Apple needs to skip the iPhone 5S and go straight to the 6. To date, the iPhone has managed to hold its position by beating its competitors both in the hardware and in the software user experience. Back in 2007 the iPhone was market leading in terms of hardware but as competitors have caught up...
Dare I hope that Hewlett Packard is turning the corner?. Hewlett Packard’s response to the message sent by its shareholders at the recent AGM encourages me to take a second look. Hewlett Packard has had two main problems to date. First, the lack of any real strategy to change a lumbering hardware maker with...
Home is the right strategy for Facebook to extend its reach. Facebook Home is a software skin that takes over the home screen of an Android device putting Facebook functionality front and centre of everything that the user does. The experience is very communication centric with updates and messages popping up from friends in a...
Tonight’s announcement risks being a big anti-climax. The last time Facebook made a “big announcement” the result was the spectacularly unambitious Facebook Graph Search. What could have been a big move to diversify away from social networking and take on the giants of the internet is nothing more than a better way to use what...
Samsung and Google will end up in a struggle for the user. So far Samsung and Google have been on good terms given the symbiotic nature of their relationship. The Android software has enabled Samsung to tick the software box and to make excellent margins on its hardware designs and innovations. In return, Samsung handsets...
(RFM will return on Wednesday April 3rd) Windows RT in its current form looks doomed. When Samsung pulls its RT products, everyone will and I have also seen many product roadmaps shut down all together. I have discussed the problem in detail in a previous post but in a nutshell, Windows RT fails because although...
Intel’s aspirations in TV are about supplying chips. Intel appears to be closing in on acquiring TV shows and movies to offer to consumers as a pay-tv service. Time Warner, NBC Universal and Viacom are all in discussions with Intel and success would give Intel critical mass to start offering a service. This is going...
Digital Life has an increasingly Orwellian future. The big ecosystem creators are slowly but inexorably nudging users towards their ecosystems. It is very subtle, it is very slow but the signs are there that the long term of ambition of Google, Twitter, FaceBook, Microsoft, Apple and so on is to keep their users to themselves...
There is no upside in Dell without risk. The “go-shop” period has produced two additional bids, but investors are going to be disappointed with the prices that have been offered. At the 12th hour, both Carl Icahn and Blackstone have put in bids of $15 per share and “more than $14.25” respectively. These bids are...
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 and WhatsApp – Admission of weakness
Google’s interest in WhatsApp is a sign of weakness. WhatsApp has denied that it is in talks with Google with respect to being acquired but that does not mean that discussions have not taken place. Quite to the contrary, I suspect that Google has made a play for the company but been rebuffed...