Posted by: Jennifer L. Schenker on May 10
Tech industry players from around the globe are gathered in Menorca May 8-11 at serial entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky’s “finca”, a 340 hectare farm that overlooks the ocean. The property contains several restored 17th century houses with enough bedrooms to comfortably accommodate 65 guests.
Varsavsky made his fortune by being a master at all kinds of networking. He built tech companies in the U.S. and Europe, including Viatel, Jazztel and FON, and is an expert schmoozer. About ten of the guests were people that Varsavsky met while he attended the World Economic Forum as a young global leader. He also has connections with Skype, Google and Silicon Valley techies. The idea behind the gathering was for people from China, Japan, Europe, the U.S. and Latin America to brainstorm about net neutrality, carbon footprints and business model issues. Attendees included lots of start-ups plus Creative Commons CEO Joi Ito, Megan Smith, director of Google’s new business development and strategy, Technorati CEO Dave Sifry, French blogger and entrepreneur Loic Le Meur and LastMinute.com co-founder Brent Hobermann.
Varsavsky, who was born in Argentina but is now based in Madrid, entertained guests with the story of how he came to buy the farm. Seems he was surfing the Internet on his laptop, looking at real estate listings, while sailing off the coast of Menorca, when he realized that that he was passing a property for sale. He phoned a real estate agent, met them on the beach, and took a quick tour. The place was in ruins and overrun by squatters. He persisted anyway and did what lots of other potential buyers could not: convinced the owner, an elderly Spanish general, to finally part with the land. It has taken six years of the work but the effort was worth it. The landscaping and homes are stunning. Many of the conference attendees were looking forward to mountain biking, sailing and swimming but cold, rainy weather kept everyone huddled indoors. With so many geeks gathering in one place it is unsurprising that the Wimax signal – which was converted into WiF -- was quickly overloaded by laptops, iPhones and Blackberries. Those who weren’t feverishly blogging, emailing and dealmaking amused themselves playing Wii.
Posted by: Jack Ewing on May 09
This month's Landing-On-Your-Feet Award goes to Klaus Kleinfeld, former Siemens CEO who on May 8 was named CEO of aluminum products maker Alcoa. Kleinfeld resigned the job at Siemens a year ago amid allegations that the company had paid bribes to win foreign contracts. Though Kleinfeld wasn't implicated, Siemens' supervisory board apparently thought an outside CEO was needed to make a clean break with the past, and hired Peter Löscher from drugmaker Merck.
The Siemens scandal has been career death for dozens of top managers at the Munich-based company. Even those not accused of wrongdoing face criticism that they didn't have adequate controls in place to prevent misdeeds. But Kleinfeld, hired by Alcoa as COO last August, has obviously convinced Alcoa's board of director that their faith in him was well placed. Makes you wonder what he could have accomplished at Siemens if he had been allowed to stay.
Posted by: Jennifer L. Schenker on May 06
On May 6, Vodafone announced that it will offer the iPhone in 10 new countries, including Italy, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Egypt, South Africa, India, New Zealand and Australia, a boost for Apple at a time when its international iPhone strategy is under fire. But as Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight, points out, the four line press release from Vodafone is missing a key word: “exclusive.”
Up to now Apple has insisted on exclusive agreements with carriers, striking deals with AT&T in the U.S., O2 in Britain, Orange in France, and Deutsche Telekom in Germany. In exchange for exclusivity Apple takes a cut of the revenue that wireless operators collect for voice and data services each month, something no other phone maker is believed to get. But analysts have been raising concerns that the iPhone may not translate as well overseas, with sales sluggish in Europe because of the device’s high price and strong competition from Nokia and others. With the May 5 announcement Apple seems to have acknowledged that it needs to change its strategy.
Continue reading " Vodafone Deal Signals Change in Apple's iPhone Strategy"
Posted by: Jack Ewing on May 06
There's been lots of discussion since yesterday about the likelihood that Deutsche Telekom will try to buy Sprint Nextel. A person who used to be closely involved with DT suggests one plausible reason by DT CEO Rene Obermann might try to do a deal: to impress his new boss. Ulrich Lehner, former CEO of household products maker Henkel, was elected chairman of DT's supervisory board last month. Obermann may well feel pressure to show Lehner and the rest of the board that he has some big ideas for improving DT's growth prospects.
Posted by: Carol Matlack on May 02
Running a car company isn’t always hard work. Taking a break from a meeting with journalists in a Portuguese resort, Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn hopped behind the wheel of a silver Nissan 350Z convertible and zoomed off for a drive along the rocky coastline west of Lisbon.
But it was electric cars, not sportscars, that Ghosn seemed most excited about during the meeting in the town of Cascais on May 1 and 2. By 2010, Nissan expects to roll out the first in a new line of all-electric cars. Unlike past electric vehicles, with their clunky batteries and under-powered engines, Ghosn promises that these cars will not only be 100% emissions-free, but also easy and fun to drive. “We’re going to make a sexy car, [with] attractive design and good driving performance,” he says.
Continue reading "Carlos Ghosn, Plugged-In"
