When Stephen Elop took over at Nokia, he likened the company’s predicament to a man standing on a burning oil rig, debating whether to brave the cold sea or the flames. Nokia has since dived headlong into change – and is yet to surface. Microsoft, the company Elop left to join Nokia, is now toying with a similar plunge into
These are anxious times for the world’s largest software company. Microsoft has watched as long-time nemesis Apple has reinvented the smartphone and tablet businesses, carving out most of the industry’s profits for itself. Today, Apple is worth
Despite the critics decrying the lack of a “wow” factor around the iPhone 5, preorders for Apple’s newest handset have already sold out in the US. The company will move millions of them, despite the update from the iPhone 4S being distinctly evolutionary rather than revolutionary. It’s a solid phone
Pashash, founded by two University of Cape Town graduates, wants to provide shoppers with a place to share their favourite finds — from bargains to unusual trinkets to the latest fashions, while also letting them search the service for items they may be looking for in their area. In addition to being one of only
Online retailer Amazon.com has taken the wraps off its updated range of Kindle e-readers and tablets. Its rivals, especially Apple, should be paying close attention to what is arguably and crucially the only other company with as wide a content ecosystem
Touch-screen smartphones, once an expensive rarity, now generate tens of billions of dollars of revenue every year. And Apple, a pioneer in this market, is bent on ensuring its rivals don’t profit from its original ideas. Apple’s first big case has just born
A year ago, the tech press was all aflutter about the possibility of a new bubble in the internet industry. The blogosphere hummed with dire predictions of “dot-bomb 2.0” and equally passionate rebuttals. It’s amazing how much can change in a year. The most
To understand the importance — and irony — of last week’s court victory by Apple, it’s necessary to go back to 1979. It was 33 years ago that a young Steve Jobs paid a visit to the Palo Alto Research Center (Parc), a research and development facility in Silicon Valley owned by Xerox. Xerox Parc is renowned for having
Much like Microsoft with its forthcoming Surface tablet computers for Windows 8 and Windows RT, Google has decided that if you want something done right you’re probably better off doing it yourself. The company announced earlier this year it was entering the tablet fray with
It’s hard to think that just 15 years ago, Apple was staring bankruptcy in the face. What followed, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, has become one of the most celebrated turnaround stories in modern business. At more than US$550bn, Apple today is the biggest listed company on the planet by market value