Reply to this post LoopPay must become seamless to create value for Samsung. With the complete cessation of any attempts at the ecosystem (see here), the acquisition of unique hardware is the only way left for Samsung to differentiate. To this end Samsung has announced the acquisition of LoopPay which is an enabler of wireless...
Reply to this post Sony’s strategy raises more concerns that it solves. Sony has announced its medium term strategy with the aim of delivering JPY500bn in operating profit for the full year ending March 2017E. This would represent a return on equity (RoE) of 10% which will be the yardstick against which performance will be...
Reply to this post Using Microsoft apps is the final nail in the ecosystem coffin. It looks very much like Samsung has discarded all of its in house software on the Samsung Galaxy S6 in favour of productivity apps from Microsoft and the ecosystem from Google. Removing all the usual pre-installed apps. should make the...
Reply to this post Infotainment makes more sense than a car. Apple has money to burn, but I think that success has not gone to the collective head of the management team. If the chatter is correct, there is a project inside Apple taking up the time of 1,000 employees that is looking at the...
Reply to this post Pedometer going the way of the digital camera. A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania under scientific conditions has shown that smartphones are just as accurate at tracking steps as dedicated pedometer devices. 14 participants each conducted 4 walking exercises carrying two smartphones and 6 pedometers comprising 3 Fitbits, 1...
Reply to this post Baidu pays the price for its mobile ambitions. Baidu reported disappointing Q4 14A results the cost of building out mobile hurt the figures. Q4 14A revenues / net profit were CNY14.1bn (US$2.23bn) / CNY3.23bn (US$517m) which missed estimates of CNY14.1bn / CNY3.52bn. Mobile is causing Baidu two main problems. First: Like...
Reply to this post Blunders reveal just how much Samsung has to learn. Samsung is making elementary blunders with the user experience on its devices that show that it still has a long way to go to realise any of its ambitions to differentiate itself using software. In the last two days Samsung has twice...
Reply to this post A concept device for those looking to create an ecosystem. Canonical and BQ (a Spanish handset maker) have joined forces and launched the first (long delayed) mobile device based on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a free open source OS based on Linux that exists on computers. The device is basically a version...
Reply to this post Alibaba and Meizu set the scene for Chinese ecosystems. Alibaba has agreed to invest $590m in Meizu, a small Chinese manufacturer of smartphones. Alibaba has stated that it will have a minority stake but given the size and probable lack of profitability, I believe that it will own very close 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.
Google – Trouble in paradise
Reply to this post Lollipop in danger of sucking. Despite promises of significant performance improvements, initial testing is showing that Lollipop is not much better than KitKat. This will rub salt into the wound caused by the upgrade that has been sitting on the shelf for months and is still not in the market in...