Articles by Rob Spiegel

Six major high-tech firms have agreed to toss out the no-solicitation agreements they had reached concerning competitors' employees. The secret anti-trolling agreements came to a voluntary end on Friday as the Department of Justice announced a settlement with Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit and Pixar. None of the companies admitted any wrongdoing...

Verizon Wireless will introduce a tiered pricing plan for data within the next four to six months, CEO Ivan Seidenberg told investors during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference on Thursday. He also noted Verizon will not reach a deal to handle the Apple iPhone anytime soon The move comes on the heels of AT&T's introduction of pricing bas...

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion will likely introduce a new operating system along with a tablet PC, known informally as the "BlackPad," when its developer conference opens on Monday in San Francisco. The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have leaked details about the upcoming tablet over the last few weeks. The BlackPad is expected to become available by the end of this year, perhaps as early as November...

Google Apps has announced added security and authentication to the online application suite's fee-based Premier edition as well as its Education and Government versions. The two-step enhanced verification system will be added to all versions of Google Apps in coming months.

Details about the Galaxy Tab are beginning to his the street following a Samsung event Thursday, including the fact that device maker will reportedly ship the Android-based tablet to the four largest U.S. wireless carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile ...

It appears that Google is about to take on social networking stalwart Facebook in stages. The company's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told reporters at an Arizona conference Tuesday that Google plans to gradually introduce social networking features beginning this fall. Google intends to add layers of social networking apps to its sites rather than...

The revolving door is spinning fast at Nokia, as the company tries to reposition itself to compete with a wave of new smartphones including Apple's iPhone and a bevy of Android-based devices. The latest news from the boardroom is that Chairman Jorma Ollila, the executive credited with turning Nokia into the world's largest cellphone maker, will st...

The number of travelers booking airline flights and hotels over the Internet has increased 146 percent in the past year, according to a report released this week by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) The report shows that 16.5 million travelers bought tickets and made reservations online in 1999, while another 35.7 million travelers m...

Top air carriers United Airlines and Delta Air Lines significantly expanded their Web presence by announcing new consumer and corporate e-commerce travel services this week United will partner with broadband provider On2.com to offer e-commerce, travel information and television-quality travel videos, while Delta's redesigned consumer Web site will...

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced Monday that it has launched Component Knowledge, an online business-to-business (B2B) procurement service for the electronic components industry The service is designed to substantially improve communications during the new product development cycle amongst components manufacturers, their independent sales representatives ...

According to a report released this week by Forrester Research, a vast majority of U.S. corporations will move aggressively to e-commerce in the next two years, drawn by emerging "e-marketplaces" where goods are sold through auctions, bid systems and exchanges The study -- one of several on business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce issued recently by m...

Apparel giant Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) announced an agreement today with NBC affiliates ValueVision (Nasdaq: VVTV) and NBCi (Nasdaq: NBCI) to create a multimedia initiative that will center on its Polo.com Internet retailing site NBCi will give the new Ralph Lauren Media venture anchor status on its Snap.com site, while shopping network ValueVi...

In a keynote address Thursday to the Variety Interactive Summit in San Diego, California, Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) president and CEO Strauss Zelnick left no doubt that the Internet has become an unstoppable force in the music industry by labeling distribution via digital downloads as "the holy grail." "The explosion of consumer interest from d...

Separate reports released Wednesday by research firms GartnerGroup and Deloitte & Touche show that while security dangers at e-commerce sites are on the rise, many organizations are failing to develop clearly defined policies to cope with consumer vulnerability According to GartnerGroup, high-speed Internet services are making it easier for hackers...

In a move that has sent shock waves through its extensive dealer network, consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) launched a Web site today that will sell mass-customized VAIO personal computers and peripherals directly to consumers in Japan The Tokyo-based conglomerate formed a new company, Sony Style, in joint capitalization with its do...

According to a report released today by consulting firm Arthur Andersen, fewer than 25 percent of senior management executives at global financial services companies rate e-commerce high on their priority lists The report, titled "Thriving in the new economy: perception vs. reality," found that few companies are making e-commerce an integral part o...

E-Stamp Corporation (Nasdaq: ESTM) announced today that it will begin a market trial of international Internet postage in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta. Starting in early February, Canada Post Corporation will begin offering Internet postage services through E-Stamp The Calgary market trial is E-Stamp's first step toward offering its Intern...

"Name-your-price" pioneer priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced today that it will team with a Hong Kong-based telecommunications conglomerate to bring its service to 2.6 billion consumers in China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam Priceline and Hutchison Whampoa Limited will f...

A new study by Deloitte and Touche shows that while roughly one third of retailers with a Web presence consider their online store to be "strategic," a majority have set up Web operations with no clearly articulated strategy and are merely "testing the waters to gauge Internet demand." The study of 400 brick-and-mortar retailers with Web sites foun...

Lest anyone believe that Valentine's Day is a small economic opportunity for retailers and e-tailers alike, an estimated $1 billion (US$) in purchases is up for grabs this year, including candy, gifts and 146 million flowers Some experts, however, are quietly worrying that online flower and gift operations might flounder in much the same way that s...