With nearly two weeks gone in 2014, it looks like the tech
sector will see another eventful year. While some interesting
partnerships and products were announced at the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) last week, more is sure to come at the
Mobile World Congress next month and Apple’s WWDC soon after.
CES In a Nutshell
Facebook (FB) shares recovered lost ground,
helped by management statements to the effect that its advertising
revenues were nowhere near what they could be. The decision to
remove unwanted features like Sponsored Stories also helped.
Facebook continues to see a lot of love from advertisers that are
willing to pay more for ad slots even as Facebook decides not to
increase ad frequency.
Yahoo (YHOO) started off by announcing its
Aviate acquisition, which produces software that increases the
intuitiveness of devices, based on usage patterns of consumers. It
also announced a number of new products and advertising tools.
It made a huge push into content with offerings like
picture-rich “digital magazines” on a broad range of topics; a news
digest, which is basically an email alert comprising a summary of
the top nine news stories of the day; and Yahoo Smart TV, which can
send personalized recommendations from TV to online streaming.
It also simplified the ad buying process with new advertising
tools such as native ads, yahoo Audience Ads, Ad Manager, Ad
Manager Plus and Yahoo Ad Exchange. Management also mentioned that
Yahoo Stream Ads and Image Ads for mobile were actually doing
better than desktop ads.
Intel (INTC) was also not to be outdone: the
company introduced three new technologies. The first was Jarvis,
which is basically a pair of smart ear pads that connect with a
smartphone to answer natural language questions. It also announced
Edison, which is a circuit board based on its Quark processor. The
third was a beautifully designed charging bowl with the ability to
charge various devices (including wearable devices) that are simply
thrown into it.
Intel also said that it would be rebranding McAfee as Intel
Security and making it free for all mobile devices. But the market
largely discounted these positives and expressed disappointment at
its delays in the smartphone segment (Merrifield). On the positive
side, Intel-based tablets are expected to gain traction this
year.
Cisco (CSCO) focused on the Internet of Things,
and projected significant cost savings in the next few years for
governments, companies and individuals based on their adoption of
the concept.
NVIDIA (NVDA), along with several other tech
companies, formed an alliance targeting the automotive market (see
below).
The Automobile Is the New Computer
Or that is what technology companies would like it to be. Last
week, Google (GOOG) announced its Open Automotive
Alliance for the express purpose of developing “a common platform
that will allow automakers to more easily bring cutting-edge
technology to their drivers…and passengers in a safe and scalable
way”, or in other words, to encourage developers to build
compelling aps for an Android-powered dashboard.
Google is less than a year behind Apple (AAPL),
which announced its automotive strategy at its WorldWide Developers
Conference in March last year. The list of Google partners
currently includes chipmaker NVIDIA and automakers Honda, Audi,
General Motors, and Hyundai, just slightly shorter than the list of
Apple’s “iOS in the car” partners that includes Honda, Mercedes,
Nissan, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Kia, Hyundai, Volvo and Jaguar.
Google’s Open Automotive Alliance is reminiscent of its Open
Handset Alliance, which enabled it to come up behind Apple and
steal the leadership position in the fast-growing smartphone
market. Connected car is another upcoming market
(Marketsandmarkets.com forecasts a 41.2% CAGR from 2013 to 2018),
so this is another big opportunity for Google.
Microsoft CEO Search Continues as Mulally Says
No
Microsoft shares stumbled last week, as Ford’s Mulally, the
favorite contender for the CEO position said that he would not be
joining the company. Microsoft has been saying for a while that the
list has been shortened, but we have had little other than our
surmises involving Satya Nadella, Tony Bates, Stephen Elop and
Mulally (now struck out) to go on.
But it now appears that the company will not be going for a
turnaround wiz, but will instead settle for a veteran Microsofter.
Shareholders would have liked new blood, but it wouldn’t really
have changed things much. Because no matter who comes next,
Microsoft is already well on its way toward executing its “devices
and services strategy” (for better or worse).
Company
|
Last Week
|
Last 6 Months
|
AAPL
|
-0.42%
|
+24.73%
|
FB
|
+6.33%
|
+124.49%
|
YHOO
|
+3.03%
|
+52.48%
|
GOOG
|
+1.94%
|
+22.81%
|
MSFT
|
-2.04%
|
+0.98%
|
INTC
|
-0.66%
|
+6.42%
|
CSCO
|
+0.32%
|
-14.11%
|
Other stories you may have missed-
Malvertising Hits Yahoo Ad Network:
Malvertising, malicious software that infects user computers when
they click on an ad, affected thousands of Yahoo users last week.
The company did not specify the number of people affected, but did
say that users in North America, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific
weren’t affected.
PC Shipments Fall Again
Microsoft Acquires Parature
H-P’s Claims About Autonomy Books Finds
Support: The U.S. Air Force found upon independent
verification of transactions regarding Autonomy that the latter had
resorted to accounting jugglery and fraudulent inflation of revenue
and profit. Hewlett Packard (HPQ) has had a hard
time convincing shareholders that it was unaware of these
irregularities and in fact had to pay dearly for the rich
valuation. On the positive side, the software has turned out to be
highly beneficial for the company’s new approach to business.
Google’s Privacy Battles to Continue: French
regulators slapped a $203,500 fine on Google for its inability to
provide details to users about the usage of their private data.
This follows a $900,000 euro fine by Spanish regulators with
similar penalties looming at other EU countries. Google also lost
an infrastructure contract with the Indian government because of
the Snowden episode.
But Google doesn’t seem to have learned its lesson. It has now
merged Google+ technology with gmail such that a member of a Google
Circle can email another member even when he/she doesn’t know the
email address. Not just that, Google robots are sending automatic
emails on behalf of members that are at times landing them in
trouble.
Netflix (NFLX) Shares Take A Plunge
Amazon Discloses Some Vital Stats: Online
retailer Amazon announced last week that its third-party sellers
sold over a billion items in 2013, generating tens of billions of
dollars. Selles using its fulfillment services business
(Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA) were up 65% during the year.
Analysts also estimate Amazon’s growing position as an apparel
seller, all cemented by its Prime memberships, which are now up to
20 million.
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