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Posts Tagged ‘Upfront’

Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF
Here’s another reason to consider going the unlocked route with the Nexus One, in addition to having the AT&T (non-3G) and international GSM option. As a number of people have noticed, Google’s got its own Early Termination Fee (ETF) equivalent, here called the Equipment Recovery Fee, in the terms of sale, to the tune of $350 if you cancel within the first 120 days. Sound familiar? It’s because we saw it in a leak just before the new year. Here’s the kicker, though: this is in addition to any fees imposed by the carrier — not necessarily a problem on its own, but we just glanced at T-Mobile’s terms of sale, and sure enough, there’s an associated ETF up to $200. If we’re reading this right, Nexus One owners who decide to end their service after the 14-day trial period is over but before four months have passed will be hit with upwards of $550 in fees — more than if you bought the phone outright from the start, especially when you factor in the upfront $180. There hasn’t been enough time for someone to tempt fate, but who knows — come January 20th when early adopters’ trial period ends, there might be some interesting stories abound.

Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AlertMe teams with Google, British Gas to give consumers more control over energy use

AlertMe is the newest energy monitoring device maker to partner with Google PowerMeter, giving homeowners more information and control over how much electricity they are using, and how much they pay for it. By providing hardware that plugs into your home’s traditional electric meter and your broadband connection, British-based AlertMe now makes power consumption data available on your internet browser via the Google PowerMeter interface — if you happen to live in the United Kingdom.

The partnership between the two companies is launching first in Britain, where average consumers can buy AlertMe’s hardware and use it to track their electricity starting today. They don’t need to inform their utility, or do anything more than plug the devices — called the Meter Reader and Hub — into their corresponding sockets. Together, this equipment (see image above) costs about $113 (£69) upfront and $4.90 (£2.99) a month for online access; or a lump payment of $162.14 (£99) for the hardware and 12 months of online service.

“The equipment pays for itself in about a year,” says AlertMe CEO Pilgrim Beart, referring to the average energy savings that buyers usually see after installing the system. “Most people don’t think of this kind of purchase in terms of returns on investment, but it’s a short enough time frame that it makes sense.” (Beart will be speaking at VentureBeat’s upcoming GreenBeat conference focused on the Smart Grid on Nov. 18-19)

This is the second deal that Google has struck with a Smart Grid device company allowing it to activate PowerMeter in homes that are not equipped with smart meters — the first, announced earlier this month, was with Energy Inc., maker of The Energy Detective (TED 5000) home energy monitoring device.

In order to work in most areas, PowerMeter depends on smart meters that wirelessly beam energy consumption data to utilities and their customers. That is why Google has partnered with nine utility companies in the U.S. and Europe. But now, with the TED 5000 and AlertMe system in its arsenal, it doesn’t have to wait for smart meters to be installed to serve data to its users.

AlertMe’s online service gives its customers access to their power consumption data from any computer or device with an internet connection, including smartphones, via the personalized iGoogle portal (see image below). (Before now, AlertMe delivered data through its own web-based dashboard). In addition to toggling online options, the device maker’s customers can also build out their AlertMe home systems with SmartPlugs that take energy readings from and allow remote control over certain appliances, like thermostats.

British Gas has signed up to be the major retail channel for AlertMe’s devices. As the utility in the U.K., the company will market it to its customers as another way for them to conserve while saving money on their electrical bills. AlertMe’s Beart says the deal is a win-win for his company and the utility, with the former getting the name-brand stamp of approval from British Gas, and the latter adding to its portfolio of consumer services, the source of nearly 50 percent of its revenue.

“In a competitive utility market like Britain’s, AlertMe can differentiate one from another,” Beart said. “It’s an attractive offering encouraging people to move to a utility, or stay with a utility.”

Notably, this is the second Smart Grid news involving British Gas in as many days. Earlier today, news broke that the utility inked a deal with Trilliant to deploy its UnitySuite software, ensuring that its smart electric and gas meters can communicate seamlessly with its backend systems, home energy displays and smart appliances. While the AlertMe deal with British Gas is unrelated to this development, the two stories together indicate a shift in the utility’s business operations toward a cleaner, more efficient grid.

Smart Grid development in the U.K., where the electric grid is even more fragile and antiquated than it is in the U.S., has been slow going. But now, with its big-name utility brand on board, making significant deals with Smart Grid companies, it may be able to turn the situation around faster than anticipated.

Beart hinted that AlertMe’s partnership with Google will probably hop the Atlantic sometime in the near future, but he couldn’t be more specific, saying only, “You’ll see plenty of action from AlertMe in the U.S. next year.”

AlertMe, based in Cambridge, England, raised its first round of venture funding in June of this year, amounting to $13 million from Good Energies, Index Ventures and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

And here’s a quick visual overview of the AlertMe hardware:

VentureBeat is hosting GreenBeat, the seminal executive conference on the Smart Grid, on Nov. 18-19, featuring keynotes from Nobel Prize winner Al Gore and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr. Get your discounted early-bird tickets before Oct. 31 at GreenBeat2009.com.

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China Unicom denies having bought 5M iPhones

We’d still venture to say that all signs are pointing toward an iPhone launch on China Unicom before too long, but one key element of the launch — Unicom’s upfront buy — is now in question. A spokesman for China’s third-largest carrier (which is an amazingly low rank considering they’ve got about as many subscribers as Verizon and AT&T combined) has denied earlier reports that they’ve stockpiled five million handsets in preparation for launch, saying that negotiations with Apple are still ongoing. We imagine that when you’re dealing with a nine-figure subscriber count, any hardware negotiation is complex, tense, and filled with counteroffers, so there’s no telling how much longer this process could take.

[Via Unwired View]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

China Unicom denies having bought 5M iPhones originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft/Yahoo Search Deal Today? Not So Fast

There is absolutely no doubt that Microsoft and Yahoo are in the final stages of some sort of search/search marketing deal. And lots of Yahoo’ers are buzzing that the big announcement is today along with Yahoo’s quarterly earnings report after the markets close. But our sources are saying that while the deal is imminent, it won’t be announced today.

But Yahoo sure is being secretive about what they are announcing today. Some people who usually have access to the earnings call script are out of the loop, our sources say. Yahoo has been one of the leakiest companies in the last couple of years (remember this?), and CEO Carol Bartz may finally be trying to put the hammer down on some employees suspected of facilitating those leaks. Is something unusual being announced today? Perhaps, say our sources inside Yahoo. But they can’t say what it is besides speculation about a Microsoft deal.

But back to those Yahoo/Microsoft negotiations – sources say that a search deal is imminent. But they are also saying that Yahoo continues to push for an outright acquisition. Microsoft, after pulling their acquisition offer last May, never again expressed any real interest in buying the company. The search deal is the next best thing, and Yahoo has to take it. With Google unable to partner with Yahoo over search, there’s no one else ready to step in.

The Microsoft/Yahoo search deal would apparently put Microsoft’s new favorite child, Bing, behind Yahoo’s search product, which has a much higher market share than Microsoft’s. The deal would supposedly see Yahoo get paid $3 billion upfront, as well as pretty much all of the revenues (after traffic acquisition costs) that its searches provide over the first few years of the deal, 24/7 Wall Street reported the other day. There is also talk that Yahoo’s relatively strong display advertising business would be put in place for both companies.

We’ve previously written about what a deal like this could mean for both companies, but things have changed a bit since Microsoft completely revamped its search product. It’s still too early to tell if Bing will make any meaningful inroads against market leader Google. (And in fact, it looks like Bing may be stealing share from Yahoo, rather than Google.)

But the general consensus among users seems that they at least like Bing — something which cannot often be said about consumer-facing Microsoft products. And that has to be seen as good news if Microsoft can combine its search product with Yahoo, giving it nearly a 30% market share.

There are no shortage of rumors flying around today given Yahoo’s earnings, but remember that Microsoft also announces its earning on Thursday after the market closes. Yahoo’s stock fell 1.5% during regular trading today, but has already fallen another 2% in after-hours trading leading up to earnings. Their call is set for 2PM PT, we’ll be listening in.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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