Monthly Archives: November 2011

Unaccounted For Readers

November 27, 2011 – 11:04 pm

TweetNewspaper publishers need to quickly solve a troublesome equation. As carbon-based readership keeps dwindling, the growing legion of digital readers is poorly accounted for. This benefits advertisers who pay less for their presence. Putting aside web sites audience measurement, we’ll focus instead on the currently ill-defined notion of digital editions. A subject of importance since [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (7)

A Facebook Smartphone – Why?

November 27, 2011 – 10:53 pm

TweetAt the end of last week’s Monday Note, I briefly wondered about the rumored Amazon smartphone. Would it follow the Kindle Fire strategy: Pick Android’s lock and sell the device at or below cost in order to lubricate the wheels of Amazon’s e-commerce of tangible and intangible things? This week, we have the rebirth of [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (19)

Apple’s Antitrust Problem (Part 2)

November 20, 2011 – 8:41 pm

TweetLast’week’s Part 1 column about Apple’s dominant’s position in the tablet market triggered an abundance of comments and emails, both on the Note’s blog and on the Guardian. All interesting, most well reasoned. But, for some people, it’s always funny to see how an Apple topic can turn religious. Question a few basic facts and [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (20)

The Apple Wireless Carrier (Part 2)

November 20, 2011 – 8:40 pm

TweetSpurred by years of frustration with AT&T, Verizon, Orange and the like, I wrote a half-serious Monday Note a few months ago (Steve, Please Buy Us A Carrier!) that imagined an Apple wireless universe. Simple pricing, no-surprise phone bills, no-tricks agreements. There would be dancing in the streets… Unfortunately (I concluded), if Apple were to [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in hardware, mobile internet | Comments (15)

Apple’s Antitrust Problem

November 13, 2011 – 5:58 pm

Tweet(First in a series) Will Apple face the type of antitrust issues Microsoft had to contend with in the 90′s? Possibly, but not with the same magnitude. Apple is by no means locking up its market the way Microsoft controlled the personal computer field with Windows. Still, the question arises for the iTunes Store, the [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (25)

iTV: Where’s The Money?

November 13, 2011 – 5:58 pm

TweetIn reaction to last week’s technical speculation on the putative iTV, several commenters raised questions about content providers, distributors, and “pipes”. Does iTV help or harm NBC, Netflix, and Comcast? How does the [one last time: “putative”] iTV make money, and for whom? Indeed, the column ignored an important – perhaps the most important — [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in hardware | Tagged | Comments (15)

The Discreet Shift to Twitter

November 6, 2011 – 9:14 pm

TweetYou hear things about Facebook. You see things. As its audience matures, a subtle shift might be underway. Of course, numbers remains staggering. Facebook is heading toward the 800 million users mark, mostly by conquering new markets. The growth is distributed as follows : Middle-East Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America grow by around 60% per [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (28)

From Heaven: iTV

November 6, 2011 – 9:14 pm

TweetSearch for the word ‘‘cracked’’ in Walt Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs (or flip to page 555 if you have the bricks-and-mortar version). The second hit yields the following: It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it. “It” is the mythical Apple iTV. Even though Walt’s report of the [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (62)