Good morning, A big update today, so let’s get to it: Bitcoin Breached You may think that header is a bit sensational, but in my opinion it’s difficult to overstate the implications of recent Bitcoin developments. From ArsTechnica: For the first time in Bitcoin’s five-year history, a single entity has repeatedly provided more than halfSubscribe […]
June 2014
Xiaomi’s Oversold Global Ambitions, and the Week in Daily Updates
The main page content on Stratechery is free for all readers, but I also offer the Daily Update via email and RSS for $10 per month/$100 per year.1 This is one of the items sent out in this week’s Daily Updates. To sign up, visit the Membership page Xiaomi’s Worldwide Ambitions Bloomberg BusinessWeek has a […]
Daily Update: Apple TV Follow-up, Twitter COO Resigns
Good morning, Just two items today, but two biggies: a massive follow-up to my most recent article on Stratechery, as well as an overview of the Twitter mess. On to the updates: More on Apple TV and Consoles I wrote last week that it seemed few people knew that Computex is going on, which isSubscribe […]
How Apple TV Might Disrupt Microsoft and Sony
Beyond the fact most of us had nothing better to do in the 1980s, a big reason to own a gaming console was that they were a phenomenally good deal. In 1985 Nintendo introduced the Famicom to North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System for a mere $199, a remarkably low price considering the average […]
Daily Update: Twitter’s World Cup Starter Kits, Amazon’s Dangerous Tactics, LINE Partners with Salesforce
Good morning, It’s World Cup day! I couldn’t be more excited (even if I shouldn’t be) – I even have a World Cup related update. On to the update: Twitter’s World Cup Starter Kits Twitter is trying out some interesting new features designed to drive engagement during the World Cup. From Alexis Madrigal at theSubscribe […]
Podcast: Exponent 006 – Product Versus Profit
On the newest episode of Exponent, the podcast I co-host with James Allworth: In this episode we discuss why James was less excited by WWDC than was Ben, why the Beats acquisition may actually be a textbook response to the Innovator’s Dilemma, whether Apple has every truly faced disruption, as well as James’ review of […]
Daily Update: Alibaba Buys Out UCWeb, Dropbox Buys MobileSpan, Will Microsoft Undercut AWS on Price?
Good morning, I forgot to link in yesterday’s update, but in case you missed it I wrote a piece on Stratechery defending Uber’s $18.2 billion valuation. To be clear, I’m not saying that Uber is guaranteed to succeed, but rather the size of the opportunity and the relative risk involved make it an obvious investmentSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Payments – Affirm, Amazon, and Facebook Messenger?
Good morning, Quite a bit happened today across a wide range of industries, but today’s update is all about payments. Max Levchin to be CEO of Affirm A few weeks ago I wrote The Problem with Payments which argued innovation in payments is hard because there isn’t much margin available if you’re building on topSubscribe […]
Why Uber is Worth $18.2 Billion
Christopher Mims’ piece Uber’s $18.2B Valuation Is a Head Scratcher is getting a lot of play, and deservedly so: it’s a good encapsulation of many people’s objections to Uber’s recent round that valued the company at $18.2 billion. However, I think Mims is wrong. I would argue he: Dramatically underestimates Uber’s potential market Undervalues Uber’s […]
Daily Update: The Computex Contrast, Big Screens Dominate, Xiaomi’s Worldwide Ambitions
Good morning, I had a great trip to San Francisco, but it’s very nice to be back on my normal time schedule. Thanks for your patience last week. On to the update: The Computex Contrast As I noted last week, Computex was the same week as WWDC. Paul Thurrott had a brief piece on someSubscribe […]