Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

When a single manufacturer accounts for an overwhelming majority of your license revenue, it stands to reason that said manufacturer might save a little dough in the long haul by acquiring you outright. And so it goes for the long, passionate relationship between UIQ and licensee Sony Ericsson; of the 13 handsets running the Symbian-based platform, nearly half — six in all — have been designed and produced by Sony Ericsson, with the remainder split between Motorola and Arima units that haven’t seen been met with nearly as much publicity. The Swedish company, currently owned by Symbian itself, will be transferred to Sony Ericsson (pending clearance of the typical bureaucratic stuff, of course) for an undisclosed sum but will continue to operate as an independent entity with the current management team in place. Though UIQ promises that its platform will continue to be available “on equal terms to all its licensees,” the move makes official what’s been known for years: that UIQ is to Sony Ericsson what S60 is to Nokia, an interpretation of the Symbian smartphone operating system to call its own. Will UIQ ever match S60′s popularity, particularly in the Symbian-friendly European market? Probably not, but with a committed partner now laying out the requisite cash, it does seem more likely than ever that UIQ’s here to stay — and as always, we’re all about choice.

[Via All About Symbian]

 

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Filed under: Wireless

In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucent Technologies has disclosed the new name of their mega telco-tech merger with Alcatel they announced in April. The newly formed $25 billion company will be formally known as Alcatel Lucent, ending intense rounds of speculation by nobody at all. Everything should be sealed up by the end of year, and Lucent investors will own around 40 percent of combined company, with Alcatel types holding the rest.

[Via The Wireless Report]

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Filed under: Peripherals

We’re taking this one with a grain of salt — we haven’t seen it hit the wires just yet — but the word on the street is that AMD has decided to drop the ATI brand name from future products. Seems like it’ll be all AMD all the time for the newly joined chip makers, and according to the report, AMD’s Richard Baker wanted to be clear that the acquisition is a takeover, not a merger. Apparently Chris Hook from ATI followed that up in a throughly docile manner, saying that “I don’t have a personal emotional attachment to it [the brand], one way or another. I think the important thing is that we’re going to make good products. ATI may be gone, but certainly lots of discussion is going to come over the next few days about the rest of our brands and their strengths.” We were kind of hoping for some sort of nationally televised logo-deathmatch, or at least a lame attempt at merging the two brands, but we suppose we’ll keep on keeping on. Somehow.

[Thanks, Alex W.]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals

After months of speculation, including a period when it looked like the supposed deal was surely dead, AMD has now officially announced plans to buy graphics giant ATI for $5.4 billion. The sale, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter pending shareholder, regulatory, and court approval, will result in AMD paying $20.47 (in a mix of cash and stock) for each share of ATI. As you might expect, the news sent ATI's stock price skyrocketing, while shares of AMD dropped due to investor concern that the semiconductor manufacturer is overpaying for its purchase. AMD CEO Hector Ruiz cited his company's burgeoning relationship with Dell as one of the main reasons for the merger, as the newly-formed entity may now be able to snatch even more Dell business away from rival Intel. Some analysts, however, feel that the deal will have negative consequences in the short term, as it may distract both companies -- already struggling to compete on performance -- from pushing out innovative products in their respective categories. Still, the fact that AMD will now be able to offer integrated graphics solutions to PC manufacturers in the same manner as Intel should be enough to help it gain market share in the long run. Either way, we can't wait to see what the new company has in store for us...

[Thanks, Karl]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

The little rumor that just wouldn’t die is finally getting quite a bit of cred behind it. The Inquirer — the folks who put the kibosh on that first round of whispers — is now reporting that AMD and ATI are planning on pitching a merger to their shareholders on Monday. Apparently AMD doesn’t quite have the cash to buy ATI straight up, but a merger, if approved by the shareholders and regulatory bodies, includes all the strategic wins for both companies, such as partnering on integrated graphics and AMD access to ATI’s handheld division. This would also presumably end the longstanding AMD/Nvidia partnership on chipsets, and throw a whole wrench into the GPU wars, so we’re feeling good about this merger merely from an industry drama standpoint.

[Thanks, Peter K.]

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Filed under: Sprint-Nextel, CDMA, Misc

In a move that surprises absolutely no one keeping up on the aftermath of Sprint Nextel's merger, the acquisition of Sprint affiliate UbiquiTel has closed this week in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.3 billion. In exchange for taking on UbiquiTel's $300-odd million of net debt, Sprint Nextel adds an additional 452,000 direct subscribers and gains territory in 9 states for a total of roughly 8.3 million in population. Even better, they avoid the wrath of yet another affiliate miffed by the non-compete clause busting merger, which added Nextel territory to many areas serviced by Sprint affiliates and vice versa. With the billions Sprint has now shed on affiliate buyouts, mergin' ain't as cheap as it used to be, it seems.

[Via The Wireless Report]

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Filed under: Sprint-Nextel, CDMA, Misc

The endless barrage of legal fallout resulting from Sprint Nextel’s merger continues, the latest onslaught coming from iPCS, a Sprint affiliate operating throughout much of the Midwest. According to Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, the merger violated Sprint’s agreement with iPCS to not infringe on their territory (a common theme in affiliates’ lawsuits) and is demanding that Sprint file a plan for divesting itself of its Nextel operations in Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, and Nebraska by September 6. Naturally, Sprint intends to appeal “vigorously,” though as in so many other cases, an acquisition ultimately seems possible — if not probable.

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