Episode 44 – Apple March 2016 Quarter Earnings

For the next few weeks, we’re going to be messing with our usual format as Aaron will be traveling. This week, the only topic was Apple’s earnings for the March quarter. The first twenty minutes or so are mostly Aaron, who had just a brief window before heading to the airport, and the second twenty minutes are just Jan sharing his take on the earnings report and riffing off his two posts on the blog this week. Aaron also explains at the beginning why he’s heading off to Ghana for two and a half weeks.

Over the next couple of weeks, while Aaron is away, Jan will be having conversations with guests instead, so the format will be different from usual, but we’ll still have an episode for you each week.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson@aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 43 – EU Android Antitrust Action, Tech Earnings Roundup

Our three News Roundup topics this week were:

  • China’s blocking of two Apple content services
  • Apple’s MacBook update
  • Uber’s settlement with drivers.

Our Question of the Week is “What should we make of the European Union’s antitrust action against Google?” We discuss the EU’s process for investigation these allegations, the specifics of the allegations against Google, and whether they hold water. We also talk about the parallels and differences with regard to the EU’s case against Microsoft roughly 15 years ago. And we talk about the likely outcomes of this case.

Our third topic is a review of tech earnings over the past week, focusing particularly on Alphabet, Intel, Microsoft, and Netflix. We discuss the common thread of mobile disruption overhanging several of the results, as well as Netflix’s coming price increase and its international expansion.

As ever, we wrapped up with a Weekly Pick, this week a gardening tool recommendation from Aaron.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson@aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • News Roundup topics:
  • Jan’s blog post about the EU’s Android Mistake, which also has links to the three relevant documents from the EU itself
  • Jan’s follow-up post focused on the relevant market definition
  • Aaron’s Weekly Pick this week was a weeding tool made by Fiskars – you can buy it on Amazon here.

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 42 – Evaluating Corporate VC, Facebook F8

Our News Roundup this week featured the following topics:

  • Amazon’s new Kindle Oasis
  • KGI Securities’ downbeat Apple Watch forecast for 2016
  • Hands on with the iPad Pro.

Our Question of the Week is: “What is corporate venture capital and is it worth doing?” Aaron talks us through this subset of the world of VC, where corporations such as Google and Intel engage in venture funding of startups, based on research by David Benson (Aaron’s brother in law) and others. We discuss  CVC’s reputation for being “dumb money”, what it’s intended to achieve, the risks associated with it, and ultimately whether it’s worthwhile or not for the companies that do it.

Our third topic is Facebook’s F8 developer conference and the major announcements made there, including a major new focus on chat bots in Facebook Messenger, a Live Video API, a 360 degree camera rig, and other announcements. We talk about the potential for bots in general and our experience with the first bots to be released on the platform and also about Facebook’s broad ambitions to connect the world.

As ever, we wrapped up with a Weekly Pick, this week an app recommendation from Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.


We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Episode 41 – Apple News for Publishers, Tesla Model 3

Our News Roundup this week covered the following topics:

  • Conflicting reports on early iPhone SE sales
  • Samsung’s decent preliminary Q1 financials
  • Twitter’s deal for NFL rights.

Our Question of the Week is “What is Apple News like for a small publisher?” and focuses on our experience publishing to Apple News over the last several weeks. We talk through the reasons why Apple launched Apple News, the different ways publishers can get content onto Apple News, and the pros and cons of each. We also talk about how Apple needs to evolve Apple News to remain competitive against other options like Facebook Instant Articles, Google’s AMP project, and platforms like Medium.

Our third topic this week was Tesla’s Model 3 announcement and the pre-order process that accompanied it. We talk about the significance of those preorders, the convergence of cars and tech and Tesla’s role in that, and the interesting questions Tesla raises about how car design could change in a world without gasoline-powered engines. As usual, we wrap up with a Weekly Pick, this week one from Aaron.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.


We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.