Canadian startups, RivardTech and a new direction
After much time dealing in the tech industry and all the joys it holds. It comes to me that there is a few peices still left uncovered, and I think I can add to how its uncovered.
I’ve been writing for LycorusBlog and doing tech news on my personal blog, named after this site. Now that LycorusBlog is all but a done deal and no longer posting . I feel that I want to do more then just post my thoughts on tech in my personal blog.
The Subsidized Xbox 360
This is a great move, and cost effective for the customer more so then most things you get in a reduced cost for a long term rate. As most would say, it’s a bad deal and that it costs more then buying outright. That’s untrue, the cost includes a 2 year warrenty, when the box it self is only 1 year outright. The mear fact that this breaks even in the end is awesome for all and a great move from Microsoft. It should be in places like games stop. In Micrsoft stores only really reduces the customer base.For $99 you’ll get an Xbox 360 plus the Kinect and an Xbox Live Gold account provided you pay $15 a month for the next two years, as Tom Warren scoops for The Verge.
This seems like a pretty smart move by Microsoft — even though basic math shows that the current full-price Xbox 360 + Xbox Live subscription is a better deal. People are going to look at this and think: “Oh! $99 Xbox 360 plus Kinect! In!”
It’s the phone carrier subsidy model.
Too bad it’s only in Microsoft Stores. Or maybe that’s part of the point too?
Source: parislemon
“Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again.”
In my last post, I linked to something that First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman wrote in 2007. His post was prompted by — wait for it — a New York Times piece declaring that “Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again.” We were in a BUBBLE! Ahhhhh!!!!
Reading over that post now, it’s pretty awesome.
As Brad Stone and Matt Richtel reported in October of 2007:
Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices. And investors, having seemingly forgotten the pain of the first dot-com bust, are displaying symptoms of the disorder known as irrational exuberance.
No, that wasn’t written yesterday — but it sure reads like it was.
Source: parislemon
“Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again.”
In my last post, I linked to something that First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman wrote in 2007. His post was prompted by — wait for it — a New York Times piece declaring that “Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again.” We were in a BUBBLE! Ahhhhh!!!!
Reading over that post now, it’s pretty awesome.
As Brad Stone and Matt Richtel reported in October of 2007:
Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices. And investors, having seemingly forgotten the pain of the first dot-com bust, are displaying symptoms of the disorder known as irrational exuberance.
No, that wasn’t written yesterday — but it sure reads like it was.
Source: parislemon
"iPhone More Lucrative"
Remember when Charles Arthur looked at the numbers based on early court documents and extrapolated that Google may have made 4x off of the iPhone versus Android? Remember when some jumped on it as likely being bullshit? Looks like he wasn’t far off at all.
As you’d expect, Google is still trying to spin this, but the court documents don’t lie. In 2010, Google itself projected making $278.1 million off of Android. Of that, $158.9 million was expected to be on ads versus just $3.8 million from app sales. They were making much more off of the iPhone.
And the overall projections may be high if the horribly off projections Google had for Android Market music sales are any indication. Reports Nilay Patel:
Google was also planning on boosting all these numbers significantly with its music service — Rubin listed “behind on music, video, books” as one of Android’s “lowlights” — and predicted that it would do $738m in music revenue in 2011 and nearly $1.5 billion in 2012. Those numbers have proven to be hugely optimistic…
I’ll say. Google still doesn’t even have a deal with Warner to sell their music. They’ve been trying to get that deal for a full two years now and have failed for a full two years now.
Source: parislemon
Amazing What A Little Verizon Will Do
Citing the fact that the iPhone now accounts for just about 60% of smartphone sales at the top three U.S. carriers, easily besting all of the Android phones out there combined, Jay Yarow writes:
This very well could be the beginning of the end for Google’s mobile operating system.
In September 2010, I wrote “Is Android Surging Only Because Apple Is Letting It?” I followed this up in June 2011 with “The Verizon iPhone Halted Android’s Surge. The iPhone 5 Could Reverse It.”
Both posts were extremely controversial when they were published. But looking back, they sure seem to be pretty spot-on (well, except for the iPhone 5 part, just sub the iPhone 4S in there). Android was “winning” in the U.S. market because the iPhone was only on one carrier, and not even the largest carrier.
This should not be controversial now. It should be viewed as fact, as the numbers indicate.
But in what may be a shock to some of you, I’m not nearly as bearish on Android right now as Yarow (and by extension, Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt). I think Android will be fine because Apple will never fill every market need.
Apple is smartly focused on China right now, which has a quickly maturing middle class. But I can’t see them competing with all those ultra-cheap phones that Android can enable — why would they?
In the U.S., I think the iPhone will continue to dominate as the single most popular device for the foreseeable future, but Android as a whole will hang around as a popular alternative.
Probably around late summer every year going forward, iPhone sales will dip ahead of the expected new device and some Android manufacturer will find a way to capitalize, rising the entire ecosystem’s share as a result. But it will always be short-lived. The new iPhone will come along and crush it.
Remember too that the iPhone isn’t even on all four major U.S. carriers yet, something which T-Mobile clearly isn’t too happy about. Hard to see how that doesn’t change this year.
Source: parislemon
Nintendo's Hard Choice
Things are not nearly as bad for Nintendo as they are for Sony, but this is obviously not good:
Nintendo will report on Thursday its first ever operating loss, after estimating a 45 billion yen deficit for the business year just ended.
I will always have a soft spot for Nintendo. In my opinion, they have by far the best game IP ever created. It’s not even close. And that’s why, as much as it pains me to say it, I think Nintendo will eventually have to head down the Sega path and move on from hardware to focus solely on software.
It’s well known that Mario/Zelda/etc creator Shigeru Miyamoto has no intention of letting this happen — like Apple, he strives to set the entire user experience through hardware and software — but it’s hard to see Nintendo focusing on gaming hardware and continuing on. Maybe they pull and Apple and fully reinvent the company, but there’s a reason why such transformations don’t happen often.
On the flipside, maybe I’m letting my dreams blind me a bit. I really, really, really want Mario and Zelda and Donkey Kong and all the other great Nintendo properties on iOS devices.
Source: parislemon
“We think an iPhone 4 case with a built-in battery that can add up to 36-hours of life to your iPhone is a great idea. Apparently we aren’t the only ones.” - Mophie Juice Pack Air at werd.com
What I really like about these cases is how well they compliment the iPhone it self, worth every penny you spend on it.
Source: werd.com
My words on Tech
