I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of business, especially technology, with liberal arts such as literature and philosophy. Despite the emergence – and necessity – of STEM studies, it is clear that the study of liberal arts informs everything from product design to supply chain management to marketing. Steve Jobs phrased the dynamic particularly well at the 2011 iPad 2 Introduction: There … Continue reading The Necessity of Liberal Arts
Microsoft is acquiring the phone part of Nokia for a cool $7.2 Billion. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is staying on board, which, I think will fuel rumors that he was a corporate trojan horse – leaving Microsoft for Nokia, only to oversee the latter’s sale to his former employer – and that he is in the running to fill Ballmer’s shoes. To that end, if will be very interesting to see if, in fact, Elop does get the promotion, because it would be indicative of Microsoft’s pivot from a PC and Office-based company to a mobile-oriented one. Continue reading “Microkia”
Here’s our first episode of the Bondcast, where, true to our mission, we “make self-aggrandizing statements on things that we’re wholly unqualified to make statements about.” A brief breakdown of the ‘cast goes as follows:
I recently rediscovered Apple’s 2008 commercial for the original Macbook Air, and was surprised to find that it packed the same visual, emotional appeal that it did five years ago – even in the post-PC, iPad-centric era.
Some of you may recall our brief piece several weeks ago, where we wondered whether Microsoft is guerilla marketing the Surface. Thanks to Apple Insider, we now know that it is. Just thought we’d say “toldja so.” Continue reading Microsoft is Guerilla Marketing the Surface
I think it’d be a cool extension of the whole crosshatching theme. Just saying. Continue reading Microsoft Should Totally Do a Hashtag-Windows Campaign
I walked past this rather corporate graffiti yesterday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Is Microsoft taking a Banksy-esque approach to on-the-street advertising? Or is someone just putting Windows on the wall? Would love your thoughts. Continue reading Is Microsoft Guerilla Marketing the Surface?
For years, Microsoft was regarded as the elephant in the computer room. It was big, it was boring, and it was impossible to go one conversation without begrudgingly mentioning the computer behemoth. But now, with the meteoric rise of Apple, things look a little different – and possibly more favorable, for the world’s largest software company and its decisive push into hardware.
For nearly ten years, Apple has had a lock on hardware, creating gorgeous aluminum-and-round-edged devices that impressed techies and average users alike. Apple excelled at crafting dependable software that worked with – and only with – their devices. And in quick succession, Cupertino pushed out the iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad – each one not so much inventing a field as re-imagining it, tying it into Apple’s expanding, if heavily curated, ecosystem of music, TV, movies and apps.
Silicon Spatula 