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Doubt

Napster Casts Doubt on Late Summer U.K. Launch

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 21, 2004 - 4:05am.
San Jose, Calif. -- A day after rival Apple reaffirmed its intention to launch a European version of its iTunes music service in Europe by the end of this year, San Jose, Calif.-based Roxio cast some doubt on whether it will be able to launch its Napster service in the U.K. by the end of this summer, as originally planned. Reuters reports that red tape and licensing-negotiations may cause a delay in the launch. "I am ever-hopeful [the U.K. launch] will happen, but it has been very challenging to get the rights together," Christopher Gorog, the CEO of Roxio, told Reuters. Gorog said that the company has yet to secure the necessary licenses it needs from music companies to begin selling song downloads. A launch throughout the rest of Europe could be even further away, he said, with licensing talks reportedly only in the beginning stages.
tags: Napster | U.K. | Casts | Doubt | Late Summer |

Philips Consumer Electronics CEO Departs; Division's Future in Doubt

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 11, 2003 - 5:21am.
Atlanta -- Larry Blanford, CEO of Atlanta-based Philips Consumer Electronics, will leave the company at the end of this month and be replaced by Reinier Jens, head of the Northern Europe division of Philips Consumer Electronics. Blanford, a former executive with Maytag, joined Philips three years ago. Recently, Netherlands-based Philips announced that it will lay off about one-third of its employees in the Consumer Electronics Division by the end of the year and that the operation will be shut down entirely if it does not reach profitability within the next several quarters.
tags: Philips | CEO | Electronics | Doubt |