All posts filed under: Blog Archive

Facebook’s Clubhouse clone will fail

March 25, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on February 13th, 2021. It didn’t even take a week from Mark Zuckerberg guest starring on Clubhouse to the news that Facebook was developing a clone. The pattern of cloning products is recognizable – but rarely works. SvD’s tech analyst Björn Jeffery explains why. In April 2012, Kevin Systrom received an unusual proposal. Twitter wanted to buy his company Instagram, which at the time had only […]

The n00b of Wall Street

February 10, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on February 4th, 2021. Live streamed portfolio analysis. Derivatives as entertainment. The Wall Street Bets forum represents a new generation of stock traders who have borrowed their influences from the computer game world. At the same time as the hedge funds was tearing their hair over extreme losses in Gamestop, a father of small children in Boston, wearing a headband, sat and drank champagne for seven […]

A stock market bubble filled with anger

February 9, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 28th, 2021. First the Capitol was stormed by users from internet forums. Now it’s Wall Street’s turn. The Gamestop story is a perfect storm of pent-up anger and risky financial instruments that are now traded at the touch of a button. In the early 2000s, the American journalist James Surowiecki wrote an acclaimed book called “The wisdom of crowds”. His thesis was that a […]

Apple snubbed Tesla – now they are competing for the cars of the future

February 8, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 28th, 2021. Elon Musk wanted to sell Tesla – but did not even get a meeting with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Today, they are about to become competitors instead. But both have a common view on how the cars of the future will be developed – electric and self-driving. With today’s share price, it feels like ancient history. But in 2013, things looked dark […]

The gloves are off in the Biden-Zuckerberg fight

February 8, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 23rd, 2021. “I think he’s a real problem.” Joe Biden’s statement about Mark Zuckerberg means that the gloves are off in the battle between Washington and Silicon Valley. Suddenly, almost everything felt normal again. Just a couple of hours had passed since Joe Biden took over as president when Twitter began filling up with jokes. Not least thanks to the historical photos of Bernie […]

No one wins in a lawless land for tech companies

February 8, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 15th, 2021. The uncertainty about what applies when infrastructure giants such as Amazon Web Services shuts down individual companies benefits no one. In August 2017, after the riots in Charlottesville, USA, Cloudflare decided to shut down the Nazi site The Daily Stormer. Cloudfare is a company that provides cloud services and in a blog post, its CEO, Matthew Prince, explained his actions: Like a […]

The storming of the Capitol is a failure for Twitter and Facebook

January 14, 2021
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on January 11th, 2021. The fact that Twitter and Facebook closed down Donald Trump’s accounts doesn’t only reveal how arbitrarily their own policies are enforced – it also shows the failure of politicians in regulating them. With two weeks left of Donald Trump’s presidency, what critics have constantly asked for over the past four years finally happened: his accounts on Facebook, Twitter and a number of […]

Opened 300 restaurants in one day – without any kitchens

December 26, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on December 24th, 2020. An American Youtube star opened 300 new restaurants in one day. Without either staff or premises. The phenomenon “ghost kitchens” is expected to reshape the restaurant world – and already exists in Sweden. “Ghost kitchens” – or “cloud kitchens” as they are also called – can simply be described as a restaurant kitchen without its own front of house. Instead, the owner […]

The situation for Apple resembles a two-front war

December 26, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on December 18th, 2020. “We’re standing up to Apple for small business everywhere.” That is what Facebook wrote in a series of full-page ads in American newspapers this week. The situation for Apple is now beginning to resemble a two-front war when both Silicon Valley and the media world attack from different directions. In recent years, Apple has taken an increasingly clear stance on transparent data […]

Dylan has millions of reasons to thank Spotify

December 26, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
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SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on December 9th, 2020. Artists often complain about the payouts from Spotify – but this week Bob Dylan had reason to thank them instead. Spotify has boosted the value of his song catalogue, which has been sold for around $300 million. During the early 2000s, the music industry looked rather gloomy. They had major problems with illegal downloads, and record sales went downhill. From 1999 to […]