2014 May 29

TrueCrypt, We Hardly Knew Ye

TrueCrypt is gone. For a good number of years, TrueCrypt was the de facto cross-platform volume/file encryption standard. Sure, each platform (Windows, Mac) eventually developed their own encrypted volume option, but it largely depended on trusting the encryption and security of the platform developer. As anyone steeped in the world of encryption and security knows, and Bruce Schneier did enormous amounts to popularize, the only encryption you can trust is open source.

2014 May 28

Is Anti-Virus Alive or Dead?

Is Anti-Virus Alive or Dead? That depends on who you ask. Certainly anti-virus makers continue to make plenty of money. Symantec, the largest anti-virus maker, earned $2,109 MM in consumer revenue, with nearly 50% operating margin in that segment. $1BN in profit is valuable in anyone's book. So why is Symantec, of everyone, trashing anti-virus? In a recent WSJ article, Symantec's SVP for Information Security said, "anti-virus is dead... we don't think of antivirus as a moneymaker in any way.

2014 May 20

Bridging the Gap

Yesterday, I discussed how digital cameras, and especially those embedded in ubiquitous everyday devices like iPhone or Android, are slowly getting good enough to constitute a real threat to high-end camera makers (the consumer maker market has already been decimated), with the Bentley commercial as exhibit A. This morning, upon opening Facebook, I saw the first "Suggested Post" that I actually opened: an ad for the "Optrix PhotoProX". The PhotoProX, or PPX, is a package of high-quality add-on lenses for the iPhone that provide macro, fisheye, low-profile and telephoto, as well as a drop-proof and water-proof case that, of course, works with the lenses.

2014 May 19

Woe Betide High-End Camera Makers

Clayton Christensen, father of innovation theory, has described disruption as the result of an innovative product or service that is just good enough for an underserved or unserved market. The incumbents, with a business model and profit margins that prefer to pull out of that dragging end of the market anyways, pull back, focusing on ever higher end customers and margins. Over time, the "just good enough" product gets better and better, pushing the incumbents into higher margins in smaller markets, until there is nothing left and they keel over.

2014 May 16

Will 3D Printed Makeup Work?

Last week, I walked into Selfridges, the large department store on Oxford St in London. While I was after the Food Hall on the ground floor (conveniently, it has a kosher food stand) and the Starbucks on the 4th (whose WiFi did not work), in order to get through to them I needed to walk the primary sales area by the main entrance: cosmetics. Stores are very very careful in allocating floor space.

2014 May 14

It's Only An Advantage If Your Customer Benefits

I recently had a conversation with the CEO of a company going through significant change. We discussed certain alternatives - some dramatic - to their business model. During our conversation, we focused on what it is that would make this company so much better, rather than "just another one." He pointed out certain key operational and back-office processes we could implement - many of which were already underway - that would make the newer competitor faster, nimbler, more modern.

2014 May 13

Barnes & Noble or Nails & Hammer?

There is an old saying that when the tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In modern terms, if the tool you have is a bookstore, everything looks like it needs more books. Barnes & Noble has been struggling for some time, and has even put itself on the block for sale. It has been hurt by a potent combination of: reduced book sales overall; shift to online purchases (Amazon started out selling just books); failure of its e-Book platform, the Nook.

2014 May 9

Is It That Hard to Communicate?

Readers of these columns know that I have low tolerance for 2 things: sheer stupidity in business and condescension towards your customers. It is for that reason that, despite the shortcomings of most airlines, I stopped flying El Al with any regularity four years ago, and have rarely looked back. These past two weeks, I had yet two more lessons in why I made that decision. The Minor A week ago, I was on El Al's flight from Rome to Tel Aviv.

2014 May 6

Did Amazon Indirectly Bring Down Target?

Back in 2001, e-commerce was a really big word; in 2014 it is really big money. The problem in 2001 was, how were all of these retailers going to get online? Few of them had any real expertise in selling online. Both the market and the technology were new and challenging, yet none could afford to ignore it, or even wait too long. Target appeared to have the fast and easy solution.

2014 May 5

Watch Your Data Security, It's A Target

A decade ago, it would have been hard to imagine. In 2014, it is hard to imagine not. A CEO, serving in his post for a successful 6 years and as a company loyalist for 35 years, has been forced out due to a data security breach. At the same time, data security analysts have become kingmakers and kingbreakers. Gregg Steinhafel, CEO of Target, who oversaw a 14% increase in revenue in the last 5 years and a 17% increase in profit, has been forced out because of the massive data breach that occurred a few months back.