Category Archives: Uncategorized

Steve: Who’s Going to Protect Us From Cheap and Mediocre Now?

August 28, 2011 – 10:15 pm

Tweet Not so fast. Until the last sinew, the last synapse gives up, Steve will continue to influence the company he co-founded and later recreated. Seeing he could no longer ‘‘meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO’’, Jobs kicks himself upstairs and becomes Chairman, director, and “mere” Apple employee. In a distant future, I [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Comments (93)

Getting More Bang For Our Bucks

August 28, 2011 – 9:09 pm

Tweet(Includes correction with the right 3rd graph) Two important questions in our times of large public debt and lagging economies: Is it effective to inject public money in support of the ailing media industry? And, in order to ensure the best readers’ bang for the taxpayer’s buck, are some models better than others? Last week, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (9)

Gunning for the Copyright Reformers

August 14, 2011 – 8:36 pm

TweetGoing after copyright reformers is risky business. To digital zealots, defending copyright is like advocating the return to the typewriter. (I personally like typewriters; I own several and I recommend a wonderful 1997 Atlantic piece on them at Longform.org). Going after sworn copyright opponents is what Robert Levine does in his just-published  book Free Ride [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged | Comments (13)

10 Years of Apple Stores: the non-celebration

July 17, 2011 – 5:15 pm

TweetApple and understatement aren’t close relatives. Not that they don’t have a right to strut a bit: after all, under its returning co-founder, Apple 2.0 performed the most stunning corporate turn around ever — and shows no sign of slowing down. As a result, product launches, developer conferences and quarterly earnings announcements all turn into [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Tagged | Comments (11)

Google’s SOE (Strategy of Everything)

June 26, 2011 – 8:31 pm

TweetAs a Venture Capitalist, I occasionally hear entrepreneurs lay out a Strategy of Everything, a plan to be all things to all people. (SOE rhymes with TOE, the Theory of Everything, the Holy Grail of mathematical physics, only less attainable than the sacred object…) In practice, “all things to all people” invariably becomes too many [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Comments (33)

Trifling Twitter

May 29, 2011 – 7:12 pm

TweetWhen a member of the old guard barges into their cozy backyard, the Digerati jump up and strike indignant poses. And when the intruder’s point is missed, its author gets crucified. This is what happened to Bill Keller, the New York Times’ executive editor, when he dared to write a column critical of Twitter. In [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (15)

Media & tech: Reconcilable Differences

May 22, 2011 – 6:06 pm

TweetMedia and tech worlds must work together. There is not a shred of a doubt about it. The former have lost the dual battle for growth and economic performance; the latter are attracting eyeballs and endless funding. Still. When combined, their relevance to society can be greater than the sum of their respective parts. Last [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (11)

Freemium Revisited: Paying For Content-Based Applications

May 1, 2011 – 7:34 pm

TweetLast week, Instapaper’s founder Marco Arment gave us a remarkable insight into the economics of content applications. For readers who haven’t used Instapaper on their iPad or iPhone (preferably on both): this application is an absolute must-have. This is what I call a Real-Life App. Minimalist design, no frills, no “wow effect”. But, in return [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (6)

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 | Comments (10)

WebOS Everywhere

March 13, 2011 – 6:22 pm

Tweetby Jean-Louis Gassée Where have we heard a similar mantra? Despite their apparent divorce from Microsoft, it sounds like HP’s brains have been infected with a mutation of the “Windows Everywhere” virus. Let’s recap. Late April 2010, HP acquires Palm for $1.2B. In July 2010, then-CEO Mark Hurd tells us he didn’t buy WebOS just [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Also posted in hardware | Tagged , | Comments (29)