Videos

When QR codes disintermediate existing use cases… and enable new ones.

(with Kyle Russell) Hallway chat covering our reactions to f8 2017. We touch on messaging and QR codes; brain computer interfaces; augmented reality and social VR; and, bots (again).

(with Luke Wroblewski and Sonal Chokshi) What does it mean to design for a mobile world where “an app isn’t really an app” — and the very definition of apps are themselves evolving, including cross-culturally?

Livestreaming in China is more like a video version of selfies. And the interaction — between personal broadcasters/hosts and their audiences — is the fulcrum for engagement and monetization.

(with Christina Xu and Sonal Chokshi) From glittery reaction gifs to rage faces, stickers and emotive “biaoqing” have taken over messaging culture in China and beyond. A wild tour of cultural messaging memes and messaging tech in China and beyond.

Red envelopes were WeChat’s secret weapon in getting users to adopt mobile payments on their messaging platform, unlocking all subsequent transaction activity across their ecosystem.

Stickers aren’t just frivolous little punctuation marks to be inserted in text messages. They can be replacements for entire sentences, and help create a new medium for communicating and storytelling.

Learning from China involves rethinking our mindsets around it … beginning with how to be open to learning from China in the first place, to preparing for future competition from there as Chinese companies aim to realize their global ambitions.

This post is all about WeChat, but it’s also about more than just WeChat. While seemingly just a messaging app, WeChat is actually more of a portal, a platform, and even a mobile operating system depending on how you look at it.

(with Benedict Evans, Steven Sinofsky, and Kyle Russell) Innovation or invention? Platform or app? Vertical or horizontal? Strategy or tactic? Does the smartphone eat VR? And (not to get all existential about it or anything but), what is an app, really?

(with Chris Messina and Benedict Evans) So… about those bots. Bots bots bots. Bots!

Conversational commerce is unproven, even in Asia. If texting takes more time than clicking a button on a webview, why is it better?

(with Clay Shirky) No matter how one views Xiaomi — and there are many ways to view it, for better or worse — one thing is clear: It, and other such companies (like WeChat and Alibaba), indicate a broader trend around innovation coming from China.

(with Anu Hariharan) India and China. The two most populous countries on the planet are also two of the most tantalizing markets for companies of all size, from startups to conglomerates.

(with David Pierce) What happens when a messaging app essentially becomes an operating system for our lives? What conditions made the mobile, business, and cultural environment in China so ripe for a phenomenon like WeChat?

(with Chris Dixon and Benedict Evans) China has been a tough market to crack for U.S. internet companies. One of the key reasons is China has its own crop of hugely successful and highly innovative companies.