Apple’s New iPAD and the End of PC Benchmarks

Apple’s New iPAD and the End of PC Benchmarks
by Ed McKernan on 03-09-2012 at 10:19 am

With the introduction of the “New iPAD”, we now have the 2012 benchmark for the tablet market, including the offerings that will come from Amazon later in the year. As has been noted earlier, with each new mobile product iteration Apple unmoors itself from the PC foundations of Microsoft, Intel and even nVidia and AMD. At the unveiling… Read More


Apple’s iPAD 3 Kicks Off a Season For Silicon Valley Re-Alignments

Apple’s iPAD 3 Kicks Off a Season For Silicon Valley Re-Alignments
by Ed McKernan on 02-13-2012 at 3:43 pm

The Corporate PC may finally be on life supports and with it the purveyors of the hardware and software solutions as consumer adoption of new technology outpaces the carefully planned IT budgets that guarantee positive 3 year Returns on Investments (ROI). The Apple of the consumer’s eye will soon feast on the iPAD 3 with its retina… Read More


The Old Order Changeth

The Old Order Changeth
by Paul McLellan on 02-07-2012 at 3:02 pm

It is interesting watching as changes in technology bring giants to their knees. Far and away the best book on the subject is Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma. If you haven’t read it then rush out and buy it immediately. In tech, you are not educated if you haven’t.

Two things made me think … Read More


What products shown at CES will drive electronics and semiconductor growth in 2012?

What products shown at CES will drive electronics and semiconductor growth in 2012?
by Bill Jewell on 01-17-2012 at 11:20 am

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas, Nevada was the largest in history, with over 3,100 exhibitors and over 153,000 attendees – over 20% international. Hopefully this was a good sign of a solid recovery in the electronics and semiconductor industries. The major Japanese and Korean consumerRead More


Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong

Intel Proves Last Year’s Conventional Wisdom Wrong
by Ed McKernan on 12-11-2011 at 7:00 pm

Back in the 1990’s, Richard Branson, the legendary Entrepreneur and investor was asked how to become a millionaire, and he allegedly responded, “There’s really nothing to it. Start as a billionaire and then buy an airline.” I think the same principle can be applied to a large part of the Semiconductor… Read More


Microsoft’s New Tablet Strategy: Here, There and Everywhere

Microsoft’s New Tablet Strategy: Here, There and Everywhere
by Ed McKernan on 12-03-2011 at 10:33 am

As mentioned in a previous post, Microsoft has started to come clean on its software strategy as it relates to Windows 8 for PCs and Tablets. The strategy has been changing quite rapidly since their first admission in September. Essentially the Windows 8 O/S will be forked based on whether the mobile device is operating on an x86 or… Read More


Jen Hsun Huang’s Game Over Strategy for Windows 8!

Jen Hsun Huang’s Game Over Strategy for Windows 8!
by Ed McKernan on 11-15-2011 at 6:00 am

It is always a treat to listen to the nVidia earnings conference call as Jen Hsun Huang offers his take on the industry as well as a peek at his company’s future plans. Invariably a Wall St. analyst will ask about Windows 8 and Project Denver – the code name for the ARM based processor designed to run Windows 8 with great graphics performance… Read More


From IBM Mainframes to Wintel PCs to Apple iPhones: 70% is the Magic Number

From IBM Mainframes to Wintel PCs to Apple iPhones: 70% is the Magic Number
by Ed McKernan on 10-12-2011 at 10:51 am

Time to ring the Bell. With the iPhone 4S, Apple has just surpassed the 70% gross margin metric that usually equates to a compute platform becoming an industry standard. IBM’s mainframe achieved it in the 1960s with the 360 series and still is able to crank it out with their Z-series. The combined Intel and Microsoft tandem (Wintel)… Read More


Apple’s $399 Plan to Win Consumer Market in Summer 2012

Apple’s $399 Plan to Win Consumer Market in Summer 2012
by Ed McKernan on 08-30-2011 at 10:30 am

The complete destruction of the consumer PC market in the US and Europe is well within Apple’s grasp and will begin to unfold next summer. There is nothing that Intel, Microsoft or the retail channels can do to hold back the tsunami that was first set in motion with the iPad last year and comes to completion with the introduction of one… Read More


Apple makes 2/3 of profits of entire mobile industry

Apple makes 2/3 of profits of entire mobile industry
by Paul McLellan on 08-02-2011 at 5:41 pm

This is an amazing picture (click to enlarge). Apple now makes 2/3 of all the profit in the entire mobile handset industry. And that is the entire handset industry, not just smartphones where it has also blown past Nokia to become number one (although there are more Android handsets than iOS, those handsets are spread across multiple… Read More