Author Archives: Jean-Louis Gassée

Otellini’s Striking Confession

May 19, 2013 – 10:37 pm

Tweet  We know Intel shunned ARM processors and played virtually no role in the smartphone revolution. But we now learn Steve Jobs asked Intel to build the iPhone microprocessor. Paul Otellini, Intel’s departing CEO, admits he should have followed his gut – and made the smartphone world a very different place. CEO valedictions follow a [...]

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Elon Musk’s Sweet Revenge

May 13, 2013 – 8:16 am

Tweet  Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, saw its latest creation, the Model S – and himself – criticized by traditional media. Now, Tesla just scored its first profitable quarter and Consumer Reports put the Model S at the top of its rankings, making it possible for Musk’s company to become more than a niche player. Palo [...]

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Carriers Still Think We’re Idiots

May 5, 2013 – 7:28 pm

Tweet  “Carriers are confident we won’t read the small print that contradicts their tricky advertising. Once in a while, a public servant really does his job and forces a retraction. Why so rarely?.” ‘My goal in life has been to have just enough money to ignore 8-point Helvetica!’ Thus spake a close friend one night [...]

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Apple Buys Intel

April 29, 2013 – 3:50 am

Tweet  Getting rid of Samsung as a processor supplier and, at the same time, capturing the crown jewel of the American semiconductor industry. How could Apple resist the temptation to solve its cash problem and make history again? Halfway through the second quarter of the 2013 fiscal year, most of Apple’s top execs meet at [...]

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The App Store: Good Deeds, Poor Communication

April 21, 2013 – 6:29 pm

Tweet  Apple does the right thing when striving to keep its App Store free from promotional trickery – but fails to shed light on the process and, as a result, damages its reputation. Earlier this month, the Apple App Store removed the popular AppGratis application from its shelves. Then, last week, the App Store censors [...]

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Privacy: You Have Nothing To Fear

April 14, 2013 – 8:00 pm

Tweet  Pervasive sensors and IP connections, coupled with the “infinite” storage and computing power in the Cloud, threaten our privacy. We need to defend ourselves and get control of our personal data amassed by private companies and government agencies. Optimists and pessimists may inhabit opposing camps, but they do have one thing in common: Their [...]

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Facebook Home: Another Android Lock Pick

April 7, 2013 – 9:15 pm

Tweet  Facebook’s new Home on Android smartphone is an audacious attempt to demote the OS to a utility role, to keep to itself user data Android was supposed to feed into Google’s advertising business. Google’s reaction will be worth watching. Amazon’s Kindle Fire, announced late September 2011, is viewed as a clever “Android lock pick“. [...]

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Yahoo: The Marissa Mayer Turnaround

March 24, 2013 – 10:38 pm

Tweet  Critics spew well-meaning generalities when criticizing Marissa Mayer’s first moves at Yahoo! They fail to see the urgency of the company’s turnaround situation, the need to refocus the workforce and spruce up the management. Last July, Yahoo! elected a new CEO, their seventh or eight, I’ve lost count. Marissa Mayer is an ex-Google exec [...]

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Apple is Losing The War – Of Words

March 17, 2013 – 8:47 pm

Tweet  Besides its ads, Apple says very little, confident numbers will do the talking. This no longer works as others have seized the opportunity to drive the narrative.  The day before Samsung’s big Galaxy S4 announcement, Apple’s VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, sat down for an interview with Reuters and promptly committed what Daring Fireball’s [...]

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More iWatch Fun

March 10, 2013 – 11:10 pm

Tweet  When looking at the potential for a really smart watch, the idea of an Apple iWatch looks almost sensible. Still, there is a long way between the attractive idea and stuffing the required computer power in a wristwatch. As I somberly contemplate the death of personal privacy, our being spied upon everywhere, at all [...]

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