A losing strategy. More draconian regulations are falling upon the Chinese ecosystems that I think will kill innovation, raise costs and severely hamper China’s ambitions to lead the world in digital services. First, it was games (see here) but now platforms that host user-generated video content (like ByteDance’s TikTok) will be responsible for any inappropriate content posted by their users....
Interesting offerings that slipped through the cracks. Real wireless power Thanks to Apple, wireless charging using the Qi standard is now everywhere, but far more interesting is the possibility to charge devices from a distance. There are a series of companies working on this all of whom have a slightly different way to address the issue including Energous, Powercast, Ossia...
Xiaomi finally in range. The noise and bustle of CES have distracted many commentators from the dreadful performance at Xiaomi which is now starting to be properly priced into the share price. Over the last few sessions Xiaomi has lost nearly 17% of its value (41.4% since IPO and 53.7% since its high on 18th July 2018) as market concerns...
Artificial Intelligence: La-La Land. The most abused term award at CES 2019 goes to artificial intelligence where almost everyone is using it but almost no one seems to know what it means. Senior execs are looking rather foolish at their press conferences having been told by their PR and marketing departments to ensure that they claim to use AI when,...
Autonomous hype becomes more realistic. Planes, yachts & automobiles. CES 2019 is even more about vehicles than it ever has been before but to the industry’s credit, there is more reality and less hype than last year. The best example of this is to be found in autonomous driving where numerous players have reigned in their expectations stating that they...
2019 demands delivery not more hype. Automotive & infotainment CES 2019 is likely to be even more dominated by automotive than it was last year and, in that vein, the landscape is likely to become clearer this year. A shakeout (like in XR (see below)) in autonomous driving is still some way off, but I expect to see the infotainment...
An echo of Nokia between 2003 and 2006. Apple has ensured an exciting start to the year with its first profit warning for more than 10 years that I think indicates that there are limits to which one can increase prices in a mature market. Apple has downgraded its guidance for FQ1 19 with revenue now expected to be around...
A Christmas present from Germany. Qualcomm has struck another blow against Apple with a permanent injunction being granted against Apple which can only serve to further increase pressure on Apple to do a deal. The District Court of Munich has ruled that all iPhones up to and including iPhone X are infringing an envelope tracking patent belonging to Qualcomm and...
Better products, not ineffective regulation needed. The regulations being imposed upon Google by a seemingly hapless EU appear to be having the opposite effect to that intended in yet another sign that the bodies who make the rules for tech have no idea how the game is played. A small search engine based in France called Qwant is complaining that...
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.
ByteDance – Staying private
ByteDance signals the Chinese IPO window may be closing. On top of its star service being hit with draconian regulations (see here) which will damage long-term prospects, the Chinese economy also seems to have done some damage to ByteDance’s financial performance raising questions over its valuation and going public. At its last fundraising in October 2018, ByteDance indicated that 2018...