Cisco’s Flip Video Error:
Mistaking an Edgy Product for a Disruptive Technology

April 16, 2011

This week, Cisco Systems announced they were shutting down Flip Video.  Introduced in 2006 as a single use video camera for CVS Pharmacy, it was re-launched in 2007 as Flip Video: an elegantly simple video camera with a built-in USB connector. Flip sales rocketed and the company was bought by Cisco Systems in 2009.
Flip passed [...]

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The Apple Fortress Part III:
A Relentless Pursuit of Minimalist Perfection

March 16, 2011

The two previous posts in this three-part series (Profits Beyond Platforms and Inventing Customer Experience) provides lessons applicable to any company.  Apple’s passion for minimalist perfection, however, is deeply rooted in the unique genius of Steve Jobs and Apple’s culture.  It’s captivating, describable but very difficult to copy.

Shortly after joining Apple’s original Mac team, Andy [...]

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The Apple Fortress Part II:
Inventing Customer Experience

March 1, 2011

This is part two of a three part series on the strategy behind the integrated product, service and content platforms that forge the Apple Fortress.  In Part I-Pacing Profits Beyond Platforms, we defined the three cornerstones behind Apple’s transformation:
1. Pacing for Profits – Apple sets a deliberately moderate pace that extracts disproportionate profits while [...]

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The Apple Fortress:
How Apple Paces Profits Beyond Platforms

February 17, 2011

Working wider begins with thinking beyond today’s boundaries.  Over three posts, we’ll explore how Apple grew by blowing away traditional boundaries of product, service and content strategy .
Stephen Elop, the new CEO of Nokia, recently issued a memo to Nokia employees where he compared their predicament to that of an oil worker trapped on a [...]

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The Future of Content:
Old McDonald Had A Farm: G…O…O…G…L…E

January 29, 2011

I grew up near Cow Lane so when I think of farming, my mental images is barns and cows.   Constant recitals of America,The Beautiful in grade school enable me to see an occasional waving field of grain in the background.
Fish farming?  I get it but that just raises my interest anytime I see “wild salmon” [...]

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Beyond Steve Jobs Health:
Apple Grabs for More Publisher Revenue

January 19, 2011

While Monday’s news of Apple CEO Steve Job’s leave-of-absence grabs most of the headlines, another Apple story broke late last week that will have more immediate impact.  Apple has told newspaper and magazine publishers that starting April 1, subscribers to print versions of their publications cannot be offered free iPad editions.
As today’s market gorilla Apple [...]

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Unexpected Expectations: Leadership Lessons from BP

January 4, 2011
Thumbnail image for Unexpected Expectations: Leadership Lessons from BP

On Christmas, the New York Times ran its most riveting story of the year. Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours has all the drama of a Hollywood action movie as it recounts the final nine minutes on BP’s ill-fated rig.
In contrast to the coverage of efforts to stop the ecological damage from the BP oil spill where [...]

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The Internet’s New Normal: 4 Implications for 2011

December 24, 2010

A seismic tremor rippled through the Internet this week.  Did you feel it?   The recent FCC decision opened the door for tiered service levels for wireless Internet while preserving equality among wired customers.  Just as the recession permanently altered some of our assumptions about the economy, the FCC action signals a New Normal for the [...]

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Spreading Silicon Valley’s Economic Ecosystem

November 29, 2010

I have yet to meet anyone that to one degree or another isn’t angry at the large banks’ “head’s I win, tails you lose” behavior.  With that acknowledged, this piece reaches beyond the personal anger to explore the damage done to our global competitiveness.  Part of the  remedy is to actively spread the economic ecosystem [...]

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Apple Business Strategy 2011:
Milk the iCow for Growth & Cash

November 14, 2010

If you’re an Apple fan, put aside any expectations for dramatic new product introductions next year.  My bet is in 2011, Apple hardware will see only incremental improvements and cost reductions.  You can also be sure that Apple marketing strategy will tout each increment as an absolutely amazing breakthrough!  Apple’s ability to align marketing strategy [...]

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Alignment Wins Global Competitions

November 7, 2010

Shortly after receiving the birth announcement of my fifth grandchild, Ms. Clover Newton, I watched Fareed Zakaria ask his studio audience if they thought their children would be better off than they were.  Not one hand went up.
Welcome to the world Ms. Clover.
As a nation, we are losing our competitive edge as we argue amongst [...]

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