Strategy in TECH...
Apple, Inc. announced on Tuesday the long-awaited update of its key iPhone 5 smartphone, only to see its stock pummeled – losing more than 2% of its value on Tuesday and another 5.44% on Wednesday as investors appeared under-whelmed by the announcement. But is this reaction fair? Has Apple lost its innovation mojo? Or is Apple the victim of unreasonable expectations?
Today, we learned that Microsoft Corp. is acquiring Nokia Corp.’s mobile phone and services business in a deal valued at $7.2 billion. This news seemed to be a real surprise to many who have viewed Microsoft’s mobile efforts (i.e. Windows Phone) as weak at best. This news follows Google’s move in 2011 to acquire Motorola’s mobile hardware business. What’s this all about? Well at least in part, it shows that Steve Jobs was right all along…
Wall Street analysts are getting increasingly concerned about the ability of Apple, Inc. to sustain its historic run of innovation. Some are suggesting the company’s best days may in fact be behind it. Exacerbating the growing drumbeat of discontent…it has been eight months – since October 2012 – when Apple last announced new products. And even they were more iterative than innovative. Clearly feeling the pressure, over the last couple of months Apple CEO Tim Cook has told anyone who was willing to listen to hang on, great things are coming.
Onkyo USA Corp. today announced two hefty new additions to its A/V receiver line, the TX-NR929 and TX-NR828 Network A/V Receivers. Calling them the crown of its mid-range home theater lineup, these new models fit in between their high-end series (TX-NR1010/3010/5010) and their more mid-range series (TX -NR414/515/616/717/818). These new models augment the recently announced TX-NR727.
Sharp Corp. announced this week the worst net loss in its long corporate history for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2013. Booking a net loss of ¥545.35 billion ($5.4 billion), the company has aggressively moved to shake up the company management replacing both the President and Chairman in a rare (for a Japanese company) public rebuke of company leaders. And in what may be a signal to the market, the new President has no ties to the company’s TV business…and he’s talking tough.
Samsung Electronics Co., one of the fastest growing and most popular electronics brands in the world, is the subject of an investigation by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission that is acting on tips it received that the company’s marketing department has allegedly been placing, or contracting for, fake reviews on the web. These reviews, which were said to be positive on Samsung products and negative on Samsung competitors, were not visibly identified as paid or sponsored reviews.
The AP is reporting that Apple, Inc. saw its stock price hit hard in trading today on Wall Street, dropping 23.44 points or 5.5%, to close at $402.80 per share – well below yesterday’s close of $426.24. During today’s session the stock traded as low as $398.11, setting a new 52-week low and triggering analysts to buzz about trouble in Cupertino. What happened? Another Apple supplier, Cirrus Logic, Inc., released a disappointing financial report that hinted that the real problem lays with Apple.
Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. reported today that sales for the first quarter had dropped by 19 percent from the same period last year. Hon Hai, better known by the name of a large division called Foxconn, is a key supplier to Apple, Inc. and analysts point to this as another indicator of Apple’s slipping dominance of the smartphone business.
Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. (FIH), announced today that for fiscal year 2012 the company had the biggest loss ever since it listed its stock in 2005. FIH, which says it is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of cellphones, booked a net loss of $316.4 million for the year.
How big has Beats Electronics, LLC become? Big enough to warrant a visit by Apple, Inc. CEO Tim Cook to discuss a potential partnership in Beat’s new streaming music service tentatively code-named Daisy. And big enough to relatively easily obtain $60 million in financing from investors looking to help it get Daisy off the ground.
