Leverage
Understanding your strengths helps you decide how to proceed.
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Snapchat is on the verge of conquering the toughest messaging market in the world: the United States. The way they did it is by laddering-up.
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Apple attracts loyal customers through a superior user experience and leverages those customers against its partners.
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Apple, Amazon, and Common Enemies
It is tempting — and useful — to look at Apple and Amazon’s deal in a bilateral context. It probably makes more sense, though, in the context of Netflix and the future of video.
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Integration and Monopoly
Apple has won through integration, but integration combined with network effects and economies of scale can result in bad outcomes that look a lot like monopolies.
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China, Leverage, and Values
If there is a new tech cold war, it is one with shots fired over a decade ago, largely by China. The questions going forward are about both leverage and values.
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The Bill Gates Line
Understanding the differences between aggregators and platforms matters for companies interacting with them and also regulators considering antitrust.
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Google Sells Zagat to The Infatuation, The Infatuation and Zagat, More on Google and AMP
A review of why Google bought Zagat, what The Infatuation might do with the review site, and the parallels with the AMP project.
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More on Chrome and AMP, The Case Against Google, Decentralization and Paradigm Shifts
More on Chrome and AMP, and what The Case Against Google gets wrong about Microsoft. Then, why decentralized networks are aggregator kryptonite.
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The Aggregator Paradox
Google is winning with AMP and blocking ads in Chrome: both seem bad, but aren’t they actually good for consumers? That is the paradox of aggregation.
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Apple’s Middle Age
For Apple, hitting middle age means a strategy primarily focused on monetizing its existing customers. It makes sense, but one wonders what happens next.
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More on the Switch, Apple Music and the HomePod, Songwriter Royalties Increase
More on the Nintendo Switch, and how Apple Music is more strategic than I appreciated. Then, Spotify hits another obstacle — is the streaming service an acquisition target?