Payments
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Apple attracts loyal customers through a superior user experience and leverages those customers against its partners.
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By winning on the web, PayPal was actually disadvantaged when it came to competing in mobile, because its incentives were already shaped by a different problem.
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Payments are one of the eternal tech rainbows,1 enticing startups and established companies alike with the promise of priceless data and incredible volumes. Many who dive in, though, like Google with Wallet, find it’s incredibly…
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Airbnb’s Externalities, Sharing and Culture, PayPal Acquires Xoom
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…
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The News App, Open Source Swift, Additional Notes from the WWDC Keynote
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.
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Apple and Privacy Follow-up, The Top 100 Retailers and Apple Pay, Android Pay’s Missing Bank Fee
More on the difference between privacy and security, and why precision in language is critical.
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Apple Watch, Platforms, and Ecosystems; AdBlock Plus Launches Android Browser; Spotify and the Power of Labels
This update expands on my Apple Watch review by discussing the differences between platforms and ecosystems and why that matters for the Watch’s long-term success. Then, a revisit of the ad-blocking debate, and a discussion of why labels are more powerful now than previously.
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Apple, China, and the Upper Middle Class; Apple Earnings; Apple Pay Coming to Best Buy
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Daily Update: The Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Pay, HTC: Industrial Design for Hire
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Daily Update: Google Wallet, Softcard, and the Perils of Modularization
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Daily Update: FiftyThree and the App Store, Three Notes on China
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Daily Update: The Silver Lining in Sony and Target, Iowa Launches Smartphone Driver’s License, Xiaomi Banned in India