Leap Motion – Second lap

Reply to this post           This reinvention makes more sense  Following on from the mess of its first launch in 2013 (see here), Leap Motion has now shifted its focus from PCs to Virtual Reality (VR) which is a use case that makes far more sense. The original idea was to use the Leap Motion controller...

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Uber – Time to print

Reply to this post           The time to make money has arrived.  In the last few weeks Uber’s position in the transportation industry has crystallised meaningfully, meaning that the time for it to make money is here. One large scale loss (China (see here)) is complimented by its dominance in almost the entirety of the developed...

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Mobile Gaming – Pokemon went.

Reply to this post           Tencent and Activision can breathe a sigh of relief.  Pokemon Go is already showing all the hallmarks of being a craze rather than a revolution as the appeal of the game is already beginning to pall despite only being 6 weeks old. Data from Apptopia shows that daily active users peaked...

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Cyanogen – Call for vultures.

Reply to this post           Software asset worth buying from a dying Cyanogen.  Although, Cyanogen appears to be on its last legs, I think that the software asset that it has developed remains the best alternative to Google Android that is available. The latest twist in the sorry tale of Cyanogen is the claim that management...

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Lenovo Q1 17A – Heavy weather.

Reply to this post           I see opportunity but not without risk.  Lenovo is hanging on in the difficult markets that it serves, but I think there is an opportunity for it to be as creative in PCs as it has been in handsets. Q1 17A revenues / EBIT were US$10.1bn / $245m nicely ahead of...

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Tencent Q2 16A – Stairway to heaven?

Reply to this post           Tencent remains a few steps away from greatness.  Tencent followed Alibaba in reporting a mighty set of numbers driven not by user numbers, but by its ability to generate more revenues from the users it already has. Q2 16A revenues / EPS were RMB35.7bn / RMB1.13 compared to forecasts of RMB33.3bn...

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Amazon – Curse of integration

Reply to this post           Amazon still misses the wood for the trees.  Twitch has announced that it will be acquiring Curse which further underlines how disparate and independent Amazon’s properties are and how far Amazon is from becoming a real ecosystem. Twitch is a website that streams gaming videos and has created a community around...

Xiaomi – Reality check pt V.

Reply to this post           Falling revenues reduces valuation to $3.6bn (92% below last raise).  Xiaomi has slipped to number 3 in its home market which combined with stagnation overseas continues to make the outlook increasingly bleak. Counterpoint Research indicates that in Q2 16A Xiaomi shipped 12.6m units (a decline of 26% YoY) in China and 14.5m...

Google – From Russia with Love pt. II

Reply to this post           Russian ruling could have global implications.  Although the Russian complaint against Google is a sideshow compared to the EU, it could materially weaken Google’s global agreements that allow it to ensure its ecosystem is on almost all Android devices in developed markets. The Russian regulator (FAS) has already fined Google $6.75m...

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Alibaba FYQ1 16A – Monetisation magic

Reply to this post           Improving monetisation underpins mighty numbers.  Alibaba reported very strong FYQ1 16A results as a very good performance in e-commerce was enhanced even further by Alicloud and the investments Alibaba has made in the ecosystem. FYQ1 16A revenues / EBIT were RMB32.15bn / RMB8.8bn compared to consensus at RMB29.8bn / RMB8.5bn and...

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