Horizontal Versus Vertical
Understanding the difference between horizontal and vertical strategies is critical to making smart strategic decisions.
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Cable TV created a world where differentiated content could profit from everyone; that is why it will be hard for Disney to make the choices streaming will force on them.
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My well-chronicled frustration with Microsoft’s corporate strategy comes down to one point: I don’t think any company should have both horizontal (i.e. services) and vertical (i.e. devices) businesses. It creates conflicting incentives: a horizontal business…
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The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon and Microsoft Earnings
The NBA’s next TV deal is coming into focus, and it looks like the last stop on the cable train; then, vignettes from Microsoft and Amazon earnings calls.
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Google Loses Antitrust Case to Epic; The Differences Between Apple and Google, Revisited; The Tying Question
Epic won its antitrust case against Google, which shouldn’t be a surprise to Stratechery readers: the situation is very different than Apple. What matters most in the decision, though, is tying.
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EV Charging Standards, Tesla’s Strategy, Tesla’s Reward
It increasingly looks like Tesla’s standard for charging will be the standard for the industry. Why did Tesla seize this opportunity, and why do they deserve to profit from it?
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An ESPN Aggregator, Google Magic Eraser, Bing Chat Monetization?
ESPN is exploring being a sports video Aggregator, Google shows its a services company, and Bing experiments with ads in Bing Chat
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Consoles and Competition
Reviewing the history of video games explains why Sony is dominant today, and why Microsoft is actually introducing competition, not limiting it.
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The Services iPhone
Apple introduced some impressive product updates; the real news, though, were the prices, which suggested that Apple is fully embracing being a services company.