Facebook notches up new user milestones with such regularity it’s easy to forget how fast its business potential is growing.
A year ago, when board member Marc Andreessen came out and predicted the service would reach 1bn users, it sounded like hype. Not so now, with the half-billion figure reached on Wednesday and 1bn widely seen as all but inevitable.
If Facebook’s revenues really are running at the rumoured $1bn a year (and from what we can tell, that number isn’t far off), that means it’s making $2 a year off the average user.
Consider how that compares to other internet companies - and bear in mind that unlike others, Facebook actually has an account relationship with all 500m. Continue reading "What’s another 100m Facebook users worth?"
July 22nd, 2010 1:41am in Internet, Tech | Permalink |
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After the distractions of Antennagate it was back to business as usual as Apple reported its latest earnings on Tuesday.
iPhone sales in the company’s latest quarter jumped to 8.4m, belying concerns that inventory changes surrounding the switch to the latest model would hit sales. Profit margins also held up better than expected, pushing earnings well ahead of forecasts.
Those were the headlines as Apple released earnings for the period to the end of June, its third fiscal quarter. The numbers:
- Revenue rose 61 per cent to $15.7bn, ahead of Wall Street forecasts of $14.74bn.
- Earnings climbed to $3.51, above the consensus estimate of $3.10.
Our live blogging of Apple’s conference call to discuss the state of its business is after the jump.
Continue reading "The blow-by-blow on Apple’s blowout quarter"
July 20th, 2010 10:17am in Tech, Tech Finance | Permalink |
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From BEYONDBRICS July 19, 2010
From the FT’s beyondbrics blog
If you thought the new iPhone 4G was expensive in London, try buying one in China. The phone has yet to be released there - but unlocked handsets are being sold on the grey market for as much as $2,000, according to MIC Gadget, a China-related gadget blog.The blog (citing a report in the Oriental Morning Post) says that most of the phones being sold are UK handsets - presumably bought from the Apple store on Regent Street or online, and then shipped over to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Continue reading "For sale in China: iPhone 4G for $2,000"
July 19th, 2010 2:53pm in Asia, Mobile | Permalink
Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, has offered iPhone owners free cases to try to resolve complaints about the antenna on the iPhone 4.
Mr Jobs made the announcement at a news conference called at its Silicon Valley headquarters to discuss criticism of the iPhone 4. After the jump, read live coverage of the news from our Apple correspondent Joe Menn at the event. Continue reading "Apple in an iPhone fix offers free cases"
July 16th, 2010 6:10pm in Telecoms | Permalink |
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A new, slimmer Xbox boosted sales of the Microsoft console by 88 per cent in June, but video game software sales slumped 15 per cent.
The latest figures from the NPD research group on Thursday continued a disappointing trend for the industry in 2010, with overall sales down 9 per cent so far this year compared to 2009. Continue reading "Xbox sales up 88 per cent, software slumps"
July 16th, 2010 2:14am in Games | Permalink |
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The splurge in server sales, which Intel highlighted on Tuesday as a revival of corporate hardware spending, is also benefiting its rival AMD.
On its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, the Silicon Valley neighbour said shipments of its new Opteron 6000 server chips nearly quadrupled compared to the first quarter “ramping late in the quarter as our largest customers transitioned the bulk of their AMD-based offering to the new platform.” Continue reading "AMD sees server splurge, graphics gains"
July 16th, 2010 1:17am in Hardware | Permalink |
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Back in the dark, distant days when newspapers ruled the earth - make that the early 1970s - getting into print often made the difference between getting your issue heard and being invisible.
That’s why a candidate running for office in Florida sued the Miami Herald in 1972, demanding a right to have his opinion carried in the newspaper. The courts would have none of it, holding that the Herald had a right to make its editorial judgments.
Why is this relevant? Because Google is the new power in the land, and there are plenty of people who would like to get a better showing in its results pages. Besides the complaints to regulators and lawsuits, this has touched off a wider debate about “search neutrality” that Google’s Marissa Mayer (pictured) addresses in a comment piece in Thursday’s FT. Continue reading "Searching for balance"
July 15th, 2010 5:16pm in Internet, Tech | Permalink |
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From FT ALPHAVILLE July 15, 2010
Apple’s stock took a beating on Tuesday, after reports that the iPhone 4’s ‘death grip‘ issue is a hardware problem sparked pressure for a product recall:
Unlucky timing then for what was a frankly ecstatic note on the same day from Goldman on the stock market implications of the iPad. Continue reading "Goldman really likes its new iPad"
July 15th, 2010 3:52pm in Consumer Electronics | Permalink
Apple just called to invite the FT to a press conference “about iPhone 4″ to be held at its Cupertino headquarters on Friday morning at 10 a.m.
The company wouldn’t say anything else, but given the events of the past week, it’s hard to imagine that Apple would be having such a rare audience to announce, say, an upgrade to the FaceTime video calling feature.
No, in the present climate, “about the iPhone 4″ means that Apple finally has something more concrete to say about the reception issues that have been frustrating many buyers of Apple’s latest mobile phone. Continue reading "Apple to address iPhone 4 reception complaints"
July 15th, 2010 3:31am in Consumer Electronics, Digital media, Hardware, Mobile, Telecoms | Permalink |
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It’s a tough time to be a tech entrepreneur. IPOs are stalling, the banks aren’t lending and venture capital funds are running dry. But if you want some desk space and meeting rooms and a bit of camaraderie for a fledgling business, London’s start-ups are starting to be spoilt for choice. Continue reading "New incubators hatch in London"
July 14th, 2010 8:53pm in Europe, Internet, Software, Tech, Tech Finance | Permalink |
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Facebook notches up new user milestones with such regularity it’s easy to forget how fast its business potential is growing.
David Gelles, Joseph Menn, Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters in the FT's San Francisco bureau upload their views - plus tech insights from writers in New York, London, Tokyo and Taipei. The blog includes a separate section on personal technology.
The latest gadgets and gizmos, reviewed by Jonathan Margolis in How To Spend It.