Reply to this post Security and a good user experience are almost mutually exclusive. I continue to believe that the trade-off between ease of use and security remains the single biggest impediment to the take-off of mobile payments. In 2012 every man and his dog was creating an app store as this was then a...
Reply to this post Three strong earnings reports but for very different reasons. Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon all saw strong after-hours performance following their results but for very different reasons. Alphabet Alphabet reported good results as traffic growth from mobile and YouTube were somewhat stronger than expected. However, it was the promise of better fiscal...
Reply to this post I am increasingly troubled with the outlook for Google. The outlook is becoming increasingly uncertain as Google is running out of growth and its moves to rectify the situation are not convincing in any regard. Google, or Alphabet as we must now call it, has unfurled three new strategies to halt...
Reply to this post The ecosystem is Yahoo!’s only chance at a turnaround. Another lacklustre set of results further underscores that Yahoo!’s inability to execute on its assets is the main reason for its underperformance. Furthermore, it appears that Yahoo! has simply been buying revenue growth as all the improvements seen in the top line...
Reply to this post Pre-installation and default remain very powerful. The latest figures from Apple on its music service are better than I thought they would be given the substantial weaknesses that still exist when comparing the service to market leader Spotify. Apple Music now has 15m users of which 8.5m (56.6%) are on the...
Reply to this post Those with resources now have a substantial advantage. Alibaba is moving to increase its grip on the Chinese market by bidding $3.5bn for the 81.7% of Youku that it does not already own. Youku is the Chinese equivalent of YouTube and has around 500m active users compared to Alibaba’s core e-commerce...
Reply to this post The future for many could be subscription. Axel Springer, the owner of the highly popular, advertising funded tabloid website has said that its visitors must either turn-off advertising blockers or pay €2.99 per month to see content without advertisements. This brings to a head an issue that has been simmering for many...
Reply to this post Video on Facebook is just the beginning. Facebook’s plans to unseat YouTube dominant position as a repository for video content are well developed and for the first time, Google must look to its defences. Video is just the beginning as RFM research strongly indicates (see here) that Facebook is in fact...
Reply to this post Intel has still not weaned itself off PCs and data centres. Intel reported reasonable Q3 15A results as the data centre, IoT and memory all helped to offset the ongoing weakness in PCs. Q3 15A revenues / EPS were $14.5bn / $0.64 slightly ahead of consensus at $14.2bn / $0.61 as...
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 Music – Pandora’s box.
Reply to this post I think Apple is going after radio more than streaming. Pandora reported bad Q3 15A results and guided weakly mostly as a result of losing users caused by the launch of Apple Music. This further reinforces my view that the real target of Apple Music is radio rather than recorded music...