MacDailyNews Take: Archos is still in business?
Rose and Le Quintrec report, “The company expects to return to sales growth in the fourth quarter for the first time in two years, helped by Christmas sales and the launch of the new product — thin PC devices mid-way between smartphones and netbooks. ‘We are coming back with a new technology, which is the Internet tablet based on Google’s Android. It’s a platform which is rivaling the iPhone’s,’ Archos founder and Chief Executive Henri Crohas told Reuters in an interview.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Rivaling.” Meaning 1/10th the unit sales, less than 1/10th the apps, and 1/100th the third-party accessories market. “Mimicking” is more like it. And not too well, either. Wanna see what Android will look like in three years? Wait until Apple previews iPhone OS 4.0 and then imagine a less usable version three years late.
Rose and Le Quintrec report, “Archos last week unveiled a 17 million-euro ($25.6 million) capital increase to help pay for marketing and developing products in a move that also opens the door to a possible takeover of the company. ‘For our development, if a big player enters, or even launches a takeover bid, I don’t know, I am not opposed to that,’ Crohas said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Unlike Palm, at least Archos comes right out and states its true intentions.
Rose and Le Quintrec report, “The company also expects to post a third consecutive annual loss this year… ‘Thanks to (the new products), we already know this quarter will be the first quarter of growth for two years, so the situation is turning around,’ Crohas said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hope springs eternal, regardless of merit – or sanity.
Rose and Le Quintrec report, “Shares in Archos have dwindled to around 3 euros from a peak of 76 euros in 2006, giving it a market value of about 27 million euros, compared with Apple’s $180 billion… Apple is expected to launch a highly anticipated but unconfirmed tablet device next year.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve crossed the Rubicon when Apple product “killers” start appearing before Apple even enters the market(s) it will soon create/revolutionize.
Sounds like Feynman’s “Cargo Cult” philosophy at work.
Classic MDN take
I find it interesting that Archos are avoiding windows. That’s a nice move.
Why did Apple shares fall yesterday when the broader market, Dow and Nasdaq, were up?
I hope they build it tough, because when Archos finally sees the Apple product, they will drop it and run…….(but I kid. Competition is good)
@silverhawk
With no apparent other reason, one possibility for the quick drop could have been AAPL’s low volume yesterday attracted a bear raid. Hedge fund manipulators have been known to launch enough short selling to overtake the low volume and drive the price down. So the consequent after-hours rise would be them covering plus some taking advantage of the dip to buy. Hence the return to a price almost exactly where it was the day before. Otherwise there may have been some Jobs’ health rumor or some other buzz, but I haven’t seen such so far.
Crohas: “…if a big player enters, or even launches a takeover bid, I don’t know, I am not opposed to that.”
He was in the French military! I didn’t know that.
“It’s a platform which is rivaling the iPhone’s,”
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I guess it’s OK to hallucinate every once in a while.
Competition is always a good thing, but I have yet to see anything that makes me say WOW like Apple’s products. When you remove the flashing lights and chintzy covers from the competition, you’re still left with mediocre trash that wouldn’t even pass for an Apple dumpter-dive.
Further fragmentation of the Android software market in regards to a variety of hardware configurations.
App lack!
m159
Thank you.
Well two of my Archos products have both exploded due to faulty batteries so I don’t think Apple have anything to be worried about Archos SUCKS !!!!!!
MDN: “Meaning 1/10th the unit sales, less than 1/10th the apps, and 1/100th the third-party accessories market.”
That’s a good description of Apple vs. PCs. It goes to prove that numbers are not the whole picture.
@HMCIV
LOL!
Oh goodie, yet one more variety of Android hardware to splinter the Android ecosystem.
The more things people figure out what to do with Android, the more unwieldy the platform becomes. Anybody foolish enough to buy this thing will go on the Android Marketplace expecting to find lots of great apps, yet almost none of them will be optimized for this device.
I didn’t realize Archos was French! Sacrebleu!
Going for Android is a big kick to MS. Do to Win 7 higher price and hardware needs I think the netbook makers will have no choice to dump MS. To make touch screen you must have the biz or ultra. This is why All-in-ones can’t compete with iMacs, and why small tablets will not use them. If the iPad (my guess on the name) takes off, the iPad killers will not be able to use Win 7. MS will lose next years next years netbook replacement. So much for Market share.
qka, you feel this constitutes “fragmentation” rather than “growth”? What a weird sense of vocabulary you have!
MDN said: “Meaning 1/10th the unit sales, less than 1/10th the apps, and 1/100th the third-party accessories market.”. We all know Apple’s phone is hampered, in the US, by its market partner, but it was also first on the scene with a well-designed device. Android is a year and change behind Apple in that, and (until recently) lacked a coherent ad campaign. They’re playing catch-up. They may even wipe MSFT off the cell-phone map. Be nice. Say “Thank You”.
As has already been proved, beating your competition to the market does not ensure your success.
Go to the google search page, type in “French Victories” and hit the “I feel lucky.” button.
:~)
Do you know the most popular french phrase?
I give up.
:~)
Just a couple of pompous, full-of-themselves French businessmen.
Nothing to see here.
“Hope springs eternal, regardless of merit – or sanity.”
Reminds me of Apple in ’97
Thank you sir! May I have another?
Archos has made a few cool products in the past. Invariably they are generic in design, etc. but they have been on the right track for some time. The problem for Archos is that today’s devices are more than just cool hardware. Rather, they are defined by the software to differentiate them from the competition. To that end, just another Android device isn’t going to be enough. I don’t suspect Apple will simply slap on the same iPhone OS in their tablet. I would suspect the tablet will be a platform in its own right, even if there is some backwards compatibility with iPhone apps.
@BlackWolf………..
That was hilarious. Never expected that result !
@ Black Wolf
Look closely at the URL for this search.
@ Black Wolf (update)
This research result is a hoax written by Steve Lerner 2 years ago and Google didn’t fix it yet. See there: