The August comScore mobile survey (MobiLens) is out. It measures the penetration or consumption of various mobile products and services in the US over a three month period. I track the change in this data over time. Here are some highlights: In August about 520,000 users switched to using smartphones (from non-smart phones) as their … Continue reading “Can the BlackBerry recover?”
Thirty minutes after the end of the ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event, 5by5.tv will be hosting a set of commentators[1] giving initial impressions of announcements. “Tune-in” at http://5by5.tv/live I’ll update this post with a link for the download once available. [UPDATE] Dan Benjamin talks about Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event with Dan Moren, Marco Arment, John … Continue reading “Let's talk 'Let's talk iPhone' on 5by5.tv”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint Nextel made a “multibillion-dollar” gamble on the iPhone. This is based on information that Sprint committed to buy 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years. Wall Street Journal reporters calculated that the deal is worth around $20 billion on the basis of iPhone ASP during the last … Continue reading “Sprint's gamble”
I’ve been providing analysis of Apple’s operating and financial performance for some time. Recently we’ve begun to look at comparisons of financial performance for comparable companies. Now it’s time to dig deeper and do comparisons of operating performance as well. To start, Microsoft. Whereas Apple has product lines (iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, iTunes, Peripherals and … Continue reading “Comparing top lines: Apple vs. Microsoft”
On October 4th, Tim Cook will take the stage at Apple’s fall event. With Steve Jobs’ transition to head the Board of Directors of Apple and after serving as CEO for fourteen years, it is time to take a look at his reign. Looking at his performance vs. peer companies from a capital market performance, … Continue reading “Visualizing the Steve Jobs era”
[Updated with new charts including data from StatCounter and not NetMarketshare] Generally speaking there is an equivalence drawn between iOS and Android as technologies and even as user experiences. However, as I’ve pointed out on several occasions there is a very clear nonequivalence in business models and thus the “fuel” which keeps each platform running. … Continue reading “The perils of possession without utilization”
[Updated with Mac OS versions. See footnote 3.] I’m glad Windows 8 is named the way it is. With Windows 7 Microsoft went to a numbering system which is much more rational than the mixed naming of the past. The number 8 actually corresponds to the actual sequential number of major versions of Windows released … Continue reading “OS turning circles: Questioning Windows' maneuverability”
The question of low end disruption should be a concern to any manager. It’s one of the most important sources of growth and has led to a vast amount of wealth creation. Apple was an early low end disruptor by selling personal computers at a fraction of mini-computer prices. Toyota also offered “cheap” cars as … Continue reading “The case for the iPad's future”
The violence with which new platforms have displaced incumbent mobile vendor fortunes continues to surprise. Nokia’s Symbian platform has gone from 47% share to 16% in three years Microsoft’s phone platforms have gone from 12% to 1% Other platforms have gone from 21% to zero Although far less dramatic, RIM’s decline from 17% to 12% … Continue reading “The fate of mobile phone brands”
When Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. they signaled that their business has moved on. We can say it’s to devices or to mobile computing or to the Post-PC era. To understand that this is not a shift driven only by wishful thinking we can plot the change in volumes for … Continue reading “Apple has moved on”
