Die of iPod?

Apple has been No. 1innovative corporation around the globe. This fantastic wave starts from iPod as MP3 player. Now Apple has several other product lines like iPhone, iPad, Mac computer and iCloud. Most of those product have been star product and will be continuously. That’s why most people think Apple is No.1 most innovative corporation.

These days, Apple has one serious dilemma about iPod. Although iPod is great product for sales & profit, other products like iPhone & iPad has started to cannibalize iPod. With the debut of iCloud, this trend of cannibalism will continuously increase and Google’s Android based smartphone has already eaten up iPod’s place very significantly.   On the contrary, iPod’s sales are still big enough and the demand in Latin America and emerging countries are to increase. That’s why Apple can not decide the fate of iPod easily.

However, many experts predict that Apple will make the decision about iPod’s destiny. And it will be to decease it soon. It’s because though Apple add iPod’s wireless function to make longer life, eventually other i series product will eat up iPod’s function, along with other brand smartphone & tablet pc. By the halo effect of iPod, Apple will try to make different market strategy for emerging market. But in civilized area, the fate of iPod will be disappeared not in long period time.

If you are a current user of iPod, which side would you go with?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/29/technology/apple_ipod_sales/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

Hot in Software market

Recently there are serious competition on OS market in PC – Linux base by Google, Window base by Microsoft and Mc base by Apple. Personally, the front runner would be Linux base by Google. For the last 30 years, Microsoft has dominated this market as named “Window”. Anyway, it’s very interesting to see who to take this lead continuously…..

Meanwhile, here is more serious competition in smartphone OS market. iOS by Apple has been the front runner and Android base by Google is chasing this lead. And some of others like iWindow by Microsoft and Blackberry’s OS by RIM and Palm’s OS by HP are trying to get in the center of this market with any bloody cost &b price to pay. Anyway, so far the market is occupied by Apple and Google. One serious difference between them is Apple is closed but Google is open source software. That’s why so many smartphone manufacturers are trying to use Android base OS, including Samsung, Motorola, LG, HTC and others. It’s much more fierce than OS in PC market. Let’s see what’s gonna happen in this tough & competitive market.

Other software market is moving towards “Cloud computing”. That’s why so many BIG guys like Amazon, Saelsforce.com, Microsoft, Google and etc are trying to jump on this market to get the market initiative. It will be another seriously humongous market but very much premature stage for anyone to take initiative.

The only software market where the future is not clear is a kind of server related market. The representing runner is Oracle. To avoid this kind of shrinking image in the market, Oracle is doing several things ; i.e. 1) M&A with SunMicro system 2) broaden product pipeline like software + hardware 3) law suit against big and leading guy by patent infringement. As sample, Oracle is doing law suit against Google with patent infringement of Java in terms of Android OS development. Maybe, it will be one good strategy to stay alive in the market but should not be major strategy to be front runner.

Let’s see how to move forward by Oracle in this tough software market. Personally, it’s more interesting to see the competition of software market, instead of hardware market.

http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/231002525/oracle-denied-bid-to-seek-billions-from-google-in-java-lawsuit.htm

Critical factors in worldwide economy

There are several critical factors in terms of worldwide economy ; i.e.

1) Debt ceiling impasse in USA : The due date in 2nd of Aug. If there is no agreement in congress & president, it will be disaster like Armageddon in global finance system. Maybe, the impact will be bigger than the one by Lehman brothers’ collapse.

2) Sovereign debt in EU (Greek, Portugal, Irland, Spain and Italy) : European central bank is now sending positive signal to these type of sovereign debt. , compared to the previous. However, too many countries are at stake to clearly solve this critical issues.

3) China’s inflation worries : Conrary to USA and EU’s economy situation, China has been worrying about severe inflation, especially in food and real estates. That’s why China government has tried to increase prime interest rate to rein the inflation. Maybe, some of other Asian and emerging market had similar situation.

4)   Corporate earning in USA market : This is earning publishing season in USA. More than 2/3 of corporations has beat the market’s expectation, in terms of corporate earning. On top of that, corporations has huge amount of money sitting on sideline. That means they are ready to use that amount of money to make capital investment and hire more people if the market does show strong demand enough.

If we put the above 4 things together, political & global financial situation is not yet stable and regional finance system is unbalanced. However, private corporations are getting more healthier and are ready to do more things in terms of making more profits. Hopefully, 2 uncomfortable things are getting away soon through big compromise and very balanced worldwide financial status will be recovered soon. Then, it will give great  & powerful engine for corporations to do some of capital investment & substantial hiring. It will give some significant ripple effect positively in worldwide economy. That’s my and every normal people’s hope…….

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/24/markets/debt_ceiling_market_reaction/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

Smartphone wars in 2011

Smartphone market is like real battlefield. Compared to 2010 (Apple has dominated the market and Android based Smartphone have been moving forward), 2011 is more competitors are approaching to the main center of the market.

These are major competitors ;

Samsung Galaxy S II

Motorola Droid Bionic

LG G2X

HTC EVO 3D

HTC Arrive

Apple iPhone 4 (Verizon)

HTC Sensation 4G

Samsung Infuse 4G

HTC Thunderbolt

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Which one do you use now or are you supposed to get it in the near future? Hopefully, by this stiff competition, price of smartphone would be decreased and so will cost of smartphone service.

http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/client-devices/231001506/the-10-coolest-smartphones-of-2011-so-far.htm

Once again worldwide financial crisis

Aug. 2 seems like the final decision making day (Armageddon) in terms of worldwide financial system. If lawmakers in USA did not make any deal on debt ceiling increase, Treasure department could not pay all interest of bond and others. If it happens, triple A (AAA) rating will be downgraded by some agencies. Then, it will be another significant sign of financial disaster.

It is the No. 1 crisis in global financial system. Another one is in EU side. Greek case is still not clearly solved yet. On top of that, Italy may be on default situation. If it happens, it would be another serious financial disaster because size of Italy finance is a lot bigger than Greek and any other possible defaulted countries like Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

Both cases should be wisely dealt with great compromise and negotiation. USA side, presidential election in 2012 would be a big hurdle to go over. That’s why politicians in Washington are not easy to make great compromise. In EU side, egoism for each countries is making the situation more jammed. If each parties or countries will try to get more or not to hurt more, we will see the bigger disaster. The time of urgency to solve this issue is getting critical….

In China, they are struggling the inflation issue. That’s why they are getting the increase of interest rate continuously. In other word, each region’s issue are different and are not aligned together. That’s why G20 or G7 summit meeting is not working properly. While these guys are watching among others for their own benefit, the world economy is moving towards a little worse situation.  It’s a kind of game, called “Domino”. One bad thing happens in any region, this fever will be spread to others so fast. If good thing happens, it would be the same. So, we want to see some good & positive deal for USA debt ceiling increase and EU’s sovereign debt’s solution talks. Hopefully, we do not want to see big collapse on stock market on Aug. 2……

index.htm?iid=Lead