Nokia held an event yesterday to launch enhancements to its mapping offering but it was not clear to me how Nokia itself would benefit in the short term. Here represents an enhancement to the maps application by putting much of the functionality in the cloud while at the same time still enabling mapping and directions...
One of the skirmishes is over. Apple and HTC have signed a 10 year license deal dismissing all outstanding patent litigation. As usual no details whatsoever have been released leaving everyone in the realm of speculation and conjecture. The first conclusion that one can draw is that someone blinked. Typically what happens in these cases...
The arrival of the iPad Mini threatens to disrupt the mid to low end of the tablet market but its price premium is likely to ensure that its impact on tablets below $250 is minimal. The tablet market is essentially very similar to the smartphone market in that there is action at the two ends...
It is well known that Turkey’s don’t vote for Christmas so why on earth would Microsoft want to make Office available on iOS anytime soon? The notion that Microsoft will make Office available on iOS and Android has surfaced yet again (The Verge) and really stems from the leak (Early October 2012) from Microsoft’s Czech...
With ARM becoming an ever more dominant force in the world of microprocessors, the fate of its erstwhile competitor MIPS has long been uncertain. That uncertainty was cleared up yesterday with the announcement that Imagination Technologies would acquire the operations of MIPS for $60 and that a consortium led by ARM would acquire the bulk...
The result of the recent management shake-up at Apple seems to have opened up a series of new avenues that had previously been considered closed. One of those avenues has long been the issue of the harmonisation of iOS and OSX. Currently these two are worlds apart with one running on ARM, being touch based...
Things are so bad at Sharp that it may have to ask the Japanese state to bail it out when its $2.5bn of convertible bonds fall due next year. This is not new news to anyone as Sharp raised concerns about its status as a going concern when it reported its most recent results on...
The punch-up over standard essential patents continues. This time the focus has moved to the Western District of Wisconsin where Motorola and Apple are slugging it out. Here Apple stands accused of infringing Motorola’s standard essential patents without taking a licence. On Monday 5th November, there will be a hearing to decide the FRAND rate...
Microsoft officially launched Windows Phone 8 at its event in San Francisco yesterday with the main question remaining: is anyone actually going to buy it? With Nokia, Samsung and HTC all having launched devices, the software has already been widely displayed but a few new things emerged that should serve to enhance the user experience....
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.
Microsoft – Tale of two Steves
They say that I should not be surprised by the exit of Steve Sinofsky’s departure from Microsoft but I am as I was expecting the other Steve to leave. With Sinofsky’s exit, goes any real chance of Ballmer leaving Microsoft any time soon and also the prospect of a near term catalyst to drive the...