A closer look at Meta's strategy with WhatsApp, why Disney's failure to buy Google in 1999 shouldn't be surprising, Apple's doomed car project and attendant AI ambitions, and a question about the New York Times spawns discussion of the podcast industry, in general. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube @Stratechery Channel — YouTube WhatsApp launches in-chat payments service for businesses in India — Financial Times Strategy Letter V — Joel on Software The inc...
Mar 18, 2024•13 min
A look at Reddit’s business as well as the company’s message board DNA, examining some of the opposition to this week’s TikTok legislation, and at the end, identifying the company that should buy TikTok. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube @Stratechery Channel — YouTube Reddit S-1, Reddit’s Prospects, Reddit Grows Up — Stratechery Update Congress Considering TikTok Ban, TikTok’s War, What Now? — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratec...
Mar 14, 2024•8 min
The latest legislative push to address TikTok’s relationship to ByteDance, Ben’s 2020 analysis of the threats posed by the app, the arguments and interests opposing a ban, and why US freedoms may ultimately be the best defense against a foreign influence campaign. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube @Stratechery Channel — YouTube Congress Considering TikTok Ban, TikTok’s War, What Now? — Stratechery Update The TikTok War — Stratechery Xi Jinping Thought, Fac...
Mar 11, 2024•12 min
A closer look at Elon Musk’s lawsuit, why it will probably fail, and the OpenAI concerns Musk highlights that remain relevant. Then: Apple’s latest App Store crusade, some amateur psychology, and an emailer’s Google observation yields a Microsoft history lesson. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube @Stratechery Channel — YouTube Elon Musk Sues OpenAI, Sam Altman, Saying They Abandoned Founding Mission — Wall Street Journal Elon Musk vs. OpenAI, OpenAI’s Respo...
Mar 07, 2024•16 min
The challenges posed by AI as aggregators like Meta and Google deploy models around the around, why personalized LLM output might be a long term solution, and reactions to the latest release from Anthropic and the current pace of AI progress. At the end: A word about Perplexity. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Aggregator’s AI Risk — Stratechery Google's Culture of Fear — Pirate Wires The AI wars heat up with Claude 3, claimed to have “near-human” abiliti...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min
The letter from Sundar Pichai in the wake of a Gemini’s disastrous week, the relationship between TSMC and Nvidia (and why Intel is part of the conversation), and an emailer asks Ben to compare Apple’s now-abandoned car ambitions with Google’s investment in Waymo. At the end: A Vision Pro question and a new Formula One season. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Gemini and Google’s Culture — Stratechery Google CEO says Gemini AI diversity errors are ‘complet...
Feb 29, 2024•11 min
An email about AI losers spawns a check-in on the AI efforts of the big five, Google’s Gemini rollout prompts a history lesson and questions about the culture, while the debates over Gemini highlight the limits of chatbots and signal another step toward bifurcation between the physical and virtual world. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Groq Costs, Gemini Pro 1.5, Google’s Timidity — Stratechery Update Sora, Groq, and Virtual Reality — Stratechery Get Sha...
Feb 26, 2024•13 min
How the gaming market went from PlayStation to Microsoft Game Pass, the fundamental tensions underlying Microsoft’s current strategy in games, and thoughts on the future for Sony and Meta’s Quest 3 as a gaming console. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Microsoft: four Xbox-exclusive games are coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch — The Verge Xbox Games to Go Cross-Platform?, Console Context, Xbox’s Final Strategy — Stratechery Update Xbox’s Announcement; Micro...
Feb 21, 2024•13 min
A look at the questions surrounding the sports streaming bundle that’s coming from Fox, Disney, and Warner Brothers Discovery, including the challenge of targeting video ads on the internet, why Disney’s bet on sports is a bet on ads, and why Andrew is bearish on the joint venture. At the end: Mark Zuckerberg on the Vision Pro, and Ben takes to Twitter to talk Vision Pro on an airplane. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Why Three Media Giants Made a Hail M...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Ben and Andrew begin with a note about a recent Stratechery announcement before to turning their attention to a variety of emails about the Apple Vision Pro. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Vision Pro at Work, The Sports Bundle — Stratechery Update Meta Earnings; Meta, AI, and ATT; Meta’s New Playbook — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as par...
Feb 08, 2024•15 min
Ben and Andrew share first impressions after Andrew demos a Vision Pro and Ben spends 24 hours exploring the AVP at home. Plus: Venting about Apple’s user-hostile guest mode process. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube The Apple Vision Pro — Stratechery Apple Vision — Stratechery Quest vs. Vision, Vision and the Mac, Apple Acquires Mira — Stratechery Update the thing no one will say about Apple Vision Pro — YouTube: CaseyNeistat Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 10 min
A new mailbag featuring a comparison between the Vision Pro and night vision goggles, Ben’s process for digesting quarterly earnings news, and some final thoughts on Apple’s approach to the App Store. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Google Earnings, Microsoft Earnings — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $12/mont...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 4 min
A question about AI video and what sectors it might disrupt, and the latest attempt at Apple regulation promos a conversation about Apple’s property rights and the future of the App Store. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube Lumiere — Google Research Apple and the DMA, Apple and “Or”, A Reluctant Apple Apologist — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast...
Jan 30, 2024•10 min
Introducing the Sharp Tech YouTube Channel, understanding why Netflix choose the WWE for its first live rights partner in sports, more on the Vision Pro and watching sports in VR, and recapping Ben’s week in Switzerland at the World Economic Forum. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube An Interview with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters About Strategy and Execution — Stratechery Interview Netflix’s Subscribers, Revenue Surge as It Cracks Down on Password Sharing — Wa...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Apple’s new App Store rules inspire plenty of familiar complaints, while some of the biggest tech companies in the world tell Apple to launch Vision Pro without them. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Apple’s Testy Developer Relationships Threaten to Hamper Vision Pro — Bloomberg The Apple Vision Pro’s Missing Apps — Stratechery The Supreme Court Declines to Hear Apple-Epic, Apple’s (Predictable) Response — Stratechery Update Apple’s biggest critics are big mad about the new 27 percent App S...
Jan 23, 2024•12 min
Peacock makes history as the first streaming service to broadcast an NFL playoff game, an emailer asks Chat GPT licensing deals, and Boeing follow-up spawns questions on the future of free markets and humans vs. software. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm What is Peacock? Why the NBC platform is exclusively streaming Chiefs-Dolphins playoff game — The Athletic Global news publisher Axel Springer partners with OpenAI in landmark deal — Reuters Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery ...
Jan 16, 2024•21 min
The latest failures at Boeing invite fresh scrutiny of the incentive structure, strategy lessons embedded in the company's decline, and why Boeing exemplifies the same mistakes and challenges that the rest of the American industrial base will confront in the years to come. At the end: ESPN eyes an even bigger college football investment and a release date for the Vision Pro. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Panel on Boeing Plane May Not Have Been Properly Attached, Agency Says — New. York T...
Jan 10, 2024•10 min
A word about the Packers and microchips, and then reactions to the New York Times suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, the similarities and differences between past copyright cases with Google and Napster, and a question about automated copyright enforcement. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work — The New York Times AI’s future could hinge on one thorny legal question — Washington Post Get Sharp Tech Premium...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Give your friends and family the gift of Stratechery Plus. Celebrating the end of the year with a few reactions to Wednesday’s Paramount-Warner Brothers rumors and a wide variety of mailbag questions. Happy holidays from the entire Sharp Tech team! To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Scoop: Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to merge with Paramount Global — Axios Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part...
Dec 22, 2023•17 min
Give your friends and family the gift of Stratechery Plus. The patent dispute that has Apple ready to take Apple Watches off the market, the expanding powers of the EU regulatory regime, why the Adobe-Figma acquisition raised legitimate competition concerns, and the uncertainty for the startup ecosystem as mergers become more difficult across tech. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Apple Is So Big, It’s Almost Eclipsing France’s Stock Market — Bloomberg Apple Watch Import Ban, Apple v Masimo...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 13 min
To email the show: email@sharptech.fm What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery Google Loses Antitrust Case to Epic; The Differences Between Apple and Google, Revisited; The Tying Question — Stratechery Update Malakai Bayoh sings a stunning ‘O Holy Night’ duet with Aled Jones — Classic FM YouTube Channel King's College, Cambridge : 'O Holy Night' : 2015 — Archive of Recorded Church Music YouTube Channel Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Great...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Bull and bear cases for Google's long term prospects, why navigating the AI era may require leadership and culture changes, and thoughts on college football's success and Mark Cuban's sale of the Dallas Mavericks. At the end: Select wisdom from Charlie Munger. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm A collection of Charlie Munger's best quotes — X: @MorningBrew The College Football Playoff, Events Over Inventory, NASCAR’s New Deal — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Strateche...
Dec 11, 2023•10 min
Ben’s article on “Regretful Accelerationism,” the differences between today’s Internet and that of 10 years ago, AI articles at Sports Illustrated as digital media continues its decline, and why the increasingly bleak outlook for social media might be healthy for society itself. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Regretful Accelerationism — Stratechery Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers — Futurism Why Web Pages Suck — Stratechery Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp ...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 8 min
To email the show: email@sharptech.fm NYT DealBook Summit: Elon Musk — X: @andrewrsorkin Two Apple Items, Twitter Cash Flow, Twitter Versus Advertisers — Stratechery Update Substack Has a Nazi Problem — The Atlantic Spotify and Joe Rogan, Culture and Principles, Music Versus Podcasts and the Long Run — Stratechery Update Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $12/month....
Nov 30, 2023•16 min
To email the show: email@sharptech.fm Altman Returns as OpenAI CEO in Chaotic Win for Microsoft — Bloomberg OpenAI’s Misalignment and Microsoft’s Gain — Stratechery The OpenAI Saga Continues, Microsoft’s New Chips, Microsoft’s AI Platform Hedge — Stratechery Update HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, gets beheaded in Philadelphia — CNN The Crown season 6 review – so bad it’s basically an out-of-body experience — The Guardian Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Inter...
Nov 27, 2023•13 min
Reactions to one of the most extraordinary weekends in the history of the tech industry, the blindspots that were exposed among both the OpenAI board and Microsoft, the non-profit model for development and OpenAI's recruiting prowess, and a groundswell of support for Sam Altman as a variety of questions remain. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm OpenAI’s Misalignment and Microsoft’s Gain — Stratechery The Accidental Consumer Tech Company; ChatGPT, Meta, and Product-Market Fit; Aggregation and...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 16 min
After one year of Sharp Tech and Sharp China, a summit with Ben Thompson, Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp to discuss podcasting, the chip ban, the US-China relationship and beyond. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm To read the full transcript, click here . Get Sharp Tech Premium, Sharp China, Stratechery Update, Stratechery Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $12/month....
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 4 min
An emailer makes the argument for text over voice as the AI interface of the future, the introduction of Humane's AI pin, and questions for Apple and OpenAI as the AI ecosystem evolves. At the end: A few clarifications from listeners and more thoughts on tech and the real estate market. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm The OpenAI Keynote — Stratechery Realtors Lose in Court, Zillow and Real Estate Aggregation, From Franchises to Businesses — Stratechery Update AI, Hardware, and Virtual Real...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 10 min
The possibilities of a universal chatbot for the future, the challenges for any new consumer tech company trying to match the scale of incumbents, and the strategic questions facing OpenAI as its leadership allocates resources and considers a move into hardware. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm The OpenAI Keynote — Stratechery OpenAI DevDay, Opening Keynote — OpenAI More on Google and AI; OpenAI, Integration, and Microsoft — Stratechery Update The End of the Beginning — Stratechery AI Homew...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min
A verdict in Missouri portends big changes in the real estate industry, why real estate is a natural fit for an aggregator, and divergent outcomes from two tech-adjacent price-fixing cases. At the end: The NBA and streaming, and Ronald Reagan’s version of Mission: Impossible. To email the show: email@sharptech.fm The Way You Pay to Buy or Sell a Home Is About to Change — Wall Street Journal Atlantic City Hotels Turn Attention to Vegas Courthouse in Pricing Algorithms Case — The National Law Revi...
Nov 06, 2023•14 min
