Monthly Archives: April 2011

Read, Share and Destroy

April 24, 2011 – 5:36 pm

TweetThe social web’s economics are paradoxical: The more it blossoms, the more it destroys value. In recent months, we’ve seen a flurry of innovative tools for reading and sharing contents. Or, even better, for basing one’s readings on other people’s shared contents. In Web 2.5 parlance, this is called Social Reading. For this, the obvious [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in online publishing, social networks | Tagged , , , , | Comments (17)

Inside Apple’s Q2 Numbers

April 24, 2011 – 5:36 pm

TweetThis last week, Apple announced their 2011 Q2 numbers. Philip Elmer-DeWitt, whose Fortune Tech Apple 2.0 blog I enjoy and recommend, provides a crisp summary: • Sales: $24.67 billion, up 82.8% year over year • Profits: $5.99 billion, up 95% • EPS: $6.40, up 92% • iPhone: 18.65 million units, up 113% (!) • iPhone [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in hardware | Tagged , | Comments (5)

Flipboard: Threat and Opportunity

April 17, 2011 – 6:26 pm

TweetEvery media company should be afraid of Flipboard. The Palo Alto startup epitomizes the best and the worst of the internet. The best is for the user. The worst is for the content providers that feed its stunning expansion without getting a dime in return. According to Kara Swisher ‘s AllThingsD, nine months after launching [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in design, online publishing | Tagged , , | Comments (57)

AT&T Buys T-Mobile: Farce or Retro-Metamorphosis?

April 17, 2011 – 6:18 pm

TweetFour weeks ago, we got the bad news: AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA for $39B. An already bad carrier will get worse by gobbling a competitor, thus gaining more pricing power and reducing competitive pressure. Higher prices, lower service levels. The transaction leads us into a de facto oligopoly: AT&T and Verizon. (From the Wikipedia [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (6)

Bob Woodward: how many page views?

April 10, 2011 – 7:12 pm

TweetThe legendary journalist was in Paris last week, promoting (“flogging”) his last book: “Obama’s Wars“. (Large excerpts in the Washington Post here). It was the standard book tour: TV and radio appearances; a well-timed cover story in Le Monde Magazine; same quotes, same anecdotes everywhere. Still, I was curious. After all, he’s one of my [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in journalism | Tagged | Comments (22)

The Unavoidable iPhone Nano

April 10, 2011 – 6:59 pm

TweetTry googling “iPhone Nano”, you’ll get 43.9 million hits. It seems a lot. A closer look at Google’s results shows them to be reasonably legit, no spamming. (Bing is less expansive with only 103,000 results, 400 times less than Google…) The putative iPhone Nano appears to be in great demand. But is popularity a predictor? [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in hardware | Tagged | Comments (18)

The Communication Paradox

April 3, 2011 – 2:29 pm

TweetRemember The West Wing, the cult TV series? Its last episodes describe the end of President Jed Bartlet’s term and portray his Chief of Staff and former Press Secretary, C.J. Craig, deluged with job offers as she struggles with the emotions of leaving her beloved President. Emissaries of Fortune 500 corporations, CEOs of fictitious tech [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (10)

Microsoft: Tablets are a passing fad

April 3, 2011 – 2:29 pm

TweetOnce upon a time, IBM was The Company, computers had “spindles” and Big Blue salesmen (no females allowed) got fresh collars and cuffs delivered to their desks each morning. When a pesky innovator came up with an interesting idea, The Company had a response at the ready: You Don’t Need This…We Know What’s Good For [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in hardware | Tagged , | Comments (17)