to debut Monday at a press event in New York.

The photos show a leaner, rounder design, with a joystick replacing the scroll wheel for navigation all at a price point of $359, the same price point as the current Kindle product. The site says the unofficial sale date is February 24.

One Forum reader noted it looked "Applish."

Storage-wise, Kindle 2 is said to come with a 2GB on-board memory. The photos don't seem to show any kind of SD card slot however but storage has not been cited as one of the criticisms of Kindle in the past.

What is interesting is that several forum members noted they've gone and ordered the Kindle at this point so they're in the que for a new one, and one noted delivery date sent back by Amazon was Feb. 26.

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February 2, 2009, 6:18 PM

AT&T honcho asks for bonus freeze

Ok, I know I'll get a few emails for reporting news of yet another CEO relinquishing an annual bonus in the wake of corporate layoffs.

That's what I got when I wrote about Motorola's top leaders in December taking voluntary 25 percent cuts in base salary and bonuses.

Co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha are voluntarily taking a 25 percent cut in base salary. Brown is also declining his cash bonus for this year and Jha is reducing his cash bonus by the same amount.

According to SEC documents Brown and Jha are both salaried at $1.2 million for 2008. Jha's bonus is stipulated to be at least 200 percent of his base salary and he is contractually guaranteed a 2008 bonus of $2.4 million. Brown, who is closing out his first year as CEO, would have received a 220 percent bonus for 2008.

Now add AT&T honchos to the list.

In early December AT&T announced it was laying off 12,000 employees, about 4 percent of its workforce, in an reorganization that will also increase staffing in its wireless, broadband and video business lines.

Last Friday AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced he wants to forgo the bonus earned on last year's performance as part of the company's decision to freeze salary increases for 120,000 nonunion managers and executives this year.

The top U.S. wireless carrier had 309,000 employees worldwide as of the end of 2007.

But AT&T's far from losing money at this point. Revenues grew 4 percent last year and earnings per share grew more than 11 percent, as a spokesman pointed out.

Randall, according to AT&T, told employees that asking the board to withhold his bonus, which is 25 percent of his total compensation, was "the right thing to do ... we are a company that expects the highest performance and accountability, and that starts at the top."

Ok, what does that total?

Well AT&T said it will provide that information in the next SEC compensation filing requirement and declined to tell me what his current salary is at this point.

According to Business Week, Randall's total compensation is $1.8 million.

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January 31, 2009, 11:02 AM

GoDaddy goes one Super Bowl ad more

The Web hosting site known for its provactive and lurid Super Bowl ads is now running two commercials during the biggest annual sporting event Sunday.

Initially GoDaddy planned to run one of two ads it had created based on a online vote that was held this month.

But according to a PR email late Friday GoDaddy bought up one of NBC's remaining slots at the last minute to showcase both ads, which feature sexy race car driver Danica Patrick in two different story lines as InternetNews.com reported this week.

The first, called "Shower," features Patrick in a shower with another woman as three college students control the women's movements from a computer keyboard.

The second, called "Baseball," spoofs the industry's recent steroids scandal using female anatomy as a visual aid.

And, of course, GoDaddy will feature uncensored and uncut versions of both ads on its Web site.

What's not known is whether the online voting on which ad to feature was too close to call.

Or if NBC, given it obviously hadn't sold out its ad slots, lowered its original $3 million for 30 second rate card cost.

GoDaddy had said its Super Bowl advertising effort was running about $2 million this year, the same as last year.

So maybe GoDaddy just saw a great opportunity to get more bang for the buck from an ad event that has paid off "in spades," as one VP said this week.

Whichever it was, a cheaper ad rate or too close to call voting, GoDaddy just keeps going where few other Super Bowl advertisers tread.

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January 30, 2009, 4:00 PM

1 million Storms in the market

Verizon Wireless confirmed today that it has sold 1 million BlackBerry Storm handsets to date since the newest Research in Motion device debut on November 21, 2008 -- just a little over two months ago.

The one million mark is a valuable assessment as the Storm was hyped as the top iPhone competitor.

Not a bad sales pace as earlier rumored predictions had the figure at 500,000 or so.

But nowhere near the pace Apple has set with its iPhone.

Apple sold 4.4 million iPhones in its first fiscal quarter ended December 27, 2008, for a total of 13.7 million units. That put it well past the 10 million unit goal in 2008 that Apple had set for it.

RIM and Verizon Wireless have their work cut out if they expect to catch up.

Going forward Morgan Stanley expects 27 million iPhones to be sold 2009.

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January 23, 2009, 8:26 AM

The President and his Blackberry

Seriously, what more could Research in Motion, the maker of the Blackberry, ask for in terms of prestige these days given newly-elected President Barack Obama is a Crackberry addict?

Best of all the President, who reportedly was never seen without his BlackBerry in hand during his campaign, doesn't have to give up his treasured device after rumors circulated that the Secret Service might take it away citing security issues.

RIM couldn't ask for better media coverage, which is also providing priceless advertising and marketing gold.

The handheld, already viewed as the most secure enterprise device, is now 'the' most secure device one can have.

Clearly he won't be using any GPS location-based services to find the best pizzeria or that new lacrosse stick for his girls. But then again he has the Secret Service and a slew of staff to make that happen.

I think it's an amazing statement of US technology and indicates that this presidency, unlike many before it, realizes the value of technology and mobile communications.

Now, as many have noted, Uncle Sam just has to make it a policy priority going forward.

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January 14, 2009, 5:04 PM

Moto Cuts 4,000 More Jobs

Motorola announced even bigger workforce cuts this afternoon -- an additional 4,000 in layoffs for the beleaguered handset maker.

In a press release issued just before 5pm today the company stated there will be approximately 4,000 additional workforce reductions, with 3,000 within in the Mobile Devices business. The other 1,000 positions are associated with corporate functions and other business units.

Today's workforce reductions, plus other incremental cost-reduction initiatives, including those announced on December 17, 2008, are expected to result in additional annual cost savings of approximately $700 million in 2009, according to the release.

Total cost savings from recent actions now expected to be approximately $1.5 billion in 2009.

The savings from these actions, together with the $800 million of savings from other actions announced during the fourth quarter of 2008 are expected to result in aggregate cost savings of $1.5 billion for the Company in 2009.

"The actions we are taking today in our Mobile Devices business will allow us to further reduce our cost structure and positions us for improved financial performance in 2009," said Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer of Motorola, in the released statement. He said the Mobile Devices business expects to recognize annual cost savings of approximately $1.2 billion in 2009.

Motorola's release states that during the fourth quarter its Mobile Devices unit shipped approximately 19 million handsets -- and that sales were hurt by continued weakness in end consumer demand and customer inventory reductions.

Motorola will hold its next financial earnings call on February 3.

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January 13, 2009, 6:13 AM

Obama & his Blackberry: A few words say it all

President-elect Barack Obama faces a conundrum: He likely has to relinquish his coveted BlackBerry as part of his taking office on January 20.

But as recently as last week he made it clear, once again, he's not happy about it.

One of the most enterprising, and humorous takes on his predicament can be found over at the New York Daily News. The New York paper asked some advertising and marketing gurus to put together ad campaigns based on the dilemma and the results are hilarious.

One favorite of mine is a front-page declaration that Obama has decided to forgo the presidency in order to keep his smartphone.

"Nation shocked. Blackberry Owners Not" screams the secondary tag line.

One pictorial is a text message conversation between Obama and his VP, Joe Biden, which talks about the impending BlackBerry removal action.

Another image relates how kicking the Blackberry habit is harder than giving up smokes.

And finally there's one that scan the worklife and personal life of the soon-to-be President and denotes the communication ease a Blackberry affords when discussing national priorities: An email from Michelle Obama telling her husband the kids forgot their homework. Again.

Enterprising? Yes. Creative? Yes. It's a Crackberry devotion pictorial not to miss.

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January 12, 2009, 10:51 AM

EMC's cutbacks: A bit more to the story

Storage titan EMC announced layoffs last week, citing cost-efficiency as the primary reason.

What it didn't announce, as clearly, was that CEO Joe Tucci and senior executives are taking a pay cut and also foregoing bonuses for 2009.

Oh, and one more thing -- EMC is freezing employee pay as well with no salary or bonus increases coming in the near future.

This was all confirmed this morning by an EMC spokesperson.

The problem I have is that neither economic move was mentioned specifically in any release I saw or read last week in writing about the layoffs. It's also not in an SEC document, as yet, as that doesn't have to be filed until the company's year end.

A 7 percent workforce cut, in these economic times, isn't mindblowing. The macroeconomics are finally hitting the storage sector - about a year after hurting lots of other technology segments. Everyone is slashing payroll -- heck even Microsoft was rumored to be laying off by the end of 2008.

And trying to reduce costs, trim operations, restructure an organization that is merger-manic (EMC had something like 21 acquisitions in the past few years) is just smart business.

But senior level pay cuts?

A CEO taking a salary reduction and kissing goodbye a bonus?

That's exactly what Motorola announced before the holidays remember? And we all know that isn't about just shoring up the financials.

So EMC's similar moves seem to be a little bit more than just cost-efficiency to me, though I am the first (as my editors will attest) to acknowledge I'm no financial wizard.

I asked for specifics on the senior level pay cuts and bonus loss. No numbers forthcoming. I asked what the no-raise for 2009 will save. No answer.

What I got was Tucci and his executive staff are "leading" from the front when it comes to financial moves. Maybe the storage sector is getting hit harder than many thought. We'll find out soon enough.

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December 23, 2008, 3:57 PM

An iPod/iPhone accessory that may be a life saver

Just in time for the holiday season and drinks for toasting the New Year comes a handy gadget iPod and iPhone users may find useful.

The iBreath Alcohol Breathalyzer, from the David Steel, lets users assess their intoxication level with a few simple steps.

Company founder, and iBreath inventor, Don Bassler explained that the idea came long before the iPhone arrived in June 2007.

He was sitting poolside two years ago with a friend and the friend had bought his son a breathalyzer to use on prom night.

Bassler said his friend became a bit annoyed as the teen then put on his iPod and said he wished there was some way to communicate to him through his iPod.

The two issues clicked for Bassler, an admitted Apple loyalist.

Soon after he had a prototype and images up online and even some premature media coverage.

The problem was there was no actual product to sell until last week, when, after Apple's blessing, he launched the iBreath.

Business has been brisk, he said.

"Our stance is that no one should drink and get in a car," said Bassler.

But people do it every day and Bassler hopes his tool it will save lives.

The 47-year-old, who's been in product sales since his college days, said the price of $79 is much cheaper than the costs associated with a drinking and driving conviction, and certainly a small price for avoiding killing someone while drinking and driving.

In California, he noted, breaking the DWI law can end up costing upwards about $8,000 in legal fees, fines and other related costs.

Bassler is looking to develop a similar tool for the BlackBerry down the road, as well as other iPod accessories.

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December 16, 2008, 5:21 PM

Palm launches its new mobile app storefront

Palm fans must be tickled pink today with the launch of Palm's Software Store, a new online application download center that's stocked with 5,000 applications for over 25 Palm devices.

Neatly organized by device and by application category the software hub seemed to appear out of the blue today.

It's clear Palm realizes that mobile applications are key to handset success -- it is one aspect that's kept the struggling handset maker afloat in the competitive smartphone market.

And now, with the storefront, Palm's aware that building loyalty and user base means putting good, fun and valuable applications out in an easy-to-grab fashion (aka Apple's App store approach) is a necessity.

Stay tuned as we'll explore the store, Palm's strategy and what analysts have to say about it all on InternetNews.com on Wednesday.

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