Klarna accepts reality. Klarna is raising $600m at $6.5bn in another clear example of the agonising problems that occur when one needs to raise money in a downturn when one has previously had a ludicrous valuation. The problem that Klarna faces is that it has to have the money meaning that it has no other choice but to accept whatever...
Micron joins the canaries. Micron reported good FQ3 2022 results but guided badly blaming a sudden softening in demand that has forced it to slow its expansion sending the most serious warning signal yet for the rest of the sector. FQ3 2022 revenues / adj-EPS were $8.64bn / $2.59 broadly in line with forecasts of $8.66 / $2.45 but went...
Developers want to have their cake and eat it. The notion that Meta Platforms is treating developers unfairly when it is on course to lose billions of dollars from subsidising device sales from which developers are benefiting has no merit in my opinion. Developers are starting to make a fuss about the revenue share that Oculus charges developers in return...
Ready for recovery? Pinterest is changing its CEO with its founder moving aside to make room for new blood from Google that will undoubtedly start to shake things up which makes Pinterest an interesting proposition to look at once again. Founder and long-term CEO Ben Silbermann is moving aside to the relatively innocuous position of executive chairman to make way...
2023 is too early. Despite feverish speculation, Apple failed to launch a Metaverse device at WWDC 2022 and now speculation has shifted to early 2023 which I continue to think is still much too early. Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the leading lights on Apple device speculation, is now expecting Apple to release an AR device in January 2023 and while...
AutoX takes a questionable lead. Waymo, Baidu (Apollo) and Zoox have fallen way down in the ratings leading me to question whether the analysis of the California DMV data as a measure of autonomous driving has finally passed the end of its useful life. California state law requires that all companies that test in the state report their performance to...
Delay is increasingly the best option. The discussion over which exchange Arm is going to re-list on is increasingly irrelevant as the far more pressing issue is how SoftBank is going to achieve $50bn anywhere under these market conditions. Throughout the entire attempt by Nvidia to acquire Arm, I was of the opinion that the simplest solution for Arm’s ownership...
Elon Musk finally makes a credible prediction. Elon Musk’s prediction that self-driving is “really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero”, is one that I find credible, the problem being, of course, that Tesla shares are already worth a lot of money. Elon Musk made this prediction in an interview with the Tesla...
Turing is not the issue. Meta Platforms has revealed a series of prototypes that it intends to develop into products that will make its Metaverse irresistible to users but I continue to think that hardware and technology are not the real problems that will determine whether the Metaverse takes off. In an uncharacteristically candid media event, Meta showed off a...
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.
Geely & Meizu – Cars not phones
I don’t think Geely is interested in smartphones. Chinese car maker Geely has acquired a majority stake in Chinese smartphone maker, Meizu, not to become a powerhouse in smartphones but to have control of the Android-based operating system that Meizu has developed and to use it in its vehicles. Meizu is a smartphone maker that has been majority-owned by Alibaba...