Scott Galloway is a NYU professor, he is also founder of the firm L2
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/scott-gallowayHe is also the author of the new book "The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google"
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Hidden-Amazon-Facebook-Google/dp/0525501223Galloway is not "some guy" but he is an established thinker regarding tech and where it is going. Very well respected.
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Galloway was interviewed on Bloomberg radio yesterday and said some astounding things. So astonishing that I wrote them down. Love to hear comments. Again Galloway knows what he is talking about.
(8:20 minute radio interview)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2018-02-01/bloomberg-markets-galloway-on-passing-of-tech-batonYesterday... Thursday, February 1, was an important day in the history of business (his words). It was the passing of the most important product ever made, the iPhone, to the new most important product ever made, the Amazon Echo.
He thinks we have seen "peak Apple" and by the end of year Amazon passes Apple as the most valuable company. (Currently Apple $814 billion, Amazon $692 billion). He also thinks Amazon will be the first trillion dollar company (not Apple).
What happened Thursday that caused him to say this? Amazon reported its earnings and its CEO Jeff Bezos said the Amazon Echo (Alexa) beat all of its projections even its most optimist ones. On the same day, Apple announced poor sales for the iPhone X and dramatically cut its production. Out with the old and in with the new.
Galloway said soon one-third of all computing will be done without a screen. It will be voice commands. He thinks we are now moving from a screen world (smartphones and tablets) to a voice world. We are in the process of talking to computers, not looking at them.
He also said that Apple totally blew it. They owned voice five years ago when they debut Siri and let this dominance slip away to Amazon (and to a lesser extent Google Home). Apple this does not yet have a competing product (announced a few months ago but still not available).
Two-thirds of American households have Amazon Prime. More people have a recurring revenue stream with Amazon than voted in the 2016 election or pay for cable TV.
He said that Amazon is so important and so dominant that the mere mention of their name causes entire industries to get revalued. Also, on Thursday JP Morgan, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon announced they were getting into the healthcare business. Immediately, off a press release with no specifics, the entire healthcare industry lost $31 billion in value. Why? As Galloway put it, the press release said "Amazon." We saw this last year when the entire valuation of the grocery business changed overnight with their purchase of Whole Foods. (Galloway also suggested if the press release replaced Amazon with Goldman Sachs, it would have had no effect on the healthcare stocks.) Amazon can pull off "Jedi mind tricks" in that they can change reality by just thinking it (announcing they are getting into the industry with offering any specifics is enough to wreck existing players in that industry.)
Alexa/Voice is the transformative technology now. Not driverless, 3D printing, the blockchain, augmented reality or, virtual reality. They are all taking a back seat to voice. Amazon "owns it" and Apple let it "run down their leg."
The biggest threat Amazon has is regulation. But not out of Washington. Amazon is too big and they will not touch it. It is coming from a red state making a populist argument in the Governor's mansion or, most likely, from Brussels as the EU regulates them. Big tech's worse nightmare is this person who can stop them in their tracks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrethe_Vestagerhttps://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2014-2019/vestager_enIn sum, the most important and most dominant company in the world is Amazon. Their scope and influence rival the Federal Government. Again, every year more people regularly buy products from Amazon than vote. Bezos is equal to the President, No doubt as Trump treats him as an equal
How about it? Is Galloway right? Is voice the next transformative technology? Did Apple blow it? Is Amazon and Bezos the most important company/person in the world today?
