Alibaba is on the right path with Yun OS. Alibaba is a giant in the e-commerce space but it has very little in the areas that are likely to see the most growth in China over the next 10 years. This is the digital mobile ecosystem and Alibaba knows that it must address this space...
Google must take control to improve the experience. Despite being available for just over one month, adoption by the Android installed base of Android L (“Lollipop” or Android 5.0) is pathetically low at less than 0.1% of the installed base. By contrast, Apple managed to upgrade 46% of its user base to iOS 8 within...
Potential reshuffle fails to fix the problem. It looks as if it’s the head of sales and marketing who is taking the fall for the recent troubles instead of JK Shin. Unfortunately that is likely to achieve nothing. Samsung has had a disastrous six months with both market share and margins decreasing despite large price...
Replacing Google as default for search is a big trade off. If Apple’s deal with Google for search is due for renewal next year, there is every chance that Apple will switch to another search provider. In reality, there is only one choice as both Bing and Yahoo! are powered by the same search engine...
The first Indian ecosystem launches. It won’t be the last. India’s second biggest handset vendor has launched a new line of devices resplendent with a new user experience, paving the way for the first Indian ecosystem. The first device in the series will be available in December but as of yet there is no word...
Freemium Instant Video looks likely to deepen losses. The latest scheme to come from Amazon appears to be an idea to move its Instant Video service to a Freemium model. The content would be made available in two ways: First: a continuation of the existing service where Amazon Prime users get unlimited streaming as part...
Getting back into China will be long, tough haul Google has been effectively absent from the Chinese market since 2010. With the growth of Internet use in China and ever increasing smartphone penetration, it is clear that this is a big revenue stream that is currently passing it by. Looking at the ecosystem opportunity, RFM...
The loss of Firefox hurts image and more than revenues. Yahoo! and Mozilla have announced that Yahoo! will replace Google as the default search engine within the Firefox Internet browser. This change marks the end of the 10 year deal in which Google was the default search provider for Mozilla. Mozilla and Yahoo! have signed...
Cutting a few models does not address the problem. Samsung has confirmed that it will cut the number of smartphones that it launches in 2015E by 30% in an attempt to shore up profitability. It will also aim to increase its re-use of parts across its portfolio and thereby gain greater scale advantages from volume...
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.
LGE – Harsh reality
Only volume can improve profitability. LG’s latest moves show all the signs of a company that has come to terms with its commoditisation. In many ways, LGE is currently better off than Samsung as it does not have the huge burden of expectations of high market share and profitability. LG has been chugging along for...