2015
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Google’s Impressive Earnings, Ebay’s Uncertain Future
Google had great results that were impressive not just from a dollars and cents perspective, but also from a strategic perspective. Plus, brief thoughts on Ebay as it spins off Paypal.
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Google’s Integration of Retail and Hotels, Facebook Page Shops, Netflix’s Earnings
Google’s “buy button” for ads and experiments in hotels fit the pattern of Internet-based disruption. Facebook, meanwhile, is meeting needs it itself created, and Netflix has started a virtuous cycle.
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Why Web Pages Suck
Everyone complains about web pages that suck, but the reality is that it is advertisers who call the shots. This should, at a minimum, put Facebook’s Instant Articles and Apple’s News app in a new light.
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Correcting the Netflix Story, ESPN’s Challenge — and Opportunity, Yahoo to Stream NFL Game
My Netflix chart from Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits wasn’t quite right: after all, I was talking about time, and networks and studios are already modularized. Still, fixing my error provides an interesting view on ESPN and its challenges and opportunities.
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Apple Loses E-books Appeal; Apple Music and Antitrust; Producers, Consumers, and Apple
Apple’s E-book case finally came to it’s likely end a few week’s ago; it’s worth reviewing what was at stake in light of recent news that Apple Music could face a similar investigation. Then, if Apple Music will do for musicians what the App Store did for developers, is that a good thing? Plus, why sites…
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Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits
Netflix has a lot more in common with Uber and Airbnb than you might think: it all comes back to the Law of Conservation of Attractive Profits, a core principle of disruption
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The Reddit Rebellion, How Should Reddit Make Money?, The Disappearance of High-End Android
Reddit had a rough weekend, raising questions as to whether or not the site will ever be able to become a real business. It’s very nature may make that impossible, or maybe it simply needs a different business model. Plus, Samsung and HTC’s tough quarter.
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Is Safari the Next IE?; Rendering Engines and the Sweet Solution; China’s Stock Bubble, Continued
Suggesting that “Safari is the Next IE” has led to a fruitless discussion about whether or not the accusation is fair; incentives are more banal yet far more revealing. Plus, a continuation of last month’s discussion of the Chinese bubble: it may be bursting.
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Airbnb’s Externalities, Sharing and Culture, PayPal Acquires Xoom
Yesterday’s discussion of Airbnb was in part focused on the broader implications of the sharing economy. Truthfully, though, Airbnb deserves more attention for its externalities — it is in many ways more radical than Uber. It’s also not clear it will work in every culture. Then, a brief discussion of Paypal and Xoom and how different…