http://www.bu.edu/professorvoices/

“With Kindle Fire, Amazon is firmly positioned to compete in the digital sector. Priced at $199, Fire is positioned at a different price point from Apple iPad and Android tablets from Samsung, HTC and others. Now, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Sony eReader and others have to follow suit.

“From the point of view of tablet manufacturers, it will be interesting to see how they compete against Fire in terms of the aggressive price point — albeit without communication and collaboration functionality.

“Eighteen months after Apple announced the iPad with an aggressive $499 price point, Amazon has introduced a compelling alternative at an aggressive price point supported by an extensive library of digital content and powerful cloud functionality.”

Contact Venkatraman at 617-353-7117; venkat@bu.edu; Twitter: @nvenkatatraman

“The real question is what can Meg Whitman do to undo some of the strategic blunders of the previous CEO?

“It is clear that they cannot back out of the Autonomy purchase at $10B without incurring huge penalties.

“Will she go back on the spin-out of PC business or make minor adjustments? Or will she go the B2B route with software and services that Leo Apotheker has laid out. If she does that, then she is admitting that the strategy was right and that the company simply blundered through in its announcement.

“The market is expecting her to deliver clarity of where HP is going. She needs to do that sooner rather than later.”

Contact Venkatraman at 617-353-7117; venkat@bu.edu; Twitter: @nvenkatraman

Contact Hurley at 617-353-5427; ckhurley@bu.edu; Twitter @ckhurley

Contact Williams at 617-358-2789; williams@bu.edu

“This acquisition demonstrates that patents today are more about blocking innovation than encouraging it in information technology. Google is not buying these patents because it wants to use Motorola’s innovations. Google already has a highly innovative product and lots of innovation going on. Instead, it is buying Motorola’s patents to prevent Apple, Microsoft, etc., from keeping Google’s innovations off the market.”

Contact Bessen at 617-353-3110; jbessen@bu.edu

“I think it is the beginning of the new tech bubble focused on social (professional) networks. We are in the early stages of social commerce and the monetization logics are still fuzzy.

“The only logical explanation is short-term speculation, but these valuations are likely to go down very, very soon. I can only imagine the frenzy when Twitter and Groupon go public, not to mention Facebook or Zynga.”

Contact Venkatraman at 617-353-7117, venkat@bu.edu, Twitter @nvenkatraman

Susan Fournier is an associate professor of marketing and an expert in brands and brand strategies. She can be reached at 617-353-2773, fournism@bu.edu

Frederic Brunel is an associate professor of marketing and an expert in brand & product management and consumer behavior & decision-making processes. He can be reached at 617-353-4609, brunel@bu.edu

“What are the chances David Sokol’s ‘front-running’ scheme at Berkshire Hathaway reflects a pattern of past abusive behavior? I’d say they are very high and warrant a full SEC investigation.”

Contact Cornelius Hurley, 617-353-5427, ckhurly@bu.edu

Contact N. Venkat Venkatraman, 617-353-7117, venkat@bu.edu, Twitter: @nvenkatraman