Yes and No, in my view. Yes to a certain extent, considering that most of the people in developed world have more than one (may be with dual sim card) phone; and No, considering the vast untapped market in the third world countries of Asia and Africa. In India, although much of the population (who can afford a phone) has phone, but not … Read More
Tag: microsoft
The Semiconductor Landscape – III
In continuation to my earlier observations and anticipations (landscape1, landscape2) which came up to my expectations, I was further inspired to ponder over the macros of our ever growing semiconductor industry. We may argue the business is stagnating, we may argue that the pace of scaling is slowing, but when I look back at the… Read More
Smart Watch, Phone, Phablet, Tablet, Thin Notebook…?
There are more, but wait a while, from this set which ones do you need? Or let me ask the question differently (I know you may like something impulsively and have money to buy), which ones do you want to buy and own? Still confused? I guess what you need, you already have, but you want to change it for something new and different. While I … Read More
Apple’s 64 Bit Plan to Finish Off Android
Many people are underestimating the speed and the magnitude of the transition that is about to take place with the tandem rollout of iOS 7 and the 64 bit A7 processor. While the former provides a nice visual upgrade to the entire ecosystem the latter will be used to collect accolades and drive application development that will result… Read More
Breaking news: Microsoft acquires Apple!
Despite the relative success of their latest smartphone, iPhone15s, the Cupertino firm had never been able to renew with the success of legendary iPhone5s, launched ten years ago, in 2011. As of today, we don’t know if Microsoft will keep iPhone and iPad product lines, or decide to provide these with a lethal injection…
Some history:… Read More
Microsoft Buys Nokia
OK. I was wrong. Microsoft did buy Nokia’s handset business. For $7.2B, which for a company that just wrote off nearly $1B on tablets isn’t that much. Nokia is a company that had a peak valuation of $110B although it is not clear how much of that is in the deal versus out of the deal.
Details from Reuters here.
Elop is expected… Read More
Wall St. Takes the Wheel at Wintel
It now appears that Steve Ballmer was suddenly given his walking papers at the urging of an activist investor (ValueAct) and with the concurrence of Bill Gates. Wall Street’s growing impatience tends to coincide when the Innovators Dilemma scenario has taken hold of a company that has been unable to overcome its challengers. Why… Read More
Ballmer’s Retirement Leaves Nokia High and Dry
It looks to me as if Ballmer’s planned resignation from Microsoft is going to leave Nokia high and dry without an operating system. Because any successor to Ballmer will cancel Windows Phone which has managed to take Microsoft’s penetration in smartphones from 5% before it had a serious partnership with Nokia all … Read More
Microsoft Signals the Return of "Expensive Hardware, Cheap Software"
The announcement that Steve Ballmer will step down from Microsoft within the next 12 months and just weeks after kicking off a vast re-org focused on mobile devices can only mean that the future is coming much faster than Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer had ever expected and that without a radical adoption of hardware everywhere, it will… Read More
TSMC is a more profitable semiconductor company than Intel
There is an interesting article on Seeking Alpha, “A More Profitable Semiconductor Company Than Intel”, and for a change the author does not PRETEND to know semiconductor technology. Refreshing! Personally I think the stock market is a racket where insiders profit at the expense of the masses. But if you are going to gamble you … Read More