The returns from bike sharing will be made from the data. Now that Mobike has a strong backer, it is opening the spending spigot that looks certain to crush what is left of the smaller rivals allowing the market to settle down to one with low margins but where the real money will be made from the data that...
Smartphone slowdown sinks all boats. Xiaomi The omens are ill for when Xiaomi begins trading in Hong Kong on Monday as its shares are trading at an 11% discount to the IPO price in the grey market. To be fair, in the grey market, volumes are low and there is no issuer support meaning that this price action is only...
Middle East looks like another exit. Following its ignominious exit from South East Asia, Russia and China, Uber is now in discussion with Careem that I think would effectively see it exit the Middle East. This will further concentrate Uber’s fortunes in USA and Western Europe where the chief rival remains the resurgent Lyft. Uber has said that it is...
No need to reengineer the wheel. It looks like Apple along with Google and Samsung (see here) has also developed a case of engineering disease as it makes no sense whatsoever these days to build a map from scratch. It is no secret that Apple Maps has not been a stunning success. Outside of California and the US in particular,...
Gaming makes more sense than video. Snap’s beleaguered attempts to move beyond its instant messaging service have taken another turn with a potential move into gaming. Given that the Digital Life segment of gaming is the one segment where there is no dominant operator, Snap has a much better chance of succeeding here than elsewhere where it is up...
Reply to this post Amazon shakes the ivory towers. Amazon has made its move on the retail pharmacy industry by buying PillPack in a move that could have been thwarted by Walgreens or CVS if they had not stayed locked in their ivory towers. If Walgreens had purchased PillPack itself and run it into the ground, it would still be...
Google’s long arm extends into feature phones. The hopes of handset makers and operators wishing to escape from Google’s clutches in emerging markets have been dealt a blow as Google Ventures is leading an investment round in KaiOS. KaiOS is a feature phone platform that has managed to take 15% share in India on the basis of it offering...
Leadership unconnected with past is needed. Faraday Future has secured a life line that ushers it back into the increasingly crowded electric vehicle start-up space, but I have concerns as to whether Jia Yueting is the right person to lead the company from here. Despite its already very chequered history, Faraday Future has managed to secure $2bn in funding...
KaiOS works better than Android at the lowest end. Google is having another crack at social networking and an important part of its success could end up being dependent on KaiOS, the feature phone OS that has risen spectacularly from the ashes of Firefox OS. Google’s first attempt to compete with Facebook in social networking was Google+ which failed...
Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.
Amazon – Mad Man.
AI is the weakness in Amazon’s push to take on Google and Facebook. Amazon has made a habit of unsettling entire industries simply by announcing its entrance but when it comes to digital advertising, its limited AI ability will keep it in Google’s shadow for now. However, the same cannot be said for Facebook which I think really struggles with...