The LookBack, Issue 2

Volume 1 Issue 2: 13 May 2016

A look back, to learn what’s next. By Augur.

The tech world is naturally attracted to novelty. But all too often, this makes it easy to lose perspective. How can we understand the importance of the events of today without considering those that got us here?

Every seven days, we take a look at this week’s news in previous years to see what we can learn. Feedback to augur+lookback@augur.london

2011 – Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion (at Google’s loss)

Having to juggle Yammer, Skype, Lync and Windows Messenger perhaps explains how something like Slack was able to just stroll in with a single simple purpose in the background.

However, recent improvements to Skype are making it more competitive with products like Google Hangouts and Yammer is shipping as a free part of big Microsoft enterprise licenses these days, so you’d think they must have a plan there to counter the threat of Slack and co.

2011 – Facebook plays a sneaky PR game v Google

Stay classy Burson-Marsteller. Now think about all the campaigns where this happens and goes unreported.

2011 – Chromebook Lives

They seem to be prospering in schools and I see some journalists raving about them. If it’s the future of the laptop, it probably further demonstrates how PCs will be left as a hollow shell while the future moves to mobile, tablets, Surface.

2012 – Facebook IPOs

Four years later, Facebook’s latest event really feels like the kind of company bedding down for a long happy future in the eyes of stock market investors. Virtual Reality with Oculus, Drones shipping internet to the underserved from space, 360 degrees camera, FB Messenger as customer service with brands.

Facebook feels a little like an anti-Apple: one main product (social) and lots of weird directions they will head in next. By contrast, Apple has a bunch of existing success stories and only really one direction everyone is expecting next: four wheels.

2012 – Facebook launches App Center

Seems to have been replaced with just https://www.facebook.com/games/. This comes from around the era of Facebook Home and other experiments where Facebook hoped to compete with iOS/Android on the ecosystem level.

Have to agree with MB’s analysis when he talks about how Facebook is better off now that it has stopped trying to win that battle, where any effort would be pretty swiftly squashed by the platform holders.

2012 – GM cancels $10m Facebook Ads account

Changed their mind one year later.

2013 – The Tax Spotlight shines on Amazon

2014 – Twitter launches Mute (and never speaks of it again)

I feel like this is one of those hidden characteristics of Twitter that nobody talks about anymore — and would seriously add to their issues if people did.

I have dozens of users, hashtags, keywords muted in my TweetDeck and TweetBot and I think most valuable, professional users do too. In the case of brands, I think they more than likley just get unfollowed instead (who’s worried about hurting their feelings.)

2015 – Facebook announces Instant Articles

2015 – Google under scrutiny for “Right to be forgotten” judgements

We have a two for one here — in this week, 12 months earlier, the EU gave the thumbs up on the system. Only 50 items in dispute doesn’t sound too bad.

2015 – Apple is developing a car

It’s now pretty broadly accepted and talked about — but 12 months ago, these were the first trickles of evidence.

The counterpoint to all this speculation is to remember Apple is undoubtedly working on cars, VR, AR and whatever consumer products they think they can apply their tech to all the time.

2015 – Domino’s announces another pointless PR stunt

Stupid brands doing stupid things to flog crap product. Thank God I work in B2B.

1880 — Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway

(see opening image)

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