garytouet

Ashlee Vance from BusinessWeek about Microsoft’s announcement:

Yet, I’m not sure how committed Microsoft is to this hardware-making thing over the long haul. It showed this technology off months before the arrival of Windows 8, has yet to release pricing details, and says it will deliver these beautiful products only through Microsoft channels. This does not sound like a full-on break with the PC makers. Rather, it sounds like Microsoft giving them a wake-up call: You can make something different and sexy with a bit of effort, guys. “We took the time and effort to get Surface and Windows 8 right,” Ballmer said. Now it’s the rest of the industry’s turn. That is, if they still want to have an industry in a few years.

The Verge on the two different models released by Microsoft:

As we said, Microsoft revealed a pair of tablets today: one that runs the full Windows 8 desktop operating system, and one that runs Windows RT, a cut-down version of Windows 8 that still has Office and a desktop mode, but can't use legacy x86 software. As such, you can expect the Surface for Windows 8 Pro to come with a Intel Ivy Bridge processor, but the Surface for Windows RT will have an ARM-based chip from Nvidia, likely the same Tegra 3 that's expected to appear in Asus' Tablet 600. […] That said, the two machines are actually quite a bit different when you look at their spec sheets closely. The Windows RT tablet is an incredible 9.3mm thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, but the Windows 8 Pro version clocks in at nearly 2 pounds and 13.5mm thick. You get some extra functionality in that bargain, though: while the Windows RT version only has an "HD" display, a microSD slot, 32GB or 64GB of storage and USB 2.0, the Windows 8 Pro version bumps up the resolution to "full HD," upgrades the ports to microSDXC, USB 3.0, and Mini DisplayPort, and starts with 64GB of storage along with a 128GB option. Oh, and don't forget legacy app support.

The two devices have exactly the same name “Surface”, but they are actually different. They not only differ in color, storage or size, but on the type of OS they run, but in the number of ports, the technology of these ports, storage and quality of the display. Am I the only one being confused?

I’m curious to see how Microsoft is going to market the two: consumer Surface vs. pro Surface?

If not, good luck explaining this to consumers.

The Wall Street Journal:

This year, Apple opened up its developers event for the first time to 13- to 17-year-olds. The Cupertino, Calif., company supplied 150 teens with scholarships to cover the event's $1,599 entrance fee, arranged a student lounge with beanbag chairs and Skittles, and invited their parents to chaperone. The teens, or their parents, still had to sign Apple's customary nondisclosure agreements.

I’m fascinated by these teens would taught themselves how to code and for whom releasing apps is natural.

Microsoft does not want you to think that the Surface is a tablet as we now know it (I’m looking at the iPad). The emphasis is much more on the PC side of things. The presentation focuses a lot on the keyboard-cover and on the stand, but almost never mentions how you would use the device as a tablet only. The demonstration even shows Adobe Lightroom being used as you would on your current desktop computer. Photoshop, Autodesk, SolidWorks (both 3D design softwares so relying on high power) are also mentioned.

Microsoft is going for something between a tablet like the iPad and a laptop. I can see how this could be attractive to people who like their laptop, but would prefer something as light and small as a tablet. Let’s hope Microsoft succeeds in making a device good in both situations.

I’m looking forward to the reviews.

The video of the presentation is available online too.

If we evolved from small organisms to the type of humans we are now and if our brain evolved in such a way that we developed languages, built villages, families and complicated systems, what are the chances that another form of life on Earth evolves and starts doing the same?

What would happen to us? What would we do? Would we kill them?

I think I might have a million-dollar movie idea, here.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for ZDNet:

I’m now ready to sum up my Windows 8 experience with a single word: awful. […] I just can’t shake the feeling that Windows 8 would be better off as two separate operating systems. A ‘classic’ Windows 8 for regular desktop and notebook systems - which would feel more like a service pack for Windows 7 than a full release — and a separate ‘Metro’ version for touch-enabled hardware.

This confirms what many have been saying. The Metro interface seems to be to hard to use on a desktop. It seems to be suited for tablets though. Separating the two interfaces would probably be more usable.

I still give Windows 8 the benefice of the doubt. I’ll wait until I use it to make a real judgment, but I may test it with a bias.

Jetovator. This thing is awesome.

Peter Kafka:

People familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that when its new iOS 6 software becomes widely available this fall, podcasts will have their own app, where users will be able to discover, download and play them on mobile devices. Users who access iTunes via laptop and desktop machines will still find them in that version of iTunes, though.

If real, this could be a good promotion for podcasts. They would no longer be considered as a standard audio file in the music app. Instead, the category will have a place of its own.

I could boost podcasts use for new users too, who may wonder what this app is for and be tempted to find out more.

Long but interesting article by Danielle Sacks at FastCompany about the Draper family, a long-standing Venture Capitalist family.

Silicon Valley observers like TheFunded's Ressi says there's little guarantee that these Drapers can extend the Draper dynasty. "The only way you can have a dynasty in Silicon Valley is if every generation is exceptional," says Ressi. "You've had a unit of two with the Drapers, which is rare."

As we say in French about family businesses:

Le première génération la crée. La deuxième la développe. La troisième la tue.

The first generation builds the business. The second develops it. The third kills it.

We’ll see.

Techcrunch:

Unlike other dongle-based mobile payment services like Square and PayPal’s Here which use a card’s swipe strip for processing, iZettle has focused on transactions (each charged a flat 2.75% commission on MasterCard, Visa and Diners Club; 3.75 for AmEx) using chips embedded in the cards: chips are now ubiquitous in Europe and are considered more tamper-proof than the strips. De Geer believes that will help the company bring on both more merchants and consumers to the service as it looks to take its offering mass market. “Security comes built into that,” he says.

I wonder how Square will enter the European market. I hope they won’t stick with the swiping technology since it would harm the trust people have in the service. Europeans don’t swipe, they use the chip in the credit card, because it is believed to be more secure. I can see people refusing to use it based on this ground.

As to iZettle’s name, if they want to become the “name synonymous with mobile payments in Europe”, which they do, I’d suggest to change the name. Zettle certainly means something related to payment in Sweden. I’m not even sure since the different Swedish dictionaries I’ve tried don’t return anything. It can definitely be understood in Germany as being an iDocket, but I can guarantee that it won’t mean anything to French people and I assume to English people to, let alone the rest of Europe. An English word would propably be more convenient.

AllThingsD:

Sources close to the company say that Ping, which still exists today in iTunes 10.6.3 and the iOS 6 beta — where it doesn’t work, will be gone with the software’s next major release, likely scheduled for this fall. And at that point Apple’s social networking offerings will shift to Twitter and new partner Facebook entirely.

I remember signing up for Ping. I was interested by the idea, but with time my excitement faded. Most of my friends do not buy music on iTunes so the recommendation system was useless. I use other services to discover new tracks so Ping was not my go-to service for this. And finally, I don’t like to browse the iTunes Store. It’s cumbersome and slow so I was not looking forward to check my Ping account.

I was wondering what was the price for the readers sold in-store since Square ships them for free usually.

Techcrunch has the answer:

They sell for $9.99 in stores, but there’s a $10 credit that every buyer can redeem back to their bank account.

Sean Ludwig for VentureBeat:

Including the new Walgreens, FedEx Office, and Staples locations, more than 20,000 retail locations nationwide sell the card reader. The reader is additionally available at the Apple Store, Best Buy, OfficeMax, Radio Shack, Target, UPS, and Walmart. “Accepting credit cards should be as easy as buying supplies at your local store,” said Jeffrey Kolovson, head of retail distribution at Square, in a statement.

FedEx Office and Staples see a lot of small business owners (Square’s target segment). They come to print marketing materials and ship their products or to buy furniture. They are a consequent part of the clientele so it makes a lot of sense to have the Square readers there.

Regarding Walgreens, I do not know the stores at all since I’ve never encountered them. So I am not sure what the rationale is. Most probably something similar to the other two.

Alexis Ohanian in an interview by Christine Lagorio:

We built Reddit in three weeks. It was just Web links and text submitted by users, with Interesting or Uninteresting buttons that you could click on underneath. Simple: That's all it was. After a contentious debate, we added Comments. We knew our business was in our user base, that that was the most important part.

Fascinating how something simply done can have such an impact.

Rocky Agrawal for VentureBeat:

The pricing is extremely aggressive, with a 1.8% transaction fee and a 15 cent per transaction charge for transactions processed through the terminal. Square charges 2.75% with no per transaction fee. PayPal Here and Verifone Sail charge 2.7%, also with no transaction fee. Groupon is charging 2.3% for AmEx transactions [update: a groupon insider tells me the AmEx pricing is 2.7, not 2.3]. Square and PayPal don’t charge extra, and Sail charges 3.7% for AmEx. Unlike the other players, Groupon is offering an iPod Touch and card reader to merchants free of charge. (The others provide only the readers for free […].)

It’s still in testing phase apparently and it has not been confirmed by Groupon yet. If it is, this will be an aggressive move.

Square is being attacked by a lot of companies. I guess, it should stay focused on its product and make sure it is the easiest to use.

The start-up seems to be ahead of the competition for the moment, because it is also focused on the customer, not only on the merchant by providing low transaction fees. Pay With Square, an iOS and Android app, lets the customer pay just by saying its name and offers other great perks. The user experience is awesome.

The combination of both apps is much stronger for a merchant than just a lower transaction fee. Satisfied users are more likely to only shop at Square-compatible locations and therefore to be more loyal. This will result in more revenues for a merchant, in the long run, than the few cents saved on transaction fees.

Groupon won’t win the race if it does not propose something more compelling.

Nick Bilton for the NY Times:

It might seem strange for Facebook to release a camera application with built-in filters just weeks after announcing plans to buy Instagram, the social photo app. But Facebook Camera is aimed at a different audience. Instagram has 40 million users, while Facebook has 900 million. This leaves a large swath of people who are not on Instagram but are actively taking photos and uploading them to Facebook. The filters in Facebook Camera were developed by Facebook and are not borrowed from Instagram.

When I read the first tweets this morning announcing Facebook Camera, I was surprised.

Facebook bought Instagram about 1.5 months ago. It is sure that the Camera app was in the pipeline at that time. Zuckerberg knew what Facebook was up to and the potential of this new app, which is, let’s be honest, a clear attempt to take on Instagram.

Pundits have explained Zuckerberg’s move by the threat Instagram represented. Facebook made its success on photos, but had no decent mobile photography app. People were then using Instagram to share photos with their friends instead of Facebook, which means less visits to Facebook.com and therefore a threat to its business model: advertising.

But, if you know you have an app in the pipes and a user base of 900 million people what’s the logic behind Instagram’s acquisition for $1 billion?

I’m not even sure that buying the users makes sense. Facebook is likely to reach 4 million users way faster than Instagram did.

Maybe Facebook actually bought the talents at Instagram to finish up their app. Maybe.

My theory is that Zuckerberg decided to show future investors how strong Facebook was. I think he did a pre-IPO exploit to increase investors’ confidence. Many were criticizing the lack of mobile strategy and Facebook’s future. These were threats to the success of the IPO.

I think Zuckerberg successfully showed that Facebook was still bold. He communicated that his leadership was prominent. It made investors believe a bit more in Facebook’s future and resulted in astounding demand for Facebook shares.

Nevertheless, now that Facebook has two different apps with the same function, what is the next step? Shut Instagram down.

Square has published on its Vimeo Channel a 1-minute TVC. Besides giving details about the reader, the apps, the fees, it shows three small-business owners and how they use the service.

I think we found the TVC spotted a few weeks ago. Nothing more to add. The focus is still on small-businesses and the convenience of the sevice.

David Garcia, senior software engineer at Facebook, for Techcrunch:

During lunch, some us started talking about how cool it would be if the second Mark rang the bell a story would post to his timeline to let his friends and subscribers know. I was so excited about this idea that when I got back to my desk, I posted on Facebook: “We should totally hack the button so it pushes an open graph action, “Mark Rang the NASDAQ bell”. The first person to comment? Zuck: “It would be epic if you pulled that off.” I got to work that night.

Cool idea for a surreal moment.

Chris Dixon:

If you are starting a company and wondering why nothing good seems to happen unless you force it to happen, that’s because the world wants to stay the way it is. Customers, partners, and most of all incumbents don’t want to think hard, try new things, or change in any way. The world is lazy and just wants to keep doing what it’s doing.

The Next Web:

More specifically and as widely anticipated, iZettle has started inviting SMBs and individuals in the United Kingdom to join the beta testing program. The company will ship 3,000 free chip-card readers (which is an important distinction with Square, which offers a mag-stripe reader) to carefully selected people and businesses.

I am sure Square is working on it, but I wonder how far advanced it is to enter the European market. There is still a lot of room, but the number of competitors is increasing.

Most importantly, I wonder how they are going to adapt the Square reader to the European market. From what I know, chips are much more important in Europe than in the US. People don’t swipe their cards. They prefer to use the chip and their PIN code, because of security concerns. It would be a mistake for Square to neglect that, because iZettle is already shipping chip-card readers.