SNS: The Top Ten Predictions for 2010

The STRATEGIC NEWS SERVICE

NEWSLETTER

 

 

The most accurate predictive letter in computing and telecommunications,
read by industry leaders worldwide.

 

SNS Subscriber Edition Volume 12, Issue 42 Week of December 14, 2009

 

***SNS***

The Top Ten Predictions

for 2010

 

 

 

In This Issue

 

 

Feature:

The Top Ten Predictions

for 2010

 

 

UPGRADES

 

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Files Antitrust-Related Charges vs. Intel

 

Quotes of the Week

 

Ethermail

 

SNS Takeout Window

 

Update on SNS Member

Sea Shepherds

 

Upcoming SNS Events & Media Links

 

In Other House News…

 

 New Members’ Welcome

 How to Subscribe

 May I Share This Newsletter?

 About SNS

 About the Publisher

 SNS Website Links

  Where’s Mark?

 

“Your piece on Intel was the best I’ve ever seen.”
– Dan Vivoli, VP Business Development, NVIDIA

 


 

 

Year-End Member Special:

Save $1,500 on Future in Review 2010 by signing up now:  https://www.stratnews.com/fire/registration.php

 

Capture the FiRe 2010 Early Bird rate within your budget year. Come to Terranea, the most beautiful resort in California, May 11-14.

 

And do a technology “deep dive” with world leaders in technology and finance.

 

Hear NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, in our Centerpiece Conversation, explain how GPU chips are replacing Intel’s CPUs at every level of computing.

 

Netbooks: since we invented them, FiRe is a great place to learn about how this format will expand over the next three years.

 

Cloud Computing: Last year, FiRe was the launch pad for the Infrastructure 2.0 Working Group, fixing until-then unknown “broken” aspects in Cloud design. Now we’ll talk about the solutions.

 

Learn more about Sustainable Cities, catch up on how you can be part of the Australian Miracle, and find out about Japan’s plans for fuel cells.

 

See Qualcomm’s smartbooks and Snapdragon chips.

 

What’s next for Google’s Android platform and applications?

 

Approach Fixing Healthcare by digitally connecting patient to doctor.

 

   “The best technology conference in the world.”

      – The Economist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

» The Top Ten Predictions for 2010

 

We are just now back and regrouping at the Beach Palace Hotel, after a busy week in New York. As SNS members know, last week marked our Fifth Annual Predictions dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria, and, by at least a few generous accounts, it was our best ever.

 

First, we had a fantastic group of participants, including global press, and I would like to thank them for being with us, and for writing so quickly about the event. Clothes may not make the man, but participants definitely make the event. Here they are (underlined names have bios online at the SNS New York Dinner site):

 

Jim Aley
Editor-at-Large, Bloomberg LP

Sally Anderson
Editor-in-Chief/Production Manager, Strategic News Service

Sharon Anderson-Morris
Director, SNS Programs, Strategic News Service

Shelley Barrows
Partner, Technology Media & Telecommunications, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Rob Berkley
Managing Partner, GroupMV LLC

Simon Bisson
Independent Journalist (U.K.)

Mary Branscombe
Independent Journalist (U.K.)

Steve Brotman
Managing Director, Greenhill & Co.; and , Co-Founder and Co-Head, Greenhill SAVP

John Canning
Executive Director, MediaSherpa

Gopal Chopra
CEO, Dauphin Health

Sylvain Cypel
Correspondent in the USA, Le Monde

Gemma Valdez Daggatt
Community Builder

Russell Daggatt
General Partner, Denny Hill Capital

Oliver Dominick
CEO, Hyla Partners LLC

Gregg Erwin

Jonathan Ewert
SVP, Skepsis Group; and Steering Committee, SNS Project Inkwell

 

Dr. Shireen Fernandez


Sylvester Fernandez
Senior Vice President, International Development, Maxam Industries Inc.

 

Mary Jo Foley
Editor, ZDNet Blogs

John Gapper
Columnist, Financial Times

Amanda Goldstein
Deloitte LLP

Matthew Greenfield
Partner, StoneWork Capital

Simon Guttmann
Investment Manager -  New York, State Government of Victoria (Australia)

Clay Hall
CEO, Aspire Media LLC

Bill Hammond
Founder and Owner, The Elder and Disability Law Firm PA

Sarah Hart
Professor, Rhode Island School of Design

Sami Hero
VP Global Web Strategy, LexisNexis

Arik Hesseldahl
Senior Technology Writer, BusinessWeek

Stacy-Marie Ishmael
Reporter, Financial Times and FT Alphaville

Michelle Jacobson Goldberg
Partner, Ignition Partners

Allison Kaptur
Analyst, Research Edge LLC

David Kirkpatrick
Senior Editor, Internet & Technology, FORTUNE Magazine

Art Kleiner
Editor-in-Chief, strategy+business / Booz & Company

Jim Kolleger
Chairman and CEO, Genesys Partners Inc.

Harriet Levine
President, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC

Stuart Levine
Chairman and CEO, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC

Steve Lohr
Reporter, The New York Times

Jim Louderback
CEO, Revision3

Howard Lurie
Associate Director for Educational Productions, WGBH Boston

Joel Montgomery
2009 Fellow, Acumen Fund

David Morris
President, Accelegrow Technologies Inc.

Deborah Newman

Musicstrat


Jamie Nicholson-Leener
Managing Director, Credit Suisse

 

Peter Petre
Author

Bill Phelps
Executive Director, Accenture

Marc Prensky
Founder & CEO, Games2train

Rebecca Runkle
Managing Director, Research Edge LLC

Daniel A. Silverstein
Managing Member, Heuristic Management LLC

Alan Smith
Principal, Vesta Health Systems

Mark Stahlman
Venture Partner, Signal Lake

Bart Stuck
Managing Director, Signal Lake

Jeanne Sullivan
General Partner, StarVest Partners

Susan Vobejda
Bloomberg

Stephen Wellman
Vice President of Community & Content, Ziff Davis Enterprise

__

 

Add an hour’s reception and a delightful dinner, stir with some apparently provocative predictions, and you’ve got a wonderful evening. During the week, I had been fortunate enough to do our traditional interviews with Peter Day of the BBC World News, Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek, and Steve Lohr of the New York Times. We emailed a copy of the predictions to the attendees and press just as we started.

 

Within a day, we were getting about 90,000 hits on Google for the week. No doubt most were spurious, but this would seem to have been the most effective, and perhaps controversial, of the last five annual SNS prediction sets.

 

Before I launch into the 2010 predictions, I want to share the grading from last year, and the cumulative grading over the last four years. (I will be posting the 2009 predictions, with grades, on our blogsite, www.abrightfire.com, in a few days.)

 

This year we had one problem, which has come up before: one prediction – the first one – depends upon full-year sales data for entertainment and gaming software, so we have to call it “undecided” until the Q4 numbers are in.

 

For that reason, I figured out averages as if this call were either 100% right or wrong. Our results from 2009 are then 90-100% correct; and, for the cumulative period, the total correct to date are therefore 95-97.5%.

 

No doubt, it will be very hard to keep those numbers up.

 

Finally, I would like to share with members what I mentioned at the dinner about this year’s calls: unlike in past years, this year’s predictions seem at one and the same time more obvious, and yet more bold. The building blocks are generally trends we all have noticed already, but the conclusions are often counter to what the press, and perhaps SNS members, have been assuming.

 

And therein, of course, lies the controversy.

 

Here are the Top Ten Predictions for 2010:

 

1.      2010 will be The Year of Platform Wars: netbooks, cellphones, pads, Cloud standards. Clouds will tend to support the consumer world (Picnik, Amazon), enterprises will continue to build out their own data centers, and Netbook sector growth rates continue to post very large numbers.

 

2.      2010 will be The Year of Operating System Wars: Windows 7 flavors, Mac OS, Linux flavors, Symbian, Android, Chrome OS, Nokia Maemo 5. The winners, in order of unit sales: W7, Mac OS, Android. W7, ironically, by failure of imagination and by its PC-centric platform, actively clears space for others to take over the OS via mobile platforms.

 

3.      All content goes Mobile. Everything gets tagged and multi-channeled, and the walled gardens open up. TV and movie content, particularly, break free of old trapped business models. We are moving toward watching first-run TV and movies on phones, for a price. Which leads to No. 4.

 

4.      Mobile Apps and Mobile Content drive micro payments, which move from niche to mainstream payment models. Payment for content will split along age lines, at around 35; above, pay; below, don’t pay.

 

5.      The Phone vs. the PC: a split along two paths (enterprise vs. consumer):

 

a.       Fully integrated user experience, poor back-end (mail and calendar services, etc.) integration; the Apple environment.

 

b.      Splintered user experience, like WMobile vs. WPC, with integrated back-end.

 

c.       Windows sells integration in the plumbing, Apple does it on the screen.

 

Note: The phone is now the most interesting computer platform, and it is driving innovation: software, business models, distribution. Netbooks are next up as drivers.

 

6.      There will be a Cloud catastrophe in 2010 that limits Cloud growth by raising security issues and restricting enterprise trust. CIOs will see the Cloud as the doorstep for industrial espionage.

 

7.      A huge chasm opens in computing, between Consumer and Enterprise (government/business), with Apple, Google, and most Asian hardware companies in Consumer; and Dell, IBM, Cisco, and MS on the Enterprise side. HP will straddle both. Before 2010, talk was all about unifying consumer and enterprise. Now, talk will be about their split.

 

8.      Microsoft loses in its Consumer play: except for gaming, it is Game Over for MS in Consumer. This will make Consumer the place to be, where the most robust and exciting change artists will work.

 

9.      News media that survive will move to the subscription model, in whole or in part, along age lines. (See No. 4.)

 

10.   Connecting remote data to people and things in real time will lead to a series of exciting new devices and applications. Possible examples: real-time comparison and recipe-driven shopping, facial recognition (in social spaces) linked to bios, self-guided tours by phone, voice-queried information about your personal environment. Many of these are technically proved out today, but they will start to emerge as an exciting and brand-new trend in applications in 2010.

 

__

 

You likely personally disagree with some of these, or would like to see them expanded; please feel free to write in with your thoughts, and I’ll do my best to address them. Of course, in the end, all that matters is not who said what, but whether they turn out to have been correct a year from now.

 

To hear a complete MP3 recording of this event, members may go to:

 

www.tapsns.com/media/nydinner2009/nyd-dinner-2009-predictions.mp3

 

 

Your comments are always welcome,

 

 

Sincerely,

Mark R. Anderson

CEO
Strategic News Service LLC                Tel. 360-378-3431
P.O. Box 1969                                       Fax. 360-378-7041
Friday Harbor, WA  98250  USA         Email: sns@tapsns.com


 

Upgrades

 

 

 

» The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Files Antitrust-Related Charges vs. Intel

 

Here is the text of a Special Alert sent to members on Wednesday, as this news was announced:


To All SNS Members:

 

As predicted earlier, the FTC this morning filed suit against Intel for monopolistic antitrust-like behaviors.

 

Specifically:

 

“Over a period going back to 1999, at each stage at which Intel’s dominance in various chip markets has been threatened, they have responded, rather than by competing aggressively on the merits, with a course of conduct that has been exclusionary and detrimental to competition and consumers.” – Richard A. Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, at a news conference, after filing antitrust charges against Intel this week; quoted by the Wall Street Journal. From this week’s SNS Technology Letter.

 

Intel continues to deny its guilt, and has hired a first-water antitrust lawyer, Douglas Melamed, as new general counsel, to help get it through the next few years of litigation. The chipmaker is currently facing antitrust charges by the New York Attorney General, antitrust-related charges by the Federal Trade Commission, an appeal on an antitrust conviction in the European Union, a civil suit by graphics chipmaker Nvidia, and hundreds of class-action suits. Doug will have his hands full.

 

I believe the consequences of this filing are several:

 

First, those who thought the worst of times in court for Intel were over with the EU conviction will no longer feel such optimism; if anything, the worse times now look to be ahead.

 

Second, Intel’s continued Mad magazine defense (“What, Me Worry?”), in public at least, will no longer wash. When will shareholders get mad? When will the board do its duty? When will a single person at Intel take responsibility for really, really screwing up? This is a PR nightmare.

 

Intel has become dysfunctional, and the world is trying to send it a message. Even now, its response is a bunker mentality: bring me more guns and lawyers.

 

I believe that Intel will lose (or settle, unfavorably) both its NY and FTC suits. Perhaps more important, the company will now be in the U.S. press on a regular basis, as evidence is made public of its various misdeeds vis-a-vis competitors and customers (and even consumers) over the last decade or so.

 

Finally, the worst news of all: Intel’s management seems to be in complete denial, after global convictions on the same issues. Everyone else is wrong, and they are right, even after the courts have spoken. Are they so out of touch with reality? Is this company just plain broken?

 

None of this will be good for Intel or its shareholders. This is a shame, as the business side of its operations faces serious upside potential. Given the volatility that comes with ongoing public courtroom revelations, I would recommend staying away from the stock.


Mark Anderson
CEO
Strategic News Service


Disclosure: I am an owner of Intel stock, and do not short. This message, if anything, will hurt my private position.

 

 

Quotes of the Week

 

 

 

“I bought my first stock in 1942, and this roller coaster surpassed anything that I’ve seen. We didn’t do all the smartest things. We didn’t do anything really dumb.”Warren Buffett; quoted in the Wall Street Journal.

 

 

“Over a period going back to 1999, at each stage at which Intel’s dominance in various chip markets has been threatened, they have responded, rather than by competing aggressively on the merits, with a course of conduct that has been exclusionary and detrimental to competition and consumers.”Richard A. Feinstein, director of the FTC’s bureau of competition, at a news conference, after filing antitrust-related charges against Intel this week.

 

   “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”Upton Sinclair, quoted by Paul Krugman in the New York Times.

 

This has long been one of my favorite quotes; it explains about half of human behavior – and almost ALL of ExxonMobil’s.

 

 

 

Ethermail

 

 

 

 

Re: SNS: Intel Examined

 

 

Mark,

 

Congratulations on your in-depth Intel opinion piece. I thought it was well researched, well articulated, and very insightful. Apparently, BusinessWeek thought highly of your report also as they have quoted you in an article released today: 

 

<www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2009/tc20091124_865416.htm
?campaign_id=yhoo
>

 

Unfortunately, the settlement with AMD risks taking a lot of the teeth out of Cuomo’s and the FTC’s pursuit of appropriately punishing Intel and in changing their behavior. I believe AMD left a great deal on the table in their settlement negotiations with Intel as Intel was approaching the point of desperation/panic. AMD quite possibly could have ended up with 2 to 3x the settlement dollars plus avoided the mediation-only clause.

 

I hope Nvidia is much more effective in their suit against Intel and that the FTC/Justice Dept still has plenty of desire and ammo left to effectively make Intel play fair going forward – just as they and European authorities did with Microsoft. The goal is to ensure that the consumer ultimately wins in the long-term via serious enforcement of fair competition laws.

 

Keep up the great work.

 

John Petote
CEO / Angel Investor
Santa Barbara, CA

 

 

P.s. Based upon your recent newsletter edition which was focused on Intel’s growing questionable business practices, I thought you might like to see the below Engadget news quip.


_________________________________________________

 

Members abandoning Intel’s MID alliance? Hopefully.

 

By Thomas Ricker posted Nov 30th 2009 7:17AM

 

Bad, but entirely expected news on the MID front. You remember the Mobile Internet Device right? UMPCs by another name usually running Linux-variants in that middling ground between smartphones and netbooks that nobody seems capable of making an attractive use-case for beyond the living room sofa? According to DigiTimes, “several members” of Intel’s Mobile Internet Devices Innovation Alliance (MIDIA) have quit development of MID devices due to very weak shipments. Even the promise of Intel’s Moorestown platform has lured “only a limited number of vendors” to launch related products in 2010. Sources claim that vendors will instead refocus on other areas of possible growth.

 

Imagine that.

 

John Petote

 

P.p.s. Thought you might find this BW article of particular interest, Mark:

 

www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2009/tc2009122_478796.htm

 

John,

 

Even as we watch Intel take the heat for illegal and newly charged antitrust actions, it is interesting to see the other efforts the company has made to control its own destiny. It is, perhaps, the failure of these other, more apparently legal, efforts that may be strengthening the case for bad behavior in internal discussions.

 

If we look at the company’s record over the last 5-10 years, in terms of new initiatives attempting to bolster, expand, or protect market share, we see a litany of failures. The most obvious, I think, was the collapse of the entire mobile unit, which was then sold off, after years of trying to break into the cellphone arena.

 

But the story of GPU chips, in the battle with past-partner NVIDIA, and with AMD/ATI, is not so different: the other guys get there first, then Intel wants share (it has about 50% of the GPU market, just by including its own chip in the approved chipset), then it tries to morph into that kind of company.

 

Take the Intel Classmate. Since I run SNS Project Inkwell, I won’t comment on the device, but the company has been selling or giving these away, apparently at a loss, for years. This certainly prevents anyone else – like its original target, One Laptop Per Child – from getting traction. Who can compete? While, on the surface, it sounds really noble, a little thought leads to the conclusion that a monopolist is using its profits to make sure no new companies surface in this strategically critical marketplace.

 

If Japan were doing this, or China, we would call it “dumping” and complain to the WTO.

 

No one has looked into this yet, but I hope someone does.

 

And then there is the UMPC, a dud.

 

Followed by Asus’ successful lead and Intel’s misdirected (and horribly named) response, the “netbook,” which has nothing to do with the Net and everything to do with its book-like size.

 

Even when Intel has a chance to be part of a super hit, like the mini/netbook craze, the company  instead markets against itself, and against its own (Atom) chips, falsely noting the limitations of the category (see, it can’t run video) to favor higher-priced chips and boxes.

 

Dell has been doing the same not-smart thing, which is surprising, and a bad sign. (I should note that Michael emailed me on this subject after our last FiReGlobal interview, and amended his comments: his current statement is that people will own BOTH a mini [netbook] and a laptop. Fine.)

 

No wonder Intel has put so much money into WiMAX. It is time for a hit, although there is no indication that the board of directors is in anything but a deep, self-hypnotic slumber.

 

Mark Anderson


Re: SNS: The Age of Consequences

 

Mark,

 

You haven’t heard from me, but I am a really loyal reader and fan.

 

Long story short, I am a country doc who now leads a little not-for-profit up here in Maine that has accumulated a bit of capital and is trying to change the way healthcare is delivered for a small population in our little corner of the world. I am pretty good friends with Angus King, who I think you might remember from his laptop project, and I am an avid sailor and lover of the Maine coast… a number of years ago I really enjoyed your piece on a boat trip on the Kennebec.

 

I am writing to tell you that I am blown away by this issue of the SNS. You have hit the center of the target in virtually every paragraph.

 

The question is: how do we organize an intelligent, talented community of committed people to deal with some of these issues effectively?

 

This is an incredibly important moment.

 

How do those of us who can see help others to see, as well, and push for constructive change?

 

You have motivated me to get to one of your events to chew on this question. It feels urgent to me.

 

Thank you.

 

David H. Howes, M.D.

President

Martin’s Point Health Care

[Maine]

 

David,

 

It’s a pleasure to hear from you. We know Martin’s Point from its serial contributions to our Fixing Healthcare thread at Future in Review, and I would encourage you to sign up now to lead that charge (or at least be part of our panel) at FiRe 2010. We are increasingly focusing on technologies and models that re-awaken the direct relationship between patient and doctor, as this seems to be the best solution all around.

 

In one stroke, it obviates the need to deal with overcharging, insurance escapades, most legal issues, fake costing, fraud, and plain old bad medicine.

 

So, I think this patient/doctor re-alignment is a big part of the answer, and would be happy to work with you on expanding the idea, if you find yourself agreeing.

 

And yes, Angus King is a friend, an early supporter of Project Inkwell, and a great guy all around.


I hope to see you there. Maybe we should invite Angus as well.

 

Mark Anderson

 

 

Mark,

 

I agree with you that Windows Mobile is a comedy turning into a farce, and that unless WinMo 7 is very exciting, very good and arrives very fast, WinMo is probably dead in the water. But those AdMob stats don’t tell the real story. They don’t reflect handset sales or even data usage; they reflect the number of apps in use with ads in them served by AdMob (<https://metrics.admob.com/2009/10/placing-admob-metrics-in-context/> – based on the ad requests we receive from our network of more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and iPhone and Android applications). There are very few WinMo apps with ads in them; there are hundreds of thousands of WinMo apps without ads.

 

The iPhone, by this measure, is the premiere mobile ad platform; I think that plays more to your law of consequences than it does to the utility or usage of the different platforms. The rather more accurate Canalys figures put WinMo at a still disappointing 8.8% worldwide (stronger in Germany, just as RIM is the #1 in the UK); it’s still down a third, it’s still a disaster for Microsoft – but if ads were the only measure, you could just give the whole smartphone market to Google now…

 

Canalys:

 

“Nokia retained its worldwide smart phone lead, with a share of 40% – slightly up on its year-ago position, but down almost 5% sequentially. RIM held onto second place with a largely unchanged (compared to Q2) share of 21%, while Apple reached a new high of 18% share in third, significantly up from the 14% it held in Q2 as supply of the iPhone 3GS improved in many countries. HTC retained its fourth-place position with 5% share.

 

“Looking at the market by operating system, Symbian’s overall lead shrank as its share fell to 46%, ahead of RIM and Apple. Microsoft remained in fourth with its share dipping slightly below last quarter’s previous low point of 9%. The proportion of smart phones running Google’s Android OS climbed to almost 4%, from just under 3% in Q2.”

 

Worldwide smart phone market

Worldwide smart phone market

 

 

All the best,

 

Mary Branscombe

Technology journalism & consultancy

[London]

www.marybranscombe.com

 

Mary,

 

Great letter, and very helpful figures; thank you.

 

It sounds like you roundly agree regarding MS in phones. In looking around at the figures, the two most interesting things I see are:

 

1. HTC, losing phone share YTY. I don’t know if I believe it, or if this might come from OEM relations vs. selling its own brand, which it is just starting to get serious about. But I see HTC as perhaps the first- or second-most high-growth maker right now, Apple being the other.

 

2. A call: Apple will overtake RIM very soon (a quarter or two?) to take the No. 2 slot in smartphone operating systems, and Android will overtake Microsoft. The smartphone world is in great upheaval, and Nokia is in a very strange position, sitting at the top, but, I would think, terrified. With Apple and Google coming, it is not a good time to be losing sequential quarterly share.

 

Mark Anderson

 


Mark,

 

Wow. You sure have gotten a lot of coverage from the NYC event!

 

I’m pretty sure I told you this, but just in case:

 

Two or three years ago, I sat through a sance (under NDA at the time) with the guy running Windows Mobile. (He and 3 successors have probably been fired by now...)

 

He began by presenting his “market segmentation.” Four people: Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. Two men, two women. An African American, a Hispanic, an Asian, and a Caucasian. Perfect.

 

Here’s the interesting part, in the context of your remark. Bob worked for a big company. Carol worked for a medium-sized company. Ted worked for a small company. And Alice was everyone else.

 

Ed Lazowska

[Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering

University of Washington

Seattle, WA]

 

P.s. Re: [Your comment about Microsoft needing to] “Get out of Dodge” [in the consumer markets]:

It was even funnier/sadder, because the next day we had a presentation for the then-Mr.-Zune. His story was “Zune is no longer a device, it’s a service, and we will reach people through all sorts of devices, like phones.”

 

Great, except not Windows Mobile phones, I guess, because not only does Alice buy 90% of all phones, she buys 98% of all downloaded music.

 

Ed

 

Ed,

 

It sounds to me like Microsoft had better create a whole new division just for Alice.

 

In fact, when Steve Ballmer made CEO, his very first action was to trundle on over to Red West and fire most of the (consumer online) team there. Remember the MS’ online venture called “Underwire”? Not pretty.

 

It is probably best to stay with Steve’s comments then about doing the world’s plumbing. It’s a great gig – or it was.

 

Mark Anderson


 

SNS TakeOut Window

 

 

SNS Member Paul Watson and his Sea Shepherd crew reversed position on the Shonan Maru No. 2, the Japanese harpoon boat assigned to trail them, by dodging around an ice floe; at 2pm Monday the surprised Maru crew opened up with water cannon. No one was hurt. (The photo below shows similar interactions with a sister ship.)

 

The Japanese PM has complained to Australian PM Kevin Rudd about Watson’s behavior, and Rudd has responded that Japan needs to stop its whaling activities. Nice going, Paul.

 

See the whole story at SNS Interactive News, at www.snsinews.com.

 

 

The Steve Irwin (L) clashed with a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean on Monday. File photo / AP

 

 

 

 

 

FiRe 2010: Eighth annual Future in Review conference, May 11-14, 2010, at the brand-new four-star Terranea Resort (www.terranea.com) in Palos Verdes, California – about 20 minutes south of LAX.

 

FiRe is a unique, world-class source of critical information on major trends in global technologies and markets, discussed by those who make and profit from them. Learn more, and register now, at www.futureinreview.com.

 

Terranea was 15 years in the making, a four-star business hotel on its own promontory, and just opened in the spring of 2009.

 

Save a lot of money by registering early, and join us at “the best technology conference in the world” [The Economist]. – mra

 

Member Price Alert: Get Member Early Bird pricing by signing up now, and save $1500 off the $4900 retail price:

 

https://www.stratnews.com/fire/registration.php

 

We have already signed up a record number of Early Birds among those who attended FiRe 2009 (up 62%). Here is your chance, as an SNS member, to reserve your seat at a great price.

 

 

 

To arrange for a speech by Mark Anderson on subjects in technology and economics, or to schedule a strategic review of your company, email shane@stratnews.com.

 

 

 

For inquiries about SNS Events and/or Sponsorship opportunities, please contact Sharon Anderson-Morris (“SAM”), SNS Programs Director, at sam@tapsns.com or 435-649-3645.

 

 

» SNS Media

 

  • SNS Members’ Book Lists:

 

SNS Library 2.0: Here are your favorite books, including who has proposed them, whether they’re fiction or nonfiction, and ready clicks to Amazon:

 

https://www.stratnews.com/members/books.php

 

  • SNS Interactive News

 

“SNS iNews is a terrific idea.”

– Peter Petre, Author and Past Sr. Editor, FORTUNE magazine

 

 

 

 

Are you an AORTA (Always On RealTime Access) member of SNS? Use SNS iNews™ to stay in touch, in real time, with what your fellow members and FiRe Thought Leaders are achieving – and then help them get there.

 

Click here for the current iNews digest: www.snsinews.com

 

(For ID and password assistance, email shane@stratnews.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • SNS Blog, “A Bright Fire”: Please join Mark in this SNS forum and add your own comments: www.abrightfire.com. If you’re already a blogger, email sally@stratnews.com if you’d like to be added to our blogroll. You’re welcome to link to ours as well.

 

 

 

  • Top Ten Predictions for 2010: Audio of the Fifth Annual Predictions Dinner in New York, presented on December 10th, 2009, at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel:

 

www.tapsns.com/media/nydinner2009/nyd-dinner-2009-predictions.mp3

 


 

 

 

» New Members’ Welcome

 

   I would like to welcome, among others, these new members to the SNS family: Peter Murray, Retired, Madison, CT; Evan L. Kaplan, CEO, iPass Inc., Redwood Shores, CA; Tim Bowler, Producer, BBC, London, UK; Paul Watson, Founder, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Friday Harbor, WA; Dr. Henry Tirri, Senior Vice President and Head of Nokia Research Center, Nokia, Helsinki, Finland; Mark Thiele, Director of Business Operations for R & D, VMware, Palo Alto, CA; and many more.

 

 

If you are a Premium SNS Member, you now get:

 

Direct email privileges enabling you to contact Thought Leaders via SNS iNews™ stories

 

Automatic inclusion in the SNS iNews Thought Leader Pool: FREE global news distribution to thought leaders worldwide whenever you appear in any press or blog story

 

Searchable access to the Archives of past SNS issues

 

Invitation to a complimentary Premium Member Breakfast with Mark at FiRe 2010

 

Other privileged Premium website content, and

 

Free posting privileges on the brand-new (about to be announced) SNS Business Board

 

To upgrade from Standard to Premium membership, go to https://www.stratnews.com/orders/?page=account (login required).

 

 

» How to Subscribe

(All rates $USD)

 

If you are not currently an SNS subscriber, the SNS newsletter has been sent to you for a one-month trial. If you would like a one-year subscription to SNS, the current rate is $595, which includes approximately 48 issues per year, plus special industry alerts and related materials; two years are $995. Premium Subscriptions, which include passworded access to additional materials on the SNS website, are $895 per year. Subscriptions can be purchased, upgraded, or renewed at our secure website, at: www.stratnews.com. Conversion of your trial to full subscription will lead to 13 months of SNS, no matter when you convert.

 

UPGRADE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO PREMIUM LEVEL for $300 per year, and enjoy email access to our FiRe Conference speakers through our new service, SNS Interactive News (SNS iNews™), along with other Premium benefits. After logging in to your Account, go to: https://www.stratnews.com/orders/?page=account

 

VOLUME CORPORATE SUBSCRIPTION RATES: More than half-price savings, for up to 10 members: $2950. Additional members: $295. Contact shane@stratnews.com.

 

SMALL COMPANY SITE LICENSE (for companies with fewer than 10 employees): Deep discount (far less than half price), for up to 10 members: $1495. Additional members: $295. Contact shane@stratnews.com.

 

TEACHERS’ GROUP RATE (five teachers): $295. Contact shane@stratnews.com.

 

STUDENT and INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST RATE: $295 per year. Contact shane@stratnews.com.

 

RENEWALS: Your one-year Standard subscription to SNS continues at the current rate of $595, which includes approximately 48 issues per year, plus special industry alerts and related materials. Two years: $995. Premium subscriptions, which include passworded access to additional materials on the SNS website, enhanced access to SNS iNews features, and other benefits: $895 per year. Subscriptions can be purchased, upgraded, or renewed at our secure website, at: www.stratnews.com. Or you can call Shane Elben at 360-378-8628 for personal assistance with your subscription. Conversion of your trial to full subscription will lead to 13 months of SNS, no matter when you convert.

 

This service is intended for strategic thinkers who depend upon business technology planning. The SNS charter is to provide information about critical computer and telecommunications issues, trends, and events not available to managers through the press. Re-purposing of this material is encouraged, with proper attribution.

 

» May I Share This Newsletter?

 

If you are aware of others who would like to receive this service, please forward this message to them, with a cc: to Mark Anderson at sns@stratnews.com; they will automatically receive a free one-month pilot subscription.

 

ANY OTHER UNAUTHORIZED REDISTRIBUTION IS A VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAW.

 

 

» About the Strategic News Service

 

SNS is the most accurate predictive letter covering the computer and telecom industries. It is personally read by the top managers at companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cisco, Sun, Google, Yahoo!, Ericsson, Telstra, and China Mobile, as well as by leading financial analysts at the world’s top investment banks and venture capital funds, including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Kleiner Perkins, Venrock, Warburg Pincus, and 3i. It is regularly quoted in top industry publications such as BusinessWeek, WIRED, Barron’s, Fortune, PC Magazine, ZDNet, Business 2.0, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.

 

Email sent to SNS may be reprinted, unless you indicate that it is not to be.

 

 

» About the Publisher

 

Mark Anderson is CEO of the Strategic News Service™. He is the founder of two software companies and of the Washington Software Alliance Investors’ Forum, Washington’s premier software investment conference; and has participated in the launch of many software startups. He regularly appears on the CNN World News, CNBC and CNBC Europe, Reuters TV, the BBC, “Wall Street Review”/KSDO, and National Public Radio programs. He is a member of the Merrill Lynch Technology Advisory Board, and is an advisor and/or investor in OVP, Ignition Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Voyager Capital, the UCSD Calit2 Laboratory, the Global Advisory Council of the mPedigree Network, and others.

Mark serves as chair of the Future in Review Conferences, SNS Project Inkwell, The Foresight Foundation, and Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance.

Disclosure: Mark Anderson is a portfolio manager of a hedge fund. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the position that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this newsletter represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.

 

» SNS Website Links

 

For additional predictions and information, please visit:

SNS Website: www.stratnews.com

SNS iNews™: https://www.stratnews.com/members/inews.php

 

SNS Blog, “A Bright Fire”: www.abrightfire.com

 

SNS Media Page: www.tapsns.com/media.php

 

SNS Future in Review (FiRe) Conference website: www.futureinreview.com

SNS FiReGlobal : West Coast website: www.futureinreview.com/global/wc

 

SNS Members’ Gallery: www.tapsns.com/gallery.php

 

SNS FiRe 2008 Photo Gallery: https://futureinreview.smugmug.com/FiRe%202008

SNS TV on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/stratnews

 

FiRe TV on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/futureinreview

 

SNS Project Inkwell: www.projectinkwell.com

Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance (www.orcarelief.org) – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit effort to study and reduce Orca mortality rates, supported largely by technology workers. Contributions may be sent to: ORCA, Box 1969, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.

 

 

» Where’s Mark?

 

* On January 13th, Mark has been invited to speak at the Governor’s Washington Economic Trends Summit in Seattle, at the Trade and Convention Center. * On January 15th, he will be giving his annual Predictions Speech to the Washington Technology Industry Association / Technology Alliance Group in Bellingham, at noon. * On January 20th, he will be judging, and speaking at, the annual Gd’day Event in Silicon Valley. * On January 25th, he will be a panelist at the 16th annual Genesys Partners Venture Dinner in New York City. * In April, he will be again speaking to the Family Office Circle in Heidelberg. * And from May 11th to 14th, he will be hosting the 8th annual Future in Review (FiRe) conference, at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes , CA (see www.futureinreview.com for details and registration).

 

In between times, he will be walking wet fields in the early winter dark, searching for the tree spotted a week before in daylight, hoping that, by the time it is cut down and brought home, it looks even slightly like the one it is supposed to be.

 

 

Copyright 2009, Strategic News Service LLC.

 

“Strategic News Service,” “SNS,” “Future in Review,” “FiRe,” and “SNS Project Inkwell” are all registered service marks of Strategic News Service LLC.

 

ISSN 1093-8494