So it started with JK Rowling who went platform independent and effectively DRM free on the Harry Potter series. This meant that for those books purchasers would not be locked into any one platform (e.g., Kindle) and that also meant that no platform could use lock-in to build up market power. Interestingly, you can't buy …
The competitive search for monopoly
In today's New York Times, David Brooks argues that a competitive and creative spirit may be substitutes. We live in a culture that nurtures competitive skills. And they are necessary: discipline, rigor and reliability. But it’s probably a good idea to try to supplement them with the skills of the creative monopolist: alertness, independence and …
My two cents on the golden balls
Since everyone is talking about it, here is my two cents on the above 'Golden Balls' video. Let's suppose that the guy on the left is choosing column and the guy on the right is choosing row. (The first payoff in each cell in the following game is the right guy's payoff). Here is the …
Pebble makes it big
A couple of months ago my watch died. I didn't mourn, I had come to hate it. Basically, it was purchased in the pre-iPhone era and for years I lamented that no technological change had come to the watch. It was a pain to change the time and all the other functions were clunky. I …
What if the eBook 'conspiracy' hadn't happened?
The DOJ took Apple and a set of publishers to Court today on price fixing charges in relation to an alleged conspiracy. Now if you read the DOJ's claim it looks bad but, having read some of these before, let me tell you that they always look bad. We really have to wait until a …
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Snapguide and the content platform
A little while ago I wrote about the importance of content platforms: "Content platforms" are emerging that are designed to solve precisely this problem. A content platform is a standardized means of presenting information. Take, for instance, Yelp. If you want restaurant information, it gives you a list of possibilities with a ranking that can be …
Disruption versus competition
I was provoked into writing this post today when Horace Dediu tweeted the following chart: The chart is a thing of beauty although we should take it with a grain of salt. It shows how value has been transferred from a set of incumbents to Apple over the last four years. It has some choices …
April fools round for tech and econ
It is that season again. Today is April fools day and the Internet celebrates. Here is a convenient round up of contributions from tech and economics. Google: as they do every year, Google enjoy a good prank. This year Google maps has an 8-bit mode, Gmail gets taps, Chrome gets multitasking, there's Street Roo and Sergey …
Are prices higher under an agency model than a wholesale pricing model?
[This post is wonkish. If you prefer to read such things in pdf form, this note is available here.] This is the question floating around with regard to the DOJ’s investigation into eBook pricing. There are suggestions that it will result in a move back from the agency model to the wholesale pricing model for …
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'What did you expect?': Gizmodo/Kickstarter edition
Gizmodo are apparently done with Kickstarter. Starting today, you will not see any items from Kickstarter posted on Gizmodo. Unless we are making fun of them. Or unless Kickstarter figures out a way to up the quality of the shit on its site. We are all for rampant innovation, but, at this point, Kickstarter is …
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Digitopoly 