Shows
Beyond Devices PodcastWeek 120 – BD Podcast News, State Of The Industry DiscussionJan's taking on a new full-time job and stepping away from his role as an independent analyst, which means we're taking a bit of a break from the podcast after this episode, and will post less frequent episodes in future. With that context, we're in a contemplative mood and decided to make this episode a discussion about the state of the tech industry. We tackle a few distinct themes: the power of incrementalism in the face of a bias towards big inventions; the maturity of key markets and the market structures that's driving us to; changing competitive dynamics and the...
2017-11-2100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 119 – NR – Snap Earnings, Twitter 280, IPhone X First ImpressionsWe're back on our normal schedule for this week's News Roundup episode, and back to covering three distinct topics. This week those are: Snap's disappointing earnings and the proposed changes to the product and strategy there; Twitter's broader rollout of the 280 character limit and criticism over its use of user verification, and Aaron and Jan's first impressions of the iPhone X, which we've both been using for a few days now.
The show notes below include links for the various stories we covered on today's episode.
News stories we covered:
• Snap Earnings Release: https://investor.snap.com/news-releases/2017/11-07-2017-21...
2017-11-1000 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 118 – NR – Apple And Facebook Q3 2017 EarningsWe're a couple of days late with this episode – Jan was traveling late last week, but we still wanted to cover Apple earnings, so we recorded first thing on Monday morning, and should still have another episode later this week. Apple earnings are the major focus for this episode, as we go through the various reporting segments in order of size by revenue. But we also spend a few minutes towards the end of the episode talking about Facebook's earnings.
The show notes below include links for the various stories we covered on today's episode.
News stories we covered:
• Apple Earni...
2017-11-0600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 117 – NR – Amazon, Alphabet, Twitter, And Microsoft EarningsThis week's episode is entirely devoted to Q3 2017 earnings reports which were released this week from four big companies: Amazon, Alphabet, Twitter, and Microsoft. We talk through the highlights of each company's earnings, the strengths and weaknesses (and warning signs) and the broader competitive landscape around these companies. We'll likely do a deep dive on Apple earnings among other things in our next episode.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• Amazon earnings release:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-newsArticle&ID...
2017-10-2700 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 116 – NR – Samsung Dev Conf, Pixel 2 Reviews, Netflix Earnings, IPhone RumorsOn this week's News Roundup, we kick things off with Samsung's Developer Conference and the announcements the company made there, which were more strategic and big picture in nature than most of its hardware announcements. Secondly, we talk about the reviews for Google's Pixel 2 smartphones, which were published this week and were a surprisingly mixed bag, especially with regard to the displays on the larger phones. Third, we cover Netflix's earnings, which kicked of the Q3 earnings season earlier this week, and lastly we talk about the two big sets of iPhone supply and sales rumors currently floating around.
The...
2017-10-2100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 115 – NR – Oculus, Apple:Spielberg, Movies Anywhere, Snapchat Context Cards, TwitterThis week's episode kicks off with a discussion of Netflix's price increases, and the context and reason for those. Next, we do a deep dive on Google's event this week and all that it announced, from new Pixel phones to new members of the Home family and a few other products also unveiled. Lastly, we talk about the other event that happened on Wednesday this week, the launch of the first voice-enabled speaker from Sonos.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• Oculus:
Jan's Take on...
2017-10-1300 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 114 – NR – Netflix Prices, Google Launch, Sonos EventThis week's episode kicks off with a discussion of Netflix's price increases, and the context and reason for those. Next, we do a deep dive on Google's event this week and all that it announced, from new Pixel phones to new members of the Home family and a few other products also unveiled. Lastly, we talk about the other event that happened on Wednesday this week, the launch of the first voice-enabled speaker from Sonos.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• Netflix Price Increases:
Te...
2017-10-0600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 113 – NR – Amazon Event, Twitter 280, Ecosystem Wars, Google Shopping, Google Event PreviewAaron is traveling this week, so this is a solo episode from Jan, which means it covers a little more ground than usual. We kick things off with the Amazon event this week and how to think about the announcements made there. Secondly, Jan talks about Twitter's test of a 280-character limit for tweets, whether it's a good idea, and what else it should be doing as well (or instead). Thirdly, we touch on a theme in the news this week, which is ecosystem wars between Amazon, Apple, and Google, and a variety of movements that were signaled by the...
2017-09-2900 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 112 – NR – Nest Launch, Apple Reviews, Google - HTCThis week's News Roundup episode focused on three news stories. We kicked things off with a discussion of Nest's biggest set of announcements in recent memories and what it means for the smart home market. Next, we discussed the various reviews that came out for Apple's new products this week. And lastly, we talked through Google's investment in / acquisition of part of HTC's smartphone business.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• Nest Launch:
Tech Narratives ($): https://www.technarratives.com/2017/09/20/★-nest-introduces-first-new-hardware-categories-in-years-enters-security-market/
Nest: https://nest.com/press/n...
2017-09-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 111 – NR – Facebook Ad Targeting, Amazon Buying Channels, Apple RoundupThis week's news was rather dominated by Apple, but we did still find some other things to talk about in our News Roundup episode. We kick things off with news that Facebook (as well as Google and Twitter) has been offering advertisers the option of targeting users by some pretty unpleasant terms including several antisemitic ones. Secondly, we talk about news from NBC that Amazon is looking at buying several less-watched TV channels from big traditional TV companies that are looking to offload them. And we couldn't help but cover some of the Apple news that emerged later in the...
2017-09-1600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 111 – QotW – Apple September 2017 EventAs per tradition, this week's Question of the Week episode is a deep dive on Apple's September 2017 event, which happened this morning. Jan was there in person, while Aaron followed along remotely, and in keeping with our usual format we discuss the announcements largely in the order in which they were made, starting with the tribute to Steve Jobs and discussion of the new Apple Park campus, as well as an update on the retail business, and moving into a discussion of the Apple Watch, Apple TV, and iPhone product announcements.
Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:
Apple...
2017-09-1300 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 110 – NR – Roku IPO, Streaming Partners, Amazon HQ2, EquifaxThis week's News Roundup episode covers four major topics. We kick off with a discussion of the Roku IPO filing and the launch of the Roku movie channel, and the implications of the company's increasingly ad- centric business model. Secondly, we discuss various streaming partnerships including T-Mobile giving away Netflix, Spotify bundling Hulu into its student subscriptions in the US, and Disney moving away from Netflix. Third is a discussion of Amazon's search for a second headquarters, and we finish up with a brief chat about the Equifax hack.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on...
2017-09-0800 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 110 – QotW – Mark Bergen On Alphabet And GoogleAs with our last Question of the Week episode, this one is an interview rather than a discussion between Aaron and Jan. This time around, Jan talks to Mark Bergen, who is the Alphabet and Google beat reporter at Bloomberg, and previously did the same job at Recode. As such, he's one of the most knowledgeable people out there about what's going on both at Google and the broader set of Alphabet companies, and has lots of interesting thoughts about all of them. We talk about the Alphabet structure and how that's working out for the company, some of the...
2017-09-0600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 109 – NR – Fitbit Ionic, Uber CEO, Google ARCore & EU, Cortana - AlexaThis week Aaron was traveling and so you get a solo episode from Jan again, with five news items from this week. First up is Fitbit's announcement of its Ionic smartwatch, which will be available in October. Second is Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and what he means for the company. Third is Google's surprise announcement of ARCore, its response to Apple's ARKit developer tools for augmented reality apps on the smartphone. Fourth is another Google story, this time its intent to comply with the European Commission's order for changes to its Google Shopping service in Europe. And lastly, the...
2017-09-0100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 108 – NR – Samsung Note8, Amazon - Whole Foods, Apple CarThis is our News Roundup episode for the week, and as usual we discuss a few of the week's big news stories. First up is Samsung's launch of the Note8 device, the successor to last year's ill-fated Note7, which took place this week in New York City. Jan attended in person and shares some of his thoughts, but we also talk about some of the other ins and outs of the device and how it might do. Secondly, we talk about Amazon's very rapid progress in closing its Whole Foods acquisition and the immediate benefits customers of Whole Foods will...
2017-08-2500 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 108 – QotW – Mary Jo Foley On MicrosoftAfter a couple of weeks off for the Question of the Week episode, we have an interview with Mary Jo Foley, a reporter who's been covering Microsoft pretty much exclusively for 20 years, and who's one of the most knowledgeable and respected journalists on the Microsoft beat. We talk through the state of Microsoft and the various transitions and cultural shifts it's going through at the moment, whether things really are changing at Microsoft, how, and why. But we also talk through some more topical items about Microsoft including the recent Consumer Reports controversy over the Surface line, layoffs in the...
2017-08-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 107 – NR – Essential Phone, Apple Watch, Original Video ContentAaron's back, and so we're back to our usual back and forth format, this time around three major topics. First up, we talk about the belated launch of the Essential Phone from Andy Rubin's company, and the reviews which came out on Friday. Secondly, we discuss recent reports about the Apple Watch, including the possibility of an imminent LTE version and suggestions that Apple is talking to health insurer Aetna about subsidizing devices for its members. Lastly, we talk original video content, in the context of Netflix's hiring of Shonda Rhimes and Apple's reported $1 billion investment this year in originals.
...
2017-08-1900 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 106 – NR – Google Memo, Uber Board, Netflix/Disney, Facebook Watch, CR & Surface, SoundCloudWith Aaron away, this is a solo episode of the News Roundup by Jan. Because there's only one of us talking, there are more topics than usual on this week's episode: six, to be precise. These are: the controversial Google memo; Uber board shenanigans; Netflix and Disney's announcements this week; Facebook's new Watch tab; Consumer Reports' decision to withdraw its recommendation of two Surface models from Microsoft; and the conclusion of the recent SoundCloud funding saga.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• Google Memo:
Tw...
2017-08-1100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 105 – NR – GoPro & Fitbit Earnings, FB Hardware, iPhone Leaks, Market Share NumbersThis week's News Roundup episode features a discussion of GoPro and Fitbit earnings, how they're similar and how they're different; Bloomberg's reporting on potential Facebook hardware for the home; iPhone details emerging from the HomePod firmware leak; and a discussion of recent numbers on market share and shipments in the smartphone, tablet, and wearables markets. As usual, we spend a few minutes on each topic, with each of us chiming in.
The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate.
News stories we covered:
• GoPro and Fitbit earnings:
1. GoPro earnings release: ht...
2017-08-0400 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 105 – QotW – Apple Q2 2017 EarningsWe're back with another deep dive, this time around our quarterly review of Apple's earnings for the June 2017 quarter, Apple's fiscal Q3. We talk through three sets of things: the numbers announced for the quarter, the guidance offered for next quarter, and additional comments on topics like China, augmented reality, autonomy, and original video content. We dive into the performance of Apple's various business lines, both in terms of what's been happening and what we expect to happen going forward, and quite a bit more.
Here are some links relevant to today's discussion:
• Apple's earnings press release:
https://www.apple.com...
2017-08-0300 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 104 – NR – Twitter And Amazon Earnings, IPod Line Culled, End Of FlashThis is the week's News Roundup episode. We'd hoped to have a Question of the Week for you too, but we had a technical hitch in recording and it'll be out at some point in the next couple of weeks instead, with a deep dive on Apple earnings as usual next week. For today, we cover two other companies' earnings: Twitter and Amazon. Both offered more of the same, albeit in very different ways, with Twitter seeing more revenue declines and anemic user growth, while Amazon posted rapid growth but a big drop in margins. We also talk about Apple's...
2017-07-2900 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 103 – NR – Netflix Earnings, Lyft Self-Driving System, Google Glass, Twitter AbuseHere's our News Roundup episode for the week, with a deeper dive on a few of the big news items from the past few days. We kick off earnings season with a discussion of Netflix earnings and what if anything it has to worry about in future. Secondly, we discuss Lyft's announcement that it's working on a self-driving system, as a complement to recent announcements on working with partners on this area. Third, we talk about the rebirth of Google Glass as an enterprise and industrial product, and the broader implications for related products like Microsoft's HoloLens and AR headsets...
2017-07-2100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 103 – QotW – Apple Health And WellnessAfter a couple of weeks' break, we're back with another Question of the Week, this time focused on Apple's health and wellness products and services and the ecosystem it's built around them. Jan attended a set of briefings last week in which Apple laid out its portfolio and that of its device and software partners, and it makes for a good jumping off point for an evaluation of the breadth of Apple's portfolio in this space, and the value third parties add. We run through a brief history of Apple's efforts in this area, then discuss the current state of...
2017-07-2000 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 102 – NR – Microsoft Broadband, Prime Day, Uber - Yandex, Facebook VROnce again, there's no Question of the Week episode this week, but here's our roundup of the major news of the week. We start with Microsoft's push to expand access to broadband in the rural United States through the use of wireless technology running in white spaces spectrum. The second item is Amazon's third annual Prime Day and what it's likely to mean for the company. Third, we discuss Uber's capitulation in the Russian ride sharing business and its decision to merge its operations there with those of Yandex, the dominant market player. And lastly, we talk about the report...
2017-07-1400 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 101 – NR – Jawbone, Preliminary Samsung, LG, Xiaomi Results, Amazon Prime Subs, IPhone Touch IDThere's no Question of the Week episode this week, but here's our roundup of the major news of the week. We kick things off with a discussion of Jawbone's reported liquidation and what it might mean for the broader wearables market. Secondly, we discuss preliminary disclosure of financial or operating results from Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, which emerged this week. Third is a quick evaluation of a report from CIRP that Amazon now has 85 million Prime subscribers in the US, which Jan is skeptical of. And last is a discussion of the reports this week that Apple might ditch the...
2017-07-0700 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 100 – NR – Google & EU, Facebook 2 Billion, Amazon Echo Show ReviewsThis week's News Roundup episode focused on three major news items, plus one smaller related one. First up, we discuss the European Commission's action against Google over Google Shopping integration in search, including a 2.4 billion Euro fine. Secondly, we discuss Facebook's announcement of 2 billion monthly active users and its significance, as well as a subtle shift recently in Facebook's focus. In the context of those two items about giant companies, we also talk briefly about the Canadian Supreme Court's ruling that Google needs to take down links in search to IP-infringing product listings not just in Canada but globally and...
2017-06-3000 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 100 – QotW – Voice And AmazonThis is our Question of the Week episode for this week, with our News Roundup to follow on Friday. This week's question is "Is Voice the Next Big User Interface, and is Amazon Really Winning? " The question comes from the prevailing narrative in the media, which often seems to hold both that voice is going to be the user interface that replaces current ones like touch screens and smartphones, and that Amazon is dominating that voice interface market. We pour some cold water on both assertions and use survey and other data to evaluate the true state of...
2017-06-2800 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 99 – NR – Uber Changes, Amazon Whole Foods, New Xbox, Apple TV Execs, Gmail ScanningThis is our first episode for two weeks, as Jan's been traveling, and since Aaron is now busy this is a solo News Roundup from Jan on some of the big news stories from the last two weeks. On the agenda today are all the big Uber news including the Holder Report and the resignation of Travis Kalanick as CEO; Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods; a new Xbox from Microsoft; the hiring of two former Sony TV execs by Apple; and an end to email scanning for the purposes of targeting ads by Gmail.
As usual, the show notes below...
2017-06-2300 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 98 – NR – Uber Hires And Fires, Boston Dynamics Sale, Apple Business Chat &Following our deep dive on Apple’s WWDC news on Monday, here is our News Roundup episode for the week. We kick things off with a bunch of Uber news, much of it involving hiring and firing of executives and others, in a sign that Uber may finally be taking its cultural problems seriously. Secondly, we talk about Alphabet’s sale of its Boston Dynamics and Schaft robotics businesses to SoftBank. And third, we talk about two other bits of Apple news from later in the week: Apple’s launch of Business Chat, and news that it won’t include “gigabit” m...
2017-06-0900 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 98 – QotW – WWDC 2017This is our annual deep-dive episode on announcements from Apple's WWDC developer conference. We handle the news from today's keynote in more or less chronological order:
• Introduction, tvOS, watchOS
• macOS and new Mac hardware
• iOS and iPad
• HomePod.
We discuss each of the announcements and share our thoughts and what we think the implications and prospects are for the products announced.
Here are two links relevant to today's discussion:
Jan's media comment on WWDC:
https://jackdawresearch.com/2017/06/05/apple-hosts-its-most-hardware-centric-wwdc-in-years/
Apple's Newsroom, with press releases on all of today's announcements:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/
You can also find the podcast on iTunes (itun...
2017-06-0600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 97 – NR – Essential Phone, Nest Cam IQ, Apple TidbitsThis is our News Roundup episode for the week. Our three topics this time around were the Essential Phone and related products and services announced by Android creator Andy Rubin; the Nest Cam IQ announced by Nest; and a set of minor news items regarding Apple, including a report from late last week about a dedicated AI chip, another that manufacturing has begun on Apple's home speaker; and two press releases from Apple around Swift Playgrounds and $70 billion paid out to developers cumulatively.
As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below.
News stories we...
2017-06-0200 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 97 – QotW – Mary Meeker's Internet DeckWe skipped last week's Question of the Week but it's back this week with a deep dive on Kleiner Perkins analyst Mary Meeker's annual deck on Internet trends, which was delivered at the Code Conference run by Recode. It's a massive deck with 355 slides and 11 separate topics, but Aaron spent some time pulling out some of the most interesting insights on three topics: Mobile, China, and India, and shares both those and some thoughts on how to approach the deck with us.
Here's a link to the deck and video of Meeker's presentation:
https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15693686/mary-meeker-kleiner-perkins-kpcb-slides-internet-trends-code-2017
You can...
2017-06-0100 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 96 – NR – New Surface Pro, LeEco Meltdown, Assistant Ads, Apple News EditorThis is our News Roundup episode for the week and also our only episode, as we didn't have time for a Question of the Week episode this week. This was something of a quiet week with only a couple of major announcements, but we still found some stuff to cover. We talked about Microsoft's new Surface Pro, LeEco's US retrenchment, Google execs' comments about monetization Assistant and Home, and Apple News hiring its first Editor in Chief.
As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below.
News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise...
2017-05-2600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 95 – NR – Spotify FInancials, Uber/Waymo Lawsuit, Apple TidbitsThis is our News Roundup episode for the week. Having discussed the week's big Google news in the Question of the Week deep dive episode, this one covers the other tech news, including Spotify's 2016 financials, developments in the Uber/Waymo lawsuit, and a grab bag of Apple news including its acquisition of Lattice Data, reports of Tim Cook wearing an Apple Watch-connected glucose monitor, and manufacturing iPhones in India.
As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below.
News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted):
Spotify financials: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/18/★-spotifys-losses-widen-revenue-per-paying-user-drops-in-2016/
Ub...
2017-05-1900 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 95 – QotW – Google IOFor the second week in a row, our Question of the Week episode focuses on a developer event, this time around Google's I/O conference. We focus mostly on the first day keynote, which covered a ton of ground in two hours, from a general pitch around Google's AI and machine learning capabilities to the Google Assistant and Home, Google Photos, YouTube, Android, and VR and AR. We discuss most of these things and the overall structure and focus and what it says about Google's strategy.
The following three posts may also be of interest to you:
• Jan's media comment on...
2017-05-1800 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 94 – NR – Echo Show, Snap Earnings, Uber Court CaseThis is our News Roundup episode for the week, in which we discuss the announcement of Amazon's Echo Show device with a screen; Snap's first earnings as a public company; and Uber's failure to have its court case with Waymo settled in arbitration and related news. Aaron's away this week, so this is a solo effort from Jan.
As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below.
News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links):
Amazon Echo Show:
https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/09/★-amazon-announces-echo-show-an-echo-with-a-screen-and-video-calling/
Alexa Calling and Messaging:
https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/09/amazon-announces-alexa-calling-and-messaging-coming-to-other-echo-devices/
Snap Earnings:
https://www.te...
2017-05-1200 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 94 – QotW – Microsoft BuildThis is our Question of the Week episode, with a deep dive on Microsoft's Build developer conference and the announcements it made there. As Aaron is away this week, Jan – who attended Build in person – talks through the major announcements from the two keynotes. The first part of the episode discusses the first-day keynote, which focused on cloud and AI as well as Satya Nadella's new vision for the company, which is all about the Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge. The second half of the episode discusses the second day's keynote, where the focus was on Windows and Microsoft's vision for...
2017-05-1200 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 93 – NR – Microsoft Announcements, Hulu Live TV, YouTube & Twitter TV ShowsEarlier this week, our Question of the Week episode was our quarterly deep dive on Apple's earnings. This News Roundup episode covers some of the week's other big tech news:
• The first eighteen minutes or so of the episode are a discussion of Microsoft's education-focused event in New York, and we talk both about Windows 10 S and the Surface Laptop, and Jan shares his theory about what's really going on with Windows 10 S.
• Our second topic is Hulu's long-awaited launch of its Live TV offering, which was announced this week and which sparks a discussion about the state of online pay T...
2017-05-0500 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 93 – QotW – Apple EarningsThis is our Question of the Week episode, with the question being what we should make of Apple's March quarter earnings, reported on Tuesday this week, so this is our quarterly deep dive on Apple's earnings. We talk through each of the major product segments – iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (and wearables generally), Mac, and Services, and also talk a little about trends in China and in R&D spending, among other things.
You might also be interested in Jan's Tech Narratives post (free even if you're not a subscriber) on Apple earnings – https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/02/★-apple-reports-continued-revenue-growth-slight-dip-in-iphone-strong-services/ – or his tweets imm...
2017-05-0300 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 92 – NR – Amazon News, Apple Payments, Mobile & Twitter EarningsEarlier this week, we did our Question of the Week episode, which covered the state of retail, while this News Roundup episode covers some of the week's big tech news:
• Three Amazon topics: its announcement of the Echo Look fashion-focused device; its launch of its "Subscribe with Amazon" hub; and its Q1 earnings
• Recode's report that Apple is working on a peer to peer payments service a la Venmo and possibly also a debit card
• Mobile earnings from Verizon (last week), AT&T, and T-Mobile, and a brief discussion on bundling and TV too
• Twitter's earnings, which featured the...
2017-04-2800 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 92 – QotW – RetailThis is the Question of the Week episode for this week, and the News Roundup episode should be up on Friday.
This week's question is about whether the death of physical retail has been exaggerated, and ultimately what the state of physical retail is in a world where Amazon and e-commerce in general seems to be wreaking havoc. We talk through recent trends in retail, from the supposed apocalypse to those companies investing despite the downturn including Apple and T-Mobile. Aaron uses the jobs-to-be-done framework to talk through what people hire retail to do for them, and how physical retail...
2017-04-2600 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 91 – QotW – Facebook And InnovationThis is the Question of the Week episode for this week, and the News Roundup episode will be up tomorrow.
This week, Jan attended F8 and our Question of the Week is "What's the state of innovation at Facebook?" We use Facebook's F8 announcements and presentations as a lens to look at how Facebook is innovating both in the products it's creating today and in the research and development work it's doing over the longer term. We also talk about what Facebook needs to do differently.
As usual, you’ll find some links to related content below:
Facebook F8...
2017-04-2000 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 89 – NR – Apple GPU And Mac, Comcast Mobile, Facebook Content, Samsung ResultsHere is this week's News Roundup episode, which is a solo effort from Jan as Aaron is traveling. This week, we cover:
• Two unusual announcements of future plans from Apple: its intention to build its own GPU, and its roadmap for pro Macs
• Comcast's announcement of its wireless service, Xfinity Mobile
• Facebook's testing of a tab surfacing recommended content not shared by your friends
• Samsung's preliminary financial results for Q1 2017.
Links to Tech Narratives comments on each of these news items are below:
• Apple and Imagination Technologies GPU announcement:
https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/03/apple-gpu-supplier-imagination-tech-says-apple-plans-to-build-its-own-gpu-in-1-2-years/
• Apple Mac announcement:
https://www.technarratives...
2017-04-0700 minBeyond Devices PodcastWeek 88 – QotW – Samsung Galaxy S8 EventThis is the second week of our new split format, and this is the Question of the Week episode. This week's News Roundup should follow on Friday.
This week's question is "What do you make of the Samsung announcements this week?" Samsung held an event on Wednesday in New York City at which it announced its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, as well as several other accessories, including updated Gear 360 and Gear VR devices, and a new mesh WiFi router-plus-IoT-hub called Connect Home. Jan, who was at the event, talks through some obvious questions about the...
2017-03-3000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 85 – Uber's Ethical Vacuum, Mac vs PCThis week's News Roundup covers the Wikileaks CIA leak on device hacking and the misreporting that's been happening around it this week; two "fake news" stories – Facebook's commencement of its flagging of fake news and Google's failure to surface true news in its search snippets feature; and reports that Nest is working on some new smart home gear.
Our Question of the Week is "Can Uber be saved from itself?" Uber has been through the ringer the last few weeks as a result of a set of mishaps largely of its own making, but there's also a...
2017-03-0900 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 83 – State of Online Advertising, US Wireless Market UpdateOur News Roundup this week covers former Uber employee Susan Fowler's revelations about how she was treated as a female engineer at the company, and the subsequent announcement of an investigation by a semi-independent panel; Waze's expansion into becoming a carpooling service; and Microsoft's launch of Skype Lite, an innovative low-bandwidth version of Skype for emerging markets which launched in India this week.
Our Question of the Week is "What is the true state of online advertising?" We've all heard lots about Google and Facebook's massive revenues from online advertising, and their increasing dominance of the space, but...
2017-02-2300 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 81 – Business and Politics, News RoundupWe have a slightly different format this week – Jan lost his voice and so we took out the third segment we usually have and spent a little more time on the Question of the Week, where Aaron was going to be doing most of the talking.
Our News Roundup covers three news items as usual. First up: Oculus's decision to close 200 of its Best Buy demo areas for VR, which some have taken as a sign that VR is fizzling. Second, we talk about Apple's recent hiring of a former Amazon Fire TV executive, and what it might mean about Ap...
2017-02-1000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 80 – Tech Narratives, Apple EarningsA quick note: we had an glitch at Aaron's end, which dramatically reduced the quality of his side of the audio, so he sounds like he's on the other end of a phone line rather than using a high powered mic. We're not sure what happened, but it wasn't fixable, unfortunately. Our apologies, but things should be back to normal next week.
The three topics in our News Roundup this week are pretty diverse. We start with Fitbit's preliminary earnings, which were below guidance and triggered layoffs at the company, undermining the company's argument that its recent slowing growth is...
2017-02-0200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 79 – Apple Employee Departures, Q4 2016 Earnings Preview Part 2This week, our News Roundup features three topics: the conclusion and announcement of the findings of Samsung's Note7 investigation; Samsung and LG's earnings for Q4 2016; and Snap's various preparations and signs of increasing maturity ahead of an IPO.
Our Question of the Week is "Are the recent departures from Apple a sign of trouble?" Aaron talks us through some of the recent departures across several parts of Apple's business, talks about possible explanations, provides some historical context with a discussion of earlier departures, and draws some conclusions about the significance of the current round. We also talk particularly...
2017-01-2600 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 78 – Autonomous Driving, Earnings Preview Part 1This week, we're back to our usual format. Our News Roundup features three topics: in streaming video, Netflix reported earnings this week and Hulu indicated that its download feature is coming soon; in the Android world, The Information reported that Android One might be coming to the US, while Pixels are still in short supply; and in the ongoing saga of Apple and its pro users, Apple updated Logic Pro X and GarageBand for iOS.
Our Question of the Week is "what is the state of autonomous driving and where does it go from here?" We do a...
2017-01-1900 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 75 – 2016 Year in Review, AirPodsOur News Roundup this week covers three topics. We start with a second week in a row of Amazon news, this time the announcement of a drone-based delivery trial in Cambridge, England. Next, we discuss a couple of pieces of news about autonomous driving – Google's restructuring of its self-driving car efforts into Waymo, a separate entity under the Alphabet umbrella, and Uber's self-driving cab testing in San Francisco. Lastly, the news of yet another massive Yahoo hack.
Our usual Question of the Week segment this week becomes Questions of the Year, as our way of looking back on 2016. We answer a...
2016-12-1500 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 74 – Music Streaming, Are Gadgets Dead?Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, T-Mobile's announcement of Digits, a service which will allow customers to use their single number on multiple devices, or multiple numbers on a single device. Second, we discuss two news items relating to Apple and AI: the announcement that its researchers will now be able to publish their research, and second the slides from its talk this week at an AI conference. Third, Amazon's announcement of Amazon Go, a sort of grocery store of the future.
Our Question of the Week is "How is streaming changing the music industry?"...
2016-12-0800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 73 – Apple Structure, State of SmartwatchesOur News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, two stories about home assistants, with a report that Amazon will make an Echo with a screen, and another that Microsoft will add features to Windows 10 to allow PCs to serve as ambient voice assistants. Secondly, two pieces of news from the digital video market, with AT&T launching the long-awaited DirecTV Now service, and Netflix announcing a download feature. Lastly, we discuss Bloomberg's report that Apple will begin using drones for mapping data.
Our Question of the Week is "Should Apple change from a functional organization to a...
2016-12-0200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 72 – Cord Cutting, Tech ThanksgivingThis week's episode is a special Thanksgiving episode for our listeners here in the US.
Our News Roundup covers three stories. The first two are WiFi-related, with Google making its new Google Wifi devices available for sale and providing a self-made review of sorts as well, and Bloomberg reporting that Apple will discontinue its line of AirPort WiFi routers. Our third story is Instagram's launch of both live video and disappearing photos.
Our Question of the Week is "What is the state of cord cutting in the US pay TV market?" Jan talks through the research and analysis...
2016-11-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 71 – Samsung buys Harman, MacBook Pro Review and Apple DesignThis week's episode is back to our usual format, with a News Roundup to kick things off, a Question of the Week, and a third segment, followed by a Weekly Pick.
Our News Roundup covers three stories: firstly, Snap (nee Snapchat) released its Spectacles hardware and reportedly confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC; secondly, Twitter introduced some muting options to help combat abuse and harassment, while also kicking several figures from the "alt-right" movement off the service'; and thirdly, the fake news story we discussed last week continued to evolve this week with Facebook and Google both...
2016-11-1600 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 70 – Election & Tech, Google Hardware ReviewIn this week's episode, we cover two topics: technology and the US presidential election, and a review of Google's three new hardware products: Home, Pixel, and Daydream View.
Our first topic, which takes up a little over the first half of the episode, is this week's US presidential election. We do share our personal thoughts on the outcome briefly, but most of this segment is devoted to the role technology and particularly social media played in the election, and then the likely outcome of the election for tech policy. We specifically discuss trade, M&A activity and the media...
2016-11-1200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 67 – LeEco, Project Titan, Q3 Earnings Preview, Pixel ReviewsThis week's News Roundup is a little longer than usual as we do a deeper than expected dive into three topics. First off, we discuss the US coming-out party for LeEco, a Chinese consumer technology company that's taking a content-centric approach. Secondly, we discuss reports that Apple is scaling back and refocusing its car initiative. And lastly, we talk about Google's apparent deal with CBS as part of its planned YouTube-based over-the-top TV service.
Our Question of the Week this week is all about Q3 earnings and what to expect from seven of the top consumer technology companies: Alphabet, Amazon...
2016-10-2000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 66 – Conflict Minerals, The De-Democratization of PublishingOur News Roundup returns this week with three topics: first off, the latest installment of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 saga; secondly, Amazon's launch of two new streaming music services and the implications for the sector; and thirdly, the figures on iOS 10 adoption and what they tell us.
Our Question of the Week is "What is the human impact of mineral sourcing in consumer electronics?" Aaron talks us through the meaning and significance of the phrase "conflict minerals", but he also explains the latest reporting from the Washington Post on two additional minerals used in consumer devices...
2016-10-1300 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 63 – Research on Product Recalls, iPhone 7 & Watch 2 ReviewOur News Roundup this week covers the reports that Apple has been considering an investment in or outright acquisition of British supercar manufacturer McLaren; the release of Google's Allo messaging app; and Comcast's announcement that it will finally launch its long-rumored cellular wireless service sometime in 2017.
Our Question of the Week this week is "What can the research on past product recalls teach us about the Samsung Galaxy Note7 recall?" We've talked several times previously about Samsung's recall of the Note7, but this week Aaron spent some time looking at the history of product recalls and reading some...
2016-09-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 62 – Verily Overview, iPhone Reviews ReviewOur News Roundup this week covers the ongoing fallout from the Samsung Galaxy Note7 battery problems; the story that Amazon is going to be experimenting with a 30-hour work week for some of its employees; and the expansion of comment filtering functionality to all users by Instagram. We discuss each of these topics for a few minutes and talk about the context and implications. We'll likely do a Question of the Week next week on consumer product recalls using the Note7 recall as a jumping-off point.
Our Question of the Week this week is "What is Verily and what...
2016-09-1500 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 61 – Apple September 2016 EventThis week's episode is entirely taken up with a discussion of Apple's September 2016 iPhone and Apple Watch event. Jan attended in person and Aaron watched remotely, and we recorded this discussion a couple of hours after the conclusion of the event while Jan was still in San Francisco.
We talked about the event in the order in which it unfolded, with the first 10 minutes of our discussion devoted to Tim Cook's various up-front "Updates" and then an in-depth discussion of the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7.
Jan refers to several videos he captured of demos in the hands-on...
2016-09-0800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 60 – Social Media Insights, Apple Event PreviewIn our News Roundup this week, we talk about the EU's action against Apple with regard to its Irish tax arrangements; Facebook's firing of the editors who used to handle its Trending Topics section, and the somewhat predictable results; and the news from the first day of German tech trade show IFA, which kicked off on Wednesday.
Our Question of the Week this week is a little different, in that instead of asking each other questions as we usually do, we've brought a guest on. Alison Faulkner is the creator of the Alison Show, who's an event producer, a writer...
2016-09-0100 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 59 – Tim Cook's 5 Years, Intel IDF AnnouncementsOur News Roundup this week covers the Backchannel article about Apple's AI efforts; Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora's attempts to negotiate new rights deals with music labels; and the shutdown of John Gruber's Vesper note-taking app for iOS (and what it says about the state of the App Store and the app economy more broadly).
Our Question of the Week is "How should we view Tim Cook's first five years as Apple CEO?" and builds off the blog post Jan did this week with lots of charts comparing Apple at the beginning and end of Tim Cook's first five...
2016-08-2500 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 58 – Unsticking Twitter, What We UseOur News Roundup this week covers the Samsung Note7 reviews that came out this week; Google's launch of its Duo video calling app for Android and iOS; and Apple's announcement of an R&D center in China.
Our Question of the Week is "Why does Twitter seem stuck, and how can it unstick itself?" Jan answers questions about what makes Twitter seem stuck, from its user growth to monetization in the US to its product; why Twitter seems to be executing so slowly on its strategic priorities; and what Twitter can and should do to fix itself...
2016-08-1800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 57 – Business Ethics, Verizon-Yahoo AcquisitionWe're back to our usual format this week, with a News Roundup, Question of the Week, and a third topic, as well as a Weekly Pick. In our News Roundup, we cover what's been happening with Nintendo's share price recently, this week's reports about Apple devices due in the fall, and the acquisition of Jet.com by Wal-Mart. Our Question of the Week this week is a little unusual in that it's focused on a new book of which Aaron is a co-author, on the subject of business ethics. We talk about the book but also about ethics in business...
2016-08-1100 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 55 – Pokemon Go Prospects, Facebook Live VideoOur News Roundup this week covers Amazon's Prime Day, Twitter's recent deals and experiments around professionally produced live video, and Microsoft's announcement of Surface as a Service.
Our Question of the Week is "What do the economics of the mobile gaming industry tell us about the future of Pokemon Go?" The game has burst dramatically onto the scene, and already provided a nice boost for Nintendo's share price, but past experience suggests massive hits can be short-lived in the mobile gaming market. We discuss the potential hurdles and challenges for the game, and for Nintendo as it finally...
2016-07-1400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 54 – Apple Watch Sensors, Tesla Autopilot CrashOur News Roundup this week covers three topics: BlackBerry killing off its Classic device (though refuting reports that it's killing the BlackBerry 10 OS); Comcast and Netflix reaching a deal to put Netflix on Comcast set top boxes; and a report that the new iPhone will start at 32GB rather than 16GB of onboard storage. As usual, we discuss the ins and outs and implications of each of these stories in the opening segment.
Our second segment is our Question of the Week, which this time is "What new health sensors should we expect in Apple Watch 2 this fall?"...
2016-07-0700 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 53 – Apple in India, Facebook News Feed ChangesOur News Roundup this week covers three topics: Microsoft's announcement that Windows 10 now has 350 installations; Twitter's addition of stickers to photos shared through the platform; and Amazon's new strategy for selling third-party Android phones with ads on the lock screen.
Our Question of the Week is "How is Apple doing in India, and how can it do better?" It builds on research Jan has been doing over the last few weeks on what Apple might do to boost its fortunes – and specifically the iPhone's fortunes – in India. We talk about the unique characteristics of the Indian market, and how...
2016-06-3000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 52 – Differential Privacy, macOS Sierra Reviews, iPhone 7 ReportsWe returned to our usual format this week, kicking things off with a News Roundup, and including a Question of the Week and Weekly Pick.
Our News Roundup covered three topics: Instagram's release of user numbers, including 500 million monthly active users and 300 million daily active users; Tencent's acquisition of a majority stake in Supercell for $8.6 billion; and BlackBerry's earnings.
Our Question of the Week is: "How can differential privacy make my life better?" Aaron did a bunch of homework on this concept, which Apple introduced to many of us at WWDC last week but has actually been around...
2016-06-2400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 50 – Our First Year, WWDC 2016 PreviewThis week's episode marks the one-year anniversary of the first episode, with both episodes offering previews of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).
Given the anniversary, we thought it would be fun to do a little retrospective of some of the things we've covered on the podcast over the past year, and so we made that another topic of discussion on the latest episode. There's now a permanent page on the site where you can easily see a full listing of past episodes, so you can easily browse them. But we spent some time highlighting some of our favorite episodes from...
2016-06-0900 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 49 – State of the Smart Home, Mary Meeker DeckThis week's News Roundup covered three topics: Microsoft's deal with Xiaomi to share patents and pre-install Office and Skype on Xiaomi devices; rumors of a new 5K display from Apple; and a new EU Code of Conduct on policing hate speech signed by major American tech companies. We discuss the ins and outs of each of these stories and their implications.
Our Question of the Week is "What's the state of the smart home, and how will it change?" This topic builds off a recent piece Jan wrote for Techpinions which was syndicated to Recode, titled "The...
2016-06-0200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 48 – Consumer Tech in Africa, Apple & AIOur News Roundup covered three topics: Spotify's financials, which Jan wrote about earlier in the week; Microsoft's decision to exit the consumer smartphone market; and Twitter's planned change to the 140-character limit. Our Question of the Week piggybacks off Aaron's recent trip to Ghana, which is one of a number of trips he's made there over the last nine years. The question is "What's the state of consumer technology in Africa?" and we spent a good amount of timing doing a deep dive into this topic, based not just on Aaron's personal observations but on additional research (see...
2016-05-2600 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 45 – Music Industry InterviewAs we said last week, Aaron is out of the country for the next couple of weeks on a trip to Ghana, in Africa. As such, we're switching up the format of the podcast a little in his absence. This week, that means you get an interview between Jan and Ryan Wright, who was formerly SVP, Global Marketing at Sony Music, and who is now CMO at music startup Kobalt. Our conversation kicked off with a brief history of Ryan's career in the music industry, which included launching the Backstreet Boys in Korea and working with other artists such as...
2016-05-0400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 44 – Apple March 2016 Quarter EarningsFor the next few weeks, we're going to be messing with our usual format as Aaron will be traveling. This week, the only topic was Apple's earnings for the March quarter. The first twenty minutes or so are mostly Aaron, who had just a brief window before heading to the airport, and the second twenty minutes are just Jan sharing his take on the earnings report and riffing off his two posts on the blog this week. Aaron also explains at the beginning why he's heading off to Ghana for two and a half weeks.
Over the next couple of...
2016-04-2700 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 42 – Evaluating Corporate VC, Facebook F8Our News Roundup this week featured the following topics:
* Amazon's new Kindle Oasis
* KGI Securities' downbeat Apple Watch forecast for 2016
* Hands on with the iPad Pro.
Our Question of the Week is: "What is corporate venture capital and is it worth doing?" Aaron talks us through this subset of the world of VC, where corporations such as Google and Intel engage in venture funding of startups, based on research by David Benson (Aaron's brother in law) and others. We discuss CVC's reputation for being "dumb money", what it's intended to achieve, the risks associated with it...
2016-04-1400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 40 – Apple & Google CSR Initiatives, Build 2016This week's News Roundup covers three topics:
* Music News – Tidal had its one-year anniversary and announced 3 million subscribers, while SoundCloud launched its paid subscription, SoundCloud Go.
* The FBI/Apple case regarding the San Bernardino shooter finally ended as the FBI announced it had been able to access the phone with help from a third party
* Foxconn finalized its acquisition offer for Sharp.
Our Question of the Week tackled the corporate social responsibility efforts of Apple and Google and what other companies can learn from them. Aaron, who is a business professor who specializes in business ethics, talked us through the hi...
2016-03-3100 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 39 – Apple March 2016 EventThis episode of the podcast is a slight departure from our usual pattern. We dispensed with our News Roundup, Question of the Week, and Weekly Pick segments and simply spent the whole episode talking about today's Apple event in Cupertino. Jan was at the event, and so we recorded with Jan sitting in a car just outside 1 Infinite Loop – as such, apologies for any audio issues this time around. We covered the content of the event pretty much in order, with a discussion up front of the three non-product-related topics: privacy and security, the environment, and health; followed by discussions of...
2016-03-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 38 – Apple Event Preview, Apple News Opens UpOur News Roundup this week covers:
* The announcement by navigation company HERE that it will discontinue its apps for Windows 8 and Windows 10
* Sony's big PlayStation VR announcement
* A Recode article about a healthcare startup that's working on an electrocardiogram that will work with the Apple Watch (and is led by Vic Gundotra, who formerly ran Google+).
We decided to forgo our usual Question of the Week this week and instead make a preview of Apple's event next week our main topic for discussion. We discussed Jan's Techpinions post last week about the iPhone SE and how that might be priced...
2016-03-1700 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 37 – What is 5G? Samsung's New PhonesOur News Roundup this week covers three new items: Android's early developer preview of Android N; the conclusion of the Apple eBooks trial; and the debut of Amazon's first live TV show. Our Question of the Week is "What is 5G? And should you care?" and piggybacks on an article Jan wrote for Techpinions on Monday offering something of a primer on the technology. We talk through the first four Gs briefly, and in particular talk about what's unique about 4G, before moving on to where the process of defining 5G has got to, and when you're likely...
2016-03-1000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 36 – Explaining the All Writs Act, AT&T's New Video OffersOur News Roundup covers three topics, triggered by two news stories each:
* Yahoo – stories about Verizon being the most likely buyer for the core business, and indications that Yahoo may have to further write down the Tumblr asset
* Live video – Twitter is focusing heavily on live in general and live video specifically in 2016, while there are also signs Facebook is getting increasingly serious about this space
* Mobile payments – there are reports MasterCard will expand Apple Pay into several new markets this year, and Google is trialling a new "Hands Free" payment technology in the Bay Area.
Our Question of the...
2016-03-0300 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 35 – State of the Smartphone Market, more Apple/FBIThis week, our News Roundup covers Apple's response to beta users' feedback on iPad Pro Pencil navigation support in iOS 9.3, smartphone announcements from Mobile World Congress, and Fitbit's earnings. Our Question of the Week is "What's the state of the global smartphone market?", which Jan addresses. We talk about whether the smartphone market is growing, and where, which players are growing (and which aren't), we talk about the fact that iOS/Android and Apple/Google are no longer the most interesting competitive dynamics, and offer some predictions for the future. Our final topic is a sequel to last...
2016-02-2400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 34 – Apple's Cash and Borrowing, Apple and the FBIepisode goes on. It only appears when Jan is talking, so it doesn't affect Aaron's side of the audio, but you may find it irritating to listen to. Unfortunately, it's on the master recording of Jan's audio, and so it can't be removed. Our apologies for the audio issues, and hopefully we'll be back to normal next week!
This week's episode begins as usual with our news roundup, in which we cover the launch of Apple Pay in China, Indian regulators' shutting down of Facebook's Free Basics program in that country, and John Gruber's interview last week with Eddy Cue...
2016-02-1900 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 32 – Alphabet, Facebook, Yahoo EarningsAs usual, we kick off this episode with our News Roundup. This week, we discuss Microsoft and Amazon's earnings briefly, including the rather counterintuitive investor reaction to each of them. Then we have a quick conversation about the positive video subscriber additions both Time Warner Cable and Comcast have reported recently, and why they shouldn't lead us to question the cord cutting trend.
Our main topic today is Alphabet (formerly Google) and Facebook's earnings. We discuss Alphabet's new reporting structure and the performance of its "Other Bets" (something Jan wrote about this week on the Beyond Devices blog...
2016-02-0400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 31 – News Roundup, Apple EarningsThis week, we once again did our brief news roundup on several topic items, but then we spent the bulk of the time on Apple's fiscal Q1 2016 earnings, which came out earlier this week (and skipped our Question of the Week and Weekly Pick features).
Our news roundup covered three items: the FCC's move to open up the cable set-top box market, the disclosure of what are purported to be Google's revenues from Android as part of the Oracle-Google court case, and insights from the earnings of the US wireless carriers.
In our discussion of Apple's earnings, we covered the...
2016-01-2800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 30 – News Roundup, Media M&A, Apple Earnings PreviewThis week, we again kick off with a quick roundup of a few news items, and we're feeling like this is probably how we'll start all our episodes going forward. One side effect is that many of our episodes will end up being a little shorter than before – closer to 45 minutes than an hour.
This week, the three news topics we discussed up front were Netflix's earnings, reports that Apple is applying to open its own stores in India, and the launch on Wednesday morning of an updated GarageBand app for iOS as well as a new Music Memos app. We...
2016-01-2100 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 29 – News Roundup, Fitbit, Apple BetasWe kick this week's episode off with a new format, which is a rapid-fire review of three news items from this week: IDC's new PC sales numbers for Q4, Buzzfeed's article about Apple removing itself as the sales middleman for iAd, and rumors that Time Warner is up for sale and both Amazon and Apple might be buyers. We've dropped our Question of the Week item for the past two episodes because we had so much else to talk about, but it's back this week with a review of Fitbit and why its share price has taken such a dive...
2016-01-1400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 28 – CES, Netflix Everywhere, App Store NumbersFor our first episode of 2016, we focus mostly on CES and the announcements made there. Jan was there in person, while Aaron followed the news remotely. We discuss the following trends and products, among others:
* The rise of USB-C
* Cars, technology, and autonomous vehicles
* Fitness and wearables – Fitbit Blaze and Withings Thermo
* Drones
* Virtual and augmented reality
* Headphones, including Apple's reported moves here
* 4K and Ultra High Definition plus HDR in TV sets.
We also spend a few minutes specifically discussing Netflix's big international expansion news from CES, including Jan's post from this week about the possible financial implications. Lastly, we...
2016-01-0900 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 27 – News Roundup, Predictions for 2016For our final episode of the year, we decided to focus on our predictions for 2016. We kick off the episode with a review of three news items from the past few days: the Apple management changes announced on Thursday, December 17th; the recent Morgan Stanley report calling for lower iPhone sales; and the open-sourcing of Swift and the related interview of Craig Federighi by John Gruber. Following a roughly 15-minute roundup of these news items, we spend the rest of the time discussing our predictions for 2016, starting with our predictions for Apple's various product lines, and then broadening out to...
2015-12-1800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 26 – Pixel C Reviews, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Apple Shelving TV PlansOur first topic this week is the reviews for Google's new Pixel C tablet, and what they signify about the state of Android. We also talk about the overall state of the tablet market and (the lack of) tablet-optimized operating systems. Our second topic is the decision by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to give the bulk of their wealth to causes they care about, which is the subject of our Question of the Week, "Is the Zuckerberg announcement really philanthropic?" We tap into Aaron's expertise in the field of philanthropy and non-profit work to discuss the basics...
2015-12-1000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 22 – Apple TV, Payments Primer, Twitter FavesOn this week's episode, we kick off the discussion with Jan's thoughts on the new Apple TV, which he's been using for five days now, and broaden the conversation into a review of where it might go from here. Our second topic (starting at 25:35) is our Question of the Week, which is all about how the payments industry works, who the players are, where the money goes, and how new players such as Square, Apple, Google, and Samsung fit in. And our final topic (starting at 47:00) is Twitter's change this week to its Favorites feature, and what it says about...
2015-11-0500 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 20 – New iMacs and Peripherals, Apple Earnings Preview, Surface Book ReviewsThis week, we kick things off with a discussion of Apple's new iMacs and associated peripherals – Aaron has been using the new Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad and talks about his experience with them. We also discuss the surprisingly basic hard drives which ship with the new iMacs, and what this signifies about Apple's strategy for its lowest-tier products. Our Question of the Week is, "What should we be expecting from Apple's earnings next week?" and we discuss expectations for the iPhone, Apple Watch and other products, and what Tim Cook is likely to say about China. And ou...
2015-10-2200 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 18 – Microsoft event, US wireless market, Steve JobsThis week, we follow up last week's coverage of Google's event with discussion of Microsoft's big Windows 10 event, which had a very different feel to it. We evaluate the big announcements, but we also talk about the presentations and demos and the overall tone of the event, which felt much more energetic and compelling than previous Microsoft events. Our Question of the Week this week is "What's going on in the US wireless market, and who's winning?" Jan provides some context by discussing each of the major US wireless providers and their background, and then talks through some...
2015-10-0800 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 17 – Google Event, A Series Chips, iPhone and Apple Music ImpressionsWe kick off this week's episode with a discussion of Google's event on Tuesday. We discuss the new Nexus phones and the history of Google's Nexus programs, the new Chromecast devices, and Google's strategy for the TV. Our Question of the Week is about Apple's A-Series Chips, and Aaron's been doing some research into how Apple has managed both to make such rapid advances and to compete so effectively against other approaches. Aaron explains the differences and relationships between fabless manufacturers, foundries, and Integrated Device Manufacturers, the role of Apple's PA Semi acquisition, the importance of the ARM architecture, and...
2015-10-0100 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 15 – Apple Event Deep Dive – Watch, iPad Pro, and Apple TVLast week, we did a quick half-hour quick take on Apple’s September event, and briefly covered all the major announcements. This week, we dive a little deeper on each of the announcements, but focus mostly on the Apple Watch, iPad, and Apple TV announcements, touching only briefly on the iPhone, which we’ll cover in a bit more depth next week. On the Apple Watch front, Aaron notes that there are no obvious killer apps for the Watch yet, even with the WatchOS 2 release imminent, and we talk about the implications for product upgrade and release cycles given the addi...
2015-09-1700 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 13 – Apple Event Preview, Apple TV as Console, Android Wear on iPhoneAhead of Apple's big event next week, we spend the majority of our time previewing the likely announcements. The conversation kicks off with a general discussion of what we're expecting with regard to new iPhones, iPads, and the new Apple TV, including a brief discussion of the reporting and in particular the scoops some publications seem to be getting very good at, notably Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac. We then do a deep dive on the Apple TV, as Aaron answers our Question of the Week: "How would the new Apple TV compete as a gaming console?" Aaron...
2015-09-0300 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 11 – Google OnHub, Samsung Apple Patent Update, Apple Fall PreviewThis week's Question of the Week is answered by Aaron, who (aside from being a business school professor) is a qualified lawyer, and digs into the details of the Apple vs. Samsung patent litigation, recent news in the case, and the implications for these two companies and others. If you've been wondering what all this is really about, and why not just Apple and Samsung but Google and Facebook are involved, you'll really want to listen to this segment. Either side of the QotW, we have our other two topics. Kicking off the show, we have a discussion of Google's...
2015-08-2000 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 9 – Apple's MVNO, the Law of Large Numbers, Apple Music subscribersThis week, we talk about the reports (now shot down by Apple) that Apple was doing trials for launching a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), and the reasons why this might (and mostly might not) be a plausible scenario. Our Question of the Week tackles a term that's often bandied about in relation to Apple but that few really understand, which is the "law of large numbers" – Aaron talks us through the real meaning and definition of that law, and why it isn't really applicable in the way it's often used in relation to Apple. He also talks ab...
2015-08-0600 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 7 – Apple's June quarter earnings reviewThis week, we review Apple's earnings report for the June 2015 quarter. We kick of the discussion with a focus on the Apple Watch and what we learned about it from Apple's earnings. Next up is our Question of the Week, which is "How is the Apple Watch more like the iPod than the iPhone?", off the back of a post Aaron wrote this week. We wrap up the discussion with a review of the rest of Apple's earnings report, including the iPhone, the iPad, and China. And then there's our pick of the week – this time, a book Jan...
2015-07-2400 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 6 – Apple earnings preview, new iPods, iPhone adsWe took a break last week as we were both traveling, but we're back this week with Episode 6. We moved our Question of the Week to the beginning of the episode this week, as it provides useful context for our discussion of Apple's earnings, which are due next week. Jan talks through Apple's earnings release process, and provides some beginner's notes on what to look for and how Apple reports, as well as providing a deeper dive into Apple's reporting trends. We also talk about some specifics of what to expect next Tuesday.
Our other topics this week are the...
2015-07-1700 minBeyond Devices PodcastEpisode 1 – Introduction and WWDC 2015 PreviewThis is the first episode of the Beyond Devices Podcast, featuring Jan Dawson and Aaron Miller. In this episode, we look forward to Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference next week, and discuss some of what we’re expecting, and some of what we’d like to see Apple announce.
2015-06-0400 min