While we play "wait and see" for Congressional leaders to hammer out some kind of bailout package for lenders and banks, there's other news going on - believe it or not - on Wall Street.
While switching between CNBC, CNN and Fox News to get the latest on the financial crisis, I caught Stifel Nicolaus airline analyst Hunter Keay saying that, going forward, airline travel is going to be a "mid-priced luxury good" - akin to buying jewelry or purchasing a tuxedo. All this grim economic news is tough to take but at some point you have to laugh - imagine being wedged into the middle row of a flight from New York to LA, have the stewardess toss a bag of peanuts at you, and that is considered a "luxury" experience. I'll take the train, thanks.
The big news on the tech front continues to be T-Mobile (a division of Deutsche Telekom) and it's new G-Phone. There's a lot of talent on DaniWeb so I'll leave the reviews to the experts. What I'm looking at is DT's stock price this week, and it's hard not to notice that the G-Phone is falling flat as a revenue-enhance - at least so far. DT's stock is hovering around $15 and $16 per share and it's showing no inclination to shoot upward even as the G-1 Phone is front and center publicity-wise.
Part of the problem is that the reviewers I've read don't like the G-1. Many are saying it's clunky and would only appeal to a real gadget-head who could appreciate its finer features.
Another issue is the inevitable comparison to Apple's iPhone and research in Motion's Blackberry - both of which seem to be favored by reviewers this week compared to the G-1. Google's stock is equally sluggish this week, although that's probably because the company has been pinned down, like so many others, by the carnage related to financial stocks of late.
Whatever the reason, T-1, and it's Dutch parent, aren't getting the pop they wanted from the G-1's release. Investor are indifferent and the reviews haven't been kind.
"I don't see many users, consumer or business, dumping their existing phones and carriers to rush out and buy this device from T-Mobile," says Jack Gold, principal of research firm J. Gold Associates. "We'll have to see what the phone does and how well it functions before we can determine the overall appeal of this device, but my initial take is less than enthusiastic."
Gold's take seems to be the consensus of most Wall Street money mavens. Even so, I'll keep an eye on the G-1 and how it's moving the stock prices of both Google and DT, and report back. But so far, it's no chart-buster.