Studying generations under 30 provides a unique challenge. One of the demographic patterns we observe around technology in particular is how habits change with specific life stages. From a purely anthropological standpoint, this seems obvious. Your habits during your youth/formative years are different than those in the middle of your life and both of those … Continue reading The Rich Media Generation
When the idea of health and fitness wearables starting hitting the market, I was a critic of the health side. Mostly because I understood the health angle to be more focused on the value proposition of health monitoring for people who knew they had health issues. This is still the case for many people today. … Continue reading Wearables and Preventative Health
I’m attending Microsoft’s Build developer conference this week and one of the most striking things is the way in which Microsoft has reversed the order of its daily keynotes from past years. Whereas the first-day keynote in the past has focused on Windows and devices, those topics have now been pushed to day two, while … Continue reading Microsoft’s Symbolic Shift from Windows to Cloud
One of the more powerful indicators of an ecosystem that has not only staying power but one that can ward off disruption as well is when a platform creates value for more than just the company that owns it. Perhaps the best modern example of this is Apple’s iOS platform and Microsoft Windows. Each has … Continue reading Computing Platforms and Value Creation
On Tuesday, Amazon launched Echo Show. After weeks of speculation, and a few leaked pictures, we finally have it: Alexa has a screen. You can now see music lyrics with Amazon Music, video clips, cameras, live video calls, Prime photos, recipes from YouTube, and more. You can still navigate all of that with your voice … Continue reading Amazon not Standing Still in Pursuit of Voice-First Homes
Timing, as they say, is everything. Particularly if you’ve got something to add to an already hot topic that’s reaching fever peak levels this week. I’m talking, of course, about smart speakers, such as Amazon’s expanding Echo line of products, Google’s Home, the unusual C by GE Sol smart lamp, and the new Microsoft-driven Invoke … Continue reading Getting Smart About Smart Speakers
Since all the major consumer tech companies have now reported their results for the March 2017 quarter, it’s time for my quarterly comparison of the “Big Six” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Samsung. While not strictly the biggest six consumer tech companies (Facebook is considerably smaller than the others in the group), they’re certainly … Continue reading The Big Six in Q1 2017
Several years ago, a friend of mine suffered a serious injury at my home, nearly severing his finger. I immediately began tending to his injury and someone dialed 911. The ambulance soon arrived and my friend’s finger was saved. Fortunately, others were there to help in the face of our emergency but none of us … Continue reading How Digital Assistants might Save Our Lives
We are entering developer season, which will start in full force with Microsoft’s Build developer conference this week. Google’s I/O developer summit will start a few weeks after that and we conclude with Apple’s WWDC event in early June. There is one over-arching theme I will be very curious to see how each company addresses. … Continue reading Developer Season: Legacy vs. Future Platforms
I flew out to New York city for the Microsoft education event earlier this week as I was extremely interested in this new education version of Windows 10 S just introduced. This new OS is a lighter version of Windows 10 and optimized for education. It is Microsoft’s answer to Google’s Chrome OS. Microsoft has … Continue reading The Windows 10 S Dilemma for PC OEMs
Last week, we ran a follow up to the voice assistant research study we published last year around this time. Creative Strategies again partnered with our friends at Experian to see what has changed with voice assistants and explore some new products as well. This year, we added Apple’s AirPods to the study since Siri … Continue reading Apple’s AirPods: a Hit With 98% Customer Satisfaction
This week saw a furor over Unroll.me, a service which offers to unsubscribe users from unwanted emails but which apparently sold user data to Uber in the past in a way that wasn’t transparent to users. The reaction to the revelations was predictable: some decried all ad-based business models using cliches like, “if you’re not … Continue reading Thinking About Ad-Based Business Models
A couple of interesting trends are emerging I believe will bring augmented reality experiences to the masses only, they will probably not recognize them as Augmented Reality. As smartphone cameras get better and get more local processing and as machine learning advances, it is clear the biggest trend coming to smartphones is the camera sensor … Continue reading How Augmented Reality will Sneak Up On You
In the late 1990s, I had the privilege of serving as an advisory board member to Xerox Parc’s venture arm. Our charter at the time was to go into Xerox Parc and look at what their many scientists were creating and see if they had any potential for commercial applications. This was in the early … Continue reading Silicon Valley’s Misguided Motto – Creating Products “Because We Can”
In June, we will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the release of the iPhone. In recognition of this signature date, there’s more than the average amount of speculation on what the 2017 edition of the iPhone will sport and hope it might revitalize the smartphone sector, which is experiencing somewhat of a slowdown. I have … Continue reading The iPhone’s 10th Anniversary Gift should be A Revitalized Apple ‘Experience’
I’m writing this column on a plane on my way home from attending Facebook’s F8 developer conference. More than any other developer conference I attend, Facebook’s is a crazy mix of near-term feature upgrades across its growing portfolio and out-there R&D work which won’t deliver real-world results for years to come. It also highlighted something … Continue reading Facebook’s Innovation Chasm
With the upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy S8, we were curious what consumers thought of the device and how interested they are in purchasing one. We teamed up with SurveyMonkey Audience to do some research on US consumers to better understand their interest level of the phone and its newest features. We also explored … Continue reading Interest in the Samsung Galaxy S8 – Consumers Have Spoken
I have had a chance to work on speech and voice projects since I first interacted with Kaifu Lee at Apple who, in the early 1990s, was brought in to research voice and speech recognition for what would have been used in Apple’s Newton. Not long after it became clear Newton did not have any … Continue reading AR, not Voice, is the Next Major Platform for Innovation
The other day, I was reading this fascinating and scary story of a woman in Kenya who thought she was carrying the HIV virus because an app told her so. The app was a hoax but she could not have known it as she had downloaded the app over Bluetooth from a friend and never … Continue reading Are Mature Markets Poisoning Emerging Markets’ Tech Experience?
As your mother or other caregiver likely told you as a child, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you necessarily should. So, given last week’s news that Apple has obtained a permit to test drive three autonomous cars on public streets and highways in California, the existential question that now faces the company’s … Continue reading Should Apple Build a Car?
There is a battle looking for the next platform. Specifically the next platform that attracts developers. Right now, the race is on to create machine learning platforms that attract customers to use the latest generation of tools and commit to a cloud platform with machine learning advantages over the other cloud platform. From an open … Continue reading Machine Learning Platforms and the Cloud Computing Era
It’s that time of year again when the big developer events start. With Twitter having ended its developer events, we’re left with Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Apple as the big four consumer-centric developer conferences. Next week, the season kicks off with Facebook’s F8. Facebook’s past events have been a fascinating mix of short-term developer-centric announcements … Continue reading What I’m Looking For at Facebook’s F8
Following years of discussion, hints, and speculation, Comcast finally announced its MVNO wireless service, branded Xfinity Mobile. In its current iteration, I cannot see it being an overwhelming success. There’s no particularly compelling reason for anyone to switch to Xfinity Mobile: it’s only slightly cheaper than the competition and there aren’t any features that offer … Continue reading Comcast’s Wireless Service Lacks Compelling Reason to Buy
For the last 20+ years, the traditional thinking in the tech industry has been that in order to have any real power and influence, you had to have an operating system. Companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google have turned their OS offerings into platforms, which could then be leveraged to provide additional revenue-generating services, as … Continue reading Samsung Building a Platform Without an OS
Apple has been taking great strides to control and design more of their own proprietary semiconductor components. One piece many of us believed was on the horizon was the GPU. Apple is a stakeholder in Imagination Technologies and has used their GPU architecture for some time. Earlier today, Imagination sent out a press release informing … Continue reading Apple’s Semiconductor Prowess
