Author: tylerdynamist

Icahn: Break up Motorola

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Investing Watch:  I agree with Carl Icahn on breaking up Motorola.  I don’t know if his exact plan is the right one, but I do feel that MOT’s results are overly influenced by the fickle handset market, which creates a volatility that hurts the valutation of the stock.  If the handset business was sold, MOT would be a networking company, selling wireless infrastructure (which I don’t think its highly ranked at, and frankly this should probably be sold, too), cable set top boxes and home networking gear (in which it is highly ranked, but its products could use a great deal of innovation to take advatage of the coming surge in smart home applications…its primary competitor is Cisco/Linksys/Scientific Atlanta), and business mobility (not sure what that is, exactly).

The stock is basically flat from the early 1990s and the company has always seemed directionless.  I wouldn’t be surpised to see it re-test its 2003 low of under $8.00 in the next 6-12 months.  It may be a buy at that point.

Andy Grove on Innovation

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Technology Watch:  In Portfolio magazine, Andy Grove uses the example of Apple and the iPod to espouse the unique ability of large companies to innovate in areas that resist innovation.  He encourages WalMart to reshape the Health Care industry with in-store clinics and General Electric to produce an electric car and the infrastructure to support it.

It makes sense.  Tech companies have gotten much smarter about adapting to a changing competitve and technological landscape.  Witness how Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Cisco and IBM have evolved over the last 10 years vs. the Novells, Wangs and Digitals that led the tech sector in the 1970s and 1980s.  They may not be preventing the rise of every Google that comes along, but they also aren’t getting put out of business by them, either.

Verizon’s Smart Move

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Technology Watch: I applaud Verizon’s move to open its network to other hardware and applications developers.  It is a good move for consumers, an also for Verizon:

1. No more need to subsidize phones.

2. No more need to operate retail stores.

3. An ecosystem of developers building cool devices and applications for your service.

Are you listening cable industry?  Please open up your set top boxes! Embrace it!

Non-story alert re: Army deserters

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Policy watch: MSNBC is running a story about army desertions being "up 80%" since the start of the Iraq War to 9 in 1,000.  (Compared with a peak of 50 in 1,000 during Vietnam.)  So they’re telling me that desertions haven’t even doubled 3 years after the start of a controversial war when compared to a time directly after our nation was subject to a major terrorist attack.  That doesn’t sound like a big jump to me, considering, but hey, you can use statistics for just about any spin you want.

More opposition to Cablevision buyout

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Technology Watch: Clearbridge has joined Mario Gabelli in opposition of the proposed buyout of Cablevision by the Dolans.  I agree with Clearbridge and Gabelli on this one.  If the cable industry is going to gird itself for long term competition with Verizon and AT&T, they should be bulking up thier scope now, and not retreating into family-owned fiefdoms.  Cablevision should be a part of Time Warner Cable, or perhaps Comcast.