Qualcomm to Buy Atheros for $3.1 Billion

Qualcomm Inc. agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros Communications Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash as it aims to address growing demand for devices that use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet.The deal—Qualcomm's largest acquisition to date—fills a hole in the company's communication-chip offerings. The importance of Wi-Fi has been growing as more devices—including smartphones, tablets and notebooks—connect to the Internet.

The deal, which values Atheros at $45 a share, comes during a flurry of acquisitions in the technology sector and puts pressure on Qualcomm's rivals, such as Broadcom Corp. Chip companies, including Intel Corp., have been using their high levels of cash to make purchases to add more features to their chips. Qualcomm has about $10 billion in short-term cash and marketable securities. Adding long-term marketable securities raises the figure to $18.4 billion, with $12.1 billion of that located offshore, the company said.

A takeover of Atheros gives Qualcomm greater exposure to Wi-Fi chips and other markets where it doesn't have a significant presence, including providing components for laptop personal computers, which now come standard with Wi-Fi chips.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011 and modestly add to Qualcomm earnings in fiscal 2012. Atheros will be renamed Qualcomm Networking & Connectivity, and Atheros President and CEO Craig Barratt will join the company as president of the group. Mr. Jacobs said Qualcomm also plans to retain the rest of the Atheros senior management team.

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Sonus Names A New CEO

This week at their user conference in Palm Springs, FL, Sonus named a new CEO. Ray Dolan, a former telco (Bell Atlantic and Nynex) and industry technology (Qualcomm and Nextwave) exec is taking over the position from Richard Nottenburg, who will step down as president, CEO and director.

Sonus has faced business challenges in recent years, made worse by the pull back in service provider spending during the economic downturn. The competitive playing field in the carrier VoIP market as well, with Genband growing through acquisition of Nortel’s VoIP assets and an energized Metaswitch are its biggest challengers.

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Parks Associates hosts the CONNECTIONS SUMMIT

Parks Associates hosts the CONNECTIONS™ SUMMIT on January 7, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV.

CONNECTIONS™ SUMMIT features multiple sessions, held January 7, 2010, the first day of CES. Moderated by Parks Associates analysts, these sessions provide an interactive environment for networking and discussion.

http://www.parksassociates.com/events/connections/summit/2010/agenda/agenda.html

Speakers include:

- Bruce Anderson, General Manager, IBM
- Arlo Rose, Senior Dir., Product Design, Connected TV, Yahoo!
- Joly Benoit, Dir., Connected Home Applications, Thomson
- Lauren Thorpe, Senior Dir., Developer Relations, Qualcomm
- Scott Rosenberg, VP of Advanced Advertising, Rovi
- Susan Cashen, VP, Control4 Energy Systems, a division of Control4
- Steve Cashman, CSO, Exceptional Innovation
- Hope Fulgham, CEO/CMO, Piazza Advertising
- Peter Lude, SVP of Engineering, Sony

Television Enthusiasts Can Get Their TV Fix as FLO TV Personal Television Mobile Device Debuts with Major Retailers

Consumers eager to watch their favorite television programs, sports and news while on-the-go can satisfy their mobile TV craving as the handheld FLO TV Personal Television hits shelves across the nation today. The much-anticipated device from FLO TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, delivers live and time-shifted content via the award-winning FLO TV mobile TV service and will be available at Amazon.com, Best Buy, and RadioShack.

As part of the launch and for a limited time, FLO TV also announced that the first six months of subscription service will be bundled into the overall retail price of $249.99, after which point a monthly service subscription fee will be charged. FLO TV Personal Television is the first portable digital television to offer all these features in one package: dedicated portable television, live mobile TV from America’s best content providers, a dedicated, nationally available mobile television network, a capacitive touch-screen, long battery life, and an easy to share experience. The FLO TV service programming line-up may differ depending on distribution platform.

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Two interesting gaming announcements from this past week

Here were a couple of interesting gaming announcements made this week at GDC:

• Zeebo game console announced: A startup backed by Qualcomm announced the launch of a $199 game console for developing markets. The Zeebo will download games over 3G networks. This could be an opportunity for mobile operators to get into the hardware game and make money on services.
• OnLive launched: The OnLive Game Service and OnLive MicroConsole™ were announced at the Game Developers Conference. It is addressing high-performance games without the console, so it’s more of a virtual gaming experience. I wonder if it might be a white-labeled solution for service providers.

DTV Switch to happen sooner than expected.

The Congress finally agreed to a delay in the mandatory switch over until June after much debate and heartache to the likes of Verizon, AT&T and Qualcomm. However, in yet another turn in events, more expected than unexpected, the broadcast stations have decided to switch over to pure digital transmission much sooner than the mandated date in June. 40% of the local broadcast stations i.e. 2 in out every 5 have expressed their intention to switch as soon as possible. The major factor in that decision is the ability to save on costs by not having to simultaneously broadcast in digital and analog format. Why would the local stations be so desperate to save on their operational expenditure? The answer to that question lies in the fact that most local/regional network have experienced a steep decline in their ad revenue and are forced to conserve costs. As a result, analog TV viewers will likely be left in the dark after all.

On a separate note, the concept of a unified residential gateway seems to be making its way back. gizomodo.com reports that AT&T has an STB-Femtocell combination box in the making.