Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. was cleared last month by a federal trade watchdog of infringing on patents owned by Santa Clara-based 02Micro International Ltd.
The International Trade Commission’s Judge James Gildea ruled that Microsemi and Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc. didn’t violate a 02Micro patent for fluorescent lamps and chips that are used in laptop screens, according to a Reuters report.
He also ruled that that “no domestic industry existed” that used the 02Micro patent named in the complaint, the report showed.
Microsemi makes chips for military, aerospace and industrial uses.
The commission plans to issue a final ruling in August.
In other news, Microsemi last month reported an outlook for the current quarter that was in line with Wall Street expectations but didn’t impress some analysts who were hoping the company might up its guidance.
For the June quarter, Microsemi said it expects adjusted profits of about $23 million to $25 million, in line with analysts’ expectations of $24 million in profits.
The company is expecting sales of about $122 million to $124 million, topping the $120 million in sales analysts had been looking for.
At this stage in the recovery, many analysts are looking for chipmakers to surpass estimates with results and then up their outlooks, something dubbed “beat and raise.”
For them, Microsemi’s outlook fell flat, with some looking for a turnaround during the second half of the year.
Profits are expected to get a boost as Microsemi sees the benefits of a plant closure in Scottsdale, the integration of its recent $100 million acquisition of Phoenix-based White Electronic Designs Corp., increased sales of chips for airport body scanners and other cost cutting measures.
“Microsemi provided guidance that should move estimates higher while laying the foundation for further revenue growth and margin expansion,” Craig Berger, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. said in a research note. “Two key opportunities strike us as not being fully baked in shares: body scanner chip shipments and Microsemi’s Scottsdale fab closure.”
Berger has an “outperform” rating on the stock and a price target of $24 per share. Micro-semi was trading at around $17 per share late last week on a market value of around $1.4 billion.
Aim for the Apple
Lake Forest’s Western Digital Corp., the top maker of disk drives, has jumped on the Apple Inc. bandwagon.
Last month the company launched a new software application targeted toward iPhone and iPod Touch users that helps the Mac-Addicts store and access their photos.
Western Digital introduced the WD Photos app for use on its My Book World Edition and WD ShareSpace network drives.
The program lets users access up to 250,000 of their favorite photos from any Internet-connected device. They can browse their photo library without waiting forever for them to upload.
Western Digital is tapping into a niche market that’s growing fast. The company said some 50 million iPhones have been sold as of last month.
The photo viewer software application is free and available for download at the Apple iTunes App Store.
YouMail Buys Customers
Aliso Viejo-based startup YouMail Inc., a maker of voicemail software, acquired some assets of San Francisco-based Quicktate for undisclosed terms.
Quicktate’s software transcribes voicemails, personal dictations and call recordings into text-based files.
YouMail offers a software service that’s known as “visual voicemail,” which allows cell phone users to see an onscreen list of who called and at what time to select only the messages they want to hear.
The service lets you pick up voicemails on a phone or any Internet-connected device—a computer, Apple’s iPod Touch or the iPhone.
The deal is set to help YouMail add transcription services to its offerings, the company said.
The two companies said they have entered a marketing partnership, where YouMail will introduce its users to Quicktate’s transcription services, operated by iDictate Inc., Quicktate’s parent company.
In turn, Quicktate gains access to YouMail’s roughly 1 million registered users.
Another YouMail feature aptly named “DitchMail” allows users to block callers before they can leave a voicemail.
It can even play a special message to a caller (telemarketers, for example) and then hang up on them.
Other features include recording personalized voicemail greetings for different callers—say, a more personal one for friends and family or a professional one for business calls.
YouMail’s big push is to let users “own” their voicemails, instead of having them banked in a server run by a wireless carrier.
The basic service is free. YouMail makes money from online advertisements.
YouMail was started by a handful of workers at New Zealand’s Zeacom Group Ltd., a maker of call center software that has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine.
The company’s founders spun off YouMail from Zeacom in 2006 and got off the ground with an angel investment of roughly $2 million in 2007 from Tech Coast Angels.
Last year, YouMail raised another $8 million from VantagePoint Venture Partners.
