Microsoft Q2– The Good and the Bad

          Software looks strong but Nokia smartphones had a shocker. While Microsoft reported excellent results, the Nokia smartphone business looks to have suffered badly.   The Good Microsoft reported excellent results and guidance confounding the PC sceptics. Revenues / EPS were $24.5bn / $0.78 compared to forecasts of $23.7bn / $0.69. Enterprise, cloud and even consumer...

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Netflix Q4– On to stage 2

          Content will be the key asset for Netflix from here. Netflix handsomely beat forecasts with Q4 revenues / EPS of $1.18bn / $0.79 compared to forecasts of $1.17bn / $0.66 Subscriber numbers were also strong with 2.33m added in the last quarter taking the total to 44.4m worldwide. 41.4m of these accounts are paying Netflix...

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Rockstar – Falling star

          Desperate tactics indicate all is not well at Rockstar. It looks very much as if Rockstar has been having a hard time earning a decent return on the $4.5bn that it spent to acquire 6,000 patents in 2011. So much so that its tactics appear to be getting dirtier causing more and more commentators to...

Nintendo – Nadir of fortunes

          There is worse to come for Nintendo. Nintendo issued a horrible profit warning on Friday and held a sanguine press conference but there is still worse to come. The problem is that Nintendo has not cut its estimates nearly hard enough and I suspect that Iwata-san will be apologising to investors again before the end...

NTT DoCoMo / Tizen – Spectre of Bit Pipe

          NTT DoCoMo must succeed where everyone else has failed. NTT DoCoMo now faces one of the greatest challenges in its history as it too, is now at risk of becoming a bit pipe. Tizen’s status is looking increasingly uncertain as one of its major proponents has shelved plans to launch handsets based on the platform....

Intel Q4 – A later tide.

          The tide is not going to turn on PCs until Q3 14. Intel reported Q4 results that met expectations but cautious commentary on the enterprise outlook and weak guidance dampened enthusiasm for a recovery in the PC sector this year. Q4 revenues / EPS were $13.8bn / $0.51 compared to forecasts of $13.7bn and $0.52....

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Huawei 2013 – Harder road ahead

          Huawei will miss its 10% revenue growth target this year Huawei has released its preliminary statements regarding its performance in 2013. Like Ericsson, 2013 has been a great year with revenues growing 8-9% but profits growing around 40%. This increase in margin that drove the profit growth is symptomatic of the recent product mix away...

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Net Neutrality – End of Freedom?

          The Internet will not become the cable industry. In a landmark ruling the US court of appeals has thrown out the FCC’s net neutrality rules meaning that speed could become the provenance of the highest bidder. The case was brought by Verizon, which has long been railing against the current regulatory environment, brought against the...

Nest and Google – Ecosystem tentacle

          The founders and VCs are the real winners from this acquisition. Google’s acquisition of Nest is all about the ecosystem and highlights some trends that are likely to continue for some time to come. Google has agreed to acquire Nest for a whopping $3.2bn despite a valuation of around $600m just one year ago. The...

PC Market – Contrarian position

          Tablet PCs are the key to a turnaround in the PC market this year. IDC and Gartner have confirmed what everyone already knew: 2013 was one of the worst years on record for the PC market. By my calculation PCs declined by 8% in 2013 compared to 4% in 2012 marking one of the worst...