IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark (report is here) has published, for the fourth year in a row, US online shopping traffic data with a split between mobile and fixed online traffic. It reveals a pattern of consumer behavior which is quite startling: people seem to prefer to shop using mobile devices. The data is shown below:
In 2011 Microsoft’s CEO bemoaned that revenue in China was about 5% of what it obtained in the US. Yesterday Apple’s CEO suggested that revenue from China will overtake the US in the near future. The contrast is even more stark when one considers the time and effort each company has made in China. Microsoft has … Continue reading “Cracking the China code: Microsoft vs. Apple”
Windows Phone Marketplace has reached 25,000 apps. That’s an impressive figure given that so few devices have actually been sold. Compared with Android which is activating half a million devices per day, Windows Phone seems like a rounding error. According to Gartner, 3.6 million smartphones using a Microsoft mobile OS were sold in the first … Continue reading “The Post-PC era will be a multi-platform era”
When I began the series of posts on Google vs. Android I put forward some questions about the business logic of Google becoming an operating system supplier, especially as that role can be seen as being counter-productive to Google’s strategy. I noted three strategy costs associated with a zero priced systems software bundle. A opportunity … Continue reading “Google vs. Android Part V”
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer argues that the tablet computers (aka slates, media tablets or iPads) are PCs. Steve Jobs argues that they are post-PC devices. There are analogies to trucks, cars and various metaphors for what these new devices symbolize. Some argue that because the iPad needs a PC, it’s not a post-PC device. But how … Continue reading “What's a Post-PC device?”
Since I spend most of my time thinking about what will happen, at the end of each year, rather than looking forward I like to look back to see how wrong I’ve been. The great thing about being wrong is that you learn something. Especially if you use a foundational theory to tie concepts together. … Continue reading “The PC clones of the post-PC era”
One of the most hotly debated subjects in the mobile phone business is the importance of market share. It’s also a topic of lore in the PC industry. Briefly the two arguments are: Market share matters more because it drives network effects which ultimately drive competition out of the market, creating the opportunity for monopoly … Continue reading “Which size really matters? Market Share vs Profit Share”
Are Apple and Google competitors or are they partners? Prior to the launch of the Android operating system, Apple and Google collaborated on many projects. Google Search was predominant on Apple products including the (at the time) new iPhone. The iPhone also launched with support for Gmail and had native Google Maps and even YouTube. … Continue reading “Google and Apple, The Beginning”
This is a transcript of an Asymetric podcast. It was lightly edited for legibility. Judd Rubin: Three continents, one conversation, this is Asymetric. We are very excited to have Balaji Srinivasan with us today. Balaji, you’re a busy man, Horace you’re on the run as usual, so why don’t we dive right in. Thanks for … Continue reading “Asymetric: The Crypto Plan for World Domination. An Interview with Balaji Srinivasan”
The iMac launched May 6 1998, exactly 20 years ago. It is not the most significant computer to ever exist. It was a clear descendant of the original Mac which established the “all-in-one” desktop computer category. That category, to which it still belongs, is a modest segment. The last time Apple reported portable sales separately … Continue reading “Just in Time”
