As a nerd and a VC, I’m very partial towards “enabling technologies” – the underlying technology that makes stuff tick. That’s one reason I’m so interested in semiconductors: much of the technology we see today has its origins in something that a chip or semiconductor product enabled. But, despite the key role they (and other [...]
This is an old tidbit, but nevertheless a good one that has (somehow) never made it to my blog. I’ve mentioned before the private equity consulting world’s penchant for silly project names, but while code names are not rare in the corporate world, more often than not, the names don’t tend to be dull and [...]
I would lose my tech punditry license if I didn’t speculate on the soon-to-be-released iPad. As a result, I’m going to add a few thoughts to my last post on the what we’ve been able to hear so far on Apple’s widely-hated/awaited device. Last time, I gave four reasons why Apple might not choose to [...]
One of the most interesting things about technology strategy is that the lines of competition between different businesses is always blurry. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this, would anyone 10 years ago have predicted that: Google and Apple would be competitors (Android and iPhone) Social networks (a category that didn’t even really exist 10 years [...]
A few weeks back, I wrote a quick overview of Clayton Christensen’s explanation for how new technologies/products can “disrupt” existing products and technologies. In a nutshell, Christensen explains that new “disruptive innovations” succeed not because they win in a head-to-head comparison with existing products (i.e. laptops versus desktops), but because they have three things: Good [...]
This post is almost a week overdue thanks to a hectic work week. In any event, I spent last Monday and Tuesday immersed in the high performance chip world at the 2009 HotChips conference. Now, full disclosure: I am not electrical engineer, nor was I even formally trained in computer science. At best, I can [...]