Xiaomi, the Chinese smart phone company that late last month raised $1.1 billion at a $45 billion valuation, sells way more than smartphones: Mi.com boasts over a thousand items, and it’s the third-largest e-commerce site in China. One item it doesn’t sell, though, is a AA battery charger. Only Apple: I clearly remember when this […]
Daily Update: Looking Forward to CES, Looking Ahead to 2015, Apple and the Functional High Ground
Good morning, Happy New Year! It’s great to get back into the flow of things. Let’s get on with it! Looking Forward to CES It’s fun to rag on CES, particularly during the 00’s when Apple’s MacWorld keynote announcements would overshadow the going-ons in Vegas, at least from a news cycle perspective. It wasn’t justSubscribe […]
The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014
While the modern computing era in many respects began with the IBM System/360 mainframe and further expanded with the minicomputer, normal consumers didn’t start encountering computers until the personal computer. And, while mainframes are technically still around (while minicomputers are decidedly not), what is unique about the PC is that it is very much still […]
Differentiation and Value Capture in the Internet Age
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.
Peak Google
Despite the hype about disruption, the truth is most tech giants, particularly platform providers, are not so much displaced as they are eclipsed. IBM, for example, has been successfully selling and servicing mainframes for going on 50 years (although they are now in serious trouble (members-only)). During the PC era, though, they were eclipsed by […]
Daily Update: American Girl, Minecraft, and the Next Generation of Builders; The Panasonic Cameraphone; China’s Antitrust Crusade
Good morning, I wrote yesterday that I thought the Minecraft acquisition made a lot of sense for Microsoft both from a financial point-of-view – given it’s engagement numbers, I think Minecraft has a lot of latent revenue opportunities – but also from a strategic point-of-view. It’s a natural fit with where Satya Nadella wants toSubscribe […]
iCloud and Apple’s Founding Myth
From a certain perspective, what is happening to Apple this week is unfair. Both OS X and especially iOS are more secure than their competitors, and Apple has regularly prioritized security over features that customers have demanded. For example, Android has long supported custom keyboards, but Apple is only adding them in iOS 8. The […]
The iPhone 6: From Louis Vuitton to Chanel
The iPhone 6 is going in the opposite direction that Apple’s critics think it should: more expensive, not less. It will work because Apple owns the high-end.
Daily Update: Google’s Drone Program; Dropbox Pro; Wanda, Tencent, and Baidu to Take on Alibaba
Good morning, There have been a whole clutch of new Apple rumors in the last 24 hours, particularly around payments. Next week I’ll be getting back to writing twice-weekly articles for the main site, and plan to spend at least one (and probably two) focused on the iPhone. So hang tight. I also got anSubscribe […]
Smartphone Truths and Samsung’s Inevitable Decline
For me, anyway, the most surprising thing about Samsung’s disappointing earnings was just how surprised many folks seemed to be. The smartphone market is a massive one, but also rather predictable if you keep just a few key things in mind: Everyone will own a smartphone – I don’t think this is controversial, but it’s […]