Autonomous Autos – Dark horses.

Reply to this post           Waymo’s lead shrinks to 5 to 1. Analysis of autonomous testing data submitted to the California DMV for 2017, reveals that Waymo is still out front, but GM Cruise has improved massively with Nissan holding onto its No.3 position. The best measure of an autonomous driving solution remains how often the...

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Corporate governance – Caveat emptor.

Reply to this post           HKSE sells out investors. In a bid not to repeat the ignominious loss of the Alibaba IPO to NYSE, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is downgrading its listing rules that will allow public companies to ride roughshod over the interests of their shareholders. I think that it is no co-incidence that...

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Apple & Amazon – Mixed bag.

Reply to this post           Plusses and minuses in both reports. Apple FQ1 18 – relief rally Apple reported good results where a 14.5% increase in iPhone ASPs allowed revenues to remain strong despite weakness in volume shipments. FQ1 18 revenues / EPS were $88.3bn / $3.89 beating expectations of $87.6bn / $3.85. The main driver...

Microsoft & Facebook – 2 good runs.

Reply to this post           2 good runs could come to an end in 2018. Microsoft FQ2 18. Microsoft reported good FQ2 18 results, but the shares have been so strong recently that all the good news for the current year looks already priced into the shares. FQ2 18 revenues / adj-EPS were $28.9bn / $0.96...

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Apple – Fluff ‘n’ stuff.

Reply to this post           Fluffy sentiment has nothing to do with the company. The weakness in Apple’s share price and the souring of sentiment around Apple has nothing to do with Apple and everything to do with the bulls getting overexcited about the so-called super cycle that was supposed to be driven by the iPhone...

Music Streaming – Wrong villain.

Reply to this post           The music labels strike back. It looks to me like intense lobbying by the music labels has resulted in the Copyright Royalty Board unfairly penalising the music streaming services when all along it is the labels that are mostly responsible for the “poverty” of the artists. The Copyright Royalty Board of...

Apple – Battle for the smart home pt. VI

Reply to this post           HomePod delays have cost it dearly. The HomePod has only one advantage in a market that is rapidly becoming all about the algorithms with hardware being left to those that really know audio. The much awaited HomePod is now available for pre-order and will start shipping on February 9th At $399,...

India e-commerce – Last man standing

Reply to this post           Flipkart looks close to keeping Amazon out. Jasper Infotech which owns online marketplace Snapdeal has reported dreadful revenue performance that almost certainly materially worsened in the last 9 months. This has rendered Snapdeal to an irrelevance leaving Flipkart as the only company with a chance of keeping Amazon out of its...

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Samsung & Google – Unlikely opportunity

Reply to this post           Samsung should capitalise on Google’s failures. Samsung is making a lot of noise around its reimagining of the camera and AI on its new flagship Galaxy s9, but if it really wants differentiation in 2018, it would be wise to capitalise on Google’s failure to successfully launch its own products. The...

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Snapchat – Content blues

Reply to this post           Escaping content is a sign of real problems. Snapchat’s move to allow content to be shared outside of its app is a sign that growth remains stagnant in the face of brutal pressure from Instagram and that it needs to expand its audience at any cost. The personal stories will all...

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