Most smartphones will be cheaper than US$100 each by 2020: Gartner

Gartner (NYSE: IT) said on Dec. 11 that 78% of smartphones will cost no more than US$100 by 2020.

Gartner’s latest research and analysis said that by 2018, 78% of the world’s smartphones will be available in developing countries.

The research said that most of smartphone users in these developing countries are attracted to those smartphone models with basic functions, while the development of luxury or top-of-the-line smartphone models has reached to a bottleneck.

Gartner said that the average price of basic smartphones will be between US$25 and US$78 each by 2018. China’s brand names, meanwhile, will grow fast and occupy most of the global market.

EBay to lay off some 1,000 employees

The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 10 that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) may lay off some 1,000 employees sometime early next year.

The newspaper reported that approximately 3,000 eBay employees will be impacted by the shrinking plan, while the company is also planning to make PayPal an individual company. Wall Street Journal reported that most of those who will be laid off belong to eBay.com and StarHub.

EBay spokesman did not either confirm or deny the allegation as of press time.

CGN Power lights up Hong Kong bourse

CGN Power (HKG: 1816) shares leapt a fifth during the company’s Hong Kong debut, as investors bet that China’s attempts to cut its reliance on coal will benefit Chinese nuclear producers.

Despite of Japan’s nuclear disaster in 2011, the Chinese government continued the construction of its 28 nuclear power plants. Nomura analysts gave CGN stock a 12-month price target of HK$4.10 on Dec. 10, saying that its strong capacity growth, rising demand and government support should lift its performance.

Last month, the company stated that it wanted to double its number of plants within five years.

Wintek lays off 7,000 employees of its factory in China

Wintek (TPE: 2384), Taiwan’s touch screen maker, laid off more than 7,000 employees from its Dongguan factory on Dec. 10, as more than 200 Chinese suppliers spent the past week protesting unpaid debts of US$37.25 million as they claimed.

One of the suppliers said that Wintek had closed suddenly and that there was no way to contact the company, as all the Taiwanese mangers had run off.

Wintek reported a loss of US$320.5 million last year, and another US$100 million in the first six months of this year. The company was once a long-term supplier for Apple.

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If you were hoping to save $100 on an Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi-Gold with its 9.7 inch Retina display, 8MP iSight camera, and 64GB of storage, you’re too late. Best Buy has posted it as Sold Out on line. It was priced at $499.99. It’s still available at Fry`s for full price.

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi-Gold is selling out fast.

If you are willing to settle for a 7.9 inch LED display and a 5MP iSight camera and only 16GB of storage, you can save $75 at Best Buy on the Apple iPad mini with Wi-Fi – 16GB, Space Gray/Black.
Not wanting to restrict bargain shoppers to a single day, Walmart has been having Cyber Week. They are offering a slightly better discount amount of $79 for the same tablet.

Best Buy and Walmart sell the Apple Mini iPad 16GB for $249.99 and $219.99 respectively.

Now here is the curious part: Walmart is quoting the list price as $299.00 which they are discounting to $219.99. Best Buy shows only their regular price is $249.99 or refurbished for $10 less. Now you decide which is the “best buy.” Seems like a simple mathematical problem at first glance. But Oh No. Let’s look closely. The Devil is in the Details. Both have the same Model Number: #MF432LL/A. Both tablets carry the same exact name with the only exception being the color. Best Buy lists Apple iPad mini with Wi-Fi-16GB, Space Gray/Black. Walmart has Apple iPad mini 16GB Wi-Fi, Space Gray or White. You can do your own comparisons from the data taken directly from their respective websites.

Amazon offers several choices on the same tablet: New from $229.99, Used from $203.95, and Refurbished from $199.99. Clicking on the Used or on the Refurbished category, you come to NYC Electronic Warehouse Storefront. A search of their site did not find the refurbished model. It must have been sold leaving Amazon out of sync with their reseller. Radio Shack offers what they refer to as Refreshed for $229.99 with free shipping.

The Apple Store itself is selling the tablet, Space Gray or Silver “beginning at” $249. . Extras they suggest you add to your purchase include: Lightening to USB camera adapter for $29, an Apple Wireless keyboard for $69, or Apple EarPods with remote and mic for $29. It is ready to ship in one day and you might have in store pick up possible. However, the site warns: “Quantities are limited and availability can change quickly. Items will not be reserved for in-store pick up until you’ve completed checkout.”

As a bonus, Apple offers 6, 12, or 18 months special financing. And they’ll laser engrave up to two lines on the back of your iPad for free. If you click that it’s a gift, you can add an Apple Gift Package for another $5 and a free gift message. One more plus, you can Live Chat with a specialist before purchase. Apple is the only company offering Chat help.

Best Buy provides free shipping if you want it by December 11. If you want it sooner, you’ll pay an escalating shipping fee. The company offers a 1-year Protection Plan from the Geek Squad for $49.99. They say “We Fix It Or Replace It” covering a No-Lemon Policy, Normal Wear & Tear, Power Surges, Screen Issues.

Walmart offers a 2-year Care Plan for $47, but they don’t try to sell you additional accessories other than a $25 savings if you open a Walmart credit card. The Plan indicates: “Drop, Spill and Cracked Screen Problems – We’ll repair or replace it. We cover 100% of the repair costs. There are no deductibles or hidden fees.” Hummm, so you should look for Catch 22’s when considering a protection plan.

A quick look at other on-line retailers showed that Target offers the tablet for $249. MacMall will save you $5 at $244. PC Connection wants you to login or call for pricing. MicroCenter an Authorized Apple Reseller is listing the tablet at $229, but you have to search their site for your local store and drive to the brick and mortar building, because they don’t offer shipping. And purchases are restricted to one tablet per household. Of course, there’s always eBay hawking a new tablet for $299.99 with a money back guarantee.

So, the old adage “Buyer Beware” holds true on Cyber Monday as at any time of the year. Don’t get enamored by a low price. Check out the details. If it sounds too good to be true … it’s worth making comparisons.

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E.T. The Extra Terrestrial has been a taboo subject in the world of gaming for quite some time. Lamented as the worst game of all time due to its unplayable mechanics, the Atari 2600 game was a commercial failure.

Urban myths declared that all unsold copies of the game were buried in a landfill somewhere out in New Mexico. The myth grew to legend, and after being circulated the game itself grew to become a sort of pop culture curiosity that had its own mystique.

In April of this year, an archaeological excavation crew accidentally stumbled upon the truth in New Mexico’s Old Almagordo Landfill.

After digging and digging, they found a treasure trove of 1300 Atari (EPA: ATA) games that had been buried for 30 years. Their other finds included cartridges of Asteroids, Missile Command, Warlord and Defender.

It wasn’t long before the buried games were put up for auction, instantly transforming one of the most hated and vilified games ever made into an invaluable collector’s item.

E.T. wasn’t just a bad game any more: it was part of video game history.

Since being put up for auction, the first 100 games have generated a whopping total of $37,000 on eBay. E.T. has become the highest-profile sellers, with one boxed copy netting over $1300 on the auction site.

The Tularosa Basin Historical Society–who claims ownership of the finds–plans to auction off 700 more of the cartridges to recoup the estimated $50,000 excavation costs.

The council plans to donate 500 Atari games to museums across the globe, where they’ll be curated as cultural oddities and landmarks of the occasion.

E.T.’s legacy will continue onward past the unearthed finds, and have since influenced a number of key industry figures. Popular YouTuber James Rolfe aka The Angry Video Game Nerd has filmed a movie based on the legend of the landfill, and has a hilarious yesteryear review lambasting the game’s poor mechanics.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is releasing the Atari: Game Over documentary that chronicles the excavation as well as the company’s impending downfall. The doc will be available starting Nov. 20 exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

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eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has announced that it will be separating PayPal into a distinct public company, a move that will be complete by mid-2015. This spin-off is a strategy that had earlier been demanded by activist investor Carl Icahn, who acquired a stake in eBay earlier this year.

Icahn sought for eBay to spin off PayPal (or a huge part, thereof) as a means to generate value for shareholders. He argued this would highlight PayPal’s own strengths, while enabling eBay’s management to focus on its core business. eBay fought against this proposal, arguing that more than 30% of PayPal’s revenue and 50% of its profits come from eBay transactions. eBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe says Icahn’s proposal had been a consideration, although management arrived at this decision after a thorough strategic review with the board of directors, and not due to pressure.

“Our board and management team believe that putting eBay and PayPal on independent paths in 2015 is best for each business and will create additional value for our shareholders,” says Donahoe in a statement.

With this move, eBay’s business will be split almost in half, with its e-commerce business and the PayPal payment service splitting off into two distinct public entities. Dan Schulman, an executive at American Express, will serve as the new president at PayPal effective immediately, and will be chief executive once the split is complete. Meanwhile, David Wenig, currently the president at eBay Marketplaces, will be the CEO at the newly-formed eBay Inc. Donahoe will step down as chief executive by that time.

A changing competitive landscape

According to Donahoe, the decision to split was led by a changing competitive landscape. Although no specifics were given, it is likely that the rise of alternative payment platforms like Square, Stripe and even Apple’s own Apple Pay mobile payment service, are proving to be a challenge to PayPal’s position in the online payments market. Thus, separation will enable “sharper strategic focus” from each company in addressing the demands of an increasingly mobile payments landscape.

In addition, the synergy once derived by eBay and PayPal from operating as  single entity will decline over time, management admits. Icahn himself argued that eBay’s ownership of PayPal had created conflicts of interest, such as issues in partnering with competing platforms. Still, eBay and PayPal expect to capitalize on the strengths of its existing relationship through licensing and other agreements. “Arm’s length operating agreements can formalize the existing relationships between the two companies and capture ongoing synergies,” said Donahoe.

Maximum flexibility

In direct contrast to mergers and acquisitions, corporate spin-offs and breakups have become a favored strategy for companies that wish to simplify their businesses and address shareholder demands for tighter, more agile operations. This had been one contention of Icahn, who actually won a mutually-agreed board seat even as eBay had rebuffed his earlier calls for a split up. Donahoe agreed that “the pace of change accelerated over the past six months” in the payments sector, especially with the emergence of mobile-focused payment services, as well as Alibaba’s recent IPO (Alibaba runs Alipay).

Donahoe admits that being part of eBay had contributed greatly to the growth of PayPal in the 12 years since eBay’s acquisition. However, “beyond 2015, eBay and PayPal will each benefit more and create greater value from the strategic focus, speed, flexibility and agility that come with being independent publicly traded companies.”

According to eBay, the spin off will “maximize strategic focus and flexibility for eBay and PayPal to capitalize on respective growth opportunities in highly competitive, rapidly changing global commerce and payments markets.” It will also “provide shareholders with more targeted investment opportunities, and the best path to sustainable shareholder value.”

Potential benefits

Mobile. PayPal reported $7.2 billion in revenue in the past 12 months, during which it processed $203 billion in payments. The company facilitates approximately 17% of all online payment transactions today. However, only about 13% of these are made through mobile devices.

In 2013, PayPal processed $27 billion in mobile payments volume worldwide. According to eMarketer, mobile payments in the US alone are expected to total $118 billion by 2018, up from $3.5 billion this year. PayPal faces competition from the likes of Stripe, however, which recently made deals with Facebook and Twitter to facilitate mobile payments for their respective platforms.

Flexibility. As long as PayPal is tied to eBay, it is limited in terms of the partnerships it can pursue. For instance, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Alibaba run their own payment services, and e-commerce firms will not be keen on partnering because of PayPal’s ties with what they consider to be a big competitor. Apple and Google also run their own mobile wallets, which run on their respective platforms.

One clear example of PayPal facing the crunch in terms of partnerships: it was reportedly excluded as a preferred partner on Apple Pay because of its partnership with Samsung for the Galaxy S5 fingerprint-based payment system. With PayPal’s spin-off, it will be able to be more agile and flexible in pursuing deals with other e-commerce and mobile platforms.

Talent. Despite growing 20% annually, PayPal is not among the top workplaces for top talent, according to sources cited by Re/code. The company has tried to attract good engineering and product-driven talent by acquiring startups like Zong and Braintree. However, given corporate limitations this did not prove enough. An independent PayPal would be better able to attract talent and retain its employees by issuing its own stock options. Donahoe himself has cited the need to attract good talent as among the considerations. “How do I get the best C.E.O. going forward?”

A bigger exit. Another potential benefit for either PayPal and eBay would be the potential for a takeover by the likes of Google. The search giant has been cited by analysts as a potential buyer or investor, and PayPal splitting from eBay makes it an easier target to acquire. This will likely result in PayPal improving its position in the mobile space, with Android leading the smartphone industry by volume.

eBay shares were up 7.54% the day the split was announced. According to Donahoe, eBay Inc. plans to complete the transaction as a tax-free spin-off mid 2015. Donahoe and CFO Bob Swan will lead the separation of each business with board oversight, and will serve on either or both boards, to provide continuity.

Featured image credit: Twin Design / Shutterstock.com

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