Messaging
-
Facebook Earnings, Five Facebook Facts, Additional Facebook Observations
Facebook earnings were once again impressive: they have a killer market, but the company continues to execute fantastically, particularly on the business side.
-
WhatsApp Drops Subscription Fee, Messaging’s Monetization Potential, GM Acquires Sidecar Remnants
WhatsApp unsurprisingly dropped their subscription fee and, paradoxically, increased the services value. There are much better ways to monetize messaging. Plus, why it doesn’t matter what car makers do.
-
The Big 5 Year in Review: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook
A year-end review of tech’s five most important companies.
-
Slack Follow-up, The WeChat Platform, Uber and Facebook Messenger
More on Slack’s platform opportunity, which can be compared to what WeChat has already accomplished in China. That said, the fact way that China is truly mobile-first means that it’s likely that no one — including Facebook Messenger — will fully imitate WeChat’s model.
-
Slack and the State of Technology at the End of 2015
Slack has announced the Slack Platform. It’s an obvious move, but it’s the obviousness that indicates what a huge opportunity it is
-
Meituan-Dianping Merge in China, Facebook Messenger’s Business Model, Facebook and Teens
China’s O2O market is in the consolidation phase, and the competition is fierce. That, though, helps highlight why an advertising business model is sometimes so attractive, like, for example, the one that Facebook has. Plus, why the “Facebook has a problem with teens” narrative really isn’t a big deal
-
Verizon Changes Rate Plans, The Importance of Upgrades, iMessage and the U.S. Market
Verizon announced they were changing the structure of their phones plans away from subsidies and towards phone financing. I think it’s less of a big deal than many are painting it to be, and if anything, it will help the iPhone. Plus, why iMessage is particularly important in the U.S.
-
Summer Update, Slack Strong, The Dropbox Cautionary Tale
Slack has more numbers out, and while from a certain perspective the company still seems small, a step back reveals just how significant the opportunity is. Still, nothing is guaranteed, and Dropbox happens to offer a very useful cautionary tale.
-
Daum Kakao Buys Path, Amazon’s Funnel, More from Mary Meeker
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.
-
Cisco’s Results — and Future, Tencent’s Advertising Shift
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.