Once again, like a used care salesman, Microsoft says “Trust me.” When it comes to WIndows, Microsoft’s promises never end and they never get realized, either.
Video #1:
In this clip we hit up the GDGT Launch Meetup party to find out what the coolest tech and gadget gifts are for 2009, and chat briefly with company founders Peter Rojas and Ryan Block.
Video #2:
In this clip we get a peek at the latest in the Blackberry Curve family with a look at the new 8520 smartphone. I also asked Blackberry about the Apple iPhone rivalry is affecting them, though it’s worth noting Blackberry’s sales since the iPhone launched have soared exponentially.
Video #3:
In this clip we check out the 2009 GDGT Launch Meetup to get up to date on the latest tech gadgets including head-mounted HD camera (Contour HD), printers and portable TV.
Video #4:
In this clip we talk with a Playstation fanatic for his top 5 games and Al De Leon from Sony Playstation to find out whats in store for the PSP in 2010.
From MSNBC:
Now that Apple has once again passed Google in market value, can the consumer-electronics maker maintain its lead?
While Apple’s capitalization has risen above that of Google for short bursts in the past, it has remained higher since July 22. As of Aug. 11, Apple was worth $145.87 billion, compared with Google’s $143.40 billion. This could be a momentary shift in Wall Street’s whims — like when Cisco Systems briefly surpassed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable company in 2000.
More likely, Apple has more solidly unseated Google as tech’s No. 2 powerhouse and is now on track to one day challenge Microsoft for the crown. While both Apple and Google are likely to remain highly valuable in the coming years, there’s reason to believe that Apple may outshine Google in the eyes of investors.
A couple of pieces I wrote ages ago:
- Google is 21st Century’s Monopoly
- Will Google Surpass MSFT’s Value by 2010?
- Will Google Become World’s First Trillion Dollar Market Cap Company?
Maybe I should look into Apple’s odds?
Latest figures peg Apple’s revenues off the App ecosystem at a whopping $20-45M. I should have added “quotation marks” to whopping to connote sarcasm.
Back in March 2008, when Facebook hype was at current “Twitteresque” levels and FB (and iPhone) app funds were popping up right and left, I asked Where’s The YouTube Fund. Side note I: YouTube is one of our largest distribution partners.
The rationale then was:
In my opinion, monetizing YouTube is the single greatest business opportunity online right now:
- YouTube streams 1 out of 3 videos;
- YouTube is part of the most profitable online media company, Google;
- Online video advertising is the next high growth area;
- YouTube has hitherto not generated any meaningful revenue, so the upside is far more considerable;
Nothing has really changed my point of view.
In fact, the case for a YT-focused fund is stronger.
You can’t, after all, tell me that Google’s rules of engagements are any harder to overcome than Facebook’s or Apple’s, after all.
- Much as Google has become the dominant navigation platform,
- The iPhone will be a dominant ecosystem in wireless,
- Facebook is the dominant “directory” platform, and
- Google’s YouTube is the dominant entertainment platform right now (no disrespect to Hulu, of course, though Hulu knows its role: to serve traditional media’s interest). Side note II: Hulu, too, is a distribution partner.
Biggest Opportunity in Business Today: Cracking the YouTube Enigma
Online video is big in terms of consumer activity right now: there are more video streams generated than search queries.
Over time: it will be huge in terms of advertising (it will also be huge in terms of e-commerce, and some companies are playing in that field.)
I don’t think - despite my evident bias as the CEO of a content production, distribution, syndication company - that online video advertising will totally usurp television advertising’s size ($1B vs. $75B right now, after all)… but I do think that since online advertising/publishing/media in general will shrink traditional advertising/publishing/media, over time, online video could be larger than a smaller television ad market.
The economic meltdown is shrinking media companies faster, but even without the meltdown, I have news for you: CBS, News Corp., Disney, Viacom etc. will have shrunk anyway. To quote Chris Rock, no one [in media] is above an ass-kicking [because of the Internet]. Ok, so that was a quasi Chris Rock quote.
It might sounds crazy now, but basic math suggests eventually online video will be larger than search and online ads (by 2018) in general will be bigger than television ads (by 2021).
This is why it baffles me to see both Facebook, Apple and yes, “even” Twitter app funds get all of this hype. I think it’s cute, frankly.
Media vs. Technology
So why are investors not rushing to fund YouTube related companies?
- Well, for one: VCs (for the most part) are irrelevant after the meltdown. Their limited partners are broke, the VCs have nothing to show for it… and this is why apart from follow-up investments in portfolio companies that have a shot of succeeding (ie. not dying, forget the cliche 100 or 1,000x returns some of the more ballsy VCs sought), you will see very few new investments.
- But more importantly, all video-related investments - even the tech oriented ones such as CDNs, players, platforms, etc. - are really media businesses and not technology ones. In other words, the technology nuts and bolts is afterthought, a detail. By now, the truth is out: VCs understood technology so they successfully helped build the backbone of the Web. But when it comes to anything touching media and entertainment, they are clueless.
These two reasons explain why despite YouTube’s massive business opportunity, you won’t be seeing any YouTube funds.
Both the iPhone and Macbooks use capacitance technology for their touchscreens and trackpads, respectively. This means that, for an item to be used to control the device, it has to be a conductor; your finger will work, but a normal plastic stylus won’t. If you’re tired of using your fingers to select apps or draw on your trackpad, Ten One design has just the product for you: the Pogo Sketch.
Steve Jobs’ medical leave from Apple is likely to be permanent, analysts say.
In a letter to Apple staff on Wednesday, Jobs said he was taking a five-month medical leave because his health issues are “more complex than I originally thought.”
In the note, Jobs promised to return to Apple in the summer, which many are hoping is true.
According to Gizmodo.com:
Apple-obsessed financial analyst Charlie Wolf said today in a research note that Apple could cut the price of the 8GB iPhone to $99. Why? Apparently, just because they can. At least, based on his guesstimations on the iPhone margins and costs, and we can only guess, his famed telepathic powers, animal entrails reading abilities, and the shiny 8-ball he has hidden in the bottom drawer of his work desk.
According to Wolf, his estimations puts the price of the unsubsidized iPhone 3G at $666 (because Steve Jobs is really a codename for Satan). That gives Apple a nearly 50 percent gross margin for each iPhone, and a $450 subsidy from AT&T. And from there, boom, jump into the theory of a $99 iPhone 3G 8GB with a “comfortable 42.3 percent margin”.
MySpace is certainly this generation’s MTV. So it was pretty fitting that Sumner Redstone would seek to acquire MySpace, of course, as history would have it, Mr. Redstone’s foe Rupert Murdoch stepped in, outbid Viacom, and lo and behold, MySpace fell in News Corp.’s domain.
MySpace has gone on to become the largest music community, no doubt, and now they will have to give both Amazon and Apple’s iTunes a run for its money. Amazon is in the running to be powering the “Buy Music” function of the ad-supported site, by the way.
This should be getting interesting. Read more here and here. Tech Crunch is running with the rumor that MySpace will pull a Hulu and raise private equity/VC money and essentially spin off MySpace Music. Thus far, this paid off with Hulu, though I don’t think anyone within NBC or News Corp. (the owners of the joint venture that is Hulu) really know what the end game / outcome / exit will look like… but in a world where YouTube generated 5B monthly streams and owns the video space, who cares about end games and outcomes right now?
For this reason, considering just how bloodied the music industry has been, and the fact that Apple and Amazon basically own the online music, Rupert Murdoch’s strategy of opening up MySpace Music and sharing ownership with the media companies that own the intellectual property (the muzzak) is a wise bet, after all, Hulu’s content library was helped considerably thanks to NBC and News Corp.’s vaults.
Om Malik has a nice overview of Google’s first 10 years, we’ve also seen some interesting writings on what to expect on Google’s next 10 years. Here are some of the more popular posts we’ve penned on Google going back about 18 months… which is half the time we’ve been blogging on HipMojo.com.
AWESOME GOOGLE:
- Is Google Most Dominant Company in Any Industry, Ever?
- How Often Do You Get a Perfect Storm?
- Will Google Become [America’s] Most Valuable Company?
- Google’s Shock and Awe: 40% of US Online Ad Revs in Q1 and Q2
- Will Google be the MSFT-style monopoly of the 21st century?
- Will Google Be the First Company to Boast a $1 Trillion Market Capitalization?
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS:
- Easy Improvement Suggestions for Wordpress and Google’s Gmail
- Why is Google Weather Not in Google Calendar?
- Gmail Feature I’d like to see
MEDIA VS. TECHNOLOGY:
- Google Content to Let Others Discuss Google’s Content Aspirations
GOOGLE’S CHALLENGES:
- Did Google Overpay for Fox Interactive Media’s Search Business?
- Does Google Have Any People Skills?
- Google’s Share Price, Stock Options, and Employee Morale Under Pressure
- The Innovator’s Dilemma Meets Only the Paranoid Survive
- How Google Can Stop Brain Drain
- Google’s Maturity Morphs into Modesty
- Google’s TAC, Revenues, Headcount Signal Red Flags
- Google Crushes Ball; Two Warning Signs Remain
- Impact of Financial Advertisers on Google’s Report
- Myth: Data Equals Money and Ownership Thereof Equals Value
DIVERSIFYING REVENUE STREAMS:
- Hum, YouTube, Get a Clue; Take Cue from Yahoo!
- Portal Wars: How the Mighty Have Fallen
- Search: Split Up Google or Move On To Wireless Mobile Search
- Google Search: RIP 2007 - Google Portal: Est. 2007
- Google’s Missing Piece of the Puzzle
GOOGLE VS MICROSOFT:
- Google To Boast Larger Market Capitalization than Microsoft in 2010
- Is Google Envy Microsoft’s Colossal Mistake?
- MSFT vs. Google Fight Remains to be Won
- How MSFT Can Still Take Down Google
- Mahatma Ballmer: An eye for an eye and we’ll all be blind
- Will Google Be Worth More than MSFT by 2010?
- Who is Being Evil Here: MSFT or Google?
- Should Microsoft Offer to Buy Google?
HOW GOOGLE PULVERIZED YAHOO:
- Yahoo is a Great Stock - For Me to Poop On
- Why Yahoo! Isn’t Worth Anything To Mgmt and Investors
- Google: Yahoo! Deal is Good For You, Them, and Sure, Us Too
- Why Google Never Really Wanted Yahoo Search Deal
- If Yahoo! Outsources Search to Google, Who Wins?
- Google, Yahoo! and the Folly of the Asian Search Card Argument
GOOGLE VS. APPLE:
- Should Apple and Google Merge?
GOOGLE VS. FACEBOOK:
- Clash of the Titans: Facebook vs. Google
- One Technology Company Has Ever Scaled Advertising: Not Facebook
- How Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Bogeyman Will Own the Web in the Future
- Google’s Cheryl Sandberg Hired as COO of Facebook
- Why Facebook Won’t Be Able to Find Mark Zuckerberg’s Eric Schmidt?
GOOGLE’S ACQUISITIONS:
Monetizing YouTube:
- 13 Ways to Transform YouTube from a Cool Site to a Profitable Business
- What if YouTube Users Prefer UGC and Shun Professional Content?
- How YouTube Can Increase Revenues and Win Over Advertisers - Part 17
- How YouTube Can Increase Revenues
- Funniest Part About YouTube’s Ads?
- YouTube’s 4% Problem is Actually Part of The Solution
- Where is Online Video Advertising Revenue Going?
- Why YouTube Adopted the “sell it your own damn self” Ad Strategy
- YouTube Proves: Success is Random
- Videocracy Event Showcased YouTube’s 3 Risks and Challenges in Monetizing Video
- Putting Google’s AdSense Tie-In with YouTube into Context
- Google to YouTube: Show me the Money
Doubleclick Display Dreams:
- Google’s Display Advertising Dream via Doubleclick
That’s probably about 10% of the posts on Google…
Hope you enjoy these.
Everyone was clamoring today about how Apple surpassed Google in market cap today.
In all fairness, indeed, when measured by market capitalization (shares outstanding x share price), that is true.
But while Google has $12.7B in cash on its balance sheet, Apple has a whopping $20.7B. In fact, in 2009, it’s expected that Apple will have $30B in cash, and by 2010 might even surpass MSFT’s cash hoard.
What does this mean? Well, not much, other than the fact that when measured by enterprise value (market cap less cash plus debt), Apple trails Google $135.79B to $145.31B.
Over time, I don’t doubt that Apple can continue to see both its market cap and enterprise value grow, and eventually surpass Google’s. Google remains a one-trick pony (search/AdSense) whereas Apple now has computers, music players and phones to boost its growth rate… no wonder Eric Schmidt et al. are so hellbent on video and wireless.
PLAY
