Articles
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The Deal That Makes No Sense
Early this morning Microsoft acquired Nokia for €3.79 billion (plus €1.65 billion for patents). It is a deal that makes no sense. While industry observers love to pontificate about mergers and acquisitions, the reality is that most ideas are value-destroying. It is far better to form an alliance or partnership; most of the benefits, none of…
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If Apple is Disrupted, Will We Blame Tim Cook?
I’m not predicting the following will happen, but I’m also not saying it won’t.1 September 18, 2018, Beijing, China – In a development few could have foreseen even five years ago, it’s Beijing and its global icon Xiaomi that is the star of September, the role formerly filled by the increasingly irrelevant Apple. At 10AM local…
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Motivation and Marx
On this (US) Labor Day weekend, I’m thinking about motivation, and the role it plays in creating great products that consumers love. It seems patently obvious that products created for love or passion are superior than those created for money or fear, yet the compensation model used in most of business hews much more closely to…
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In Chrome Versus Android, Chrome Wins
John Gruber: So this is weird. Back when Chromecast was announced, I wrote that it doesn’t do something that Google made it seem like it did — stream video directly from your phone (or tablet) like AirPlay. But then it ends up it was capable of something like AirPlay, but it required a third-party app, so…
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If Steve Ballmer Ran Apple
Bear with me, I know my premise is ridiculous. Imagine Steve Ballmer was right now the CEO of Apple, with the same set of products and opportunities. Suspend disbelief about cultural clashes, or organizational structure. Presume Ballmer could set the strategy, and that Apple would execute it accordingly. In this scenario Apple would make more money…
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C is for Changing My Mind
Yesterday’s article about iPhone 5c pricing prompted a vigorous discussion on Twitter, and I’m changing my mind on a few points (I told you I have strong opinions weakly held!): I was always wavering on the 3G idea: Imagine an LTE iPhone 5C sold to post-pay carriers, and a non-LTE iPhone 5C sold at a significantly…
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C is for Choices
I have to admit, it was a bit of a thrill breaking the news to the western world of the latest iPhone leak: Taiwan's Apple Daily claims to have iPhones 5C and 5S: http://t.co/bAZ8F49Wzn Double flash on 5S, highly scratch-resistant plastic on 5C. — Ben Thompson (@monkbent) August 21, 2013 Still, it really wasn’t anything new (although…
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The App Store Rainbow
Postulate: The greatest differentiator for iOS is the quality of its apps. That’s the position taken by Benedict Evans in a must-read piece: If total Android engagement moves decisively above iOS, the fact that iOS will remain big will be beside the point – it will move from first to first-equal and then perhaps second place…
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BlackBerry — and Nokia’s — Fundamental Failing
In December 2009, while a first-year student at Kellogg, I went to a RIM (now BlackBerry1) recruitment presentation. “Our problem,” the relatively senior fellow said, “is that when I get on a plane, everyone uses a BlackBerry until they close the door. Then they pull out their iPods. We need to make BlackBerry’s the only device…
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Amazon’s Dominant Strategy
Jonah Keri, on Mike Trout, the baseball player: “You always look at player comps in this business,” Bane said. “None of our guys wanted to put down the comp that you’d expect in this case, because it’s just too much pressure. We should have done it, though. We should have put down the comp that a…