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OnLive Sold To OnLive And Nothing Will Change, “Heartbreaking Transition” Notwithstanding
Slow Clap: AT&T Wireless Stops Selling Tablets With Subsidized Pricing
These Wild iPhone Cases Are A DIYer’s Dream

OnLive Sold To OnLive And Nothing Will Change, “Heartbreaking Transition” Notwithstanding

Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:20 PM PDT

Faced with a dire financial situation, OnLive is been sold to another company that will do business under the name OnLive. Because the move is an “Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors,” wrote Jane Anderson, the new OnLive PR rep, “Unfortunately neither OnLive, Inc. shares nor OnLive staff could transfer under this type of transaction, but almost half of OnLive's staff were given employment offers by the new company at their current salaries immediately upon the transfer, and the non-hired staff will be given offers to do consulting in return for options in the new company.”

In short, the company closed up shop and sold itself without the baggage of employees or former stock options. The new company will run just the same as the old company with no visible changes to the user. Anderson called the firing of current employees a “heartbreaking transition” and that rumors of Steve Perlman cashing out of the old company were not true. Instead, Perlman is losing his stock options and C-level execs are “receiving reduced compensation.”

The OnLive® Game and Desktop Services, all OnLive Devices and Apps, as well as all OnLive partnerships, are expected to continue without interruption and all customer purchases will remain intact; users are not expected to notice any change whatsoever. OnLive's current initiatives will continue as well, with major announcements of new products and services planned in the coming weeks and months. An affiliate of Lauder Partners was the first investor in the newly-structured company, holding the view that OnLive is the future of computing and entertainment, and a passion to see OnLive's breakthrough technology continue to grow and evolve. The new company structure enables OnLive to do so.

OnLive, Inc.'s board of directors, faced with difficult financial decisions for OnLive, Inc., determined that the best course of action was a restructuring under an "Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors." The assignee of the company's assets then sold all of OnLive, Inc.'s assets (including its technology, intellectual property, etc.) to the new company. … Upon closing additional funding, the company plans to hire more staff, both former OnLive employees as well as new employees.

Here’s a quick Q&A from OnLive about the transaction.

Q. Will users see any change in the OnLive Game or Desktop Services? What about their purchases?

A. Users should see no change in the OnLive Game or Desktop Services. All of their purchases remain intact and available. OnLive has been up 24/7 since launch over two years ago and expects to remain so. OnLive has over 2.5 million subscribers, with an active base of over 1.5 million subscribers, connecting from a vast range of devices and networks, with many sessions running for hours. The user base is growing rapidly with OnLive's addition into recently announced devices and TVs from major manufacturers. We expect this growth to continue under the new company.

Q. Is there any cash or stock in the new company provided for any OnLive, Inc. shares?

A. Unfortunately not. The nature of the transaction is such that only assets, not shares, were purchased. This is true for all shares of OnLive, Inc., whether held by investors, employees or executives.

Q. Did Steve Perlman receive stock or compensation in this transaction?

A. Like all shareholders, neither Steve nor any of his companies received any stock in the new company or compensation in this transaction at all. Steve is receiving no compensation whatsoever and most execs are receiving reduced compensation to allow the company to hire as many employees as possible within the current budget.

Q. Did all OnLive, Inc. assets transfer into the new company? Are any assets held by any other party?

A. All of OnLive, Inc.'s assets (e.g. technology, patents, trademarks, etc.) were transferred to an assignee, which then sold the assets to the new company. There was no transfer to any other party.

Q. Have OnLive, Inc. employees been offered positions in the new company?

A. Almost half of OnLive's staff were offered employment at their current salaries in the new company immediately upon the transfer, and the non-hired staff will be given offers to do consulting in return for options in the new company. Upon closing additional funding, the company plans to hire more staff, both former OnLive employees as well as new employees.

Slow Clap: AT&T Wireless Stops Selling Tablets With Subsidized Pricing

Posted: 19 Aug 2012 05:10 PM PDT

AT&T Wireless no longer sells tablets with a long-term contact. This is great news and comes by way of a memo leaked to Engadget Mobile. That means the upfront cost of tablets is slightly higher, but the consumer wins in the long run by not being locked into a tablet for a couple of years.

This comes several weeks after Verizon stopped selling tablets with subsidies as well. In the past both AT&T and Verizon offered tablets at their full MSRP along with lower priced options that locked the buyer into a 2-year contract. Now, the tablets are only available at their full price.

It’s unclear why the Verizon and now AT&T did away with the 2-year option. However, it doesn’t matter. Advertising the tablets with the subsidized price always seemed shady — nearly a bait and switch scheme. Sure, the consumer didn’t have to get the off-contract option, but the lower price likely brought them into the door.

Tablets, and for that matter, high-speed wireless networks, have simply not hit a point in their development stage where it makes sense locking into one for two years. Every new generation of tablets leapfrogs the previous. Likewise, 4G wireless networks are still in their infancy and one carrier could have a better network then another next year. Besides, the subsidizes were never that spectacular; it never made sense locking oneself into a two-year contract in exchange for a mere $100 off the sticker.

Right now this AT&T policy change is not as significant as it was at Verizon. Outside of the iPad that’s always been free of a contract, AT&T only sells a refurbished Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, the craptastic Pantech Element and widely overpriced (and rather shitty) HTC Jetstream. But hopefully, AT&T will get some quality Android tablets in the future and price them competitively.

These Wild iPhone Cases Are A DIYer’s Dream

Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT

With the advent of cheap 3D printing, I was wondering when someone would jump into the completely custom iPhone case market. Netherlands-based Polychemy has just released iPhone and Blackberry cases in five unique styles complete with 3D customizations.

The cases cost $40 and you can have your name or #YOLO printed on the back. Your choice. They come in four colors.

The company is actually a bulk 3D printing provider and can produce objects in ceramic, metal, gold, and plastic. These cases are more of a side project and are printed on-demand when you order. They come in multiple styles including a wonky fingerprint design and a fun maze.

Polychemy is fairly new to the case market but it will be very interesting to see where services like this are headed. Plenty of people have access to 3D printers and with the rise of sites like Etsy it should be easy to make and sell extremely customized objects quickly and cheaply over the next few years. This is, as they say, only the beginning.

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