Linked List: May 2, 2011

Monday, 2 May 2011

‘Gentlemen, You Can’t Fight in Here! This Is the War Room!’ 

Historic photo from the White House, posted to Flickr:

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011.

Worth a Re-Link: Michael Mace on What’s Really Wrong With RIM 

Michael Mace, back in October:

I looked at everything from videogame companies to the early PC pioneers (companies like Commodore and Atari), and I found an interesting pattern in their financial results. The early symptoms of decline in a computing platform were very subtle, and easy for a business executive to rationalize away. By the time the symptoms became obvious, it was usually too late to do anything about them.

The symptoms to watch closely are small declines in two metrics: the rate of growth of sales, and gross profit per unit sold (gross margins). Here’s why.

I thought this was a compelling and cogent case against RIM when I linked to it in December. Now, almost five months later, it’s looking more and more like Mace was correct.

Consumer Reports: White iPhone 4 Is Not Thicker Than the Black One 

Speaking of Consumer Reports:

Recently an avalanche of news and tech sites reported that the white iPhone 4 was thicker than the black iPhone, even showing side-by-side photos claiming it was 2mm thicker than the black version.

But when we compared a white iPhone 4 with a black iPhone 4 in our Yonkers, NY, lab using high-quality calipers, we found they were both the same thickness (0.37 inches). This supports Apple’s assertion that the devices are the same size.

Kudos to Dr. Drang, for one, for being skeptical of the “white iPhone is thicker” claims right from the start.

TomTom Sold User Data to Police, Motorists Then Targeted With Speed Traps 

Consumer Reports:

Following reports that TomTom had sold traffic data collected from GPS device users to police who then used it to determine locations for speed traps, the company has issued a statement and video in an effort to appease angry customers.

Shameful.

Apple, as Always, Is Doomed 

Jean-Louis Gassée on the meme that Android is doing/will do to iOS what Windows did to the Mac.

Update: On first read, I thought Gassée was too kind to the “Apple is losing this war” pundits Henry Blodget, Fred Wilson, and Dan Lyons. Upon a re-read of Gassée’s closing, though, I see that he did something cunning and subtle. Well-played.

The Emperor’s New Network Effects 

Smart piece by Greg Cox:

So I think there are three potential outcomes in the mobile handset industry that are worth contemplating:

  1. Android dominance implies a future where the industry is horizontal, with an OS vendor creating a dominant application platform with its associated network effects (demand side economies of scale).

  2. iOS dominance implies a future where Apple enjoys the demand side economies of scale associated with a dominant application platform, and the supply side economies of scale associated with being the leading handset manufacturer.

  3. iPhone leadership implies a future where the dominant player is a vertically integrated handset manufacturer that enjoys supply side economies of scale in manufacturing and marketing.

Count me in with Cox: #3 seems to be where we’re heading, but most analysts seem unwilling to consider any outcome other than #1 or #2.

Apple’s Share of the Profits in the Handset Industry: 50 Percent 

Jay Yarow:

According to an analysis by Canaccord Genuity’s T. Michael Walkley, Apple captured “a remarkable 50% value share of estimated Q1/11 handset industry operating profits among the top 8 OEMs with only 4.9% global handset unit market share.”

iPhone is dead in the water.

Benjamin Jackson on ‘Our Choice’ 

Good review of Al Gore’s Our Choice app-book from a design perspective.

Today’s Front Pages 

Headlines from around the world, after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Update: More front pages here, and the next day here.