Ben Thompson
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Chase Pay and the Payments Stack, Apple Pay and Opportunity Cost, Applying Aggregation Theory
There’s another new payments solution coming — Chase Pay. The punchline is easy: it will fail. Why it will fail, though, is interesting, and it shows the opportunities and challenges for Apple Pay specifically and the usefulness of Aggregation Theory.
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Google Earnings and the Shift to Mobile, The Steve Jobs Movie
Google provided another set of strong earnings, and a return to their roots — search — is the biggest reason why. Plus, my review of the Steve Jobs movie.
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Exponent Podcast: YouTube Red
On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss In Defense of The New York Times. Listen to it here.
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Amazon’s Transformation, Continued; Microsoft’s Transformation…and Threat
As predicted last quarter, AWS is increasingly the engine driving Amazon’s financial results. However, there is evidence the e-commerce side is changing as well. Then, Microsoft has completely changed itself over the last few years, but the company is not out of the woods just yet.
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YouTube Red, Yahoo Stumbles
YouTube Red doesn’t make much sense at first glance, but there might be something there if Google goes all in. Plus, the sad end of Yahoo.
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In Defense of The New York Times
Amazon and The New York Times had a fascinating exchange this week, on Medium of all places. What that exchange represents — the search for truth, now open to anyone — is far more important than the particular article in question.
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Dropbox Paper, Dropbox’s Missed Opportunities, Google Apps Stagnation
Dropbox just announced a major new product, Paper. However, I think it is far too little far too later. Meanwhile, Google is using pricing gimmicks for Apps, which speaks to how little the core product has evolved.
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Exponent Podcast: AWS and Venture Capital
On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact. Listen to it here.
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Venture Capital Follow-up, Square Files for IPO, Concerns About Theranos
A follow-up and some much needed specificity to yesterday’s Venture Capital article, then why Square’s IPO may be a better opportunity than it first appears. Plus, there’s concerning news about Theranos, a company with significant potential.