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...
A deal with Aol would be great for the stock but bad for the company. The Aol and Yahoo! story is heating up again (see here) as Starboard has gone back into Aol and now has a reasonable stake in both companies. There is substantial value to be released in both companies and while putting...
BlackBerry now looks stable but commoditising fast Blackberry held an event in San Francisco where it unveiled the new version of its server product (BES12) and launched a partnership with Samsung for regulated industries. The new version of the server makes a number of meaningful improvements over BES10 that include: First: Seamless support for all...
Far more changes are required to meet the long term goals. Twitter made some bold promises at its analyst day giving investors some confidence and sending the shares up 7%. Firstly, a series of product announcements aimed at increasing engagement for logged-on users and casual visitors that include: Instant timeline. Gives new users and casual...
MCX is likely to fail unless something changes. The combined power of Apple and the major credit card companies is likely to exert so much pressure on MCX that something will have to change. Retailers have problems with credit cards. The credit card companies charge them a fee every time a card is used which...
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 vs. Google – The big trade
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...