Modular versus Integrated
Modularity and integration happens throughout the value chain, and is the key to providing a superior user experience and extracting profits.
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Google Shopping is changing its model, suggesting Google is joining the Anti-Amazon Alliance; 3rd-party merchants should do the same.
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The fate of Harry’s and other DTC companies, particularly relative to companies like Credit Karma, highlight how the Internet elevates the importance of demand over supply.
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Apple has won through integration, but integration combined with network effects and economies of scale can result in bad outcomes that look a lot like monopolies.
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Companies succeed or fail not based on technology but rather according to their ability to integrate within their value chains.
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Intel is in an increasingly bad position in part because it has been captive to its integrated model. Or, you could simply say they were disrupted.
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Netflix has a lot more in common with Uber and Airbnb than you might think: it all comes back to the Law of Conservation of Attractive Profits, a core principle of disruption
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Amazon Buys Globalstar, Delta to Add Leo, The Apple Angle
Amazon’s Globalstar acquisition is being framed as Amazon versus SpaceX, but I think the real story is about Apple.
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An Interview with Asymco’s Horace Dediu About Apple at 50
An interview with Asymco’s Horace Dediu about his career in tech, Apple’s first 50 years, and the prospects for the next 50, particularly in the face of AI
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Apple’s 50 Years of Integration
Apple has survived 50 years by being the only company integrating hardware and software; if the company loses because of AI it will be because the point of integration changes.
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Agents Over Bubbles
Agents are fundamentally changing the shape of demand for compute, both in terms of how they work and in terms of who will use them. They’re so compelling that I no longer believe we’re in a bubble.
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Gemini 3, Winners and Losers, Integration and the Enterprise
Gemini 3 is out, and looks to be state of the art. What does that mean for everyone else in the AI space, and what markets might Google win?
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An Interview with Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg About Turnarounds
An interview with Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg about a career focused on turnarounds, from EA’s KOTR to Zynga and now to Unity.
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SpaceX Buys More Spectrum, SpaceX’s Pivot, Why Apple and SpaceX Should Partner
SpaceX buys the spectrum it needs to be a standalone mobile carrier; the company should partner with Apple to deliver truly differentiated experiences.
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Amazon Earnings, AWS and OpenAI, Did Amazon Solve Groceries?
Amazon says the constraint right now is power, not chips; it’s giving plenty of the latter to OpenAI. Then, Amazon solves groceries by getting faster tat delivering everything else.
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An Interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein About Enterprise AI
An interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein about why one of the oldest software companies of all is well-placed to win with the newest technologies.