Netflix has become the face of OTT video in terms of the opportunities and problems it presents, but the company now obviously has some challenges of its own to face. The latest quarterly numbers for Netflix were actually very good; they beat analyst estimates handily. The problem is the price hike they initiated recently, a…
Carrier Capex Likely Slipping
Financial analysts have noted that US carrier capex was soft in the first half, a trend that’s somewhat consistent globally, and also that there appears to be a shift of focus toward projects that are perceived as being direct revenue generators. This information backs up our survey results, which have shown that monetization projects are…
What Would Apple/Hulu Wrought?
And we thought Wednesday’s business-level announcements created tumult in the market! Thursday was even more complicated, exciting, and potentially disruptive, and in addition may present even more widespread impact. The story that Apple may buy Hulu is certainly the most disruptive of all. Apple has been the major disruptor of the broadband market, by being…
Reading the Earnings: The Data Center
Tech earnings continue to give us some interesting data points, and possible contradictions, in the overall tech space and in the networking space. We also had some M&A, so let’s get to it. Intel beat Street estimates in both revenue and profit, largely on the strength of business purchases of PCs and servers. It’s Atom…
Apple Changes the World
Apple reported truly astounding numbers for the quarter, with revenues up 82% and profits effectively doubling. The numbers beat the Street handily and sent Apple stocks trading after hours at over $400 per share. Apple’s upside was almost totally due to its iPhone/iPad products, with the Mac and iPod both underperforming estimates. Given the economic…
Cisco and IBM
A tale of two companies, and possibly an example of unfortunate timing as well. Cisco yesterday announced it was laying off 6,500 workers, and IBM announced it was raising its guidance after having beat the revenue numbers expected by the Street. Both companies ended the session yesterday off slightly, but the contrast here is interesting….
More on Google+
Google+ continues to make news, with an admitted ten million subscribers in what’s still a closed trial and with buzz that’s enough to drown out competing reactions to the service. There’s no question that Google+ is a true competitor to Facebook, and while Facebook is far from irrelevant we can at least see a path…
Lessons from Google
Google reported its numbers, and by any measure it had a stellar quarter. Revenues were up 32% and they beat Street estimates across the board. While the dark side of success will likely be greater anti-trust scrutiny for Google, it’s better than turning in bad numbers and seeing shares fall. But for me, two non-financial…
VMware Pricing and Cisco UCS
In yet another price change that angers customers, VMware announced a new pricing strategy for its vSphere 5 and the new pricing could create significant increases in license costs for some customers—as much as nearly 4x. Our model suggests that the typical user will pay less than 20% more, but it’s pretty likely that the…
Netflix and the Health of OTT Video
Netflix may be showing us something about the streaming video market with its decision to raise the prices for “combination packages” of mail and streamed video services. The new policy is to price the two independently rather than to discount the combination, a move that raises the monthly price by about 50% and impacts nearly…