In this episode we discuss this tweet of Ben’s:
Apple has a monopoly on the iOS market. And monopolies are profitable.
— Ben Thompson (@monkbent) July 25, 2014
We also discuss the news that OKCupid and Facebook are running tests on their users.
Links
- Fabian Giesen: What I mean when I say “I think VR is bad news” – Github
Hosts
- Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery
- James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review
Podcast Information
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“Why did it do that?”
“I don’t know what to do next. What do I do now?”
How does commoditization and specialization reduce the number of times people ask these questions of their phone? Note that every year brings new areas where these questions can be asked when using a smart phone. Interaction with watches, homes, and cars are recent additions. Note also that the Vertu did not reduce the number of times these questions were asked.
I suggest that hardware performance reaching “good enough” is not the time when commoditization and specialization will “win” over vertical integration in smartphones. What is needed is for the whole ecosystem to stop changing and become stable. I don’t see that happening any time soon. The way our smartphones interact with the world in 10 or 20 years will be a lot different than the way they interact today. Because of this, I think the iOS monopoly will be a significant asset for Apple for a long time.
…
People being manipulated by those who control media is not new. Separation of advertising and editorial content by TV, magazines, and newspapers may have looked good on the surface, but never really worked when push came to shove. As a Californian, the LA Times’ role in influencing voters to approve the construction of the water system in California comes to mind.
The Internet is still a frontier, and human and corporate behavior is ugly out there, much like other frontiers. We are a little more advanced than giving blankets with smallpox to Indians, but I do think that things can become more civilized, and working towards that is a reasonable goal.