Blog
Fast Food Comparables
with Yahoo Finance and Google Sheet…
And fast food companies can be such profitable
Happy Lunar New Year! 新春快乐！
Happy Lunar New Year! 新春快乐！
Apple’s Service Bundle
Apple may know well before the investors that their flagship iPhone would face a slowdown and it needs new growth strategies.
[Read more on iPhone’s sluggish sales and challenges & its recent pricing strategy]
Apple has talked about its services for a while and it’s not limited to Apple Care or Genius Bar (“Physical Services”), but more about Distribution Services.
System/Platform Level
I guess the most obvious change happened in 2016 when a new revenue sharing scheme was introduced by Apple – from a 30% cut to a 15%-cut-after-first-year. And other features were included such as “subscription group“… marching into subscription-based services revenue model.
Apple News
Available in Australia, UK, and US, it’s currently a curated display place for publisher subscriptions. It could be developed into a Toutiao-like app for personalization and could be complimentary with Apple’s Stock app.
And it won’t be surprised to me that in the future you can trade stocks through this app – probably by upgrading to a premium version with other complementary benefits (like news/reports).
Apple Music
Anyway, music is where Apple found its turnaround with iTunes and iPod. Plus, it is the most explored region with established companies and new entrants.
Spotify Premium – $9.99 / month
YouTube Music – $9.99/month
Pandora Plus – $4.99/month & Premium – $9.99/month
Apple TV & Streaming Channel
Apple has long reported to be interested in contents distribution especially video. And rumors about an acquisition of Netflix didn’t come from nowhere.
A New York Times report back in March 2018.
A CNBC report in October 2018 – Apple plans to give away original content for free to device owners as part of new digital TV strategy.
Apple has cash and ability for original contents (and can acquire/build a studio). Apple has educated customer base (thanks for Netflix). Apple has introduced Clip for iOS short videos (think about Snapchat and Douyin, plus its ability in music and messaging). Apple has AppleTV and AirPlay.
There are just too many things to do in this space, broadly speaking.
And the competition is fierce. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Youtube TV, Facebook/Instagram TV, Disney/Hulu, AT&T/HBO…
And the AR/VR future…
Let’s see.
Gaming
It might be something new. But Apple could introduce a monthly plan to play most iOS games freely (with some exceptions maybe). Just like what Tencent did with WeChat Read – subscriptions that can read all books on its app.
Let’s see what Steam will do… Steam has subscription-based products, although not a bundle.
A master bundle plan for Apple users in the future? Possible.
「Video of the Week」Singapore, Tech-focused Sustainable City
「Podcast of the Week」Dog and Human Oncology Connection
Veterinary oncology can be very informative and unveil some otherwise unseen connections and undiscovered research path.
For one thing, pets are exposed to the similar environment as their human owners.
Also their immune systems are better a research/drug development target than lab mice.
And eventually, we will need cancer drugs for pets. They could be developed along with drugs for humans.
And cancer is more than a genetic mutation. It is a systematic disease and needs a comprehensive context study.
India E-commerce Chaos and Complexity
The New E-commerce Regulation in India – Be a participant or an organizer, not both
Starting from February 1, 2019, Amazon India and Flipkart by Walmart, among others, are not allowed to hold inventory and sell to customers.
The rules now bar any entity in which an e-commerce firm or its group companies have a stake from selling on their online platform. This is a problem for Amazon, which had been picking up stakes in offline Indian retailers to boost its market share. (Reuters)
The Regulation In Four Dimensions
eCommerce in India can be broadly categorized as:
- domestic and cross-border
- B2B and B2C
- marketplace and inventory based
- single brand and multi brand
B2B: 100 percent FDI is allowed in companies engaged in B2B eCommerce, e.g. Walmart and Alibaba can operate a cash & carry (B2B) business.
B2C Marketplace: 100 percent FDI is allowed in the online retail of multi-brand goods and services B2C under the marketplace model, e.g. Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal. Any eCommerce entity providing a marketplace cannot exercise ownership over the inventory and is not permitted to sell more than 25 percent of total sales through its marketplace from one vendor to their group companies. There are also conditions restricting to offer discounts by marketplace.
B2C Inventory-Based: FDI is not allowed in inventory-based model of eCommerce.
Single Brand: A single brand retail trading entity operating through brick and mortar stores is permitted to undertake retail trading through eCommerce subject to local sourcing requirements. Food retail: 100 percent FDI is allowed for trading (including eCommerce) of food products manufactured or procured in India.
Multi-Brand Retail: No FDI is allowed in companies which engage in multi-brand retail trading by means of eCommerce.
Source: https://www.export.gov/article?id=India-e-Commerce
Other Conditions
- E-commerce marketplace may provide support services to sellers in respect of warehousing, logistics, order fulfillment, call centre, payment collection and other services.
- An e-commerce entity will not permit more than 25% of the sales value on financial year basis affected through its marketplace from one vendor or their group companies.
- In marketplace model, any warrantee/ guarantee of goods and services sold will be responsibility of the seller.
- E-commerce entities providing marketplace will not directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods or services and shall maintain level playing field.
- The government has also prohibited e-commerce firms from pushing merchants to sell any product exclusively on its platform. The sellers can, however, choose to have a preferred online partner.
Source: https://dipp.gov.in/sites/default/files/CFPC_2017_FINAL_RELEASED_28.8.17.pdf
Some Context
Indian marketplace is dominated with many small shops and business. If foreign investment in multi-brand retail is to be permitted, then the business of these small shop owners will be in danger. Consumers will be spoilt with choices and due to high competitions, prices will go down, thus these multi-brand retail establishment will be able attract consumers at a large scale. However, in case of single-brand retail shops, they usually bring premium or luxury goods in the market so as such they are not in direct conflict with Indian small business. (blog.ipleaders.in)
EHR and HIPAA, A Dilemma
EHR and HIPAA – Overview
Both are essential parts of running a successful business in health care.
An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. (healthit.gov)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standard for sensitive patient data protection. Companies that deal with protected health information (PHI) must have physical, network, and process security measures in place and follow them to ensure HIPAA Compliance. (digitalguardian.com)
PHI is any demographic information that can be used to identify a patient. Examples include: names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, insurance information, phone numbers, full facial photos, and health care records, to name a few examples. (compliancy-group.com)
A Short History
EHR Emerging in the 1970s
US federal government began implementing VistA (formerly known as the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program) at the Department of Veteran Affairs. A study by the Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) began in the 1980s, and its findings recommended the use of EHRs when they were published in 1991. (readwrite.com)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act introduced in 1996
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed on August 21, 1996, with the dual goals of making health care delivery more efficient and increasing the number of Americans with health insurance coverage. Since its implementation, healthcare organizations have been issued huge fines for non-compliance, e.g. Anthem $16 million HIPPA fine paid in 2018.
The Dilemma
Tough regulations were implemented before the applications (EHRs, etc.) grow into their best format/position in the healthcare system. The regulations made the softwares slow to upgrade/adjust themselves and prevented certain competitions.
EHRs are only an example of healthcare data regulated by HIPAA but a good one. It could have been a program like Apple Health Kit (on patients’ end) in the current era of well-designed apps like uber/gmail/amazon/instagram; but it was limited at the beginning stage and was left no time to refine itself. No wonder most parts are a vivid demonstration of tech/IT system some twenty years ago.
Left-turn Nightmare
Left turn problem while driving, on the one hand, is so common that most people won’t think about it; on the other hand, it is so complicated and “evil” that remains mainly unsolved and avoided.
UPS avoided it
The most famous no-left-turn application is probably demonstrated by UPS. It’s route planner system ORION, based on heuristic algorithm, told UPS drivers not to turn left. Since 2004, turning right, plus other efficiency-optimizing efforts, has saved about 10 million gallons of gas and reduced emissions equal to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road for a year. (UPS)
Accident Rate
According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Association, turning left is a leading critical pre-crash event, and occurs in 22.2 percent of crashes.
Law
The driver making a left hand turn will only have the right of way if they are proceeding on a left-turn arrow.
Otherwise, the driver turning left at a green light must wait until all oncoming traffic is gone or far enough away to allow for a safe and complete turn.
If a traffic light is not present, the left turning driver must still abide by the same precautions. The oncoming traffic will have the right of way and do not have to stop or slow down to allow left-turning drivers to pass.
Drivers making left turns must also wait for all pedestrians and cyclists are safely across the street before they can proceed with the turn.
This is why it is rare to find the other driver at-fault for this type of accident, and can be even more difficult to prove.
However with that being said, like anything, there are always a few exceptions to the rule.
- The car driving straight was driving significantly over the speed limit when they were going through the intersection.
- The car that is driving straight ran a red light or stop sign.
- Unforeseen circumstances may warrant the other driver at-fault for the accident.
According to Price Benowitz blog
Selft-driving & Waymo
Self-driving car prototypes have been known to wait for long intervals at intersections before they finally made the left turn – heavily testing the patience of human drivers stuck behind them.
When a self-driving car hesitates at an intersection, the reason is not a problem with the algorithm but rather that the self-driving car finds that the safety margins for executing the turn are too small in the current situation: the risk is too high. Unfortunately, this problem can not be solved through better algorithms but only by increasing the level of acceptable risk! (driverless-future.com)
The Waymo vans have trouble with many unprotected left turns and with merging into heavy traffic in the Phoenix area, especially on highways. (The Information)