Battery stuffing may not be worth it. Xiaomi’s new ability to fully charge a smartphone in 10 minutes sounds great but it will in all likelihood damage the battery so much that Xiaomi may need to move back to user-replaceable batteries and provide a replacement in the box. The technology media (see here) is touting this as an incredible breakthrough...
Business messaging and AR dominate the agenda. The completely scripted keynote didn’t reveal very much that was new but was a clear indicator of where Facebook is placing its short, medium, and long-term bets. Facebook is refocusing F8 on the developer largely because developers are the engine of its cash machine and because it becoming increasingly clear that Facebook’s long-term...
Regulator claims a victory which looks like defeat. The Australian regulator is claiming victory in its fight with Facebook and Google, but I suspect that its only achievement is to put in writing the same terms that were already in place before all this fuss started. In an interview with the FT (see here), Rod Sims the chairman of the...
Breakaway start-up has an impossible mission. Anthropic is a new breakaway start-up from Open AI but its approach remains pretty much the same meaning that its focus on “reliable, interpretable and steerable AI” is going to be very hard to achieve. Anthropic has also just raised $124m at a valuation of $845m which is pretty incredible as there does not...
The outcome is likely to be somewhere in the middle. The first stage of this battle is over as the judge has retired to consider her decision, but it looks like neither side is going to like the outcome which I think ends up as a net win for Epic until round 2 when Apple appeals the ruling. The problem...
Amazon overpays for a jaded asset. Amazon is acquiring MGM Studios to bolster its digital ecosystem but while it has a great name and impressive catalogue, its distinct lack of recent franchises makes me wonder whether Amazon is overpaying in its haste to expand. Amazon is paying $8.45bn to acquire MGM from the creditors who brought it out of bankruptcy...
Peloton should be moving out of hardware. Peloton’s move deeper into hardware will benefit the company in the short term, but as the value in this sector moves into software and the content, hardware manufacturing will rapidly become a liability that will likely crash the company’s valuation. Peloton has announced that it will invest $400m in the construction of a...
No oligarchs please we are Chinese. The withdrawal of Zhang Yiming from the management of ByteDance is all about ensuring that the IPO goes well and that the events that destroyed Ant Group are not repeated. This is another clear indication that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has no real issue with any of these companies but will ensure that...
Tim Cook has a really bad memory. There are a number of items that stretch one’s credibility in the testimony given by senior Apple executives which I think has started to tip the balance of the outcome more in Epic’s favour. Both Tim Cook and Phil Schiller have given testimony in the court case between Epic Games and Apple which...
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.
Ant Group & Alibaba – Up from zero.
Ant Group’s digital powerhouse becomes a bank. While the original Ant Group proposition was dealt a fatal blow (see here) by the Chinese regulator, Ant Group has been granted a license that will see it become a 50% shareholder in a bank. While the value of this to Ant Group is a tiny fraction of the once mooted $300bn, it...