Facebook Shops are good for Shopify merchants, but bad for Shopify; the answer is to push more into the real world.
Joe Rogan and Spotify, Luminary and Howard Stern, Apple’s Response
Joe Rogan is exclusive to Spotify, which suggests the streaming service realizes it needs to steal share to get its Aggregation flywheel spinning.
Uber + Grubhub?, Aggregator Acquisitions, Uber and Lime
An Uber acquisition of GrubHub makes all kinds of sense, but for the same reasons that it will be frowned upon by regulators (and for good reason). Then, Uber’s investment in Lime makes sense as well.
Dithering and Open Versus Free
Announcing the new Dithering podcast, and why it is important to fight for the open ecosystem that Spotify is trying to aggregate.
The Anti-Amazon Alliance
Google Shopping is changing its model, suggesting Google is joining the Anti-Amazon Alliance; 3rd-party merchants should do the same.
Facebook Invests in Jio Platforms, The Building of Jio, Understanding the Deal
Jio showed how the best way to serve the poor is to create a market for them, not simply give them charity like Facebook tried to do with Free Basics. That is why it makes sense for them to work together.
How Tech Can Build
Marc Andreessen has written (another) seminal essay: It’s Time to Build. What does that mean for tech and venture capital?
The NBA and Microsoft, and An Interview with Adam Silver and Satya Nadella
Microsoft and the NBA are announcing a new partnership; then, an interview NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Amazon Cuts Affiliate Marketing, Google Versus French Publishers, Streaming Services and Movies
Amazon cutting affiliate fees, Google versus French publishers, and movie studios seeking to sell to Netflix are all examples of the same trend: you must own your relationship with your customers.
Coronavirus Clarity
The coronavirus crisis is making clear just how powerful tech companies are; hopefully this leads to a much more productive conversation about how that power should be utilized or regulated.