On course to become a commodity. Toyota is partnering with Uber in a move that confirms that it has no confidence in an in-house autonomous vehicle offering as well as little understanding of how its industry is becoming driven by software. Toyota will invest $500m in Uber at a valuation of $72bn and begin manufacturing Sierra Minivans with Uber’s self-driving technology...
Didi has its Baidu and Facebook moment. Chinese technology companies have a culture of moving fast and breaking things, and while Didi got a free pass from the regulator for the first incident (unlike Baidu), it is unlikely to get off scot-free the second time. Another passenger looks to have been the victim of a homicide perpetrated by a driver...
Device pays the hype price. There is nothing wrong with the Magic Leap One when compared to its peers, but relative to what Magic Leap promised, the device is very disappointing. This is the problem with failing to appropriately manage expectations as the general opinion of this device is now not as good as I think it should be. Comparing...
Gross margin of 6.7% is all one needs to know. Xiaomi reported what is being received as a reasonable set of results, but in my opinion, these results further highlight Xiaomi’s chronic inability or unwillingness to make money for its owners. Q2 18 revenues / adj-EBIT were RMB42.2bn / RMB1.6bn (3.9%) after removing the one-off impact of stock compensation and...
Cable cedes users to a combination of streaming and OTA. The usage of digital antennas to receive over-the-air broadcast TV is continuing to rise in yet another sign that the cable TV subscription is facing an existential threat. The latest research from Parks Associates (see here) has found that the penetration of digital antennas has increased to 20% from 16%...
Way too early to go public. Most metrics for Qutoutiao are pointing in the wrong direction, leaving only its relatively low penetration of the Chinese market as a positive. Qutoutiao is a content aggregator which makes some sense in a world where there is so much content that finding what one likes is increasingly difficult. On the plus side, those...
Lyft may be causing more problems than it should. Uber produced a quarter where revenue growth slowed and there was little sign of the profitability that would indicate that Lyft is no longer a problem giving a clear path to a successful IPO. Q2 18 revenues / net income were $2.8bn / LOSS$891m with revenue growth of 63% and...
RFM will return from fishing on August 16th.
Hopefully, the indication of profits can become reality. Amazon produced good results making up for a revenue shortfall with profitability, raising hopes yet again that at last Amazon is at last beginning to make money for its owners. Q2 18 revenues / EPS were $52.9bn / $5.07 slightly adrift of revenue expectations of $57.6bn but well ahead of consensus EPS...
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.
Volareo – The late hour.
Volareo is way too late to have a chance. The smart speaker market is already extremely crowded which is likely to ensure that Volareo’s offering disappears without a trace. Volareo is a Dutch start-up whose proposition is based on ensuring that musicians get a large slice of the revenue from a song with payment being enabled using cryptocurrencies. The device...