Americans losing addiction to "CrackBerrys" (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? To understand what ails BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in the U.S. market, just ask eBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe.

The world's biggest online auction site had about a hundred engineers developing new iterations of eBay's shopping app for Apple Inc's iPhone a few months ago, and another hundred engineers working on Google Inc's Android mobile platform.

EBay even had 50 people developing apps for Microsoft's Windows phones, but the e-commerce giant only had "one or two" working on RIM's BlackBerry, according to Donahoe.

"I still use the BlackBerry, but it's not the most developer-friendly platform," he told a group of chief technology officers at an event at Stanford University in June, when the subject of RIM came up.

By early November, it seemed Donahoe wasn't even using his BlackBerry much any more. When he met with reporters to talk about plans for the holiday shopping season, the CEO whipped out his iPhone to show how eBay's apps ran on the device. When Reuters asked Donahue about his BlackBerry, he said he still had it but didn't bother to bring it into the room.

Such stories are commonly found among RIM's once-loyal corporate and consumer customers, who are deserting the Canadian company after it has struggled to keep up with competitors' innovations.

RIM on Thursday posted a sharply lower quarterly profit, offered a dismal forecast for BlackBerry shipments this holiday season, and delayed the arrival of new phones using a make-or-break operating system in development, QNX.

"It's frustrating because I haven't heard anything good from them in a long time," said long-time BlackBerry user Kevin Nichols, the head of KLN Consulting Group, who was looking at Android and Windows phones at a Sprint Nextel Corp store in downtown San Francisco on Friday.

"They need to come out with new products soon, otherwise it looks like RIM may become the next Palm," he said, in reference to the collapse of the smartphone pioneer Palm Inc. Nichols ignored the latest BlackBerry Torch in a display case nearby, saying the device wasn't "new enough" for him to upgrade.

Even on Wall Street, where users once joked about their addiction to their "crackberries," loyalty is waning.

"The QNX delay is a concern," said Rob Romero, head of hedge fund firm Connective Capital. "Consumers like new products and vendors want something new to sell in their stores."

The chief technology officer of a Connecticut-based hedge fund said that when a top hedge fund manager wants to use an iPhone instead of a BlackBerry they can now switch, even though he prefers RIM security. "When they say I want an iPhone or an iPad configured, they get it," said the CTO, who declined to be identified.

RIM shares fell 11 percent on Nasdaq on Friday and hit their lowest level in nearly eight years.

SECURITY FEATURES

Research firm Strategy Analytics forecast RIM's share of the U.S. smartphone market to fall to 12 percent this year, a sharp drop from 2007, when RIM had a 44 percent share. By comparison, Apple, which just started selling smartphones in 2007, is expected to grab a 24 percent U.S. market share this year.

To be sure, BlackBerry still has its defenders. Robert Laikin, CEO of cellphone distributor Brightpoint, said that RIM represents between 5 percent to 10 percent of the 110 million phones his company handles globally every year.

"I still have a BlackBerry. When I talk to my friends who are business professionals, most of them still have a BlackBerry. Some of them have bought an additional device too," he told Reuters.

"All manufacturers I've worked with in the last 25 years have product delays. What RIM is going through isn't different," he said. "I believe RIM will survive because their product is very sticky."

There are still many companies who prefer their employees use BlackBerrys because they feel that RIM offers the best security features to protect corporate data. But these enterprise customers are shrinking, analysts said.

Gary Curtis, chief technology strategist at global technology consulting giant Accenture, pointed to improvements in security from Apple and Google mobile software in recent years.

"Choice and leveling of the playing field is the fundamental enabling factor for companies being able to say to employees, use the device you like," he said. "It's not a headlong rush ... but they're opening the door to more devices and people make their own choices."

Interviews with other consumers at phone stores on Friday illustrated why the former bastion of corporate smart phones faces tough competition.

"I'm a BlackBerry user but my company makes me use it," said a shopper called John who was playing with a BlackBerry Torch at an AT&T store in San Francisco. He declined to give his last name.

"Anyone who is anyone at my company has an iPhone, but they make us use BlackBerry still," he added. "I think I might break mine and buy an iPhone. The touch screen on this Torch works pretty well, but the iPhone is just easier to use."

A Sprint store manager said BlackBerry phones would sell better if they had more apps. But some app developers aren't interested in the BlackBerry platform, partly because the technology is difficult to work with.

"Of the companies that pitch to us, I can't think of any that are starting out by developing an app for the BlackBerry," said Theresia Gouw Ranzetta of venture capital firm Accel Partners, which invests in mobile app developers.

Hotel Tonight, a start-up backed by Accel's Ranzetta, has developed apps for the iPhone, Android phones and an HTML5 version for its last-minute hotel booking service.

"Will they make a dedicated BlackBerry app? Not on the roadmap," she said.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/tc_nm/us_rim_customers

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NYPD Busts 141 Merchants For Selling Stolen Apple Goods

New York City is possibly the most dangerous place to take your new iPhone or iPad. Grand larcenies have increased this year in the Big Apple, which NYPD spokesman Paul Browne attributes to criminal's obsession with stealing handheld devices. But after a sting operation that went down between Tuesday and yesterday, things might be a bit safer in the city that never sleeps. Undercover officers attempted to sell iPhones and iPads at discounted prices (between $50 and $200) to over 600 stores throughout all five boroughs — including bodegas, supermarkets, gadget stores, etc. — clearly stating that all the hardware had been stolen. Of the 600 stores solicited by the undercover policemen, 141 merchants were busted for trying to purchase the "stolen" hardware.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/UymgR1SgZ0A/

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Murphy, police chief who urged restraint, dies (AP)

NEW YORK ? Patrick V. Murphy, who battled police corruption and urged officers to hold their fire as head of the New York, Detroit and Washington forces during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, died Friday. He was 91.

Murphy died of a heart attack at a hospital in Wilmington, N.C., his son, Gerard Murphy, said.

"Pat Murphy was the visionary embodiment of police reform," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a written statement. "In the face of fierce opposition from entrenched police leadership nationally, he revolutionized policy to restrain the use of deadly force."

Murphy was born in Brooklyn and became a police patrolman after serving as a Navy pilot in World War II. He rose through the ranks of the NYPD, then left to become the top police official in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1962. He later headed the forces in Washington and Detroit.

He became known as a fighter against corruption and police brutality.

"If you were a big-city mayor with a slightly berserk police department on your hands, there was one preferred remedy. You hired Patrick V. Murphy for your chief," Washington Post reporter James Lardner wrote in 1978.

In 1968, Murphy ordered police not to shoot at looters during the riots that wracked Washington following the killing of Martin Luther King Jr.

New York Mayor John Lindsay brought in Murphy in 1970 to clean up the NYPD after police whistleblowers Frank Serpico and David Durk rocked the force with allegations of rampant graft.

Murphy started planting internal spies, known as "field associates," in the police department to watch for corruption.

"The field associates concept was your basic double-agent system," Murphy said in his book, "Commissioner: A View from the Top of American Law Enforcement."

New police academy graduates were taken to the office of Murphy's anticorruption coordinator, William McCarthy. Some would sit in the outer office, while others were brought in and invited to become field associates.

Then the rookies would all be dispatched to their precincts, where their co-workers would assume that all of them were anti-corruption spies, even the ones that had never been signed up.

In 1972, Murphy instituted new rules restricting the use of deadly force to situations in which police needed to defend a life. The change overturned the "fleeing felon rule," which had allowed police to shoot at fugitives.

Murphy also pioneered the "Cop of the Block" concept, later known as community policing, which encouraged police to get to know the residents of the neighborhoods they were patrolling.

He led the NYPD until the end of Lindsay's term in 1973.

"It was a rough time ... but he was very proud of his work there," Gerard Murphy said.

Murphy later became a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and spent 12 years as president of the Police Foundation, an advocacy group. He also helped found the Police Executive Research Forum and was an adviser on police issues for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

"Police chiefs across the nation recognize Patrick Murphy as an icon in the field of policing, and agree that he played a historic role in changing the landscape of policing for the better," the Police Executive Research Forum said Friday.

Murphy's survivors include his wife, Betty Murphy, and eight children. A funeral will be held Wednesday at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Gerard said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_murphy

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Dan Walters: California voters side with Jerry Brown on pensions

Jerry Brown made a rare gubernatorial appearance this month before a joint legislative committee that was delving ? with obvious reluctance ? into whether California's public employee pension benefits should be overhauled.

While seeking his second stint as governor last year, Brown had pledged pension reform and has since offered a 12-point overhaul that attempts to strike a middle ground between the defenders of the status quo and the radical changes outside groups want.

State and local pension costs have been rising, due to sharp increases in benefits in the last decade and declines in the pension fund investments that were supposed to pay for those benefits at no cost to taxpayers.

Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters

The Legislature's majority Democrats are clearly reluctant to enact more than superficial pension reforms because they are utterly beholden to public employee unions for campaign support. Many, indeed, are either former government union members themselves or were hand-picked by union leaders.

Brown knows that, of course. He knows that he was also dependent on union campaign money last year. He knows that a big reason he couldn't cut a budget and tax deal with Republicans this year was that unions were dead-set against the GOP's pension reforms.

But Brown also knows that public pension reform strikes a strong chord with voters, especially during a period of economic malaise when education and other public services are being cut and when they are being asked to pay more taxes to shore up those services.

Brown told legislators, therefore, that if they want voters to approve higher taxes on next November's ballot, they must prove that they are being tight with the public's money, and that means they must make a significant dent in unfunded pension costs.

Brown finds support for that message in two recent statewide polls that legislators will ignore at their peril.

Last week, a Field Poll found that voters' views of public pensions have evolved, that increasing numbers now see them as too generous, and that Brown's approach enjoys strong support.

This week, a Public Policy Institute of California poll echoes those findings, with 83 percent of Californians seeing public pensions as a problem. Strong majorities believe that employees should pay more and that traditional "defined-benefit" systems should be changed to a "defined-contribution" system for new workers, similar to private workers' 401(k) plans.

Perhaps most importantly, while union leaders resist such changes, PPIC found that strong majorities of public employees themselves favor them.

Persuading voters to pay higher taxes would be difficult, but if the Legislature tries to slough off pension reform, or enacts only token changes, it will give tax opponents a potent weapon.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/2011/12/13/1985112/dan-walters-california-voters.html

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Stocks down sharply as euro nears 2011 low (AP)

PARIS ? Stock markets slid Wednesday as worries over the ability of European governments to get a handle on their debts also pushed the euro currency to an 11-month low below $1.30.

The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.2981 by mid-afternoon, just up from its earlier low of $1.2968.

This is the first time the 17-nation currency bloc's currency has traded under $1.30 since January, and represents a fresh sign that Europe's deal last week to enforce more budgetary disciplines on the 17 eurozone countries is meeting with skepticism in the markets.

Meanwhile Europe's unresolved debt crisis kept the pressure on its indebted governments, with Italian borrowing costs rising again. The Italian government paid 6.47 percent interest to borrow euro3 billion ($3.95 billion) for five years at a bond auction, up from 6.30 percent just a month ago.

The Italian auction provided further evidence that the European deal last week to tighten rules on euro countries has not dealt with the underlying debt problems.

"The structural problems in the eurozone remain the market focus, as the governments that have signed up to the plan are now expressing doubts over the ratification process and whether parliamentary backing could be secured," said Chris Walker, an analyst at UBS. "This threatens a drawn-out process for fiscal consolidation which markets may not have much appetite for."

Those concerns have come as the economic newsflow continues to disappoint. In the broader eurozone economy, industrial production slipped 0.1 percent in a further sign of weakness many think will lead to a recession.

Meanwhile in Britain, which is outside the euro, figures showed unemployment hit its highest level for 17 years, with women and young people bearing the brunt of the deepening jobs crisis as the country's austerity measures and economic weakness began to bite.

Germany also reactivated its financial sector rescue fund in response to new questions about how its banks can cover their capital needs amid the continuing eurozone debt crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the Cabinet decided to reopen the euro360 billion ($474 billion) fund, first established at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The fund closed to new applications at the end of 2010. But much of the money ? which totaled euro60 billion for potential capital injections and euro300 billion for loan guarantees ? remains untapped.

European authorities have determined that German banks require a total of euro13.1 billion in new capital to comply with tougher new requirements. The country's second-biggest bank, Commerzbank AG, has been told it needs euro5.3 billion.

In Europe, Germany's DAX closed down 1.7 percent at 5,675.14 while the CAC-40 in France fell 3.3 percent to 2,976.17. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended 2.3 percent lower at 5,366.80.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1 percent at 11,836 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.1 percent to 1,212.

Sentiment also remains undermined by the U.S. Federal Reserve's statement Tuesday that the U.S. economy, while improving, is still weak. Unemployment remains high, and it remains vulnerable to the European debt crisis, which could push the continent into a recession and slow U.S. growth.

"Overall, recent developments on both the economic and market fronts have been discouraging for market sentiment," said Nick Bennenbroek, an analyst at Wells Fargo Bank.

Analysts said markets were disappointed that the Fed refrained from a third round of large-scale purchases of Treasury securities, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3.

Earlier, Asian shares closed lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 percent to end at 8,519.13, its lowest close in two weeks. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3 percent at 1,857.75 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 percent to 18,354.43.

___

AP Business Writer Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this article.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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AMR's USD$30 Mln London Town House

Buried deep in American Airlines' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is a striking asset -- a town house in one of London's most expensive residential streets that property experts say could be worth up to GBP?19 million (USD$30 million).

The five-bedroom house in London's Kensington district is a throwback to the airline's expansion two decades ago and stands a 10 minute walk from the former home of Princess Diana, with gentry and diplomats as neighbours.

UK regulatory filings show the house has been used as a residence for senior executives, including the current chairman and chief executive Thomas Horton, since the airline bought it in the early 1990s.

Listed as "London Residence LON6526," the five-floor house is one of eight owned properties declared by parent company AMR when it asked for protection from creditors on November 30, sagging under USD$30 billion of liabilities.

The plush residence in Cottesmore Gardens -- recently named Britain's 10th most expensive address by property firm Zoopla -- could become a thorn in the airline's side as it fights its way through bankruptcy. Corporate restructuring usually involves sacrifices by staff, retirees and creditors.

Robert Mann, an airline consultant who is a former fleet planning executive at AMR, said the ownership of the house is far from the biggest problem the airline is facing but added it would raise eyebrows and should probably be sold.

"As part of an overall debt-clearing exercise, yes it probably should be sold and leased back if they really want to stay there. If you can realise 17 million bucks, you ought to do it."

Confirming ownership of the house, American Airlines said it is used by the senior official in charge of its international business "and for corporate functions from time to time."

Contacted last week, it initially declined to say whether it planned to keep the house, but in response to further queries said its ownership of the property was being reviewed.

"AMR can confirm that it's a property it purchased in the 1990s when property values were lower," the airline said.

"However, as we work through our Chapter 11 reorganisation, we are focused on achieving a competitive cost and debt structure and will, of course, review our use and ownership of this and all our real estate as part of that process."

A union representing 30,000 workers at American Airlines and American Eagle expressed outrage over the property.

"In the current economic downturn, many Americans have lost their houses. In this bankruptcy, AMR's executives should lose their house," said James Little, president of the 200,000-member Transport Workers Union of America, which is on the airline's creditors' committee.

"However, the typical pattern for this company is workers keep it afloat through concessions, bring in outside work and boost productivity while managers pocket hundreds of millions in bonuses and live posh lifestyles. This would have been Marie Antoinette's favourite airline."

Many large companies own or rent property for executives posted overseas, though AMR's filing lays considerable stress on efforts to cut costs before filing for bankruptcy.

In its request for Chapter 11 protection, AMR said it had already shed billions of dollars in cumulative annual costs over the past eight years to cope with the "relentless pressures of ever intensifying competition and rising fuel prices."

The airline said it had pursued "every effort short of Chapter 11 to reform its cost structure."

DISCREET ENCLAVE

Lined by cars such as Porsches and Range Rovers, Cottesmore Gardens in west London is a quiet side street.

The airline's house would be worth between GBP?12.5 million and GBP?16 million if it came to the market today depending on the internal state of repair, said Kit Allen, a director of house sales at property consultancy Savills.

A source at international real estate group Knight Frank said the house could fetch as much as GBP?20 million.

"This is a very discreet enclave that is ideal for high-profile residents wanting to live in relative anonymity," said the source, who asked not to be named.

The street houses a private school and the most recent electoral records show the Cottesmore Gardens set includes an earl, the former chief executive of one of Europe's largest companies and a prominent former investment banker.

Disgraced Canadian media tycoon Conrad Black was a neighbour until 2005 when he reportedly sold for GBP?13 million.

AMR filed for creditor protection after failing to win a deal with pilots to reduce labour costs.

Employees were notified on the day of the bankruptcy filing that future retirees can no longer get a lump sum distribution because the pension plan is underfunded.

The airline has started rejecting leases for aircraft and is trying to relieve itself of two real estate leases including one for a terminal at Chicago Midway airport.

Apart from the group's Texas headquarters, its credit union and a handful of reservation offices, nearly all the airline's offices and airport facilities are leased rather than owned.

Source: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1323906323.html

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Madonna Inks Deal With Interscope

Singer reportedly signs for three albums at rate of $1 million each.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna
Photo: Getty Images

As Madonna inches closer to the release of her in-the-works album, a report has surfaced that the Queen of Pop has signed a deal with Interscope Records, making her labelmates with music superstars like Lady Gaga and Eminem.

The report first appeared in the New York Post early Wednesday (December 14), and a source confirmed the deal to Billboard. Madonna will reportedly work with the label on three records for $1 million each. Reps for the singer and the label had not responded to MTV News' requests for comment by press time.

Madonna will also remain with Live Nation, with whom she signed a deal in 2007. Currently she has a 10-year "360 deal" worth upward of $100 million that covers touring and merchandise. Live Nation CEO Irving Azoff hinted back in February that a merger could happen for the star sometime this year. Live Nation always had intended to partner with a record label for the release of Madge's next album.

"Live Nation, prior to the merger, entered into some of these all-rights deals, so there are certain artists, Madonna being one of them, that there is a recorded-music strategy," Azoff said. "Once she gets the album recorded, we'll sit down with her and her manager, Guy Oseary, and figure out what's best for the record. It has to start with the music."

A source tells the New York Post, "It's just about keeping relevance so that she can tour. She is still in the demo phase, but the idea is to get the first album out early next year."

Madonna is expected to drop her highly anticipated album this spring. In February, she'll not only release her film "W.E.," but she's also slated to take the stage during the Super Bowl halftime show.

She just shot the video for her song "Give Me All Your Love," which features Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. The shoot made headlines when Nicki tweeted about kissing Madonna on the set of the clip, directed by the Megaforce.

Are you looking forward to new music from Madonna? Tell us below!

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• Madonna

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675969/madonna-album-deal-interscope.jhtml

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