Amazon files pharmacy trademarks
Amazon has filed a series of pharmacy related trademarks both in the U.S. and in several countries, in a move believed to be signaling the company’s expansion of its PillPack pharmacy acquisition in both the U.S. and overseas markets. Amazon has registered the name “Amazon Pharmacy,” a different brand from PillPack. The Seattle company has encountered serious resistance from the established players after its previous expansion efforts. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: Is Amazon’s push into pharmaceuticals a net positive? Chances are, Amazon will make receiving prescriptions far easier, providing fast, free delivery, and making it easy to purchase related supplies (bandages, thermometers, vitamin supplements) and its vertical integration suggests that it could help address the skyrocketing costs of drugs and cut much fat out of the established pharmaceutical pipeline. Perhaps an Amazon Prime “Pharmacy” membership would provide low drug prices, plus streaming TV and next day delivery of stuff. How would state attorney generals and our federal government deal with a giant that appears to be restricting online competition, aggressively using consumer data, rocking the logistics establishment, and rocking the pharma industry, among many other things?
How to hold on to a 500 million unit market
Samsung, the former king of smartphones in India, the world’s second largest smartphone market, has lost its lead to Chinese Xiaomi. The company now plans to open a $500 million display plant outside of New Delhi. The plant will enable Samsung to take advantage of tax credits in the 500 million unit market. TechCrunch
dis-rup-shun: Samsung has been unseated by a large Chinese handset maker, and is being threatened by another, called Realme. The Chinese companies have demonstrated that they can produce a device liked by millions for lower costs, and this will be a test of Samsung’s ability to compete at the low to middle end of the smartphone market. Apple continues to demonstrate that the handset is a platform for a host of services, starting with apps and including music, news, video, advertisements and games. Losing this position in a nascent market such as India will be a game changer that could clip Samsung’s growth for a decade or more. Watch the company fight viciously to regain and hold its lead against an onslaught of inexpensive Chinese phones.
An answer to the problem of IOT security
IOT devices are growing in number as we embrace connected living. Data security standards, however, are severely lacking, making smart home and IOT products particularly vulnerable (recall the annual baby monitoring hacking gate?). Swiss cryptography firm Teserakt is proposing an open source, end to end encryption standard to secure any and all participating IOT devices, and, being open source, means that the standard can be pounded on, improved and modified by the public, providing person-years of updates and innovation. Wired
dis-rup-shun: An open source encryption standard would raise the bar for all IOT players, and would, hopefully, become a required minimum feature for any connected device, making the world a better place, and avoiding the sensationalism associated with the annual hacking, on national news, of a nanny cam. The connected home industry is caught between developing some truly innovative and useful products, and being rejected for lack of security by the same people who post their vacation photos on Facebook, indirectly advertising the vacancy of their homes.
Netflix’s competition and stock price rise
Netflix reported numbers that confirm that rising competition is slowing subscriber growth in North America. The company, however, knew that was coming and has been working hard to expand in other regions. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: How fast can Netflix run across the globe to convert other markets to be cord cutters? The problem with other markets is that after the big economies are converted, the disposable income available for Netflix subscriptions gets small. Economies such as India offer enormous scale to help offset the lower subscription fees, but can Netflix corral enough unique local content to beat the regional incumbents, who should have taken a lesson from the U.S. market and already have plans to launch their own streaming service? Watch Netflix get purchased by a large media company that is behind in the market — in the next three years.