Daily Pulse: Peace Breaks Out Between Google and Microsoft, You Don't Want to be a Peeple Person, Jack Dorsey's Real Conflict
Make Love, Not War: Microsoft and Google have agreed to drop all 20ish patent suits against each other, ending years of hostility to, instead, “partner both on technology as a whole and on ‘certain patent matters,’" reports Jon Fingas at Engadget. The ugliness began in 2010 when Microsoft, under Steve Ballmer, sued Motorola Mobility. Ballmer is gone as is any hope of stamping out Android in favor of Windows Phone and Satya Nadella's Microsoft is much more “Google” than ever before — not interested in some OS dominance fantasy but “in putting Microsoft's apps and services in front of as many people as possible.”
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Soylent Green is Peeple: Another reputational service is trying to break through, but the pre-launch backlash is so intense, "Peeple" may never live it down. As initially sketched out, anyone using "Yelp for People" would be able to start a rating page on anyone else — no opt-out. What could possibly go wrong? “If you turn what should be an Onion article into an app, you're not a startup, you're a sociopath,” one random Twitter person suggested. Another: “so #peeple is what happens when two popular mean girls from your high school grow up & decide to make a slam book for the entire world?” The founders (two women, though surely not mean girls in high school) are having second thoughts, but the official launch is still scheduled for November.
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#ConflictOfInterest: Jack Dorsey’s time management is a fair concern for both Square and Twitter, should Kara Swisher’s report that he’s about to be named CEO at the latter pan out. But of even greater concern are how his fiduciary roles may collide, Yasmeen Abutaleb notes for Reuters. The greatest risk area is one in which both companies have a major stake: e-commerce. “The clearest conflict would be if Twitter continues to roll out payments and e-commerce features in partnership with Square,” writes Abutaleb. Dorsey has said he’d recuse himself from decisions which involve both companies, which means both companies would lack CEO leadership in key decisions, which is probably why the Twitter board took so long to come to its apparent decision.
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China is so yesterday: India is the new promised land for tech companies in search of customers, Vindo Goel reports for The New York Times. An estimated 168 million India citizens will have smartphones this year, 277 million Internet users overall. “Blocked from China itself or frustrated by the onerous demands of its government, companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as start-ups and investors, see India as the next best thing,” Goel writes. It’s a 1,500-word article, and if you have a dog in this fight, each one is valuable.
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Million Dollar Listing: The median price for a Manhattan apartment reached a record $999,000 in Q3, according to the Corcoran Group — an ironic figure considering pricing trickery that ensures you won’t process that as $1 million. “It seems like a lot of money anyplace else,” Dottie Herman, chief executive of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, told Michelle Higgins of The New York Times. Elliman’s calculated median is far more affordable $998,000.
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Morning Market Watch: Global shares were generally up on the first day of Q4. Wall Street seemed poised to open on the upside.
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What you may have missed — and simply must read:
- How I Ended Up Purchasing & Owning Google.com (That's right ...)
- Among the Unicorns, there are plenty of cockroaches — and that's a good thing, argues Caterina Fake
- App-makers may have figured out a way to suck even more money out of your wallet faster
- How do you get attention in a world full of distractions? Former @Uber product head Mina Radhakrishnan weighs in
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- Missed the last update? Check out 'Twitter to Name Jack Dorsey CEO, An Uber Reprieve in France, Judgement Day for Apple Music'
- Twice a day we share the news professionals need to know. Never miss one again: Download the Pulse app.
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Cover Art: Executive Director, P.A.C.E., Dotti Hatcher (C) joins hundreds of Gap employees to participate in a live art installation in Times Square on September 30, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Gap Inc.)
Substitute Teacher at Kelly Educational Service
9 年Peace! Perhaps these digital giants can offer "peace negotiation" technique to Middle East. We're all in this together!
Building Influential Tech Pre-Sales Leaders | Coaching Psychologist | Favikon #1 UK Meditation & Mindfulness | Salesforce Leader
9 年RE Peeple: I had heard of the negative views of Peeple and for a large proportion of cases I see such an app as being ridiculous. But thinking of it from a practical perspective, is that not really what other social media sites encourage: - LinkedIn: Allows people to 'review us' by offering references. The control is so far in the users hands that it only really allows positive reviews - Facebook: Allows people to basically write what they want about and or to friends with direct references. As above though, it is controlled by those whose profiles it is - Twitter: Exactly the same as the above but much more direct Basically, the point I'm making is that there is a gap in the market for this honest approach. It will be abused though. There will be people scared of others write. There will be others who do not care. Really... people shouldn't care and so long as its constructive, I'd like feedback
Account Manager at Kamm Insurance Group, Inc.
9 年I had to Google "Peeple" as I hadn't heard much about it. What a rude, bullying, mean-spirited concept! How could they possibly stop mean comments and only provide "positivity"? What if a person thinks they deserved a 5 and you rated them a 3 or 4? You can surely come up with a better website than this!
Verizon
9 年I like...