Ben and James discuss how the world will change, how change happens in companies and society, and debate whether or not we have crossed the rubicon to a new world. Links Ben Thompson: Everything as a Service —  Stratechery Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery Farhad Manjoo: The Uber Model, It Turns Out, Doesn’t Translate — The New York Times Ben Thompson: Intel Restructures — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Microsoft’s Mobile Muddle — Stratechery Max Wessel: Path Dependency, Infrastructure, and Entrepreneurship — LongLogic Too Much of a Good Thing — Economist Ben Thompson: Facebook and New Market Disruption — Stratechery … Continue reading Episode 078 — Bending Trees

Ben and James follow-up on last week’s Apple services discussion and take a look at Apple’s earnings. Then a discussion of the European Commissions investigation of Google for antitrust, and a debate about how antitrust regulation needs to change, if at all. Links Episode 076: Apple’s Organization and Services — Exponent Apple Q2 2016 Earnings Call Transcript — Seeking Alpha Benjamin Mayo: Apple Earnings Press Release Titles — Twitter Ben Thompson: Apple’s Good Q1 Earnings, Apple is Not a Services Company — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Apple’s Earnings and the iPhone Upgrade Cycle — Stratechery Daily Update Episode 005: The … Continue reading Episode 077 — Physical Goods

Ben and James discuss the different types of organizational structures, the benefits Apple gains from having a unitary form, and whether or not the company should make changes to more effectively compete in services. Links Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Services and Apple’s Strategy, The Power of a P&L — Stratechery Daily Update Episode 071: Pickaxe Retailers — Exponent Ben Thompson: Paypal’s Incentive Problem — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss Facebook F8, how the company is trying to own both public and private social, and why Messenger is a good idea, but bots may not be. Links Twitter Has Outsized Influence, but It Doesn’t Drive Much Traffic for Most News Orgs, a New Report Says — NiemanLab Ben Thompson: Facebook, Phones, and Phonebooks — Stratechery David Kirkpatric: The Facebook Effect — Simon & Schuster Amir Efrati: Facebook Struggles to Stop Decline in ‘Original’ Sharing — The Information Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Problem with Facebook’s Ten-Year Plan, Is BuzzFeed Struggling? … Continue reading Episode 075 — Baby Picture Bots

Ben and James discuss the Tesla phenomena, how they built such a powerful brand, and debate whether that will be enough to lead the company to success. Links Ben Thompson: It’s a Tesla — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Tesla Skepticism and Superchargers — Stratechery Daily Update Tesla’s Not as Disruptive as You Think — Harvard Business Review Ben Thompson: Obsoletive — Stratechery Elon Musk: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me) — Tesla Blog Ben Thompson: Tesla Powerwall — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Xiaomi’s Struggles — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, … Continue reading Episode 074 — Tesla Fervor

Ben and James discuss how Snapchat has built it’s product so effectively, the narcissist in all of us, and the structure of social around the world. Links Ben Thompson: Snapchat’s Ladder — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery Snapchat’s Updated Policies Hint at Bigger Search, Ad Ambitions — MarketingLand “The Snarkie” — Twitter Ben Thompson: The Multitudes of Social — Stratechery Alex Muir: Facebook is the New Excel — AlexMuir.com WeChat Payments Rocket as China’s Tencent Rides Gaming Wave — Reuters Ben Thompson: Snapchat Follow-up; WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage — Stratechery Daily Update After-show: Ben Thompson: Services, Not … Continue reading Episode 073 — Get Off My Lawn!

Ben and James continue last week’s discussion about Apple’s struggles with the cloud, then discuss why the iPhone SE is such a brilliant move — and how those two things are related. Plus, an after-show about Microsoft and Intel and what makes for an effective leader. Links Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis: Inside Apple’s Cloud Infrastructure Troubles — The Information Ben Thompson: iCloud and Apple’s Founding Myth — Stratechery Adam Lashinsky: The Cook Doctrine at Apple — Fortune Ben Thompson: Apple Music and Apple’s Focus — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Two Bears — Stratechery Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen — Stratechery … Continue reading Episode 072 — Low Hanging Fruit

Ben and James discuss the connection between Amazon’s business model and organizational structure, why Dropbox shouldn’t have left AWS, and why Apple should buy Dropbox. Plus, does WeWork’s valuation make sense, and why such companies are exciting. Links Ben Thompson: The Amazon Tax — Stratechery Brad Stone: The Everything Store — Brad-Stone.com Jeff Bezos: 1997 Letter to Sharholders — Amazon FedEx Downplays Amazon Logistics Threat — The Seattle Times Ben Thompson: Dropbox Leaves AWS, Should UPS and Fedex Be Afraid? — Stratechery Dailiy Update Ben Thompson: Stripe Atlas, An Interview with Patrick Collison — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Venture … Continue reading Episode 071 — Pickaxe Retailers

Ben and James discuss the Amazon Echo, Apple’s cloudy future, Google’s Missed Opportunity, and why Amazon has so much growth potential ahead of it. Links Ben Thompson: Why Uber Fights — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Amazon Echo Expands — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: The Amazon Echo — Stratechery Daily Update Dustin Curtis: Amazon Has No Taste — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Stop Doubting the iPhone — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Android Where? — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Digital Hub 2.0 — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Amazon’s Transformation and the Costco Model — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Amazon the Logistics Company — … Continue reading Episode 070 — Is That an Echo?

Ben and James discuss how the aggregation of media led to a weakening of political parties, opening the door to unexpected candidates. Plus, why Facebook’s focus on engagement might be dangerous, and why diversity is important from day one. This episode is sponsored by Wunder Capital. Make a good investment and do good at the same time through Wunder Capital’s solar investment opportunities. Create an account for free at WunderCapital.com/exponent. Links Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The FANG Playbook — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits … Continue reading Episode 069 — Wrapped Around an Axle