H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 February 2019) – Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 February 2019) – Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence

Companies

• Apple supplier AAC Tech sees shares plunge after profit warning (Reuters)
• Meituan labor strikes underscore profitability pressures (Technode)
• HERE expands mapping services to China with Navinfo partnership (Reuters)
• Trend Micro New Offering Enables Telecom Provides to Push a Security Layer Across Users’ Digital Life (FP)
• Sony revitalizes smartphone franchise with movie-style screens (Reuters)
• Lifull Home’s plans new matching portal (AIM)
• Vitrox plans to invest up to RM300mil on Batu Kawan facility (Star)
• RF contribution expected to remain soft for Inari Amertron (Edge)
• Vista Group’s annual net profit jumped 26.7 percent as its businesses increased their market share around the world. Excluding China, Vista says its global market share increased to 48 percent (SC)
• O2O leader VGI bumps profits 71 per cent, cites in-depth consumer data (Nation)
• ASX offloads 18.6% stake in Iress (FE)
• John Wylie makes $25m bet on Afterpay rival FlexiGroup (Age)
• Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence (Age)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Samsung, Softbank

• Tencent’s WeChat super app focuses on offline services (TIA)
• Payment Companies’ Free Lunch Comes to an End (Caixin)
• Galaxy Fold: The start of a form-factor revolution? (Investor); Huawei and Samsung still have much to prove on foldable phones; Doubts over whether Mate X and Galaxy Fold will win over consumers (Nikkei)
• TSMC Unveils Chip Technology To Boost iPhone Speeds, Prolong Battery Life (Forbes)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• WhatsApp Is Celebrating Its 10th Anniversary And A Decade Of Disruption (Forbes)
• Facebook, Alphabet Stock Could See Boosts From Direct-To-Consumer Brands (Barron’s)
• An Apple Streaming Service Might Not Be Worth Getting Excited About, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Netflix and the Economics of Bundling (HBR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s evolving spending habits produce highfliers and flameouts; Movies shine while smartphones lose sheen as optimism and pessimism mix (Nikkei)
• China’s Tech Firms Are Mapping Pig Faces; As a devastating disease afflicts the country’s swine, companies are scrambling to roll out facial and voice recognition and other unproven ways to save them. (NYT)
• Super-customization — a lifeline for Japan Inc? While companies elsewhere are also targeting ‘only for you,’ Japan has big advantages (Nikkei)
• TPG-Backed Chip Tester UTAC Taps Citigroup for $1 Billion Sale; Affinity and TPG bought UTAC in a S$2.2 billion ($1.6 billion) leveraged buyout in 2007 (Bloomberg)
• Who wins and who loses if India’s draft e-commerce rules are implemented (Qz)
• Zilingo: Fashionably near-unicorn (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, backtracks on Oracle, the company (Reuters)
• How artificial intelligence helps companies recruit talented staff; Many HR departments deploy new technological tools to locate potential candidates (FT)
• Car industry will be big 5G customer down the road, says SEAT (Reuters)
• How a new crop of tech IPOs may steal sentiment from FAANG stocks; Prominent among the new potential IPOs are Lyft, Uber, Pinterest and Airbnb; hence the acronym, LUPA. (MW); As Lyft’s Public Offering Looms, A Reminder Of Where The Year’s Unicorn IPO Crop Stands (CB)
• How U.S. retailers turn their bane into boon with ‘click and collect’ (Reuters)
• Creating A Data-Driven ‘You Are Here’ Media Map To Combat Fake News Using Billions Of Links (Forbes)
• Wayfair’s 78% Surge Hits Short Sellers With $1 Billion in Losses (Bloomberg)

Life

• A 7-Element Algorithm for Equity Investing (FS)
• Dalai Lama Has the Antidote to Destructive Emotions (Medium)