No co-incidence that SoftBank chose Cruise. By investing in autonomous driving, SoftBank is adding another horse to its stable of investments aimed at revolutionising the transport industry. Softbank is investing $2.25bn in the autonomous driving arm of General Motors (GM) giving it a 19.6% stake in the company at a post money valuation of $11.5bn. SoftBank will invest $900m now...
Uber falls for Waymo’s fleeting charms. Uber is in discussions with Waymo to add its vehicles to the Uber network in what I think is a dangerous development for Uber. Uber is already under massive pressure having lost most of its overseas territories and is facing a resurgent (Google and Waymo backed) Lyft at home. Furthermore, its autonomous driving offering...
Alice finds a home. At its annual developer conference names Yet Another Conference, Yandex unveiled a series of features and upgrades that are aimed at cementing its grip on the Russian internet market. Yandex’s algorithms have been exclusively trained using Russian data which will protect Yandex from foreign competition but are also likely to prevent it from gaining any real...
Reply to this post Baidu still No. 2 in AI. Comparing how Baidu is using AI to manage user generated content to how Facebook is faring, is a further sign of just how far behind Facebook is and how shareholders will be paying the price for it. iQiyi is Baidu’s equivalent of YouTube and...
Reply to this post The wheels appear to have fallen off. Andy Rubin’s Essential Products Inc. is up for sale almost certainly because of a cash shortage triggered by the fact that its smartphone was simply not an essential purchase. Essential Products has now cancelled its second phone and is instead focusing on smart home...
Reply to this post Intransigence helps Apple and the Chinese. Google and Samsung both have a bad case of engineering disease that prevents them from working together in a way that I think would greatly benefit both of them. Engineering disease relates to a condition where the desire to solve technical problems and do things...
Reply to this post Baidu removes barriers for Alibaba and Tencent. Hot on the heels of the spin off of iQiyi, Baidu has announced the spin off of Global DU as the next move in its quest to become a focused AI company. I suspect that other assets like Nuomi.com and its app stores are...
Reply to this post Humans can run red lights, machines can’t . Mobileye has a great excuse to why its autonomous system ran a red light but when lives are at stake, excuses are not good enough. Safety is a major driver of the automotive industry which is why components are tested to breaking point,...
Reply to this post Old chestnut software problem is back. Sony is intending to change its stars by moving away from hardware towards content and services but the old software chestnut is likely to trip the company up again. Under Kazuo Hirai, Sony has had an excellent turnaround, but one that has been almost exclusively...
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.
Google vs. Amazon – Battle for the smart home pt. X
Reply to this post Good ideas still depend on AI. Amazon has all the right ideas when it comes to improving the user experience with Alexa but the real decider is almost certain to be the quality of the AI that drives the assistant. Amazon is trialling a new API which combined with its own...