U.S based telecom firm Verizon Communications and internet firm yahoo announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Verizon will acquire Yahoo's operating business for approximately $4.83 billion in cash.
Under the deal, Verizon will get Yahoo’s online assets including search, news,
finance, sports, video, email and the Tumblr social network along with its ad technology. The deal excludes Yahoo's stake in Alibaba Group Holding and Yahoo Japan, Yahoo's cash, Yahoo's convertible notes, certain minority investments and Yahoo's intellectual property what it calls non-core patents. These are worth $40 billion dollars alone.
Yahoo will be combined with AOL under Marni Walden, EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization at Verizon. Verizon hopes this will help accelerate it's revenue stream in digital advertising, and compete with Google and Facebook.
The deal is expected to close in Q1 2017, after getting approval from Yahoo's shareholders and other regulatory approvals. Until the closing, Yahoo will continue to operate independently.
Commenting on the acquisition, Lowell McAdam, Verizon Chairman and CEO, said: "The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising."
Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, said: "Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL."
Source | Via
Alongside the DROID Turbo 2, Motorola also launched DROID MAXX 2. The phone is basically a US version of Moto X Play, which has so far been available in Europe, Canada and India. Like the Moto X Play, the DROID MAXX 2 eyes the mid-range segment.
The Motorola DROID MAXX 2 features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. It is powered by a Snapdragon 615 octa-core SoC clocked at
1.7GHz and Adreno 405 GPU, paired with 2GB of RAM, and comes with 16GB internal storage, further expandable via microSD card up to 128GB. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and will be upgraded to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
For imaging, there is a 21-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, Phase Detect Auto-Focus (PDAF) and records 1080p video. On the front there is a 5-megapixel camera.
Connectivity features include 4G LTE, 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (dual band), Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. It is fueled by 3630mAh battery that can last for up to 48 hours under mixed use on a single charge. There is also support for turbo charging, which should provide 8 hours of use for 15 minutes of charge time. It comes in Black w/ Deep Sea Blue Back and White w/ Winter White Back.
The Motorola DROID MAXX 2 is a Verizon exclusive. It will be available with
contract at $16 per month for 24 months or $384 (Rs. 25,000) off contract from
Verizon. It will be available online and in stores
starting October 29.
Motorola is reportedly working on two new smartphones which is rumored to launch exclusively for Verizon. The phones are codenamed Droid "Clark" and Droid "Kinzie". Both the devices will pack high-end specs.
One of the Motorola phone, Droid Kinzie with model number XT1585 went through GFXBenchmark website, revealing most of the specs.
According to the listing, the Motorola Droid Kinzie will feature 5.5-inch (1440 x 2560 pixels) Quad HD display and powered by 1.9GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with Adreno 430GPU, further aided by 3GB RAM. Onboard storage is 32GB and the phone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.
It sports 20-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 4K video recording capabilities and 5-megapixel front shooter for taking selfies and can shoot video up to 1080p. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, GLONASS and NFC. There are no details on battery capacity.
Motorola is also expected to launch Motorola Droid Clark exclusively for Verizon. It carries the model number XT`578 and comes with a Quad HD display and Snapdragon 808 processor.
Source: PhoneArena
LG announced a new Windows Phone handset called LG Lancet. It has been launched exclusively for U.S wireless provider Verizon.
Verizon claims that the "LG Lancet offers premium smartphone features but at a better value to meet a tight budget."
The LG Lancet features 4.5-inch (480x854 pixels) LCD display and is powered by 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor paired with 1GB RAM.
The handset comes with 8GB internal storage (4GB usable) and microSD card slot for storage expansion (up to 128GB supported). It runs Windows Phone 8.1.
Camera features include 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1080p video recoding capabilities and 0.3-megapixel VGA front facing camera. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, CDMA LTE (Verizon), GPS, and Micro-USB.
A 2100mAh battery fuels the LG Lancet. It also features such as Knock On (double tap to wake), QuickMemo, Gesture Shot (front
facing camera only), Soft Light for selfies (front facing camera only),
Live Shot (LG camera only). It also comes with Advanced Calling 1.0 capabilties which lets you make HD voice calls to other Verizon devices in the U.S
The LG Lancet is available to buy at Verizon for $69.99 on a two year contract (now available at a special sale price of just $19.99) and $120 without contract. It is also available with monthly payment plan on Verizon Edge for $5 a month for 24 months. The LG Lancet will be available through stores starting May 21.
