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.

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: 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 […]

Publishers and the Smiling Curve

Publishers used to live at the point of integration. The value of that integration, though, is gone with the Internet, which means value flows to suppliers and aggregators.

Daily Update: The Player’s Tribune and Corporate Journalism, Box Delays IPO, Rovio Layoffs

Good morning, I’m planning to write about the Paypal spinoff later today, so keep an eye out for that. On to the update: The Player’s Tribune and Corporate Journalism Over the last few weeks there have been a number of widely-shared articles despairing about the spread of corporate journalism, including this long piece in theSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Facebook Launches Atlas, News as a Service

Good morning, My first item today is about Facebook’s new (relaunched) Atlas product. You may think it’s creepy, so check back on Stratechery later on to see what I think about Ello. I will warn you, though, I’m not a fan. On to the update: Facebook Launches Atlas From the New York Times: Facebook builtSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Print, Chinese Walls, and "Objective" Journalism; Twitter’s New Photo-removal Policies; Steve Ballmer Leaves Microsoft’s Board

Good morning, I will hopefully – finally – have a new article up later today about video games. I think you might be surprised. But now, on to the update. Print, Chinese Walls, and “Objective” Journalism Clay Shirky, who has been forecasting the death of print for years now, bemoaned the business ignorance of journalistsSubscribe […]