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Briefs

Talk of the bay: AirTran doesn't back away from competition

By Times staff
Published November 28, 2007

Spunky discounter AirTran Airways continues to take on bigger competitors with new Florida routes. On Tuesday, the Orlando-based carrier announced a daily nonstop between Tampa and Newport News, Va., starting Feb. 14. No airline flies the route now, but Southwest has a daily flight to nearby Norfolk. Recently, AirTran began selling nonstop flights from Tampa to competitive markets such as Boston (Delta and JetBlue), Minneapolis (Northwest), Detroit (Northwest) and New York LaGuardia (American and Delta).

Danka shares will move to OTC board
Danka Business Systems PLC, a St. Petersburg company whose stock trades both in the United States and London, said it will move its domestic listing from the Nasdaq Capital Market to the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board. Danka had been threatened with delisting for failing to maintain Nasdaq's $1-per-share price minimum (its stock closed Tuesday at 43 cents). It's arguably bad news for Danka's U.S. shareholders: Wall Street tends to ignore OTC stocks, low trading volumes make them harder to unload than exchange stocks, and it's a little weird that Danka - which sold off its European arm a while ago to focus on North America - will primarily trade now on the London Stock Exchange. But the company argued that the London exchange is its "primary" listing and that one listing will be cheaper.

Video games bring $105.3M to Florida
Florida's computer and video game industry grew by 15.4 percent last year. That's more than three times faster than the local economy, says a study released by the Entertainment Software Association. The study, Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software Industry; found that computer and video game companies in the Sunshine State added $105.3-million to the state's economy last year.

Verizon opens up its networks
They have been touted as one of the most restrictive companies. Now wireless Goliath Verizon is singing a different tune. The company said it will allow customers to use non-Verizon products, such as wireless devices, cell phones, software and applications, on its network. All one needs is a device that will meet the company's minimum technical standards. The option will debut by the end of 2008. The company plans to publish the technical standards early next year.

All about money
Times personal finance editor Helen Huntley talks about money topics and answers your finance questions at blogs.tampabay.com/money.

[Last modified November 27, 2007, 23:10:28]