Concepts

Aggregation Theory

Aggregation Theory provides a framework to understand the impact of the Internet on nearly all industries.

  • Publishers and the Smiling Curve

    Publishers used to live at the point of integration. The value of that integration, though, is gone with the Internet, which means value flows to suppliers and aggregators.


  • How Technology is Changing the World (P&G Edition)

    P&G is cutting product lines, the plethora of which made far more sense in the retail world than online. More change is coming.


  • Daily Update: Facebook’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats


  • 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.


  • Publishers’ Deal with the Devil

    Ay, we must die an everlasting death. What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera, What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu! – The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe To evoke Faust as allegory for the ongoing dispute between Amazon and book publishers is appropriate on two levels, the first being the nature […]


  • Newspapers Are Dead; Long Live Journalism

    The fundamental economic model of newspapers is broken; for journalism to survive, new business models must be found.


  • FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average

    Just a few minutes ago, Nate Silver’s new FiveThirtyEight site launched. While it’s not known how much ESPN is paying Silver, it’s certainly a substantial amount, especially when you consider 20% of visitors to the New York Times stopped by Silver’s blog. Silver’s FiveThirtyEight is one of a growing number of personality-driven sites and blogs, […]


  • Why Do Carriers Subsidize the iPhone?

    Horace Dediu at Asymco used the data I compiled1 in “The Case for the Low-Cost iPhone” to further elucidate why carriers tolerate the iPhone’s industry-leading subsidies. The presumption behind smartphone usage is that it leads to more browsing which leads to more network usage which in turn, leads to more network revenues and, finally, more […]