Reply to this post The only vote is the one by foot. There comes a time in every company’s history when rapid action is needed to avert disaster. Facebook’s current predicament is starting to look like that time and the reaction by Facebook so far increasingly looks like the actions of a company that knows...
Reply to this post LG starts the trend. LG is the first to execute on a trend that I have long predicted and one which will move the battle for the smart home completely into the realm of software and user experience. LG USA has announced that all of its WiFi connected SmartThinQ home appliances...
Reply to this post ZTE could lose Google. I think that ZTE’s real problem from its 7-year ban on acquiring technology from US companies, will be its inability to ship Google Ecosystem devices which could decimate its business outside China. According to Counterpoint Research (see here), ZTE shipped 44.6m Android smartphones in 2017 of which around 10.9m were sold in...
Reply to this post Forward indicators for games look tough. Gaming had a good 2017 on mobile devices, but the data is pointing a rapid changing of the guard in terms of the services that generate the most income for developers. Data from Sensor Tower (see here) indicates that games were by far the biggest revenue generator for developers in...
Reply to this post Yet another glaring omission. Android’s already poor security takes another leg down as it transpires that many Android handset makers are not applying security patches although whether this makes Android devices less secure in practice remains open for debate. Research carried out by Security Research Labs (SRL) of Germany (see here) has shown that not only...
Reply to this post Go slower with no cock-ups. Beneath the polished performance lies a company with its reputation in ruins and whose indicators are going the wrong way. Its arch rival Google does not “move fast and break things” and is now reaping the benefit of “go slower with no cock-ups”. Mark Zuckerberg put in another polished performance yesterday...
Reply to this post New philosophy needed. Mark Zuckerberg gave a well prepared and practiced performance at Facebook’s congressional hearing but it is clear from this and from some of Tesla’s recent problems that the Silicon Valley methodology of “move fast and break things” is itself, broken. Only Republican Ted Cruz was able to rattle Zuckerberg when it came to...
Reply to this post Jump removed from Lyft’s clutches. Uber has followed China’s lead and moved to consolidate bike sharing as another one of its shared transport related services but the continued existence of this service remains highly questionable. Chinese ride sharing companies Didi and Meituan are currently engaged in the same process to broaden the functionality of their services...
Reply to this post Spotify auto speaker is another wake up call. Spotify releasing a music player for the vehicle is an attempt to push back against Apple Music in USA and should be of concern to both the vehicle OEMs and the radio broadcasters. It looks like the hardware that Spotify will release on April 24th will be a...
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.
Alphabet Q1 – The price of growth
Reply to this post Google is faring better than its peers. Alphabet reported great results and appears to be nicely avoiding the fall-out from Facebook, but continued growth is coming at the cost of both higher TAC (Traffic Acquisition Costs) as well as OPEX investments. Q1 18 revenues / adj-EPS were $31.15bn / $9.93 nicely...