Andreas Goeldi

Jan 10

Tablets: Here we go again

The whole IT industry suddenly seems to have gone crazy about tablets. Everybody is waiting for the revolutionary, breathtaking, world-changing Apple tablet, and new Android tablets are popping up left and right. Even MSFT refreshed their Windows-based tablet line at CES.

Interestingly, tablet mania is a phenomenon that seems to take place about every 3-5 years:

2006: Ultra-mobile PC
2001: Windows for Tablet PCs
1996: Palm devices
1993: Windows for Pen Computing + Apple Newton

But so far the industry has failed to find a formula that really appeals to the mass market.

I still occasionally use my last generation Motion Computing LE 1600 tablet PC. Not too bad for reading on the couch, although the pen-only touchscreen is annoying. The screen is still spectacular. Works in full sunlight.

This is a product that was clearly ahead of its time and tried to do too much. Hopefully the new generation of tablets will be a bit more focused.

Aug 5

“Blaming the new leaders or aggregators for disrupting the business of the old leaders, or saber-rattling and threatening to sue are not business strategies – they are personal therapy sessions. Go ask a music executive how well it works.” MediaFile » Blog Archive » Why I believe in the link economy | Blogs |

Jan 7

“For the September quarter (Q2) we reported a revenue of Rs 2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs 649 crore (24 per cent of revenues) as against the actual revenues of Rs 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs 61 crore (3 per cent of revenues). This has resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by Rs 588 crore in Q2 alone”

Satyam Margins Ridiculously Low

And I was always wondering how these Indian companies could achieve these unbelievable margins. I assume there are honest ones around that actually have good margins, but it’s probably better not to believe everything that you read in financial statements (even if they’re audited by PwC, ahem…).

Highly secure plastic knifes at Boston airport.

Just testing. But it’s still a nice tree, isn’t it?