And Facebook (Instagram) + PayPal collaboration bringing the next-level integration of social medial + e-commerce. [also mentioned in what’s next in retailing in China] The collaboration won’t be limited to Instagram and will be part of Facebook’s push to payments while Facebook Pay in its messenger app is not doing well enough. And for PayPal, this is a major victory to reinforce its presence in online payments and business collaboration.
And Google unveiled its upcoming gaming-streaming service, Stadia, on the Game Developers Conference today. Originally announced as Project Stream, it will compete directly with Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and others in the future battleground of gaming: cloud. [Video, Project Stream]
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is hosting an exclusive hard-tech party in Palm Spring called MARS, focusing on robots and other cutting-edge engineering demos.
When e-commerce breaks the limits of physical location and moves everything online, some will say restaurant businesses are safe, since people need to dine locally.
But that’s not entirely true. If there are companies eager to learn consumers’ purchasing behavior (via all the data generated from browsers), they won’t let go the valuable data on people’s dining behavior. And of course, wherever there is an opportunity for recommendations, there is an opportunity for ads.
So first step: collecting data.
There are several formats.
Purchasing through brands’ apps. That’s what we have seen in the past few years: nearly all major restaurant/coffee groups built their own system that at least integrate customer management, online order and promotion. Starbucks, McDonald’s, Subway, Shake Shack, etc.
Ordering on iPad when dining-in. That makes taking orders less labor-intensive. It can also let diners order ahead and improve the overall efficiency/utilization including kitchen process optimization.
Take-out & food delivery. This is where most money is in right now. DoorDash, Postmates, UberEats… [See more in a previous post (Chinese)] It is a more comprehensive study at user’s preferences, integrating most dining choices.
Booking tables. This is a cheaper/lighter operating model than format 3 while also getting a big picture of users’ preferences. Sometimes it is combined with format 3 like Yelp’s offering.
Restaurant table management. This is usually a back-end system for employees to use, but could be combined with format 2/4 to create a streamline management experience.
Just a few days ago, the dining data issue escalated as companies are fighting for its “ownership” or “commercial/economic potentials”.
OpenTable is a restaurant reservation service that allows patrons to book tables from the Web. Restaurants pay OpenTable $1.50 for every seated diner who reserves a table through its service. OpenTable also operates a guest-services platform to help restaurants run more smoothly.
SevenRooms charges restaurants $500 per month for its offering, takes the guest information from OpenTable and assists restaurants with table management. Under the new policy, some restaurateurs had featured, that practice would be banned.
Essentially, OpenTable will now require a fee if the restaurants are giving other companies access to diners’ data. OpenTable will now charge restaurant operators $250 if they use both systems.
Both companies are resourceful; OpenTable is more established and mature. OpenTable is acquired by Priceline (Booking Holdings) in 2014 for $2.6 billion and behind SevenRooms is Amazon (Alexa Fund invested in October 2018).
While I believe in the improved management efficiency and dining experiences, I am also concerned with personalization. It is possible that personalized menu will include personalized bundle of foods and different mark-ups. And dining information could be more personal than most people understand. It includes timing, location, frequency, spending… Think about a database of how much drinks you ordered with different group of friends.. When combined with other datasets, powerful predictions and precise understandings of the diners could be built. [A similar comment on this: users being programmed on social medias]
Again, the privacy issue and the access/user/process of data should be paid more attention to before bad things could happen…
It seems to some that the Pokemon GO fever was in 2016-ish and has lost the momentum.
It seems to me though, the game has never been dead and might be the first AR mobile game platform with a massive user base [and to introduce a new way of social interaction/entertainment]
2. Gym system reworked to encourage team play (June 2017) + raid boss introduced at gym (July 2017). Gyms are where trainers use Pokémon’s to defend/attack and essentially defending a gym will need more legitimate teamwork. (Less of a broken gym system before) The raid system is a smart design. Legendary Pokémon raids reengaged many players. The most recent Rayquaza raid is high expected (should give Pokémon Go some good statistics to show growth/relevance).
3. Battle system. Although introduced before, it was improved recently. All skill sets now have two numbers: damage in gyms and damage in battle. It will be much more raiser to design a balanced battle system now. And that will be the basis of Pokémon tournament/E-sport.
4. AR photos. The system is working well and has a lot more features to add. I could imagine many fun photos can be taken with Pokémon’s in real world settings. Also, taking a selfie with legendary Pokémon’s will give a sense of achievement and more purpose of playing. Moreover, it could be fun with multiple players/pokemons at the same place and more natural interactions implemented.
Strong IP is such a valuable asset.
Pokemon GO park (like a Disneyland, smaller) would be very doable. It might be the first AR park to be built. More fun in the park with AR glasses and phones.
Some more social community events could be designed. It has already incorporated events that celebrate holidays around the world. Pokémon GO could be a lifestyle. (A healthy one in terms of all the walking)
March 14, 2019 at Tesla’s design studio in Los Angeles.
Debut of Model Y – the full event below:
With introductory version priced at $39K, Model Y will start to deliver next year with premium versions first.
Source: Tesla.com
In terms of design, it is more like 7-seats version of Model 3. In fact, they share around 75 percent of its components. (good for supply chain management and another win for modular design)
The “SEXY” lineup has now completed.
Then what is next for Tesla besides mass production and updates of these models?
Bringing Tesla to Mars is one thing mentioned during the event. But that is SpaceX’s work.
Infrastructure for global adoption of EV and solar power is definitely a sexy target to work towards. But that will also rely on governments’ and other organizations’ efforts.
Tesla Semi (the e-truck) is also on the way to deliver. It will be Tesla’s Business Solution, which is different from what Tesla has been doing all the time – selling to consumers. Could Tesla become a service company? E-truck + autopilot as a service? It could be a good spin-off.
[Update March 15] Another product teased on the event is Tesla’s e-pickup truck. [More on e-truck]
Smaller e-vehicles + autopilot? for food/grocery delivery on sidewalks. Possible.
Or bigger flying e-vehicles? Possible but requires a lot more new designs/engineering. Would be a tough sell for investors. Besides, Musk seems to be more interested in next-generation transportation underground (with the Boring Company) than in the air.
However, there is one big mismatch – users don’t care what technics FB is using; they care if people they don’t know know them well. Essentially, users will still feel their information is sold if they saw tailored ads in WhatsApp. They only care about results. And that’s where Apple’s iMessenger wins. Users don’t know what efforts Apple is making but they don’t see ads.
What’s more…
“Beyond that, significant thought needs to go into all of the services we build on top of that foundation — from how people do payments and financial transactions, to the role of businesses and advertising, to how we can offer a platform for other private services.”
Yes Facebook will do payments and issue blockchain-related or other forms of cryptocurrencies/units.
The incremental improvements in smartphones are less exciting in recent years. Besides the introduction of 5G, companies trying to get consumers’ attentions have introduced foldable phones this year – a more dramatic change in appearance (to show that you have the latest/expansive phone).
With the Mobile World Congress (MWC) happening this week and many world’s leading handset brands having announced their products to be launched later this year, Snapdragon 855’s worldwide penetration map has become clear.
1. First of all, the largest handset manufacturer by shipment Samsung announced its 10th anniversary phones – Galaxy S10 series.
Source: samsung.com
There are four versions:
S10e $750
S10 $900 with free Samsung’s wireless earbuds
S10+ $1000 with free Samsung’s wireless earbuds
S10 5G bigger screen and battery, an additional rear camera (4!), with Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem, pricier and available on later dates ($1,200 up, depending on sale of S10+ I think) [Read more on S10 5G]
S10 series will use Snapdragon 855 platform in regions including North America, Latin America, Hong Kong, China, and Japan, and in Europe it will be using Samsung’s own Exynos 9820.
Mi 9 might be the cheapest handset with Snapdragon 855 available globally, starting at RMB ¥2,999 in China and €450 in Europe. Xiaomi also revealed Mi 9 SE, priced lower at RMB ¥1,999, featuring Snapdragon 710. And a global launch event is in Barcelona during MWC on 24 February.
Another version of a previous handset by Xiaomi – Mi Mix 3 5G is also announced today at MWC. Mi Mix 3, when introduced in October 2018, uses Snapdragon 845; the new 5G version will use Snapdragon 855, plus Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem. The device will be available in May for €599 (cheapest 5G with Qualcomm’s X50 modem?) in selected Europe market. [TechCrunch]
Source: TechCrunch
Xiaomi is one of Qualcomm’s crucial allies in Chinese market (and globally).
3. OnePlus to announce OnePlus 7 5G with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 and X50 5G modem
A Chinese company that is doing surprisingly well in its global presence I’d say. By not focusing on Chinese market, OnePlus’ majority brand/marking/community efforts are outside of China IMO.
On the Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit mentioned above, OnePlus has said it will work with EE (a division of BT, the largest operator in UK) to be the first to release a commercial 5G smartphone in Europe (second half of 2019 in UK and Finland, according to the recent report by USA Today).
Although OnePlus has been very successful in US before, it will solely focus on Europe at the first launch (different operator partners with Xiaomi).
4. Lenovo Z5 Pro GT – available only in China starting at ¥2698, first Snapdragon 855 phone available
So it becomes clear that Snapdragon 855 will be in
US with Samsung and LG
Europe with Xiaomi and OnePlus
China & Asia with Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, LG
5G modem is more complicated with carriers’ spectrum but Qualcomm seems to be ready for its 5G globally, with the existing X50 and newly released X55. (And Apple will need another year from Intel for 5G…)
Tesla is the leader in the electric vehicle market obviously, but it may not be the only winner. As technology matures and become more advanced, it will become more of a business competition (assuming design & production generally won’t be a problem in the next decade).
And another round of fresh financing in this field is showing us the future to come, probably with a few leaders in different sub-segments of EV market.
Led by Amazon, the $700 million investments in Rivian, announced on February 15, is the latest move. As the leader in electric pickup and SUV, Rivian will help Amazon to build the next generation logistics network. After all, although amazon is in e-commerce (and other) business, it is also a logistics company (so does Walmart). In the next 15-30 years will have its own (delivery) network & infrastructure, independent of USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc., comprised of (autonomous) airliner, trucks, delivery robots, etc… Yes, Amazon may become similar to the US postal system in the 19th century.
R1T Electric Truck (updated in Jan 2021; previous link broken) | Source: RivianR1T Truck expected spec | Source: Rivian
Just before that, on February 7, Aurora has raised more than $530 million in Series B financing for its self-driving technology, led by Sequoia Capital and includes “significant investment” from Amazon. [Techcrunch]
The investment was reported in early January [recode] and not a good news for companies like Tesla. The team is led by 3 industry leaders: CEO Chris Urmson, who was the CTO for Waymo, CPO (chief product officer) Sterling Anderson, Tesla’s former head of Autopilot, and CTO Drew Bagnellone, one of the founding members of Uber’s autonomous efforts. Aurora is now valued at more than $2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Tesla Semi is probably still the most ready and earliest e-truck with auto-pilot. First unveiled in November 2017, Tesla Semi has its prototype traveled by itself (without any escort or accompanying vehicles) for a week to arrive at the J. B. Hunt headquarters in Arkansas on August 24, 2018.
What’s cool is that it was driven across the country alone (no escort or any accompanying vehicles), using the existing Tesla Supercharger network and an extension cord
Other self-driving companies have started to explore use cases.
Cruise Automation, the self-driving unit of General Motors, is teaming up with DoorDash to test a food delivery service in San Francisco using autonomous vehicles. The pilot will commence in “early 2019.” [Verge]
