CORP TALK: Palm’s highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone has yet to have a firm release date or hit the store shelves but already research firm, iSuppli has come up with an estimated hardware and manufacturing cost for the device.

According to Reuters, the Pre smartphone will cost around US$170 to make, based on 2nd quarter component and assembly prices. Of course, there is no doubt that the Pre, touting its WebOS operating system and multi-touch screen features, is squarely aimed at competing against Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones.

iSuppli projects that Palm will try to have wireless carrier Sprint Nextel to sell the smartphone for US$300 but with a subsidized plan, the final price should hover around the US$200 range.

T&A: Knowledge at Wharton, an online business journal by Pennsylvania State’s Wharton School of Business published an article analyzing the business viability of the current Twitter model in the world of social networking sites.

While general predictions see a likelihood that the San Francisco-based Twitter company might get bought up by a larger, more diversified Internet-based company, the argument now is whether the company should continue on its traffic-building run (it’s only three years old) or relook at a money-making model. (Editor opinions: 1) (more…)

T&A/SHOWCASE: The organizers for the IFA consumer electronics trade fair, held every year in Berlin, Germany in September hosted an international press conference for 300 journalists from 45 countries in Malta last week.

Held over three days from 16-19 April at the Hilton Hotel in Malta, the conference saw research firm GfK Asia projecting a total technical consumer equipment (TCE) expenditure year-on-year growth rate of 7% in Asia (including China and Japan) as opposed to just 4% worldwide for 2009.

GfK also projected a zero growth rate for TCE in Europe and a negative 3% decline in North America. Huge markets like South America, Middle-East, Africa and Asia remain the bright spots in an otherwise somber forecast.

Here’s a video summary of what happened at the IFA 2009 International Press Conference in Malta:

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Is Sony Pictures going to be the first major studio to offer full-length movies on YouTube?

Sony-owned Crackle.com serves shows mainly to its Internet-enabled Sony devices.

T&A: Bloomberg released a report stating that the Entertainment Division of Sony Corp has started talks with Google on the possibility of posting movies on YouTube. While no major U.S. movie studio has yet to do what Sony intends to do, Sony Pictures’ move could open up the potential for other studios to consider doing the same.

According to the report, Sony Pictures has more than 60 vintage films in its archive, including television shows, which it might consider putting on YouTube. As of today, several TV shows and clips from CBS Corp. and eventually Walt Disney, have or would appear on YouTube as well. It is a known fact that most advertisers prefer to relate their pre-roll advertising campaigns to professionally produced content rather than home video material. (more…)

T&A: Australia is set to build its biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history — a fast broadband Internet network worth around US$30 billion. Already, a Reuters report states that two of Australia’s largest telecommunications firms — Telstra Corp and rival SingTel-owned Optus — have submitted bids with the government to build the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Australia has been known for its slower and costly Internet access when compared to many other developed nations. Prior to the national plan, the government has been looking at tenders submitted by private corporations like Optus and Axia NetMedia for a fibre network promising speeds of up to 12 Megabits per second. (more…)