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Apple says it doesn’t expect to meet revenue guidance this quarter- Full Report

  
  Analysis
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Apple issues update

Apple says they now expect a slower return to normal conditions in China with demand curbed within the country.
Here is the statement:
Our quarterly guidance issued on January 28, 2020 reflected the best information available at the time as well as our best estimates about the pace of return to work following the end of the extended Chinese New Year holiday on February 10. Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated. As a result, we do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter due to two main factors.
The first is that worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained. While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province – and while all of these facilities have reopened – they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated. The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues. These iPhone supply shortages will temporarily affect revenues worldwide.
The second is that demand for our products within China has been affected. All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed. Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic. We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can. Our corporate offices and contact centers in China are open, and our online stores have remained open throughout.
Outside of China, customer demand across our product and service categories has been strong to date and in line with our expectations.The situation is evolving, and we will provide more information during our next earnings call in April. Apple is fundamentally strong, and this disruption to our business is only temporary.
Our first priority – now and always – is the health and safety of our employees, supply chain partners, customers and the communities in which we operate. Our profound gratitude is with those on the front lines of confronting this public health emergency.
How can three things all be your ‘first priority’? Judging by all the Foxcon reports, it’s tough to make the argument that health and safety is exactly the priority.

Apple extends coronavirus store closures in China

  
  Analysis
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Apple pushes back reopening

Apple had intended to reopen stores on Feb 10 but now says it plans for Feb 13-15, according to a statement sent to Bloomberg.
The market is using Apple and Starbucks as a bit of a barometer for Chinese commerce. This really shouldn’t be a surprise, the streets in Shanghai are empty.

Big gaps remain in China-US trade talks – Global Times

  
  Analysis
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This is more speculation than reporting

China’s Global Times is out with another piece downplaying the chances of a US-China trade deal.
There are no sources in the deal, instead the newspaper spoke to people who attended a US-China Entrepreneurs Roundtable.
“If the business roundtable was any indication, the trade negotiations still face major obstacles to reach any fair and reasonable deal,” the report says.

Huawei unveils own mobile operating system to rival Google’s Android

  
  Analysis
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China’s Huawei Technologies on Friday unveiled its own smartphone operating system which it said could replace Google’s Android in just “one to two days” if access to the world’s most popular mobile platform were blocked by the U.S.

The tech giant said its Harmony OS — pronounced Hongmeng in Chinese — was more flexible than Google’s Android, capable of supporting all devices from smartphones and smart speakers to wearables, smart displays and next generation automobiles. The system was revealed at Huawei’s annual developers’ conference in Dongguan by Huawei’s Consumer Electronics Group CEO Richard Yu.

“We can start using our Harmony OS anytime for smartphone and the migration from Google’s Android to our own Harmony OS is not that difficult… We can do it in one to two days,” Yu said.

Harmony OS is a key weapon in Huawei’s fightback against the campaign by the U.S. government to restrict the technological development of the world’s second biggest smartphone maker. It will allow the group to offer a common ecosystem of services and applications across all of its consumer devices.

However, in an implicit admission that Harmony OS could struggle in a consumer segment where 80% of all smartphones carry the Google system, Yu said Huawei would continue to prioritize using Android for its smartphones if allowed. (more…)

Oracle loses challenge to Pentagon’s $10bn cloud computing contract

  
  Analysis
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A federal judge has cleared the way for the US Department of Defense to award its $10bn cloud computing contract to Amazon or Microsoft with a ruling on Friday dismissing a challenge from Oracle. Judge Eric Bruggink of the US Court of Federal Claims dismissed Oracle’s claims that the procurement process violated federal laws meant to ensure a competitive process and was marred by conflicts of interest. Because Oracle could not meet the criteria for the bid, “it cannot demonstrate prejudice as a result of other possible errors in the procurement process,” he wrote. The Pentagon named Amazon and Microsoft as finalists to win the multiyear contract in April, eliminating IBM and Oracle from consideration. It has said it expects to make a final decision by the end of the summer.

Oracle has been complaining about the way the bidding process has been conducted since last year. The company objected to the Pentagon’s decision to award the contact to a single company, rather than breaking it up among several providers, arguing that favours Amazon Web Services as the biggest player in the industry. Oracle has also alleged conflicts of interest over AWS’s hiring of two former defence department employees involved in the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) procurement process.

 

The company previously filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office, which was also rejected. Oracle said in a statement: “We look forward to working with the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and other public sector agencies to deploy modern, secure hyperscale cloud solutions that meet their needs.” AWS, which was a defendant in the case alongside the government, said it “stands ready to support and serve what’s most important — the DoD’s mission of protecting the security of our country. The DoD deserves access to the best technology in the world and we are unwavering in our support to their mission.” “We are pleased with the determination made by the US Court of Federal Claims. This reaffirms the DoD’s position: the JEDI Cloud procurement process has been conducted as a fair, full and open competition, which the contracting officer and her team executed in compliance with the law,” said Elissa Smith, a Department of Defense spokeswoman. “DoD has an urgent need to get these critical capabilities in place to support the warfighter and we have multiple military services and Combatant Commands waiting on the availability of JEDI. Our focus continues to be on finalising the award decision.”

7 Best Books Bill Gates had Read In 2013

  
  Education
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bill-gates-1983Bill Gates presents his seven top reads in 2013.

Commenting on the lack of novels on the list, Gates writes:

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy fiction. I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye a bunch of times-it’s one of my favorite books ever (and I enjoyed Salinger, the documentary that came out this year). I did read Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, which was entertaining though it didn’t have as much science fiction as I expected.
But I read mostly nonfiction because I always want to learn more about how the world works. And reading is how I learn best.”

That’s an interesting statement coming from Gates, especially in light of recent posts on using literature to studydecision-making under ignorance.

With that said, Gates is an excellent source of reading material for me. His top reads of 2012 led me to order Behind the Beautiful Forevers, a book I added to my antilibrary. And his summer reading list, along with the recommendations of readers, encouraged me to read The Box, a surprisingly enjoyable read on the history of the shipping container. This book shows up again on the end of year list of his top reads.

Here are his picks, in no particular order:

The Box, by Marc Levinson

“You might think you don’t want to read a whole book about shipping containers… But he makes a good case that the move to containerized shipping had an enormous impact on the global economy and changed the way the world does business. And he turns it into a very readable narrative. I won’t look at a cargo ship in quite the same way again.”

The Most Powerful Idea in the World, by William Rosen

“A bit like The Box, except it’s about steam engines… I’d wanted to know more about steam engines since the summer of 2009, when my son and I spent a lot of time hanging out at the Science Museum in London.”

Harvesting the Biosphere, by Vaclav Smil (more…)

Intrusion Kills

  
Education, Life
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Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

“I want to stress the importance of being young and technical. Young people are just smarter. Why are most chess masters under 30? I don’t know. Young people just have simpler lives. We may not own a car. We may not have family. Simplicity in life allows you to focus on what’s important.”

Of course, family, and other aspects of life are important, but that doesn’t take away from Zuckerberg’s wisdom. Want to make something big happen, like trend following success, then avoid distraction. Period.

Google Commercial- 6 Lac Hits in 2 Days (Really Great )

  
Education, Video
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Google commercials have always been quite engaging. Google India is out with a 3.5 minute heart-warming advertisement titled ‘Google Search: Reunion’. The Reunion advertisement tells you a story of how two friends got separated during the time of India and Pakistan partition. The Indian grand daughter Suman plans to bring them together again and uses Google search as the medium to search for her grand fathers long lost friend in Pakistan. She succeeds using Google search and its allied services.
Reports suggest this is the first in the series of 5 advertisements. The video is touching half a million views in just a day of its launch.

Explaining "Real" Money To Your Children

  
  Education
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Money is a very important part of all our lives. The understanding of money, how it works, and how we treat it can dramatically improve or diminish our quality of life.

Based on my writings and videos on YouTube, you might think my definition of money is gold and silver, but it’s not. Money is simply a medium of exchange. It can be represented by everything from gold to horse manure. Okay, maybe not horse manure, but it’s not a far stretch with the most popular form of money today being central bank notes loaned out into existence.

The state would love to have you believe that money can only originate from itself, yet people have organically started to use bitcoins and other crypto-currencies as a medium of exchange. Nevertheless, our culture continues to worship fiat currency as if it is the only type of money. I can’t change the fact that at this moment in time the U.S. dollar is the measuring stick for goods and services when it comes to prices. Trying to disprove and dispute this fact was something I struggled with early on when I used to teach my children that only gold and silver were money.

Today, I simply teach them about money as a medium of exchange. (more…)

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