Ibiquity's business plan is modeled after wildly profitable licensing firms such as Qualcomm (for digital cellular)and Gemstar (for onscreen TV guides).

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Other times, the product is a modification and spinning of an old product, with a new message, launched in the right place, as is the case with Nike Air Jordan Retro XI sneakers modeled after the 1996 originals designed for Michel Jordan when he played for Chicago Bulls.

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Capellas is running the financial makeover out of a war room modeled after the one he used as chief of Compaq when it merged with Hewlett-Packard.

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Another possibility though not one modeled by most analysts covering Apple is for the company to release a smaller iPad, mostly as a response to the Kindle Fire, which Amazon.com launched in mid-November.

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The cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide is modeled, generally, after an existing one to cut sulfur dioxide one that was enacted in 1990 as part of the Clean Air Act with the approval of the elder President Bush.

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