Richard Waters In Google investigations, privacy and anti-trust don’t mix

October 31, 2012 10:23 pm by Richard Waters

There has been no shortage of calls recently for European regulators to drag Google’s controversial new data privacy policies into their anti-trust investigation of the company. But with settlement talks at an advanced stage, we hear this one isn’t going anywhere – at least, not in this round of Google v the EU. Read more

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Posted in Tech |

Richard Waters So many screens, so little time

October 30, 2012 3:36 am by Richard Waters

If it’s Monday, it must be Windows Phone 8. Not to mention Google’s Nexus range. Would you prefer that in four, seven or ten inches?

At this time of year, the flow of new smartphones, tablets and things that defy categorisation becomes a flood. But the message left by the latest deluge of hardware (which includes a new iPad mini last week) is a somewhat paradoxical one: with the number and type of screens proliferating, the real key now lies in integration between machines, not in the devices themselves. Read more

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Posted in Mobile, Personal technology, Smartphones |

Richard Waters A bullish Apple warns of lower margins ahead

October 25, 2012 9:18 pm by Richard Waters

After two quarters of declines, iPhone sales ticked up again in the latest period, to nearly 27m. Meanwhile, iPad sales dropped to 14m as rumours of a new iPad mini spread like wildfire. But for Wall Street, this was just the appetiser: the real banquet will be Apple’s current quarter, when iPhone sales are projected to jump to 50m and iPads to 22m. Speaking on the earnings call, Apple executives sounded optimistic about their ability to ship the new products in high volumes – though they warned that profit margins would suffer a temporary dent.

See below for our blow-by-blow take on the company’s latest earnings call. Read more

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Posted in Personal technology, Tech, Tech Finance |
From Inside Business column October 24, 2012

Will Windows 8 turn out to be Microsoft’s “New Coke”?

Messing around with one of the world’s most familiar everyday products is hardly something to be undertaken lightly – and with the new version of Windows, which goes on sale on Friday, there has been a lot of messing around. That almost guarantees some degree of user backlash. But it would be wrong to judge the outcome of what amounts to a bet-the-farm gamble by Microsoft on its initial reception.

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Posted in Computers, Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Software |

Richard Waters First look: Microsoft Surface tablet

October 24, 2012 2:00 am by Richard Waters

If you’re one of those people who has been dying to use Excel or Word on a touch-optimised tablet, your wait is over. But that may not be enough to justify paying a premium for a device that is both Microsoft’s first foray into personal computing hardware as well as the flagship for the new Windows 8.

Try, for a moment, to put comparisons with the iPad out of your mind (admittedly not so easy on the day that Apple has just shown off the new iPad mini and a souped-up 10in version). The Surface, which goes on sale on Friday, deserves to be judged on its own terms: as a tablet that is designed to function equally well as a notebook PC. Read more

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Posted in Digital media, Hardware, Mobile, Personal technology |

Richard Waters Morgan Stanley seeks vindication with Workday

October 2, 2012 1:15 am by Richard Waters

The hotly anticipated IPO of Workday could help to advance Morgan Stanley’s rehabilitation in the wake of the Facebook fiasco. But given the way other recent tech deals led by the bank have been structured, it is still too soon to pass a verdict on its performance – or to tell how much long-term damage the debacle surrounding the Facebook offering will do to its business in Silicon Valley. Read more

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Posted in Software, Tech, Tech Finance |
From Inside Business September 26, 2012

The Apple maps fiasco brings to mind that old joke about what a European version of hell would be like: a place where the chefs are all English, the lovers are Swiss, and the Italians are left to make sure things run on time.

But like it or not, this is where the new mobile technology world could be headed. In the smartphone version of hell, the browsers and apps stores are modelled on a BlackBerry, the social networks are run by News Corp, and the hardware looks like the first Amazon Kindle. Apple’s new iPhone maps, which have a habit of mis-locating key buildings and public sites, are an honourable addition to this roster – though they will surely get better fast.

 Read more

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Posted in Hardware, Internet, Mobile |
From FT.com September 26, 2012

Google sign

It has taken Wall Street a long time to warm to Google’s second act.

This week, however, stock market investors have finally thrown aside some of their wariness. By pushing the search company’s shares to their first record high in almost five years, they delivered a vote of confidence in the new, more diversified advertising business that has become the basis for Google’s latest surge of growth – while also giving an implicit thumbs-down to Facebook, whose short-term chances of putting Google in the shade, at least in business terms, have receded sharply.

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Posted in Digital media, Internet |
From Analysis September 21, 2012

Mobile payment system
On a bright morning at the ultra-hip Sightglass Coffee shop in San Francisco this week, Brad Miller, a healthcare technology consultant, is in need of a cappuccino.

By the time he reaches the counter, his picture has magically appeared on the iPad the shop uses as its payment terminal. The assistant identifies him by his photo and taps the screen to confirm a sale, and Mr Miller picks up his beverage. As he walks out, a receipt drops on to his iPhone.

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Posted in Digital media, Mobile |
From Inside Business September 19, 2012

Are smartphones about to swallow the payments business? Two events this week have given sharply contradictory answers.

The first was the $3.25bn valuation put on Square , a Silicon Valley payments start-up, by the company’s latest round of fundraising. This represents a huge bet, given that Square is a business with annualised revenues of only about $200m that is battling with the giants of the banking, retail and mobile industries.

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Posted in Digital media, Internet, Mobile |
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