Intel's Future? - The Stock!

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It's been a while -- I thought I'd come back with a company I really like -- Intel.

Article: Intel and Mobileye Are Bringing Driver-less Cars to the Road by 2021

Is Intel Important?

Companies are pushing towards driver-less cars and the more companies that push towards driver-less cars, the surer I am that this isn’t just a gimmick. Intel and Mobileye are going to provide the central processing unit (CPU) while BMW will make the car. Intel failed to adapt to the mobile market early on, but they might have learned their lesson and are aggressively working towards the self-driving market.

It seems like self-driving vehicles are here to stay. BMW has been working on self-driving technology since 2011 and Intel is making a “self-driving platform” – kind of like how CPUs control our operating systems.

Riding In The Back Seat

Intel dominates the CPU market. Intel may also partner with other companies – like Apple. Elon Musk (Tesla and SpaceX CEO) has said on numerous occasions “Apple working on self-driving cars is an open secret.” Intel and Apple partnering on self-driving cars shouldn’t surprise anyone. Apple and Intel already have a good relationship – The iMac and MacBook have Intel CPUs inside. Also, Intel has also been investing and researching self-driving since May 2014.

Every single car-maker is entering this market. Intel has been working closely with Ford, Jaguar's Land Rover and now BMW. Although it’s not clear who will be using Intel’s driver-less platform – it’s likely that many of them will choose Intel.

Crashing In The Back Seat

Reports show that Mercedes is ahead of BMW in autonomous driving. If BMW really is behind, this may negatively impact Intel if Intel doesn’t provide the chips for Mercedes. If Mercedes takes up a big chunk of the market share, it will hurt Intel -- assuming Mercedes isn’t using Intel’s driver-less platform. However, BMW has been working on autonomous cars since 2011 (Mercedes started in 2012) and BMW claims they can make the most intelligent car. Intel chips will likely be inside the iNext – the most intelligent car.

Uber is also buying 100,000 self-driving Mercedes S-Classes (in 2020) – for $10B. Someone at Uber stated that they wanted a lot of autonomous vehicles. Uber did “shop around” but I haven’t found a source that claims Uber “shopped around” at BMW. But since Uber did “shop around” it’s likely they did try to strike a deal with BMW.

Starbucks' S'mores Frappuccino (Sources):
1. Intel & Mobileye Are Bringing Driverless Cars to the Road by 2021
2. BMW needs to catch up to Mercedes' autonomous tech
3. BMW says it's capable to build the "most intelligent car"
4. Uber buying 100,000 self-driving Mercedes S-Classes?

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Wall Street?

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Article: NYSE Joins 21^st Century, Letting Traders Use Their Phones

Connecting Digitally

NYSE Embraces the Digital Age

Phones are one of the most popular and common things in the world. People care more about connecting with their peers than they do about having a clean toilet.

“Surprisingly, the UN reports there are now more people with mobile phones (6 billion for world population of seven billion) on earth than there are with access to clean toilets (4.5 billion). That phenomenon is easily visible in Indonesia, for example, where it is common to see people who live in metal roofed shacks without bathrooms surfing Facebook on their smartphones or feature phones. And it shows how, in the developing world, multinationals are often better at responding to peoples’ needs than governments are.”

Is This Important? -- Not Really, But It's Interesting

Phones are important. We’re on our phones constantly. I’m a bit surprised that the NYSE didn’t adapt sooner.  Our society is moving deeper and deeper into a digital society.

“Communications with customers is a vital part of a floor broker’s role,” NYSE said in the filing. “Brokers who do not have exchange authorized and provided portable phones should be permitted to use personal cell phone devices, in lieu of the non-operational wired phone lines.”

Surfing On Phones

We cannot deny the popularity of phones. The only answer for the NYSE is to adapt. As new technologies become available, privacy and security is usually an issue. But in the long run this will make the traders more efficient and effective.

Drowning Under Phones

Safety & Security is important and the IT department will have to increase security. With the use of personal phones, the people on the floor can do a lot of damage – like take a still photo or video or an audio record of something that’s not supposed to be leaked to the public.

Sources:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-27/nyse-joins-21st-century-letting-traders-use-their-mobile-phones

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/22/mobile_phones_are_more_common_than_plumbing.html

SIDE NOTE

IBM is a great company and I think they have a great future. I don't expect them to pop in the near future, but in 20, 30, and 50 years from now, they'll likely explode. And if you think you can pop into IBM for a quick profit -- just get out. IBM is a tanker. It takes a tanker 72 hours to make a 360 degree turn. 

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