The launch of Stripe Relay gives me an occasion to cover Stripe for the first time, how it succeeded, its challenges living up to its valuation, and why Stripe Relay could be an important step in that regard
Amazon Retrenches on Hardware, Apple to Create Original Programming?
Amazon is making big changes at Lab126, its hardware subsidiary, after the Fire phone flop. I think it’s a fantastic sign for the company going forward. Plus, Apple is reportedly thinking about getting into original content; there are both optimistic and pessimistic spins to put on this, but ultimately I think it’s a bad idea.
Why Disney and ESPN Will Be OK
An increasing number of questions are being raised about the future of the pay-TV bundle, and of ESPN. The former may indeed be doomed, but that doesn’t mean the latter is in as much trouble as people think: after all, Disney is the master of differentiated content.
Meetup Information; LinkedIn Beats, Slumps; Samsung’s Shift Continues; Sony’s Specialization
LinkedIn and Samsung both had negative reactions to their earnings, but both are in the middle of a shift to a better position going forward; Sony’s results were worse on an absolute basis but better received because they’ve already gone through the hard work of focusing on what works.
Plus, meetup information for Chicago, New York, and Madison
Taylor Swift v Apple
Eddy Cue is dancing again, but this time it’s figuratively and the tune is provided by Taylor Swift. Seventeen hours after Swift decried Apple’s plan to not compensate artists for songs played during the Apple Music demo period Apple changed course. What can be learned, and what does this say about Apple Music — and about Taylor Swift?
Evernote Seeking New CEO, E3 and the End of Exclusives, Playstation Vue’s “A La Carte” Offering
In a shocking — but perhaps not surprising — announcement Evernote CEO Phil Libin said the company would be seeking a new CEO. How well is Evernote doing, and will they ever become a private company?
E3 Day Zero was also yesterday, and while Sony in particular had some compelling announcements for an old guy like me, how sustainable is the current console business given the end of exclusives? Also, Sony’s Playstation Vue announcements sounds like a big deal, but they’re really not interesting at all.
Vox Acquires Recode; Stars, Money, and Reach; The Apple Car and Jony Ive
Recode has sold to Vox, and while everyone involved is putting a happy face on the matter, it seems highly likely that Recode failed as a business. Understanding how content businesses work show where they went wrong, but what does that mean for someone like Bill Simmons?
Also, Jeff Williams spoke at Recode, and he just might have changed my mind about Jony Ive.
LinkedIn Misses, Sony’s Retreat
Good morning, The promised update to Stratechery is imminent — if all goes well, it will happen in the next 24 hours. I will include more details in tomorrow update, but the primary impact on subscribers is minimal. Specifically: Your Stratechery login will be your email address, not your old username The first time youSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Understanding TV Unbundling, The Dying Appeal of Undifferentiated Content, The Special Case of HBO
Good morning, Over the weekend BuzzFeed reinstated the Dove article and editor-in-chief Ben Smith apologized internally. Smith reiterated that the post was not pulled because of pressure from advertisers, and from what I understand, Dove hasn’t advertised on BuzzFeed for over a year (and I wasn’t able to easily find other Unilever advertising). So perhapsSubscribe […]
Tidal and the Future of Music
Predicting success and failure is about understanding who has leverage. In the case of music, the winners will be the labels, not the artist. But perhaps there is hope for tomorrow