November 2010
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Month November 2010

Entries 5 Total

The iPhone is not superfluous, not easily copied, not revolutionary and not a premium product

Nov 29, ’10 9:57 AM

The release of the iPhone is rightly acclaimed as a watershed event in the history of telecom. It was a sensation. But it was also a product that was widely underestimated and dismissed. Even today expert opinion is divided. The critics of the product transitioned directly from labeling it a superfluous bauble to an obvious and copyable sustaining innovation. Advocates of the product describe it as revolutionary and dazzling with the potential for capturing significant profit share due to premium pricing and positioning.

So which is it?

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I’ll let you in on a secret: insider info is bogus

Nov 24, ’10 1:44 PM

So the SEC is investigating analysts who peddle “channel checks” for violation of securities laws. Former SEC chairman Paul Atkins summarizes the law as follows:

“Insider trading basically comes down to where you know or ought to know that the person from whom you’re getting this information has a duty to someone else to keep it confidential. If you go in and pay the mail clerk to give you special information, that’s not proper.”

This is perhaps newsworthy. But the real news is that information that comes from sources that cannot be verified should not be trusted and certainly not valued.

Here’s why: if someone holds information that is non-public they automatically treat it as more valuable. It’s more valuable because it’s not something everyone has. It’s not valuable because it’s accurate. By definition, that accuracy cannot be proven so the assumption of its value is based entirely on exclusivity. So valuable perhaps that you can even sell it, and surely many do.

However, simply not being public makes is no more likely to be accurate. You have a situation where people ascribe more value to something that is equally (and sometimes even more) inaccurate as background noise.

Beware of anyone offering non-public information to a larger audience. The data and the person’s ethics are both suspect.

The proof comes every quarter: those who rely on inside info are no better and often worse in predicting fundamental performance.

Comments (11)

Measuring iPad enterprise use

Nov 23, ’10 3:23 PM

I’ve noticed that there is a lot of speculation on the prospects for iPad use “in the enterprise”. Business users could sure benefit from the device and anecdotal evidence does point to many cases of use in business.

But anecdotes are not conclusive evidence. How can one make a better guess? Based on reader input, I thought I’d test this hypothesis directly on my own stats.

As pointed out a recent posting on my stats, the iPad has been a popular device in accessing this site. 102k out of 1.06m views came from iPad users. A statistically interesting number.

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[Help Wanted] CTO for a new startup

Nov 22, ’10 4:59 PM

I’m trying something new.

A reader presented to me what I consider it to be a disruptive opportunity. In order to help, I offered to use the Asymco podium to solicit applications for a leadership position in this startup. As I consider this audience to be of the highest possible competence and sensitivity to the subtle shifts in the mobile industry, I consider posting this Help Wanted ad a win-win for all involved.

So, without further qualification, here is the pitch:

A new company is being formed that will build the next generation of sports products and services. Traditional sports products have been predicated on business models dependent on old media and advertising. The opportunity exists to enter new, non-consumption markets where new audiences, new performances and new ways of making money are made possible.

Professional sports is one of the last bastions of broadcasting. It’s time to lead the charge.

As CTO you will be responsible for building and managing a team of developers, designers, systems/network engineers, and product managers. You will be expected to have a roll-up-your-sleeves mentality and be able to work extremely closely with the engineering team to design and build out new products and services.

If you have proven leadership and management experience and have operated a mission-critical technology environment while maintaining a climate of rapid innovation, this new company will give you the reins and compensate you handsomely.

If you are interested, please send your resume to Help Wanted.

Comments (3)

The integrated iPad news daily: Read all about it!

Nov 22, ’10 4:59 AM

When I wrote my opinion on the future of publishing (Citizen Publisher), I focused my lens on books and magazines. Published works that have relatively low time-sensitivity and hence relatively long shelf life are quite different from newspapers which package material with very brief temporal relevance.

The print-based news industry has suffered much more than print-based books and magazines. The primary cause is that “print” plays a far larger role in newsprint-based newspapers than in books.

To give you an idea of how important the printing plant is,

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