Apple WWDC – One missing thing

The generative AI elephant is likely to be ignored. All of the attention will be on Apple this week where it is almost certain to make a play for the Metaverse in the hope that in all the excitement, everyone forgets just how far behind it is when it comes to AI. Apple’s developer conference kicks off today and for...

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The Metaverse – Party crasher

Meta will get more out of WWDC than Apple. Meta has crashed Apple’s party with the launch of the Meta Quest 3 which is almost certain to outsell Apple’s unit many times over meaning that Meta is the real beneficiary of any awakening of interest in The Metaverse caused by WWDC. The Meta Quest is 40% smaller than the Quest...

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Apple – Silent takeover

Apple is slowly consuming more of the economy. Ahead of WWDC Apple has released a report it had commissioned to examine the app economy on iOS revealing that while traditional app spending on iOS is broadly flat, usage of iOS to facilitate day-to-day retail spending is still growing extremely quickly. The Analysis Group has produced a report that headlines with...

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Artificial Intelligence – Armageddon debate

Humans are the real risk. The big names in AI are now saying that mitigating the risk of the robots enslaving the human race is as important as dealing with pandemics or nuclear war which I think is either peak hyperbole or a cynical attempt to keep the smaller players out of the nascent AI industry. This statement from the...

China Tech – The doldrums pt. III

Rumblings get louder. A rotten set of results from Xiaomi, cutbacks by Oppo, a weak domestic currency and a massive government debt problem are all pointing in a direction that Chinese officialdom would like to distract us from. Xiaomi reported an 18.9% YoY decline in revenues that it put down to “uncertainty in the global economy” but it is clear...

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Nvidia FQ1 24 – A party of picks and shovels

Nvidia is the enabler of the modern-day gold rush. Nvidia reported stellar results as the intensifying mania around generative AI is driving unprecedented demand for its products which has driven both the share price and valuation into the stratosphere. FQ1 24 revenues / Adj-EPS were $7.2bn / $1.09 way ahead of estimates at $6.53bn / $0.92 and the fun did...

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Microsoft – Dependency Build

Microsoft will end up having to acquire OpenAI. Microsoft is putting OpenAI’s technology into almost everything it makes creating single source risk that I think can only be resolved by the acquisition of OpenAI where it already owns 49%. It is Microsoft Build time again and this time it was all about how generative AI, ChatGPT and OpenAI’s technology would...

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Technology Newsround – Zoom, Cars & AR

Zoom – Hybrid work. Zoom reported good results as pandemic customers are sticking with the service which allowed the company to raise its estimates resulting in a valuation that is no longer particularly challenging. Revenues for 2023 will now be $4.47bn – $4.49bn and EPS $4.25 – $4.31 up marginally from its previous forecasts. What is remarkable here is that...

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USA vs. China – The tell

China reveals its hand. China has banned Micron’s products from critical infrastructure in a move that clearly demonstrates just how weak its hand is in semiconductors which remains something it is not going to fix any time soon. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has announced that Micron’s products “posed significant risks to China’s critical information infrastructure” and as such,...

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Alibaba FQ4 23 – Doldrums pt. II

So much to fix. The full spin-out of its cloud business failed to direct investors’ attention away from a very dull set of results which show almost no recovery in the Chinese economy and that management has a lot of things to fix to get Alibaba back on track. FQ4 23 revenues / EPS were RMB208bn (up 2% YoY) /...

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