Tag Archives: Google
Apple, The Inventor Of The “Killer App,” Suddenly Finds Itself Without One
If you work in tech, when was the last time you thought about or even uttered the words “killer app?” It wasn’t that long ago when every consumer-facing ecosystem obsessed over them. Just as the first-person shooter Halo single-handedly drove sales of the Xbox game console, a killer mobile app makes consumers lust for the hardware that supports […]
Windows Phone: What Might Have Been
A week ago, my two-year old Lumia Icon fell out of my pocket. Though gravity had only about seven inches with which to wreak havoc, the phone landed screen-side down on a bump on my slate patio, sending a spider web of cracks through the glass. Cracked screen on my Lumia Icon My phone’s demise […]
What Ford Motor Co. Needs To Avoid Nokia’s Fate
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford and Alphabet Inc. (nee Google) are in talks to partner on the production of self-driving cars. Ford CEO Mark Shields is said to be concerned that his company must not become the automotive version of Nokia, a hardware giant that failed to adapt as smartphones and […]
Why Cars Won’t Become The Next Hot Technology Play
From the moment I received my driver’s license until I went away to college, I drove a new car every three months. That included everything from compacts to luxury models. I recall cruising in a brand-new 1990 Mercedes 500 SL convertible one Saturday. The traffic had cars in both directions inching along. A guy in a Ferrari ragtop, moving slowly enough […]
At Google, Motivation Is Spelled ‘Alphabet’
In the 1990 film, The Hunt for Red October, Sean Connery’s Captain Marko Ramius informs his crew that he has written his political superiors to notify them of his plans to defect. His crew is outraged and terrified: angry that he revealed their plot without consulting them first, and frightened that the might of the Soviet […]
An Ex-Nokian’s Perspective On The Fall Of Nokia, And How Other Companies Can Avoid That Fate
A friend of mine forwarded me an interview that former Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo gave in March of last year in which he explained the company’s fall from dominance that happened on his watch. I took an interest for two reasons. I worked for Nokia, coincidentally for nearly all of Kallasvuo’s years at the helm. I, […]
Why Mobile OS Updates Are The Right Time To Amplify Your Marketing
Marketers love big occasions. Product anniversaries, major holidays, national elections, the Olympics, the World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the Oscars all give marketers a platform upon which to engage and excite their customers. Even if a company doesn’t officially sponsor one of these events, marketers have figured out ways to draft off their momentum to […]
The Critical Insights You Need Following A Big Week For The Mobile Economy
Last week brought a flurry of upbeat news on the state of the mobile economy, especially the improving health of its advertising business. First, eMarketer projects that advertisers will pump $9.6 billion into mobile in 2013, with estimates that total mobile spend will eclipse desktop ads by 2016. Then, Facebook announced its plans to test […]
Microsoft’s Purchase Of Nokia In Perspective
Let me caveat this post with a critical admission: I work for Nokia. Readers rightly should interpret everything that follows with the understanding that even if I wanted to, I would be unable to offer objective commentary on the decision by Microsoft to purchase my employer’s Devices and Services business. Still, my mission is to […]
The Real Reason Google Acquired Waze
Markets are filled with competitors within a single industry segment that do a great job for their customers in very different ways. Target and Wal-Mart illustrate this well. Each retailing giant prides itself on its unique way of servicing its customers: Target for its collection of exclusive brands, Wal-Mart for claiming to have the lowest […]
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