Tom B

Google: Setting Itself Up for Failure?

A few corrections: MSFT SERVER software isn't very good; it mostly sells in support of the Windows/Office franchise-- Outlook/Exchange, etc.

Xbox is a money pit; not a profit source.


On Nov 11 03:52 PM jack dee wrote:

> It appears that Dan has no idea what he is talking about.
>
> MSFT makes more money on sharepoint then many companies even turn
> over.
>
> Server software is worth more than some other F500 companies. Msft
> is making profit with xbox in a market everyone they would be laughed
> out of.
>
> Tools , xbox azure secondlight its all happening, but then when your
> entire focus is on phones and fancy keyboards, of course you might
> miss the fact that GOOG has continued to expand its market, into
> segs that it was not even a player 5 years ago, but hey why should
> the truth matter, we are all here just to cheerlead AAPL......<br/>
>
>
>
> On Nov 11 02:43 PM Dan Braem wrote:

While Rivals Jockey for Market Share, Apple Bathes in Profits

Apple was poorly managed for many years-- the period after Sculley kicked out Jobs an Jobs returned. People left the company for dead, in spite of the fact that their products, even then, put MSFT to shame. MSFT, after all, seemed to have a stable business model and steady management. How times have changed; now, Apple is rising and MSFT has neither clear vision, nor competent management; and they are less able, due to scrutiny from the DoJ, to maintain their business through illegal coercion, as they have done in the past.

"That’s not to say that Apple doesn’t care about market share for either its computers or the iPhone, it undoubtedly does. But it’s a secondary goal to running a successful business." Apple doesn't sell junk, period. They don't have a $300 Netbook, maybe out of flimsy plastic; they have a quality iPhone, that does most of what you'd want to do on a Netbook-- but fits in your pocket. And, they have a line of excellent laptops at various price points.

Apple has a modern, UNIX-based OS. MSFT had YEARS to update THEIR OS, and all they spewed out is Win 7: warmed over Win XP, with more eye-candy. None of the security or performance a UNIX-based OS would provide.

Google: Setting Itself Up for Failure?

Apple's sold an estimated 3-4 million iPhones in Chain-- that's quite good for a third world country with poor per capita GDP.

Unfortunately, the "official" sales, through China Unicom, are poor-- those phones are crippled; thus, thus the black market phones are doing much better. High black market activity is hardly unusual in communist police states.


On Nov 11 10:05 AM Advill wrote:

> Could you repeat your comment about China and IPhone "cooking nicely"?......China
> now days is Waterloo equivalent for Apple.!!!.

Adobe Reportedly Laying Off Up to 15% of Its Staff

Well, Adobe is a company that became essentially irrelevant years ago, and we ARE in the middle of the Mother of All Recessions. Adobe has approximately ONE or TWO products with any inherent worth (correct me if I'm wrong)-- they have Photoshop and InDesign (for web design). Both products are vulnerable; they do not have insurmountable "moats".

They used to be a very important company, but they got lazy. Adobe Reader is a slow, buggy, JOKE compared to Preview. Adobe Premiere was out-classed by Final Cut pro. Flash is a horrible, CPU-sucking, crash prone annoyance, which will gradually disappear from the web as HTML5 comes into increasing use.

They were a GREAT company at one time; they brought about Postscript and modern computer typography. But, those days are LONG gone.

Google: Setting Itself Up for Failure?

I agree with your comments, but think you should wait a year before shorting GOOG. If the recession is REALLy winding down, Goog may return to its $750-ish pre-recession peak for a time.


On Nov 10 02:00 PM ryanclarke wrote:

> GOOG at $550 looks like a shorting opportunity. The reality of it
> is GOOG is a one hit wonder who has transformed the advertising model
> of business ... everything else the company has done to date has
> not been a cash cow by any means. Money being thrown into the smart
> phone arena is a waste in my opinion ... as every joe blow tech company
> now has a phone branded with their label ... when Qualcomm, Arm Holding,
> TI, and Intc are the only true innovators ... GOOG is making the
> software side of the phone business ... FREE as usual. I'm short
> DELL, as I see just two massive IT companies surviving this current
> downturn ... HPQ and APPL ... that's right ... when all is said and
> done MSFT is going to flop ... two or three years from now ... but
> DELL goes down the sink next year.

Pfizer's Cutbacks Reflect Difficulties Facing Big Pharma

"The key strategy is cost management not revenue growth."

In other words, to hell with a patient that might be waiting for a new, life-saving therapy-- we have the much more important goal of preserving our dividend. Idiots!


On Nov 10 11:59 AM desicon wrote:

> PFE is following the tried and proven business methods. The key strategy
> is cost management not revenue growth. Next will be the closure of
> plants in western countries and move manufacturing to China and India.
> The political climate, healthcare reform and cap &amp; trade makes
> the management decisions easy. When you do deal with the devil (the
> government) the innocent bystander (the people) are the victims.

Google: Setting Itself Up for Failure?

So, the result: Google overpaid, and Apple can retaliate by building a competing system. Apple wins the round.


On Nov 10 09:20 AM herbert hoover wrote:

> The author does know that APPL was the other bidder for AdMob, right?
> I suppose if APPL had been successful, he would have written an article
> extrolling Apple's "brilliance."

Three Core Biotech Holdings: Isis, Ligand and Vical

LGND is a dog; a LOST dog. In a forest full of coyotes.

Google's Rare Homepage Push for Droid

"Although, the juxtaposition does make it seem like Bert and Ernie are trying to get you to buy a Droid."

Sock puppets worked great for "Pets.com"-- not!

It's great Google can get such a widely-seen billboard for their message, but it will take more than that to move a platform as anemic and poorly conceived as the Droid 2.0. They need to understand the difference between "playing to the geeks at Google, Inc" and designing products with broad appeal.

Google Is Google for Music

Amazon has a decent MP3 service and it hasn't made a dent in iTunes. iTunes is about convenience; not cheapest possible cost or deepest search. I suspect Google music will handle music SEARCH really well, but the other aspects (BUYING the muisc) will be less compelling to consumers.

It's good Google is experimenting with other services-- staying put, in one niche, tends to lead to extinction over time. But not EVERY Google idea will be a hit. I find Google Finance less compelling than the long-in-the-tooth Yahoo Finance page. Droid, of course, is not going to be as massive success, either, judging from early reviews of the new MOT Droid 2.0 phone.

What's Wrong with the Gaming Industry?

The margins will be squeezed in games, going forward. All the cutting-edge stuff (innovation-wise; not "frame rate-wise) is on the iPhone, and many of those are $1 games. Fun, quick games-- in your pocket--on the morning commute.

How Apple and iPhone Blew It in China

This is an idiotic comment. America is WAY ahead in tech, though much of the assembly is, indeed, overseas. Regardless of how "America" is in Tech, the iPhone is ahead of all phones in current production, by a wide margin. The closest competitor, MOT's Droid (an American company, BTW) is FAR inferior-- we'll be up to Android 3.0 before Apple even has to start taking notice in Droid.

As for investing overseas, I'm all for it. Doubled my money on STP in the past 12 months. I like ABB a lot.


On Nov 08 11:35 AM Tony Daltorio wrote:

> When are American investors going to ever look beyond US borders?
>
>
> The reason the iPhone is not doing well in China and will NOT do
> well elsewhere overseas is that these markets had similar products
> years ago...despite the belief that the US is still the leader in
> tech, the truth is that America is no longer the leader in tech...American
> tech is now years behind their competitors.

How Apple And IPhone Blew It In China

"Why change your phone number and take the risk of bad signal strength when you can buy a cracked iPhone and keep the same number and operator?"

Good article. This is why the "official" sales numbers for iPhones in China is largely irrelevant. No worries; the iPhone HARDWARE is doing fine in the East. Having said that, per capita GDP in China is well below the West, on average, so I think expectations were unrealistic.

Apples to Apples: Will History Repeat Itself as Android Gains on the iPhone?

The grass is always greener on the other side. You won't find too many happy Verizon customers, let me tell you! Awful customer service and primitive CDMA network. Besides, a device like the iPhone can tap into wifi, if you're in a city, and side-step the carrier issue.


On Nov 03 10:05 PM Geddy wrote:

> For me, it has to be a trade-off between device and carrier. I don't
> care how fancy or practical your device is, if it's on an inferior
> carrier it doesn't work. All I see on ever blog is consumers love
> the iPhone but hate the current carrier.

Apples to Apples: Will History Repeat Itself as Android Gains on the iPhone?

"The result of this war was the survival of the fittest, rapid evolution that improved the breed."

Gotta hand it to you, Bruce: you don't understand game consoles, computers, OR evolution. All the "war" accomplished was making the term "PC" synonymous with "cheap plastic junk that crashes all the time". No INNOVATION. None.