Why Apple Is Tripling Down on the Mac

Nov 23, 2024 –

Apple’s Mac line has never been stronger. Thanks to Apple Silicon, Apple is pushing the Mac forward with industry-leading power efficiency and hardware redesigns that are resonating with tens of millions of customers. It’s a dramatic turn of events for a product category that seemed positioned to play second fiddle to mobile devices a decade ago. We are seeing Apple place a big bet that the Mac will remain a critical machine…

Big Tech Should Embrace Trump’s Pro-America Platform

Nov 09, 2024 –

Earlier this week, President Trump won a second presidential term in a blowout election. The signs were there all along that such a result was likely. Big Tech sure seemed to anticipate such a result.

The past four years have been alarming to Big Tech as the U.S. lost geopolitical and regulatory standing on the global stage. President Trump’s pro-America platform offers Big Tech a reset opportunity, and it should be…

Video Podcasts Are Having a Moment

Oct 29, 2024 –

The U.S. presidential election has put a spotlight on video podcasts. On both sides of the aisle, video podcasts are being leveraged to gain an edge by connecting with voters. The various implications arising from this change are significant and include everything from video podcasts breathing new momentum into the podcast medium to the role media is playing in our lives continuing to evolve.

This past Friday, Joe Rogan had former…

Something Has Changed With the Tesla Community

Oct 20, 2024 –

Last week, Tesla held its highly anticipated robotaxi event. From an analytical perspective, there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about. The event was geared more toward building aspirations and dreams than unveiling concrete product strategy.

The most interesting takeaways and observations weren’t from the event itself, but rather from what unfolded after the event. It was impossible to miss a vibe change within the Tesla community. The noticeable lack of enthusiasm…

Passive Investing’s Impact on Big Tech Is Being Underestimated

Oct 15, 2024 –

Big Tech continues to have a very strong year on Wall Street. On a collective basis, Big Tech has seen about $4.5 trillion of market capitalization gains since January. While the move has led to some valuation diehards, usually those in academia, becoming louder in opposition to the move, the role passive investing is playing in Big Tech’s rise is flying under the radar.

Thanks to passive investing, Big Tech is receiving…

Apple vs. Meta Is the New iOS vs. Android

Oct 02, 2024 –

Last week, Meta held its Connect 2024 developer conference. During the keynote, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion, Meta’s AR glasses prototype. Seeing that the device had no viable path to market, Zuckerberg decided to turn it into a prototype project. That decision was part of a broader Meta PR strategy aimed at one company: Apple. Zuckerberg has spent the past few years trying to start a new kind of tech holy war…

Amazon’s CEO Is Getting Skewered

Sep 21, 2024 –

Amazon can’t seem to catch a break. Earlier this week, Amazon released an employee memo from CEO Andy Jassy regarding a series of noteworthy company changes that will be undertaken, including a full return to office (five days a week) mandate. The internet was not pleased. Consensus quickly went after Jassy, and calls for his resignation, which have been quietly bubbling for the past year, are getting louder. Amazon is in a…

Consensus Is Still Underestimating Wearables

Sep 17, 2024 –

Last week, I traveled to Apple Park to take in Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event. Apple unveiled a long list of HW and some SW updates across the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods lines. When considering the totality of the announcements and their implications, the event was the strongest September event Apple has put together in years. Among the top of the news items were Apple Watch and AirPods updates. The updates…

Founder Mode Is Actually Design Mode

Sep 07, 2024 –

Paul Graham, of Y Combinator notoriety, made waves this week with his latest essay. In some ways, it felt like we were back in the early 2010s when blogging was still a thing. The short essay, “Founder Mode,” introduced Graham’s theory on what sets certain companies apart from others. The theory itself was bare bones, which Graham admitted was partially due to the lack of existing research on the topic…

Our Memories Are Under Attack

Aug 31, 2024 –

Last week, Procreate, a popular art studio app for iPad, made waves by declaring it was not going to introduce any generative AI into its products. According to James Cuda, Procreate’s CEO and co-founder, the decision amounted to being “on the right path supporting human creativity.” The stance stood in stark contrast to what we have seen from Big Tech. We are witnessing a broader conflict surrounding the positioning of technology against…

How Google Lost Its Antitrust Case to the U.S.

Aug 25, 2024 –

For the second time in eight months, Google lost an antitrust case in the U.S. Following the December 2023 loss to Epic Games, which was more embarrassing than anything for Google, the search giant gave the U.S. government its first antitrust win as part of its anti-Big Tech crusade.

Google had a thin line to walk in going up against the U.S. government. The company needed to talk up its search acumen…

Something Is Wrong With Amazon

Aug 11, 2024 –

At least based on the most recent quarterly earnings report, Amazon appears to be doing fine. People are buying more goods through Prime, the company’s digital advertising business contains plenty of promise, and AWS has no obvious flaws. However, a few things about Amazon have turned unsettling to me. Amazon’s retail customer service has become downright atrocious while its Alexa ecosystem of devices is proving to be more of a hindrance than…

Inside Orchard