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Concepts

The User Experience

In consumer technology — and increasingly enterprise — the best user experience wins, and it is the best hedge against disruption.

  • “Selling Feelings” Follow-up, Match.com’s IPO and Tinder, The Sean Rad Interview

    Follow-up on my piece about Selling Feelings, and then an analysis of the Match.com IPO, and Tinder in particular. Plus, why I think Sean Rad is getting a bit of a bad rap for his disastrous interview.

  • Selling Feelings

    Distribution being free may have ruined old business models, but it allows businesses to get much closer to their customers and make money by meeting needs.

  • Amazon Opens Physical Bookstore, The iPad Pro’s Half Launch

    Amazon’s physical bookstore is first and foremost an experiment. However, it’s worth considering how it fits into Amazon’s measurement of success. Then, the iPad Pro launched, but not its accessories. It’s part of a worrying trend.

  • Chase Pay and the Payments Stack, Apple Pay and Opportunity Cost, Applying Aggregation Theory

    There’s another new payments solution coming — Chase Pay. The punchline is easy: it will fail. Why it will fail, though, is interesting, and it shows the opportunities and challenges for Apple Pay specifically and the usefulness of Aggregation Theory.

  • YouTube Red, Yahoo Stumbles

    YouTube Red doesn’t make much sense at first glance, but there might be something there if Google goes all in. Plus, the sad end of Yahoo.

  • Twitter Suspends Accounts Over GIFs, SnapChat Shuts Down Snap Channel, More on Moments

    Twitter suspended a couple of accounts for tweeting sports highlights GIFs. First a bit about the issue at hand, and then a bigger picture look at what this says about Moments, if anything. Then, Snapchat is getting out of original programming, which is a great sign. Finally, what the future of Moments should look like.

  • The Web-App Tradeoff, Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, A Win for the Web

    Some follow-up on Twitter, and then a deep dive on Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project. Why is it necessary, what does it do, and is it to be applauded or feared?

  • Twitter’s Moment

    Twitter has had a rough stretch, and most are pessimistic about its chances. I was previously, but I think the upside is looking much brighter than it did before this week.

  • Disconfirming Ebooks

    Aggregation Theory would seem to argue that ebooks are destined to dominate the publishing industry. However, that is decidedly not happening; understanding why is a powerful tool to make the theory better.

  • The Amazon Fire Lineup, The Apple TV, Cable’s User Experience Advantage

    An overview of Amazon’s new fire lineup and how it fits with the company’s overall strategy, an overview of the Apple TV from last week’s event, and a discussion about the fundamental challenge facing all of these TV boxes.