Product Management
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The Heart of Dropbox
Last Thursday, after waking up to the news of Dropbox’s most recent announcements,1 I couldn’t have been less impressed. To quote myself from a chat I had with a friend: “Dropbox is an unfocused mess.” But then I actually watched the event. I’ve long been a believer in cloud storage; back in college I experimented […]
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Black Box Strategy
With the announcement of the Amazon Fire TV and the leak of the alleged Android TV, all of the major players have (or soon will have) a TV offering. There’s been a lot of talk about how similar the products are, but those similarities are for good reason; what is more interesting to me are […]
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Samsung’s Disappearing Differentiation
Earlier this week Samsung, and I’m quoting the headline of the press release, “Unveil[ed] Comprehensive, Lifestyle-Focused Galaxy Gifts Package for Next Generation Galaxy S5”: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its collaboration with 16 of the world’s leading mobile content and service providers to offer Galaxy S5 users more than $600 worth of exclusive, pre-paid […]
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Microsoft’s Mobile Muddle
Saying “Microsoft missed mobile” is a bit unfair; Windows Mobile came out way back in 2000, and the whole reason Google bought Android was the fear that Microsoft would dominate mobile the way they dominated the PC era. It turned out, though, that mobile devices, with their focus on touch, simplified interfaces, and ARM foundation, […]
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Two Bears, Revisited
One of the more annoying aspects of the late great PC area was how review sites treated Macs: for all intents and purposes, they were just another PC. Consider this CNET review of the 2007 MacBook Pro:1 The good: Updated CPUs and graphics without an updated price; LED-backlit display for better battery life; 802.11n support. […]
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The General-Purpose iPad and the Specialist Mac
I’ve written previously that the iPad was helping to unbundle the general-purpose PC: The iPad and the Disaggregation of Computing The Humpty Dumpty PC The (Alleged) 13-Inch iPad and the Triumph of Thin Clients From the Humpty Dumpty PC: The iPad and other appliance-like devices have actually had the opposite effect [as compared to the […]
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Battle of the Box
The battle between Dropbox and Box show the differences between selling to consumers and selling to enterprise.
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Google’s New Business Model
Excepting the patent and panic-driven Motorola deal, prior to yesterday’s acquisition of Nest for $3.2 billion, the previous largest deal Google’s history was DoubleClick for $3.1 billion 2006. Beyond the similar dollar figures, it’s a deal worth considering for what it says about Google then and now. With the acquisition of DoubleClick, Google solidified its […]
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Windows 8 and the Cost of Complexity
PCs just suffered their worse quarter ever. From the WSJ: World-wide PC shipments fell 10% last year, research firms Gartner Inc. and IDC said Thursday, the worst-ever sales slump for the industry. Both companies have been tracking personal computer sales since the 1980s. Computer makers have been hurt as consumers and businesses spend more time […]
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Chromebooks and the Cost of Complexity
While there is a question of degree, it seems quite certain that Chromebooks had a pretty good 2013. Many are attributing this to price – most Chromebooks cost $300 or less – and they’re almost certainly right. It seems like yet another case of disruption: a cheaper, inferior product enters the market against a competitor […]