The smartphone, like every other tech gadget before it, is maturing into commodity status. Growth is slowing and shifting from high-end sales in the U.S. and Europe to less profitable low-end handsets in emerging markets. The shift has prodded analysts to lower their outlook on Apple (AAPL) and Samsung. Both companies’ December-quarter smartphone sales missed expectations. “The smartphone is no longer an emerging technology,” said Jack Gold, an
A lot of drug companies outsource parts of their operations — manufacturing, for instance, or running clinical trials. Back in 2007, Francois Nader had a more radical idea: What if you outsource everything? Nader was an executive at NPS Pharmaceuticals (NPSP), and the company was in dire straits after failing to win U.S. approval for its osteoporosis drug Preos, even though Europe accepted it. To save the company financially, he proposed selling
Chinese Web portal NetEase in Q4 continued its investment in mobile gaming and started expanding outside China, but it hasn’t gained much traction with either effort. The company, long a leader in desktop gaming, launched its first three mobile games in 2013. But sales of those games have yet to offset its slowing PC gaming business, and NetEase (NTES) late Wednesday missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations for Q4. The company said sales