Tech Review: 1) Apple's Core Problems, 2) High Tech Wars of the Future

Tech Review (TR 2018-11-24)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Apple's Core Problems,  2) High Tech Wars of the Future, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes,  4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Tech Share Rout: Apple's Core Problems

The iPhone maker, Apple (apple.com) $AAPL, has been hit as investors worry over sales and US-China tensions. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Nov 21, 2018.

NASDAQ: AAPL:

2) High Tech Wars of the Future

U.S. scientists prepare for high-tech wars of the future: the U.S. is investing in robotics and artificial intelligence as it races against China to develop the weapons of the future. The FT.com’s US foreign policy and defense correspondent Katrina Manson visits the US Army Research Lab to meet the scientists working on the latest tech developments. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Nov 16, 2018.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite -4.3% | S&P 500 Index -2.8% | DJIA -4.4%

Headwinds   ©2018 DomainMondo.com

Investing Notes:

The forward 12-month P/E ratio for $SPX is 15.6. This P/E ratio is below the 5-year average (16.4) but above the 10-year average (14.5). https://t.co/7jjo6kg2yS pic.twitter.com/Sn372WU04z

— FactSet (@FactSet) November 19, 2018

• Jim Chanos's Kynikos Associates LP buys Vanguard S&P 500, Vanguard Value, iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth--gurufocus.com
• EU troubles: Eurozone, Italy, Immigration, and Brexit--Editor's note: why invest in someone else's mess?
• China: more nations voice concerns over Chinese investment--'here, borrow some money from us'--chinaeconomicreview.com. Editor's note: a/k/a the Chinese "Extortionate Debt Trap."
• Bitcoin hit its lowest level in more than a year on Monday, falling under $5,000, while the entire cryptocurrency market cap lost about $40 Billion in the prior week--cnbc.com. Editor's note: until such time as Bitcoin, or some other crypto, becomes "legal tender" in a respected jurisdiction (sorry Venezuela doesn't qualify), the entire market is pure speculation subject to multiple scams. The U.S. government (CFTC) treats cryptocurrencies as commodities and the IRS taxes them as "property" Have you reported your crypto holdings and transactions, paid applicable property taxes on your holdings, and applicable income taxes? Oh, and by the way, the U.S. government does not accept any crypto as payment for taxes.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Not All Clouds Are Equal: Key findings of the 2018 ThousandEyes Public Cloud Performance Benchmark Report: "Architectural differences between providers impacts service delivery: AWS (Amazon) sends traffic over the Internet for the majority of the service delivery path, whereas GCP (Google) and Azure (Microsoft) do not, instead using their own backbone networks. Increased exposure to the Internet means there is greater operational risk and impact on performance predictability ..." Learn more: Download the 2018 ThousandEyes Public Cloud Performance Benchmark Report; also Register for the webinar, "Cloud Wars: Performance Benchmarking AWS, GCP and Azure," taking place December 6, 2018 at 10:00 AM PST.

Apple CEO Tim Cook: new regulations on the tech industry ‘inevitable’--"Generally speaking, I am not a big fan of regulation," Cook told Axios on HBO. "I'm a big believer in the free market, but we have to admit when the free market is not working. And it hasn't worked here." See also Washington pummels Facebook: ‘Big tech can no longer be trusted’--recode.net.

US-based Kroger and UK-based Ocado to build first robotic warehouse in Cincinnati in a joint effort to dominate the U.S. grocery delivery business--reuters.com.

US tops world in internet development, with China in second place, said China's Academy of Cyberspace Studies, an institute affiliated with the Cyberspace Administration of China, in its second annual World Internet Development Report. According to the report, the US leads in innovation, industry development and security. Also four U.S. companies, Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft and Qualcomm, were the only non-Chinese companies receiving special mentions at China's recent World Internet Conference 2018 in Wuzhen, along with eleven Chinese companies--scmp.com.  

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Micro Class on Laddering and Apple's Strategy on Privacy (video)

Prof G Micro Class: Laddering

L2inc.com video above published Jun 21, 2018: Laddering, from cigarette brands to Apple $AAPL, Scott Galloway says smart brands use this brand strategy to one-up their competition.

Sources:
(00:04) Source: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” Mad Men, July 2007. https://imdb.to/2yvu80O
(01:07) Source: Bush-Cheney ‘04, Inc. https://bit.ly/22TVORK
(02:24) Source: “Tim Cook Calls Privacy a ‘Fundamental Human Right’,” Bloomberg Markets and Finance, Jun 2018. https://bit.ly/2IbsC3n

Transcript:
00:01 how do you make your cigarettes we
00:04 breed insect repellent tobacco seeds
00:06 grow it cut it cure it toast it there
00:10 you got it there you go but everybody
00:15 else's tobacco is toasted ... no, everybody
00:17 else's tobacco is poisonous, Lucky
00:21 Strike's is toasted. Well gentlemen I
00:25 don't think I have to tell you what you
00:26 just witness here, I think you do ... In my
00:29 brand strategy course at NYU Stern we
00:31 talked about laddering and it's an
00:33 attempt to D position your competition
00:35 by saying we're this they're this and
00:37 then figuring out what attribute you
00:39 want to talk about that not only
00:40 reflects you in a positive light but
00:42 just as importantly D positions or shed
00:45 your competition in a negative light the
00:47 ultimate laddering and D positioning was
00:49 in 2004 when George Bush's campaign went
00:52 through a series of attributes and
00:53 settled in on that he was resolute even
00:56 when he was wrong he was resolute this
00:58 was the perfect deep positioning of
01:00 Senator Kerry who was seen as a
01:02 flip-flopper this is that ad that one
01:04 George Bush the presidency in which
01:07 direction would John Kerry lead Kerry
01:09 voted for the Iraq war opposed it
01:12 supported it and now opposes it again he
01:15 bragged about voting for the 87 billion
01:18 to support our troops before he voted
01:20 against it he voted for education reform
01:23 and now opposes it he claims he's
01:25 against increasing Medicare premiums but
01:28 voted five times to do so John Kerry
01:30 whichever
01:33 so what does apples key push in terms of
01:36 strategy and communications over the
01:37 last three months its 2d position and
01:40 ladder the rest of big tech the
01:42 Cupertino firm is on a PR tour to
01:44 convince people that unlike its big tech
01:46 brethren its concerned about your kids
01:48 the commonwealth and your privacy Tim
01:51 Cook's privacy is a basic human right
01:54 statement puts a finger squarely in the
01:56 eye of Facebook and Google and was
01:59 convenient because Apple hasn't been in
02:01 the business of collecting data it's a
02:03 little bit like Starbucks saying they're
02:05 worried about offshore drilling it's not
02:06 going to cost them anything to be
02:08 sanctimonious with other people's
02:10 decisions anyways it will be interesting
02:12 to see if Apple's position on privacy
02:15 holds when they start advertising in
02:18 their app ecosystem and their
02:19 advertisers demand the same data on the
02:21 audience they are paying for we see
02:24 privacy is a fundamental human right and
02:27 so to us it's right up there with some
02:31 of the other civil liberties that make
02:35 Americans what they are you as defines
02:38 us as Americans Apple also has said they
02:40 too are looking for a new headquarters [second campus]
02:42 but are not going to engage in a beauty
02:44 contest the results in a win-lose for
02:46 municipalities this is essentially
02:48 sticking their finger in the eye of you
02:50 guessed it Amazon saying hey guys we're
02:53 better than you finally Apple has built
02:55 the most addictive technology for kids
02:57 but at the recent Worldwide Developer
02:59 Conference what took center stage the
03:01 iPhone the home pod no the start with
03:04 safeguards for children's framed as
03:06 digital wellness which includes a
03:07 families page with educational material
03:10 for parents and a downtime app which
03:12 allows parents to put usage limits on
03:14 different installed apps Apple is
03:17 consciously uncoupling from the rest of
03:18 big tech it's a passive-aggressive sure
03:20 so is buying your wife an amazing
03:23 Mother's Day gift and while you're
03:25 saying with that gift I love you you're
03:27 my partner for life you might also be
03:28 saying your gift for Father's Day just
03:31 didn't cut it remember me the guy who
03:33 woke up in the middle of the night to
03:35 feed those little monsters so you could
03:37 head off to Goldman Sachs at 5:30 in the
03:38 morning and be a master of the universe
03:40 which by the way is pretty damn
03:41 emasculating well it's time you stepped
03:43 up with a great gift for
03:45 big dog ruff we'll see you next week I
03:51 can't believe people actually watch that
03:53 stuff
03:55 [Music] Song: “I Woof You” by Heiakim https://bit.ly/2IeAp0A

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Is Mark Zuckerberg The 'Most Dangerous Person’ In The World? (video)

UPDATE: Mark Zuckerberg at the EU Parliament Livestream Video Replay here (Brussels, May 22, 2018)

See also: Schedule of video broadcasts | Multimedia centre | European Parliament:

• 18:00 / 18:05 - 22-05-2018, Press conferences :Antonio TAJANI - EP President - Mark ZUCKERBERG - founder and CEO of Facebook - Handshake 

• 18:20 / 19:30 - 22-05-2018, Other events :EP Conference of Presidents with Mark ZUCKERBERG - founder and CEO of Facebook 

• 19:30 / 20:00 - 22-05-2018, Press conferences :Antonio TAJANI - President of the EP

• Meeting with Mark Zuckerberg at the European Parliament - Multimedia centre

• Other info.

Zuckerberg Is The ‘Most Dangerous Person’ In The World: NYU’s Scott Galloway

CNBC.com video above published May 11, 2018: NYU professor Scott Galloway discusses Facebook $FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg, comparing him to historical dictators.

Note: On Tuesday, May 22, Zuckerberg meets with members of the European Union Parliament. The appearance reportedly will be livestreamed here 18:15 to 19:30 in Brussels which means it starts in the U.S. at 12:15 EDT and 9.15 a.m. PDT.

I have personally discussed with Facebook CEO Mr Zuckerberg the possibilty of webstreaming meeting with him. I am glad to announce that he has accepted this new request. Great news for EU citizens. I thank him for the respect shown towards EP. Meeting tomorrow from 18:15 to 19:30

— Antonio Tajani (@EP_President) May 21, 2018

See EU Press Release May 21, 2018.

See also:

• The left turns up the heat to break up Facebook | Axios.com May 20, 2018
• California Today: San Francisco Nurses Protest the Zuckerberg Hospital’s Name May 15, 2018: It has not been a good year for the Mark Zuckerberg name, as Facebook has fallen deep into a series of privacy scandals over allowing millions of users’ personal data to be improperly exploited."--New York Times | NYTimes.com

Breaking up big tech could unleash another 20 to 30 years of unbelievable innovation and shareholder growth. New podcast w/ @karaswisher @Recode #tooembarrassed https://t.co/b3q79PDUf5

— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) May 20, 2018

Facebook, Inc. (principal domain: Facebook.com) is a US-based online social media and social networking service company with headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Founded: February 2004, Cambridge, MA
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg (Feb 4, 2004–)
Facebook subsidiaries

Stock Exchange: Symbol | NASDAQ: FB

Source of chart above: Statista.com

What happened to Facebook's plan to wire the world? via @jessiwrites https://t.co/GUoCN1QXxG

— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) May 19, 2018

Apple CEO Tim Cook Touts Privacy In Duke Commencement Speech

CNBC.com video above published May 14, 2018: Recode managing editor Ed Lee discusses Apple CEO Tim Cook’s commencement speech at Duke University.

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Tech Review | Tesla $TSLA May Need A Takeover, Will Apple $AAPL Bite?

Tech Review (TR 2018-05-19)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion, separating signal from the noise: Features • 1)Tesla $TSLA May Need A Takeover, Will Apple $AAPL Bite? 2) America's IT Strongholds 2018, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1)  Tesla May Need A Takeover (tesla.com) $TSLA, Will Apple Bite? (apple.com) $AAPL

Editor's note: If you think about it, for many consumers there's a synergy in having a premium-priced innovative smartphone matched with a premium-priced innovative "smartcar"--increasingly into the future, together, they may be the essence of having the "best" in mobile devices.

Tesla 2018 (video published by Tesla on May 9, 2018): 

Apple cannot outcompete Android/Google/Waymo, or Asia, for the future mass market smartphone or "smartcar," but it can produce, at a handsome profit, with Tim Cook's supply chain expertise, an aspirational and innovative, premium-priced, Jony Ive-designed, Elon Musk-engineered, auto-mobile. A Tesla takeover also provides Apple additional opportunities in solar energy and battery innovations, for a global market crying for clean energy and distributed electrical grid solutions. Steve Jobs always thought of Apple as an innovative engineering company producing technology devices exhibiting superlative design. Tesla could be the next step in Apple's evolution.

Tesla Powerpacks Balancing the Grid in Terhills, Belgium (published by Tesla on May 14, 2018):

Apple has the cash and cachet to make this happen, both as an attractive deal for long-term Apple shareholders as well as $TSLA stockholders and bondholders. A Tesla deal with Apple is far better than a Tesla chapter 11 any way you look at it. Musk appears to have a persistent, unsolved "execution problem" at Tesla (Model 3 reservations reportedly exceed 450,000), and talented engineers and managers have been heading for the exits. He needs to remember that Steve Jobs was fired by Apple (only years later did Jobs return to reinvent Apple via iPod, iPhone, and iPad). Another option would be for Apple to opt-in via convertible preferred shares or bonds. Time will tell, but as the lawyers say, "Time is of the essence." See also: Apple buying Tesla doesn't sound like a crazy idea anymore — here's why | BusinessInsider.com 27 January 2018: "Tesla needs to be saved from its delusional idea about the company's future growth — and Apple needs to be saved from the disaster of its car project."

Related:

• Tesla Will Need to Raise $5 Billion and Still May Not Survive | TheStreet.com 1 May 2018

• Tesla Will Need Over $10 Billion In New Capital By 2020: Goldman | ZeroHedge.com 17 May 2018
• Hidden by Model 3 Mess, Tesla's Debt Problem About to Emerge | Fortune.com 7 April 2018

• Elon Musk Needs His Own Tim Cook to Take Over Tesla’s Operations | fool.com 26 Nov 2017

• How Much Is Tesla Debt | Google.com

2) America's IT Strongholds 2018 | Statista.com:

"Computing workforce" includes developers, software engineers, systems managers and teachers.

See also: Miami’s growing tech scene tries to level up | Curbed.com: "... Last year, area startups received $1.3 billion in venture capital funding, placing Miami eighth on the list of U.S. cities in terms of VC activity."

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite -0.66% | S&P 500 Index -0.54% | DJIA -0.47%

"Going forward, we expect US large cap tech to outperform & #FixedIncome to be under more duress."--DataTrekResearch.com 16 May 2018

Wall Street's Charging Bull

Investing Notes:

a. US: Don’t Poke The (Volatility) Bear | DatatrekResearch.com: "... we see outsized moves in the S&P particularly to the downside as an opportunity to buy the market at more attractive entry points if your investment mandate allows for it."

b. Europe:

The Italian 10 yr yield is rocketing higher. Up 40 basis points in under two weeks. Chart looks very, very bearish. The sands are shifting.

— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) May 16, 2018

c. Emerging Markets: Who’s Most Afraid of a Latin American Debt Crisis (Apart from Latin America)? | WolfStreet.com.

d. Global Growth? "Forget the noise, the outlook is better than you think, but mind complexity. 'Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Geniuses remove it.'"--Blain's Morning Porridge May 17, 2018.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

a. NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) Q1 FY2019 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang: "Okay. We had another great quarter, record revenue, record margins, record earnings, growth across every platform. Datacenter achieved another record with strong demand for Volta and AI inference. Gaming was strong. We are delighted to see prices normalizing and we can better serve pent-up gamer demand. At the heart of our opportunity is the incredible growth of computing demand of AI just as traditional computing has slowed. The GPU computing approach that we've pioneered is ideal for filling this vacuum. And our invention of the Tensor Core GPU has further enhanced our strong position to power the AI era. I look forward to giving you another update next quarter. Thank you."

b. Why women are more likely to get funded on Kickstarter | moneyish.com

c.  Android: Google is starting to require that OEMs roll out regular security patches | xda-developers.com

d.  Zuckerberg agrees to face EU Parliament over Facebook data use | sky.com: "as early as next week" and with GDPR imminent, investigation finds Facebook lacks privacy controls for information inferred about users, including sensitive details used in ad targeting--TheGuardian.com. Also: China is Facebook's second-largest source of ad revenue, after the U.S.--qz.com

e. Supreme Court allows states to legalize sports betting, opening floodgates for online gambling profits | TechCrunch.com: DraftKings.com and FanDuel.com may be early winners, but there’s a market for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and perhaps major networks that hold sports broadcasting rights to open up new sources of revenue. See also British bookmakers odds on to unlock U.S. sports after legal ruling | Reuters.com: GVC already has state licenses in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware; and European online gaming firm Paddy Power Betfair says it's in talks to buy FanDuel, reportedly for $600M-700M, day after SCOTUS killed U.S. ban on sports gambling--Axios.com.

f. PayPal confirms that it is buying payments startup iZettle for $2.2B in an all-cash deal | TechCrunch.com

g. Online Advertising vs TV--ad revenue report (pdf) by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)--internet advertising revenues in the US rose 21.4% in 2017 from the year earlier to a record of $88 billion, while TV ad revenues declined 2.6% to $70.1 billion. See also: Why Traditional TV Is in Trouble | The New York Times | NYTimes.com.

h. Amazon Stops Buying Prized Shopping Ads on Google | Bloomberg.com: "Abrupt drop in activity hints at Amazon’s own ad ambitions ... Two tech giants are increasingly competing on multiple fronts ..."  

i. Amazon AWS: Amazon is moving into blockchain with a new partnership | CNBC.com: AWS partnering with start-up Kaleido--"Introducing Kaleido to AWS customers is going to help customers move faster and not worry about managing blockchain themselves"--Amazon Web Services (AWS). Register now for the seventh annual AWS re:Invent conference Nov 26-30, 2018, Las Vegas--"deeper technical content, more hands-on learning opportunities, keynote announcements, expanded Expo hours, exciting after-hours events, and the best party in technology."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Qualcomm $QCOM, NXP, Apple $AAPL, Trump & China: The Path Forward

$QCOM shares UP 5.2% since end of October 2017 (dividend 4.25%), in spite of the Broadcom bust by Trump

It's been a turbulent environment for Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) (domain: Qualcomm.com) and its shareholders, on various fronts:

• Trump issues order blocking Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm, citing national security | TheVerge.com Mar 12, 2018

• China Pushes Qualcomm to Protect Local Companies in NXP Deal | Bloomberg.com Mar 20, 2018.
• China Started the Trade War, Not Trump | WSJ.com Mar 23, 2018: "If there’s a trade war between the U.S. and China, don’t blame Donald Trump: China started it long before he became president. Even free traders and internationalists agree China’s predatory trade practices ...."  
• Qualcomm: A Fearful Aftermath | SeekingAlpha.com Mar. 19, 2018: "Looking across all three major issues for Qualcomm going forward, namely the NXP acquisition, 5G launch, and the legal dispute with Apple, there are substantial concerns and uncertainties hanging over each ... a majority of Qualcomm's institutional holders are frustrated with the level of earnings and share price performance achieved by the current board over the past four years" (links and emphasis added).
• On top of everything else, Qualcomm's former chairman, Paul Jacobs, wants to take Qualcomm private.
• On Friday, Qualcomm shareholders re-elected the board of directors with only "tepid support"--Reuters.com March 23, 2018.
• Qualcomm CFO George Davis told shareholders at the Friday meeting that Qualcomm's offshore cash was needed in connection with the $44-billion acquisition of chip maker NXP Semiconductors NV NASDAQ: NXPI, (pending clearance from Chinese regulator MOFCOM), and therefore could not be distributed to shareholders via dividend.

And finally, in spite of Trump's national security concerns, it is clear Qualcomm has deep relationships with the government of China and Chinese companies such as Huawei, which Broadcom pointed out in the following infographic (pdf) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC:

Opinion and Analysis: what's the best path forward?

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has the cash, buys Qualcomm. No major Silicon Valley company has more credibility than Apple, with either the Trump administration or China, as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will attest:

Glad to visit @Apple HQ with @tim_cook. Thank you for your commitment to invest 350B in USA! #TaxCutsJobsAct pic.twitter.com/TasRA55smG

— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) March 16, 2018

Yes, it would be a big step in vertical integration which Apple's major global competitors, including Samsung and Huawei, have been pursuing for some time. It would also provide a future profitable growth trajectory for Apple and its shareholders. Apple CEO Tim Cook, a global logistics and supply chain expert, could pull it off:

Apple's Tim Cook calls for calm on China, US trade: China Development Forum | cnbc.com Mar 24, 2018: "Apple CEO Tim Cook called for "calm heads" and more open trade amid rising fears of a trade war between the United States and China. "I'm cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn't benefited, where the benefit hasn't been balanced," Cook said. Cook was speaking at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing."

-- John Poole, editor, DomainMondo.com (Disclosure: I own no shares in any of the companies mentioned in this post and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.)

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Cyber Sovereignty & Wuzhen Summit 2017 Update: China's 4th WIC (video)

World Internet Conference attracts worldwide talent to China's Wuzhen

CGTN America video above published Dec 3, 2017: The World Internet Conference (WIC) attracted worldwide talent to Wuzhen, China. Tech and political leaders came together to discuss the future of the internet. CGTN’s Zou Yun reports.

I totally agree on what I just heard “Big names are here, #WuzhenSummit is the Davos for #DigitalEconomy” #WorldInternetConference pic.twitter.com/j0CJ63J9hu

— Miguel Ángel Margáin (@MA_Margain) December 4, 2017

Miguel Ángel Margáin @MA_Margain
Director General del Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial #PorUnMéxicoOriginal @IMPI_Mexico  |  http://www.gob.mx/impi

China's President Xi Jinping renews call for  ‘cyber sovereignty’ at the Wuzhen Summit a/k/a World Internet Conference--

• Apple, Google CEOs Bring Star Power as China Promotes Censorship | Bloomberg.com

• Internet censorship: It's on the rise and Silicon Valley is helping it happen | ZDNet.com: "Instead of opposing the internet barriers raised by the world's authoritarian regimes, Silicon Valley is playing along."
• China’s Xi Jinping Opens Tech Conference With Call for ‘Cyber Sovereignty’ | WSJ.com: "China’s President Xi Jinping called for “more fair and equitable” governance of the global web, as the country opened a state-run internet conference aimed at pushing its alternative vision of the web."
• China Asserts Cyber Sovereignty; Google, Apple Plead for Better Access | Variety.com: "Western companies have complained that they are not allowed access to Chinese markets and customers while Chinese companies can operate freely overseas. That potentially puts China in breach of its obligations to the World Trade Organization. But China suggests that cyber sovereignty is a matter of national security, protecting the country from crime and terrorism."(emphasis added)
• UNICEF highlights child online safety at Wuzhen Summit | ChinaDailyAsia.com.

Cyber sovereignty, the idea that each country has the right to censor and regulate the internet is being taken up elsewhere including Russia which temporarily blocked Tencent’s social media app WeChat in May for not complying with local regulations. Also addressing the conference Sunday were Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In the last year, Apple has removed from its local App Store various apps not  approved by China's government, including Skype. Facebook, Google, Netflix, YouTube, and Twitter, are among the many western tech companies blocked in China. China was ranked last in terms of internet freedom in a survey last month by Freedom House, a pro-democracy group that lists Google among its funders. "One person who won’t be making an appearance this year is China’s former internet tsar Lu Wei, who delivered a speech at the closing ceremony two years ago. Lu has been detained amid an internal party corruption investigation."--South China Morning Post | scmp.com.

Top tech CEOs take to the stage as Wuzhen Summit opens in East China's Zhejiang province, Dec 3, 2017. (Photo: IC) pic.twitter.com/ySb2H2bM8b

— China Daily (@ChinaDailyUSA) December 3, 2017

See also on Domain Mondo: News Review | China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) Dec 3-5

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Apple $AAPL, GoDaddy $GDDY, Q1 2017 LIVE Webcasts May 2 Replay

What Apple's Earnings Report Signals About Their Future

Video above published May 2, 2017: Angelo Zino, CFRA analyst, and David Kirkpatrick, Techonomy's CEO, react to Apple's fiscal second-quarter earnings report. They speak with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology."

Apple $AAPL FY 17 Second Quarter (Calendar Q1 2017) Results
Stock exchange: symbol  |  NASDAQ: AAPL
Principal domain: apple.com

Investor relations: investor.apple.com

Apple’s conference call to discuss second fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET. Listen to the audio webcast Replay

Press Release -- Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2017 second quarter ended April 1, 2017: The Company posted quarterly revenue of $52.9 billion and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.10. These results compare to revenue of $50.6 billion and earnings per diluted share of $1.90 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

EPS of $2.1 beat by $0.08 but revenue $52.9B (+ 4.6% Y/Y) missed estimates by $-190M.

See also:

• Apple vs Qualcomm Battle Escalates, Apple Withholds Royalties (video) | DomainMondo.com

• Apple Q2 2017 Earnings and Conference Call -- Live Blog | wsj.com

• Apple Likely To Display Short-Term Strength On Better-Than-Expected Q2 Earnings - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) | SeekingAlpha,com: "But weakness in China will take a toll as the year progresses. Good Q2 results will create a selling opportunity." 
• Lefsetz.com | iPhone 8

Tweets about $AAPL #iPhone8 Tweets

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) (godaddy.com) the world's largest domain names registrar, and a cloud platform provider dedicated to small, independent ventures, will release financial results for the first quarter on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, after the stock market closes.  GoDaddy management will host a conference call and webcast at 5:00 p.m. EDT. To hear the call, dial (877) 201-0168 in the United States or (647) 788-4901 from international locations, with passcode 99511750. A LIVE webcast of the call will be available on GoDaddy's investor relations website at https://investors.godaddy.net.

Listen to the LIVE webcast replay.

Q1 Results: Revenue $489.7M (+12.9% Y/Y) beat estimates by $1.8M.
GAAP Net Loss Q1 2017 (3.1 million) as compared to Q1 2016 Net Loss (18.3 million).
News Release (pdf) and Q1 2017 Presentation (pdf) and Form 8-K

Following completion of the call, a recorded replay will be available on the investor relations website. See also: GoDaddy And The Encrevolution | SeekingAlpha.com
Tweets about $GDDY


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TechReview: Silicon Valley's Pilgrimage to Trump Tower to Meet Trump

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Feature • Silicon Valley's pilgrimage to Trump Tower in New York City, to meet with President-elect Trump, on Wednesday, December 14, 2016:

Digital Trump: Many Colors | ©2016 John Poole | DomainMondo.com

Tech leaders at the confab included Eric Schmidt and Larry Page (Alphabet/Google), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Ginni Rometty (IBM), Satya Nadella and Brad Smith (Microsoft), Safra Catz (Oracle), Tim Cook (Apple), Chuck Robbins (Cisco), Brian Krzanich (Intel), Alex Karp (Palantir), Elon Musk (SpaceX and Tesla), and of course, Peter Thiel (entrepreneur and venture capitalist). Besides Trump, persons present from his campaign and transition team included Vice President-elect Pence, Commerce Secretary-nominee Wilbur Ross, Gary Cohn (Trump's selection for Director of the National Economic Council), Reince Priebus (Trump's White House Chief of Staff), Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner (entrepreneur and Trump's son-in-law), Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. After introductions (video below), reportedly Jared Kushner kicked off the discussion and many subjects were covered including:

• Job creation;
• China;
• Immigration including the need for H-1B visas for the tech industry;
• Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education;
• Paid maternity leave;
• Infrastructure needs, including upgrading the electric grid;
• Tax reform to allow repatriation of tech company profits trapped abroad; 
• Alphabet/Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt suggested to Trump that he be the “software president,” after noting governmental information-technology programs were antiquated and unsafe, and needed to be upgraded.

Trump Introductory Remarks With Tech Executives:

Today's tech summit included productive discussions about job creation & economic growth. We're on track to make America first again pic.twitter.com/tFU3ObcB0i

— Reince Priebus (@Reince) December 14, 2016

Here's who sat where during Trump's big meeting with tech leaders https://t.co/ThHMlNlgAJ via @sai

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) December 15, 2016

Look who else showed up this week at Trump Tower:

.@BillGates and @JimBrownNFL32 in my Trump Tower office yesterday- two great guys! pic.twitter.com/4PjSOEU5y9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2016

• Can Tim Cook's Meeting With Donald Trump Revitalize Apple? - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) | SeekingAlpha.com "... Apple has lost market share in nearly all its businesses in Q3 and in many sectors has been losing share for multiple quarters. A meeting between high-tech executives and President-elect Donald Trump ... Apple is considering the production of iPhones in the U.S. to avoid a 45% tariff that was campaign rhetoric from President-Elect Donald Trump. Lucrative tax and regulatory concessions with Apple will follow as an inducement for Cook to move production back to the U.S. ..." See also: Apple: Are You Paying Attention? | SeekingAlpha.com.
• Google extends conservative outreach as Trump calls tech meeting | Reuters.com
• Meanwhile the mainstream media-WaPo-NYTimes obsession about Trump & Putin has consumed Washington DC and beyond with all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories: Reid: FBI has ‘explosive information’ about Trump, Russia | TheHill.com:  "[Democratic U.S. Senator] Reid [of Nevada] has a history of making damning allegations against prominent Republicans without the facts to back them up. In 2012, for instance, Reid memorably took to the floor of the Senate to accuse then-GOP [Presidential] nominee Mitt Romney of not paying any taxes over the previous decade. The allegation turned out to be incorrect, though Reid has refused to apologize." For those who have a genuine interest in why Hillary Clinton lost, read How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the election | POLITICO.com.

Other Tech News / Quick Takes:

• Yahoo says one billion accounts exposed in newly discovered security breach | Reuters.com
• Meet Waymo.com, Google's self-driving car company.
• WhatsApp, Skype face tighter constraints under new EU privacy rules | Reuters.com
• HMD’s first new Nokia handset is a $26 feature phone | PRnewswire.com 
• Google launches first developer preview of Android Things, its new IoT platform | TechCrunch.com
• Magic Leap’s Unreal Augmented Reality | TechnologyReview.com: "company’s demonstrations may have been impressive, but they also involved smoke and mirrors"
• Google signs internet deal with Cuba's telecommunications monopoly | Reuters.com

Note: next edition of TechReview will be December 31, 2016

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DISCLAIMER

Apple vs US Government: Terrorism, Security, Privacy, Freedom, Liberty

Apple to Oppose Judge's Order to Unlock iPhone - Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will oppose a federal judge's order to help the Justice Department unlock a phone used by a suspect in the San Bernardino attack, which killed 14 people. Video published on Feb 17, 2016

UPDATE: Apple Gains Silicon Valley's Backing in Government Fight - Bloomberg Business: “This is a classic legislative function, the courts aren’t really equipped to weigh the policies in the forum of a democratic society -- what’s more important, protection against terrorists or protections against your privacy?”--Robert Cattanach, a lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney who practices in areas of regulatory litigation including cybersecurity.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has written a customer letter in response to, and opposing, a US District Court Order (embedded below) requiring Apple help the FBI break into the iPhone 5C used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Federal Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym said that Apple must provide "reasonable technical assistance" to the FBI, which would require Apple:

"Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession." -- Apple Customer Letter, infra

Customer Letter - Apple: (February 16, 2016)--excerpt (read the full letter at the foregoing link)-- ".... A Dangerous Precedent - Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority. The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer.

"The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

"Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.

"While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect."--Tim Cook, Apple CEO (emphasis added)

Embedded below is the US District Court Order Apple is challenging:

The following is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
EFF to Support Apple in Encryption Battle | Electronic Frontier Foundation:
FEBRUARY 16, 2016 | BY KURT OPSAHL
EFF to Support Apple in Encryption Battle

"We learned on Tuesday evening that a U.S. federal magistrate judge ordered Apple to backdoor an iPhone that was used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shootings in December. Apple is fighting the order which would compromise the security of all its users around the world.

"We are supporting Apple here because the government is doing more than simply asking for Apple’s assistance. For the first time, the government is requesting Apple write brand new code that eliminates key features of iPhone security—security features that protect us all. Essentially, the government is asking Apple to create a master key so that it can open a single phone. And once that master key is created, we're certain that our government will ask for it again and again, for other phones, and turn this power against any software or device that has the audacity to offer strong security.

"The U.S. government wants us to trust that it won't misuse this power. But we can all imagine the myriad ways this new authority could be abused. Even if you trust the U.S. government, once this master key is created, governments around the world will surely demand that Apple undermine the security of their citizens as well.

"EFF applauds Apple for standing up for real security and the rights of its customers. We have been fighting to protect encryption, and stop backdoors, for over 20 years. That's why EFF plans to file an amicus brief in support of Apple's position." (emphasis added)


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DISCLAIMER

Apple Watch, Apple Music, Apple #FAILS? $AAPL, Google Search Trends

UPDATE August 20, 2015: People are giving up on Apple Music survey says – 48% of “free trial” users stopped using it while only 11 percent of iOS users have tried the streaming service so far, according to MusicWatch and The Verge via @verge #Apple $AAPL

UPDATE (July 26, 2015): Why the iPhone matters to Apple - Business Insider (Jul. 26, 2015): "... Apple's stock tanked globally ... People are clearly worried that Apple's 'golden goose' is in trouble ... there was one key metric that fell below Wall Street's expectations: The number of iPhone units sold ..." (emphasis added)

UPDATE: July 23, 2015: Apple Music is described as a "nightmare"--Apple Music is a nightmare and I’m done with it: "At some point, enough is enough. That time has come for me—Apple Music is just too much of a hassle to be bothered with. Nobody I’ve spoken at Apple or outside the company has any idea how to fix it, so the chances of a positive outcome seem slim to none." (read more at the link above)

UPDATE July 21, 2015: Bloomberg reports today Apple Poised for $50 Billion Loss of Stock Market Value: "The biggest technology rally since October was knocked cold, as disappointing earnings reports punished Microsoft Corp. and left Apple Inc. in danger of its worst-ever loss of market value. Five days after Google Inc.’s earnings sparked the largest one-day increase in market capitalization, computer and software shares are tumbling ... Apple, the world’s most valuable company, dropped 6.7 percent, a slump that would wipe more than $50 billion from its value... Apple slid in late trading after iPhone shipments for the fiscal third quarter and the company’s revenue forecast for the current period missed analysts’ projections, raising questions over whether demand for the device has peaked. If the stock sinks that much in regular trading, the hit to market cap would be the second-biggest in the company’s history, after a $59.6 billion drop on Jan. 24, 2013." Check after-hours trading on NASDAQ: AAPL

UPDATE (July 20, 2015): Skepticism remains about the Apple Watch - The New York Times (July 19, 2015) -"... lack of support from Facebook — and from other popular app makers like Snapchat and Google, which also have few if any apps for Apple Watch — underscores the skepticism that remains in the technology community about the wearable device ..." (emphasis added)

UPDATE (July 9, 2015): The Chilling Thing Gartner Just Said ...| Wolf Street: "MarketWatch reported that [Apple Watch] sales, based on data from Slice, might have plunged 90% since that week, to fewer than 20,000 watches a day, and on some days fewer than 10,000. “The value of a smartwatch for the average user is still not compelling enough,” explained IT research and advisory company Gartner in its report on worldwide electronic device shipments." Gartner Says Worldwide Device Shipments to Grow 1.5 Percent, to Reach 2.5 Billion Units in 2015:The mobile phone market growth rate is expected to slow down to 3.3 percent growth in 2015. "The global market has been affected by a weaker performance in China. We have witnessed fewer and fewer first time buyers in China, a sign that the mobile phone market in there is reaching saturation. 


2005-2015 Search Trends: Blue-AppleWatch; Red-iPod; Orange-iPad; Green-iPhone; Purple-AppleMusic.
Source: Search Terms via GoogleTrends (data as of July 5, 2015; forecast shown as dashed lines)

2015 Search Terms: Blue-AppleWatch; Red-iPod; Orange-iPad; Green-iPhone; Purple-AppleMusic.
Source: GoogleTrends (data as of July 5, 2015)

So far in 2015, Apple Watch and Apple Music rank with Apple's almost gone iPod in search trends--iPhone (green line) still a very popular search term--but for how long? See: Domain Mondo: The Problem With Apple $AAPL (June 8, 2015) and Safari is the new IE | Read the Tea Leaves: "In recent years, Apple’s strategy towards the web can most charitably be described as “benevolent neglect.” Although performance has been improving significantly with JSCore and the new WKWebView, the emerging features of the web platform – offline storage, push notifications, and “installable” webapps – have been notably absent on Safari" (emphasis added). Of course we really won't know about Apple Music until after the free three-month trial period is over, although some music industry insiders are already calling it a failure.

And Apple stock? The picture doesn't look pretty since the June 8th Apple WWDC 2015 keynote (June 8th was the launch date of Apple Music; Apple Watch launched April 24, 2015):

Apple stock AAPL since Apple Music launch of June 8, 2015. Chart source: google.com

Apple stock AAPL was at $132.65 the day before Apple Watch launched, a price it hasn't seen since--
the launch of two major products and Apple stock is down! Chart source: google.com

Check Apple stock price now: NASDAQ: AAPL

Principal domain name: apple.com

Tim Cook is a supply chain guy. Jony Ive is a hardware design guru. As noted in Domain Mondo's first post in this series, Apple is falling behind in technology. At some point, consumers will start to notice, if they haven't already.

Note: As noted above, this is the second in a series of articles on Apple, its products and services, and AAPL stock (disclaimer at the bottom of this web page and here.)

See  also: Apple Watch demand is looking worse than expected - Business Insider (July 1, 2015).


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