Moving to more mobile and social games

EA said the deal, which is expected to close by August this year, helps EA drive toward its goal of building a $1 billion digital business. “EA and PopCap are a compelling combination,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello in a statement. “PopCap’s great studio talent and powerful IP add to EA’s momentum.” …

This shows that the traditional gaming world is quickly evolving and give credit to EA for getting out ahead of this curve. Riccitiello has been preaching this transition for years and is now putting the pieces in place to take advantage of the evolution of gaming, which is moving away from big packaged titles into more bite-sized mobile and social games.

Source: gigaom

No more thrones?

Depends, I would consider a 60 to 70 % market share a pretty dominant position.

Both companies will compete fervently for partnerships with major web properties to feature the Like or +1 buttons. And the mobile ecosystem (with Apple now getting in bed with Twitter) will have a large impact. There are so many variables at play that many of the things I’ve said may make no difference at all in the outcome.

With those caveats in place however, I predict that while Google+ will not usurp the throne from facebook per se, it will instead grow into a strong, competitive player and much-needed alternative. Much as Chrome has with IE. Where facebook has the larger, but no-longer dominant share. I predict that when this game is done playing, there will be no more thrones.

Source: Rethrick

It was copper

IN THE decades-long duel for naval supremacy that was fought out between Britain and France at the end of the 18th century, the British fleet had a secret weapon. It was, as secret weapons often are, hugely expensive. But it paid off, giving British ships more speed, manoeuvrability and staying power than their French rivals. It was copper.

By covering the underwater parts of their ships’ hulls with copper plates, which slowly dissolved, releasing toxic copper ions as they did so, the British admirals stopped barnacles, mussels and burrowing clams from taking up residence. In fleets that were otherwise well-matched the result was decisive. France lost. The British Empire became the global superpower of the 19th century. And the world speaks English, not French.

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Key investments I’d never not do

This is what seed stage investor Chris Sacca has to say on current environment:

There are key investments I’d never not do. I’m a key investor in Milk. I’d never not do that deal. If Evan Williams ever started something new, I would write him a blank check. Even after I pared back on my investment the Instagram buys came along and have me an opportunity to invest in that company and that was just a no-brainer…

So I’ve reserved money for really key seed deals. So Turntable is an example of that right now. I’d be freaked out if I didn’t have any money to participate in a turntable offering… But generally I’m not going and doing a broad basket of startups the way I used to.”

Source

It’s like Mechanical Turk

The Facebook Groups feature is designed in a way so that users who do care to do the work, can. Someone invites you, and you’re in the group without you having to take any action. (In fact, you have to do some work to get out of the Group!) Zuckerberg points out that this is how friend requests work as well—there’s always a select few who do all the friending, and the rest of us just follow along, with a much easier “approval.” Facebook’s Groups were designed in a way to overcome the friend list problem. They’ve grown quickly, even if 95% of the userbase can’t be bothered to make their own groups.

And if you think about it, that’s the smart way Facebook has approached many things: build an app platform, and let the developer community do the heavy lifting. Create a translation platform, and let users translate Facebook in every language known to man. Create a Group feature, and let the 5% create the groups for the other 95%. It’s like Mechanical Turk, but we’re not getting paid. (Unless you’re Zynga! ;-) 

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Online: One Country for All

Everything is global online. It seems like most all products are horizontal these days. Still there is an element of local/regional strategy for offerings and licensing but for the most part the business model is global and will scale rapidly. Here’s what Netflix is up to:

Netflix has done an excellent job of attracting subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, but expanding into new markets isn’t easy. With this expansion, it may have benefited by taking a region-wide approach rather than picking one country or another to launch in. It’s likely Netflix was able to secure rights for Hollywood content for much of the Latin American region, rather than bargaining country-to-country. That’s possibly one reason why it’s tackling Latin America and not Western Europe, where the media landscape is much more segregated.

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Mark Zuckerberg, A Product Guy

Let me laser focus on the cutting edge stuff and you go stay on top of the boring management thingy.

By February of 2008, Zuckerberg had concluded that Sandberg would be a perfect fit. “There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization,” he says. “And then there are people who are very analytic or focussed on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.” Zuckerberg offered her the job of chief operating officer

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LinkedIn Elbowing Monster Out

Strategically it looks like a right move. LinkedIn has the potential and it all comes down to long-term commitment and focus from the leadership. But the huge IPO success and the dollars could be a major distraction.

We are surprised and disappointed by LinkedIn’s decision, which we believe not only goes against the interests of LinkedIn users, but also contradicts what LinkedIn claims to stand for – openness and connectivity. Professional networkers are social in nature and LinkedIn has just limited their ability to connect when and where they want. They’ve taken away users’ rights to control how and when they can share their own profile data and personal contacts. We also note that it was within days of Monster’s launch of BeKnown that LinkedIn decided to block the API when there have been other networking-oriented apps using the API for months.

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Nortel Patents and Nash Equilibrium?

So, Microsoft apparently got together with Apple, EMC, Ericsson, RIM and Sony… and coughed up an insane $4.5 billion. It’s kind of brilliant in a nefarious way. With six companies together, they could each spend less than the $900 million initially pitched by Google… and then just all agree not to sue each other, but leave open the option to sue anyone else. And, given just how aggressive these companies have been with patents lately, you can rest assured that “license” demands will be made and there will almost certainly be lawsuits. Progress via the courtroom, apparently.

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Larry Page, A Product Guy

“Larry is incredibly product-focused,” says Gundotra. “He calls me up Sunday nights with detailed feedback.” Gundotra cites an example where Page was complaining about the performance of instant upload. “This is too many clicks,” said the CEO. “Tell me why it automatically doesn’t show up in the share box, tell me why an icon doesn’t show up right there with the pictures in the last eight hours and tell me why it’s not one click.” When Gundotra tried to explain, Page interrupted. “I don’t care,” he said. “I want this thing fixed.”

Inside Google+ — How the Search Giant Plans to Go Social