Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (38987)	2/19/1999 12:01:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Apple To Mirror Sony For Growth - Jobs (by including digital video and audio editing features in its computers) newsbytes.com 18 Feb 1999, 9:10 PM CST By Martyn Williams, Newsbytes. TOKYO, JAPAN, Apple Computer Inc. [NASDAQ:AAPL] plans to follow the lead of Sony Corp. [TOKYO:6758] and establish a strong brand image for its line of products to achieve growth, Apple interim chief executive officer Steve Jobs said in an interview with Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper. In addition, he said the company plans to follow Sony's strategy in the personal computer sector and develop machines that can be easily integrated with consumer electronics and household appliances. Sony's VAIO range of computers boast several interfaces for connecting the machines to audio and video equipment and come with home-editing software preinstalled. Apple already has a lead in the domestic networking sector after its Firewire high speed digital network technology was adopted by the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers as the basis for IEEE1394, a digital home network standard that is fast gaining acceptance among consumer electronics makers. Jobs is in Japan for the MacWorld Expo trade show and announced in his keynote address on Thursday that the launch of the new iMac computer in Japan has been a success. He said 46 percent of units sold between October and December 1998, the machine's first three months on sale, were to first time computer users and a further 16 percent were to people who previously used Windows based machines. The company did not divulge the number of machines sold. Reported By Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com 21:10 CST (19990218/WIRES ASIA, PC, BUSINESS/APPLE/PHOTO) Copyright (c) Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc. All rights reserved.

To: BillyG who wrote (38987)	2/19/1999 1:08:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

LITTLE WORD ON PATENT ROYALTIES 02/15/99 DVD Report (c) 1999 Phillips Business Information, Inc. DVD replicators remain on pins and needles where patent royalties are concerned. As DVD grows in popularity, replicators are certain that they will eventually be expected to shell out in order to use the critical DVD manufacturing processes that are patented by other companies. The problem, at least from a replicator's perspective, is that they're unsure exactly how much they'll have to pay, and to whom. Only MPEG Licensing Administrator (MPEG LA), a company handling patent licensing for DVDs using MPEG-2 video (and virtually any DVD with video on it uses MPEG-2), has announced its royalty rate and is currently pursuing royalty payments. Two other groups, consisting of nine companies claiming DVD patents, have announced royalty rates, but have yet to begin collecting payments. There are at least five other companies believed to own DVD-related patents that have yet to announce any royalty plans. The uncertainty is the problem for DVD replicators, who will unquestionably be expected to pay royalties for any and all DVDs made, regardless of when. For example, a company could claim that it owns a DVD patent a year from now, and still demand royalties on all DVDs made by a replicator since that facility began manufacturing the format. As the situation currently stands, DVD replicators are expected to pay up to 16.5 cents in royalties for each DVD made. But many replicators believe that when all DVD patents are announced, that figure could surpass 25 cents per disc. That's a big pill for many mid- to small-size replicators to swallow, considering that DVD-5 replication pricing is fast approaching the $1.00 per disc mark. By comparison, replicators typically pay less than five cents a disc in royalties on a CD that they sell for about 45 cents per disc. While replicators prefer not to speak on the record about the subject for legal reasons, most are concerned - for good reason - that if DVD royalties approach or even exceed 25 cents a disc, it will become very difficult for them to earn a profit. And as far as content owners are concerned, royalties will eventually have a very real impact on how much a replication job costs. MPEG LA Up Front While replicators are not necessarily happy about having to foot the bill for MPEG-2 video-related royalties, MPEG LA has been the most up front to date of those companies collecting DVD-related royalties. Formed in 1992, MPEG LA handles patent licensing for 14 companies owning a combined 54 essential patent families. To date, MPEG LA has concentrated on collecting royalties from hardware and encoder/decoder-related companies, including the likes of C - Cube , Sony, Matsushita, Zapex and Toshiba, according to Larry Horn MPEG LA vice president, licensing. The Denver, CO-based organization has just begun speaking with some of the more prominent DVD replicators, from whom MPEG LA will collect royalties for use of MPEG-2 video on a DVD. Interestingly, one content-related company has already agreed to pay royalties rather than its replicators - Divx, the much talked about pay-per-use version of the DVD-Video format.