economics

Must Read: Digital Disruption And Mobile

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Ritholz comes through with this infographic that you just have to see.

There’s a lot to read over and to think about, but here’s some takeaways from my thoughts:

  • Everything is going mobile.  That means your website (personal or profssional) needs to be mobile, your projects need to keep mobile in mind, and that doing geek stuff mobile is great practice.
  • Everything is going social, so you need to as well.  Twitter, Facebook, whatever.
  • On a side note, I’m wondering what the role of traditional RSS is going to be.  I’m not sure, to be frank.  I suspect email newsletters may be a big thing.
  • Everyone is going mobile, including businesses.  This is a pretty rapid transition, and it means that if you jump on mobile you’re going to be ahead of the game.  If you’re a developer, learn to develop in mobile, if you’re in marketing, you get the idea.
  • Consumer engagement is a big factor here – people do their research in stores.  What this means for online shopping also intrigues me – people are used to the online experience and are porting it elsewhere.
  • All this move to mobile can’t last in my opinion.  At some point “mobile” will just merge into “internet stuff” so what we see now is going to change and evolve anyway.
  • I see big opportunities for developers, marketers, and analysts here.

Any thoughts on your end?

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Greece Leaving The Euro?

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OK I’ll put on my Robe and Economist’s Hat and note we’ve got a nice article here on what happens if Greece leaves the euro – or gets kicked out.  Basic result is it hurts, but also people pull money out of other troubled Euro countries, probably putting it into Germany.  Most of this is due to one of Paul Krugman’s predictions, which people tend to listen to.

I’m feeling Krugman is actually too negative on how this could play out (it’s summarized at the article), but it’s still going to end badly for someone(s).  The real question is how the pain is spread out and which politicians want to watch things go to hell on their watch.  In short, I can see things being drawn out in the hope of a soft landing that pushes these possible scenareos out into the future, it’s just that the question of “can we kick people out of/do we leave the euro” is going to come up eventually.

This is made further complicate by the Greek political situation, which I have had trouble figuring out for years.  I’m not exactly sympathetic to Greece’s situation, let’s put it that way, though I’m anti-Austerity.

What this means for us in the U.S. is that the world economy, at any time, could have some nasty shakeup as the Euro kicks people out, gets left, new austerity measures go into place, politics change, etc.  I’m not sure what role the U.S. is taking, if any, to try and sort this mess out – it’d be very useful to do some digging.

So U.S. recovery aside and other hope, we’ve still got a big chunk of the world having economic problems.  That, in short, could mess things up for everyone else, us included.

Oh, and Canada.  Hey guys.

– Steven Savage

 

EA’s Not-Good Day

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Well, in case you hadn’t heard, EA had it’s stock price drop, probably due to the loss of members of the Star Wars MMO – yes, that MMO lost people.  And, yes, on top of this a restructuring is coming.

So the question arises, is EA a takover target.  Yeah, I’m already seeing articles on that right after the bad news.

As an old gamer, this question has come up a lot.  EA has its highs and lows, and certainly has had a very erratic time of it as of late.  Since I’ve seen so many times EA has supposedly been having a bad time, I’m kind of used to it.

Looking it over, EA does seem to have a lot going for it – it has IP, it obviously has plans for gaming (such as social), so it’s not flailing.  It’s also published some good stuff.  So I get a bit cynical when I hear another story of EA getting bought out.

However, I’d add a few things.

  • First, I don’t think EA is going to get bought out right now.  This is just one thing, and you know – seen it all before.  My one concern is that if EA keeps having problems or has a rapid-fire series of issues . . .
  •  . . . there are players with big money out there.  Remember the wits that suggested Apple just buy into Hollywood?  Think about the other big players out there – and then don’t discount foreign sources as well.  Some have weathered the economic issues well, and could whip out the cash if EA remains vulnerable.  I’m not saying Apple would buy them (I doubt it), but other multimedia conglomerates like Disney or Vivendi.
  • There’s also the chance that EA doesn’t look like a good acquisition.  I mean when there’s so many other ways to get into gaming, if EA actually implodes it might be more trouble than it’s worth to buy, so you wait for a fire sale.  Speaking of . . .
  • I’d also add that a troubled EA might survive by selling stuff off or by partnership or deals.  They have the goods.

In the end I don’t see EA as being taken over in the short term, and it’d take other stumbles for them to be in that situation. It’s something to watch out for, but not panic over.

So if you want to work at EA – beyond the restructuring – I don’t see any reason why not.

– Steven Savage