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Apple Revenues Still Continue to Flatline

July 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment

UPDATES: 9.45pm BST

  1. Q3 Revenues / eps $37.43bn / $1.28
  2. Unit sales millions – iPhones 35.2 iPads 13.3 Macs 4.4 iPods 2.9
  3. Guidance Q4 Revenues / eps $37 -$40bn $1.20 (ish)
  4. Closing share price $94.72 Current price (WSJ) Initial after hours reaction down about 50c
  5. We have updated our graph & results schedule below.
  6. More tomorrow but looks like overall performance particularly Q4 guidance is a bit below market expectations.

Apple results, for their Q3 2014 (13 weeks ending June 28) should be released around 9.30 pm BST followed fairly rapidly by their Conference Call at 10pm BST (2pm PDT) which you can listen to live.The, sort of, headline figures to look out for we think are:

  • If their revenues are less than $39bn this quarter the growth rate will for the 5th consecutive quarter on a moving annual total basis show an increase of less than 2%!
  • Quarter 3 results consensus (Professionals/The Street) Revenues / Earnings per share – $38.0bn / $1.23
  • Quarter 4 mid guidance consensus Revenues / Earnings per share – $40.5bn / $1.34

Whilst no new product announcements will be made many think that a new larger iPhone in Q4 and possibly an   iWatch are on the cards but still no sign of an Apple TV.

Click to enlarge

The source of much of our information is Philip Elmer-Dewitt editor of Apple 2.0 to whom we, and likely many others are indebted. Our normal graphic uses his info for the Professionals and Amateurs figures and the mid guidance information from Apple. We also add our guesses. We’re going for a rounded and aggressively high set of results this time!

We will report back later after the results are released . Usually the Q & A session adds value. We shall see, or rather hear, if this continues to be the case and report back tomorrow.

Our header courtesy of Apple is from their Investor News page – impressive!

Filed Under: Apple

All Entrepreneurs are Digital

July 21, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Accenture  in conjunction with the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance  have undertaken some research using various streams including a survey amongst 1,000 entrepreneurs in the G20 countries undertaken by Harris Interactive in March and April this year with 51 coming from the UK and 164 from the USA.

The reports introductory words are:

“Young entrepreneurs are the driving force behind job creation in the G20 countries, powered by their relentless efforts to innovate and embrace digital technologies: social media, mobile computing, big data, cloud and ‘the internet of things’.

New Accenture research concludes that lifting existing barriers: digital skills shortage, logistics at scale, policy and regulation, access to local markets and access to finance, with the help of large companies and other bridgemakers, could help young entrepreneurs to create 10 million more youth jobs in G20 countries.”

We noticed in particular from the survey stream of the research the importance the UK (and US) young entrepreneurs placed on the collaboration with Social technologies, Customers and other SME’s.

The great extent definition is a “key partner for innovation” and the some extent “some experience of collaboration”

Much more in this interesting report which is downloadable here

Filed Under: Digital

Keep an I on our Week, Lords above edition

July 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Our top three articles this week were:

  1. 3 2 1 goTenna
  2. Prime Air approaches Takeoff
  3. Consumer Complaints UK vs USA

Our Tech Rich List for 2014 continues to be popular, and Peeks Vision still attracts many eyes!

We’ll leave you with Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars

Filed Under: I week

3 2 1 goTenna

July 18, 2014 By Leave a Comment

This 6 inch long gadget pairs with an iOS or Android device using Bluetooth. It then connects with other goTennas miles away, allowing their paired phones to communicate with one another over peer-to-peer links. It’s mainly an out door device and depending on their presence will operate anywhere in  the world.

Mainly in their words this is how they work.

goTenna enables you to communicate without any need for central connectivity whatsoever—no cell towers, no wifi, no satellites—so when you’re off-grid you can remain connected. In fact, goTenna will even work if your smartphone is in “Airplane Mode”! How does this magic work?

Pair your smartphone to your goTenna device wirelessly, using Bluetooth-LE. Your goTenna needs to be within 20 feet of your phone, so that the two can communicate with each other. Use our free app to type out a text message or share a location. Your smartphone will send the message to your goTenna, which will then shoot it out, via long-range radio waves, to the intended goTenna(s). At the other end, the exact same thing happens, in reverse: the recipient goTenna sends your message over Bluetooth-LE to the smartphone app it’s paired with. All of this happens in a matter of milliseconds.

The goTenna will be able to transmit to any goTenna user within range. What kind of range can you expect? That‘s greatly dependent on your geography. See above to get a sense for what range you can expect in specific environments (open water, suburban, urban, forest, desert) and elevations. Elevating the goTenna increases its range drastically. Another way to improve your range is to attach it externally to other gear (e.g. a backpack), as opposed to having it at the bottom of a bag.

Its forecast to ship in the late autumn and can be preordered (as a pair) at a discounted price of $149.99 from now. Initially available in the USA & Canada you can ask about other country details No doubt if/when there is  UK availability duties taxes & shipping charges will apply

We’ll leave you with their slightly inappropriate video!

 

Sources: Gigaom & goTenna

We have no commercial arrangements with goTenna.

Filed Under: Apps, Mobile, Technology

Consumer complaints UK vs USA

July 16, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Apparently we lied and cried more than our American cousins when reacting to bad service according to some new research from ClickSoftware! .

Click to enlarge

On the frustration front in the UK our top three “badies” are Utility companies, Communication service providers and Central government wheras in the USA they spend most time attempting to sort problems with Banking, Repair / home services and Insurance.

It’s interesting to see that at current exchange rates the average US hourly wage is only some 11% greater than in the UK. We do though apparently wait virtually a week a year which is more than 20% longer than our cousins.

What to do about it – unsurprisingly ClickSoftware have many suggestions. Here are their US comments “Around half of U.S. adults say companies can provide customers more frequent and exact estimate arrival times via their preferred method of contact (52%) and show they understand them as a customer (49%) to improve their services. Around two in five Americans say companies can proactively update them on the progress of their problem (43%) and share more accurate service estimates by understand the full extent of the job and required part(s) (39%) to improve their services while around one-quarter say companies can provide more opportunity to communicate with service reps (27%), schedule appointments via phone (23%) and schedule appointments via other methods (23%).”

Survey Methodology

USA – This survey was conducted online within the United States between May 12 and 14, 2014 among 2,051 adults aged 18 and older by Harris Poll on behalf of ClickSoftware via its Quick Query omnibus product.

UK – This survey was conducted online within Great Britain between May 13 and 21, 2014 among 2,053 adults aged 18 and older by Harris Poll on behalf of ClickSoftware via its Global omnibus product.

USA & UK – Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

Filed Under: Retail

We beat Germany and Argentina

July 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment

That’s in the  G20 e-Trade Readiness Index which “… measures the degree to which the G20 countries encourage through policy, regulation and infrastructure cross-border trade using the Internet.

The report is based on a quantitative Index which scores the countries (excluding the EU as a separate entity) across five categories:

  1. Investment climate
  2. Internet environment
  3. International trading
  4. Environment, regulatory and legal framework
  5. The environment for e-payments.”

It is produced by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit and was commissioned by ebay inc.

There are 19 in the G20 ‘cos the EU is the 20th member and wisely, we thought, are therefore not reported on separately by the Intellignce Unit particularly as it would involve gathering data on over an additional 20 counties!

Here are the 5 category scores.

Click to enlarge

Our simplistic analysis concludes that the UK could improve and get into the top 3 if it did not loose out so much in the Investment climate where it has only 2/3 of the overall winners score.

The general comments on this category are “The investment climate category in the G20 e-Trade readiness Index measures macroeconomic and political stability as well as demographic factors, such as population, median age and education, that affect the risks and returns associated with investment in a  country. To emphasise the role of technology and SMEs, the extent of ICT investment and access to financing for entrepreneurs are also included. Countries that score well in this category are characterised by high levels of technology investment, a large, young and growing middle class and openness to entrepreneurial ventures.”

We’re surprised that the UK scores so badly and is even below Brazil and only just above Saudi Arabia.

Much more of course in the Economist’s report

Filed Under: Net t'internet, Retail, Technology

Amazon Prime Air Approaches Takeoff

July 14, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Following its drone / octocopter publicity last December Amazon have now formally applied (July 10) to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) as follows.”In order to allow outdoor R&D testing for Prime Air in the United States, we are submitting this petition for exemption pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.”

Interestingly they indicate that they may have already undertaken some testing outdoors in overseas countries.

The overview of their objectives and the reason for Amazon Prime Air is said to be:

“At Amazon, our energy comes from inventing on behalf of customers. Amazon Prime Air, a new delivery system that will get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using aerial vehicles, is one invention we are incredibly passionate about. We believe customers will love it, and we are committed to making Prime Air available to customers worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so.”

As far as “exemptions” are concerned the FAA have already granted some commercial ones on a pretty limited basis.

You can download the full amazon petition from the Federal regulations.gov website and, if suitably qualified submit your comments!

We’ll leave you with a rather good runover of Prime Airs progress from Time

Disclosure: We have marketing affiliate arrangements with Amazon.

Filed Under: Amazon, Net t'internet, Technology

Keep an “I” on our week, Trent Bridge edition

July 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Our top three articles this week were:

  1. Technology the Canvas, Code the Paintbrush 
  2. Digital Inclusion , the Figures 
  3. Another 4 for O3b

Our Tech Rich List for 2014 continues to be popular. and Peek Vision  still attracts many eyes and has just won a prize over at Tech 4 Good in the Digital Health Category.

 

Filed Under: I week

Another 4 for O3b

July 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday O3b Networks (Other 3 billion), the satellite internet provider, launched another 4 satellites from Arianespace’s French Guiana’s spaceport on flight VS0.courtesy of a Soyuz 2 rocket. These 4 will now go through a period of in-orbit testing before being fully integrated into the O3b network.

We reckon that following the initial launch, just over a year ago, this brings their total to 8. Their next launch is due in early 2015 and we will report back thereafter.

It does look to us as if this venture, already backed, to the extent of over $1.3 billion ( we wonder if they will  aim at $3 billion for symmetry reasons) is commercially sound and could  well be used by Google (who are an investor) in furtherance of their extra terrestrial activities.

We’ll leave you with one of their launch/ promotional videos

Filed Under: Broadband, Net t'internet, Technology

Digital Inclusion – the Figures

July 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Just Economics have in conjunction with BT for their Get it together project had a stab at calculating the social value to individuals of going online. They have calculated figures for new, advanced and professional users.

In their words “Digital inclusion, defined as have the skills, motivation and access to go online … is perceived by many to be extremely valuable, not only to individuals, but also to businesses, the state, and society as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to try to put some figures on what being ‘digitally included’ is worth to the individual, i.e. what difference it makes in someone’s life to go from being offline to online and what value can be placed on that change.”

The constituents of the new user valuation are:

The definition of the differing users is:

Much further detail in Eilis Lawlor’s interesting research 

Filed Under: Digital, Net t'internet
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