Tech Bytes Week of Jul 18
Tech News to Actionable Insights for Smart Business leaders
📰 Recent Top Tech News
Microsoft launches Windows 365, your PC on the cloud
Xiaomi takes over Apple as global #2 mobile phone vendor
Netflix to launch Gaming by 2022
The Takeaways
Microsoft launched Windows 365, an offering for businesses where Windows Operating System runs on a cloud server and can be interacted with on any device. The subscription-based services will start in August.
🔎 Our Take
As computing gets more and more powerful, and internet speeds get faster, we are getting to a point where your personal computer (with the operating system and all apps running on it) could be running on a cloud server and stream to you like a Netflix movie. Microsoft is building on its cloud capabilities and its own Windows OS development to offer this as a logical next step.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Over time it will become normal for your entire workflow to follow you, and instantly accessible no matter which device you are on. For now, ensure that you are using cloud syncing tools (such as OneDrive Sync or Google Drive sync) to ensure your data is never dependently on 1 laptop or hard disk.
2. Xiaomi, recently took over Apple for the #2 market share by shipments, currently at 17%, in the recent quarter. Only Samsung is ahead at #1, and has a 19% market share by shipments.
🔎 Our Take
While most of the media focus on Xiaomi overtaking Apple, Apple has never been about getting market share aggressively. Instead, Apple uses extreme economies of scale (the same body, same design, same hardware for years) to keep profits high. Xiaomi, on the other hand, has nearly every permutation of product category from ad subsidised ultra-cheap versions to cutting edge flagship models. Xiaomi also appears to have better capitalised on the void left by Huawei, which is practically landlocked to China now.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Figure out your brand’s positioning, and ensure that your products (and pricing strategy) follow it. Lower price points can give bigger volume (and more revenue, like Samsung and Xiaomi), while higher prices can give higher profits (for less revenue, like Apple)
3. Netflix now has a dedicated Gaming division, after recently hiring a former EA Games and Zynga executive.
🔎 Our Take
Netflix has a large collection of unique stories in movie and TV formats and has a lot of data on what audiences are enjoying. All major movie franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc have had successful gaming releases, offering fans new experiences within the established worlds, and extracting even more value from the stories. Netflix could be following Apple Arcade-style ‘small quantity, but higher quality, making use of their leadership in streaming direct to homes.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Taking your company stories across to a new media offers a new way for your customers to engage with you. Think about logical extensions of your product experiences, perhaps an app, a podcast, a book, or something else altogether.
Jargon Buster
Deepfake - these are fake videos created to impersonate someone, by overlaying the face of the victim on top of another video. These are called Deep fakes because of the ‘Deep learning’ process of matching learning used to adapt all angles of the victim’s face onto the target base video, to create a very realistic fake.
Dear QTBees,
Framing how you see things is important. When I see something I come across I don't know, I mentally (or even verbally) note “TIL” - meaning’ Today I Learnt’.
In this way, it’s not the usual “I didn’t know that” - a negative take looking into the paste. When you say “TIL”, you’re indicating a more forward-looking sense of accomplishment.
So keep an out for any good TIL’s. And share them with others to give them a TIL too.
Stay Awesome!
Vishal
Founder & Director
Quantana
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