Ben Thompson
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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…
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Airbnb and the Internet Revolution
Airbnb gets less press than Uber, but in some respects its even more radical: understanding how it works leads one to question many of the premises of modern society from hotels to regulations. It’s an important marker in the Internet Revolution.
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WeWork and Bubble Talk, Uber’s Losses, Microsoft Exits Consumer Space
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s post on WeWork, and a broader discussion about the ongoing bubble talk and the squeeze on VC. Then a discussion on Uber’s losses and why no one should be surprised, and finally the end of Microsoft’s consumer business.
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WeWork Worth $10 Billion, Three WeWork Comps
WeWork has shocked almost everyone by raising money at a $10 billion valuation, just months after raising at $5 billion. How on earth does this make sense? The answer might be found by making comparisons between WeWork and three seemingly unrelated companies. In the end, though, absent real numbers we can only look at the investors.