Forbes Column 08: The Coming Convergence

My new Forbes column, The Coming Convergence, was published this morning. It makes a journey into the Jobsian mind to explore the thinking that may have prompted the P.A. Semi acquisition.

Apple’s Dramatic Risks and Ambitions

News from Apple is often big news. Apple released its second quarter results yesterday. Revenue was $7.51 billion, down 22% q-o-q and up 42% y-o-y driven by strong demand for Macs and the ever-popular iPhone. Net income was $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, up 36% y-o-y. International sales, which were 44% of the

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Apple’s Component Strategy Shifts

Apple just bought a 150-person chip company, P. A. Semi, to get its own low-power microprocessor design capabilities in-house.

The Convergence Device Movement

Apple will be announcing earnings this week. Nokia announced last week, and their guidance was cautious. Rim already announced an excellent quarter. My sense is that all three companies will continue to do very well given the at large convergence device movement that is sweeping over our electronics-driven lives. Laptops will be abandoned in favor of

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Marvell: WLAN market

By Vijay Nagarajan, Guest Author So far in the Marvell series, we have looked at the storage and Ethernet business areas. We also briefly touched upon the overall company strategy. As we move on to dissect the company’s wireless business, we will start with its position in the WLAN market.

Broadcom: Wireless LAN

By Vijay Nagarajan, Guest Author In the last article, I talked about Broadcom’s Bluetooth business and its co-dependent relationship with Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In this article, I will take a deeper look at the WLAN market and Broadcom’s position in it.

Will Netflix Survive iTunes Movies?

Amidst weak economic conditions, Netflix reported a solid 4Q07 beating the street’s expectations. Revenues in 4Q07 was $302.4 million, up 9% y-o-y. Gross Profit margin was 33.8% compared to 38.9% a year ago. Net profit increased to $15.8 million, up 6% driven mainly by a 9% q-o-q decline in Subscriber Acquisition Cost (SAC) to $34.60,

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Macbook Air Takes Convergence Device Movement Further

Trust Apple to lead the market. Macbook Air, its new ultra-thin laptop is heading towards that uber-device we’re waiting for.