success

Dear nerds, there will be no revenge

Intelligence gets you nowhere. Being right is as overrated as A-Rod.

That has, at least, been my impression of the world as we know it. I feel uplifted, therefore, that this view -- so often derided as cynical -- has now been confirmed by economists.

Large brains from as far apart as Chicago and the U.K.'s Essex (under the guise of the National Bureau of Economic Research) have concluded that the mere idea that nerds will have their revenge and soar like Shrek into money and love is just so much Hollywood bunkum.

I am indebted to The Atlantic … Read more

Sony's Vita launch: Success or failure?

Yesterday, we got some new numbers on the number of Vita hardware and software units sold, so I thought it would be a good time for a Vita launch recap, with a quick look at what's gone right and what's gone wrong.

First, the numbers Sony says it has sold more than 1.2 million Vita units worldwide since the portable launched in Japan on December 17. As CNET blogger Don Reisinger noted in his post, Sony didn't break down the sales figures by country, but acknowledged that this month's launch across the U.S. and … Read more

SAP to buy cloud-software firm for $3.5 billion

Germany's SAP said today that it will shell out $3.5 billion to acquire SuccessFactors, a maker of cloud-based software for human-resources management.

As reported in The New York Times, the all-cash transaction offers SuccessFactors shareholders a 52 percent premium above Friday's closing stock price and reflects the fact that many companies are switching to cloud-based software. The leap to the cloud lets companies avoid the up-front and maintenance fees associated with the traditional approach of hosting software on site.

"The premium is significant and it shows that SAP was struggling in its cloud strategy, especially in … Read more

'Customer success' VP role: To reduce SaaS churn

Consider the old adage that it is harder to attract new business than to retain current clients. This is especially true with companies specializing in software as a service, or SaaS, where it might make just as much sense to focus on retaining (and garnering new revenue from) current customers as it would be to focus on gaining new customers.

As a result, there's a new seat at the executive table that could rival the importance of the traditional "vice president of sales" role: enter the "VP of customer success."

Thinking Out Cloud blogger Geva … Read more

EMC sets CEO succession plan

EMC CEO Joe Tucci plans to become executive chairman at the end of 2012 and hand the reins to a successor.

Tucci, speaking to The Wall Street Journal in a story about executive chairmen, outlined the plan. Tucci will be chairman for two years and help with sales, acquisitions, and other tasks. After that, the successor would consolidate roles. Pat Gelsinger, chief operating officer, would be a favorite for the position.

For EMC, that succession plan playbook has been used before. When Tucci landed the CEO gig in 2001, former chief Michael Ruettgers stayed as an involved chairman.

EMC's … Read more

Meg Whitman takes over at HP (roundup)

Leo Apotheker is ousted after less than a year at the helm. But are Hewlett-Packard's problems too deep and too tangled for anyone to fix?

HP's top challenge vs. rivals: Continuity Continuity wouldn't be such a big deal for Hewlett-Packard if it didn't have to compete with IBM and Oracle daily. No quick fixes at HP, say analysts (Posted in Between the Lines by Larry Dignan) September 23, 2011 7:01 a.m. PT

Apotheker bids farewell; did he see it coming? Former HP CEO Leo Apotheker exits gracefully, saying Meg Whitman and her executive … Read more

Report: Board members discuss Jobs' successor

Members of Apple's board of directors have talked to outside headhunters about a succession plan for the company, if it needs to replace Chief Executive Steve Jobs, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Journal cited unnamed sources in the story, who said the conversations with recruiters were not aimed at replacing Jobs, who went on medical leave last winter, but rather were more informal conversations regarding the company's options. The Journal also said the members of the board who approached recruiters were not doing so at the behest of the entire board. It's also unclear whether … Read more

Bing scores 30 percent of all searches in U.S.

Microsoft's Bing captured 30 percent of all searches run in the U.S. last month, market researcher Experian Hitwise said yesterday.

Looking at the U.S. search engine market in March, Experian Hitwise found that the number of searches at sites powered by Bing rose by 5 percent since February. That includes searches run on Bing's own site as well as those on Yahoo sites powered by Bing. Individually, Bing.com itself accounted for 14.3 percent of all searches, while the ones on Yahoo tallied 15.7 percent.

Market leader Google continued to dominate in the U.… Read more

Call for Apple CEO succession plan gains support

An influential investor advisory group has added its support to an Apple shareholder proposal that calls on the company to disclose a succession plan for CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs announced last month that he was taking an indefinite medical leave from company--his third in recent years--and handing over day-to-day responsibility to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who filled in for Jobs while he was on medical leaves in 2004 and 2009. However, concern over the current health of Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, and shareholder complaints about a lack of information from the company regarding his condition have led to … Read more

Apple doesn't want to reveal CEO succession plans

Apple is once again being asked to discuss what the company would do without CEO Steve Jobs.

Apple said today in regulatory filings that it was informed that Central Laborers' Pension Fund, which owns over 11,000 shares of Apple stock, plans to submit a proposal at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting on February 23, that if passed would require Apple to "adopt and disclose a written and detailed succession planning policy."

Apple's board of directors said in the filings that it has recommended shareholders vote against the proposal. They say they have already established a … Read more