In recent days, since their PR troubles, there has been much discussion as to why Uber seems to be so aggressive. Reasons ranged from being inept, to the challenges of fighting politics against taxi regulations to a claim that Uber’s market has a ‘winner take all’ nature. It is this last one that is of particular interest because it …
The Gates Foundation’s open access move ignores a better way to open knowledge
Last week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation went far further than any other organization in mandating open access. From January of next year, all research funded by the Foundation will have to be made available and free online -- including appropriate metadata to make the research searchable. While others, such as the Wellcome Trust …
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Spreading me about
Over the past week I have posted a few things elsewhere that may be of interest to readers of this blog. Over at The Conversation, I have launched a new column called -- The Disruptive Economist -- which has a certain appeal to me. The first column was about Uber and its recent PR troubles …
Google's New Market for Contributions
Google have just launched a new service for publishers called Contributor. Here is how it works. A Publisher signs up to the service Consumers can also sign up for the service with a monthly contribution of their choice When a signed-up consumer visits a signed-up publisher, some of their monthly contribution is paid to the …
Information Does not Want to be Free by Cory Doctorow
Science fiction writer and blogger, Cory Doctorow has written a business oriented, short book entitled Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free. Of course, it shares a theme with my own Information Wants to be Shared although my book is written in a more positive vein. My book is longer, sells for less and will no doubt both sell …
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Will “music as a service” destroy music?
No.However, that it will is the contention by Karim Lakhani and Macro Iansiti on HBR.org. Their post — which contains a number of points including the interesting issue of who music publishers missed the boat — argued the following:However as the iTunes and Taylor Swift examples illustrate, value capture is now becoming increasingly confusing for all …
Is it good to have market power amongst music labels?
No. That is usually a fairly obvious answer regardless of the firms involved but, according to Felix Salmon the answer is, instead, ‘yes.’ Here is his argument: Small labels are a real headache for digital music services, especially when they have ulterior motives, or are controlled by capricious artists. The majors can be counted on to drive …
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One better than Apple Pay
When it announced Apple Pay, Tim Cook showed an effective video demonstrating how easier it would be to use it than conventional credit cards. Basically, you just took out your phone and paid with your fingerprint being the authentication device. This is in contrast to multiple steps if you want to use a credit card …
Email is Memory
It has been a minor obsession in my life to find good ways of managing email. I have been down the route whereby my Inbox is a mixture of things I have just received, things I have ignored but may come back to and things that I am trying to trigger some memory for. A …
Annals of Antitrust Smells: Retailers dropping Apple Pay and Google Wallet
Antitrust economics has its analytical side. But sometimes you hear a story — and you know you don’t have the full story — but it just carries with it a stench that something is awry. The odor that wafted from my iPad this morning when I read this was quite strong. There's a lot of hype around …
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Digitopoly 