Good morning, Today was one of those days on the Internet where the whole endeavor really seems like a terrible idea. The nice thing about writing this update, though, is it’s a reminder of how the Internet makes it possible to connect directly with all of you. I’m thankful for that. On to the update:Subscribe […]
Amazon: Not an E-commerce Company
Let’s start with the premise that Twitch, the video-game watching network, is the next ESPN – you know, the jewel in Disney’s crown that, by itself, is worth $50.8 billion. Like ESPN, Twitch is about live competition, and, like ESPN, Twitch does exceptionally well in the highly desirable young male demographic.1 Obviously this is the […]
Daily Update: Amazon Buys Twitch, Amazon’s Ad Program, Facebook Taking on DoubleClick
Good morning, If you’ll forgive a bit of braggadocio, I’ve certainly been getting lucky on Stratechery when it comes to acquisitions: I wrote about hardware-based business models the day before Google bought Nest, and how messaging was mobile’s killer app the day before Facebook bought WhatsApp. I can’t claim to be quite as spot-on whenSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Zillow Acquires Trulia, Samsung Delays Tizen Again, China Investigating Microsoft
Good morning, Tech is amazing: after doing more of a thematic Daily Update yesterday, I now feel behind on everything that is happening. And it’s late July! One more bit of followup though on media and authority: I thought it was interesting to see Nate Silver complain about the attention the New York Times wasSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Split Microsoft Follow-up, Yahoo Buys Flurry, Valuing Privacy…Or Not
Good morning, Apple’s earnings are this afternoon, so look for analysis of those tomorrow. In the meantime, I have some follow-up to yesterday’s opus on Microsoft, as well as a couple of pieces on advertising and tracking. On to today’s updates: Split Up Microsoft Follow-Up I wrote a piece about Microsoft on the main StratecherySubscribe […]
Daily Update: Microsoft Phone, Wearables, and Office; Facebook Acquires LiveRail; Google and the Right to Censor
Good morning, Happy Independence Day to all of my readers in the United States, and an early happy weekend to those of you in the rest of the world. Due to the holiday there will be no Daily Update tomorrow. On to today’s updates: Microsoft’s Muddle Continues There are three interesting items on Microsoft that,Subscribe […]
Daily Update: Twitter Buys Tap Commerce, Launches App Install Ads; Rakuten Launches Venture Fund
Good morning, I’m writing from Seoul’s Incheon Airport where we spent the night. Tomorrow’s update will come from Madison. On to the updates: Twitter Buys Tap Commerce Recode broke the news of Twitter’s latest acquisition: Twitter is in the process of acquiring Tap Commerce, a New York-based mobile advertising technology firm, according to sources familiarSubscribe […]
Nest Buys Dropcam, Amazon Coins for Fire Phone Developers, Yahoo’s Digital Magazines
Good morning, I am still trying to recover from that U.S. soccer game. What could have been! At least there is always plenty of tech news to draw us in. On to the update: Google Nest Buys Dropcam On Friday Nest announced they were buying Dropcam, a home monitoring service. From Recode: Dropcam, the popularSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Amazon’s PR Runup, Box Acquires Streem, Priceline Acquires OpenTable
Good morning, Two acquisitions and anticipation for a big announcement – there’s always something interesting in tech! On to the update: Amazon’s Press Release Runup Amazon is doing something interesting in the runup to tomorrow’s announcement, which most expect to be a Kindle smartphone: they are effectively pre-announcing multiple features that will likely be sellingSubscribe […]
Daily Update: Alibaba Buys Out UCWeb, Dropbox Buys MobileSpan, Will Microsoft Undercut AWS on Price?
Good morning, I forgot to link in yesterday’s update, but in case you missed it I wrote a piece on Stratechery defending Uber’s $18.2 billion valuation. To be clear, I’m not saying that Uber is guaranteed to succeed, but rather the size of the opportunity and the relative risk involved make it an obvious investmentSubscribe […]