Blog » Archive for July, 2007

Building the Electronic Arts of Casual Gaming: PlayFirst CEO John Welch (Part 1)

Mon, Jul 30, 2007

The Internet is changing the content business dramatically, and in this story, we will explore the casual gaming industry through the eyes of entrepreneur John Welch, a gaming industry veteran, who hopes to build a brand as high-impact as Electronic Arts in video gaming, through his venture PlayFirst. I met John a long time ago [...]

iPhone’s Component Ecosystem: Infineon

Mon, Jul 30, 2007

This post on Infineon will be the last in the series of posts analyzing the major players in the iPhone’s component ecosystem. In the iPhone, Infineon provides the digital baseband through a PMB8876 S-Gold 2 multimedia engine with EDGE functionality, a radio-frequency transceiver and power-management devices. As per iSuppli, these parts account for $15.25 or [...]

Why I Hate the Term Outsourcing

Sun, Jul 29, 2007

By Abhijit Nadgouda, Guest Author What do you think of when you hear the word outsourcing? I think of something that it is not. Traditional outsourcing is defined as contracting with another company or person to do a particular function. Many of us do this for two primary reasons: * We give it to the [...]

Selecting Great Microfinance Partners (Part 2)

Sun, Jul 29, 2007

By Guest Author, Robert Lowry, Unitus As I discussed yesterday, Unitus focuses on two kinds of microfinance institutions (MFIs) for partnership: emerging microfinance institutions, which serve more than 2,500 clients and are in the early stages of growth; and commercial startups, which may not have a track record of growth but are well-capitalized and have [...]

Hat’s Off, J.K. Rowling!

Sat, Jul 28, 2007

In its first 24 hours, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final installment in the wildly popular series by J. K. Rowling that officially went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 21, 2007, sold 8.3 million copies in the United States, according to Scholastic, the publisher. The book’s official cover price [...]

Selecting Great Microfinance Partners (Part 1)

Sat, Jul 28, 2007

By Guest Author Robert Lowry, Unitus The challenge of finding great microfinance institution partners is one every microfinance fund faces. At Unitus, selecting the right partners is critical to reaching our growth goals. We’re often asked, How do you select your partners? This article will answer that question by providing a brief overview of the [...]

Google’s AdSense Revenues Vulnerable

Fri, Jul 27, 2007

How much is AdSense’s share in Google’s business? To find an answer we scanned Google’s balance sheet and cash-flow statement for the past year including those of the last quarter (Q2-06/2007). Predictably, there is no indication of AdSense’s figures. Analysts however maintain that the figure hovers between 37%-44%. A somewhat clearer picture emerges in the [...]

Women & Web 3.0 (Part 5)

Fri, Jul 27, 2007

M&A and VC activity NBC Universal acquired iVillage, the most popular women’s site along with its other Internet properties for $600 million in 2006. Glam Media, the number one women’s property on the Net as per the latest comScore ranking raised $18.5 million in Series C funding from Duff Ackerman & Goodrich Ventures (DAG), Accel [...]