Tech Review 1) Big Tech & Antitrust, 2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-22)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Big Tech & Antitrust, 2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019, Huawei? 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Where the 'Ready' Users of Libra & Calibra Are, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Unicorns, 5G, Nvidia & ARM, Google, Walmart, Slack, and more.

1) Big Tech & Antitrust
Antitrust expert Doug Melamed on the new probes into Big Tech

Doug Melamed, Stanford law professor, joins CNBC's "Squawk Alley" to discuss how the Microsoft antitrust case he helped bring to court might affect the new probes into major tech companies. CNBC Television video above published Jun 13, 2019.

2) World's Most Valuable Brands 2019

World's Most Valuable Brands 2019 | statista.com

Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Visa, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, McDonald's, AT&T.
For more: Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2019 (published June 2019).

Editor's note: Huawei? 

#47. Where will Huawei be next year? Huawei says U.S. ban hurting more than expected, to wipe $30 billion off revenue and Bloomberg.com: Huawei Braces for Phone Sales Drop of Up to 60 Million Overseas.

"The most ambitious start-ups attempted to transcend their region of origin to become seen as global brands."--brandz.com

Chinese Cash In Silicon Valley Is Suddenly Toxic: as U.S. startups reject their money, Chinese venture-capital firms in U.S. are structuring deals to avoid regulators or shutting down. See also:  World’s Top Bicycle Maker Says the Era of ‘Made in China’ Is Over and Apple Explores Moving Some Production Out of China--Trade tensions prompt iPhone maker to consider diversifying supply chain. On Friday the U.S. Department of Commerce expanded its national security “entity list” to bar Chinese supercomputer firms from buying U.S. parts and components without U.S. government approval.

3) Investing

The Week--NASDAQ Composite +3.0% | S&P 500 Index +2.2% | DJIA +2.4%--for the week all three major U.S. stock indexes gained at least 2.2%, with the S&P 500 hitting its first record close since April. 

The Backstory: U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Friday, but locked in strong weekly gains after the Federal Reserve indicated on Wednesday it could carry out rate cuts later this year if economic conditions decline, with investors eyeing a slowdown in the global economy, and the G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, 28-29 June 2019, where a widely anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump may take place.

Investor Notes--where the 'ready' users of Libra & Calibra already are:

source: statista.com

Background:

• How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video)

• Fed Chair LIVE Jun 19, 2:30pm EDT, ECB Draghi Chaos, Facebook Calibra & Libra: "The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology."
• In an opinion piece in the Financial Times on Friday, Facebook Inc’s co-founder Chris Hughes said the Libra cryptocurrency would hand over much of the control of monetary policy from central banks to private companies: “If global regulators don’t act now, it could very soon be too late,” wrote Hughes, who also said the corporations that would oversee the new currency would put their private interests - profits and influence - ahead of public ones. Editor's note: what Hughes describes is exactly how ICANN has been corrupted.   
• The international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued updated guidance concerning regulation of cryptocurrency and virtual assets at its meeting in Orlando, Florida.
• European central bankers claim oversight over Facebook’s cryptocurrency--reuters.com. Reuters also reported that France is creating a G7 task force to study how central banks ensure cryptocurrencies like Facebook’s Libra are governed by regulations ranging from money-laundering laws to consumer-protection rules.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

"Unicorns are amazingly deflationary vehicles. They're deflating rents, they're deflating driver salaries, they're deflating all kinds of things"--renown short-seller Jim Chanos explaining how Silicon Valley unicorns have pushed prices lower and why central banks are to blame.

According to latest estimates by Ericsson, 5G won’t really take off until 2021/2022. See also Crown Castle International: a play on the coming of 5G and the expansion of IoT--SeekingAlpha.com.

Nvidia says its accelerator chips will work with ARM processors by end of this year.

Google will eventually provide RCS Chat (replacement for SMS texting) directly to any Android user. Note also Google cancels plans for future tablets, focusing instead on Pixel phones and Pixelbooks (chromebooks).

Urban Mobility: Getting Beyond Gridlock--by 2030 robo-taxis, autonomous shuttles, and trains, will provide most urban mobility with private cars only a very small share, and buses almost non-existent.

Walmart: U.S. eCommerce Strategy and the Role of Jet.com. Walmart is the fourth largest online retailer in the US in 2019, according to eMarketer estimates, behind only Amazon, eBay, and Apple. See also: Apple says iPhones can now be fixed at all U.S. Best Buy stores, and Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown Gets Costly for Big Retailers--wolfstreet.com.

Slack closed at $38.62, June 20, 2019, up 48.5% from its $26 reference price, on its first day of trading as a direct listing, valuing the company at about $20B. Domain: slack.com. Investor relations: https://investor.slackhq.com/home/default.aspx.

UK: likely next Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, pledges to 'end the digital divide' by 2025, via a full rollout of fiber broadband.

Personal Tech: most U.S. mobile banking apps have security and privacy flaws, researchers say.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Review | Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service (video)

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-01)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service, 2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Huawei, and more.

1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service

Drivers are already ditching their cars because of apps like Uber. Imagine what happens when driverless cars hit the roads. Bloomberg QuickTake explains the idea known as “mobility as a service.” Bloomberg.com video above published May 28, 2019. Note also: a generational wave, "millennials show little interest in car ownership."

2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers May 27, 2019:

source: statista.com

Editor's note: How Many Will Still Exist in 2030? 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has made an offer (pdf) for a merger with the Renault Group that would create the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world. According to the proposal, the newly formed group would be co-owned by FCA and Renault shareholders at a 50-50 split with a balanced number of seats on the Board of Directors.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite -3% | S&P 500 Index -3% | DJIA -3%

Stocks Close Lower as Trump’s Mexico Tariff Threat Rattles Markets

Dow falls more than 300 points; Yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys hits a fresh 20-month low

Investor Notes:

US: the earnings yield on US stocks as an asset class has further widened its gap to bond yields. If today's low inflation is not transitory, the U.S. stock market multiples may be way too low. "What can drive [bond] yields higher? Inflation, which nobody in the investing universe believes is an actual ‘thing’ anymore," Nomura’s Charlie McElligott wrote last week.

China: US-Traded Chinese Stocks & ADRs Totally Crushed--many by 50% or 60% or more. See also Which Chinese Banks Will Fail Next?

Eurozone: haggling over who will succeed Mario Draghi begins--the process to replace ECB president comes under scrutiny as region faces economic and political turmoil. German Unemployment Explodes Most Since Financial Crisis, Sending Bund Yields Near Record Lows.

Gundlach: Deutsche Bank "price action looking pretty scary"and Soc Gen "heading straight south yet again"--

DB price action looking pretty scary. And Soc Gen, still run by the indefatigably incompetent Oudea, is heading straight south yet again.

— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) May 30, 2019

UK: May Ends In June--UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been a dismal failure--"She's no Lady Thatcher." Boris Johnson, Conservative Party MP, former UK Secretary of State, and former Mayor of London (2008-2016), likely to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister.

The Brexit Party's rising star is Annunziata Rees-Mogg, newly elected MEP:

'In all my years door-knocking, I’ve never seen anything like it,' writes @zatzi https://t.co/ZSYeNZvUWW

— Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics) May 28, 2019

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Facebook expects to launch cryptocurrency ‘GlobalCoin’ in Q1 2020, as a stablecoin pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, and is spending significant time with officials from both the US Treasury and the Bank of England. Facebook is also talking with money transfer firms including Western Union, clearly intending to compete with Paypal’s Venmo and Square’s CashApp, and become one of the world’s leading digital wallets.--Ark-Invest.com.

Quantum computing could help companies address problems as huge as supply chains and climate change. IBM, Google, Microsoft, and others are racing to bring the tech from theory to practice.

Nvidia bringing pro-level Quadro RTX GPUs to laptops--the Quadro RTX 5000 series is now available in mobile form. See also: Nvidia unveils its first AI platform for edge devices--Nvidia EGX, compatible with AWS and Azure IoT offerings; launch partners include Cisco, HPE, and Lenovo.

For Uber, autonomous vehicles can't come soon enough--Uber loses $1 billion in quarter as costs grow for drivers, food delivery.

Huawei: court documents, government and industry sources detail decades of Huawei's alleged IP theft, from the science behind 5G to phone accessory designs--channelnews.com.au. The fallout of the US Commerce Department adding Huawei to its “Entity List,” could be profound. President Trump's offhand remarks that Huawei was banned because it is a security threat yet the ban could be lifted as part of a trade deal, makes no sense except as a taunting negotiating ploy. Huawei smartphones rely on ARM-based CPUs and Google’s Android operating system. An export ban on these technologies effectively freezes Huawei’s product roadmap. Huawei will have to find alternatives to ARM-based mobile chips and a non-Google version of Android, a nearly impossible task. Likewise, Huawei’s 5G equipment requires components and intellectual property (IP) from US companies such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and others. Building a full 5G product stack, without access to US tech, is likely impossible.

Rare Earths: China supplies around 80% of world's rare earths, crucial for electronics, but not  effective for retaliation over the Huawei ban--despite the name, rare earths just aren't that rare.

Malinvestment: Tech Unicorns Are Just Like China's "Ghost Cities."

Congratulations to companies in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asia countries--"You did nothing, but you are all winners. Don't forget to send a thank you note to Mr. Trump, for all the new jobs he's about to create in your countries."--Likely Winners In The U.S.-China Trade War.

Google to invest 600 million euros in Finland data center. Note also: concerns rise about Google's ~121K temporary and contract workers globally, compared with just ~102K full-time staff.

Japan to limit foreign ownership of firms in its IT, telecom sectors,

Alibaba plans second listing in Hong Kong to raise $20 billion. China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), delists from the NYSE.

IKEA to revamp app--the world’s biggest furniture retailer is shifting its business model away from brick-and-mortar suburban stores towards making shopping easier online.

Disruptive Innovation (smartphones): Digital Camera Sales Dropped 84% Since 2010.

Crypto: up to 86% of total reported cryptocurrency trading volume is likely fake, according to analysis of exchange website visits--theblockcrypto.com,

Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint.

AT&T: CEO Randall Stephenson is "taking on Netflix and Comcast simultaneously. It won't be easy."--a look at AT&T's "grand vision" of transforming into a “modern media” company spanning multiple content networks, distribution channels, and customer data streams--fortune.com. Editor's note: my gut feel is that "it will all end badly." AT&T can't compete with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, et al. Who are they ($T management) kidding?

$T

Apparently, Wall Street is not impressed! The only thing AT&T has is a sweet dividend (for now).

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Startup Zoox - $800M Robo Taxi That Could Beat Uber (video)

The $800M Robo Taxi That Could Beat Uber

Bloomberg.com video above published Jul 17, 2018: Zoox is on the verge of transforming the entire transportation industry by creating self-driving robots that will become the ride-shares of the future.

Zoox Inc. founded 2014: autonomous vehicles / autonomous mobility utilizing AI
Domain: zoox.com
Tweets by zoox

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Brynne Kennedy, CEO of Topia, Global Mobility Solutions (video)

Brynne Kennedy, CEO of Topia

Stanford Graduate School of Business video above published May 24, 2018: Topia (domain: topia.com) is a global mobility solution company that supports mobile employees around the world to help address the changing future of work, said Topia CEO Brynne Kennedy. The company is working with their customers to figure out out how to support employees given new technologies that are enabling an increasingly global workforce. "Teams need to form and un-form across borders quickly and repeatedly, and that situation is growing dramatically." During her visit to the Systems Leadership class on May 15, 2018, Kennedy discussed with Lecturer Robert Siegel how Topia will become strategic in helping companies manage their global teams and how Topia's software can be the infrastructure that helps manage this labor transformation.

Topia (formerly MOVE Guides and Polaris) provides global mobility management solutions to move and manage talent, enabling them to work everywhere. Headquarters: London & San Francisco
Tweets by Topia_Official

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Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 27 February - 2 March 2017

Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry, organized by the GSMA and held in Barcelona, 27 February - 2 March 2017

Network 2020 at #MWC17:

Video above published Feb 16, 2017: Jill Cooper, Marketing Director, Network 2020 at the GSMA on what the programme will offer attendees at Mobile World Congress 2017. More details: http://gsma.at/network2020

Domain: MobileWorldCongress.com

Agenda: https://www.mobileworldcongress.com/start-here/agenda/

Video streaming from Mobile World Congress 2017:

• MobileWorldlLive.com
• MWC 2017 Keynotes Live | MobileWorldLive.com

The GSMA’s 2017 Report Embracing the Digital Revolution, Policies for Building the Digital Economy (pdf) examines the impact of digital technologies globally and calls on government to use progressive policies to drive their countries, societies and economies ahead.

Tweets by GSMAEvents
#MWC17 Tweets

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Mobility Index Report, Q1 2015, Apps, Platforms, Device Preferences

Mobility Index Report, Q1 2015, Apps, Platforms, Device Preferences

Caveat to the above: Google, Chrome, Physical Web Project, The Future App-less Mobile Web

See also: Financial Times, Print Redesign, HTML5, Digital Strategy


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London Tech Week, Smarter Cities, Bloomberg Technology Conference

London technology companies are trying to narrow the gap with Silicon Valley. Startups in the city attracted about $800 million of funding from U.S. investors alone last year, according to Mayor Boris Johnson’s office. London Technology Week starts at the Shard and the aim is to beat that figure as the city tries to establish itself as a world technology capital. The number of companies in London’s digital technology industry has grown by 46 percent since the launch of the Tech City programme five years ago, according to figures produced by Oxford Economics. The tech firms now employ almost 200,000 people, 17 percent more than in 2010, it said. A dedicated online hub for the digital industry, sponsored by International Business Machines Corp. and created by Gust LLC, is the Tech.London website includes London’s latest startups, investors, jobs and more. Source: Bloomberg

Tweets about @ldntechweek OR #LDNTechWeek



Bloomberg Technology Conference: Smarter Cities: June 18, 2015, at Bloomberg HQ, Finsbury Square, London: Agenda and Speakers (also see below)--In Partnership with London Technology Week:

• How the Internet of Things and the collection of vast amounts of data is changing services and citizens experiences beyond recognition
• How robots could transform the nature of work and what cities stand to lose if they don’t move fast and move smart
• Whether driverless transport is the future of getting around cities and what that means for existing transport services
• How wearable technology will disrupt existing health services and reveal the next big innovation in health tech
• How GPS mesh networks will mean the end of traffic jams – and the economic consequences of failing to invest
• How we can nurture home grown talent and businesses to ensure the next big thing comes out of London

Agenda:
9:00 - 9:10 am Welcome Remarks - Nate Lanxon, Senior Editor, Bloomberg EMEA

9:10 - 9:15 am Urbanisation as a catalyst for innovation - Video address from Michael Bloomberg, Founder, Bloomberg L.P. and UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change

9:15 - 9:25am The London Perspective - A senior representative from the Greater London Authority discusses how London, currently a global leader, can stay ahead of its competition by investing in its people, services and businesses.
Speaker:
Andrew Collinge, Assistant Director, Intelligence and Analysis, Greater London Authority
Chair: Caroline Hyde, European Business Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

9:25 – 9.55am The Smartest Cities - Europe on the global stage - Leaders from two of Europe’s smartest and greenest cities, London and Amsterdam, share their triumphs, challenges and plans for future innovations. With the UK’s ongoing uncertainty over EU status and continued economic turbulence, what are key European cities doing to continue competing on the global stage.
Speakers:
Ger Baron, Chief Technology Officer, City of Amsterdam
Andrew Collinge, Assistant Director, Intelligence and Analysis, Greater London Authority
Chair: Caroline Hyde, European Business Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

9.55 – 10:05am The future of work: Jobs and smarter cities - Katherine will share insights from her tenure as New York’s Commissioner of Media and Entertainment. She’ll discuss how strong growth in media and tech industries can create massive opportunities to reduce unemployment and how technology may transform the future of work for our societies.
Speaker: Katherine Oliver, Principal, Media and Technology, Bloomberg Associates

10:05 – 10:45am Smarter Cities, Healthier Cities - As cities become increasingly crowded, societies older and public service budgets more squeezed; technology in cities must create smarter solutions for healthier urban communities. As a society we are working harder and longer with the retirement age creeping up across the continent and our services aren’t working. We have no other choice but to transform the delivery of services to meet society’s needs.
Cities must take advantage of new technologies to deliver services to keep our cities healthy – hear from the pioneers making it happen.
Speakers:
Julie Alexander, Urban Development Director, Siemens plc
Kris Flautner, General Manager, Internet of Things Business, ARM
Jen Hyatt, Founder and CEO, Big White Wall
Jessica Federer, Chief Digital Officer, Bayer
Chair: Anna Edwards, Anchor, Bloomberg TV

10:45 – 10:55am Smarter cities/smarter citizens: the future of urban advertising - William will share insights on how consumer and business behaviour and interaction could transform the smart cities of the future. He'll also discuss the role advertising has in creating, developing and maintaining smart cities.
Speaker:
William Eccleshare, Chairman and CEO, Clear Channel International
Chair: Anna Edwards, Anchor, Bloomberg TV
10:55 - 11:15am Networking break

11:15 – 11:55pm Keeping Cities Mobile - Mobility and congestion are challenges for all cities and increasing mass urbanization requires better use of essential resources and control of city infrastructure.Technology is enabling better, faster and cheaper ways to get around but improvement, particularly of older infrastructure requires collaboration and major investment. Transport services in cities must be intelligent and seamless, understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviours of people and businesses to enable high productivity and economic growth.
Speakers:
Scott Sedlik, General Manager and Vice President EMEA, INRIX
Will Judge, Head of Urban Mobility, Mastercard Enterprise Partnerships
Omid Ashtari, General Manager, Citymapper
Matthew Hudson,Head of Business Development, Transport for London
Chair: Caroline Hyde, European Business Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

11:55 – 12:05pm Smart solutions for the congestion challenge. - Alicia Agius, Project Lead, GoDrive - will share highlights of Ford’s new car sharing scheme, just one of their pioneering smart mobility global experiments. The company is using innovation to solve growing global transportation challenges and as a result changing the perceptions of automotive manufacturers.
Chair: Caroline Hyde, European Business Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

12:05 – 12:45pm Emissions, efficiency and the energy challenge for cities - City leaders have to find ways to make cities greener and more sustainable and businesses are under obligation to help the EU reach the 2020 energy efficiency targets. Cities have to employ practical solutions to meet both citizens and business’ needs, whether it’s smart metering, renewable energy or behavioural change, cities have to adapt to the challenge of using energy in a smarter way.
Speakers:
Richard Brys, CEO & Co-Founder, Utilidex
Kassir Hussain, Director of Connected Homes, British Gas
Kevin Austin, Deputy Executive Director, C40
David Hill, Business Development Director, Open Energi
Chair: Ed Robinson, Senior Writer, Bloomberg Markets Magazine

12:45 – 12:55pm How can people power smarter cities - Laurence will share how their flooring technology converts the wasted kinetic energy of people’s footsteps into renewable energy and consider whether this technology could power our cities in the future.
Speaker: Laurence Kemball-Cook, Founder and CEO, Pavegen
Chair: Ed Robinson, Senior Writer, Bloomberg Markets Magazine
12:55 – 2:15pm Networking lunch

2:15- 2:55pm Even the smartest cities aren’t immune to disaster… What happens when smart cities go wrong? - It’s not only natural disasters that cities have to contend with, although flooding, earthquakes, typhoons and rising sea levels are very real threats to global cities. City leaders and businesses need to be aware of the very real threat of terrorism and cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks can disable everything from communications and transport to banking and utilities creating chaos for urban environments and catastrophe for markets. This session will highlight the key strategies for contingency planning when a panel of experts is faced with a simulated cyber-attack.
Speakers:
Justin Lyon, CEO, Simudyne
Carlos Moreira, Chairman, Chief Executive and Founder, WISeKey
Penney Frohling, Partner, Financial Services Advisory, EY
Nick Trim, Commercial Director, Darktrace
Moderator: Nate Lanxon, Senior Editor, Bloomberg EMEA

2:55 – 3:35pm The London Effect: Threats to growth - Although London has a place on the global stage there are still major threats to its continued success. The most prominent are the new Government’s promise of a referendum on the UK’s position in Europe, anti-immigration sentiment, a lack of affordable housing, Victorian infrastructure systems and massive gaps in income equality. If London doesn’t adapt and deal with these weaknesses it will fall behind in its position as the global financial centre. The London Effect: Spreading the wealth--London based innovation ensures the capital retains its competitive edge but smart cites must spread their tech and wealth to achieve national growth. The nation must create more success stories like the Bristol and Bath tech hubs and the Northern Power House to really stimulate growth and investment.
Speakers:
Russ Shaw, Founder, Tech London Associates
Gerard Grech, Chief Executive Officer, Tech City UK
Claire Cockerton, Founder, CEO and Chairwoman, ENTIQ
Mark Harrop, Director of Business Development, BT Group
Chair: Caroline Hyde, European Business Correspondent, Bloomberg TV

3:35 - 4:15pm The Internet of Everything: Joined up thinking to join the dots - Technology, services, citizens and departments must collaborate to achieve truly smart outcomes, but in reality how does that work and what does the future of joined up thinking look like? Services can no longer be planned and run in silos when linked up smart technology can produce more efficient and effective services. Smart cities must be connected both strategically and physically and the collaboration of public and private needs to get smarter or we’ll fall behind.
Speakers:
Michael Dixon, General Manager, IBM Smarter Cities
Usman Haque Founder, Umbrellium and Thingful
Indi Sall, IT Technical Director, NG Bailey
Phil Smith, CEO, Cisco UK and Ireland
Chair: Nate Lanxon, Senior Editor, Bloomberg EMEA

4:15pm Closing Remarks
4:45pm Afternoon tea
5:30pm Conference Concludes


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Subject tags: Technology, Conference, London, smart cities, innovation, economy, efficiency, energy, Health, Infrastructure, internet of things, IoT, mobility, planning, policy, sustainability, tech, transport