Bookmarks (95)

The state of bundles in 2020: Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. Plus, Microsoft's purchase of Zenimax.

Nvidia's acquisition of ARM only makes sense from a financial perspective, unless you buy Jensen Huang's datacenter dreams.

Assume that Apple is going to win versus Epic: what is a reasonable approach to the App Store that will gain more developer support?

The App Store is not one thing: it is installation, payments, and customer management; the further Apple gets from iOS, the worse its actions are for users and developers.

There are four Internets: China versus the U.S., and the E.U. and India. India's potential new model rests on Jio.

How TikTok exposed Facebook's blindspot, thanks to its Chinese roots, and why those Chinese roots make TikTok a genuine concern.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss the Indian internet, TikTok, and whether or not the U.S. should ban it. Listen to it here.

Slack lost to Microsoft head-to-head, but has smartly shifted to a horizontal strategy that the vertically-oriented Microsoft can't match.

Apple and Facebook seem like they are in conflict, but have often been each other's best partners.

ARM Macs are imminent; why they make sense, and why the implications could be far-reaching, for not just Apple but also Intel.

The Internet changed how media competes to focus and quality, but quality is defined by your niche.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Dust in the Light. Listen to it here.

Facebook Shops are good for Shopify merchants, but bad for Shopify; the answer is to push more into the real world.

TSMC showed the power of modularization, and now they are core to the U.S. national security strategy.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Dithering and Open Versus Free. Listen to it here.

Announcing the new Dithering podcast, and why it is important to fight for the open ecosystem that Spotify is trying to aggregate.

Google Shopping is changing its model, suggesting Google is joining the Anti-Amazon Alliance; 3rd-party merchants should do the same.

Marc Andreessen has written (another) seminal essay: It's Time to Build. What does that mean for tech and venture capital?

The NBA and Microsoft are announcing a new partnership. The news, some brief analysis, and an interview.

While Stratechery is supported by subscriptions to the Daily Update, there has long been the option to receive free Weekly Articles via email. In a similar vein, I am happy to announce that the Daily Update Podcast has now been expanded to Stratechery Podcasts: you can receive just the free Weekly Article in your podcast […]

Apple and Google, who last Friday jointly | announced new capabilities for contact tracing coronavirus carriers at scale, released a new statement yesterday clarifying that no government would tell them what to do. Or, to put it in the gentler terms conveighed by CNBC: Apple and Google, normally arch-rivals, announced on Friday that they teamed […]

It is tempting — and useful — to look at Apple and Amazon's deal in a bilateral context. It probably makes more sense, though, in the context of Netflix and the future of video.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Unmasking Twitter. Listen to it here.

Twitter has a new policy to listen to experts about what content to limit; what happens, though, when experts are wrong?

Compaq's descent from a company of action to a brand is a frightening parable for the the West's focus on talk over action.

In a follow-up to Zero Trust Information, exploring the four types of information and how their value changes with time.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Zero Trust Information. Listen to it here.

Zero Trust Networking is security with Internet assumptions; there is tremendous value if we apply the same approach to information.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Email Addresses and Razor Blades. Listen to it here.

The fate of Harry's and other DTC companies, particularly relative to companies like Credit Karma, highlight how the Internet elevates the importance of demand over supply.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss The Daily Update Podcast and First, Do No Harm. Listen to it here.

Stratechery is launching a new feature for subscribers: The Daily Update, as a podcast. Now you can read or listen to every post on Stratechery.

As regulators look closer at acquisitions they should be extremely wary of unintended consequences. The current system works well for everyone, most of the time.

Facebook is under pressure from all sides, but that actually means it has an opportunity to build the platform it has always wanted — in digital ads.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we eulogize Professor Clayton M. Christensen. Listen to it here.

The iPad is 10, and while it remains a useful device, it is ultimately a disappointment. Apple lost the vision for what the iPad could be, and never gave space for developers to figure it out for them.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss The End of the Beginning. Listen to it here.

The history of credit cards helps explain why Plaid is valuable to Visa, and how Visa can make it significantly better.

The beginning of technology was about the shift from batched computing in one place to continuous computing everywhere. That era of paradigm changes may be over, which means the real changes are only beginning.

Stratechery is on Christmas and New Year’s break the week of December 23rd and December 30th; your next Daily Update will be on January 6. The full Daily Update posting schedule is here. All new subscriptions made since December 9, including during this break, will have two weeks added to their subscriptions.

Data portability is friendly to consumers, but it has very little to do with encouraging competition, at least relative to interoperability.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Integration and Monopoly. Listen to it here.

Apple has won through integration, but integration combined with network effects and economies of scale can result in bad outcomes that look a lot like monopolies.

Google, the real Aggregator, is squeezing OTAs, which acted like Aggregators while depending on Google for demand. It's easy to say Google is being unfair, but this may be better for consumers.

On Exponent, the weekly podcast I host with James Allworth, we discuss Tech and Liberty. Listen to it here.