MAY 27th 2014: Radio Free Mobile deepens its flagship research product with the publication of: Samsung & Google – Gorilla War – An in depth analysis of the Google/Android ecosystem. There is no money in Android. The value is in the ecosystems that sit on top of it. Samsung has mistakenly assumed that it can maintain its 18% handset margins by focusing on...
Lenovo can only just afford its strategy Lenovo reported reasonable Q4 14A results but the addition of Motorola will almost tip Lenovo into the red. Q4 14A Revenues / Net Income were $9.4bn / $158.3m compared to forecasts of $9.0bn / $163.6m. On a YoY basis the results look much better with revenue up 19%,...
A guaranteed flop wisely killed prior to launch. Microsoft launched the Surface 3 at an event yesterday in New York but conspicuously absent was any mention of a smaller device to compete with the iPad Mini and 7-8” Android devices. Given the vivacity of the rumour mill, I suspect that this device was killed at...
Sony and Microsoft need to head Google off at the pass. Google is absent from gaming which in my opinion is the single most important Digital Life service in terms of the time that users spend with their devices. However, it now looks as if Google is finally starting to move on this space as...
An Apple / Samsung settlement is becoming more likely. Apple and Google have dropped all of their outstanding litigation and will work together to reform patent law. This is not nearly as exciting as it sounds because: First. The agreement was reached without the signing of a cross licence making this “second class settlement”. Second:...
Windows Phone is 3rd but it’s very far to 2nd. Windows phone has moved up into third place when it comes to smartphone usage but it is a very distant third and only just ahead of Blackberry. The latest data from Chitika shows that in the last three months, Windows Phone share of mobile internet...
There is no sign of the hoped for recovery. Sony reported a bad set of results with forecasts for the coming year coming far below what consensus had been looking for. Revenues and net income for FY 14A were JPY1,870bn / LOSS JPY111bn which was in line with revised guidance given on May 1st. However,...
Google has deep pockets. Lenovo does not. The Moto E is a triumph for the consumer offering more smartphone than ever for the dollar. However, it is likely to be a financial disaster for Lenovo which, after taking on Motorola, will be just $100m above break-even at the group level. In contrast, Motorola’s thumping $200m...
Look to the ecosystem to find growth. Samsung has sold 10m Samsung Galaxy S5 in the first 25 days from launch (Korea Economic Daily) which is only slightly faster than it sold the first 10m of the Galaxy S4. When one compares this to the Galaxy S3, 2 and 1 it is clear that growth...
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.
HPQ Q2A– Slash and burn.
No strategy means no recovery. Hewlett Packard reported Q2 14A results earlier than expected as it announced another 11,000-16,000 jobs are to go on top of the 34,000 already announced. Revenues and EPS were $27.3bn / $0.88 compared to estimates of $27.4bn / $0.88. This is the second quarter of flat YoY revenues which is...