Stock Talk 02: Apple value, RIM results, Android uptake 1

Google doesn't have an ecosystem? Are you guys serious? No offense, but get off your iPhones once in a while and try some other products just to see what they are offering if you want to understand the competitive landscape. All Android really has going for it IS its ecosystem and its integration. The integration with all of Google's cloud offerings like Maps, Gmail, Google Docs, the Apps, Music, Video and books marketplace is seemless from the handheld, to the tablet to the Windows 7 desktops.

Second, if you want to understand the value of these companies it really helps if you took more than a device perspective. Google owns the Internet. It can make or break anybody on the Net because they control virtually all the traffic not too unlike AOL did in the early days. In the immortal
words of Morpheus: "... they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them."

Google's value is not based on a device, an OS or any cloud product. It's based on being the Gatekeeper who sucks up a good deal of the gold that flows through the Internet's pipes. Something happens to IOS or a particular handset, or the ability to license content (music) and Apple can go right back to where it was in the 90s: A niche player only a tiny rabid fan base cares about. The only thing that can do that to Google right now is the apocalypse.

Anyway, that's my .02 cents which is worth even less.