More on why Apple News is both different than Facebook, and yet similar from a publisher perspective. Then, how publishers should think about their business — and Apple News — plus two new entrants in the podcast space.
The Cost of Apple News
Apple News is primed to offer a subscription bundle, but publishers should be wary of being Aggregated.
BuzzFeed Followup, The Future is Niche, Atlassian and Bing
BuzzFeed’s relative scale problem, and why venture capital doesn’t make sense for content, because the future is niche. Plus, important follow-up on Bing and Atlassian.
The BuzzFeed Lesson
The lesson of BuzzFeed is that dominant Aggregators like Facebook have no incentive to act against their self interest and support suppliers.
Spotify and the Labels, Labels and Aggregation, Newspapers and Texture
Spotify and the labels are at odds, largely because the latter don’t understand their competitive environment. Then, Apple is trying to build the news bundle.
ZTE and Trump, Dropbox Earnings, Bloomberg’s Paywall
The ZTE saga takes a twist, Dropbox’s first earnings are solid, and Bloomberg shows how the rich get richer.
Technologists, Politics, and Facebook; Publishers and the GDPR; Facebook and The Denver Post
Publishers are in ever more trouble, thanks to the GDPR. It increasingly seems like Facebook and Google are the inevitable saviors, for better or worse.
Stratechery 4.0 Follow-up, Apple’s Educational Event, The Meaning of Better
A quick aside as to why Stratechery doesn’t have an app, then a review of Apple’s educational event, and why the company’s business model limits it in education relative to Google.
Apple Acquires Texture; The Problem with Magazines; Texture, Apple News, and Bundles
Apple acquired Texture and is taking the last, best shot at building a digital text bundle.
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.