Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
Sample Wall Street Journal Summary – Week 1
Article 1 – Intel Unveils Pocket-Size Computer That Plugs into TVs, Jan 8, 2015
Summary: Intel developed a new tiny computer. A pocket-size device that plugs into the
HDML port on a TV or computer monitor, which includes an Intel Atom processor, WiFi, 32 gigabytes of storage and a slot to plug in an SD card for further capacity. Moreover
it will cost just $149 and will arrive by the end of the quarter.
Relevancy: This news is relevant because it is going to change the way we used to conceive
computers. It is not the same to have a smart TV than actually having the opportunity to
interact with a computer on the screen of your TV. Enabling people to watch videos,
movies, photos in a big screen
Article 2 – AT&T Offers to Roll Over Data, Jan 7, 2015
Summary: AT&T is offering to roll over data, meaning that customer will be able to roll
over the unused data to the next month.
Relevancy: This news is relevant because it is not only attracting new customers and retain
existing users; but it allow customers to “enforce their money” since they are going to be
able to use the data they have paid for.
Article 3 – WhatsApp Hits 700 Million Monthly Users, Jan 6, 2015
Summary: WhatsApp (the mobile messaging service application) announced on Tuesday
that it has grown to 700 million monthly active users since Facebook acquired it.
Positioning it as the app with more users than any other similar app, since it is a way in
which people around the world can text for just 99-cent annual subscription after a free
first year.
Relevancy: This news is relevant because in South America the most common app for
texting is WhatsApp, since acquiring the app is way cheaper than sending texts to friends.
The year looks promising for this app; that it is no longer competing to gain a spot in some
countries, but it’s looking to compete for its positioning around the world among the other
text applications.
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
Intel Unveils Pocket-Size Computer That Plugs into TVs
Intel’s Compute Stick, a tiny computer that connects to a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and a
video monitor’s HDMI port.
Intel
Intel INTC +1.86% is known for its chips, but it also combines them into systems to be
distributed to customers for demonstration purposes. Now the Silicon Valley giant is taking a more
unusual step: developing a tiny computer it plans to sell directly.
The company used this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., to disclose plans
for the Intel Compute Stick, a pocket-size device that plugs into the HDMI port on a TV or
computer monitor. The unit includes an Intel Atom processor, Wi-Fi, 32 gigabytes of storage and
a slot to plug in an SD card for further capacity.
Intel says a version for the device running Windows 8.1 will cost $149 and arrive by the end of
the first quarter. It plans to offer a Linux-based version for $89.
What’s it good for? The company points to scenarios where a big screen is a big help, like
streaming content from the Web such as video, movies, photos and digital signage. It also cites
light productivity, “thin-client” situations (where most of the computing gets done on the Web)
and simple videogames.
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
Note that the price tag does not include anything to control the Compute Stick. Intel expects users
to use a Bluetooth keyboard-mouse combination.
Intel is not the only company exploiting the HDMI port in new ways. One of the best-known
examples is Google 'sGOOGL +0.35% ChromeCast, which helps transfer content to screens but
relies on devices like smartphones and laptops to provide the processing.
Intel generally shies away from competing with the companies that buy its chips. But it is also
trying new strategies under Brian Krzanich, who took the CEO job in May 2013 and has pushed
the company into fields such as wearable devices.
Rick Doherty, a market researcher with Envisioneering Group, says Intel frequently winds up
doing 90% of the engineering for its customers by creating circuit boards and prototypes. This
time, he said, the company decided not to rely on those companies to create the new product
category.
“They are testing the waters,” Doherty said. “It’s one of the more interesting announcements at
this CES.”
Web Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/08/intel-unveils-pocket-size-computer-thatplugs-into-tvs/?mod=ST1#
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
AT&T Offers to Roll Over Data
AT&T is offering to roll over data after all.
The move—allowing some customers to roll over unused data to the next month—follows a
similar move from T-Mobile that started this month and is the latest ploy in a battle among the
nation’s biggest wireless carriers for customers, in a market where most people already have
smartphones.
AT&T and Verizon charge subscribers more as data use rises, so rolling over data would eat into
that model. AT&T is banking that by offering the perk it can both attract new customers and retain
existing users, without further cutting service fees.
The price war going on among the companies is already taking a toll. Last month, AT&T and
Verizon warned that the cost of keeping up with rivals’ promotions is hitting their bottom lines.
Competition from T-Mobile and more recently Sprint is making them work harder to keep their
wireless subscriber counts growing.
Earlier Wednesday, T-Mobile said it added 1.3 million postpaid customers in the fourth quarter
and 4.9 million for the year, putting it above the high end of its own projected performance. The
carrier has added almost 7 million postpaid customers since the beginning of 2013, when it began
aggressively pursuing strategies to steal rival’s subscribers.
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
Under the AT&T rollover plan, the company will automatically provide the benefit to its 50 million
customers using its Mobile Share Value plans, which don’t have service contracts or subsidies for
new phones. AT&T only lets those customers keep the unused data for the subsequent month.
The plan differs from T-Mobile’s move, which gives customers 10 gigabytes upfront of bonus data
and allows them to roll over data for a year.
The idea of rolling over a service allotment is a relic from one of AT&T’s predecessor companies,
Cingular Wireless, which let subscribers hang on to voice minutes across billing periods. These
days, data use is the biggest component of wireless billing.
Before T-Mobile announced its plan last month, AT&T filed for trademarks for “Mobile Share
Rollover”, “Rollover Data” and “Family Rollover,” suggesting the company had already laid plans
to roll out the promotion.
T-Mobile has acknowledged they were aware of those filings. Smaller carrier C-Spire began to
offer its own version of rollover plans in November, a day after AT&T’s trademark filings were
filed.
AT&T’s plan also differs from T-Mobile because it allows people to share data among multiple
devices. T-Mobile’s plan applies to postpaid customers on the company’s Simple Choice plans
who have a smartphone plan with 3 gigabytes or more of high-speed data, or a tablet plan with 1
gigabyte or more.
Web Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/07/att-offers-to-roll-over-data/?mod=ST1
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
WhatsApp Hits 700 Million Monthly Users
WhatsApp
now
has
700
million
monthly
than Facebook 'sFB +2.66% own messaging app.
active
users,
more
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
WhatsApp, the mobile messaging service acquired by Facebook for $22 billion,announced
Tuesday it has grown to 700 million monthly active users, up from 600 million in August.
WhatsApp now has more users than any other similar app, including Facebook Messenger, and
has become an alternative to text messaging for many people around the world. But Facebook is
hoping it can be much more.
In previous earnings calls with investors, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerbergsaid he
expects WhatsApp to contribute to the company’s bottom line, but not until it reaches roughly a
billion users. With Tuesday’s announcement, the billion-user mark may soon be approaching.
WhatsApp gained 300 million users in about one year. It took Facebook roughly a year and a half
to climb from 400 million to 700 million users, though that was in 2010 and 2011 before a massive
shift by users to smartphones.
But Facebook revealed last year that WhatsApp lost about $230 million in the first half of last year
on revenue of about $15 million. Unlike Facebook, which makes the bulk of its revenue from
advertising, WhatsApp offers 99-cent annual subscriptions after a free first year. WhatsApp co-
Diana Carolina Pelaez Ardila
CIT 110 Basics
Date:01/09/2015
founder Jan Koum had said the company scaled back efforts to make money after Facebook agreed
to acquire the company last February.
In the U.S., messaging apps haven’t caught on as wildly as they have internationally, in part
because American cell phone plans often include unlimited text messaging. Overseas,
WhatsApp faces a sea of worthy competitors. There’s China’s WeChat, South Korea’s
KakaoTalk, Japan’s Line and, of course, Snapchat in the U.S.
The popularity of those apps varies by country, according to mobile-analytics company Mobidia
,which put together a nifty chart for Digits back in February. Russians love their Kakao Talk.
Japan, not surprisingly, prefers to text on Line. Indonesia hearts Blackberry Messenger. Indians,
though, are huge on WhatsApp.
Web Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/06/whatsapp-hits-700-million-monthlyusers/?mod=ST1