Posts by The Godfather

Hong Kong mogul mulls multi-billion pound bid for O2 – report

Re: Anybody...

Errr, give them time and they'll buy all of them.

Cash-burning Box makes yet ANOTHER IPO promise

Should have gone to specsavers...

Baffling how dim and slow some of these investors are at times...time will tell

Lenovo sings distie initiation song, adds Westcoast to line-up

Won't be long...

Before that gap with HP decreases...mark my words...

UK.gov prompt payment promise is POPPYCOCK - NAO

Come on peeps...

Anything like the 'prompt payment code' initiated by Government is a load of bollocks. It just gets few headlines and gets buried...

Having said that, small or not have the balls to say no to 90 days or increase the charge accordingly to carry the cost.

Happy Holidays! Misco axes ONE IN FIVE UK sales peeps: sources

There may be trouble ahead...

Difficult times for Misco but others like them are not immune...

IBM ushers in BIGGEST EVER re-org for the cloud era, say insiders

Gadzooks...

IBM's strategy has been astute, and successful...hope this will not reverse things.

Brit iPad sellers feel the pain of VAT-free imports

Re: Puzzled too

True, but when buyers don't pay for kit and disappear, without paying VAT, what's to stop this kit being sold on again at a fantastic margin?

Daisy Group: so long AIM, it's been emotional, sort of

come come..

If you can't make money selling managed services, you may as well pack up and go home.

UK slaps 25 per cent 'Google Tax' on tech multinationals

Ah, but they won't..and why should they?

Pull the other one..it's got bells on

Wasted breath....nothing will come of this and it'll be buried amongst many other pre-election posturing elements

Fact is most don't show profit in the UK and that is deliberate and because UK rules allow it. Instead of taxing perceived diverted profit, deal with the root cause. Simply taxing it sends a message of 'OK boys, I know this may hurt a little but I have to demonstrate I'm doing something and really....it won't hurt much at all'

This is not just Google, Amazon, Starbucks et al...it's almost every vendor and even extends to distributors too. They're all at it, and why not, if the rules allow it and it's not illegal?

IBM bags multi-billion dollar outsourcing deal with ABN AMRO

It's mine...all mine

I take it this was never going to be passed through to channel players, aka IBM resellers

Can't flog software for love nor money? UK mega-reseller Softcat probably ate your lunch

Ace...

Great result..would be useful to see a breakdown of revenue growth and profit. Clearly gained market share from others.

IDC: iPad sales crash incoming ... Win 8 killing 2-in-1 typoslabs

Can these analysts give me this Friday's lotto numbers please?

by 2030, we'll all be using telepathy....there...and there's no point replying coz I know what you're going to say. If you want my full report, it'll cost you just £5,000.

Hungry Advanced Computer Software gets swallowed for £725m

Wait for it.........

Plenty of leg room there to cut costs after this slurp at a high price.

US taxmen won't say WHY they're probing Microsoft. So Redmond is suing the IRS

Me Guv? nah, never

Over here, they just 'do a deal' with HMRC in terms of tax to be paid...I believe there is some digging in Europe about major names paying too little tax in Luxembourg.. 'Luxleaks'

Let's vote on breaking up Google, say MEPs with NO power to do any such thing

Ahem..

These MEP's wouldn't consider this if Google was a European business. Simple dislike of successful innovative technology companies that just happen to be US owned and global.

Computacenter UK boss Muller: Happy New Year, folks... I'm off

Bravo...

Always a good move to promote from within a successful business. It's success is down to people it employs.

Windows Phone will snatch biz No 2 spot from Android – analyst

Some crystal ball Nick Mcquire's got....I'd suggest it might be one of those that splurges white snow when shaken, obscuring the view somewhat.

Former Systemax execs charged over $9m fraud, tax evasion

Grease my palm...t's not just footie..

What about the bods that paid them?

Giant bank IT cockup of 2012 'could have brought down ENTIRE financial system'

Time to put up...

Never mind that, the boss's of Icelandic Bank are now serving terms for the fiddling they did...When are we going to see anyone over here in clink?

Microsoft's Azure goes TITSUP PLANET-WIDE AGAIN in cloud FAIL

You mean in-house stuff never fails?

CSC set for ANOTHER re-org but no redundancies involved

come off it....

Re-organisation without redundo's is like toast without butter...

Microsoft tells resellers to use Office 365 as loss leader

b-llocks

Bit much to suggest resellers sell this at a loss in order to lock in and see a 'lifetime return'. What time period quantifies as a 'lifetime return' and can a Reseller absorb or even accommodate the up front loss and for how long?. These are Resellers we're talking about not some puffed up big vendor with loads of cash in bank...

100+ trade buyers and private equity bods eyed up Kelway

Bigger fish swallow..

Surprise in some ways that this has not happened sooner. Still, a great achievement by Phil in growing the business the way he has without masses of debt.

The channel is changing – but if you're prepared, there's no need to fear

ring it..

Indeed true...but the packaging et al, still centres on a desire to shift the same stuff (that fewer people want)

UK print peddler Annodata slips ring on Berkshire firm's finger

About time....

Really surprised it's taken this long for Keltec to find a buyer. Felt it should have happened more than 6 years ago.

Sales down at UK's oldest tech distie: Northamber losses widen in fiscal '14

Sad refrain..

Irreversible decline...as a tech distributor that is?

Arrow ECS UK sales director Johnny Ellis set to exit building

Movin on

Great contribution by Jonny over the years. After 20 years, good time to move on too.

Avnet CEO: enterprise tech spending on the turn in fiscal Q1

Bones creaking?

Tough times in traditional distribution....

Ingram's CEO Monie: Show me the... Mobility, Mobility, Mobility

Shifting focus...a bit..

Mobility rises to the occasion...but margins here must equally be as tight as a gnat's bum..

Consumers start feeling the love as Chromebook sales surge

Oh, I dunno..

Bought one for the wife just this week...perfect...she is in love with it. Light, easy to carry, no messy anti-virus to worry about and more joyously, no Microsoft updates to annoy her every day. Very fast login too..much faster than the HP laptop she had before.

Ingram UK basks in rosy glow of ... successful cost-cutting

Giving it away..

With gross margins like these, Distribution appears to have moved full circle, or reverted to a core function - simple fulfilment and logistics, but with no room for error.

SPLITTERS! Symantec cleft in twain

Re: Remind me: why all those acquisitions were good then?

Well spotted....

EMC: We're not sitting on the fence anymore. We love disties

uhm...

why wouldn’t we view [UK disties] Avnet, Arrow and Tech Data as enterprise accounts where we manage them in the same professional way as we would RBS or Tesco?”

1 - they don't deliver the profit RBS and Tesco do...

2 - They're volume players who generally have to work through resellers

Want to be channel friendly? pass on RBS and Tesco.

Corporate crashes in UK IT channel drop back to pre-recession levels

Telco I know but..

Phones4U was catastrophic for many. Expect more 'bigger' ones to blow.

HP's axe swings AGAIN: 5,000 more staffers for the chop

Ahem.....

Question...... how much corporation tax does this big IT outfit pay here in the UK?

It's official: EU chiefs WILL probe Apple's Irish tax deal

Re: Not so fast

Yeah...but almost everyone does it.... Media and press selectively pick the ones to have a go at.

EMC, HP blockbuster Borg: Big potential or total CATASTROPHE?

4 green bottles, standing on the wall.....

The question one should really ask, is this...does less choice aid the channel, or screw it?

IT crisis looming: 'What if AWS goes pop, runs out of cash?'

Things pan out..

Headline grabber even if it does touch upon the potential frailty of any such outsourced service. This is largely about investment and it's nothing like a share price based on hot air IPO's.

AWS remains pretty sound although they do face quite a battle with MS and Google.

Has anyone considered the 'soundness' of 85% of channel partners?

One-time direct sales giant Dell weds world's largest tech distie... in the UK

In sickness and in health...

Why do I think this route and change of tack may not be permanent?

EMC, HP blockbuster 'merger' shocker comes a cropper

Can't grow, so let's mate...even if we're both sterile

Sad days when consolidation at the top end is the only way to appease shareholders. Market share of shrinking pies and less choice for those below.

Microsoft's axeman Nadella fills baskets with 2,100 fresh heads

Religious overtones.....

With twelve on the Board, I wonder which meeting will be the last supper...

Read IBM's note to staff announcing mandatory training and 10% pay cut

How high?

Any senior executives get the letter....??

Phones 4u website DIES as wounded mobe retailer struggles to stay above water

Re: Asset stripping business as usual.

Spot on assessment... happens all the time

Re: Seems clear to me

Don't ever believe all that marketing bullshit and testimonials...

Re: Refreshing?

A little premature to suggest this...let us wait until the the process is complete.

I have no misgivings about someone building a great business and selling it on for mega-bucks. I do however take issue with that same guy crucifying carriers and those same private equity partners who coughed up the mega-bucks. The model of Phones4U was a spent force...had been for some time and I can bet you remaining players will be carefully watching their backs too.

Once you sell your baby to private equity, who then sell it to new private equity etc etc, decline usually follows, more so when it's used to pay out quick fast bucks out of what's there.

Phones 4u slips into administration after EE cuts ties with Brit mobe retailer

Re: They are making profits of over £100m...

The question now arises, how long will IT Manaufacturers see profits further down the chain as 'lucrative' - they already have a measure of direct where the bucks are bigger...

Well, well...let's do it the easy way...

'Phones 4u is seeking to appoint PwC as administrators at the firm, which has a turnover of £1bn and "significant cash in the bank". Its stores will be closed while administrators, who are to be appointed by Phones 4u's private equity owner BC Partners, attempt to mount a rescue plan for the business.

“Today is a very sad day for our customers and our staff. If the mobile network operators decline to supply us, we do not have a business," said Phones 4u boss David Kassler. "A good company making profits of over £100m, employing thousands of decent people has been forced into administration."

Kind smacks to me of throwing in the towel a trifle early...but that is all to easy these days..If it has no contracts then a new leaner business will have no contracts either...or maybe I'm a mug... ;-)

HP: We will eradicate the colour grey from our market

Whiter shade of pale?

Question that's always bothered me...does HP keep tabs on kit sold into the UK that is 'exported' or sold by UK partners into export markets (Dubai for example), which is then brought back or sold back into the UK? After all, Channel partners are global players with global presence.