Linked List: August 7, 2013

Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Publishers Object to U.S. Remedy in Apple E-Book Case ★

These wimps rolled right over when the DOJ came knocking; pretty rich for them to object now.

Fresh off the presses: a brand-new episode of my podcast, The Talk Show, featuring very special guest Marco Arment. Topics include Jeff Bezos’s purchase of The Washington Post, working environments for programmers and web workers, how one person’s “disruption” is another’s “predatory pricing”, in-app game purchases as the modern equivalent of coin-op arcade games, and why the hell anyone would step foot in a Best Buy nowadays.

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Ubuntu Smartphone Looks Unlikely to Reach Crowdfunding Goal ★

I think their only chance to make this happen is, and always was, if Mark Shuttleworth steps in and ponies up the dough on his own. People who use and know Ubuntu skew towards not paying for things. People who pay for things don’t know Ubuntu.

Study Claims Apple Does Worse With First-Time Smartphone Buyers ★

Ina Fried:

“Previous smartphone owners buy Apple iPhones much more than first-time owners,” according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “Almost 50 percent of previous owners buy an iPhone, while under one-third of first-time owners buy an iPhone.”

Samsung does roughly equally well among new and repeat smartphone buyers, while Korean rival LG tends to do far better among first-timers, likely due to its lower prices and strong representation in the prepaid arena.

This bodes well for Apple in the long-term, given that soon, almost all smartphone buyers will be previous smartphone owners.

Horace Dediu on the Premise that Amazon Is the ‘Anti-Apple’ ★

Horace Dediu:

At an even deeper level, Apple and Amazon are much more alike than they are different. They are both hired for similar jobs (convenience, ease of use and a controlled, predictable environment for average users interacting with technology). They both focus on delighting customers and controlling all the variables which come into contact with that delight. They both have long-term views and are driven by vision rather than competition.

Where they differ is in others’ perception of sustainability. Whereas Apple is perpetually given an expected lifespan of less than a decade, Amazon is expected to have an indefinite lifespan. This is because Amazon is seen as having no competition and Apple is seen as having infinite competition.

Splendid piece.

John Carmack Joins Oculus as CTO ★

Whoa, huge score. Not sure there’s anyone on the planet who’d be a bigger hire for Oculus.