Gaming makes more sense than video. Snap’s beleaguered attempts to move beyond its instant messaging service have taken another turn with a potential move into gaming. Given that the Digital Life segment of gaming is the one segment where there is no dominant operator, Snap has a much better chance of succeeding here than elsewhere where it is up...
Reply to this post Amazon shakes the ivory towers. Amazon has made its move on the retail pharmacy industry by buying PillPack in a move that could have been thwarted by Walgreens or CVS if they had not stayed locked in their ivory towers. If Walgreens had purchased PillPack itself and run it into the ground, it would still be...
Google’s long arm extends into feature phones. The hopes of handset makers and operators wishing to escape from Google’s clutches in emerging markets have been dealt a blow as Google Ventures is leading an investment round in KaiOS. KaiOS is a feature phone platform that has managed to take 15% share in India on the basis of it offering...
Leadership unconnected with past is needed. Faraday Future has secured a life line that ushers it back into the increasingly crowded electric vehicle start-up space, but I have concerns as to whether Jia Yueting is the right person to lead the company from here. Despite its already very chequered history, Faraday Future has managed to secure $2bn in funding...
KaiOS works better than Android at the lowest end. Google is having another crack at social networking and an important part of its success could end up being dependent on KaiOS, the feature phone OS that has risen spectacularly from the ashes of Firefox OS. Google’s first attempt to compete with Facebook in social networking was Google+ which failed...
Reply to this post A better shot at the $100bn club. Meituan has filed for an IPO which, in my opinion, has much better fundamental reasons to justify a $100bn valuation than Xiaomi where reality seems to be pushing the listing valuation gradually downwards. Meituan was created from the merger of Meituan and Dianping both of whom specialise in online...
Reply to this post Instagram hammers two more nails into Snap. Instagram has passed 1bn monthly active users (MaUs) which combined with the launch of an offering for creators that enables longer form video content, leaves Snapchat in an increasingly unwinnable position. This has gone hand in hand with poor performance by Snap Inc’s stock...
Reply to this post Removal of bias essential for commercialisation. IBM’s debating AI is not going to fool anyone, but it does represent a step forward from Jeopardy, reinforcing RFM’s position that in the enterprise, IBM has a pretty strong AI offering. However, ensuring that the opinions are created without bias will be crucial to ensuring that the AI can...
Reply to this post JD.com will help Google shopping a bit. Sinking $550m into JD.com is unlikely to do anything for Google’s fortunes (or lack thereof) in China, but it may help somewhat with the biggest weakness of the Google Assistant in developed markets: shopping. It is also a recognition that if one wants to...
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.
Apple Maps – Wheel engineering
No need to reengineer the wheel. It looks like Apple along with Google and Samsung (see here) has also developed a case of engineering disease as it makes no sense whatsoever these days to build a map from scratch. It is no secret that Apple Maps has not been a stunning success. Outside of California and the US in particular,...