MG Siegler

Mar 22, 2013 ∞

HBO CEO wants to bundle HBO GO with your internet subscription

This is progress, although MG Siegler is right to doubt whether cable companies, many of whom are also internet service providers, would even consider such a deal.

At least HBO recognizes that the math won’t hold up against a la carte models forever.

Nov 20, 2012 ∞

MG Siegler finally gets a Surface, despite Microsoft's best efforts

MG Siegler finally gets a Surface, despite Microsoft’s best efforts

In hindsight, I now see why Microsoft did not want me to review the Surface. That was probably the right call from a PR perspective. It’s simply not a good product.

Mr. Siegler found the Surface very wanting, but this bit from his intro is the most damning part of his review.

Oct 18, 2012 ∞

Verizon Activated 3.1 Million iPhones In Q3 2012, But Only 651K Were iPhone 5s

MG Siegler, commenting on the TechCrunch post by Chris Velazco, linked above:

In other words, the iPhone 5 was on sale for just nine days before the quarter ended. And it was supply-constrained the whole time.

Mr. Siegler and Mr. Velazco pointed out the nine-day sales window the iPhone 5 had before these quarterly numbers were announced, but neither came right out and said what I find to be the most impressive expression of it:

Verizon activated over 72,000 iPhone 5s per day during the nine days ending the quarter.

Oct 5, 2012 ∞

HP CEO Meg Whitman calls it like it is: bad

Meg Whitman, as quoted by Sean Gallagher at Ars Technica:

We aren’t as effective internally as we should be because of poor systems. We are not as competitive as we need to be in how we go to market because of our IT systems. We haven’t been using a compelling customer management or CRM system for years.

She has received some harsh criticism from industry watchers like John Gruber and MG Siegler for pushing back HP’s expected mobile phone launch to 2014 at the earliest.

That criticism is justified, especially given HP’s epic Palm/webOS fail.

But this is the most encouraging thing I’ve seen from HP in years: honest self-aware, long-term leadership commitment.

I say well done, Ms. Whitman. Now, call the caterer and lock some engineers in a room for the next year.

Sep 12, 2012 ∞

"The Math"

“The Math”

Once again, MG Siegler nails it on HBO’s missed opportunity for direct-subscription innovation.

Most companies are so desperate to maintain anything close to an upward slant in revenue year-over-year that they never even know opportunities like this one exist.

The worst part of this situation, to me, is the fact that HBO is being repeatedly told about this opportunity and actively ignoring it merely because it doesn’t make short-term business sense.

Sep 4, 2012 ∞

Brevity

MG Siegler posted yesterday about his desire to write with more concision. His point is a good one: writing concisely suggests, when you think about it, a far better grasp of a topic than does the need to write 1,000 words about it.

It’s a lesson I learned from a couple of professors in law school (while others tried to teach almost the opposite):

Get in, make your point, and get out.

Jul 26, 2012 ∞

Apple TV: The Soon-To-Be #1 Gaming Console?

MG Siegler points out that, despite Apple CEO Tim Cook’s quiet mention of Apple TV, the little box Steve Jobs once called Apple’s hobby has sold more units than the best-selling Xbox 360 gaming console.

Not bad for a hobby.

Jul 19, 2012 ∞

No Comment

I have turned off comments here at Constant & Endless. I have had only one comment since I started writing here, from Mr. Scott Carpenter. He left a good link, and I certainly don’t want to alienate him or anyone else who wants to tell me something in response to what I’ve written.

But I trust that Scott and anyone else reading this will find it easy to reply to my posts using the avenues listed on my Contact page, or described in the posts by others I have linked to later in this piece.

I won’t turn off comments at Fiction By Joe Ross (where, it turns out, Scott has also contributed valuable comments) because it’s good to have proposed revisions or critiques right there on the page. This site, however, is a different beast. I could write a long post about why I think this is the right move for most if not all personal small (from one to a few authors) commentary blogs, but the decision is already well-defended by people with bigger audiences (for now…muhahaha) than I.

iOS and Mac OS X developer Matt Gemmell wrote on his popular blog in November 2011 what I consider a bullet-proof reasoning for keeping comments out of personal blogs. He also has great suggestions for different (and, in his opinion and mine, better) ways to respond to something someone has written on their blog. If you don’t understand why I turned off comments here, read his initial post and his follow-up.

MG Sielger, a general partner at CrunchFund, a columnist at TechCrunch, and purveyor of parislemon and Massive Greatness, chimed in on Gemmell’s posts with some thoughts of his own. If you still want some more explanation after reading Gemmell’s posts, read Siegler’s initial post and his follow-up.

So, if you want to reply to this post, have a look at my Contact page or write a blog post of your own.