Microsoft 365 Aims at Helping Us Navigate Our Blended Lives

In a world where productivity is no longer confined within the physical place where we work, why should the tools we use create artificial barriers for us, rather than help us blend work and play? Now more than ever, thanks to COVID-19, work and school have found a place in our homes as we are all trying to work, learn and live under one roof.

Microsoft’s vision for a blended life started almost two years ago when, at the Devices Fall Event in New York City, Microsoft’s Corporate VP, Yusuf Mehdi, mentioned for the first time Modern Life. The vision that we humans share both many tools and many goals in our work-life as we do in our private life remains true today as it was in 2018. What has changed over this period of time,  is how Microsoft will empower us to achieve that blended life. It seems to me that Modern Life has evolved from a product to a philosophy behind the products Microsoft will bring to market starting with Microsoft 365, an evolution of the consumer version of Office 365.

This is what I wrote back in 2018, commenting on Modern Life:

It is this blurring of our work life and our personal Life that Microsoft is addressing with Modern Life. Because of its history with consumers and the lack of mobile presence, Microsoft comes to this from its position of strength, which is work and the PC.
Modern Life takes those users who Microsoft caters for in a corporate environment and addresses their needs before and after they get to the Office helping them achieve what they want to achieve: finish a presentation, dialing into a call on the way home, planning a weekend away or juggle the after school calendar.
In other words, Modern Life recognizes that I am not a “worker” between 9 and 5 and a “consumer” for the rest of the time. I am a human being 24 hours a day doing different things depending on time and place but still with the same goals, values, and aspirations.
Fast forward to this week and you see two marked differences.

Confidence and Focus

What struck me about the Microsoft 365 announcement, this week, is the confidence Microsoft displayed in addressing some real pain-points and, in doing so, where it matters the most to users, which meant making its tools available first on mobile. This is a very different company from two years ago. One that knows the value of its own services and has come to fully embrace an OS-agnostic approach as the value proposition shifts to center in the cloud and AI.

And so, Microsoft Teams for consumers will be made available first on mobile, both Android and iOS, for consumers to be able to chat, share photos and videos as well as do video calls. From sharing to-do lists across the family to organizing a book club, the Teams app will become a collaboration and communication one-stop-shop. Plus, if you are one of the current 44 million corporate users, you will easily be able to toggle between your personal and your corporate account.

The second difference comes in the name Microsoft 365. To me, this signifies that the company believes they have value to offer beyond Office, beyond a more traditional concept of productivity. The name also speaks to the pillars that Microsoft’s services and apps are built on: cloud, AI,  privacy and security. Privacy, in particular, was mentioned when talking about the chat function within Teams, a very timely highlight, given this week’s news about Zoom. The other mention of privacy was in relation to a new app called Microsoft Family Safety, which helps parents keep their kids safer both in the digital and the real world. Digital safety has similar features we have seen for iOS and Android around screen time but offers the additional benefit of working across Android phones Xbox and Windows PCs. It also helps manage appropriate content when browsing which remains one of the biggest issues for parents when their kids just start to discover the Web. In real life, the focus shifts to physical safety as the app sends notifications when a family member arrives or leaves a location. The app also offers driving reports for new drivers with the promise that your information will be kept private and not shared with third parties such as insurance companies.

A Better Understanding of Consumers

What I have seen in Microsoft is indeed confidence rather than arrogance. They understand where their sweet spot is, and they want to stay true to it, which is why we did not see Microsoft get into content as others have done. Microsoft knows the brand has consumers’ trust and they know there is value in offering alternatives to existing apps by centering them on privacy and security. This is especially true when it comes to location data and financial information. So Family Safety location alerts might not be an original idea, but for those parents who use solutions like Life360, having an alternative that offers peace of mind on privacy and security is a welcome addition. The same can be said for Money in Excel, a solution that draws data from your banks and credit card accounts to create personalized insights to help you improve your spending all while your data is kept private and secure.

Microsoft does not just better understand its strengths. Microsoft understands consumers better. A blended life does not mean that I want to extend my work to home. Sometimes I might have to, but what I am looking for is a consistency of tools and workflows that allows for a more seamless transition between my personal and my professional. This realization is clear not just in the tools that Microsoft is offering within the traditional Office suite, but in the use cases they list for those new features. And so Calendar is not about accessing the work calendar in the morning to see what is coming up. Instead, it is about being able to see a family calendar right next to my work one, so that scheduling anything becomes easier. Or Word where Microsoft Editor is expanded because good writing does not only matter at work. In addition to Money for Excel, in my spreadsheets, I can now start to analyze other data like food, dogs, places, or even Pokémon.

All these services will start rolling out over the coming months with some services like Money for Excel only available in the US first due to the need to close relationships with banks and card issuers. For current users of Office Personal or Family, the additional services will all be included in the subscription as they start to roll out later in April. For new Microsoft 365 subscribers, the cost will be $6.99 for Microsoft 365 Personal and $9.99 for a family up to six users. Is it worth it? Here is some context. A monthly subscription to Grammarly is around $11 if bought as an annual subscription. Budget management apps like Dollarbird, Goodbudget and Tiller Money go from $3.99 to $6.99 a month. Life360 with Driver Protect is $7.99 a month. It seems a pretty easy decision to make from an economic standpoint but even more so from a security and privacy standpoint.

Apple In The Time of Coronavirus

The rumors about an Apple event in March had been mounting since the start of 2020. Still, the string of cancellations of every live tech event and conference from February to July had people believing Apple would pivot to an online event to launch what was expected to be a low-cost iPhone, a new iPad Pro and a new MacBook Pro. Then, last week, the COVID19 crisis accelerated across several locations, including Apple’s backyard: Silicon Valley. A date for WWDC was announced and with it the news that the event will be a virtual one. I am sure even for the most avid fans, whether or not Apple was going to have a product launch was no longer top of mind and many might have thought this was not the best time to have a product launch.

To Launch or Not To Launch

I have no insights into the thought process that lead Apple to launch its products, but there were a few things that stood out to me about the process. Some might argue that this was not a time to launch any consumer products. The reality, however, is that the uncertainty of how long this situation will last makes it hard to delay products as doing so might impact other products coming to market later in the year. Also, although brick and mortar stores are closed in many markets, online stores are still open for business.

I thought the way Apple decided to launch was sympathetic to the mood we are all in. There was no live event, which could have been an option we have seen other brands adopt. Instead, there was a press release, a landing page for each product like we usually have and video ads and demos. The video showcasing the iPad Pro new Magic keyboard saw a much less exuberant Craig Federighi than we are used to seeing on stage. There was contained excitement for the product, but the demo was delivered in a very matter of fact way acknowledging the unique situation we are finding ourselves in.

There was one product that was expected to be part of this launch that we did not see and that is the rumored lower-priced iPhone. It could well be that Apple might be facing some supply issues, but I would not be surprised, although I doubt, we will ever know for sure if delaying the launch of that specific product has to do with the COVID19 crisis. A more affordable iPhone would have its greater appeal among potential buyers who have a more limited disposable income. I would argue the economic uncertainty tied to COVID19 is likely to impact this target market the most. That said, I believe the choice Apple made not to launch the new iPhone model at this time had more to do with not being out of touch with reality than a concern about weaker consumer confidence.

Three Thoughts on the New iPad Pro

And now onto the product that most interests me: the new iPad Pro. I will have more to say once I get my hands on one, but from the demos, there were a few general observations I wanted to make.

The Trackpad

I have never been one of those iPad users calling for trackpad support, I was just going to be content with a backlit keyboard, but I got both! What struck me about the demo that Federighi delivered was that the trackpad is more akin to the MacBook TouchBar than the trackpad on the Mac, which is why I believe we will see it go from the iPad Pro to the Mac. The idea is for the trackpad to keep the hands where you have them when typing but allowing you to interact with content on the screen as if you were touching it. Wouldn’t that be what you want to do with a Mac?

PC vs. iPad Pro

The “How to correctly use a computer” video has evolved from the “what’s a computer” video of a couple of years ago. The focus shifted from what the hardware should look and feel to how the hardware defines the way we work. It seems subtle, but as the iPad Pro gets closer to the Microsoft Surface Pro, at least conceptually, moving the conversation to how people work points exactly to differences such as the role of a trackpad as well as the app ecosystem.

Software

Over the years, the big argument people would make on whether the iPad Pro could replace a PC was centered around three things: better keyboard, mouse support, and software. Now that Apple has delivered on the hardware front, the software is what needs to be addressed.

In my view, this means that the race that used to be iPad vs. Surface Pro becomes iPadOS+MacOS vs. Windows 10x. With Panos Panay now leading the Windows effort, I would expect a new emphasis on ease of use and richness of the experience. I also expect a lot of learning coming from the effort that Microsoft is putting into Android and bringing Android and Windows closer together.

Even switching from hardware to software, it is interesting to see how these two companies are heading towards a very similar final goal but coming at it from the opposite direction. iPadOS users are calling for software that can handle more, while Windows users are asking for a much slender software. It sure will be interesting to see where we go from here.

Another Remote Work Take Or Remote Work Does Not Suck

I am sure by now you had enough about people pitching remote work and how the future will change because of what we are all experiencing due to COVID-19. I already wrote about how frustrating it is that it takes a pandemic, now an official one, to look at how far tech has come to empower remote work. I also warned about the need for companies to take seriously the cultural change that needs to occur to leverage remote work after this crisis is over.

So why am I writing about this again? I read an article earlier this week that really struck a nerve for the many generalizations that the author made on who benefits from remote work and how remote work negatively impacts creativity.

In my career, I have worked both from an office and remotely. I have done so both in the UK and in the US. My experience is my own. We are all a little different, the work we do might be different and the companies we work for are also different making each situation almost unique. So I will try my best not to succumb to generalization just to prove a different point from that expressed in the article and that is remote work does not have to suck.

Who Can Benefit From Working Remotely?

The article calls out new parents as a group that can benefit from working remotely. When I had my daughter, I was still in the UK and I was already working remotely. Those first few months were the hardest I ever had as a remote worker, so I am not sure it was quite a benefit. If you are a mother and you are breastfeeding, working from home allows demand and supply to be in the same location, which certainly simplifies things. Yet, trying to adjust to being a new parent while working all under the same roof makes boundaries much harder. As breastfeeding did not last long for me, I opted to go into the office for a few hours a week as a way to create a separation between me as a mom and me as a business person. Generally, I would say it is not feasible to work from home while looking after a child of any age unless it is for a limited amount of time, like during an illness or a bad weather day when one can temporarily rearrange calls and deadlines.

The other group the article suggests could benefit from working from home are “people with disabilities or others who aren’t well-served by a traditional office set-up.” I would think the hardest part for many in this group is commuting rather than actually being in the office. There is no question that cities could make it much easier to support people with disabilities when it comes to commuting. Often as I battled through the London underground during rush hour I wonder how visually impaired people or people using a wheelchair dealt with the number of stairs and escalators let alone the number of people.

Commuting is also tasking, of course not to the same extent, for people who do not have disabilities. The level of stress that commuting adds to our life impacts both our physical and mental health. In 2017, a study developed by VitalityHealth, the University of Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer, examined the impact of commuting on employee health and productivity across more than 34,000 workers across all UK industries. Commutes longer than 30 minutes appeared to have a negative effect on mental wellbeing with 33% of longer commute workers more likely to suffer from depression, 12% more likely to report multiple aspects of work-related stress, 46% more likely to get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep each night and 21% more likely to be obese.

There are other groups who I think could take advantage of working remotely and those are people who do not live in areas where work opportunities are plentiful. For some of these people moving to look for a job might mean not being able to afford a decent home or leaving behind any family support which could help with caring for their kids. It could also mean they are the ones unable to do the caring for family members, for instance.

Remote working might also result in a more diverse workforce. Companies not limiting their talent sourcing to the cities and counties where they have offices might make it easier to attract talent from different ethnicities. Take the tech sector and San Francisco as an example where, in 1970, the Black population represented around 13% of the total population and by 2018, that number was down to less than 6%. How can tech improve diversity if it is fighting against decreasing numbers of available candidates? Also, how can these companies attract diverse employees when it often means not having a community they can belong to?

Productivity and Creativity

I am not sure one could ever settle the discussion on remote work productivity and the jokes I have seen on Twitter over the past week are really not helping. There is this fantasy that working from home means you are less productive because you are easily distracted by family, roommates, pets, delivery people, the TV and apparently whatever else is in your home. While a little self-discipline is required, the distractions are only different, not necessarily less than what an open office can offer. Those who argue for higher productivity often mention the lack of commute time, which can impact how present or more relaxed one is by the time they sit at their desk but might not necessarily result in more hours spent working.

On creativity, the author is clear that working from home kills your creativity because of the lack of stimuli, he even quotes Steve Jobs about how staring at email does not help. But who stairs at email now? The reality is that with today’s technology, you can brainstorm, collaborate and connect in so many different ways and have a quality experience. Being in the office does not necessarily guarantee you are where your team members are, especially if you are working with international teams. The chances of those casual conversations by the micro-kitchen being always about work are also pretty slim. Not that my colleague Ben Bajarin and I should be used as an example, but we are rarely in the same place unless we are traveling. We both work from home and have our best brainstorming session over chat or iMessage. I am also more connected to Ben than I ever been to most of the people I saw every day at my old office.

Working Remotely Does Not Mean Being Alone

The current circumstances are, of course, very unique as we practice social distancing, but in general, working remotely does not mean being alone. The more people in the team are remote, the more the company will have a culture of inclusion and you will not feel like the odd one out. Just this past week seeing most of the people I had meetings with working from their home office rather than all being around one conference tablet and me dialing in from home made a big difference in how we all felt we belonged equally.

The more important point, though, is that remote work gives you the flexibility to include work out time, or running an errand over your lunch break, catching up with a colleague or a client over coffee, and the list goes on. Yes, the jokes about never taking your pajamas off might have some truth for the first couple of days and there are some people for whom remote work could lead to depression induced by isolation, which is no joking matter. Still, with a little proactiveness in setting up human contact and technology that improves telepresence, I think most people would find it quiet but not lonely.

 

So, do I think that remote work sucks? Absolutely not. Do I believe that remote work is for everybody? Of course not. If you are new to remote work and you want to see if it might be something you want to continue to do once the emergency is over, give it some thought. Evaluate the pros and cons, looks at the technology both devices and software that might help you improve the quality of your experience – this is the time to ask for what you need – and try to get into a routine.

Five Things To Remember When Hosting A Digital Event

Thanks to the COVID-19 virus, we have seen several events being canceled both in the tech world but also in other industries like fashion, home, and publishing. I am sure more will be announced over the next few weeks, leaving my calendar free from travel but full of digital meetings.

There has been a lot of talk already about remote work and I wrote about it in last week’s column. Hosting digital events, however, is not the same as working remotely and this is true for internal events as well as external ones. I was spoiled to have my first event be hosted by Zoom, a company that was built for remote work and video, so, as you can imagine, the quality of the technology was great. The team knew exactly how to keep the audience engaged over the 8 hours we spent together.

Good Speakers Are Critical

Keeping people engaged for a long period is not easy at the best of times, but when you are not in the same room, it gets even harder. People get easily distracted, but in a room, maybe out of respect for the speaker or just good old fashion manners, people tend to limit their multitasking. During a remote meeting, video can be turned on and off the leaving the participant free to zone out without guilt (I might be projecting a little here .)

Technology can help speakers with live transcription and even live translations making it easier for the audience to follow along in a more natural way than when those options are offered during a live meeting. Remotely nobody knows whether or not you are taking advantage of these features.

The pressure, however, might be higher when it comes to tone of voice, cadence and overall level of engagement. A good speaker, changes pace and tone, tells a story without getting off-topic too much and, most of all, keeps on schedule. Timeliness is more important than during a live event because your audience might have scheduled other meetings or work around the virtual event, something they would be less likely to do if they traveled somewhere to attend the event.

Always On Video Is Not Always Best

Just because you are attending a remote event, it does not mean your camera has to be on all the time. If you have a meeting where you are actively participating, of course, video matters. Seeing people face to face makes the exchange more personal, that’s the point! Yet, if you are mostly listening to a speaker or a set of speakers and you are part of a large group having your camera on and not being muted can take away from the experience for other participants.

Most video conferencing systems have some intelligence built-in that allows for the video to focus on the person who is speaking. How quickly the system performs that switch is crucial to establishing a natural conversation flow and, by doing so, increase engagement. Participants often forget to go on mute, which triggers the system to think you are either speaking or about to speak and therefore focusing on you rather than the actual speaker. This makes for a cumbersome experience, the more participants you have.

All that said, if you are invited to an online meeting, do make an effort to access the meeting through the system, video included rather than just dialing in. This helps with creating a consistency of experience across all participants. Simple things like not having to say your name because the system knows who you are, being able to use the “raise your hand” feature, so you don’t talk over someone else and generally better read the meeting.

Time Zones Will Be A Challenge

This is probably the biggest hurdle for world-wide events. While a live event will have everybody physically in one place while possibly mentally battling jetlag, virtual meetings have to account for time differences.

The time difference can impact the outcome of a meeting in several ways from a simple variable in energy from both speakers and participants due to the time of day, to a change in audience mix. The complexity of dealing with participants in different time zones might lead you to consider splitting the event into an overall event for the top-level remarks and smaller regional events to follow from there. You could even consider a mix of live and recorded portions, so people have the option to join the top-level remarks and then attend the rest of the sessions as a recording. This is no different than how many events are set up with a keynote and then several parallel sessions one chooses from.

One significant point to remember is that for virtual events, people don’t usually get time off around it. For instance, if you have a meeting or event you are attending in a time zone that requires getting up early or staying up late, most participants will be expected to still have a regular workday around it.

Sensitive Information Might Be At Higher Risk

Securing information you share over a remote meeting is both a question of technology and education. While information is not necessarily easier to secure during an in-person meeting, technology does make it easier for people to capture and share information over a virtual meeting.

Most of the collaboration systems use encrypted solutions to safely keep the data as well as offering ways to trace back leaks. Unfortunately, however, participants can use other devices to record or capture data. Informing upfront and reminding participants of what is public information and what is not is a must in a virtual world.

Engagement Can’t Be Taken For Granted

Aside from a good speaker, you need to make sure your audience is engaged, so leave time for questions during the presentation and at the end. In the same way as you would for an in-person meeting, make sure you moderate your Q&A segments, so time does not get away from you.

You can also think about using different tools to keep your audience connected with your speaker and the content. You can ask to submit questions via chat if you have someone who is moderating those questions. This allows the speaker to stay on track and the audience to ask more questions and get clarification when needed rather than at the end. Have your speaker ask questions or take polls, but try and keep your audience within the video platform, so you lower the chances to lose them. If the topic permits, make it a little fun. Zoom used a wheel of fortune with the participants’ names to draw who would be asked a question.

Especially when you are dealing with a large group, the speaker has little chance to see everybody and feel the room in the same way as they would in an in-person meeting. It would be best if you created those opportunities to take a pulse check, especially when the event you are hosting is going to last several hours.

 

I am sure over the coming months, I will have plenty of opportunities to come up with a best practice list, but I have little hope that my experiences will be perfect, not because of the technology but because of the people. After all, we have been doing phone meetings for years, and people can still make it unbearable.

Why Does it Take the Threat of a Pandemic to Support Remote Working?

There has been a lot of talk over the last week of how COVID-19 might be the pivotal moment for remote working to really take off. China, Silicon Valley, Japan and even Italy are all adopting remote working at various degrees to limit the spreading of the virus. There is such excitement around remote work that brands like Zoom have seen their stock value climb up.

While I really hope people are right and we will see remote working remain relevant once the threat is removed, I cannot help but be skeptical because we have been here before!

First, there was SARS in 2003, but the technology back then was nowhere near what can be delivered today, both in terms of sound and video clarity as well as latency. Then there was the economic crisis of 2008-2009, when companies like HP, Cisco and Polycom were heavily marketing telepresence as a way lower air travel cost. Intra-company business travel is often the largest controllable expense for most organizations. Video conferencing was an effective way to keep communications going and manage operations while reducing costs. However, at the time, technology had improved, but most solutions were still not economical enough for broad adoption. Remember that 2009 was less than two years after the iPhone and before smartphones made their way into enterprises beyond the C-suite.

On paper, now is the time! The experience has improved so much that videoconference is something people actually want to do. Companies like Zoom and BlueJeans have lowered friction and saw the popularity of their solutions grow thanks to individuals buying into it rather than management, making it a must. Well established brands such as Cisco WebEx and Poly reinvented themselves, focusing on better all-around hardware and solutions that cater to collaboration as a whole. Millennials are the generation that has embraced digital collaboration like never before with Slack and Microsoft Teams. Gen Z pushed it a step further, embracing video at its fullest. So why am I skeptical?

Video Conferencing and Remote Working Are Not The Same

It seems like a silly point to make, but doing a few video calls does not make you a remote worker. We need to make a distinction between turning some face to face meetings into virtual ones and allowing your workforce to regularly work from places other than the company office. The first requires technology; the latter requires a considerable cultural change that really empowers people to continue to contribute and be part of the day to day process.

Ultimately, three words are at the root cause of my skepticism: regulation, trust and people.

Regulation

When you are considering remote working, many regulations kick in. Some might be company-driven, like making sure that your employee has a proper space dedicated to work with a desk or table and a suitable chair, a reliable internet connection and overall a place that is conducive to getting work done. After all, we all saw that BBC interview with the kid barging in the background!

In other cases, though, regulations go beyond the company you work for and involve government decisions. In Italy, for instance, there is a specific law that governs remote working or smart working. Due to the current emergency, corporations are asking to allow remote working without setting in place all the paperwork that is usually required. Italy is among the countries in Europe that have adopted remote working the least with only 4.8% of people working from home. The Netherlands and Sweden lead the way with 36% and 35% of the workforce working remotely.

I am sure Italy has other reasons other than regulations that hold back remote working, culture and technology adoptions come to mind. Still, laws that consider liability, overtime compensation, security all play a role and add to the complexity of deciding in favor of remote working.

Trust and People

I put these two together because they are profoundly interconnected.

On the one hand, you have trust issues of managers who need to feel they are in control of their own employees. One would think that in 2020, productivity should be measured in output and not in hours. In other words, it really should be all about what you deliver, not how. If you are not embracing this philosophy, you should at least feel reassured that technology gives you so many ways to keep an eye on your workers that their physical presence in the office is no longer necessary to do that.

Managers are not the only ones with trust issues, though. Remote workers can, at times, feel isolated and be concerned about being “out of sight out of mind” when decisions are made, meaningful work is allocated and, of course, when work is recognized for promotions or incentives.

Trust issues are human but also a clear sign that remote-working needs to be implemented with some degree of formality. It requires processes that foster inclusivity by communicating frequently and allowing every member of the team to have a voice, which means being mindful of time zones. Creating a routine and set expectations for response time also helps to minimize the pressure of always wanting to be present to avoid raising trust issues only to end up creating the potential for burn out. On the employee side, there must be boundaries both in space, by creating an appropriate workspace within the home or remote location, as well as time, by avoiding spreading work over what should be personal time like late in the evening or at the weekend.

Remote Working As A Business Asset

Ultimately, remote working should be seen as a business asset at any time, not just when we are under the threat of a pandemic. Aside from providing cost reduction on travel, it does offer many other advantages like decreasing the need for office space that in some areas can be extremely expensive as well as reducing the need to provide services such as childcare. On the employee side, we could register lower stress levels from not having to commute, which results in more time with the family and potentially lower childcare costs.

What remote working should not be seen as is a benefit or a luxury. Modern employees expect some level of flexibility, although there are, of course, roles where such flexibility can be offered in terms of flexible hours rather than location. Furthermore, positioning remote working as a benefit or a luxury comes loaded with perceived implications that not being in the office makes your actual work easier, better, or a lighter load, which of course it is not the case.

Remote working is smart-working, so I really hope that the current circumstances will help companies see that their business cannot just survive during a pandemic threat but could flourish under normal conditions. The key is to plan for it in the same way we would any work transformation.

MWC2020 Cancellation And What We Can Learn From It

What a difference does a week make! Last Tuesday, I was still making plans to attend Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona despite the number of companies withdrawing from the show was growing. Since 2000, when I started covering the mobile market, I only missed the show once, the year my daughter was born. Interestingly that year, I thought I had the best grasp of the show because not being on the ground allowed me to follow press conferences as well as read all the material that was being published. I did miss out though on catching up with people either formally or informally. If you ask most people, aside from seeing and touching products, it is that chance to meet face to face they cherish the most. MWC, in particular, offers the opportunity to meet high-ranking executives from organizations that might not be based where you are. Hence why I was disappointed to hear the news that the GSMA had decided to cancel the show entirely, a decision that seemed inevitable. It was the right step to take not just for the show but to avoid a broader expansion of the coronavirus.

The chances of getting infected at the show were minimal, but we know how a common flu bug affects hundreds of people at the end of any show like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) or MWC where thousands of people travel from all the corner of the world to touch the same devices, shake hands, share food and breath the same air. Siding on caution was undoubtedly the right thing to do for the event organizers and I would argue the decision could have been taken sooner.

Liability and Employee Welfare

As much as I was willing to take a risk and still attend MWC, many companies felt that they were not going to impose attendance onto their employees, so when exhibitors were not canceling, they were giving options. All of the companies that decided to withdraw mentioned that the safety of their employees was paramount, and they were being ultra-cautious. I do not want to be cynical, but I am sure that an abundance of caution was driven more by liability concerns than anything else.

It was fascinating also to see how companies based in Europe and the US were among the first to withdraw while China-based brands were among the last. I am sure there is a correlation between the more litigious nature of the employee base and worker rights in the US and Europe, respectively, that might explain the different stands on the issue. China-based companies might have also had a more pragmatic approach to the situation based on their learnings during SARS and possibly a feeling of being better informed on how the situation in China was developing.

As China plays a more crucial role, not just in the tech supply chain, but in driving innovation for key technologies such as 5G and AI, it will be interesting to see how the different values and beliefs will play a role in the development and go to market.

More Connected Than We Realize

MWC, maybe even more so than CES, really attracts exhibitors and attendees from all regions of the world, including a high number of Chinese brands. Establishing who was coming from where and, maybe more importantly, who traveled where before the 14 days of the virus incubation was going to be impossible. If you stop and think about it for a second, it is quite amazing to think of how easy it is for us to travel nowadays and of course how easy it would be for the virus to travel too especially at a time when we are still not sure on the how and why. Interestingly, even with all the data that is available about us and our life, when it comes to international activity finding all the pieces of the puzzle is not easy due to how the data is kept and shared or not shared because of individual country regulations or privacy laws. It seems to me that because of how easy travel has become health organizations should start thinking of how to drive governments to come up with a disaster protocol that accounts for prompt data sharing.

Over the past few years, China has grown as a center of gravity for the tech world. Companies have much of their supply chain based there, and many have a very sizable customer base. Spending time in China is part of being in tech. Whether you attend events, visit suppliers, or meet with partners, tech executives across the world, visit China regularly.

As the coronavirus spread outside of China, travel to and from China was suspended, leaving industry watchers to call out the benefits of video conferencing and digital collaboration as an alternative to keep business going. A health crisis is not the only time we hear calls for technology to help us cut back on travel; economic downturns usually fuel calls for cost-cutting by embracing online meetings.

2019 has seen the rise of video services such as Zoom and BlueJeans as well as collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, WebEx, and Slack. People have their favorite, and as much as they swear their workday is at a total loss when any one of these services is down, we all still look for in-person meetings. We want to meet in person because even if video has come of a long way, it lacks the degree of intimacy that an in-person meeting delivers. Reading people is so much easier in person than on video, plus familiarity builds trust, which is critical in many sessions aimed at creating or cementing a partnership, sharing confidential information, or only evaluating a product.

Companies will be struck this year with losses coming from the cancellation of MWC, and smaller companies especially might evaluate whether or not attending in the future is worthwhile. It is somewhat ironic that as we discuss 5G speeds and coverage, AR and VR capabilities and remote everything we are reluctant to rely on those very technologies to discuss the future of the industry.

What Now?

Since last week I have received a few requests for online meetings, but very little has been said about what will replace the press conferences that were scheduled for MWC. Many people asked me what the impact on consumers will be, and there is no real impact from canceling the show. The delays in new product releases will come from the effect the novel coronavirus will have on factory workers and production, not from the cancellation of a trade show.

The GSMA is already marketing next year’s show, and it is too early to say if attendance will be impacted. I do wonder if people will use this year’s break as an excuse to reevaluate their participation as well as make a more general consideration of whether all these tradeshows we attend every year make business sense. At a time when sustainability and social responsibility are higher up in many companies’ priority list, maybe leveraging technology to lower travel for the good of the planet and the health of the employees is not a bad thing.

Unpacked2020: Samsung Pushed the Envelope on 5G, Foldables and Partnerships

Between the leaks and the Oscars ads, very little was left unknown about the lineup that Samsung presented in San Francisco at Unpacked 2020. Like I often say, though, it is in how a company talks about its products that helps you understand the vision sometimes even more so than the product themselves.

The event marked the first appearance of TM Roh as the new Head of Samsung Mobile. Roh will report into DJ Koh, who is now supervising the broader mobile business focusing on the whole ecosystem and future business. It was interesting that Roh did not kick off the event, instead, he seemed to ease onto the stage after the big reveal of the Galaxy Z Flip to outline the big picture of the role Samsung wants to play over the next ten years moving from a technology enabler to an experience enabler.

A Strong Statement on 5G 

I still feel that talking about 5G as something that consumers want rather than something that vendors and carriers are pushing remains difficult. Despite having the full Galaxy S20 family on 5G, Samsung did not spend much time talking about the technology and instead used one simple use case that spoke very clearly to all the people who were tuned into the event live stream: the event itself was being broadcasted live from a Galaxy S20 Ultra! Yes, I know I am sure the network was optimized for it but what better way to show what is possible to content creators who will also consider the Galaxy S20 for its video camera capabilities?

Qualcomm was out in force at the event with Cristiano Amon and Stephen Mollenkopf both attending. The Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra both run on the Snapdragon 865 and X55 5G modem, the first 5G platform that provides multi-band and multi-mode support. Carriers and vendors have talked a lot about future-proofing your smartphone purchase, but these two devices are really the first ones that allow you to do that.

Embracing 5G across the flagship line allows Samsung to capitalize on the problematic position Huawei finds itself with the lack of Google services on their devices. In markets like Europe, where carriers are pushing strongly on 5G, Samsung has the opportunity to win back share from Huawei and in China, it makes their line up much more appealing, especially with the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Who is the Right Audience for Foldables?

It is interesting to see Samsung deliver a different fordable design in the Galaxy Z Flip together with a different focus on the target audience. With the Galaxy Fold, there was a focus on productivity, an unfolding of a phone into a tablet kind of experience. The primary target audience was early tech adopters with a focus on productivity on the go.

With the Z Flip, I see the addressable market be more female, more fashion-conscious, possibly looking for a wearable experience that unfolds into a fully-fledged smartphone. I am not advocating to wear the latest Samsung foldable around your neck as a pendant. I am suggesting that maybe when closed, the Z Flip will keep you in control in a similar way a wearable does without sucking you into the phone. It might appeal to those users who were finding the Palm concept of a detox phone interesting.

So much of how the Z Flip was introduced on stage gives away the addressable market: a female presenter, the color line up, the words used to describe it “compact” like makeup, even the availability date of February 14 and its appearance at New York Fashion Week.

While some people already talk about brands being late to the foldable party, we are just getting started and vendors are still trying to figure out who the best addressable market is and whether the same category can address different needs. The life-style focus does not take away from the tech that has gone into the Z Flip hardware, including the first foldable glass. The design, however, does not require the user to learn what the device can do differently for them as it is the case with the Galaxy Fold. Samsung has clearly put quite a bit of effort into designing the software and hardware to create new use cases like Flex Mode, where the Z Flip can fold at a 90-degree angle to sit on a surface and be used for a video call or to take a selfie. Once the Z Flip unfolds, however, the user is left with the familiarity of a traditional phone, albeit a large one, and with the same broad Android app ecosystem.

Some people might question why someone wants to spend $1380 mostly based on looks, and to those, I would say that putting a price tag on cool is nearly impossible. There is a strong visceral appeal to the Z Flip that will make it easier to justify the price. Of course, if celebrities embrace is, which is highly likely, the status will grow even more for the product. 

The “Open Collaboration” Strategy is Working

DJ Koh has been very vocal over the past year on wanting to position Samsung as a great partner and he often referred to their “open collaboration.” At the event, Samsung showcased a strong line up of partners, on stage, we had Netflix, Spotify, Microsoft Xbox and Google. All not just doing lip service to the collaboration but highlighting some of the partnerships aimed at delivering content or experiences uniquely developed for Samsung. This is another point of strength that Samsung can bring to its battle against Huawei.

The best example of how the current market dynamics are reshaping alliances was best highlighted by the presence on stage of Hiroshi Lockheimer, who, for so many, is synonymous with Android. Lockheimer spent time talking about the relationship Google and Samsung built, but also underlining his personal relationship with TM Roh dating back to 2010. We have not seen Google on stage at a Samsung event in such a high-level capacity for quite some time. Taking part in Unpacked2020 reflects how more dependent Android is on Samsung in the high end, especially in the US market, but also how much less interested Samsung is in creating an ecosystem that is less dependent on Google services.

 

Many more product launches are yet to come including those of Apple’s first 5G models expected in the second half of the year. Yet, what we saw in San Francisco this week puts Samsung in a much more competitive spot than the company was a year ago. The Galaxy S20 family offers a strong upgrade for current Galaxy users as well as for Android users looking for an alternative to Huawei. In addition, the price drop on the Galaxy S10 line opens up a path to upgrade for users who might be more price-conscious or maybe just not interested in running at a 5G speed.

The Danger of Knowledge as a Service

Let me start by saying that I love to read. I always have. I went to university in the UK as a “mature student” (the irony that I was considered mature at 25 is not lost on me) and I would consume literature while reading whatever was required by my American Studies courses. I would read several books at the same time, but never multiple literature books together as I wanted to make sure I could immerse myself in the story. I have pretty much been reading books in English since high school trying to learn something and improve my English at the same time.

Newspapers were never something I enjoyed reading mostly because my small hands did not suit the large format of most daily papers. For news, I turned to TV or digital copies of the leading newspapers. As my travel schedule got busier, I turned to digital books so I could take more than one with me whenever I traveled.

Over the past year, I started to struggle to keep up with my reading. I have a long list of books I want to read on a diverse range of work-related topics like AI, diversity and inclusion, education, design, research technics, social economics trends and the odd novel here and there. Between work and family, though, the available time seems to be less and less. I started a subscription to Audible, which has helped to convert some of the wasted commuting time and flight time into reading time, but it has not been enough.

Reading with Purpose

I also wanted to see if something could help my reading ability, so I took a class to learn to read faster. I am not sure what I was expecting, but what I found were some useful suggestions to learn to read with a purpose. I would never use these techniques with a novel, but when reading to learn about a topic or area, I thought it was actually quite interesting to approach the book from the questions you are hoping to have answered. Read through chapter titles and prologue to get some clues as to where those answers might be in the book and go from there.

I used to finish every book I started, no matter what. This is no longer the case and I am quite happy to stop reading anything that feels like it is not adding to my knowledge or providing good entertainment. I was less prone to believe though, as my class suggested, that only about 20 percent of most books are worthwhile reading and because of that, you really should not read most of them cover to cover. Although I am not sure I will follow this suggestion, I can see the logic and I still feel in control of what parts of the book I decided to read and skip.

The more I thought about how to read fast, the more I started to think about how much-curated content I am already consuming, where I am not totally in charge of what my eyes get to see.

Curated Content

With the rise of smartphones, we have seen a number of news apps that collate articles based on a set parameter the reader picks. Content is then presented to you thanks to human or algorithmic curation. I subscribe to many newsletters that report news and provide a commentary most of these are authored by reporters and analysts I have grown to know and admire and whom I trust. I also subscribe tho some of those news services, so what I might see is more limited than what is available, but it is still the full content within those parameters I set. This is no different than watching the news only from one channel, which I am sure most people will argue could create a myopic view of the news when they represent the sole source. Bubbles are never good when it comes to keeping an open mind and a growth mindset. Curating your content too much limits your opportunity to stumble on new writers, authors, topics. So while curation helps me make sure I do not miss what is a priority to me, I leave room and time for non-curated content that comes from what is not flagged under the “for you” tab. This is no different than what I do for movies, podcasts, or even shopping.

Predigested Content

The drive to read more books made me wonder if a curated experience could help me in my quest, so I looked at Blinklst, the app that everybody is raving about from investors to Apple’s CEO.

If you are not familiar with It, Blinkist is a subscription service that provides you with Blink a 15 minute read summary of non-fictional books. The subscription has different tiers that give you access to varying numbers of written and audio summaries of over 3000 books. Blink prides itself on human editors who read and summarize all books. There is no AI involved.

At first, I thought that this would be my saving grace, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that the service was taking curation a step too far for me. I started thinking about the fact that the 15 minutes summaries I would be reading might leave out content that could be valuable to me. This is not about not trusting the abilities of the editors who provide the Blinks. It is really more about how books speak to different people in different ways based on their life experiences. While this might be more true about fictional books, it is also true of non-fiction as your subject knowledge impacts what and how you learn.

So the question really is: is there value in reading more content that has been pre-digested for you by someone else in a way that highlights the key takeaways from their perspective, based on their level of knowledge? Think for a second about asking five people to read a book on AI and provide you with a summary. What are the chances of those summaries to be the same? Pretty slim, I say.

Everything as a service is a trend that is picking up pace, music, video, clothes, food and the list goes on. In many cases, it makes our life better or more convenient. When it comes to knowledge, however,  I feel we should be very careful in handing over to someone else the power of discovery that we hold. Technology can help broaden our horizons in a way that was never possible before by bringing us information and opinions from every corner of the world. And yet technology, disguised as an enhanced or helpful service, could turn our world into a much smaller, narrow-minded, myopic, uninclusive one.

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Is STEAM Made Easy

Last week LEGO Education celebrated its 40th birthday with the launch of a new product called SPIKE Prime, a kit that brings together LEGO bricks, smart hubs and motors all brought to life by the Scratch based SPIKE app and 32 lesson plans.

LEGO’s Education SPIKE Prime costs $329.95 and the app is supported by Chrome, Windows 10, Mac, Android, and iOS devices and uses a LEGO’s own variant of Scratch. SPIKE Prime is intended for schools and the price reflects its target market. The real value of the solution is in the lesson plans that will be very helpful to teachers who are just getting started with STEAM or have little time at their disposal to design and plan their own lessons.

I had the opportunity to test SPIKE Prime with my daughter, who is in 6th grade and homeschooled. We walked through set up and followed a few lessons together. We are not new to coding and robotics, but we do not have a set curriculum for STEAM as part of our school day. We have had mixed results using products such as Sphero and Anki Cozmo, so I was quite curious to test ease of use and engagement on her part as well as the degree of effort on mine.

Familiarity Drives Confidence

The first thing that strikes you as you open up the SPIKE Prime box is how familiar the set looks. While there are bricks that are unique to the set, it all feels like something you have seen your kids do before or something you might have stepped on once or twice if your children are avid LEGO players. Sorting and storing LEGO bricks is probably one of the most challenging issues a parent or teacher can face in the process and the team has thought about this. The box has a secure click-lock mechanism and shelves with pictures of the pieces that need to be stored on each one so that finding what you are looking for when you are building is easier. I was dealing with just one kit, but, of course, in a classroom, you will have multiple sets being used at the same time, which turns into a bit of a logistical nightmare without some help.

The familiarity with the LEGO bricks helps with keeping an open mind with trial and error. In many ways, the process was no different than seeing my kid build her Captain Marvel Ship set over the Christmas holidays. The worse it could happen if you make a mistake with LEGO is that you need to undo a few steps and start over. What is different with SPIKE Prime, of course, is that once the construction part was over, we moved on to phase two:  experimenting with programming the hub. This took on testing hypotheses such as how many steps it took the Hopper to reach the end of the table or how heavy of an object was the Grabber able to lift without dropping. There is no better way to learn than while you are having fun with your peers. Learning and teaching blends into one over the lessons as kids are empowered to share ideas.

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If you are familiar with Scratch, you will have no problem programming the hub. I thought that adding the ability to program the hub with lights was a welcome creativity bonus to add a more personal touch to the creations.

With some help from the teachers, it is easy to see how a 30-minute lesson could turn into a teaching moment on speed and velocity or strength and weight.

Flexibility for Teachers

Teachers can undoubtedly build full lessons around SPIKE Prime that go beyond what the app offers and bring in math, science and other disciplines to help kids connect the dots in a more fun way by looking at cause and effect.

The biggest concerns teachers have when you mention STEAM usually involves one of two things: time and effort. How much time will they have to dedicate to learning something new and how much effort will it require?

In my short experience, I was happy to see that there is no real learning curve when it comes to the lessons. They are structured in such a way that the students can play the instructions and get it done on their own, or they can be expanded by integrating other learnings, as I suggested earlier. Either way, the most time the teacher will have to spend would be around how they best prefer to plan the lesson. The thing I did while my daughter was building was to pass her the bricks and then I asked questions about what she was testing when programming the hub.

Another aspect I appreciated about the app is that the instructions are also very similar to those you find in LEGO sets that put visuals over words. Although SPIKE Prime is aimed at middle schooler, who should be more confident readers, I find that usually coding programs tend to overdo it with words which tend to end up boring the kids.

A Path for Growth

One of the aspects of LEGO Education I love the most is the path for growth that they offer kids. Since LEGO Education was established in 1980 they thought of ways to expand their products and efforts so that they could incorporate more kids. Of course, expanding your addressable market makes good business sense but LEGO did so with thought out products and solutions that really catered to the age group they were targeting.

As much as STEAM is popular with schools and kids are being told that it is their future, any parent knows that getting kids to stick with something like an after school program is a real challenge. Having the opportunity to integrate LEGO Education SPIKE Prime in the curriculum will create stronger foundations that can be further developed through afterschool programs like First LEGO League, which brings into the equation designing testing and evaluating robotic prototypes.

The consistency in the approach that puts experience learning, problem-solving, collaboration and communication at the center of the experience assures that kids learn critical skills for the future. They will also build an appreciation for technical professions that they might consider as their own career path. Any step to bring more diversity in tech is a welcome one! If you have ever attended a LEGO First event, you know there is no pipeline issue in K-12. We just now need to find ways to support these interests and passions all the way into the workplace.

Five Words That Defined Tech in 2019

We are almost at the end of 2019, and as I prepare for CES, I look back to this year to see what characterized tech over the past twelve months. A lot happened this year so much so that remembering every product and every piece of news is almost impossible. When I look back at big themes that shaped tech, there were five that stood out to me: Streaming, China, Foldable, 5G, and Regulation.

Streaming

It seems as though 2019 was the year when everybody decided that consumers did not have enough options when it came to video streaming. Despite already having a long list of streaming services from Netflix. Hulu, Prime Video, HBO… two new brands came barging into what they believe is still a big opportunity for connecting to consumers but also getting a slice of the revenue pie.

After a big launch event in March, Apple started airing its Apple TV + content at the beginning of November, followed shortly after by Disney+. One day after launch, Disney shared that Disney+ had reached 10 million signups. Of course, signups don’t necessarily equal subscribers. Many people could opt-out after the first seven-day free trial. Some could be among the 20 million Verizon customers who received a free subscription for the first 12 months. Nevertheless, the numbers seem to bode well for revenue service.

Judging the success of Apple TV + will be equally difficult, considering that we shouldn’t be expecting much guidance from Apple’s earnings calls. Plus, any consumers who bought a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or TV would have received a year’s of free subscription.

What is clear, however, is the fact that both services have yet to impact the fortunes of long-standing streaming service, Netflix, the brand, that most feared, would have been affected. It seems as though the hunger for content remains, and consumers seem happy to add to their budget for worthwhile content. Interestingly, though, both services ended up launching at a lower price than most people expected, maybe a sign of awareness of how crowded this market was already.

2020 seems to be as busy with new services expected from HBO, Quibi. Peacock and Discovery/BBC. I continue to believe that the biggest threat these new services represent is aimed at cable TV rather than one another. Cable subscriptions are not just costly, but they also fail to show a clear benefit associated with the amount users pay every month. It’s not so much about cord-cutting but more about making sure the money you pay sees a clear return. I think bundling will be the real battle going forward. We already started to see Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN coming together under one subscription, and I expect Apple will bundle some of its services in 2020. Whether it will be Apple TV + and Apple Music or Apple TV + and Apple News remains to be seen, but my bet is bundled services are on the map.

China

Whether you are thinking about Huawei, or the U.S./China tariffs, or the race to 5G and AI, China was very much at the center of many technology conversations during 2019. The growth and importance that China has represented in technology over the past few years seem to have shifted in 2019, from a market opportunity growth to a supplier opportunity growth. China was not just the market that offered a lot of sales potential, but it became the market where a lot of technologies had their first moment in both development and commercialization.

5G and AI are probably the most prominent tech trends of the next decade, and China is certainly on a mission to dominate both. While a lot of the innovation in these two areas was born in the US, China has been faster to deploy them thanks to government and regulation’s decision that support rather than hinder commercialization.

The tension between the two countries escalated when the US moved to halt Huawei’s ability to sell equipment in the US and, more importantly, to buy parts from US suppliers, by adding Huawei to a Commerce Department blacklist which included another eight Chinese companies. It soon became obvious that Huawei was used as a pawn by the Trump administration in its bargaining with China on favorable tariffs. In what seemed like a chess game, the administration granted temporary reprieves that allow US companies to continue to sell parts to Huawei. Microsoft for instance, said it got a license to sell “mass-market software” to Huawei. Yet, the US Federal Communications Commission voted to prohibit the use of federal subsidies to buy telecommunications equipment made by Huawei and ZTE and said it would consider requiring carriers now using the products to remove them.

The tariffs battle between the US and China culminated this month in the Chinese government mandating all government offices and public institutions to remove foreign computer devices and software within three years, adding to the complications non-Chinese OEMs are already facing with tariffs. Ironically, given the complaints made against Huawei, this mandate is part of China’s longer-term push for “secure and controllable” technology in government and critical industries as part of its Cyber Security Law, which should boost domestic PC makers share.

The ramifications of this power struggle between the two superpowers will continue into 2020 with both countries possibly opening up opportunities for other geographies like South East Asia for manufacturing.

Foldable

Right out of CES 2019, it was clear that this was the year of foldables, if not for sales, certainly for marketing buzz. After years of more or less attractive rectangular pieces of glass, people were excited about new phone form-factors and even about experimenting with PC designs.

Yet, as it is often the case with cutting edge technology, getting off the ground, wasn’t as smooth as many expected. Samsung’s launch of the Galaxy Fold was negatively impacted by some design decisions around screen protectors and hinge. Spring almost turned into Fall as Samsung delayed the official launch of a Galaxy Fold and made some changes to tighten the area around the hinge and tuck the screen protector under the bezel. The second highly anticipated foldable smartphone was the Huawei Mate X, which has, so far, been released only in China, and an international launch said to be dependent on carriers 5G rollout has, in reality, been put on hold by the lack of Google services.

Towards the end of the year, we also saw a more mainstream design with the Motorola Razr. The Razr injects some positivity back into this segment after the issues Samsung and Huawei have had. The inward folding solution protects the screen, and the design does not require developers to rethink their apps for a larger screen nor users to rethink how they use their phones. In other words, you can enjoy the Razr familiarity and uniqueness all at the same time.

Foldables also became a talking point in the PC market where Lenovo introduced the first foldable PC, the ThinkPad X1. As we know, however, people seem to be much more flexible and open to new form factors and experiences with smartphones than they are with PCs. This attitude, and the high price tag associated with the first devices, is why dual-screen devices will play a bigger role in 2020, both driven by efforts by Intel and its Athena project as well as Microsoft and their Surface Neo running Windows 10X, a new incarnation of the Windows operating system, focused on delivering a more agile set of workflows.

5G

It seems strange to talk about 2019 as the year of 5G because in fairness is more about the time that was spent talking about 5G, than the availability of 5G services. As we are closing the year, you will have quite a different opinion of 5G depending on which region you’re located. In the US, industry watchers, as well as consumers, seem to continue to have more questions than answers. And this is not because anyone is questioning the impact that 5G will eventually have on the way that both people and things will all be connected and communicate. It is more because much of the marketing and messaging, especially from the carriers, continues to confuse rather than excite or reassure. We continue to see marketing messages focusing on coverage maps and ideal speeds, but not much time is spent to really show the value of betting on 5G.

Today, as companies start to invest in private 5G networks, the value is becoming more transparent. Still, for consumers, the limited number of devices, the higher price points of these devices, and the extra cost associated with some 5G plans are leaving people skeptical. The elbow fight among carriers to push through as a leader is, unfortunately, ending up hurting 5G’s overall value proposition.

2020 will see broader device selection, as well as a broader price points, bringing the 5G functionality down in the mid-tier portfolio. And, more importantly, a lot of the confusion around network frequencies will go away as chipsets will be able to support multiple frequencies.

Regulation

Big tech was undoubtedly on the agenda in Washington this year! There was plenty to choose from: the FTC and the internet, the FTC and Qualcomm; Google, Twitter, and Facebook all went to Washington, breaking up Big Tech as big part of the 2020 elections agenda.

Privacy was on the agenda in the US and Europe as GDPR started rolling out earlier in the year. Apple was the only vendor who was able to pivot on the push for privacy and made it a big marketing message thought-out the year, talking about privacy as a fundamental civil right.

Antitrust was also on the agenda as politicians called for breaking up Big Tech mostly because it seemed the only way many felt they could hinder Facebook, Amazon, and Google from becoming even more powerful.

Other tech areas that have been under scrutiny are bitcoin, encryption, and AI. Regulators tried to put a stop on Libra, Facebook’s cryptocurrency, for fear of the impact that an unregulated cryptocurrency might have on traditional currencies. Luckily for them, initial vital partners such as Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, and eBay all backed away from the project.

This month, US lawmakers threatened to pass legislation that would force tech companies to provide court-ordered access to encrypted devices and messages. Law enforcement officials argue that encryption keeps them from accessing criminals’ devices, while tech companies continue to be concerned that creating a backdoor into any device or messaging service opens up the opportunity for bad actors to maliciously access them too. This is the same argument made by Apple against the FBI after the San Bernardino shooting.

After leading the way on privacy, Europe seems to want to shift its attention to AI with Ms. Vestager, Europe’s Commissioner for Competition pledging to create the world’s first regulations around artificial intelligence as well as delivering rights to gig economy workers like Uber drivers.

All these big topics will remain on the agenda for politicians in the US, Europe, and Australia. Still, I have to admit that I hope to see a much better understanding in the US not just on technology but also on business models and the role that technology will play in key areas such as education, transportation, and real estate.

2019 was also the year of tech leadership shakeups, Tik-Tok, silicon, diversity and inclusion (albeit more as a talking point), cloud, and edge. As we look ahead to 2020, we can rest assured we will see many of these big themes to further develop with some materially impacting our lives daily but with all certainly absorbing more marketing budget.


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Away: Modern Communication and Women’s Leadership

Earlier this week, following an investigation from The Verge that highlighted a toxic culture at AWAY, its CEO Steph Korey resigned. As the story made its rounds, it was fascinating to see how people in the press, invest community and tech were responding to it. It has been a polarizing response for sure that had people split between condemning the toxic culture and people calling out the drive to business success.

The story was centered around employees’ complaints of exceedingly long work hours, high levels of scrutiny for their mistakes, a clique-like nature of a company whose leadership talked about fostering inclusivity. Korey was particularly singled out for sharing harsh comments about employees’ work and for Slacking late at night, expecting a reply.

You might disagree with me that Korey’s behavior showed at a minimum very poor judgment of what leadership should be. But, I am sure you agree that it would have been hard for her to remain as a CEO after getting such a degree of press attention.

There is one part of me that does wonder if this would have also been the case if Korey was a Stephen and not a Steph.

Women Leaders

Women and men have different leadership styles, and that is a fact! According to researchers, most women tend to be transformational leaders, while men are more transactional leaders. One style is not necessarily better than the other, but it might better fit a particular type of organization. Transformational leaders are more effective in people-centered companies, while transactional leaders might fare better in an organization where people are more independent.
Transformational leaders seek to be a role model, inspire their team, and emphasize authentic communication. All attributes that would point to Korey as being an exception to the rule I guess.

But if the management style is not something that necessarily determines the success for women leaders, could we find any evidence that how boards deal with crisis differs depending on whether or not the CEO is a woman? Well, according to a paper called “You’re Fired? Gender Disparities in CEO Dismissal,” published by Gupta et all. in 2018, there is a difference. Female CEOs are more likely to get the boot. In fact, they’re 45% more likely to be dismissed than their male counterparts. Interestingly, the gap is statistically insignificant when the company is doing poorly, but the difference is noticeable when you look at companies that are performing well.

As to why this happens, the researchers share their hypotheses. They suggest that when a company is performing poorly, the decision to fire the CEO is often straight forward. But when the company is not doing well, there is “considerable ambiguity about the CEO’s leadership of the firm and no clear script for the board to follow.” In that situation, board members are more likely to fall back on the gender stereotypes and decide that the female CEO doesn’t have the “leadership qualities” needed to continue the company’s winning run.

According to Away, the company was already looking for a new CEO before the story broke. Whether or not this was because the company already knew about the story or because they thought that sooner or later, Korey’s behavior would have caught up with her is unclear and to some extent, irrelevant. But it seems that, in this case, Korey, as a woman leader, did fit the statistics and was likely dismissed when a male counterpart would have either been lauded for being harsh or admired for being a jerk.

Modern Communication and Collaboration

Another fascinating aspect of this whole story is the role that Slack has played. A follow-up article from The Verge points to the role that Slack and other collaboration platforms play in today’s companies and society when you think of broader platforms like Facebook and Twitter. To some extent, they all make people “more accountable” ironically one of the asks Steph Korey had for her employees.

I am more interested, though, in how these tools, so popular in an enterprise environment, are impacting our communication skills. In a world that is becoming more comfortable with sharing thoughts, often very direct ones, and where no distinction is made whether we are talking to someone we know or to the President of the United States, I do wonder if we are we losing sight of the weight that words carry especially when we lead.

There is little room for formalities in today’s collaboration platform no matter if you are using Slack or Teams, the short and to be point nature of the exchange is what people love. Abbreviations and emojis borrowed from messaging apps facilitate a more relaxed exchange that is much richer in feelings than email ever was. There is nothing intrinsically bad in this way of communicating as long as you are self-aware of how you come across and you think back to whether or not it is appropriate for the role you hold.

The other aspect of these collaboration tools is the expectation they set for response time. In a way, it is not much different than texting over emailing someone. Email is much less real-time communication than messaging, and collaboration platforms are. Most people using Slack or Teams expect a real-time exchange. For my generation, it is similar to when you decide to call someone rather than text, for millennials, it might be more like picking WhatsApp over text messaging. As a leader, while you can choose to Slack at three in the morning, you need to be aware of the kind of bar you are setting for your employees. Startups are often known for driving long hours and work ethics that sees a minimal separation between work and play. The blended lifestyles millennials are having as they pursue their career is often a takeover of their personal life by the work-life. Startups where everybody is invested in the success of the company and where everybody benefits equally could condone such a work style, but larger companies where CEOs or managers exploit their position and ride on the dreams of their employees should think of the long term impact of driving such a company culture.

I am a bit less proud of being an Away owner, and I am saddened by the fact that Steph Korey might have forgotten that, right or wrong, more is expected from us women, when we lead. We cannot be jerks, and to be honest, we really should not be as there are enough jerks to go around, especially in tech and its fringes. Hopefully, this is a cautionary tale for all companies and leaders, but especially those that set out to make the world a better place and fall short of making their own work environment merely a good enough place.

Qualcomm and the 5G Ecosystem

This week I have been in Maui at what for the past three years has been the curtain-raiser for the next generation of Qualcomm’s chipsets: the Snapdragon Summit.

This year, aside from Qualcomm’s technology innovation, especially around 5G, we also saw a clear ecosystem buildup of players from carriers to phone manufacturers, developers, and content creators all coming together because they understand the benefits that 5G will bring to their business.

It is clear to me that the road to 5G, as Nicki Palmer from Verizon very eloquently put it, is about like-minded people building an ecosystem, sharing a vision, and driving that vision forward to successful implementation.

We are still at a point with 5G when you either are very excited or highly skeptical. Supporters see the technology as a real game-changer not just for smartphones, but for a whole range of new experiences that will be delivered thanks to the connectivity that 5G brings. On the other end of the spectrum, no pun intended, are the skeptics who see 5G as yet another iterative step in the list of Gs that label cellular progress.

I stand more with the first group of people that see the potential that 5G brings. In mature markets where 5G will enable new experiences beyond just faster connection, but also in emerging markets where fixed infrastructure is not an option when it comes to delivering broadband to the masses.

I also believe that, despite the hype that makes it sound like we are already living in a 5G world, it will actually take a few more years before that vision of rich experiences delivered through 5G consistently and reliably will come to life.

This week in Maui, we saw Qualcomm orchestrating the ecosystem that will bring 5G to life. A set of partners came together to share their vision for 5G, and as I listened, it occurred to me that 5G will create opportunities for brands to reinvigorate their consumer presence.

Let’s start with smartphones.

Motorola and HMD are two brands that have been in the market for quite some time and have been delivering positive results but aspire to do more either by entering more price points or more geographies. They both could receive a powerful push from 5G, especially in the US. Carriers need options; they need a more varied list of suppliers, so they don’t end up with the same duopoly that has been ruling the 4G era. Consumers might still decide that such a duopoly is what they want, but carriers would prefer options. I see 5G as empowering both Motorola and HMD to grow by delivering more choices both in the high end and the mid-tier.

For Motorola, it is more about using 5G to re-enter the premium market building on the momentum created by the newly launched Razr while at the same time expanding their presence outside North America by continuing to deliver great value in the mass market play, now on 5G.

For HMD, it is the opportunity of getting into the US in a stronger way with the carrier channel. And hopefully, some carrier marketing budget. The pure Android experience HMD offers, coupled with its quality design and aggressive price point, would make a good addition to the 5G portfolio across carriers.

I believe both vendors can deliver solid products, but they need shelf presence and some marketing investment. And given most of the handsets for 5G are coming out of China (Oppo and Xiaomi were also announced at the event they will have 5G handsets with Snapdragon inside), supporting other brands means avoiding the risk of being caught up in any China/US politics.

Another partner that was interesting to see on stage was Dolby. A brand that we’ve known for many years and that has had a love affair with smartphones for a very long-time providing support for both sound and video, but often not getting the credit they deserved for their role as an enabler of a better entertainment experience.

Dolby was on stage at the Summit to present a new Dolby Vision for video capture running on the Snapdragon 865 that can empower content creators to shoot videos in Dolby Vision and then share such content across all playback devices maintaining the fidelity of the content.

The timing for this announcement could not be better given Dolby started to reinvest in building its brand at a consumer level as signaled by the ad placement during the latest American Music Awards. Music and film creators clearly understand the value of the end to end solution that Dolby brings both to video and sound. Still, many consumers outside Dolby Cinemas might not have been so aware of the role Dolby plays in their entertainment experience.

Over the past year, we have seen Dolby deliver their first consumer product in their Dolby Dimension headset  and more recently we saw their collaboration with Amazon on the Echo Studio the first product to incorporate Dolby Atmos Music

While consumers clearly appreciate sound, it has been interesting to measure how little sound quality plays in the purchasing decision for a smartphone. The quality of the camera, however, has been a clear purchase driver for consumers for the past five years. Over the past couple of years, as video started to play a more prominent role in social media, so has the importance of the quality of the video a smartphone can capture. Dolby Vision video capture speaks both to the power of the Snapdragon 865 and the different ways 5G will play a role in empowering consumers to do more with their phones when it comes to sharing quality content.

It is easy to get carried away from testing network speeds on newly launched devices, but that is not really what will get consumers excited about 5G. I also do not believe that we all should be waiting for a killer app to bring 5G to life. We better prepare to run the 5G marathon rather than burn out on a 5G sprint. The success for 5G will come from the combination of solutions like pushing AI to the edge, empowering cloud gaming and XR experiences, and delivering devices at all price points right from the start. Smartphones will be the first showcase for 5G, but more devices will come so that this technology will have many more touchpoints than any other mobile technology transition. They will not all materialize together, which is why being realistic about both the network rollout and use cases is paramount to avoid disappointment.

The Motorola Razr is Back! Forget Nostalgia. It’s All About the Future!

At an event in LA that screamed lifestyle rather than tech, Motorola revealed the heavily rumored Razr. A foldable smartphone that takes the name of the most iconic phone Motorola ever sold and projects it into the future.

When unfolded, the Razr reveals a 6.2″ foldable OLED display while the external QuickView display is a 2.7″ OLED, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Razr runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 and has a 2510 mAh battery. There is a single 16MP camera at the back of the phone and 5MP at the front. It offers no wireless charging, but TurboPower is at hand for fast charging.

To some extent, the specs do not really matter as the Razr sells itself on its innovative folding design rather than the sum of its features. I would imagine that the design and component choice did drive some decision both in terms of price and in terms of optimizing a slim design with decent battery life and speed. I would also reserve judgment on the quality of the camera until testing it more extensively as we know Qualcomm has some good AI capabilities wrapped into the Snapdragon 710.

In the U.S., the new Motorola Razr will be available exclusively on Verizon with pre-order starting on December 26, 2019 and shipping in January 2020, for $62.49 a month for 24 months on Verizon Device Payment (0% APR; USD 1,499.99 MSRP).

What the Razr Means for Motorola

Motorola struck the perfect balance between leaning into the Razr brand while looking ahead. Gen Z and Millennial will not be as familiar as Gen Xers are with the Razr name. This means that Motorola needed to create a new buzz in its own right to appeal to a broader audience and one that might be the most attracted to a foldable design. Although we have had a couple of phones that embraced nostalgia over the past couple of years, the new Razr does not fit that mold. I think the decision of building on the Razr franchise is much more pragmatic than people give Motorola credit for.

The first generation Razr, as a brand, was synonymous with higher-end, great design and to some extent, a design over specs formula. For the Razr reboot, Motorola is counting on repositioning its brand in the higher-end of the market thanks to the aspirational folding design. This is really not about nostalgia, it is about having limited resources when it comes to building a totally new brand franchise. Using the familiar and successful Razr name gets Motorola some buzz out the door.

Having had the opportunity to spend some time with the Razr, there is a lot that Motorola should be proud of. The zero-gap hinge perfectly aligns the display without creating a crease or a dip in the middle of the screen. From my experience this solves a few problems:

  • It makes the device feel less delicate and increases the quality feel
  • It gives you the impression that you are actually touching glass even though the display is plastic
  • You don’t have to force your brain to ignore a crease in the middle of the screen to enjoy the content displayed

Motorola’s early reveal will help to spread the momentum over a few months as we wait for the Razr to ship in January 2020. I expect Motorola to bring more foldable designs to market over the next 12 to 18 months as competition in this space intensifies.

The Question of Price

I saw some commentary on the $1500 price tag of the Razr that compared it to flagship products such as the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and the iPhone 11. Such comparisons, as well as the conclusion that the Razr price is too high, seem to build on a like-for-like specs comparison but totally ignore the cost associated with delivering a foldable design. Plus, just because the Razr is smaller than the Galaxy Fold, it does not mean that making it requires less skill and investment.

Production and R&D cost aside, the price must also reflect the newness of the technology, as well as the positioning Motorola had in mind for the Razr. After all, nobody thinks of something cheap as aspirational. The packaging fully reflects the positioning and the price point as the box the Razr ships in turns into a stand that functions as a speaker.

The Quick View Screen and the Power of Triage

I would have called the external screen of the Razr the quick action screen because viewing is not all you can do with it. The Quick View screen can show you information such as text messages (which you can reply to), new emails, incoming phone calls, mobile payment cards, music controls, and a camera viewfinder. You can even talk to Google Assistant by saying, “OK Google.”

For me, the Quick View screen is the perfect solution for detoxing. Similar to the external screen of the Fold but slightly more functional, I can triage inbound messages and notifications without being unnecessarily sucked into the phone.

What Razr Means for the Market

I am not sure the Razr really solves a pain point for consumers. While some might complain about how big some phones are becoming, the benefit of the larger screen is certainly valued by many.

What I think the Razr does is inject some positivity back into this segment after the issues Samsung has faced. The inward folding solution protects the screen, and the design does not require developers to rethink their apps for a larger screen nor users to rethink how they use their phones. In other words, you can enjoy the Razr familiarity and uniqueness all at the same time. This will undoubtedly drive out of the box satisfaction.

I would expect demand to exceed production for the Razr, but volumes will remain low given price point, design and carrier exclusives. But if the Razr is not a one-off high-end product, I do expect the brand to receive a good boost. Because the Razr is more about Motorola’s brand than creating demand for foldable designs, I also hope to see Lenovo opening the purse strings a little so that the Razr can get a serious marketing campaign. After all, Motorola has built a foldable to rebuild their brand.

Microsoft Ignite Brings to Life the Power of Microsoft 365

I lost count of the many announcements that came through during Satya Nadella’s keynote at Microsoft Ignite this week. To some extent, it doesn’t even matter how many new features and services were announced because it was the sum of them all that really matters. The value of these solutions and features across products such as Azure, Office, Business Apps becomes obvious as they come together to empower businesses to do more and do differently, but also envision what is possible thanks to the power of AI, cloud, edge and quantum computing. Maybe for the first time, I understood what Microsoft 365 really delivers. For the first time, Microsoft 365 did not feel like an umbrella brand of separate services and applications brought together by a name, but rather a solution that touches every aspect of a business. Ironically this was also the time when Microsoft 365 was the least mentioned product on stage.

Under the theme of “Tech Intensity,” Satya Nadella pulled together what I see as the core investment areas on which Microsoft’s value proposition and differentiation is built. There were a few, but I want to focus on those I believe will have the most significant impact on Microsoft’s business: Trust, Knowledge, Empowerment.

Trust

This is probably the most obvious area to spot throughout the keynote and the event, just because of the number of times it was mention. Jared Spataro, VP of Microsoft 365, went as far as calling it “the most valuable asset” Microsoft has. Trust, for Microsoft, is built on three components: Privacy, Security, and Responsible AI.

I wrote in the past about privacy and how specific business models help brands take a privacy-first approach. But privacy is not the only way to build trust, so I was delighted to see Microsoft talk about security as well. Keeping data secure is as important as keeping it private both at a consumer and enterprise level.

Responsible AI is even broader than ethical AI, because it encompasses both the principles you are considering while building your algorithms as well as the understanding of the possible harmful ramifications of how an algorithm could be used.

These three ingredients of trust also come together when you think about the data that is used in machine teaching and how Microsoft has always very openly talked about the data not belonging to them and the steps that need to be taken when creating AI models without looking at the data that goes in nor the data that comes out.

Trust should be a priority for any brand, and while some might think the drivers I just highlighted are readily available, there are plenty of examples in the market today pointing at leadership who believes to be immune from judgment or just clueless as to the role trust will play in growing or retaining business.

Knowledge

Knowledge is the second area of investment, where I feel Microsoft is pushing ahead very fast and with determination. Project Cortex is probably the best example of how Microsoft wants to generate knowledge, not just data. The idea is to have AI do the heavy lifting so that people do not spend time going through the data or figuring out what data they have, but rather focus on creating, making decisions, being productive, by using a set of information that has already been pre-curated for them.

Project Cortex is a knowledge network, not a knowledge management solution. You might be forgiven to think they are the same. The good old knowledge management has been around since the 1990s and was built on a quite structured approach, and while it helped with gaining an understanding of what data was available it did not necessarily connect that data for you.

With Project Cortex, Microsoft is looking at assisting organizations in cutting down on duplicate work by letting you know if the work has already been done or if parts of what has been done can be leveraged for something you are working on. Project Cortex connects projects, products, customers and processes together. It also aims at helping with mining skills by identifying people who might be working on similar projects, all, of course, respecting the permission your company has applied to see and access the data.

A premium feature of Microsoft 365, Project Cortex will launch in the first half of 2020. While some might be quick in fearing for their jobs, as it is often the case, it will be more an opportunity for humans to focus on what they do best, which is bringing context and business expertise into the equation, the most valuable aspect of their contribution. In this context, Project Cortex is an empowerment tool.

Empowerment

Empowerment is the last area of investment I saw clearly rising from several of the products offered within Microsoft 365. Nadella’s mantra has been on empowering every business and every human to do more thanks to technology. In this “tech intensity” moment, we must pay more attention to us humans as we might just be the biggest hurdle not just in adopting technology but also, and maybe more importantly, in seeing the value it brings.

The empowerment of employees and businesses does not stop with Project Cortex. Microsoft is also focused on helping those organizations to empower people who have the business knowledge to drive some of the work on AI and apps but lack the digital skills to do so. PowerApps, Power BI, Power Platform, and AI Builder and the new Power Virtual Agent all speak to empowering organizations to bring employees’ skills to the digital world. Such an investment might help lower the need to fully retraining staff to code or learn new coding tools. This is not just a significant step to highlight the value these solutions bring by potentially providing cost savings on hiring new people or retraining existing staff, but it addresses what is a clear shortage in business apps developers and data scientists not just in the US but worldwide.

 

It is when I think about the network of services that Microsoft is building on the Microsoft Graph that I see how the value of Microsoft 365 will deepen the relationship enterprises have with Microsoft in a much more meaningful way than the sum of each individual product like it was in the past. In such a relationship to pinpoint which single product or feature is critical to a business will be much harder, leaving less opportunity for competitors with a more narrow or single purpose-built solution.

Samsung Developer Conference: A More Deliberate Partner for Developers

This week at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, Samsung brought together its developer community for an event that has evolved quite a bit from its microscopic origins in a hotel meeting room around the corner from Union Square in San Francisco. In its new home in San Jose, SDC felt more focused than ever before in highlighting its core strength in driving developer interest and engagement: user base, consumer and enterprise play, security, intelligence, and tools.

It’s natural to want to compare SDC to Apple WWDC or Google i/o. Still, such a comparison would ignore the fact that Samsung does not control the underlying operating system for most of the devices they sell except for TVs and Wearables. This means that the touchpoints with developers aren’t naturally strong, and to build engagement, Samsung must be very intentional as to what they want they see as a differentiator over what Google would be able to deliver.

Lack of control on the underlying operating system also limits how Samsung can use SDC every year, not just to showcase what is coming in terms of features, but also what might be happening in terms of devices. Often, scrutinizing Google i/o or Apple WWDC gives clues as to what features the next version of the Pixel, or the iPhone might include.

I feel that compared to last year, Samsung has chosen a more focused approach to what the developer conference should mean to its audience, an audience that this year felt split between consumer and enterprise developers. The proposition Samsung has for these two segments is very clear:

  • For developers interested in the consumer space, Samsung continues to offer a wide range of devices and their reach within consumers and their homes.
  • From an enterprise perspective. Samsung offers the presence they established with Galaxy smartphones, tablets, and wearables. But also, and more importantly, Samsung provides the Knox platform helping developers deliver their applications, solutions, and services securely.

One UI 2.0

The promise of reaching so many millions of users across different categories of devices was best highlighted by the focus that Samsung has put in the redesign of their One UI. As Samsung showcased One UI 2.0, we saw a clear intention to empower developers to develop once and deploy across devices. The improvements to the One UI also reflect a deliberate attempt to increase ease of use through simplicity, as well as future-proofing gestures and designs that could fit new form factors like a unique foldable design that Samsung showed on stage, which looked very similar to the rumored upcoming Motorola RAZR foldable device. While the picture of a potential new foldable got people excited, it felt very different from last year, when the mock-up of what eventually became the Fold stole the show.

Security

Security was another big pillar of this year’s event. As regulators across markets pay much more attention to applications and services, and how these use consumers’ data, Samsung is helping developers to deliver secure solutions like in the case of Tizen’s TIFA, where Samsung is assisting developers in complying with privacy standards. On the enterprise side, not necessarily something that gets a center stage at Apple or Google’s Developer Conferences, Samsung leveraged its partnerships power and DJ Koh’s belief that an open ecosystem is the only way to success and highlighted a collaboration with Microsoft that is getting stronger.

Enterprises trust Samsung as a hardware provider, hardware that is highly customizable and reliable. Enterprises trust Samsung as a security provider. But enterprises might not trust Samsung to be able to deliver an AI solution that is an enterprise-class AI solution. This is where the collaboration with Microsoft and IBM comes in. It was fascinating to see Microsoft on the SDC stage, pitching the Microsoft Graph to Samsung’s developers. Even though the Surface team recently announced a new Android-based device, the Surface Duo, Microsoft must know that Samsung offers a much broader opportunity for them when it comes to smartphones. Samsung’s smartphones and can be the best companions to Windows PCs, but they can also acquire data for the Microsoft Graph which is why showing developers the opportunity that the Microsoft graph represents was important.

Getting Serious About PCs

The partnership with Microsoft also meant that we saw on stage two new PC designs: the Galaxy Book Ion and the Galaxy Book Flex. I have spoken before about the strength that I see in Samsung’s PC offering for both design and understanding of what a connected PC experience should be. This, of course, includes the knowledge of what is needed to bring those devices to market working with the carriers.

What was interesting at SDC was that Samsung also highlighted a collaboration with Intel. After showcasing a Qualcomm based PC back in August at Unpacked, it was fascinating to listen to how Intel spoke about the partnership that they have with Samsung. I have been warning PC OEM for quite some time that Samsung was going to be an up and coming threat. Of course, there’s a balance that Samsung display and memory business, and Samsung Consumer Electronics business must find. Still, I started to see a definite change in how ready Samsung is to pursue the PC opportunity.

Bixby’s Brain Is What Matters

The last area of differentiation from a developer engagement standpoint was Bixby. ES Chung gave an update, and for one split moment, I heard what Bixby really is when one does not worry about competitors but looks instead at capabilities. Bixby is an intelligent platform with intelligent developers’ tools like Capsules. The brain is what Samsung should emphasize with Bixby, rather than the voice, as that would help reset expectations and would set up Bixby for success, not for failure. I don’t believe Bixby has much opportunity in the consumer market as a fully fledged digital assistant but, much like Cortana, there are B2B workflows that could benefit from the intelligence capabilities Bixby offers and that is where I would recommend Samsung focuses going forward especially when it can build on the Knox security platform.

 

All in all, I felt that Samsung brought the goods at this year’s event although they are still learning to talk about SDC news from the standpoint of “what’s in it for developers” it felt there was a clear focus that I hope will continue because the potential to make a difference for developers is real especially in markets outside of the US.

Esports and Education: Looking Beyond the Money

If you have a Gen Zer in the house, chances are they are a gamer of sorts. Whether they play Minecraft, Fortnite, or spend hours on Twitch watching others play, they all are deeply invested. Common drivers are the fun of gaming, as well as the social impact that these games create in building teams and relationships with real-world friends or digital ones.

Over the summer, gaming became more than just fun for many kids following the Fortnite World Cup finals. Fifteen-year-old Jaden Ashman won half of the $2.25 million after coming second with his teammate. A few days later, sixteen-year-old Kyle Giersdorf went on to win the final battle taking home a $3 million prize.

If your child is as cunning as mine, I am sure you were faced with interesting conversations that outlined how your offspring’s gaming time could lead to wealth and success. While that might not necessarily be the case, it is true that the path to eSports as a career mirrors more and more that of a traditional sport, including the role colleges play.

Esports Scholarships and Courses

ESports scholarships have been around since 2014 when Robert Morris University in Chicago became the first university in the US to offer substantial scholarships for members of its Varsity eSports League of Legends team. The acceleration of this trend over the past year or so will get us close to 150 schools across the US and Canada by the end of 2019. ESports scholarships are very similar to other sports, with academics and merit playing a significant role in the decision of how they are allocated. Player skills, communication ability, and open spots on the team are also contributing factors to the decision.

More recently, the acknowledgment that eSports can be a full-on career drove some universities to go from offering scholarships based on gaming skills to offer eSports courses. These are courses that focus on prepare students to take advantage of the business opportunity presented by the growing world of eSports. The University of Staffordshire in the UK, Virginia’s Shenandoah University, Ohio State University, and Becker College in Massachusetts were the first universities to offer eSports courses at the start of the 2019 academic year that focus on a range of subjects from marketing to business management, to design and app content development.

There is a concern, of course, that these courses might be springing up to make colleges and universities look more relevant and attractive, rather than to provide skills for what might be a large job pool for the future. It is early to say, but there are certain skills that go with eSports that other businesses could benefit from, especially as the gig economy continues to grow.

K-12 Paves the Way

With scholarships and courses growing at the college level, it is no surprise we have seen more than 800 schools in North American join the High School eSports League reaching around 15,000 students in eSports clubs. Similar to the rise of robotics and STEM, we started to see eSports afterschool clubs roll out first. As the scholarship dollars grew, so did more formal elective courses that, like traditional sports, aim at preparing students to apply for some of those college scholarships.

With 70% of students identifying themselves as gamers, schools are hoping to build on this interest to offer students who might not be interested in traditional sports or might not be athletically gifted a different option to engage in campus activities. Similarly to other clubs and electives, the High School eSports League requires minimum GPA standards to participate.

Modern World Skills

Simply equating eSports to gaming, like equating First Lego Robotics to just coding, would miss the number of skills this discipline, yes I said it, it is a discipline, requires. Many of these games are team based and require a vast set of skills:

  • communication
  • writing for multiple purposes, and for different media formats
  • reading comprehensive information and directions
  • listening skills.

I would bet these are the skills any recruiter is looking for in both a leader or a team player. Branding, marketing, event planning, operational analysis, and strategy are all part of what eSports entails.

For schools, one of the appeals of eSports is actually that in most cases, there is no specific hardware requirement, but schools can plan to adopt multi-purpose computers and workstations. Hardware companies that cater to the education market see the opportunity eSports provide, but their involvement does not necessarily end with just providing the infrastructure to run the games and hold the classes. Often marrying their education leaders with their social responsibility advocates, hardware vendors look at the opportunity to help schools and districts to get started with eSports in the right way so that it is not just a fad but a truly new opportunity for kids.

Made By Google Is More Like Amazon Than Apple

This week was finally Pixel week. Over the past couple of months, we have seen teasers from Made by Google Team as well as leaks and even a Best Buy Canada early release of what the Pixel 4 was meant to be. We also had some details on the Pixel Book Go, the Nest Wi-Fi, and the new Pixel Buds. What was missing, though, was how the Made by Google team was going to frame its story around these products.

I said before that how a company talks and introduces its products are as important as the products themselves when it comes to understanding the vision and the goals of the business. This week’s launch was no different. While some industry watchers criticized the presentation for coming across as choppy, I thought it followed a similar format to the Google i/o main keynote. Product people come on stage to tell their story, talk about their creation, and highlight those aspects they think are a differentiator. I appreciated the attempt to move away from a specs sheet focus and provide more information on the thought process behind the devices and features as well as addressing hot areas such as sustainability and privacy.

Made by Google’s Chief, Rich Osterloh, framed the context around the new devices, but also how the team thinks about the role these devices should play in the users’ life. As he talked about ambient computing and helpful technology, it was impossible not to draw parallels to how Amazon positioned its devices just a few weeks ago.

The devices are not the final product; the technology in them is. From cloud to chipsets to Google Assistant and Soli, the technology that users access is what was on stage in New York.

Helpful Technology and Ambient Computing

Rick Osterloh stressed multiple times how the hardware the team is building focuses on being helpful. The message should sound familiar as the helpful technology tagline was used by Sundar Pichai at Google i/o. If technology is helpful, it will be pervasive in our lives, and privacy will matter more. Of course, if the technology is helpful, we come to rely on it, which creates higher brand loyalty. Helpfulness also drives customer loyalty because the perceived value of the device or service is higher. So far, there has not been any talk about paid services, but I find this emphasis on helpful tech very interesting. I do wonder if framing tech in such a way opens up options for Google to switch some of its services or features to a paid model. This revenue opportunity might also include the prospect of selling their Titan M chip to partners, especially for those who want their products to be Android Enterprise Recommended.

Privacy will also matter when the devices we use disappear and computing powers services and experiences all around us. Google wants the technology to work in such a way that when everything is perfect, the devices disappear. Interestingly this is similar to how Surface’s lead Panos Panay talks about his devices and how they keep you in the flow. It might seem odd that a hardware brand would want its devices to disappear, but if you use any technology, you know you don’t necessarily need to touch or look at a device to get a level of benefit that makes you love it. It is even easier to understand that when the device encapsulates values that are software and services driven and come from the same company.

A Focused Hardware Approach

And so, as much as Pixel 4 might be the iPhone 11 Pro competitor and Pixel Buds 2 might be Made by Google’s take on Air Pods, I cannot help but think that Made by Google’s goals are way more similar to Amazon than Apple. They might play in the same segments as Apple does, and avoiding the comparisons is impossible, but the measure of their success will not be market share but rather the continued adoption of and increased reliance on Google Assistant and the services that are powered by it.

One aspect where Google and Amazon might differ in approach is in the number of devices they decide to bring to market. It is quite apparent, though, why this is the case.

First, investment and leverage. Google has had a somewhat tricky road to hardware. We all remember how much the negative Motorola numbers impacted earnings, so the investment is much more thoughtful now. It is clear Made by Google wants to get to consumers where they get the highest return either on service engagement or cloud. It also means that Made by Google might try and leverage their devices more like they did with the new Nest Wi-Fi and the Google Assistant and smart hub integration. The partner ecosystem can also help Made by Google find those segments where there is value and those where there isn’t. The first smart display product with Google Assistant was brought to market by Lenovo. Following the positive reception of the category, we saw Made by Google launch the Google Home Hub line.

The second factor that makes a difference is, of course, Pixel. The Made by Google phone allows Google Assistant to be with the user all the time. This means, for instance, that no car dedicated device is needed to get to the users while the commute from the office to home. Amazon’s lack of phones means that they need to deliver compelling devices for those situations where users would turn to the phone by default.

No doubt in my mind that being in hardware, software, and services business for Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft makes perfect sense. You just need to stop looking at the hardware as a stand-alone revenue generator and consider the impact it has on driving overall business revenue.

Perception: The Biggest Hurdle In Broadening Your Business

Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are enabling device and solution providers in the enterprise space to expand and somewhat reinvent their business. Some have done so out of necessity to remain current and fence off competition from new entrants, while others have done so simply because they saw the opportunity to widen their revenue.

One area in particular, where we have seen a lot of change over the past couple of years has been collaboration and communication. The move has been brought forward by new apps that entered the workplace, but mostly by new workflows that are less siloed. Finally, communication and collaboration are intertwined the way they are supposed to be.

If you think back at a time before Slack, Teams, Zoom, and BlueJeans, communication and collaboration were pretty independent. We used single-purpose apps, but also most people did not want or need to collaborate in real-time as they do now. Better connectivity and increased mobility have redefined the way we work and how we see time-critical tasks. We moved from snail mail to email, and now we have been moving from email to live messaging for instant gratification, even on answers that are not time-sensitive. And so, we collaborate even if we are just communicating because the interactions we now have are real-time. In turn, the higher the importance we give to these interactions and more flexible work conditions increased our reliance on video conferences, smart boards, and more.

Devices, as well as apps and solutions we have been using, have grown in capabilities and intelligence to be more comprehensive than they used to be. With the change, brands had to learn how to talk, distribute, and position their products. They also must consider how much they want to deliver on their own rather than find a partner.

Two brands come to mind as an example of how far their business has evolved, and the challenges they face with the perception people have of them: Citrix and Poly. Both names should be familiar to you as they have been very visible players in the enterprise market in the digital workspace and unified communication, respectively.

You Are on a Journey…

Despite being in different businesses, both companies have walked a similar path on which, directly and through acquisitions, they have developed their core business in a much broader set of services and products. Most importantly, they transitioned from selling products and services to selling solutions that bring those together. Both companies went through a transition: Citrix from networking and virtual desktops to digital workspace solutions and Poly from the UC focus of Polycom and the headsets competence of Plantronics to a workplace solution for optimal collaboration no matter your location and what conference providers you use.

What is fascinating with these two brands is that their transition was not just a marketing and branding exercise. They actually did the work, acquired the talent, and listened to what their customers were telling them. Despite this, they face similar challenges in getting the broader market to understand their transformation because they changed and they took their customers on their journey, but industry watchers did not always tag along.

…Choose Your Fellow Travelers Carefully

We know technology often moves at a faster pace than we humans can understand, embrace, or accept. Over the past few years, however, technology has also enabled changes in business models, go to market, solutions, and services that require a new way to assess brands and segments such as collaboration and communication.

Market disruptors are often not easy to plot on a wave or a quadrant as they get into a market and change the rules by which they are supposed to measure. The same can be said for brands that transition their business. Think about how Uber would have lived up to be measured against a traditional taxi company or a limousine service, not very well, right? But that was not the point. They were not trying to be either and to make their service understood, they needed to rely on analysts and press who grasped the gig economy rather than those who covered the travel and transportation vertical.

It is a fine balance, but brands must invest in reaching out to those who cover the markets they are reaching for as well as continue to foster their relationship with those who have covered them in the past. This might require some time to cover the basics of who the company is and what they stand for. It might also need some patience from your spokespeople who might consider the new audience as uninformed. Finally, it will require a different way of communicating that focuses on the solution and its business impact rather than the detailed specs of a product. The investment will be well worth it, as this new audience brings an understanding of the new market, the broader competitive landscape, and ultimately the right reach into partners and clients you want to influence.

Both Citrix and Poly are not done yet with their transformative journey. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning will bring new opportunities to deliver vital information on how their customers use their solutions. As they move more into AI and ML, they will get on the radar of those who cover data centers, edge computing, cloud, and so their reach will have to shift to include those who have been covering these areas without ever considering Citrix or Poly as players.

 

Broadening or reinventing your business does not mean you need to change your core values, but it might mean you need to learn to talk about your business differently. Telling your audience who and what you are is as important as telling them who and what you are not despite how many times someone will force you to fit a preset mold.

Why Calling the Surface Duo a Phone Would Be Missing The Point

This year’s Surface event in New York felt as significant as the first Surface launch back in 2012. The critical difference, however, is that the impact that we see Surface devices deliver today affects not just the Windows Ecosystem but Microsoft as a company overall.

In just under two hours, Panos Panay introduced updates to the popular Surface Pro 7 and the Surface Laptop, now in aluminum and a larger which 15″ running on AMD silicon. He also had some additions to the portfolio: the new Surface Pro X running on a new custom chipset, the Microsoft SQ1, born from a collaboration with Qualcomm, and the Surface Earbuds. The reason why I consider this event so significant, however, is linked to two new products that show where Surface is heading, and the vision Panay and the team have for computing: Surface Duo and Surface Neo. Both these devices are dual-screen devices that are tightly intertwined in the way they encapsulate the best of Microsoft in an OS-agnostic way.

So many Windows Phone and Surface fans have been waiting for a Surface phone to be added to the portfolio for a very long time. But what was delivered this week with the Surface Duo might not be exactly what they wanted. Surface Duo must not be seen as Microsoft re-entry into the phone market. Yes I know, Microsoft is making a phone and selling a phone under the Surface brand, so their sales will show up in smartphone market share statistics and people will go out of their way to see if Surface Duo is an iPhone or Galaxy Fold killer. Looking at the Surface Duo in this light misses the significant role that this device has for the present and the future of Microsoft, not just Surface. It is only when you think about this broader impact that you can understand why we have a Surface running on Android.

A Front Row Seat for Microsoft Services

So why launch a smartphone now? If you’ve been following along over the past year or so, you have noticed Microsoft building more ties between Windows and Android. Microsoft has been making sure that PC users could benefit from their services in the best possible way on an Android phone, but also that they could feel that power amplified by first-party apps that deliver value through a seamless cross-platform performance.

With the launch of Surface Duo, Surface is delivering the best Microsoft experience on an Android device. Surface Duo follows the same high-standard in hardware design we are accustomed to while empowering rich and seamless workflows where the stars are the apps and the overall experience rather than the OS. Surface Duo gives a front-row seat to Outlook, Word, OneNote, OneDrive, to millions of users who every day use these apps on their Windows 10 PC as well as their phone. I am hoping it will also expose other apps currently on Android and iOS like Microsoft Translator and Microsoft Pix. For me, this is the key difference between Surface Duo and any previous attempt, under Nokia and Microsoft to deliver a smartphone. Surface Duo is not about taking the Windows experience to a phone and attempting to create an ecosystem. It is also not about taking users to Windows, but rather it is about meeting users where they are and creating more engagement and stickiness for Microsoft services on the most popular mobile platform.

In a world that is more and more driven by the power of data and what that data empowers as far as AI and ML, it is critical for Microsoft to drive engagement on as many platforms through as many apps and services today and in the future.

The Future of Computing

The other role that Surface Duo plays is to open the way for Surface Neo. Over the years, it has been proven that changing workflows, especially around productivity, is hard. When two-in-ones and convertibles came to market, users were attracted by the designs but were reluctant to consider them as laptop replacements. The resistance that these devices were met with, and the debate surrounding what makes a PC are still alive, especially in those enterprises where workflows are centered around legacy apps. A push towards modern work with cloud-first apps has been helping drive change. Surface Pro has been somewhat immune to many of these discussions over the years because running full Windows was enough to be considered a computer. But running “full” Windows might not be always necessary when the cloud is changing apps and workflows.

We do not have much detail on Windows 10X that will be running on Surface Neo, but what we know is that it is a new expression of Windows 10 built with dual screens in mind. This means it is not a one size fits all version of Windows, but it is specifically designed to deliver a seamless experience on a dual-screen device while being familiar to users.

Time and time again, we see users bending backward to fit their workflows around their phones. We do not question whether or not that phone is a computer; we simply use it to get things done. Surface Duo will empower users to find new workflows that take advantage of the dual-screen and highly mobile design. Because it is a phone, Surface Duo will not have to fight for a place in a portfolio of products which means that users will be heavily engaged with it.

It was evident that Microsoft was very cautious about calling the Surface Duo a phone because of their painful history. And although I agree and explained why calling it a phone might have led people to think differently about this product, I think it’s also important to understand that history got us to Surface Duo. We saw these new Surface models this week because of what Microsoft learned, because of how Microsoft changed as a company and with that how the role of Windows has changed. Microsoft is now a company that sees cloud and AI at the core of everything they do. Windows is one of its assets but not the ultimate one. Microsoft is invested in bringing an experience through all Surface hardware, their first-party apps and their services that transcend operating systems and gives users value in many different ways.

This week we witnessed the role of Surface devices move from being the best implementation of Windows to being the best implementation of Microsoft. This shift does not mean that Microsoft is no longer a software company, but it does mean that software does not define and limit the value that Microsoft can bring to its customers.

Amazon’s Event and Its Fifteen Alexa Incarnations

Based on my experience last year, I was expecting Amazon’s event to be packed full of products, and it was. Yet, the more I listened to Dave Limp walk us through everything new, the more it was clear that there was only one product around which not just the event, but the entire line of devices is focused on, and that is Alexa. I know, you might think I am stating the obvious here, but what I mean is that Amazon considers Alexa the actual product they sell. If you think about it this way, it becomes much easier to understand why we see Amazon invest in so many hardware categories. This approach makes Amazon a very different hardware vendor and not just because they are prepared to break even. What we saw at the event where devices that did one of three things: expanded use cases for current users, lowered the barrier of entry for new users and helped Alexa get outside the home.

The Elephant in the Room: Privacy

Before getting to the new hardware, Dave Limp addressed the privacy concerns that were raised in the press over the past few months. Aside from reiterating the ability users have to delete any recording, he also introduced new ways in which consumers can interact with Alexa to find out more about why Alexa does certain things.

These two simple utterances: “Alexa, tell me what you heard?” and “Alexa, why did you do that?” help Amazon do three things:

  • Educate users on why and how things happen. Asking Alexa why music started playing and being told someone in another room on another device asked to play such music, or asking Alexa why she was answering when you did not actually mean to engage and have Alexa explain she heard her name when you might have said Alex, all help users understand how the underlying technology works. It turns some of what might be perceived as secret magic into a rational explanation, increasing transparency.
  • Make users feel more in control, not just of their own data but also in their relationship with Alexa.
  • Finally, it continues to build trust and bond through the exchanges as it is Alexa who is explaining to them what is happening.

Ultimately, Amazon and all other providers of digital assistants will continue to be scrutinized, and rightly so, as we put more and more of our lives into their hands. Finding the right balance between wanting users to share data to improve performance and relevance while being very transparent about how such data is used will remain a key driver of trust, engagement, and loyalty.

Driving New Points of Engagement and Creating New Points of Entry

Amazon added new features such as the voice of Samuel L. Jackson, the Food Network Kitchen (great pairing with the new Amazon Smart Oven) for cooking classes, and new smart alerts for Alexa Guard. These all aim at growing engagement for current users by finding new things to do with their devices and Alexa. New accessories like the Echo Glow, also help to add value to devices, like an Echo Dot, that you might already have in your kids’ bedroom. Possibly the simplest of products among what announced was the Echo Flex. An extremely affordable wireless-smart speaker that can add Alexa’s functionalities in those rooms where you want Alexa’s brains and voice but for which you do not wish to make a significant investment.

The opportunity to appeal to new customers comes in the form of a new Echo Dot Clock, Echo Show 8 and the Echo Studio. I think it is fair to say that sound had not been Amazon’s strongest value proposition with its Echo devices. While it had improved with newer generations, consumers bought Echo devices for their functionality first and then for sound. The new Echo Studio aims to change that thanks to a collaboration with Dolby that benefits both the hardware and the new Prime Music HD service by adding Dolby Atmos sound. The quality of the sound is impressive, and as you would expect, Amazon is making sure Echo Studio also works with your TV either as a single speaker, a pair or with your subwoofer. The best way I have to describe the sound is that it is incredibly immersive, letting you hear instruments you did not realize were there before. The main difference with stereo is that the music is not coming from two specific points, but the different sounds that make up a track are all around you.

The quality of the sound coupled with the aggressive price point of $199 will put pressure on other smart speakers that had been differentiated based on sound. HomePod, in particular, will feel the pressure, given Apple Music subscribers can access the service through Echo devices. As I doubt Apple will play on price, I am curious to see if there could be an interest in differentiating their sound quality even more by embracing Dolby Atmos for an HD version of Apple Music.

Taking Alexa out of the Home

Alexa continues to dominate in the home, but things are quite different once we leave, and we rely on our smartphones for most of our day. Amazon is undoubtedly aware of this, and much is done to make Alexa more readily accessible when we are out and about. The Echo Buds, a Bose collaboration, free Alexa from the smartphone giving us access to navigation, music, and search. The deal with GM also brings Alexa outside the home as her functionality is added to Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac cars that are 2018 and newer and have compatible infotainment systems.

These new devices coupled with an earlier announcement for simplifying multi-wake-word support speak to Amazon’s desire to limit frustration and make consumers pick Alexa because of the superior experience not because it is the only choice. The outside world is much more unpredictable than our home both in terms of context and requests, which is something Alexa still needs some practice on. The more entry points Alexa will have throughout the day, the more value she will deliver. Other two products launched under the “Day 1 Editions” program will also help Alexa be with us all day: Echo Loop and Echo Frames both aimed at being with us all day.

Continuing to Learn

The “Day 1 Editions” Echo Loop and Echo Frames are not developers’ products, but rather ready to ship products offered on an invitation-only basis to a selected number of customers.

Echo Frames are a voice-first experience delivered through prescription glasses. Rather than convincing people to wear glasses all the time, Echo Frames are aimed at people who have to wear glasses and might be interested in using them as a vehicle for voice-first interactions.

Echo Loop is a ring that you can tap and talk into to access Alexa more quickly than reaching for your phone. While many were expecting a smartwatch, I find Amazon’s interest in experimenting with different wearables fascinating as we know how hard it is to be successful in the smartwatch market that mostly remains an Apple Watch market, especially in the US. The way you would interact with Echo Loop is quite similar to how you use Apple Watch to access Siri. Interestingly I thought that cupping my hand close to my ear to listen to Alexa’s voice coming from the ring or putting my hand in front of my mouth as if I was yawning to speak to her was much more natural than raising my wrist to speak to Apple Watch although Alexa’s voice was much fainter than Siri’s.

The feedback loop that Amazon will create with these customers who will approach usage in a very open-minded way, similar an early adopter, will be extremely useful to Amazon to finesse the products both with features and use cases and ready them for more mainstream customers.

Amazon ended the list of new announcements with the introduction of a new wireless protocol called “Amazon Sidewalk targetted at extending the working range of low-bandwidth, low-power, smart lights, sensors, and other IoT devices. By extending the range using the unlicensed 900mhz spectrum, customers will be able to place smart devices anywhere on their property even without a Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cellular connection. An ambitious project that has opportunity way beyond the consumer market, something Microsoft should keep an eye on.

Cloud Adoption and What It Says about Enterprise Investment

Earlier this week, I attended Google Cloud’s Anthos Day in New York. After launching Anthos in the spring at Google Next, Google shared its progress, both on customers and partners’ acquisition as well as launched a new part of the platform that aims at making apps management in a hybrid cloud environment as simple as possible.

As I was sitting listening to speaker after speaker talk about the investment that either themselves or their customers are putting into transitioning current apps to the cloud or redesigning them for the cloud, I was struck by one thought. There is a stark contrast between the way that enterprises think about the part of their infrastructure that runs the business and connects to their customers versus the part that empowers their workforce. How is it that enterprises are prepared to redesign, or refit applications that are core to their business and they’ve been using in some cases for decades, all in the name of digital transformation, increased agility, improved security, and a future-proofed business, and yet we don’t often see the same treatment granted to hardware and applications that are core to their workforce?

I’m sure that even the broader Google must find it quite frustrating to see what enterprises are prepared to do when it comes to cloud and yet how long it took for G Suite to establish itself as a productivity suite in the enterprise that was cloud-first. Even more frustrating must be the discussion that some IT managers still have about whether or not Chromebooks or iPads can be a real alternative to PCs.

Workforce vs. Customers

Why such a difference in approach? It’s an interesting question and not one I have a straight answer for. But I started to think about what factors could play into this reality. This is particularly interesting to think about, at a time when we hear more and more enterprises say that they want to give their employees, the right hardware and applications because this has become critical to acquire as well as retain talent. Yet not many companies seem to go beyond “cosmetic” tweaks and truly drive a more impactful change that builds the foundation for a modern workplace.

When it comes to the way people work, I’m left to think that this increased focus on employees’ user experience is more a marketing campaign than a fundamental mindset shift that, better tools, drive not only engagement and satisfaction but also better business results. If an organization lacks that deep understanding of what drives such satisfaction and engagement, how can they think to understand what those attributes are in a customer or partner context? First-line workers and knowledge workers are, after all, internal customers of the IT department and partners of the business.

I have some ideas as to why such an investment is different.

First, I think you would agree with me that customers and partners are seen as core to the success of the business and an engaged and satisfied workforce is a nice to have, but the need just does not drive change in the same way.

I also feel that when it comes to IT infrastructure that is core to the business, there is usually a clear owner, both as far as driver and accountability. When it comes to the workforce, sponsors differ, and so does the burden of accountability. Sometimes it might be HR, some time is a direct manager, but more often than not the change is not driven by IT unless cost-cutting is behind it.

Possibly the strongest reason for such a disparity, however, can be found in how success is measured. When you invest in change, how do you measure success? Even more important: how do you measure return on investment? With partners and customers, the numbers are much more straightforward: cost savings, increased revenue, higher client satisfaction, and retention, and the list goes on. How do you measure the impact that a productivity suite change can have on your business, aside from any immediate savings?

To me it is interesting to consider how when it comes to cloud, organizations that see the most success are those that use the transition to cloud as a launchpad for assessing their business infrastructure, solutions, and processes. They use the transition to actually modernize their business. At a minimum, they look at what can be modernized, and what cannot and assess whether or not the applications that cannot be modernized are necessary to the business or if there are alternatives.

One would hope organizations learned from their move to mobile. In the beginning, the first businesses who embraced mobile were those who believed it could be a differentiator for their business, especially in a B2C environment. In other words, mobile was driven by the need to address customers’ needs and meet customers where they were. Only later companies started to embrace mobile as a way to provide a better environment to their workforce. Cloud, even more so than mobile, impacts both B2B and B2C from the very start and touches both the business and the way the business is run. If we are moving apps workloads into the cloud, why can we not move workflows that our employees face every day to a cloud-first and mobile-first environment? And if we are ready to evaluate the work environment why don’t we take the same approach that Anthos is applying to application modernization and provide the right tools that deliver on agility, manageability, and security with no compromise on simplicity. It might not be easy, but if as an organization, you are not prepared to make that your ultimate goal, it will never be achieved.

Apple Event: Upgrades, Upgrades, Upgrades

On Sept 10th, at the Steve Jobs Theater, Apple gathered press, analysts, and guests to take a first look at the new iPhone models. During the keynote, Apple introduced the new iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max together with the new iPad 7th Generation and Apple Watch Series 5.

There was a lot packed into the keynote. Rumors seem to be getting better every year, but it is about the final details on how new features and specs are delivered that help you understand the impact these new products might have on Apple’s business and the market.

iPhone

While not immediately evident at the start, it became clear, that iPhone 11 is the new iPhone XR. The name is a smart move from Apple as it simplifies the naming convention but, even more so, because it does not label the product as inferior. You might not be able to afford the iPhone 11 Pro, or you might not see yourself as a pro user, but you do not feel like you are settling for a “second best” product by buying the iPhone 11.

Despite all the concerns about the trade war with China and the impact that tariffs might have on pricing, Apple maintained iPhone 11 Pro pricing in line with last year and dropped the iPhone 11 price by $50 compared to the launch price of the iPhone XR.

While we get excited about the new products, future sales are also driven by iPhone models that remain in the line-up and get a price cut. Apple XR now starting at $599 and iPhone 8 starting at $449 offer two great options for current users who are looking to upgrade.

Upgrades are not just crucial for Apple to drive hardware sales. Making sure the current users base is on one of the most recent iPhone models ensures they can access and benefit from the services and key features Apple is providing from Apple Card to Apple TV+ to Face ID for security.

Missing from the rumored feature set was reverse charging. Your guess is as good as mine as to why we did not see this feature, but I do wonder if Apple thought iPhone battery life might get impacted too much or that charging time was not fast enough to provide a positive experience.

Apple Watch

iPhone XR and iPhone 8 were not the only two products that remained in the portfolio with a more attractive price point, Apple Watch Series 3 did too at $199. Apple Watch 5 will get the press and drive upgrades, but Apple Watch Series 3 will certainly attract new users who have been looking at Apple Watch but were either unclear about the value or they just could not afford or justify the price. I expect Fitbit to be the brand most impacted by the new price point and not only on their smartwatch portfolio but on their bands too.

The new Apple Watch Studio is a great new way to purchase Apple Watch. Customers will be able to pick size, material, and band to create precisely the product they want. This will certainly drive out of the box satisfaction, and I do not expect to negatively impact sales of additional bands as the choice is now so broad and users have started to have specific bands for specific occasions.

Apple also announced three new health research studies and a health research app which proves once again that Apple is committed to making Apple Watch not just a fitness device but a health device. It may seem a subtle difference, but it is about turning a device from being useful to being essential.

iPad

The iPad line up saw a new 7th generation iPad launch at $329 replacing the 6th generation and getting a 10.2” screen and a smart connector for the Smart Keyboard. The new design, coupled with the existing Pencil support offers a device that not only competes with the few Android tablets left in the market but also with lower-end PCs and Chromebooks.

The iPad, which is the most popular model in the portfolio, is often the first Apple device consumers buy. If you have an iPhone and an iPad, the value of having both is clear, but many consumers still see the iPad as a device that delivers a computing experience that is separate from the phone. Researching iPad over the years, I have often seen Android phone users with an iPad, and this has become more the case as the numbers of brands bringing Android tablets to market has been decreasing.

Apple Arcade and Apple TV+

Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ pricing was probably the biggest surprise of the keynote. Both are $4.99 for a family subscription. A pretty striking difference to the $14.99 Apple Music family subscription and $9.99 Apple News+ which maybe just helps to bring home the cost of licensing content and adding your cut on top.

Apple Arcade is the first of its kind as it does not target at core-gamers, but at the much broader casual gamers market, so pricing does not have a real comparison yet.

The super aggressive price of Apple TV+ compared to expectations, but also to other video services, signals a few things. First, it might be that Apple is sensitive that they do not have a track record in video content. Actually, their first attempts at producing content with Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke were not very successful, to say the least. It might also be that Apple does not feel they have enough catalog that would justify a higher price from the get-go.

Second, I think that at $4.99 it becomes less about subscribing to Apple TV+ instead of another service. You are instead deciding between Apple TV+ and a movie rental or a latte. This makes the decision process much easier.

Lastly, being more aggressive on a subscription price has no negative connotation on the brand. This is quite different in the hardware business, where a lower price does impact the way the brand is perceived.

From tomorrow if you are purchasing an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV, you will receive a free annual Apple TV+ subscription. This is really not about helping devices sales, but it is about giving Apple TV+ an audience.

 

And this brings me to my final point about what we saw from Apple. As hardware and services come together, the value-add from one to the other is no longer a one-way street. We used to see software and services add value to Apple hardware, and now we also see Apple hardware being instrumental to the success of Apple services. Some services have gone beyond Apple hardware: Apple Music recent web-based beta or Apple TV+ on Samsung, LG, and other TVs, and on the web, however, Apple hardware will remain the biggest driver for Apple services uptake. This means that making sure users have the best possible device to get the added value of services might require some different thinking when it comes to pricing. This need rather than market pressure is what you saw Apple respond to this week.

A Vacation with Apple Card

I spent the past three weeks in Europe with my daughter and just before we left, I received my Apple Card, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to test it out and learn what I like and what I wish it had.

I had registered my interest in Apple Card as soon as it was announced and when Apple offered the opportunity to be part of the group who would get a preview, I jumped on it. I was leaving for Europe and the thought of having to pay currency fees for three weeks worth of purchases made me a little sick to my stomach. I was in the process of upgrading one of my credit cards to a $95 annual subscription fee card that would also provide a no currency fee option. Despite starting the upgrade process over a month before my trip, I was not sure I would get the new card in time. I just wanted to avoid paying currency fees, which, if you travel, you know, can add up to a considerable amount.

A Weekly Credit Card

I am not much of a credit card user outside of travel. If I have the funds, I prefer to use my debit card, and I keep track of my purchases on a spreadsheet, so I am always on top of my finances. My debit card does not provide me with any rewards, so the idea of swapping my debit card with the Apple Card, especially for Apple Pay was a no brainer.

Apple Card’s repayment process makes it so that I can keep track of my purchase and pay at the end of the week so that funds are taken from my current account rather than building up debt for the whole month. I am sure it is more psychological than anything else, but in this way, I feel like I avoid any temptation of overspending. Apple certainly seems to be wanting to help drive healthier financial choices as they highlight the impact of interests on your spend.

Although I use Apple Pay regularly, it has not been my default payment option outside of tested retailers where I know it is available, and it works. As convenient as it is to flip my wrist to pay, I hate to have still to ask whether or not Apple Pay is accepted. Even within the same chains, it gets down to individual stores having updated their POS. This quickly leads to frustration, which then makes me reach for my wallet instead. Now with the Apple Cash 2% cashback incentive linked to Apple Pay, I make more of a conscious effort to use Apple Pay, and you know better than I do, that consistency creates habits.

Registering Apple Card as the default Apple Pay card was, of course much easier than the steps I had to take with any of my Citibank debit and credit cards, especially when authorizing multiple devices. This is one less friction in the whole process that consumers have to face especially those who update their iPhone on an annual basis.

Once I got to Europe, the ease of contactless payments compared to the US made it so that using Apple Card on my Apple Watch was the most convenient option. Convenience aside, using Apple Watch rather than reaching for my wallet on a busy subway or tourist spot also made me feel safer in areas where tourists can be targeted explicitly by pickpocketers. This, of course, is true for any card you use with Apple Pay but my peace of mind extended to the fact that I knew that if my Apple Card was ever compromised, I also could generate a new card number and continue to use the card while on my trip.

Apple Card’s Data

As I mentioned, I keep track of my transactions regularly. I have a spreadsheet where I list what I spend, including recurrent payments, and what I earn. Apple Card provides an incredibly useful and detailed set of data if you, like me, want to have an accurate view of where your money is going. By the time you have processed the transaction, you get a notification on your iPhone, detailing retailers, location, and amount in your primary currency. Needless to say that when you are on a three-week trip not having to worry about retaining all the receipts so I could document my expenses on my return and check them against the final amount debited in my home currency is a huge bonus too.

I particularly appreciated the speed of the transaction notifications when, while trying to buy tickets online for a museum in Rome, the transaction was flagged as possible fraud. As the payment was rejected online, my iPhone notified me of the purchase and asked me to confirm if I was indeed attempting to make the transaction. I was then able to go and try the purchase once again, which this time was cleared. If you have any credit cards, you know that that this process is not usually as simple. In most cases, even if the card issuer sends you a text message, asking you to validate the transaction, your card might still be blocked, which will require you calling your bank and having the card released. The two steps process takes considerably longer and creates much more friction for the user, especially when under time pressure on completing the transaction either online or at a physical retail store. The timeliness of the notification and the sense of control I had through the experience made Apple Card feel more like a modern, intelligent banking experience than anything I have experienced before.

I do wish Apple took the data a step further and allow users to either import the data into Excel or another budgeting app of my choice. Being able to use the data provided by Apple Card in expenses apps would also be valuable and would open up new opportunities for Apple in the enterprise space. Interestingly the recent study we, at Creative Strategies, ran on Apple Card had others mention the desire to have some level of integration into their favorite finance management app. The enterprise segment has been growing in importance for Apple but mostly as a hardware play. Being able to solidify its presence by delivering or integrating a service like Apple Card into core enterprise apps for travel and expenses would broaden the opportunity for Apple in the enterprise. As Apple pointed out over the past several earnings calls, enterprises have been investing in designing their own applications aimed at devices like the iPhone and the iPad, and you could argue that Apple Card could be another “device” those apps could consider.

 

During my trip, I earned just over $50 in Apple Cash.

While there is some good feel factor about it. That said, I have to admit that the real benefit of Apple Card for me came down to three things: a modern banking experience, peace of mind and a sense of control over my data and finances. What is interesting however is that I associate the benefit to my iPhone as Apple Card and iPhone become one for most of my purchases. As sexy as the physical Apple Card might be the only time I saw it while in Europe was when I showed it to someone. Hopefully, this will be the case more and more in the US too as contactless POSs continue to roll out. I have always said that Apple Card could be one of the stickiest services to bring value to the iPhone and in my short experience, it certainly seems that way.

Apple TV+ is coming in the Fall, but Who Wants It?

This week Bloomberg published a story following a tweet from Apple’s CEO Tim Cook offering a preview of “The Morning Show” what appears to be the first series launching on Apple TV+ in the Fall.

According to the article that quotes “people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified”, Apple will be introducing a small selection of shows and then expand its catalog over several months. The same people said to be expecting a trial period, which is not a difficult assumption to make given that Apple offered a free trial both with Apple Music and Apple News+.

Earlier in the week, the Financial Times reported that Apple’s initial budget for original content of $1 billion had grown to $6 billion, which is not all surprising given the caliber of the actors and writers involved but also what seems to be Apple’s preferenze to pay for the whole series in advance.

Since Apple TV+ was announced, back in March, industry watchers have been busy figuring out how much the service will cost as well as what kind of impact Apple could actually have in a market where consumers have plenty of choice between established players such as Netflix and Hulu and new one like Disney+. We, at Creative Strategies, were also curious to know who was most interested in the service, what drove such interest and also what they were willing to pay for it, so in early August, we asked 1100 consumers. This article shares the results from our 750 US panelists who answered the survey online and were not compensated to do so.

Who is Most Interested in Apple TV+

The first thing we wanted to capture was the level of interest, so we asked: How interested are you in Apple TV+? Of course, asking consumers to express their interest is always a little tricky, especially in the case of a service like Apple TV+ when we are still missing many details. That said, understanding why consumers are interested and what they would be prepared to pay is extremely useful in trying to forecast uptake. Among the consumers we interviewed, 20% said to be “extremely interested”, and another 21% said to be ”very interested”. The majority of the ”not at all interested” group were consumers we identified as either early mainstream or full mainstream when it comes to technology. This might indicate that they are as cautious with new services as they are with tech and they are not among the firsts to acquire it.

It is not a surprise that 52% of the consumers who said to be extremely interested or very interested are part of our Apple Core group, a sub-set of our broader consumer panel. These consumers are the heavily engaged Apple customers as assessed by the number of Apple devices they own, the amount of money they spend within the ecosystem, and the general positive attitude towards the brand.

Interest, however, is not enough, Apple will want to drive revenue, and that requires a commitment to paying for the service. Among the respondents, 21% are very likely to subscribe, 15% are likely and 23% and somewhat likely to subscribe. When we just look at those panelists who said to be extremely or very interested in Apple TV+, the percentage of very likely subscribers grows to 49% and likely rises to 33%.

What Price is the Right Price?

Three factors drive the interest in Apple TV+: first the focus on quality original content (55%), second the integration with Apple TV (42%) and third the caliber of Hollywood talent creating content for Apple TV+ (39%). As we often do with our questions, we let respondents add free format answers and interestingly some specified that when it comes to quality, they are hoping for less violent, less political and less extreme content while others simply said they were hoping for something different. Other respondents specifically called out cord-cutting and Apple TV + as a means to get closer to embracing cord-cutting.

So we have the level of interest, the level of propensity to subscribe but the key data point is: for how much? This is probably the hardest question to ask a panel, but considering how this study involves a high number of early adopters and well-informed consumers, we feel we got a realistic answer rather than a wishful one. Fifty-one percent of the respondent felt that a monthly amount of $6 and $10 would be a reasonable amount for Apple TV+ . Another 22% opted for an amount between 0 and $5. It is interesting that when looking only at consumers who are very likely or likely to subscribe to Apple TV+, 60% feels that an amount between $6 and $10 would be reasonable while the number of consumers saying 0 to $5 is the reasonable amount declines to 17%. Our panelists were asked the question before the Bloomberg article was published with the detail that the service is likely to cost $9.99 a month. Yet, it is fair to assume that the amount they felt reasonable is likely linked to what consumers already pay for Apple Services as well as what they know about the cost of other video streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix.

This was a preliminary study to measure interest across Apple Services like Apple News+,  Apple TV+,  Apple Arcade and Apple Card. After Apple TV+ rolls out in the Fall, we will ask more detailed questions on other streaming services, overall spent as well as viewing habits, likes, and dislikes. Hypothetical questions on the likelihood for Apple TV+ to replace other subscriptions would have been premature when details on the actual content are still missing.

I am expecting Apple to be more aggressive than usual with its Apple TV+ advertising, and if what reported by Bloomberg is correct, kicking off with a few episodes released at the same time so viewers can watch during the free trial and get hooked on the content could be quite effective in driving subscriptions. It would be fascinating to see if Apple, who has been focusing on positioning itself as a bastion of privacy will succeed in positioning itself as the defender of morality and ethics when it comes to content.

Life of a Tech Analyst after Fifty

This Saturday, I turn fifty, and I told most of my friends, I would just try and forget the day. Truth be told, I have never made much of a fuss about my birthday after I turned 18, so this is no different really. Turning fifty does not make a difference in my day to day life except for increasing my concerns of being around long enough to see my daughter hit her life milestones. I have, however, been spending more time thinking about what this means for my profession.

Getting old impacts people’s jobs in many ways, but when it comes to covering tech as an analyst, the biggest challenge is the fact that most of what is brought to market is really not targeted at you. Over the years, I have watched many analysts make the mistake to call a product or a new tech trend a failure just because they could not understand the impact those could have on a whole different generation from theirs. This is no different, to be honest, from not being able to understand the opportunity for something, tech or no tech, that is not aimed at you because of your gender, social status, geography or more. The difference, I believe, is that we tend to be more aware of these other limitations, and we might shy away from offering opinions or advice. Getting old, however, is a process and one that might trick us into thinking our judgment cannot be impacted negatively but only benefit from our experience.

Remaining Relevant

Maybe the biggest question on my mind right now is: how do you remain relevant as an analyst? Do you start covering “ silver tech?” Maybe, if that is something you are passionate about. As a matter of fact, you might be onto a very lucrative opportunity, given how the world population is aging. Data from the US Census shows how valuable this segment is not just in numbers but in worth and spend too:

  • Baby Boomers have an average annual disposable income of $24,000.
  • Baby Boomers outspend other generations by an estimated $400 billion each year on consumer goods & services, outspending their kids and grandkids nearly 2 to 1.
  • When it comes to technology, the average Baby Boomer spends two more hours on the internet every week than their grandkids do. 89% of 65+ have a personal email and use it regularly. 72% have installed broadband internet in their homes, and in 2011, baby boomers increased their usage of social media by 60%.

With devices focusing more on voice-first and simplicity centered around the overall experience, we can only expect technology adoption to increase in this segment and with that the need for advice by brands aiming at the market.

If you are not so inclined, though, there are still ways to remain relevant covering what you have been covering. The first step is to go back to my original point and realize that most likely, you are not the primary target market. The second is to surround yourself with younger people from whom you can draw on their first-hand experience. I tell my daughter that is one of the ways she is most helpful to me!

While a piece of useful advice at any age, and possibly the aspect I love the most about my job, the third and most crucial point is to never stop learning. A good analyst can never say she or he knows it all because technology moves fast and with it, so do players and business models in the sector.

What you cover and how is not the only aspect of your analysis you should pay attention to. How you deliver your insights, must also follow how your customers, many of whom are likely to be younger than you want to consume content and engage. In your effort to stay relevant, however, remain true to who you are and what has taken you where you got to. Relevance, in my opinion, is not a fake it until you make it affair.

Lastly, I feel it is essential to realize that while the consumer and enterprise markets are different when it comes to analysis and advisory, they are not as different as they used to be. How you can influence and advice players in these segment might be different, but they both share the reality of not having you in mind as the first audience. So you are fooling yourself to think you can be relevant for longer if you are covering the enterprise market.

Drawing on your experience without living in the past

 I started my career when the mobile market was on 2G, twenty years on, we are rolling out 5G. The temptation to look at history to predict the future is strong, but also wrong. There are so many different aspects at play that will make 5G rollouts different than 3G and 4G. As an analyst, your job is to understand the context use what is relevant and be open to what is different.

I also find it fascinating that it might come easy to recognize that the technology brought to market is different, but we struggle to see the market itself has changed. Markets change in demographic composition, disposable income, interest so many various aspects that impact the technology or service we are analyzing that ignoring them would only make for a very poor analysis. In other words, we see the evolving technology in a constant market dynamic.

The past might also become your worse enemy in your pursue of relevance. If your career has spanned over twenty years as mine has, it is vital to realize that there are two generations who more likely than not would have no clue about brands and products you might have worked with or helped bring to market.

The next generation 

 What I am most intrigued as I think about turning 50, is that being an analyst starts to feel a little like being an endangered species. Analysts might not be on their way to extinction quite yet, but it is certainly hard to see where the new generation is coming from.

For many years, the door into a tech analyst career was through numbers, market share, and forecasts on the one hand and primary research on the other. Many of these roles have, however, been outsourced or taken over my statistical models closing the door to younger analysts.

At the same time, maybe as a result of the fact that being an analyst is not actually that glamorous, some professions might provide you with the positive aspects of the profession without the negatives. Brand ambassadors, influencers, tech evangelists, tech reporters all encompass aspects of being an analyst and might give you more flexibility in narrowing down on those that better fit your skillsets.

 

So, is my career over? I hope not, as I feel I still have a lot to offer, but I count on you to keep me honest, and I sure hope I won’t be pounding on the grounds of CES for the next twenty years!