Google – The Age of the Platform

On Android and Frenemies

Updated 4/4/2013

In its quest to kill Apple, has Google inadvertently empowered its rivals–and created new ones?

We know that Google has created a monster in Samsung. Giving away Android has certainly hurt Apple, but what are the other consequences of the move? Now add in Facebook Home. I'm wondering if Larry Page now thinks

Why Most Big Companies Can’t Innovate

There's an interesting post on HBR about why so few large companies routinely innovate. Of course, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are all exceptions. From the piece:

What's striking about Fast Company's 2013 list of the world's 50 most innovative companies is the relative absence of large, established firms. Instead the list is dominated

Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone

From a recent ComputerWorld piece:

Microsoft yesterday confirmed that a retail copy of Office 2013 is permanently tied to the first PC on which it's installed, preventing customers from deleting the suite from one machine they own and installing it on another.

The move is a change from past Office end-user licensing agreements

If All Else Fails, Smear

Microsoft is back at it with its Google smear campaign. Google employees are reading individual emails to serve up better ads.

Or so Ballmer et. al would have you believe.

Bullocks!

To my knowledge, Google employees don't read any Gmail messages. Rather, algorithms serve up ads to support free products. This is the essence of the freemium model.

Santa Clara University Discussion

Yesterday, I spoke to students at Santa Clara University about the Age of the Platform via Google Hangout. Professor Terri Griffith facilitated a great discussion for her MGMT 524 class. We talk about the book, Facebook's new social search tool, The Innovator's Dilemma, and a bevy of other topics.

Click below to watch it.

Should Google Be Scared?

When will social search replace index search in the future--and will Google be prepared for it?

We still don't know the answer to the first question, but we got a glimpse yesterday. By all accounts, Graph Search is in very, very early beta. It's nowhere near ready for prime time. Yet, something tells me that the

On Scroogled and Hypocrisy

Microsoft has taken to "educating" consumers on Google's holiday search practices. Yes, there's even a website devoted to this "public service." Microsoft is trying to bill itself as the voice of the uninformed masses. In this fictional world, Bing provides true, unfettered, pure results.

This is just lame. Microsoft can't beat Google at search so the

The Economist on the “Big Four”

You know that you've written an important book when The Economist basically validates its thesis. There's quite a bit in this piece about platforms.

Maybe someone should write a book about it. Note to self...

Thanks to Mark Cenicola for letting me know about this one.

NMHC Keynote: The Age of the Platform

In this 60-minute talk at NMHC in Dallas, TX, I discuss The Age of the Platform and the platform as a business model. I then take about 15 minutes worth of questions.

Keynote: Management in the Age of the Platform

My 54-minute keynote and Q&A from the Columbus, OH OCLC event in September of this year is now up. I talk about the management philosophies of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. I also discuss the similarities between Instagram and YouTube, Microsoft's purchase of Yammer, and a whole host of other topics.