As had long been expected, the New York Times reports that Netflix will finally be bringing broadband video streaming to the Nintendo Wii this Spring. Like the PS3 and Xbox 360 implementations of the service, the streaming functionality will be available to Wii owners who have a $9-a-month or higher Netflix DVD rental subscription. Given that the Wii lacks HD support, the video obviously won’t be in HD. Video game consoles are quickly becoming one of the primary avenues to deliver broadband video to consumer homes. However, Netflix continues to struggle in convincing Hollywood that this is a huge new business opportunity and not an evolution to be afraid of.
Google’s Nexus One phone was intended to revolutionize the cell phone pricing ecosystem, by offering users an unlocked, unsubsidized phone that they then use on the carrier of their choice — without a contract. Unfortunately, the fact that the device only worked on T-Mobile at launch somewhat defeated that concept in the States, though a Verizon version is due later this year. But another problem that’s creeping up is that Nexus One owners say Google isn’t offering the kind of device support they’re used to getting.
Playing consumer support tag with HTC, Google and T-Mobile probably isn’t much fun; one user complains about being transferred between T-Mobile and HTC four times. Google in particular seems to be getting a crash course in direct sales support, and offering e-mail only support for the device (with 24-48 hour response lag) doesn’t appear to be helping.
Rumors and leaks (and hell, even Twitter comments from Verizon) have made it clear that the Palm Pre is coming to Verizon eventually — the question has always been when. With a new Wi-Fi Interoperability certificate popping up for the Pre, Engadget connects the dots and makes the assumption that Verzion could announce the phone at CES in a week. The question really is: does anybody care at this point? The Pre has essentially been upstaged by the Droid, and even the Droid looks like it may soon be upstaged by the and the looming Google phone. Still, a broader audience may be just what the Pre needs…
Back in November, rumors surfaced that Apple was gearing up to take on the traditional TV industry by offering a new, “over the top” $30 a month subscription broadband TV service. However, information on the plan remained murky, other than to note that Apple was in talks with most broadcasters. This week the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting that Disney (ABC) and CBS are close to joining the new effort. Other companies, like News Corporation, are apparently still wary of Apple’s new efforts — though considering Fox’s very ugly battle with Time Warner Cable over retransmission fees, you’d think they might want to broaden their horizons.
Google has opened the information flood gates for their new phone, AKA the “Nexus One.” Engadget has photos of the new device. While Google will partner with T-Mobile to sell the phone, they’ll primarily be trying to sell it directly to consumers. Google obviously sees a more lucrative future in the European style of cell phone sales, where users purchase unsubsidized handsets first — then take them to the carrier of their choice. Here in the states consumers are used to buying subsidized handsets from carriers, which allows the carriers to lock customers into long-term contracts — but it also allows the carriers to have more strict control over the device and the specific kind of content offered. The new Google phone is on tap for early 2010
After doing the same thing last year and earlier this year, Sprint appears poised to tinker with their wireless user fees early next year. According to a memo obtained by Phonenews, Sprint’s “regulatory line charge” will double to forty cents per line. The fee, like most such fees, isn’t an official government fee — but is dressed up to look like one so you get mad at Uncle Sam, not the carrier. It’s simply a cost of doing business added below the line, and such fees allow carriers to effectively slowly raise prices on consumers without changing their advertised rates. According to the memo, Sprint will also be adding a new $4.99 fee for Account Spending Limit (ACL) customers. As is usually the case, such changes constitute a significant enough change to your contract that you should be able to cancel service without paying an early termination fee.
You might recall that before snoopvertising agency NebuAD flamed out spectacularly, cable operator Wide Open West (WOW) tested the user-tracking technology on their customers — without telling anybody about it. When asked by the press about the tests, WOW of course denied to comment. Ultimately WOW, Charter, Embarq and all of NebuAD’s clients faced a public relations disaster when their quiet tracking of your online behavior became public, so they suspended their efforts. For its part, WOW is now facing a class action in Chicago according to Courtroom News:
The only named defendant is WideOpen West Finance LLC (WOW). The class claims WOW gave NebuAd virtually unlimited access to the personal information of at least 330,000 people. The information included credit reports, political affiliations, job searches and even movie rental choices. NebuAd paid WOW for each person they spied on, and used the information to deliver customized ads based on people’s Internet search preferences, the class claims.
Interestingly, the lawsuit claims that WOW lied to Congress in August of 2008 about the depth of their information sharing, and lied to customers about the usefulness of their “opt out” policy. NebuAD used deep packet inspection technology to track user website visits (down to the second), in the hopes of then targeting users with ads more relevant to their interests. ISPs and the ad industry still want to deploy the technology, but it’s pretty clear their second attempt will need to actually factor in the privacy concerns of their customers.
Back in 2005, a lawsuit was filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court alleging that AT&T was not offering the speeds promised in marketing materials for AT&T DSL service. That suit has now been given class-action status, and could potentially impacted millions of AT&T customers in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. According to the suit, which covers AT&T DSL service from as far back as 2000 — AT&T capped service at speeds below what was advertised in promotional material, making actually achieving advertised speeds impossible even under optimal network conditions. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, AT&T is appealing the case’s class action status.
Last week privacy activist Chris Soghoian wrote a blog entry detailing how carriers share or sell user data to the government. While Sprint’s system of sharing GPS data saw the brunt of the publicity, Soghoian’s article also discussed how he filed a FOIA request for info on the sharing practices of companies like Verizon and Yahoo. Yahoo and Verizon denied the request for access to how much they charge the government for access to user data, claiming the details of such programs would “shock and confuse” customers.
Interestingly, Techdirt notes that this week those pricing lists have been leaked anyway, and a slew of documents relating to the issue have now been posted to the whistleblower website Cryptome. The website has posted both Verizon (pdf) and Sprint’s (pdf) user data sharing and pricing guides for law enforcement.
Sprint’s pricing breakdown is here:
•Basic subscriber records: approx. $20 for the first ID, $10 per ID thereafter
•Basic Group Information (including information about moderators): approx. $20 for a group with a
single moderator
•Contents of subscriber accounts, including email: approx. $30-$40 per user
•Contents of Groups: approx. $40 – $80 per group
•Basic Group Information (including information about moderators): approx. $20 for a group with a
single moderator
•Contents of subscriber accounts, including email: approx. $30-$40 per user
•Contents of Groups: approx. $40 – $80 per group
Anyone really shocked or confused?
Needless to say, Yahoo isn’t too happy with the whole thing and has filed a DMCA takedown request to try and get the document pulled from the website. Cryptome’s response? They’ve simply now posted the takedown request itself (pdf) to the website, along with their e-mail discussion with Yahoo’s lawyers. Verizon has yet to filed their own takedown request — but that could because the Verizon document is from 2002.
According to the New York Times, Vivendi executives have agreed with General Electric in principle on a price to offload their 20% stake in NBC Universal, eliminating the final obstacle in Comcast’s planned acquisition of the media giant. Recent leaks from inside the very leaky “secret” negotiations indicated that Vivendi wanted about $500-$900 million more than GE was willing to pay. The word now is that Vivendi is willing to part with their share for a cool $5.8 billion. As it stands, there’s a few loose ends to clear up, but the final deal should be officially announced by Thursday, according to chatty insiders.
According to a leaked memo posted over at the Boy Genius Report, Verizon is preparing to double the early termination fee for customers who buy new smartphones via Verizon. According to the memo, customers after November 15 who buy an “advanced device” (smartphones) can expect to pay a $350 ETF, though that total will decrease $10 a month every month a user’s under contract. The BGR surmises that the change is to stop people from flipping subsidized smartphones over at eBay, though you can also be sure Verizon’s forced migration to open devices and platforms has them eager to make up some of that lost revenue in other places.
According to the New York Times, Comcast’s rumored deal to acquire NBC Universal could be finalized and officially announced sometime this week. A finalized deal would involve Comcast owning 51% of NBC Universal, with General Electric maintaining control of the other 49%. The one sticking point for the deal is convincing Vivendi, which owns 20% of NBC, to sell their share — according to the Times.