RFM is hanging up the mike until Tuesday 15th July.
Users are buying Xiaomi for the right reasons. With 26.1m devices sold in H1 2014, Xiaomi is becoming a force to be reckoned with. This performance moves it up into contention with Huawei, LG Electronics and Lenovo all of whom I expect to have shipped similar volumes during the first half of 2014. Xiaomi’s volumes...
The decline may have started early. Samsung reported very disappointing Q2 14A results but it looks like the whisper numbers and comments from the CFO last month have already taken care of the valuation impact for now. Q2A revenues and EBIT were KRW51tn-KRW53tn / KRW7.0tn-KRW7.4tn. The median points are KRW52tn and KRW7.2tn. This is meaningfully...
Key signal for a wearable launch still missing. The market has worked itself into a fever pitch with regards to the imminent launch of the iWatch. The latest device is supposed to have a curved rectangular screen, wireless charging and is possibly will get some of its power from solar cells. Apple has compounded speculation...
One quarter does not make a recovery. HTC reported good Q2 results as cuts to marketing expenses allowed profitability to make up for weak sales. Q2A revenues / net income were NT$65.1bn / NT$2.26bn compared to consensus at NT$66.9bn / NT$2.06bn. This was well adrift of the company’s own forecast of revenues at NT$65bn-NT$70bn. This...
Fire phone’s draw looks to have already faded. Some observers are wondering why anyone outside the US would want to buy Amazon’s smartphone but I am struggling to see why anyone inside the US would want to buy it. The phone is being made available on July 25th but demand for the device seems to...
Google buying Songza is bad for Samsung not Spotify. Google has decided to acquire the music streaming service Songza which effectively means that Samsung will now have to shut down its similar service called Milk Radio. . Google is paying somewhere between $15m-$40m for the fledgling service whose specialisation is in the accurate curation of...
Google Android is becoming just like iOS or Windows Phone. Everywhere one looks it is become increasingly clear that Google aims to take complete control of Android. This will leave Android devices as vessels for Google’s ecosystem just as PCs are vessels for Intel and Microsoft. Google is not limiting its ambitions to phones but...
Amazing success keeps Google blind to its weaknesses. Every step that Google takes to move its ecosystem forward is a step backwards for Samsung and the other hardware makers. The announcements at Google I/O (developer conference) are not ground breaking, but it is increasingly clear that Google is bent on domination of the digital world....
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.
PCs Q2A – Signs of life
RFM still expects the PC market to grow in H2 2014. Both IDC and Gartner gave their estimates of the PC market in Q2 and both are seeing signs of improvement. IDC saw a 0.1% growth YoY in Q2 while Gartner saw the slowest decline since Q2 2012 with a fall of 1.7% YoY. Between...