Facebook vs. Snap Inc. – Own goal pt. II.

Reply to this post           An unaffordable outage. Snap Inc’s Snapchat service suffered a 4 hour worldwide outage that enraged its users, greatly increasing the risk of defection to Facebook’s more reliable and much larger stories service. Snap Inc. is already having a tough time competing against Instagram Stories and these sorts of events are simply...

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Razer phone– In character.

Reply to this post           For hardcore fans only. Razer has stuck to what it knows in its in launching first smartphone, but its focus on gamers means that the device looks very dated against competition in its price tier (Galaxy s8, Mate 10 Pro, iPhone 8 etc). The Razer phone sports a very average looking...

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Apple FQ4 17 – All things X.

Reply to this post           X hits the spot. Apple reported good results and guided strongly for FQ1 18 as it has managed to deal with some of the production problems with the iPhone X which will result in slightly better than expected shipments in FQ1 18. FQ4 17 revenues / EPS were $52.6bn / $2.07...

Facebook Q3 17– Organic brains.

Reply to this post           Humans are not the answer. Facebook reported strong results but gave disappointing guidance as its shortcomings in AI mean that non-productive headcount is going to skyrocket, materially hurting profitability. Q3 17 revenues / EPS were $10.3bn / $1.59 comfortably above forecasts of $9.8bn / $1.28. Once again this was driven by...

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Razer – The public game.

Reply to this post           Its too early for Razer to go public. Razer wants to become the ecosystem for gamers but its progress in this area is at such an early stage that I think it has no business being a public company. This is because when a company is in transition, things rarely go...

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Facebook – Lead bullet.

Reply to this post           A problem that humans can’t solve. There is a silver bullet to deal with the fake news issue, but the problem is that Facebook is not even close to being able to produce one and is having to rely on old, ineffective bullets instead. This problem has been around for a...

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Google Pixel – Damage done.

Reply to this post           Software updates won’t fix reputation. The seemingly endless problems with Google’s latest Pixel devices can most probably be completely resolved with software updates, but these will not repair the reputation damage which is likely to keep the few potential buyers that there are at bay. The problems are legion: First, Screen...

Alphabet, Baidu & Amazon – West vs. East.

Reply to this post           US fares far better than China. Alphabet and Amazon reported very strong results while Baidu struggled to deal with the shift in advertising from search to social media. Alphabet. Alphabet reported another very strong quarter but the requirement to share some of the spoils with its partners is putting upward pressure...

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Tokyo Motor Show – Not invented here.

Reply to this post           Existential challenge ahead. The star of the Tokyo Motor Show is an electric sports vehicle designed by Toyota which has at its heart an assistant that I think neither Honda nor any other automaker has any chance of ever creating themselves. The best hope is for automakers to licence or buy...

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Snap – Reality of fad.

Reply to this post           Snap learns a hard lesson. Snap generated plenty of interest around its first hardware product but the fact that more than 50% users wore the spectacles for just 4 weeks indicates that the device was nothing more than a passing fad. To add insult to injury a sizeable number of users...

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