Reply to this post PC makers do nothing to fight the tide. Figures from both Gartner and IDC show that Q2 15A has been another awful quarter for the PC industry. IDC has the market declining 11.8% to 66.1m units while Gartner has seen a 9.5% decline to 68.4m units. Tough comparisons to 2014 where the...
Reply to this post Phones effectively paused while ecosystem is fixed. Microsoft is reducing the scale of its mobile phone business into line with the other hardware businesses with the exception of the Xbox. A thumping $7.6bn write down will be taken against the acquired assets of Nokia reducing them to close to zero and...
Reply to this post Apple Watch EBIT margins likely to have suffered from low volume. If the latest reports are to be believed, sales of the Apple Watch have been far worse than even RFM’s bearish predictions. This has meaningful repercussions for the profitability of the device as it clearly lacks the scale to earn...
Reply to this post This will be the last quarter of hard comparisons. Samsung guided to weaker than expected Q2 15A results as the Galaxy s6 appears to have been unable to make much of a dent in the iPhone 6’s appeal. Q2 15A revenues and EBIT are expected to be KRW48tn / KRW6.9tn compared...
Reply to this post Using Google as a stop gap likely to have a disastrous effect. Many players are using Google as a stop gap in India while they get their own ecosystems ready but this sets a dangerous precedent. I believe that there is a rising danger that the Indian market may end up...
Reply to this post Sony looks to be at risk in the next generation. Sony is continuing to dominate the current generation of gaming consoles, but the user experience needs so much work that Sony must act now. In Europe the PlayStation 4 is scoring market share of 70%-90% while it trades leadership in the...
Reply to this post Xiaomi needs to squeeze as much from the Internet as it can. Xiaomi’s move to enter more markets looks like a move to generate as much volume as possible through online sales before it has to move into the traditional channels. In addition to India, Xiaomi is now making a splash...
Reply to this post Tizen is an expensive and expired insurance policy. Samsung has announced that it will continue its Tizen program at a variety of price points even though the Z1 appears to have only shipped around 1m units in India. Tizen is an open source platform, which is effectively controlled by Samsung as...
Reply to this post Winning the away game is always the hardest. Google has responded to Microsoft making its Office apps freely available on Android by re-enforcing its branding and style inside its in house Office competitors. I suspect that this is just another step in Google’s long-term strategy to control and brand the experience...
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.
Sony vs. Microsoft – Breathing space.
Reply to this post Revenue dominance gives Sony some breathing space. Sony has done an excellent job at becoming the winning gaming platform in the current generation, but I am increasingly concerned that its poor user experience and lack of an ecosystem could allow Microsoft to win in the long run. (see here) However, the...