Why is Amazon selling more Alexa devices? More broadly, do the company’s house brands leave it susceptible to an antitrust challenge?
Ben Thompson
The iPhone XR Delay, India, and China; Discriminatory Job Ads on Facebook; EU Versus Internet Follow-Up
More follow-up on the iPhone, then how discriminatory job ads on Facebook demonstrate how to police bad behavior on platforms with zero marginal costs. Plus, follow-up on The European Union Versus the Internet.
The European Union Versus the Internet
The EU is back to regulating tech companies, and getting the Internet wrong in the process. That, though, helps illuminate an approach that could work.
iPhone Classes; iPhone Growth Drivers, and Limiters; The Apple Watch
Will the iPhone XS slump like the iPhone 6S? Probably not, because theories about the iPhone 6S slump are probably wrong. Plus, the Apple Watch.
The iPhone Franchise
The iPhone is a franchise, a product that will make money in well-defined ways; Apple understands that and is exploiting it more than ever before with the iPhones XS and XR.
Apple’s iPhone Event, Facebook Fact-Checking, Vimeo Pivots Again
A preview of Apple’s iPhone event, a revelatory controversy about Facebook fact-checking, and yet another pivot by Vimeo thanks to mistakes made years ago
Strengths, Weaknesses, and Augustus; Zuckerberg’s Blindspot; The Liberal Arts Fallacy
The New Yorker is out with a huge profile of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook; what does the article get right, what is the real problem with Facebook, and where do critics go wrong?
Spotify and the Labels, Labels and Aggregation, Newspapers and Texture
Spotify and the labels are at odds, largely because the latter don’t understand their competitive environment. Then, Apple is trying to build the news bundle.
Sandberg and Dorsey in Congress, Dorsey and Incentives, Google’s Absence
Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey testified in front of Congress; the former had the most to lose, while the latter hinted at exactly what.
Xbox All Access Pass, The Eighth-Generation of Consoles, Console Subscriptions: Now and the Future
Microsoft is announcing a new subscription plan for Xbox that includes the console; it is modest for now, but could be a bigger deal in the future.