My Twitter friend Matt Baxter-Reynolds has just published a book called "The Death of the PC", and his recent writing about the subject on ZDNet has brought a lot of finger pointing, especially in light of the recent strong financial announcements from Microsoft. Matt's written today about the term being more of a metaphor than … Continue reading The rebirth of the PC
Category: Themes
At the weekend I listened to a long conversation between my wife and a friend talking about the buying of a birthday present for a mutual friend. It struck me that the rapid pace of digitisation has significantly changed the way in which we give "meaningful" gifts. First off, let's get this clear - very … Continue reading Meaningful presents
For the non-MIcrosofters amongst you, that headline will need a bit of explanation. For the Microsofters, it probably will too, but for different reasons. The first explanation: KT is Kevin Turner, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer. He's a powerful presence of an American senior executive. Now onto the second... Over the past few weeks I've … Continue reading Why KT should be the next Microsoft CEO
I spent a fascinating day on Monday as a guest at Twiliocon at the Inmarsat Centre on Old Street Roundabout. If you're not familiar with Twilio, it's a set of services that allow programmers to easily access telephony services - text messages, calling, conference calling and wotnot. It's a clever set of APIs and … Continue reading Ephemerality and the legacy of learning
Last night and this morning there has been much coverage on the BBC news channels about government plans to create a "reserve cyber army" - territorial hackers, if you will. I do hope that this is an elaborate PR exercise and has little bearing on the reality of what our defence services are doing … Continue reading Cyberarmies
The news that Burberry's Angela Ahrendts is to join Apple as their new head of retailing operations brings into stark relief one of the strangest appointments in recent corporate history. Why on earth did Apple bring Dixon's Group chief John Browett in to head their consumer selling arm last year? Browett was Tim Cook's first … Continue reading The John Browett mystery
I'm currently about half way through Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath. The core of his thinking appears to be that where we often see the underdog as having disadvantage against the overdog, actually what are often regarded as advantages can be anything but. It's thought provoking, and as ever with Gladwell incredibly well … Continue reading The Malcolm Gladwell Effect
I've just seen a billboard advertising Lloyd's Bank, proudly proclaiming that they are "lending millions to first time house buyers every week". That sounds good, doesn't it? Well, let's unpick that number a bit. According to the BBC, the current average UK house price is running at about £242,000. First time house buyers wouldn't necessarily … Continue reading Big numbers, tiny numbers
I somewhat jokingly describe myself on my Twitter profile as "skirting the thin line between polymath and jack of all trades". My career has been one where I've had exposure (and exposed myself) to a number of areas which means that I've found myself often in a position to be able to translate things across … Continue reading The importance of adaptation
I picked up on a Forbes article that ran earlier in the year yesterday about the marketing organisation of the future, which reported on the Marketing2020 research initiative from the American Association of National Advertisers, together with the World Federation of Advertisers and EffectiveBrands. There doesn't appear to be much being published publicly on the findings, but the … Continue reading Spokes, silos and the challenges of change
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