Korea’s Samsung Electronics this week began selling its latest flagship handset, the highly anticipated Galaxy S5. Early reviews are already in and, although largely positive, some reviewers are asking if the insane pace of innovation in the smartphone industry in
The smartphone market could be reaching another tipping point. Several developments in recent weeks point to potentially big shifts in the fortunes of the major players. Let’s start with Apple, which on Tuesday took the wraps off not one but two new iPhones, a top-end model, the 5s, and, perhaps more significantly, a
Investors cheered Steve Ballmer’s decision to step down as CEO of Microsoft. The share price leapt higher by more than 7% on the day of the announcement that he would leave within the next 12 months, once a successor had been identified. Most critics said that, at best
Apple has hit a plateau. Its quarterly earnings results revealed flat revenues, falling iPad sales and markedly lower profits. But the company is not doomed to collapse, despite what some of the more excitable pundits are claiming. Apple is clearly going through a rough
Once upon a time, Sony was Apple. For decades, the Japanese consumer electronics giant was known for its innovation as much as Apple is today. It commercialised the transistor radio with the TR-63 and popularised the console gaming market with the PlayStation. It pioneered
Just as the music industry was getting used to the idea of another shift in formats – from compact discs as the distribution mechanism to digital downloads over the Internet – another huge change in the way people listen to music looks set to shake the business to its foundations. A decade after Steve Jobs
Last year, Google announced something extraordinary: it was working on a wearable computer. Geeks around the world immediately began salivating at the very thought. Earlier this year, the company began sending early versions of the device to developers and technology commentators. Reactions have ranged
Fifty billion dollars was wiped off Apple’s valuation in after-market trading on Wednesday after it published first-quarter results that spooked investors, despite lifting sales by 18% to a record US$54,5bn. The question on investors’ lips now is whether this marks the bottom of an aggressive sell-off
While titans like Apple, Microsoft and Google are grappling for global dominance, ordinary people around the world have begun tinkering with gadgets again. Just look at the Raspberry Pi. It’s barely bigger than a credit card and costs less than R250, but the Pi is a fully fledged computer. Hook it up to your TV and a
Jeff Bezos isn’t easily satisfied. He’s the 26th richest person on the planet, and he’s been a (self-made) billionaire for nearly two decades. And yet the 48-year-old founder of Amazon.com continues to push his company, and himself, into new territory. When Amazon launched the Kindle e-reader in late
