For me, anyway, the most surprising thing about Samsung’s disappointing earnings was just how surprised many folks seemed to be. The smartphone market is a massive one, but also rather predictable if you keep just a few key things in mind: Everyone will own a smartphone – I don’t think this is controversial, but it’s […]
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Happy Independence Day Mr. Glass
Blessed with the sort of love him or hate him reputation reserved for the truly popular, Bill Simmons has received a lot of criticism from NBA fans for his propensity to act as the Body Language Doctor: he will make grand pronouncements about players or teams based on nothing more than a player or coach’s […]
Additional Thoughts on iWatch and Android Wear
A few points of follow-up on last week’s piece Android Where?: So What About iWatch? I only mentioned the iWatch tangentially in last week’s piece, which is just as well, for it gives me an opportunity to link favorably to this piece on Techpinions by industry veteran Tim Bajarin about the (alleged) iWatch: I actually […]
Android Where?
There is no questioning the scope of Google’s ambitions. Consider the fact that yesterday’s two-and-a-half hour keynote was shorter than the 2013 version, and that the two keynotes had almost zero overlap! While last year Google spent a lot of time both enhancing the Android development environment and Google+, this year was about extending Android […]
Economic Power in the Age of Abundance
Publishers are trying to threaten Google again, apparently unaware that because of the Internet they have no power: that flows to the platforms that control discovery.
Amazon’s Whale Strategy
A week before yesterday’s launch of the Fire Phone, Amazon sent all of the attendees a copy of the children’s book “Mr. Pines Purple House” with a note from Jeff Bezos stating: I think you’ll agree that the world is a better place when things are a little bit different. Beyond the book, the first […]
Privacy is Dead
The nature of the Internet and the business-models of social networks means that privacy as commonly understood is dead; tech companies need to learn to self-regulate or governments will do it for them.
How Apple TV Might Disrupt Microsoft and Sony
Beyond the fact most of us had nothing better to do in the 1980s, a big reason to own a gaming console was that they were a phenomenally good deal. In 1985 Nintendo introduced the Famicom to North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System for a mere $199, a remarkably low price considering the average […]
Why Uber is Worth $18.2 Billion
Christopher Mims’ piece Uber’s $18.2B Valuation Is a Head Scratcher is getting a lot of play, and deservedly so: it’s a good encapsulation of many people’s objections to Uber’s recent round that valued the company at $18.2 billion. However, I think Mims is wrong. I would argue he: Dramatically underestimates Uber’s potential market Undervalues Uber’s […]
What Steve Jobs Wouldn’t Have Done
Between a feature-by-feature review (members only) and an analysis of strategic underpinnings, I’ve written nearly three thousand words about Apple’s WWDC announcements. Still, though, it feels like I haven’t written about what is perhaps the most important takeaway. It’s a takeaway I’ve resisted, even as writer after blogger after Twitterer has said the same thing: […]