There is certain logic to any Facebook acquisition given the current stock price. The current market valuation of $156 billion implies significant revenue growth on an annual basis far greater than simply converting desktop revenue streams to mobile ones; if you assume the stock price will decrease in the future, then making largely stock-based purchases […]
2014
Newspapers Are Dead; Long Live Journalism
The fundamental economic model of newspapers is broken; for journalism to survive, new business models must be found.
The Stages of Newspapers’ Decline
The second-most common objection to FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average was along these lines: Love 100% of @stratechery posts but this one off: forgets to segment market. Many don't care about "quality" news http://t.co/KnSmNgZbS2 — Rich Yudhishthu (@yudhishthu) March 17, 2014 That’s very true; those same people – and there are a lot of […]
FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average
Just a few minutes ago, Nate Silver’s new FiveThirtyEight site launched. While it’s not known how much ESPN is paying Silver, it’s certainly a substantial amount, especially when you consider 20% of visitors to the New York Times stopped by Silver’s blog. Silver’s FiveThirtyEight is one of a growing number of personality-driven sites and blogs, […]
Samsung’s Disappearing Differentiation
Earlier this week Samsung, and I’m quoting the headline of the press release, “Unveil[ed] Comprehensive, Lifestyle-Focused Galaxy Gifts Package for Next Generation Galaxy S5”: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its collaboration with 16 of the world’s leading mobile content and service providers to offer Galaxy S5 users more than $600 worth of exclusive, pre-paid […]
Digital Hub 2.0
The PC was famously the digital hub; now that is the smartphone.
How much will CarPlay cost?
Wes Miller has a useful summary of CarPlay: In short, Apple hasn’t done a complete end around of the OEM – the automaker can still have their own UI for their own in-car functions, and then Apple’s distinct CarPlay UI (very familiar to anyone who has used iOS 7) is there when you’re “in CarPlay”, […]
The Cost of Bitcoin
Putting aside the particulars of Bitcoin, the potential it represents is absolutely a very big deal. As I’ve written multiple times on Stratechery, the defining characteristic of anything digital is its zero marginal cost. Take apps for example: What makes the software market so fascinating from an economic perspective is that the marginal cost of […]
Netflix and Net Neutrality
For anyone remotely connected to technology, the idea that net neutrality is an unabashed good seems incontrovertible, and one of the most popular examples of why it matters is Netflix. Consumers get a video competitor to their cable provider over said cable provider’s pipes; surely the end of net neutrality would mean the end of […]
The Nokia X
It’s real, and the Verge had a hands on: As expected, [the Nokia X, X+ and XL] combine Lumia-style design with low-cost hardware aimed at the masses, from a large 5-inch screen on the 109-Euro XL to the 4-inch display on the 99-Euro X+. The X will be released for just €89 in Eastern Europe, […]