Yahoo (YHOO) may be willing to pay $3B-$4B to scoop up online coupon company Groupon, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Although Yahoo is itching for an acquisition, to pay that kind of money for a company whose business model is as easy to duplicate as Groupon's would be "very silly," Motley Fool says. [View news story]
Does Yahoo have any real value, I wonder.
The CEO over there isn't making any friends and sure seems to be treading water for a paycheck.
In any event, yahoo itself could be claimed to have an easily duplicable business model...
Greece's 2010 deficit will come in at 9.2%-9.3% of GDP, well above its 7.8% target, Reuters reports. Greece must meet fiscal consolidation targets under its bailout agreement with the IMF and its euro zone partners in May to stave off default.[View news story]
it's funny how Greece and the other PIIGS are relevant again after the dollar tickling $1.40euro for a bit. Especially on the back of QE2.
Did a Rising Savings Rate Kick-Start the Recession? [View article]
one of the things that did in fact precipitate the crisis and is rarely if ever mentioned is the oil bubble. I'd love to see some analysis on that, I know for my own business it literally stopped spending/expansion and forced me to defer bills well/expansion well into 2008.
While the jury is still out on the Windows Phone 7's (MSFT) long-term success, T-Mobile claimed its HTC HD7 Windows-based smartphone was temporarily sold out Monday. However, Gartner says any Phone 7 gains for Microsoft will be short-lived, as Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) keep up their own smartphone momentum. [View news story]
Microsoft is trying to position WM7 as a successor of sorts to WM6.5 (which is still popular in certain industrial/enterprise applications) as well as a real competitor to iOS and Android. If it can inherit 6.5's mantle that's a good start since it has a few issues right now: its app store is full of games, it is a tightly controlled environment, much like Apple's iOS, and WM7 and has underpowered multitasking
It's future lies in zune/xbox/desktop integration, in my opinion, more than anywhere else, and I think MSFT agrees and is heading that way.
Thing is Android is going to continue to kick total butt. The future versions of the platform look awesome, and ever more powerful. I don't know where Apple plans to take their iOS but latest improvements seem very incremental. Blackberry is adopting QNX, which is superb OS, and building their platform 100% around Flash, which may or may not backfire but looks like a good strategy right now. And Nokia is trying to adapt to a changing marketplace with its Meego Linux based OS which is looking great and more robust and desktop replacement-y than anything anyone else has, and HP is bringing out WebOS2.0...
Someone somewhere is gonna lose marketshare, but competition is definitely paying off for the consumer.
A New Metric With Which to Measure Apple [View article]
iPad has saturated tablet market, what demand there was for tablets is done and gone.
iPhone has almost saturated the market. We see Miscrosoft worldwide on the desktop at over 90% and assume that iOS can do the same for the smartphone. I doubt it.
With 25% market share in the US smartphone market, iPhone won't grow in US until it is available on other carriers - if at all - and Apple will likely only see growth in iPhone sales overseas, where it can eat competitor market share with a weakening dollar.
for Apple to grow it's income per device it needs to expand iAds in my opinion. It looks like it may well be able to do it from what i am seeing but I don't think it's growth will quite follow its current trajectory. and seeing how they recently guided down, I'd guess they agree.
Too many of the big investment firms and mutual funds have too much cash in Apple right now and EVERYONE of them talking their book hoping Apple stock keeps skyrocketing, I don't see it.
Oracle (ORCL) blasted SAP's (SAP) offer to settle an ongoing software theft suit for $40M. In court today, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said SAP could have cost Oracle as much as $4B - something SAP's lawyers doubt, as only 350 customers defected to SAP. Nevertheless, one Oracle executive said forcing SAP to pay only $40M would be a "reward for their bad behavior, frankly." [View news story]
Larry Ellison is a psycho can he possibly be any more self important, arrogant, and obnoxious...
Hedge funds raise their bullish bets on oil, to the highest level in more than four years; net-long positions climbed to a record. "It’s all about the dollar being debased," says one trader. [View news story]
Oil is not a stock and it won't trade like one. $147/brl was an aberration; if these guys think the global crisis wasn't precipitated or helped along by an overblown oil bubble they are confused.
Dell (DELL) will dump the BlackBerrys 25,000 of its employees use in favor of its own upcoming Venue Pro smartphones, says CFO Brian Gladden. After completing this migration, Dell will create and aggressively push a service that enables its own business clients to perform a similar swap. While one lost account won't kill Research in Motion (RIMM), it does show Dell wants to appear serious about its smartphone business. [View news story]
Less RIM getting squeezed more... evidence of why MSFT isn't going to get creamed by the GOOG and Mr APPL.
Dell's Venue Pro runs Windows.
I really believe MSFT has a good shot at getting a nice chunk of the smartphone market, now that they have a real, albeit fledgling, phone OS.
Windows and enterprise phones isn't a new marriage, and there are a lot of companies not wanting to change from their old windows mobile phones.
This may look to be a squeeze on RIMM but I'd worry more about the aspirations of the other new kids on the block to showing up in the enterprise.
MSFT still has some work to do on its smartphone OS but I think the wind is already filling its sails.
Consumers are spending more but it seems they are more attracted to foreign-made goods. Exports increased 5% last quarter Y/Y while imports surged 17.4%. Miller Tabak's Dan Greenhaus says many U.S. economic problems would be mitigated if more consumption could shift from imported to domestic goods, but meanwhile the temptation of protectionism is great. [View news story]
My parents don't take medicare and I won't need soc sec, and as a small self employed buisness, i'll never take unemployment, so shrug, bark up another tree.
More importantly if you thought my comment was meant to be negative towards entitlements you were wrong.
I was pointing out a significant difference between -economies- but your politics blinded you to the meaning of comment.
Good news for TV buyers, bad news for TV-makers' shareholders: The industry is bracing for a 'severe' year-end price war, with some analysts predicting price declines as steep as 25% going into the key holiday season. This year's strategy to "sell earlier and sell for less" will make life 'miserable' for manufacturers like Sony (SNE), Samsung and Panasonic (PC). [View news story]
Transition from standard def analog CRT to high def digital LCD/TFT was a real change for most consumers, a meaningful one.
I think electronics makers believe they can continuously upgrade/alter their TV products and constantly encourage consumers to "upgrade". Their perception of product lifecycle is way too short compared to reality.
I can''t see LED TVs or 3D TVs or any of these other incrememntal new techs encouraging mots folks to upgrade, much as I never believed blue-ray/HD-DVD wuld ever create the upgrade momentum from DVD that DVD created from VHS.
The electronics producers need to be prepared for a world where people aren't constantly upgrading their TVs, much like their stereos or their doorbell.
Muted reaction to Q3 GDP reading that was largely in line with consensus. Notably, inventory growth accounted for 1.44 points out of the 2% gain, a trend that will at some point reverse absent a huge jump in consumption. S&P futures recently -0.1% to 1178. Treasurys posting broad gains, with 30-year bond +0.53% to 130-30. [View news story]
There has been a huge adjustment in the home improvement/renovation business. Lots have been forced out of it - to do I don't know what - and if you asked me 3 months ago, most contractors/architects... folks I knew were looking at the precipice. Basically its been survival of the fittest for those able to adjust their costs and practices to the new normal.
Latest anecdotal news from contractors/architects is positive and upbeat: although real income, prices and wages have been adjusted down, and, in general, they make less money and work harder, savings depletion is easing and things are looking up.
Another downturn in housing will likely gut the contractor field, and my question is where will these guys go for work.
-my primary occupation is real estate investment/prop mgnmnt
Consumers are spending more but it seems they are more attracted to foreign-made goods. Exports increased 5% last quarter Y/Y while imports surged 17.4%. Miller Tabak's Dan Greenhaus says many U.S. economic problems would be mitigated if more consumption could shift from imported to domestic goods, but meanwhile the temptation of protectionism is great. [View news story]
they save because they have no entitlement programs to save them in the event of unemployment, disability, old age, retirement... etc., not because they know better.
Chrysler (FIATY.PK) is expected to receive loans from the Energy Department to retool its factories for more fuel-efficient vehicles, and has applied for $10B. The financing could free up the automaker to accelerate payment on $7B in more costly loans related to its bankruptcy. [View news story]
Thumbs up for a fair reply, that is a good point, perhaps more details regarding how competitive the loan requisition process was would tell us more.
Yahoo (YHOO) may be willing to pay $3B-$4B to scoop up online coupon company Groupon, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Although Yahoo is itching for an acquisition, to pay that kind of money for a company whose business model is as easy to duplicate as Groupon's would be "very silly," Motley Fool says. [View news story]
The CEO over there isn't making any friends and sure seems to be treading water for a paycheck.
In any event, yahoo itself could be claimed to have an easily duplicable business model...
Greece's 2010 deficit will come in at 9.2%-9.3% of GDP, well above its 7.8% target, Reuters reports. Greece must meet fiscal consolidation targets under its bailout agreement with the IMF and its euro zone partners in May to stave off default. [View news story]
Did a Rising Savings Rate Kick-Start the Recession? [View article]
While the jury is still out on the Windows Phone 7's (MSFT) long-term success, T-Mobile claimed its HTC HD7 Windows-based smartphone was temporarily sold out Monday. However, Gartner says any Phone 7 gains for Microsoft will be short-lived, as Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) keep up their own smartphone momentum. [View news story]
It's future lies in zune/xbox/desktop integration, in my opinion, more than anywhere else, and I think MSFT agrees and is heading that way.
Thing is Android is going to continue to kick total butt. The future versions of the platform look awesome, and ever more powerful. I don't know where Apple plans to take their iOS but latest improvements seem very incremental. Blackberry is adopting QNX, which is superb OS, and building their platform 100% around Flash, which may or may not backfire but looks like a good strategy right now. And Nokia is trying to adapt to a changing marketplace with its Meego Linux based OS which is looking great and more robust and desktop replacement-y than anything anyone else has, and HP is bringing out WebOS2.0...
Someone somewhere is gonna lose marketshare, but competition is definitely paying off for the consumer.
A New Metric With Which to Measure Apple [View article]
iPhone has almost saturated the market. We see Miscrosoft worldwide on the desktop at over 90% and assume that iOS can do the same for the smartphone. I doubt it.
With 25% market share in the US smartphone market, iPhone won't grow in US until it is available on other carriers - if at all - and Apple will likely only see growth in iPhone sales overseas, where it can eat competitor market share with a weakening dollar.
for Apple to grow it's income per device it needs to expand iAds in my opinion. It looks like it may well be able to do it from what i am seeing but I don't think it's growth will quite follow its current trajectory. and seeing how they recently guided down, I'd guess they agree.
Too many of the big investment firms and mutual funds have too much cash in Apple right now and EVERYONE of them talking their book hoping Apple stock keeps skyrocketing, I don't see it.
Is the Fed Engaging in Currency War? [View article]
Is the Fed Engaging in Currency War? [View article]
I'll wait for some Volcker comments against QE before worrying about what anyone else has to say.
Oracle (ORCL) blasted SAP's (SAP) offer to settle an ongoing software theft suit for $40M. In court today, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said SAP could have cost Oracle as much as $4B - something SAP's lawyers doubt, as only 350 customers defected to SAP. Nevertheless, one Oracle executive said forcing SAP to pay only $40M would be a "reward for their bad behavior, frankly." [View news story]
Hedge funds raise their bullish bets on oil, to the highest level in more than four years; net-long positions climbed to a record. "It’s all about the dollar being debased," says one trader. [View news story]
Dell (DELL) will dump the BlackBerrys 25,000 of its employees use in favor of its own upcoming Venue Pro smartphones, says CFO Brian Gladden. After completing this migration, Dell will create and aggressively push a service that enables its own business clients to perform a similar swap. While one lost account won't kill Research in Motion (RIMM), it does show Dell wants to appear serious about its smartphone business. [View news story]
Dell's Venue Pro runs Windows.
I really believe MSFT has a good shot at getting a nice chunk of the smartphone market, now that they have a real, albeit fledgling, phone OS.
Windows and enterprise phones isn't a new marriage, and there are a lot of companies not wanting to change from their old windows mobile phones.
This may look to be a squeeze on RIMM but I'd worry more about the aspirations of the other new kids on the block to showing up in the enterprise.
MSFT still has some work to do on its smartphone OS but I think the wind is already filling its sails.
Consumers are spending more but it seems they are more attracted to foreign-made goods. Exports increased 5% last quarter Y/Y while imports surged 17.4%. Miller Tabak's Dan Greenhaus says many U.S. economic problems would be mitigated if more consumption could shift from imported to domestic goods, but meanwhile the temptation of protectionism is great. [View news story]
More importantly if you thought my comment was meant to be negative towards entitlements you were wrong.
I was pointing out a significant difference between -economies- but your politics blinded you to the meaning of comment.
Good news for TV buyers, bad news for TV-makers' shareholders: The industry is bracing for a 'severe' year-end price war, with some analysts predicting price declines as steep as 25% going into the key holiday season. This year's strategy to "sell earlier and sell for less" will make life 'miserable' for manufacturers like Sony (SNE), Samsung and Panasonic (PC). [View news story]
I think electronics makers believe they can continuously upgrade/alter their TV products and constantly encourage consumers to "upgrade". Their perception of product lifecycle is way too short compared to reality.
I can''t see LED TVs or 3D TVs or any of these other incrememntal new techs encouraging mots folks to upgrade, much as I never believed blue-ray/HD-DVD wuld ever create the upgrade momentum from DVD that DVD created from VHS.
The electronics producers need to be prepared for a world where people aren't constantly upgrading their TVs, much like their stereos or their doorbell.
Muted reaction to Q3 GDP reading that was largely in line with consensus. Notably, inventory growth accounted for 1.44 points out of the 2% gain, a trend that will at some point reverse absent a huge jump in consumption. S&P futures recently -0.1% to 1178. Treasurys posting broad gains, with 30-year bond +0.53% to 130-30. [View news story]
Latest anecdotal news from contractors/architects is positive and upbeat: although real income, prices and wages have been adjusted down, and, in general, they make less money and work harder, savings depletion is easing and things are looking up.
Another downturn in housing will likely gut the contractor field, and my question is where will these guys go for work.
-my primary occupation is real estate investment/prop mgnmnt
Consumers are spending more but it seems they are more attracted to foreign-made goods. Exports increased 5% last quarter Y/Y while imports surged 17.4%. Miller Tabak's Dan Greenhaus says many U.S. economic problems would be mitigated if more consumption could shift from imported to domestic goods, but meanwhile the temptation of protectionism is great. [View news story]
Then again, maybe that's the best way.
Chrysler (FIATY.PK) is expected to receive loans from the Energy Department to retool its factories for more fuel-efficient vehicles, and has applied for $10B. The financing could free up the automaker to accelerate payment on $7B in more costly loans related to its bankruptcy. [View news story]