You might have noticed that ‘the daily surprise’ has just been updated to the ‘when I remember it - and have time surprise’.
Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ The Services Industry is prostitution minus …
🔗 Goldman Sachs Boosts Apple Inc. with Positive App Store Trends
NB: No meaningful (or perhaps even measurable) impact from off-Appstore payments alternatives. Turns out adding friction to a frictionless business is not an attractive option for the customer.
💬 Horace Dediu
‘Ease’ replaces ‘Price’ in my 🖇️ 4 E Model for the Age of Engagement.
Adam Tinworth … 🔗 Journalism isn’t dying
Less than a week after massive layoffs at the Washington Post which have sent shockwaves through the media world, this seems like a strange thing to say, but journalism is not dying. In fact, it’s in no danger of dying. It’s being reborn all around us, right now.
Me back in 2018 : 🖇️ Musicians Only Made 12% of the Music Industry’s Revenue
I think it’s a related argument - add in the argument about ‘saving the planet - we are killing it’. Yes we are - but that os not the problem.
In all three cases we are looking at the wrong thing.
It was the music industry that was dying - not music - as that headline in 2018 highlights and as we see today. Not saying it isn’t hard. It is - but it is very much around.
As for Climate Change - sure - it might wipe out humanity - but the planet will be just fine. Its a bugger what we are doing to it - but in all honesty if we werent around - the planet would recover.
So too journalism.
Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ The Dems and Thugs agreed on something. Once.
TL;DR
Context as a product feature that SaaS vendors can package and sell is wrong thinking. It’s actually the foundational infrastructure layer that makes any system intelligently operational. Context is the operational intelligence that knows who, where, what, and how people interact across and with organisations and each other. In short - it is the essential layer that transforms disconnected capabilities into coherent, situationally-aware engagement.
Scott Brinker writes: 🔗 The SaaS Moats Are Crumbling, but the Opportunity Is Bigger - and I agree - but not for the reasons he lays out.
I mean he even highlights things I talk about, like
Context.
Not just in passing either, the article’s subtitle is
Context-as-a-Service (CaaS)
I’ll just let that sit while you think about that for a moment - and return later.
Business are apparently moving on from being
systems of record
… with much more ‘relevant’ thinking …
systems of truth or single source of truth.
Cough - the ‘single source of truth’? New? A branding upgrade? We used to talk about the 🔗 single source of truth when I was part of Oracle - and 🖇️ as I pointed out recently - in my early days at Oracle - I had email - and could not use it to communicate with anybody outside of Oracle that I worked with … so we know that was a looooong time ago.
And systems of truth? Whose truth?
If my cell company believes that my primary email is mickeymouse@philpin.com - because when they asked me for my primary email I gave them mickeymouse@philpin.com - that may well be their ‘truth’ - but it is certainly not mine.
But back to ‘context’ …
Context is different. Context is personal and situational. It’s knowing not just what the data says, but what it means for this marketer making this decision, or for this customer in this moment.
So why is it a new service? Spoiler Alert. It isn’t - unless you are going to add it to a list such as this;
- Buzzword-as-a-Service (BaaS) - The self-aware parody of vendor speak.
- Synergy-as-a-Service (SaaS) - Corporate nonsense on demand.
- Disruption-as-a-Service (DaaS) - Generates any pitch deck you will ever need.
- Oxygen-as-a-Service (OaaS) - Because anything that can be ‘monetised’ - will be ‘monetised’.
- Innovation-as-a-Service (IaaS) - Outsourcing the very thing you can’t outsource - but now you can.
Context is where domain expertise meets operational reality.
… amongst many other things.
Truth implies something universal and static — the same for everyone, in every situation.
It does. That’s why even 15 years ago - my mantra was
and as for ‘context’ being new thinking?
Another one from the archives
Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ We are unfinished products up until the end.
.. on reflection - I am not sure I agree. The implication being that at the end we are suddenly ‘complete'❓ On the other hand - as far as the body is concerned - finished is definitely the conclusion.
🔗 Anthropic Just Sent Shockwaves Through the Entire Stock Market by Releasing a New AI Tool
Engagement platforms amplify whatever thinking you’ve put into them. If the thinking is clear and explicit, they amplify coherence. If it’s fuzzy and fragmented, they amplify fragmentation - but at scale. Everyone having AI tools doesn’t create coherence. It accelerates fragmentation.
Be careful out there. It’s not easy.
Today’s Surprise From History - 🖇️ Road Trip
.. and it was a good - if short one - across the high desert - North of Palm Desert - other side of Joshua Tree - and beyond.