Services are the only way for Apple to hold its edge. The limitations of a unified ecosystem is staring to hurt Apple’s ability to differentiate in hardware. The single biggest complaint heard from users is that Apple iPhone screen is too small when compared to the slabs of glass made by Samsung or LG Electronics....
Apple will have to make cars in order to make money from them. It is the Geneva auto show this week and there is suspicion that Apple will launch iOS 7 to be built into dashboard infotainment systems. Apple is expected to launch with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. There is some smoke with this fire...
Samsung has no choice but to push into the ecosystem. Samsung and Google have signed a 10 year patent agreement but there does seem to be more involved than just a simple IP cross licence. The first sign of this is that the media hubs through which Samsung was selling movies and music have...
The suit count is way up making Nokia and Android the most exciting development. MWC Day 1 MWC 2014 has attracted more visitors than ever but the void of news flow hallmarks what is becoming an increasingly mature industry. The jeans and t-shirts which were rare in 2013 are now almost extinct and continue to...
Firefox enables a $25 smartphone but it is hard to see how anyone makes money from it. For the last year Firefox OS has promised mid to high level smartphone performance for a mid to high level feature phone price. It got the price right but the performance really lagged which combined with spotty operator...
Galaxy Gear could steal the thunder next week. Samsung is launching its new line-up on Monday evening at an event in Barcelona. While the Samsung Galaxy S5 is likely to be one of the most boring launches of the show, there could be some interest around the Galaxy Gear. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is likely...
The fight between HPQ and Autonomy is going very badly for HPQ. It looks increasingly likely that HPQ will have egg all over its face when the Serious Fraud Office and the FBI decline to press charges of fraud against the former management of Autonomy. HPQ purchased Autonomy for $10.8bn in 2011 and then followed...
This deal looks eerily similar to Ebay’s unsuccessful purchase of Skype in 2005. Rakuten, The Japanese B2C and B2B2C e-commerce platform has announced that it will buy Viber for $900m. Viber is very similar to Skype except that it was developed for mobile first meaning that it has been designed with mobile in mind. Skype...
The latest news from Tizen is unlikely to change anything. Despite its leading supporter shelving its plans to launch devices, the Tizen association has announced a raft of new members and plans to show devices at MWC on 23rd February. Tizen is not new. It is the remnant of a plethora of industry consortia that...
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.
Facebook– Whats up?
There is a lot “up” with Facebook to justify spending $19bn of shareholder’s money on WhatsApp. Facebook will pay $4bn in cash, $12bn in shares and $3bn in restricted stock to acquire WhatsApp, trumping Google’s bid of $10bn. My current estimate is that WhatsApp currently has around 475m users which means that Facebook is paying...