Skagen's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/5091/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/103408-where-have-all-the-peak-oil-believers-gone?source=feed#comment-297848 297848
Now why anyone would bother to debate that we will run out of a mineral that take a million years to create and we are burning like there is no tomorrow, I have no idea.

But what is not in debate is that petroleum is a declining resource. In order to find it, oil companies are going to more and more difficult locations and thus their costs per barrel are up, due the human and technology costs involved.
Meanwhile we are steadily devloping more alternatives to petroluem and these substitutes are more and more realistic. And government are more willing to tax petroleum for its full environmental costs ie pollution.
So in the long run as petroleum finds continues to decline, you cant decline peak oil as ”rising oil” prices – it will and should become less important even as it becomes rare.
Let’s put it this way: guano went through a ”peak oil” scenario too, and (if you pardon the pun) it isnt worth shi# today.

]]> Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:36:24 -0500
Now why anyone would bother to debate that we will run out of a mineral that take a million years to create and we are burning like there is no tomorrow, I have no idea.

But what is not in debate is that petroleum is a declining resource. In order to find it, oil companies are going to more and more difficult locations and thus their costs per barrel are up, due the human and technology costs involved.
Meanwhile we are steadily devloping more alternatives to petroluem and these substitutes are more and more realistic. And government are more willing to tax petroleum for its full environmental costs ie pollution.
So in the long run as petroleum finds continues to decline, you cant decline peak oil as ”rising oil” prices – it will and should become less important even as it becomes rare.
Let’s put it this way: guano went through a ”peak oil” scenario too, and (if you pardon the pun) it isnt worth shi# today.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/29804-iphone-versus-the-rest-more-evidence-smartphone-makers-are-in-trouble?source=feed#comment-82731 82731
These sort of elementary holes make this attempt at analysis not very credible]]> Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:36:25 -0400
These sort of elementary holes make this attempt at analysis not very credible]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/29618-wal-mart-believed-to-be-readying-for-banking-expansion?source=feed#comment-82543 82543
With Tesco now coming into Wal-mart's home market, I would bet you that this is one of several pre-emptive moves that Wal-Mart will be taking. More to come on this front.]]> Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:19:08 -0400
With Tesco now coming into Wal-mart's home market, I would bet you that this is one of several pre-emptive moves that Wal-Mart will be taking. More to come on this front.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/28031-why-google-apps-doesn-t-compete-with-microsoft-office?source=feed#comment-81816 81816 Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:20:54 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/26630-zune-phone-implications-for-microsoft-s-mobile-partners?source=feed#comment-81353 81353
And I'll bet you HTC would be the one who would actually make this phone for MS in any case. They are more or less MS's phone arm.]]> Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:43:59 -0500
And I'll bet you HTC would be the one who would actually make this phone for MS in any case. They are more or less MS's phone arm.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/26235-steve-jobs-we-re-ready-to-end-drm-now?source=feed#comment-81182 81182
I cant believe Jobs actually said this. There is no DRM for the traditonal Redbook CD, but music stores these days are full of copy protected CD's which do not follow the Redbook spec. And there was a huge scandal last year which was all about Sony violating the law with its CD's installing secret"rooktits" on the PC's of people who bought their music. That was all about DRM on CD's.

So Jobs is just flat out wrong on that and that is before you get in to the lots of other holes in his argument.

Bottom line is that even Ipod users buy very little iTunes music on average. Partloy because of the DRM on the music but also partly because what Itunes sells is low quality 128 kbps recordings, well below CD quality and in fact not much different from an FM broadcast. I dont think Apple even sells music in its own pointless proprietary "Apple Lossless" format

So Jobs would rather have DRM-free music to boost sales but I think he will also need to sell decent quality musiic too if he wants to see higher sales numbers via Itunes.]]> Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:27:03 -0500
I cant believe Jobs actually said this. There is no DRM for the traditonal Redbook CD, but music stores these days are full of copy protected CD's which do not follow the Redbook spec. And there was a huge scandal last year which was all about Sony violating the law with its CD's installing secret"rooktits" on the PC's of people who bought their music. That was all about DRM on CD's.

So Jobs is just flat out wrong on that and that is before you get in to the lots of other holes in his argument.

Bottom line is that even Ipod users buy very little iTunes music on average. Partloy because of the DRM on the music but also partly because what Itunes sells is low quality 128 kbps recordings, well below CD quality and in fact not much different from an FM broadcast. I dont think Apple even sells music in its own pointless proprietary "Apple Lossless" format

So Jobs would rather have DRM-free music to boost sales but I think he will also need to sell decent quality musiic too if he wants to see higher sales numbers via Itunes.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/24447-why-apple-s-iphone-will-succeed?source=feed#comment-80448 80448
In other words, this first modle is the sucker phone - at a sucker price.]]> Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:06:04 -0500
In other words, this first modle is the sucker phone - at a sucker price.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/24447-why-apple-s-iphone-will-succeed?source=feed#comment-80358 80358
Are you joking? Do your research before writing. Ipods do very well here in Europe. Really.

As for the 3G, European adoption of 3G on GSM far outstrips the US. So it really doesnt matter what is going on in Kansas or Idaho. If Apple wants to sell meaningful quantities of this phone here in the year 2007, it better have 3G. end of story.]]> Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:56:17 -0500
Are you joking? Do your research before writing. Ipods do very well here in Europe. Really.

As for the 3G, European adoption of 3G on GSM far outstrips the US. So it really doesnt matter what is going on in Kansas or Idaho. If Apple wants to sell meaningful quantities of this phone here in the year 2007, it better have 3G. end of story.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/24447-why-apple-s-iphone-will-succeed?source=feed#comment-80286 80286 Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:25:38 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/24447-why-apple-s-iphone-will-succeed?source=feed#comment-80278 80278
The iPhone is overpriced and will underwhelm. I'm sure Apple will come out with subsequent better ones, but this one here is just going to be a dud with the people whom it is priced for.

Too little on offer there, for far too much money - and a two year slave contract to a company whos approach to customers is best described as "customer DIS-service".]]> Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:34:48 -0500
The iPhone is overpriced and will underwhelm. I'm sure Apple will come out with subsequent better ones, but this one here is just going to be a dud with the people whom it is priced for.

Too little on offer there, for far too much money - and a two year slave contract to a company whos approach to customers is best described as "customer DIS-service".]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/24447-why-apple-s-iphone-will-succeed?source=feed#comment-80246 80246
- The pricing has already been announced and the annunced prices are subsidised prices, and for new account sonly. Mind you some of the people buying this phone will aready have Cingular accounts and will have to pay even more since they will need to pay fees to terminate existing accounts.
- The Wi-fi in this phone will add little value since it is crippled and cant make VOIP calls. If you buy the phone, you'd already be on a data phone and have paid for banwith to use the internet. The killer app for Wi-fi on a phone is the VOIP calls and this phone is unable to give you that.
- Third, you say Apple will soon release a "lower end phone" but arguably this one here is a lower end phone - albeit at a high end price. It doesnt have 3G and it cant make VOIP calls, which is what high end smartphones do these days.
- Finally you claim that the iPhone has a $200-$300 Mp3 player included. Well listen anyone with a smartphone can buy a memory card and stick it in there to create an MP3 payer for a lot less. That's been going on for 2-3-4 years before and recently companies like Sony started explicitly releasing wildly succeful Walkman phones like the W950i, W850 and W800 . Apple didnt create it and in fact are way behind on the curve.]]> Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:35:07 -0500
- The pricing has already been announced and the annunced prices are subsidised prices, and for new account sonly. Mind you some of the people buying this phone will aready have Cingular accounts and will have to pay even more since they will need to pay fees to terminate existing accounts.
- The Wi-fi in this phone will add little value since it is crippled and cant make VOIP calls. If you buy the phone, you'd already be on a data phone and have paid for banwith to use the internet. The killer app for Wi-fi on a phone is the VOIP calls and this phone is unable to give you that.
- Third, you say Apple will soon release a "lower end phone" but arguably this one here is a lower end phone - albeit at a high end price. It doesnt have 3G and it cant make VOIP calls, which is what high end smartphones do these days.
- Finally you claim that the iPhone has a $200-$300 Mp3 player included. Well listen anyone with a smartphone can buy a memory card and stick it in there to create an MP3 payer for a lot less. That's been going on for 2-3-4 years before and recently companies like Sony started explicitly releasing wildly succeful Walkman phones like the W950i, W850 and W800 . Apple didnt create it and in fact are way behind on the curve.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/16582-are-warehouse-stores-too-dependant-on-membership-fee-income?source=feed#comment-63058 63058
You might something if you pointed out that retail margins are pretty low if $50 per customer can make up 75% of annual profit. But breaking out the annual membership “fee” as supposedly independent revenue is a pointless exercise.

You could also view the 75% as an indicator that these companies have customers who are extremely commmited.]]> Mon, 11 Sep 2006 11:24:15 -0400
You might something if you pointed out that retail margins are pretty low if $50 per customer can make up 75% of annual profit. But breaking out the annual membership “fee” as supposedly independent revenue is a pointless exercise.

You could also view the 75% as an indicator that these companies have customers who are extremely commmited.]]>