Daily Update: Notes From the Xiaomi Event, Refining Xiaomi’s Ambition, Additional Notes

Good morning, Hello from Beijing! Today was Xiaomi’s latest announcement and I published a Storify of my live-tweets here. Today’s update is my initial reaction to what was presented. On to the update: Notes from the Xiaomi Event I arrived at the China National Convention Center a little over an hour before the Xiaomi eventSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Cloud First, Jet.com Taking on Amazon, A Teenager’s View on Social Media Follow-Up

Good morning, I’m writing this update on a plane headed to Beijing for tomorrow’s Xiaomi announcement. My plan is to write about the experience of the keynote for tomorrow’s Daily Update, and then hopefully I’ll have a special treat for Friday – stay tuned. In addition, please excuse any delays in response or on theSubscribe […]

Mobile First

Last Friday was the eight-year anniversary of the announcement of the iPhone, the event that began the mobile epoch. It was, though, an Apple rumor that to my mind illustrated just how much the world has changed. Mark Gurman is reporting at 9to5Mac that the next MacBook Air will have a radical redesign. The biggest […]

Daily Update: Amazon and the Opportunity Cost of Losing Focus, Sling TV and The Interview Follow-up, Samsung’s Bad yet Good Earnings

Good morning, I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s article about Xiaomi, because there is a lot more about the company on the way. James Allworth and I just recorded a podcast that dove deeper into both the company as well as the markets they are competing for, the validity of patents, China’s tortured history andSubscribe […]

Xiaomi’s Ambition

Xiaomi, the Chinese smart phone company that late last month raised $1.1 billion at a $45 billion valuation, sells way more than smartphones: Mi.com boasts over a thousand items, and it’s the third-largest e-commerce site in China. One item it doesn’t sell, though, is a AA battery charger. Only Apple: I clearly remember when this […]

Daily Update: Looking Forward to CES, Looking Ahead to 2015, Apple and the Functional High Ground

Good morning, Happy New Year! It’s great to get back into the flow of things. Let’s get on with it! Looking Forward to CES It’s fun to rag on CES, particularly during the 00’s when Apple’s MacWorld keynote announcements would overshadow the going-ons in Vegas, at least from a news cycle perspective. It wasn’t justSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Christmas Gifts for Microsoft, Intel, and Amazon

Good morning, I hope you all are having a good Christmas break (or a good end-of-the-year, if you’re not in the West). As I noted last week, The Daily Update is on a reduced schedule for these two weeks, with updates on Mondays and Tuesdays only. There will be no December 31-January 2. The regularSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Christmas Gifts for Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi

Good morning, In case you missed it, James Allworth and I had a debate about his post on drones on the latest episode of Exponent. If you’re looking for last-minute gift idea, don’t forget about Stratechery Gifts. Once you make your payment I will send you a registration link for the gift membership; you canSubscribe […]

Daily Update: Xioami’s Profit, Xiaomi to Sell Air Purifier, Xiaomi India Ban Lifted

Good morning, Two quick things: Many of you have asked about how you might gift Stratechery memberships. I will have a solution for you on Friday Tomorrow my co-host on Exponent, James Allworth, will be filling in for me on the Daily Update. The content and opinion are his alone, and I suspect it willSubscribe […]

The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014

While the modern computing era in many respects began with the IBM System/360 mainframe and further expanded with the minicomputer, normal consumers didn’t start encountering computers until the personal computer. And, while mainframes are technically still around (while minicomputers are decidedly not), what is unique about the PC is that it is very much still […]