September 2008

Financial crisis: The tech innovations at risk

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777 points, or 6.98 percent, to 10,365.45 as the House of Representatives rejected a plan to bail out financial markets. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 9.14 percent, falling 199.61 to 1983.73, and shares in some of the biggest names in technology fell even more steeply: Apple nearly 18 percent, Advanced Micro Devices almost 17 percent, and Intel more than 10 percent. Google, which has flown higher than most, went down $50.04 to $381 a share, losing 11.61 percent of its value in one day. Now that most of the major investment banks and sundry financial services firms have either evaporated, transformed, or been absorbed by other companies, an untold number of vendors in fields ranging from business intelligence to cloud computing are sadly waving good-bye to many of their prime customers. As October dawns, vendors that once served a seemingly reliable and stable market are now awakening to a starkly altered reality. "It may not be a new world, but it's certainly going to be a different one," says Jeanne Capachin, research vice president at Financial Insights, a research firm that serves the financial services industry. With many vendors reliant on financial industry sales now struggling to navigate a radically transformed business landscape, customers in fields far removed from Wall Street will begin noticing market changes, primarily in the amount and types of available products and services, but perhaps also in the number of vendors they can turn to for solutions. "Given the important role the financial services industry played in the tech market, changes are bound to happen," Bartels says. The most obvious technology at risk from the financial services firms' meltdown is analytics, including business intelligence. Fewer customers with cutting-edge needs, combined with slowing revenue, may have the long-term effect of stifling innovation. Beyond BI and risk analytics, vendors active in such diverse fields as SOA, SANs, and cloud computing can also expect to feel at least some of the effects of a collapsed financial services industry.

Palin: McCain campaign's end-run around media

The McCain campaign is attempting to do something unheard of in the modern political era. It is not just running against the mainstream media, it is running around it. This strategy is not so much expressed in McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt's declaration last week that the New York Times is "150 percent in the tank" for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama or the media-bashing by several speakers at this month's Republican National Convention. It's more about the GOP's continued sheltering of its vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She has yet to hold a major press conference 32 days after McCain announced her as his running mate - and that's not changing anytime soon. McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said Palin will do at least one news conference before election day. That could mean that the person who could potentially lead the free world will have done one national press conference before being sworn into office. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has given more than 89 national and local interviews over roughly the same period of time. Other than TV interviews with CBS anchor Katie Couric, ABC anchor Charlie Gibson and conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, Palin hasn't engaged the press. The effort to shield her is so intense that when she met with foreign leaders in New York last week, the campaign initially would only allow photographers near her.

Economy, Debate Drive News Narrative

From the halls of the Capitol to the campus of Ole Miss, it was a week of high drama in the campaign. For the second week in a row, what has been called the gravest economic crisis since the Depression generated more coverage than the election. It filled 40% of the time studied on television and radio and space in print and online for Sept. 22-28, according to the News Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. And it further raised the possibility that the economy may frame the coming days of the election narrative. The campaign was the No. 2 story of the week, filling 33% of the newshole. Within the campaign coverage itself, or PEJ's Campaign Coverage Index, the No. 1 storyline last week, at 24%, was the candidates' response to the situation. Right behind it, at 23% of the campaign newshole, was the narrative that stemmed from John McCain's decision to suspend campaigning. The third-biggest storyline, at 7%, concerned the debate itself and the media post-mortems.

Telcos, IT companies unite to promote mobile broadband

A group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies is uniting to promote mobile broadband in a marketing initiative worth more than $1 billion over the next year under the auspices of the GSM Association. The companies -- which include Vodafone, Microsoft and Asustek -- aim to make it simpler for consumers to identify laptops that have built-in access to the Internet via high-speed, next-generation HSPA and LTE networks. The partners will label laptop computers that meet their standards for mobile broadband access with a new service mark that identifies laptops ready for mobile broadband connection "out of the box." Many in the telecoms and computer industries believe that most people in the world will have their first and perhaps only experience of the Internet via a mobile device.

Sky 'should offer rivals premium content'

British Sky Broadcasting, the UK satellite pay-television operator, should make its live Premier League football and blockbuster movies available to rivals at regulated wholesale prices, media watchdog Ofcom said on Tuesday. In what could be a significant setback for Sky and its business model, Ofcom said it had found that the satellite TV company exercised "market power" in the wholesale supply of premium content to rivals.

McCain, Palin Deride "Gotcha" Press

In an interview that appeared on CBS Evening News, Couric noted Gov Sarah Palin's statement that the US should absolutely launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to, quote, "stop the terrorists from coming any further in." The position seems similar to that taken by Sen Barack Obama, but derided by Sen John McCain. Couric asked if Sen McCain if that was something that should have been said out loud. McCain answered, "Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age of "gotcha" journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear ... the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation, grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country ..." After Couric asked Gov Palin if she is sorry she made the statement, Sen McCain said, "Before you say, 'is she sorry she said it,' this was a 'gotcha' sound bite.... she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth." Gov Palin said, "[T]his is all about 'gotcha' journalism."

McCain, Obama Ads Run in Network News

Savannah Guthrie filed a hard-hitting report on NBC's "Nightly News" recently questioning the truth of some McCain-Palin campaign statements on the "bridge to nowhere" and Sarah Palin's foreign travel. Guthrie's story challenged the claims in one of McCain's TV commercials. A few minutes later, "Nightly News" ran one of McCain's campaign spots during a commercial break. It made for an odd juxtaposition, one not unique to NBC. Evening newscasts on ABC and CBS also ran McCain commercials during the past few weeks. Ads supporting a candidate for office are nothing new to local news viewers, but were once frowned upon - if not banned outright - from the networks' flagship newscasts. The worry was they could get in the way of the journalism. Though the practice may have changed, some experts feel the concerns haven't. "It can be confusing and, more importantly, distracting to the news coverage," said Bob Steele, a DePauw University professor and scholar for journalism values at the Poynter Institute. The networks don't consider it much of an issue since ads frequently flood local news programs.

McCain-Obama debate draws 52.4 million viewers

The nationally televised debate last week between presidential contenders John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) drew 52.4 million US viewers -- just shy of the 52.7 million viewers who tuned in last Wednesday to see President George W. Bush's prime-time address urging swift congressional action on the financial crisis. The debate was shown on 11 broadcast and cable networks.

McCain Backers Prefer TV; Obama's Pan Media

A majority of Republican presidential candidate John McCain's supporters get their news and entertainment from television, while a majority of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's supporters tend to be "media generalists" who get their news and entertainment from assorted media platforms, according to a new study by media agency MediaVest. The survey found that 65 percent of voters are paying more attention to the presidential election campaign than they did in 2004 and that 50 percent plan to increase their election-based media use through the election.

Obama Leads In Web Traffic, McCain In Paid Search

Web sites backing Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) -- including his own campaign sites -- are generating five times more traffic than those supporting Sen John McCain (R-AZ), according to a new study. In the report, "Searching for the Next President," Web marketing analytics firm AdGooroo found that Obama sites are drawing more than 20 million visitors per month, compared to about 4 million for McCain. Obama's huge traffic advantage is not a big surprise, given that the Obama has relied heavily on the Internet to build enthusiasm for his campaign and to raise money. Despite his smaller Web presence, however, McCain is drawing nearly 11% more traffic from politically neutral sites than the Obama campaign. If the race comes down to undecided voters, as some political experts have suggested, then that finding could be a positive signal for McCain. At the same time, McCain also has a higher proportion of sites directed against him, at 29% to 15%.

Benton

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