More than 50 years ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy captured the world’s imagination when he said, “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” And thus, the term moonshot entered the lexicon as shorthand [...]
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The walled garden protecting Apple is slowly crumbling. Faced with tightening margins and eroding market share, one of the world’s biggest companies by market value is considering introducing a low-priced iPhone. The move would be aimed at capturing consumers typically overshot by Apple’s current pricey offering, especially users in emerging economies. While perhaps diluting its [...]
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At this year’s Sundance film festival, I caught the premiere of JOBS, the widely anticipated Steve Jobs biopic. Aside from the fact that Ashton Kutcher strikes an uncanny resemblance to the Apple co-founder in both looks and mannerisms, what struck me most about the film was that the primary conflict centers on “the innovator’s dilemma,” [...]
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When should incumbents be afraid — very afraid? At the moment that a disruptive innovation crosses into the mainstream market and establishes itself as a viable competitor, the third stage in a disruptive innovation’s life cycle. You might think a response at this late phase would be too late — but there are still ways [...]
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It’s been nearly two years since Nokia CEO Stephen Elop shot off his burning platform memo as a way of shaking up the phone company’s leadership. This fiery term refers to the story of a worker living on a North Sea oil rig who awoke one morning to a loud explosion and an all-consuming conflagration. [...]
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It has been a rough few years for Research in Motion, the maker of the Blackberry line of mobile devices. Since Apple entered the mobile phone market, RIM’s financial situation has deteriorated and its market capitalization has plummeted by almost 95 percent since its mid-2008 peak of more than $100 billion. The company has brought [...]
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U.S. telecom carriers face daunting challenges from device makers, content providers, social networks, and an array of disruptive technologies. But the solutions may not be housed on their own soil. The telecom industry has changed, and the industry dynamics will continue to shift under the pressure from social media and the power of the consumer. [...]
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Recently, word leaked out that Intel (INTC) is evaluating whether to launch a new online television service that competes with cable. It will be a bold move for the chipmaker, which has developed a strong brand in the minds of the consumer, thanks to the long-running Intel Inside campaign. Such a radical shift into the [...]
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It’s a topic that perhaps would only appear on the pages of The Economist: an effort to establish North America’s first elephant sperm bank. As the article notes, a single elephant named Jackson has “sired many of the calves born in the United States in the past decade, and scientists say new bloodlines are needed [...]
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2012 has not gotten off to a great start for Eastman Kodak. Three of the company’s directors quit near the end of last year, and word recently emerged that the company was on the brink of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The easy narrative is that Kodak is a classic case of a company [...]
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