Another edition of the traditional post-CES report highlights interesting things and trends that the tech media ignored or missed. Donut – Zero or Hero? The top spot goes to Donut (see here) which is currently part of Verge Motorcycles (see here) which manufactures great-looking electric motorcycles where the rear wheel is hollow and needs no spokes to support it. This...
China increases its presence a bit and BMW pushes back on Apple. China – Economic Necessity Once again at CES, China is everywhere and nowhere at the same time as the vast majority of its technology industry remained absent even though almost all the products on display are made there. This has been the status quo for a few years...
Busy floors, apocryphal autonomous driving Floor report – Orderly business The floor was even busier on Day 2 than it was on Day 1 but the chaos that usually accompanies this has not materialised. Meetings and catch-ups are not getting moved or shuffled around and everyone is turning up pretty much on time for everything. This is an unusual turn...
Generative AI is not yet ready for the consumer Prototype to product The halls are busy and the queues are long but what is different in 2025 is the change in maturity of the products that are on display. Most of the time one sees prototypes stuck together with tape and chewing gum which work some of the time and...
AI takes over. CES 2025 Outlook – The AI have-nots Automotive will play second fiddle this year as CES 2025 is going to be dominated by AI whether one likes it or not. A great example of this is Google which has updated its smart TV OS to include Gemini-powered news summaries called News Brief which scrapes YouTube and the...
RFM returns for one more update before CES 2025 Qualcomm wins, but not entirely. The jury has delivered Qualcomm a significant win in its battle with Arm and while Arm still has an avenue to continue to fight, its path to an eventual victory is now far narrower than it was. The problem for Qualcomm is that it does not...
Radio Free Mobile wishes its readers a happy Christmas and new year. RFM will return for CES 2025
I still think the dispute will settle. The dispute has gone to trial with both sides scoring points, but the outcome remains pretty uncertain where the outcome of this trial is likely to form the basis of a settlement. Much of the detail of this legal fight is fairly confusing but it essentially boils down to a fight over royalty...
The time for talk is over. The outlook for 2025 is for another very bleak year where China falls even further behind the West, meaning that to turn things around, the Chinese state will have to do far more than just talk stimulus and investment. China retail sales for November 2024 were significantly worse than expected growing 3% YoY which...
Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.
USA vs. China – Carrot and Stick
I expect the new rule to stand. The USA has released new export rules that make good on the intentions released a few months ago that make life harder for China and incentivise other countries to join the struggle. I think it unlikely that the new administration will seek to overturn this new rule but will instead build upon it...