On the business, strategy, and impact of technology.
Yesterday’s discussion of Airbnb was in part focused on the broader implications of the sharing economy. Truthfully, though, Airbnb deserves more attention for its externalities — it is in many ways more radical than Uber. It’s also not clear it will work in every culture.
Then, a brief discussion of Paypal and Xoom and how different degrees of trust require different types of business models.
This update touches on why Apple Music may be a much bigger deal than I suggested, and the moves on to all the other important announcements from Apple WWDC keynote. This includes the News app, open-source Swift, and more.
Apple Music was a muddled mess, which raised the question of why it exists in the first place. Is it important anymore? More importantly, is Apple having trouble remembering how to focus?
Messaging apps are great examples of the power of funnels, and of how difficult they are to build. Meanwhile, Amazon expands and leverages theirs, plus my five favorite Mary Meeker slides.
After a brief follow-up to my Google I/O Daily Update, I dive into the history of semiconductors and how it fits the traditional industry cycle. Then, an overview of recent transactions and how they fit in.
Google’s IO keynote had three parts: the Android part, the machine learning part, and a glimpse into the future. The connections between the three, though, matter far more than any one single announcement.
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.
This Daily Update examines Medium’s seeming pivot towards being a network instead of a publisher, which is a contrast to WordPress.com’s latest move towards e-commerce. Finally, a brief examination of why identity matters.
Today’s update discusses how Cisco has seemingly responded to the threat of software-based networking, but why the future is more cloudy than outgoing CEO John Chambers thinks. Then, Tencent is slowly diversifying their business model, and it’s a big opportunity.
Two seemingly unrelated stores — Verizon buying AOL. and Facebook offering publishers the option of Instant Articles — are actually very much connected: advertising online is undergoing a fundamental shift, and while there will be a few big winners, there will be a lot more losers.