The implication of the Smiling Curve is not only that aggregators have increased economic power, but that differentiated suppliers do as well; Omni Software is an example.
An Update on the Stratechery Membership Program
Last spring I wrote a series about the future of journalism: Part 1: FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average – link Part 2: The Stages of Newspapers’ Decline – link Part 3: Newspapers Are Dead; Long Live Journalism – link In the third installment I wrote: More and more journalism will be small endeavors, often […]
Daily Update: Bandcamp, Tencent Earnings, Twitter’s Analyst Day, plus a Stratechery Announcement
Good morning, A few quick bits of housekeeping: First off, I’ve heard from enough people that they really don’t want to get articles in their email. I’m going to have a think about the best way to proceed Secondly, I’m going to put a brief note up on Stratechery later today announcing some of theSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Taylor Swift v Daniel Ek, What Swift Gets Right, The Problem with Spotify
Good morning, As you will see in your inboxes momentarily, I wrote a new post on Stratechery called Two Microsofts about Microsoft’s decision to make Office free on mobile for consumers. The big takeaway is that, if you look at Microsoft through the lens of business models, they are already two different companies: one consumer,Subscribe […]
Daily Update: Initial Thoughts on Microsoft Office, Amazon Echo, WireLurker
Microsoft made a stunning announcement about Microsoft Office that both shows they understand their position and demonstrates how much delay cost them. Then, the Amazon Echo could be a much bigger deal that people think; it is a very different product than the Fire phone. Finally, a concerning new vector for malware on iOS.
Daily Update: Microsoft’s Misguided iPad Response, Netflix Reports Results, Google Updates Nexus
Good morning, The news of the day was certainly the fact that HBO is planning to sell subscriptions directly to customers. It’s a big deal, but the reaction among tech folks has been way over the top; this is not the beginning of the end of the cable bundle, for all the same reasons ISubscribe […]
Ello and Consumer-Friendly Business Models
Vox introduced Ello this way: A brand-new social networking startup — Ello — has gone viral. At one point on Thursday, the site was acquiring 31,000 new users an hour — many of whom flocked to there because of a disagreement with Facebook over its policy requiring real names, which some say is unfair to […]
Daily Update: LINE IPO, Kindle Unlimited, Apple and China
Good morning, I am back from vacation, although I can’t say I picked the ideal week for it, particularly given the dual Microsoft memos as well as the Apple-IBM deal. I plan to write about both on the main site this week. In the meantime, there are lots of earnings results this week; I’m hopingSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Fire Phone Follow-up, T-Mobile Test Drive, Adobe’s New Business Model Part 2
Good morning, I originally planned on avoiding yesterday’s Reuters piece about Apple’s smartwatch mainly because the idea of a 2.5” screen seems absurd (it is noteworthy that the piece included specifics about the manufacturer – Quanta Computer in Taiwan – and timing – production starting in July). Just before sending this update, though, the WallSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Privacy is Dead Follow-up, Facebook Launches Google+, Praising Adobe (and a bit on disruption)
Good morning, There has certainly been a lot of chatter about disruption over the last 24 hours; I know many of you have asked for my opinion about Jill Lepore’s article in the New Yorker. I suspect James Allworth and I will touch on this on Exponent, but for now, I would say that theSubscribe […]