Microsoft just declared the Zune end of life. This makes it a good time to look back to some notable episodes in the evolution of digital media distribution. First, an episode from 1997: During two days on the stand, Tevanian accused Microsoft of seeking to divide the multimedia market and then “sabotaging” QuickTime’s ability to … Continue reading “Who's knifing what?”
I last looked at the race to a billion in September 2010. I’ve now added a few more data points to the tracked platforms and also added points for the major console game platforms and Symbian. The chart shows the cumulative number of users (approximated by units sold) for 11 platforms indexed to the same … Continue reading “The Race to a Billion”
In a recent answer on quora, I wrote that I did not believe developers are tempted primarily by economic incentives when choosing which platforms to work on. I suggested that they hire platforms because of their star-making potential and that star-making value is not a something that money can buy. Using Hollywood as an example … Continue reading “The platform as a promise”
The relationship between Google and Apple is an interesting one. It’s enticing to declare them “at war” with one another, but that type of relationship does not account for the collaboration and partnerships they enjoy. To wit: Google pays Apple for default Search placement on Safari. This means that Google treats Apple as a distributor. … Continue reading “Google and Apple as mobile co-belligerents”
When Stephen Elop said that Nokia and Microsoft sought to create a “three horse race” he implied that there were only two viable mobile ecosystems today. With that statement he sought to deprecate or declare “end of life” two platforms: Symbian and MeeGo, implying that Nokia’s efforts at being the third way failed. However, he … Continue reading “The lives and deaths of mobile platforms”
The world’s largest PC company just launched a “media tablet[1]”. Conflating the iPod Touch and iPad brands into “TouchPad” HP joins RIM in announcing an integrated OS/device product to compete as a platform vs. iOS and Android (and to some degree even against Windows). There are others waiting in the wings. Presumably, Microsoft is hard … Continue reading “The (iPod)Touch(i)Pad”
Picking up the discussion of vendor share, I used Canalys estimates of platform shares to visualize the effect of Android on the smartphone market:
The best way to get to the essence of any company is by evaluating its priorities. These priorities are like an unwritten constitution. The analog in theology is dogma which when codified becomes doctrine. In law it’s common or case law.[1] In business, priorities are hard to discern and are usually only anecdotally observed. At … Continue reading “The Apple doctrine”
People are lining up to call the market for mobile phones. Analysts and amateurs alike are connecting points on charts and predicting with confidence the future of mobile platforms. Consensus is forming that there is no future but a quiescent state. By the acclamation of pundits, the survivors are declared to be iOS and Android. … Continue reading “Calling the end of innovation in mobile computers”
Today’s charts show the amount of profit captured by the top eight public mobile phone companies in two different ways. The first, as a bar chart:
