Strategy
After about 25 years in various positions, I'm still surprised that executive teams would consider that taking customers hostage (politely referred to as 'locking in') would be a sound strategy. I cannot count the number of persons I've met and sometimes work with that
Quick note
From Victoria Song after previewing extensively the new Apple Vision Pro: I kept replaying the demo over in my head. I know what I just saw. I’m just still trying to see where it fits in the real world. From yours truly two years ago when the Metaverse was
Beginner
One of the simplest level-ups you can have when trying to develop a strategic mindset is understanding the difference between a product and a business model. And when I say simple I might be a tad optimistic. Here's an example in the automotive market: if you want to
Strategy
If you think about it, the very notion of segmentation is quite weird. Market segments are supposed to be specific sub-groups of customers sharing some common traits or qualities that will behave the same in regard to your product. It's convenient for marketers as it makes their work
AI
The very successful "Platformer" newsletter from Casey Newton (270,000 subscribers) leaves Substack for the nonprofit, open-source Ghost platform. Why Platformer is leaving SubstackWe’ve seen this movie before — and we won’t stick around to watch it play outPlatformerCasey Newton Having transitioned our much more modest online
You know I'm monitoring quite a few weak signals in various markets. If I'm not a prospectivist, futurist, or even a trend analyst, it's something I trained into a long time ago as it allows me to feel out for long-term changes in a
Apple is going forward with launching their mixed reality headset in February. Still no clear use case, still no precise demographics. That tech enthusiasts will buy it makes no doubt, but they are called innovators and early adopters for a reason: they're not the core market. And Apple
AI
As most of you have probably been using ChatGPT for a while now, you have become accustomed to giving very elaborate commands to this tool. In contrast, you probably couldn't avoid being stupefied by how much Siri or Alexa are still limited. Relatively simple commands involving two or
Hot Takes
The New York Times has launched legal actions against OpenAI and Microsoft to claim copyright rights on how ChatGPT was trained. This is not the first trial in that regard, but it promises to be momentous as it will mostly establish jurisprudence in the U.S. for what can be
Weak Signals
Influencers being replaced by AI is the least surprising thing about our current times. The final evolution of an always-on public figure frenetically posting more or less doctored pictures of products, places, and events with carefully curated comments was always a bot. For the brands, it also means unmitigated control
My discussion about China's rise as a leading tech and industrial superpower is not new. Bundled with this discussion is the fact that the way Chinese companies compete with European and American incumbents is complicated as they don't see markets as if they were lagging twenty
Hot Takes
While we were enjoying Christmas and the end of the year, Richard Branson decided to put Hyperloop out of its misery and declare it officially dead. Despite buying through $450 million in venture capital since 2014 and volumes of hype (remember going from LA to San Francisco in less than