A big reason why SanDisk is seeing growth in the client solid state drive business is that the industry has reached the “sweet spot” on SSD pricing, Chief Financial Officer Judy Bruner told an investor conference in New York on Tuesday. SanDisk long believed that sweet spot was about $1 per gigabyte, and that’s the threshold the industry recently reached, she said. Growth of SSD usage for notebooks was “less about the delta in the cost between” SSDs and hard drives than it was about reaching the sweet spot in SSD pricing, she said. SanDisk still expects there will be “continued supply demand imbalance” in the flash memory market industrywide in Q2, with “continued weakness in mobile card demand” being a “key contributor” to that imbalance, she said. “There is very little wafer capacity growth going on, we believe,” in Q2, and the rest of this year will be similar, she predicted. Bruner said SanDisk still expects to see “much improved supply demand imbalance” in the back half of this year. In the second half of 2012, the company expects to grow its mobile business quarter-over-quarter due to its new embedded products, and continue to make “strong share gains” in its client and enterprise SSD business, while gaining share at “leading mobile OEMs,” she said. The supply/demand imbalance was what led to the significant pricing decline that SanDisk reported for Q1 (CED April 23 p3), she said. SanDisk saw a 22 percent decline in average selling price per GB in Q1, she said. SanDisk had decided to continue pausing capacity expansion at its Fab 5 facility, but recently decided to not restart that expansion “any time this year,” the CFO said. “The soonest we will restart wafer capacity expansion is sometime in 2013” at Fab 5, she said. SanDisk has No. 1 market share in “the combination of cards and USB drives” in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Bruner said. Also at the conference, Brian Shirley, vice president of DRAM solutions at Micron Technology, said the graphics business has been “in a bit of a slump.” But, looking to 2013 and beyond, “there are some good trends happening, specifically with the new generation of game consoles,” he said. Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all will be shipping new game systems, he said. “Those kinds of game consoles require very, very high-end memory,” more along the lines of “server and networking architectural memory as opposed to what used to be more of a PC type of memory,” he said.
Carriers filing replies in the FCC Lifeline proceeding generally supported the creation of a national Lifeline eligibility database, and want to maintain the current monthly reimbursement of $9.25, or increase it to $10. Replies posted Wednesday in docket 11-42 discussed an array of lingering concerns, including reseller eligibility for Lifeline discounts and whether Lifeline should be applied to bundled offerings that include a voice component.
With 555 question marks, the 182-page further notice of proposed rulemaking on contribution reform, released late Monday, contains as many questions as there are feet in the Washington Monument. Throughout the further notice, after posing several dozen questions, the commission pauses to ask whether certain proposals are consistent with its fundamental goal of being efficient, fair, and sustainable.
Skype video calling was added to the PS Vita, Microsoft’s Skype division said. Sony’s handheld videogame system is offering the Skype capabilities on the Wi-Fi and 3G models, Skype said. PS Vita users can download the application for free from the “Social” category of the PlayStation Store. The app was made available in the U.S. on Tuesday and expanded globally on Wednesday, a Skype spokeswoman said. Skype voice calling was made available on the PSP before this, but “this is the first time video calling is available on a mobile gaming device,” she said. “With the launch of Skype for PS Vita, we are taking another step towards our ultimate goal of making Skype video calling available on every platform, all over the world, and meeting the demands of existing PlayStation users to offer video on a gaming console,” said Manrique Brenes, senior director of emerging opportunities at Skype. Skype on PS Vita runs in “background mode” for users while gaming or using other applications and users have the capability to pause a game, conduct a call and then return to their previous activity, it said. Because the Vita features front- and rear-facing cameras, users can “switch back and forth between the two during a Skype call,” so that users “never miss” a call, “even when playing a game or using another app,” it said.
Skype video calling was added to the PS Vita, Microsoft’s Skype division said. Sony’s handheld videogame system is offering the Skype capabilities on the Wi-Fi and 3G models, Skype said. PS Vita users can download the application for free from the “Social” category of the PlayStation Store. The app was made available in the U.S. on Tuesday and expanded globally on Wednesday, a Skype spokeswoman said. Skype voice calling was made available on the PSP before this, but “this is the first time video calling is available on a mobile gaming device,” she said. “With the launch of Skype for PS Vita, we are taking another step towards our ultimate goal of making Skype video calling available on every platform, all over the world, and meeting the demands of existing PlayStation users to offer video on a gaming console,” said Manrique Brenes, senior director of emerging opportunities at Skype. Skype on PS Vita runs in “background mode” for users while gaming or using other applications and users have the capability to pause a game, conduct a call and then return to their previous activity, it said. Because the Vita features front- and rear-facing cameras, users can “switch back and forth between the two during a Skype call,” so that users “never miss” a call, “even when playing a game or using another app,” it said.
DirecTV “soft” launched its HD DVR service at Hilton’s Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites, a company spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman declined to identify where the Hilton hotels initially getting the DVR service are located. But the hotels are using a version of the 3D-capable HR24 DVR/satellite receiver that contains a 500 GB hard drive and has been outfitted with software customized for the hospitality market, the spokeswoman said. Hotel guests can record live TV programs and pause or rewind them. But the guests can’t schedule programs in advance or view content previously recorded, the company said. A DirecTV server in the hotel restores default settings once a guest checks out, resetting the DVR program list, company officials said. Hotels deploying the DVR/satellite receiver pay for the equipment and a monthly fee for the DVR service, a spokeswoman said. DirecTV’s Residential Experience platform is deployed at 110 hotel properties. Meanwhile, DirecTV also struck a carriage deal with Starz Entertainment that includes the rights to distribute movies and TV series from Starz, Encore and other networks it owns through the DirecTV Everywhere service that’s due later this year. Starz is the first programmer DirecTV has identified for the multi-platform service that allows users to view content on the Web and mobile devices. DirecTV also is said to have the rights to use Fox cable networks, including FX and National Geographic Channel, as part of a carriage pact it struck with the network operator last fall. In a possible preparation for DirecTV Everywhere, the satellite operator said it partnered with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies on a new extended service plan that will cover both DirecTV hardware as well as products like tablets, TVs and PCs that can be used to watch programming. The service plan will launch Thursday and carry a $19.99 monthly fee that includes maintenance and technical support. There also is an Accidental Damage from Handling program that carries an additional $4.99 monthly fee.
DirecTV “soft” launched its HD DVR service at Hilton’s Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites, a company spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman declined to identify where the Hilton hotels initially getting the DVR service are located. But the hotels are using a version of the 3D-capable HR24 DVR/satellite receiver that contains a 500 GB hard drive and has been outfitted with software customized for the hospitality market, the spokeswoman said. Hotel guests can record live TV programs and pause or rewind them. But the guests can’t schedule programs in advance or view content previously recorded, the company said. A DirecTV server in the hotel restores default settings once a guest checks out, resetting the DVR program list, company officials said. Hotels deploying the DVR/satellite receiver pay for the equipment and a monthly fee for the DVR service, a spokeswoman said. DirecTV’s Residential Experience platform is deployed at 110 hotel properties. Meanwhile, DirecTV also struck a carriage deal with Starz Entertainment that includes the rights to distribute movies and TV series from Starz, Encore and other networks it owns through the DirecTV Everywhere service that’s due later this year. Starz is the first programmer DirecTV has identified for the multi-platform service that allows users to view content on the Web and mobile devices. DirecTV also is said to have the rights to use Fox cable networks, including FX and National Geographic Channel, as part of a carriage pact it struck with the network operator last fall. In a possible preparation for DirecTV Everywhere, the satellite operator said it partnered with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies on a new extended service plan that will cover both DirecTV hardware as well as products like tablets, TVs and PCs that can be used to watch programming. The service plan will launch Thursday and carry a $19.99 monthly fee that includes maintenance and technical support. There also is an Accidental Damage from Handling program that carries an additional $4.99 monthly fee.
Crestron’s Internet radio tuner card now supports Pandora, and customers can access the firmware update on the Crestron website, the company said. Customers can create a Pandora station from a smartphone or tablet and see what’s playing from any touchscreen or remote control in the home, Crestron said. Crestron touchscreens show the current song, artist, and album cover playing and allow users to create or browse stations, the company said. Subscribers to Pandora can also pause, skip, and bookmark individual songs and artists on Crestron panels and remotes, Crestron said.
It’s incumbent carriers against the world in the latest round of comments regarding the development of an IP-to-IP policy framework, addressed in the further notice of proposed rulemaking as part of the USF/intercarrier compensation order. Commenters also addressed the FCC’s ongoing transition to a bill-and-keep framework. States urged the FCC to proceed at a slower pace or even pause the implementation of intercarrier compensation rules.
New carrier obligations in the Lifeline order show that the FCC has “not taken seriously” its Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) obligations, lawyers for General Communication Inc. wrote the Office of Management and Budget (http://xrl.us/bmzhgs). The FCC told OMB the new regulations will increase the annual time burden from 60,000 hours to over 1.5 million, excluding the commission’s new estimate of 22 million hours to account for an increase in the estimated number of Lifeline subscribers (http://xrl.us/bmzi68). Chris Nierman, director-federal regulatory affairs at GCI, said that others feel similarly to the telco and are likely filing their own comments.