Competition in the Digital Age
Following up from my earlier post on Apple's iPhone versioning, Apple has released its new range. Here is the pricing: iPhone 4S (8GB): $0 ($450 unlocked) iPhone 5c: 16GB: $99 ($549 unlocked) 32GB: $199 ($649 unlocked) iPhone 5s: 16GB: $199 ($649 unlocked) 32GB: $299 ($749 unlocked) 64GB: $399 ($849 unlocked) In other words, the same …
Continue reading "They're all wrong. Apple's iPhone versioning (redux)"
Tomorrow, Apple look set to introduce some new iPhones including an iPhone 5S (its flagship) and an iPhone 5C. The latter is seemingly a break from the past. From the rumours, it will be a lower cost iPhone but with colourful options possibly targeting the Chinese market where Apple finally signed on China Mobile as …
Ronald Coase passed away yesterday. In his 102 years, he had an extraordinarily widespread impact on economics; especially its interactions with legal thinking. There is much discussion today about his contributions; in particular, was the Coase Theorem really a theorem and the Coase conjecture ever proved. But, in so many respects, those discussions miss the …
In Slate, Marianna Mazzucato argues that it is a myth that entrepreneurs drive innovation. I'll chalk that up to the Slate sub-editorial title writers because what the article is really saying is the 'independent' entrepreneurs do not drive innovation. Instead, in many classic situations the hand of the government was there and it is difficult …
The NYT published an article today on "Which start-up could be the next big thing?" Of course, who really knows. The NYT basically appears to be looking at "buzz." But what we would really want is some forecast of potential demand. This is where Google trends becomes useful. For instance, the NYT considers SnapChat and Whatsapp as two potential contenders. Both …
Continue reading "Predicting start-up success with Google trends"
Prior to yesterday, if you wanted an iPad that worked just like your computer, you pretty well needed to buy a Microsoft Surface. But thanks to Parallels Access that has all changed. This is an app on your iPad that allows you to control applications on your Mac or PC. But unlike some other remote …
That's Paul Krugman's claim today in the NYT. He argues that when Steve Ballmer took over, Microsoft was secure in its core business on the basis of operating system -- applications network externalities that raised switching costs for consumers. That led to Microsoft being blind to new developments, such as the smart phone, and hence …
Continue reading "Is Microsoft of the 1990s similar to Apple of today?"
I was at a conference early this week hosted by the Technology Policy Institute. One of the keynote address was by the Chair of the FTC where she talked about big data and privacy. It struck me in listing to the speech that there was insufficient attention being paid as to what might be effective …
Just a pointed to an interesting new paper by Anja Lambrecht and Kanishka Misra who examine ESPN's online paywall. Plummeting advertising revenues have lead many online content providers to experiment with additional sources of revenues. Most often, firms aim to compensate for a loss in advertising revenues by charging consumers for access to online content. …
Today was Venture Day for the Next 36. This is a program that takes 36 of Canada's finest undergraduate would-be entrepreneurs, puts them into teams, gives them starting capital and legal resources and teaches them business while they explore setting up their ventures. Today we got to take stock of where they had come in …
Digitopoly 