For me, this is the best product so far in the CES (Consumer Electronics Show): IBM Q System One. It is a new quantum computer that is wholly integrated. This finicky computing machine which can crunch massive datasets is caged in a super-chilled enclosure, and covered in 0.5-inch-thick borosilicate glass. When it gets into production, it will do its work via cloud. Simply, IBM has gone cloud-first even for the quantum future.
The news: At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, IBM took the wraps off the Q System One, which it claims is the world’s first integrated universal quantum computing system for commercial applications. Companies won’t be able to run out and buy the machines, though—they’re only accessible via IBM’s computing cloud.
All-in-one: Many quantum machines that use superconducting circuits, an approach favored by IBM, are a smorgasbord of wires connecting various electronic devices to a cryostatic cooling chamber that contains the quantum chip. The Q System One, on the other hand, is a single, tightly integrated system enclosed in an airtight case nine feet (2.7 meters) tall.
The world is full of abundance but accessing that abundance is unequal. From the lagoons of Lagos to the Java Sea near Indonesia, from California deserts to the Everest of Nepal, I see abundance everywhere. Yet, poverty is not yet in museums. They live with us! People, our generation has obligation to build a more hopeful, more equal, and more abundant future for ALL.
United Nations PAGE Conference, South Africa today.
It seems there are huge challenges across markets last quarter: Samsung is providing a depressing guidance. The semiconductor giant noted that its fourth-quarter revenue shrank 11% and operating profit declined 29% from the year before. It explained that slow demand on memory chips and “intensifying competition” for phones were to blame. LG was not spared: its profits plummeted 80% with revenue down 7%.
Samsung Electronics Co. expects its fourth-quarter operating profit will decline 29%—surprise guidance that fell far below analysts’ estimates—in the latest sign of challenges hitting the tech industry.
The world’s largest maker of smartphones and semiconductors said its estimated profit decline comes “amid mounting macro uncertainties.” The Suwon, South Korea-based company pointed to “lackluster demand” for memory chips and “intensifying competition” in its handsets business.
So, the challenges noted by Apple CEO Tim Cook in his letter may not be just Apple; this seems like a big-brand problem. Most affordable device brands have gotten so well that people have real alternatives as they work to save money. Samsung captures that excellently when it noted that “intensifying competition” in its handsets business is a key reason its revenues and profits are dropping.
Do not look far: the Tecno phones of this world are part of this redesign. They give you fair quality on price, and you can just live with them, sparing you from the overpriced brands and their fashionista troubles.
Apple pivots into a fashion company, in the likes of Louis Vuitton, with the launch of iPhone X today. It costs $999, heavy on fashion elements, but hardly moves the technology trajectory. But that does not matter, because it is Apple. The world will cover it for free, and Apple will enjoy a great earned media. From CNN to NBC to Nigeria’s AIT, the message will be the same: there is a new product from Apple.
This is all good as I expect the next generation of iPhone and Samsung Galaxy to be priced for the earth and not galaxies. As that happens, they would bring competition back to the affordable brands like Tecno and Infinix. And at the end, customers win, and phone-anchored mobile internet revolution continues in places like Africa.
No nation has any competitive #4 mobile carrier: two strong leading operators are typical. But in some cases, you can have a forceful #3. But anything beyond #3 is forgettable. Nigeria will not change that until we have billionaires who can buy English ball clubs just to tell their friends: “My boys will play tomorrow, come over to my booth”.
Yes, Teleology Holdings which received approval to take over the operations of 9mobile as the preferred bidder has pulled out of the deal. The Founder of Teleology Holdings Limited, Mr. Adrian Wood, the pioneer CEO of MTN Nigeria, released a statement, noting: “We now must stand down from further work on the 9mobile project.”
Barely, two months after Teleology Holdings received approval to take over the operations of 9mobile as the preferred bidder, Teleology Holdings has expressed its dissatisfaction with the business relationship with its local partner, 9mobile Nigeria, and has decided to pull out from the 9mobile project, THISDAY has learnt.
[…]
“Fifteen Teleology experts have worked since June 2017 on detailed 9mobile turnaround planning, development strategies and financial restructuring. This included lining up more than $500 million fresh direct foreign investment from international institutions.
9mobile is an exciting opportunity to build a revolutionary mobile network that could be the pride of Nigeria, unfortunately it appears that we will not be able to participate,” Wood said.
Wood added that: “We now must stand down from further work on the 9mobile project.”
As I write this, Glo will be preparing a term sheet. Why? 9Mobile cannot even afford to pay its infrastructure service provider, IHS, which has approval of NCC to disconnect the mobile carrier. When you have huge debts you cannot service, have suppliers you cannot pay, and have lost 7 million subscribers in two years, you are not likely to live longer. I think Glo will end up picking 9Mobile as I had expected. You may ask – why not MTN or Airtel? Answers here.
In this videocast, I make a case why Globacom, the operator of the Glo brand in Nigeria, will acquire Etisalat Nigeria, in 2017. Etisalat Nigeria is in a very challenging position to pay back about $1.2 billion loan to a consortium of banks. In the current market dynamics, with deteriorating ARPU (average revenue per user), it will be extremely difficult for the telecom company to meet that obligation. Glo has liquidity, relatively, and is owned by a respected businessman (Mike Adenuga) who can raise any capital required to close a deal. Glo needs to close its subscriber gap with MTN which enjoys more than 20 million extra subscribers.
I just made it into South Africa, the land of Mandela, and the most hopeful of the hopefuls, south of Sahara. I was here six times last year, and beginning the African voyage with it. It has energy despite the paralyses it confronts.
As my friends joke here “I hope one day I will visit Africa”. I smile because for most, they do not think they are in sub-Saharan Africa (infrastructure wise depending on where you live) because if someone blindfolds and drops you in downtown Cape Town, you may think you are in San Francisco!
Nigeria has work to do – South African infrastructure excites.
