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....
Google’s days as a developer of open source software are numbered. With its future in Android now secure, Google has turned its attention to mitigating the biggest risk to its long term growth: Apple. Apple used its developer conference to refer to Android as a “toxic hellstew” that is both chaotic and very insecure. I...
Finally, some positive signs from mobile. I have been concerned for some time about the lack of progress at Yahoo! (see here and here) but there have been some positive signs. Yahoo! acquired Aviate, a home screen curation app., last October and it is finally being made available to users. Now known as Yahoo! Aviate,...
Developer conferences are where the ecosystem evolves. Developer conferences are becoming increasingly important as the relevance of the device continues to decline. Google will host its 2014 I/O conference this week and it is here that a glimpse of what is really planned for the Google Ecosystem over the next 12 months will be given....
Key to wearables still missing The wearables space is on fire today with talk of new devices from Fitbit as well as yet another potential iWatch. Fitbit has applied for trademarks for a Fitbit Surge, a Fitbit Charge and PurePulse. The most significant of the three is the PurePulse which will be a wrist mounted...
Expensive phone with no ecosystem does not make a hit. Amazon has launched its Fire smartphone but its cost and limitations will put a smile on the faces of Apple, Google and Microsoft. The smartphone Fire is a high end device with a HD screen with some funky 3D graphics effects, 2.2Ghz quad-core CPU, 2GB...
Nuance looks good for private equity not Samsung. Nuance is a provider of speech and language technology that is used by Apple in its Siri digital assistant. It has fallen on difficult times and with the recent addition of an activist investor, is feeling pressure to release some value. Hence, it appears very likely that...
RFM continues to see the growth in the PC market in 2014E. Intel increased its Q2 guidance as end-of –life XP machines are being upgraded much more quickly than expected. Q2E revenues will now be $13.4bn-$14.0bn up from previous guidance of $12.5bn-$13.5bn. This represents a mid-point increase of 5.3% and is nicely ahead of consensus...
$25 dollar smartphone is likely to remain slideware Mozilla is moving to fulfil the promise of an ultra-cheap smartphone but the outcome of this initiative is out of its hands. In February 2014, Mozilla together with Spreadtrum launched a smartphone reference design that promised to put a Firefox OS smartphone in the hands of a...
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 – The long game
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...