The Critical Path

Questions for Tim Cook; a brief look at the grammar of the organization; Xbox One vs. the Spruce Goose and how to avoid knowing too much.

An update on Airshow, the state of Apple retail, and beginning dialogue on the open question of what is Google's greatest weakness

A new theory of device-enabled presentations; the iTunes ARPU (average revenue per user) and its putative erosion; a definition of smart devices, the cycles of computing as a continuum.

Horace proposes a classification of analysts and their motives and how to think about the value of commentary. We delve into how Apple executives obtain and preserve authority and talk about the disruptive impact of Nintendo. Also a hint about a new Perspective presentation before WWDC.

The Apple Q1 financial performance review with a short look at the impact of warranties on gross margins. The growth question: why financial analysis cannot offer insights into new product creation, and why makers of things think different. Finally, a new installment into Asymcar: why the process of car making is over-integrated, over-serving, and over-concentrated.

We cover misleading headlines with respect to the iPhone at Verizon while questioning the ebb and flow of media tone on Apple news. We also dive deeper into Asymcar and how to think about car manufacturing. Finally, how to approach industry analysis regardless of your industry.

A report on Ùll with recollections from Don Metlon and Michael B. Johnson (Dr. Wave): what is a functional organization and why is that a thing of beauty? What do Pixar and Apple have in common? What is Horace's favorite Pixar movie? Also a new mini-installment on "Asymcar", what's wrong with cars?

This week we cover a bit of Facebook Home, a bit of YouTuber economics, the best analogy ever heard for Google's business model, and we kick off Auto industry analysis with the "Five Whys"-the paradoxical questions that nobody seems to be asking about cars.

Youtubers, BlackBerries and what Facebook is planning with their "Home on Android". Horace and Moisés discuss how co-branding, strategy, and secret deals intertwine, with illustrations from Intel, Sony-Ericsson, and Acura

The more we deconstruct and take apart iTunes, the more we come to respect how it cannot exist independent of the system it's a part of. Its scope and scale and its history and future all indicate that there is more to it than just a store and that it might be a platform in its own right. We get into some more details about all these details and talk about where it came from and where we think it will end up.