techcrunch

Brother vs. brother: iPhone 6 winning, but only because of supply

I first prognosticated that the iPhone 6 Plus would outsell the iPhone 6. A week later, I wrote that the forecast was likely going to be wrong.

A report from Consumer Intelligence Partners suggests that for every one iPhone 6 Plus, Apple is selling three times the number of iPhone 6s. It’s unclear whether that’s due to demand, but it’s at least due to supply.

As I wrote before:

The Wall Street Journal reported an unnamed source as saying:

We have been churning out 140,000 iPhone 6 Plus and 400,000 iPhone 6 every day, the highest daily output ever, but the volume is still not enough to meet the preorders.

Foxconn is making nearly 3x many more iPhone 6s than iPhone 6 Pluses, everyday. Given that, it’ll be awfully hard for the iPhone 6 Plus to outsell the iPhone 6.

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Google has more value than Microsoft, but Microsoft is more valuable than Google

There’s a story on TechCrunch today on how Microsoft’s market value exceeded Google’s market value. I don’t know if this is news, but I suppose it’s interesting to check in from time to time on how the public markets perceive the two tech giants.

What caught my eye were two comments from those claiming to be from two prestigious venture capital firms: Accel Partners and Silver Lake Partners.

Here’s an angry one from Han Lee, Accel Partners:

Dear writer, do you really not know the difference between market cap and enterprise value? Pathetic.

From Jeff Schnabel, Operating Executive at Silver Lake Partners:

Total enterprise value is a more accurate measure of a company’s value (market cap is only a piece of the puzzle – the value of the company’s publicly traded equity).

If you look at TEV, Google is still worth more than Microsoft ($306.4B vs. $290.4B)

What is Enterprise Value and how’s it different to Market Value you may ask? Finance people love to confuse lay people to make themselves look smarter, so let’s peel away the jargon.

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The best iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus reviews

Reviews are in from all over the web as Apple launches the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus today. The verdict? The best iPhone yet. Instead of yet another meta review about the new iPhone, which are everywhere already, let’s do something more fun: review the reviewers.

I tend to like two types of reviews: ones that focus on the phone’s impact on the reviewer’s personal life, and others that go in-depth and test everything to the nth degree. Rarely can a review do both. I don’t like reviews that lack analysis and are glorified spec sheets. Or reviews that couch everything, ready to duck criticism — reviewers should have a strong point of view. With so many publications out there today covering gadgets, it’s essential that reviews entertain while they educate. Videos help too.

Here are my top 5 favorite, pre-launch reviews for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

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Apple insider thinks Apple Watch Edition will cost $5,000

TechCrunch reported earlier that the Apple Watch’s Edition — made of 18K solid gold — might cost up to $1,200. That sounds reasonable.

Then respected Apple insider John Gruber of Daring Fireball predicted the following prices:

  • Sport (aluminum/glass): $350
  • Standard (stainless steel/sapphire): $1,000
  • Edition (18-karat gold/sapphire): $5,000

In fact, he thinks there’s a decent chance the Edition edition will retail for $10,000!

That’s just…frikkin crazy. Here’s why: 1) it doesn’t matter how much gold there is, people will view Apple Watch as a piece of electronics and not as haute horlogerie; 2) electronics depreciate fast; 3) it’s not even a good looking watch.

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One day computers will decide whether you live or die

Technology needs to be more like anti-lock brake systems in cars, which do exactly what we need them to do, when we need them, without us realizing they are even present…We don’t have to mess with it. We just say here’s what we want. When technology reaches that level of invisibility in our lives, that’s our ultimate goal. It vanishes into our lives. It says: ‘you don’t have to do the work, I’ll do the work.’

That was Google X leader Dr. Astro Teller speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt about that “wonderful technology moment” when artificial intelligence makes decisions for us invisibly in the background. Google X is the moonshot division in Google pioneering driver-less cars, which makes Teller’s comment especially interesting.

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Vurb wins TC Disrupt NY, yet their mobile app will probably fail

The winner of this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt New York is Vurb. First, please watch the start-up’s finalist pitch. Done? Impressed?

I can see Vurb working on the web, though I’d be more comfortable saying that if I can try the service first. Unfortunately, Vurb is still in closed beta.

Like Vurb, feecha is an aggregator, so there are insights I can share. They will inevitably face some of the same problems we faced.

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Why Stanford > Harvard

So TechCrunch Disrupt is going on right now in New York. One of the six finalists of the event’s competition is Mink, founded by a Harvard Business School graduate. I love her idea — DIY cosmetics from a printer — and if I had money to invest, I’d write her a cheque.

But. She had an epic fail in her presentation that would have been embarrassing for any person, much less a Harvard Business School alumnus.

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