Articles
December 4, 2009
# The Merger: Comcast and NBC
On Thursday, Comcast, the largest cable company in America, announced a deal to take control of NBC Universal, and the announcement redrew the map of the media industry. The company that delivers television into tens of millions of homes was buying the company that makes the television, and the combination was the biggest bet yet on the future of the screen. The deal was the year's biggest media story, and the bigness was the point. The deal is the December 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: when the pipes and the content come together, the industry changes shape.
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November 12, 2009
# The Ad Network: Google Buys AdMob
On Tuesday, Google announced it would buy AdMob, the largest mobile advertising company, for seven hundred fifty million dollars in stock, and the deal was the loudest signal yet of where the money was moving. The phone was becoming the most important screen in the world, and the advertising was following the eyes. The deal came days after Apple bought its own mobile ad company, and the two purchases were the declaration of war. The deal is the November 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the future belongs to whoever owns the pipes of the next platform.
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October 22, 2009
# The Comeback: Windows 7
On Thursday, Microsoft released Windows 7 to the world, and the release was the company's most important apology in decades. The operating system was the successor to Windows Vista, the version that had been mocked, resisted, and avoided, and the successor was built to make the world forget. The company that had stumbled was asking for a second chance, and the second chance was the launch. The release is the October 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: in technology, the comeback is not about the technology alone, the comeback is about trust.
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September 21, 2009
# The Services: Dell Buys Perot Systems
There is an acquisition announced on Monday, and the acquisition is the services: the $3.9 billion that Dell promised for Perot Systems, the $30 per share in cash, the premium of roughly 68 percent. The acquisition is the confession: the personal computer that has become a commodity, the hardware that cannot carry the margins, the services that must come next. The questions began on Monday: whether the price was too high, whether the services would lift the margins. The acquisition is the September 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the hardware that is fading, the services that are rising, the chain that Dell intends to climb.
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August 11, 2009
# The Feed: Facebook Buys FriendFeed
There is a deal announced this week, and the deal is the feed: the Facebook agreement to acquire FriendFeed, the real time sharing service, on Monday. The deal is the surprise: the social network that bought the team from Google, the undisclosed price, reported near fifty million dollars. The questions began that day: what would happen to FriendFeed, what Facebook had actually bought. The Feed is the August 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the real time web that became the prize.
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July 10, 2009
# The OS: Google Goes Chrome
There is an operating system that arrived this week, and the operating system is the challenge: the Chrome OS that Google announced on Tuesday, the platform that takes on Windows itself. The announcement came on the official blog, the post signed by two engineers, the news that spread through the week: the headlines, the analysis, the debate about what Google is building. The logic is simple: the web is the platform, the browser is the window, and the company that lives online must own the floor beneath the window. The operating system is the July 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the search company that built a browser last year now wants to replace the machine under it.
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June 8, 2009
# The Speed: Apple's iPhone 3GS
On Monday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS at its developers conference in San Francisco, and the announcement was the quietest kind of revolution. The new phone looked exactly like the old one, and the sameness was the strategy: the S stood for speed, the company said, and the speed was the upgrade. The company was selling the same dream faster, and the faster was the future. The reveal is the June 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: in the middle of the worst economy in decades, the company that kept making things people wanted kept winning.
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May 28, 2009
# The Challenger: Microsoft Unveils Bing
On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled Bing, its new search engine, at a conference in San Diego, and the company insisted that the name was not the point. The point, the executives said, was that Bing was not a search engine at all but a decision engine, a tool built to help people decide, not just to find. The company had spent years and billions chasing the leader, and the chase had produced the challenger. The reveal is the May 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: when the number two spends a decade chasing the number one, the chase itself becomes the story.
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April 20, 2009
# The Rebirth: IBM Buys Sun
On Monday, IBM announced it would buy Sun Microsystems for about seven and a half billion dollars, and the news felt like a funeral and a resurrection at the same time. The company that had defined the internet boom, the company of Java and the network is the computer, was being acquired for a fraction of its former glory. The price was the verdict on the boom, and the verdict was the story of the year. The deal is the April 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: in a crisis, the giants of the previous era become the bargains of the next one.
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March 9, 2009
# The Bottom: Markets Turn After Seventeen Months
On Monday the market closed at 676.53, the lowest close of the crisis, after seventeen months of decline. The Standard and Poor's 500 has fallen 56.5 percent from the October 2007 peak, and the great technology names have lost half to two thirds of their value. The question hanging over the market is whether the selling is finished. The question is the March 2009 story, and the story is the lesson: the bottom is the price of the fear, and the fear is the sale.
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