Disney Plus’ Hamilton delivery exceeds hype
According to the staff at CNET, the Hamilton on-screen experience exceeded hype and delivered an exceptional at-home experience – even better than expected. Mobile downloads of the Disney + app jumped 72% over the Hamilton debut weekend.
dis-rup-shun: Disney remains the king of entertainment, following the debut of Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian with Hamilton. Impressively, the company has made its late-to-the-streaming-party service a “must have.” One can only imagine what will be the next must see small screen event?
The first 5G PC
Lenovo’s Flex is the first laptop with onboard 5G, making it capable of connecting in most any urban setting without finding the nearest Starbucks hotspot. No need for WiFi and no need for tethering to the smartphone, as the computer is, essentially, a built in smartphone. Tested in NYC, download speeds ranged from 170Mbps and 200Mbps compared to home broadband speeds around 115Mbps to 140Mbps, while AT&T iPhones show speeds of 49Mbps. CNET
dis-rup-shun: A 5G laptop is great for the mobile worker but just like the 4G iPad, having a mobile device with a dedicated connection requires a monthly wireless data fee, adding to the cost. It is more likely that we will own 5G smartphones that will offer super fast hot spots to our mobile devices — computers and tablets. For those with a fat budget, a 5G laptop will be a dream in airports, hotels, coffee shops and while accessing the internet from a client’s secure premise. This, of course, assumes we will again be traveling in the near future.
Uber swallows Postmates in scramble to keep business growing
Uber’s ride sharing business (unprofitable before Covid-19) is down 80%. The company’s attempt to purchase Grubhub was thwarted for antitrust concerns, but smaller food delivery company Postmates is expected to gain SEC approval. The food delivery business is up sharply during shelter-in-place, and Uber Eats needs to beef up its market share to compete with Grubhub and DoorDash, and to stem the losses from its ride sharing business. TheVerge
dis-rup-shun: Winston Churchill said, “Don’t waste a good crisis.” Uber has an opportunity to right-size its ride sharing business, lowering overhead and waiting for post-Covid-19 ride sharing to rebound, potentially making this line of business profitable. In the meantime, Uber needs to run fast to scale up its food delivery business to make up losses in the core ride sharing business. The next year will be pivotal for Uber.
Magic Leap taps top Microsoft exec to lead it out of woods
Peggy Johnson, one of Nadella’s top stars at Microsoft, has agreed to become CEO of troubled augmented reality company, Magic Leap. The well-funded (Alphabet and others invested $3 billion) start-up launched an impressive but expensive product in 2018, and quickly found that appeal for the $2000 system was low. The company has laid out a significant portion of its team and its founding CEO has resigned. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: Can lots of investment and one of the best corporate leaders in the country create an AR product that delights its target market (be it commercial or consumer buyers)? AR is cool, but so far it is a nice-to-have technology unless you are a fighter pilot. Stay tuned for an interesting challenge and hopefully a successful outcome.