Samsung

Last year Samsung was forced to recall its Galaxy Note 7, a premium smart phone in their lineup. Apparently the phone would emit smoke, catch on fire, and in some cases blow up.  Samsung had to learn the hard way that when people buy a device they hold next to their head they don’t want one that blows up. The recall cost them around $5 billion and the stock plummeted. Despite the losses from the botched phone release, Samsung projected that the third quarter of 2016 would be their highest in three years. It turns out that the growth came from competitors buying phone parts that Samsung manufactures. I’m going to go ahead and ignore the fact that my phone may contain parts that could explode (I don’t know how phones work but this has to be a possibility right?) and focus on the meeting where Samsung executives had to talk about whether or not to continue making exploding phones so as to drive more customers to their competition. Phase one would involve only making phones that explode, phase two is manufacturing parts that make competitor’s phones explode, and phase three is cashing the checks that come rolling in. I have been only using Apple phones since around 2009 and can say with confidence that Apply does a pretty good job of releasing new phones at a pace that makes you feel like an idiot for having just bought the old phone. Their primary tactic to increase new phone adoption (apart from people that just want a new device) has been to develop software and features that just won’t work on an older device. Now, with a financial precedent, I’m concerned the old phones will just start blowing up. 

Mark Zuckerberg: The People’s Champion

Working class hero/billionaire Mark Zuckerberg has set out to find America. In 2017, he plans to visit 30 US states “and talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future.”  He is chronicling his journey in Twitter posts, just kidding, it’s on Facebook. Doesn’t part of you wish he was posting it on Twitter? Personally, I’m hoping for some really great posts from Mark. Sort of like a modern day Odd Couple. Billionaire tech CEO and autoworkers talking about driverless cars – that sort thing.

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