Intel – Dull, but right

          The floundering challenge of ARM reduces pressure for Intel to do anything radical. Intel has announced the appointment of Brian Krzanich as CEO of Intel following the retirement of Paul Otellini. Mr Krzanich has been COO since January 2012 and is a 30 year veteran of Intel having started in 1982 as an engineer in...

Apple vs. Samsung – Lessons in futility

          The only winners are the lawyers.  Yet another round of tit for tat was launched this week with the date of yet another trial being set for November 12th 2013. The purpose of this trial is to argue the value of the award that was set at the 2012 trial where Apple was awarded $1.049bn...

Tablets – Numbered Days?

          BlackBerry might be right but it is for the wrong reasons.  During an interview connected during the launch of the Q10, BlackBerry CEO Torsten Heins mentioned that he saw a limited future for tablet computers. He thinks that in the future the market will polarise to large screens at home or office but smaller ones...

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Microsoft and Nokia – Window of Opportunity

            As good as it is, the latest video can only hope to start the conversation. Microsoft has launched a wonderful video to raise awareness of Windows Phone (see here). Salient observations from the video are as follows. This is not about Apple vs. Android. Android is not mentioned once. Its Apple vs. Samsung (through...

Hewlett Packard – A brave stab

          Integrating Leap Motion could give HPQ an edge in PCs. HPQ’s decision to integrate Leap Motion’s 3-D motion control into some of its devices offers potential for differentiation but there are hurdles to jump over. Leap Motion makes and sells a 80mm x 20mm x 12mm device that plugs into the USB port of a...

Apple Q2 – Cash Compensation

          The payoff for investors is a fair one. Apple played its trump card to keep investors happy by announcing a large increase in cash returns following mediocre results.                                 Q2A                      Consensus Macs                     3.9m                           4.1m iPhone                 37.4m                         35.4m iPad                      19.5m                         18.5m iPod                      5.6m                          6.0m   Revenues            $43.6bn                     $42.3bn Gross Margin      37.5%                         38.5% EPS                       $10.09                        $9.98 Source: Company...

Samsung – Who is the master now?

          Samsung is moving to take control of Android Samsung’s latest participation in the open source community shows: a) how fragmented Android is and b) how Google could easily lose control of Android. Android is offered to the open source community on the basis of the Apache licence. This means that when the product is shipped,...

Dell – Don’t be Greedy

          Those holding out for $15 may be disappointed. The exit of Blackstone has little to do with PC forecasts and everything to do with a bidding war that was increasingly likely to end in disaster. I suspect that Blackstone realised that paying “more than $14.25” was effectively giving shareholders a far better return than they...

GOOG Q1 / MSFT Q3 – Have and Have not

          Google looks steady while Microsoft continues to chase its own tail. Sift through the details of Google and Microsoft’s earnings announcements and you will see clear signs of the old and the new. How consumers interact with machines and the internet is radically changing and Microsoft is struggling to remain relevant in that segment. Google...

Microsoft – From Danger Comes Gold

          Danger has been a superb acquisition for Microsoft. Microsoft’s acquisition of Danger (11th February 2008) has been described as a classic M&A failure with some $400m going up in smoke but I have long believed that it was the patents that Microsoft was after. The business and the people have long since withered away but...