China has set a clear precedent with nearly every other tech company that operating in the country comes with certain strings attached, including significant investment in China's tech sector. Ben Thompson More Quotes by Ben Thompson More Quotes From Ben Thompson I always make it a rule to let the other fellow fire first. If a man wants to fight, I argue the question with him and try to show him how foolish it would be. If he can't be dissuaded, why then the fun begins but I always let him have first crack. Then when I fire, you see, I have the verdict of self-defence on my side. I know that he is pretty certain in his hurry, to miss. I never do. Ben Thompson fighting fun men At a basic level venture capitalists are arbitrageurs: they have access to more information than those with the capital, and access to more capital than those with information, and they profit by exploiting the mismatch. Ben Thompson venture-capitalists information levels It's impressive when you're such a mysterious fictional character that even avid enthusiasts are debating your existence within the mythos. Ben Thompson avid mysterious character The only way to win with an undifferentiated product is having a superior cost structure and scale, samsung did it, and now Huawei is doing it. 'Win' is all relative though, if you're making a couple of bucks in profit per phone. Ben Thompson industrials Given that Xiaomi's valuation has always been based on the company being more than a commodity handset manufacturer, missing their services revenue goal by such a significant margin is even more concerning than missing their handset target. Ben Thompson industrials Given that Xiaomi's valuation has always been based on the company being more than a commodity handset manufacturer, missing their services revenue goal by such a significant margin is even more concerning than missing their handset target, that said, the company did increase their services revenue per handset sold, so they are moving in the right direction. It's just a question of if they can move fast enough. Ben Thompson company-news The writing has long been on the wall for any premium Android maker: as soon as low end hardware became 'good enough,' there would be no reason to buy a premium brand. Ben Thompson technology
