The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Mutual Funds Mark Down Dropbox Holdings

By Alfred Lee and Steve Nellis · Oct 2, 2015 7:06am PDT · 1 comment

Two of Dropbox’s largest mutual fund investors have marked down the value of their holdings in the company by a little over 20% in recent months, the funds disclosed in recent days.While the reasons for the markdowns aren’t clear, they could reflect the funds’ faltering confidence in the company, valued at $10 billion at its... Two of Dropbox’s largest mutual fund investors have marked down the value of their holdings...

Apple's iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg.

Subscriber Op-Ed

The Revolution Will Be Streamed: The Era of the Streaming OS

By James Higa · Oct 1, 2015 11:19am PDT · 1 comment

During my nearly 30 years at Apple, I witnessed the birth of the personal computer revolution in the Macintosh group, saw the development of iOS and watched the transformation from the Apple II days to UNIX with NeXT to Macbooks and the iPhone and iPad. In short, I’ve seen the full evolution of the operating system—starting from when... During my nearly 30 years at Apple, I witnessed the birth of the personal computer revolution in...

Source: SEC Filings

Stock Comp Expense Rising for Tech Firms

By Martin Peers and Peter Schulz · Oct 1, 2015 7:06am PDT · 9 comments

It’s no secret major tech companies have been hiring lots of people. What hasn’t received as much attention is how that hiring has been driving up stock compensation expenses, hurting companies’ bottom lines.As the accompanying chart shows, stock comp expense as a percentage of revenue has been rising at Apple, Google and... It’s no secret major tech companies have been hiring lots of people. What hasn’t...

Phillip DeFranco. Photo by Flickr/Gage Skidmore.

Why Comcast’s Watchable Isn’t

By Tom Dotan · Sep 30, 2015 1:22pm PDT

Phillip DeFranco. Photo by Flickr/Gage Skidmore.

Why Comcast’s Watchable Isn’t

By Tom Dotan · Sep 30, 2015 1:22pm PDT

Were you among the people who checked out Comcast’s new video streaming app, Watchable, when it was released yesterday? Perhaps you looked at Buzzfeed’s channel and saw videos like, “Things You Did in the 90s that Would Be Weird Today.”If that video looked familiar, it may be because the exact video is also on... Were you among the people who checked out Comcast’s new video streaming app, Watchable,...

Announcing the Summit Roundtables

By The Information Staff · Sep 30, 2015 10:17am PDT

We're so excited to see everyone next week at our sold-out inauguaral Subscriber Summit. An important part of Summit is our roundtables: a chance for you to visit some nearby startups and investments firms to hear straight from our subscribers about important topics. Our team will also be on-hand to answer your questions. If you're... We're so excited to see everyone next week at our sold-out inauguaral Subscriber Summit. An...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Big Interview

Okta Goes Head to Head with Microsoft

By Steve Nellis · Sep 30, 2015 7:06am PDT

You might think that with heavyweights like Microsoft, Salesforce and VMware gunning for its business, a startup like Okta would be playing defense. Instead CEO Todd McKinnon says his main concern is maintaining the IT security company’s ample gross margins and spending discipline.Okta (pronounced “ahk-tuh”) helps big companies... You might think that with heavyweights like Microsoft, Salesforce and VMware gunning for its...

Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Jack Dorsey’s Vision for Twitter

By Amir Efrati and Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 29, 2015 11:25am PDT

With all the speculation around whether Jack Dorsey will drop “interim” from his title at Twitter, there’s been surprisingly little reported about what he would do if he returned to permanently lead and turn around the company he co-founded. Would he focus on reaching people who don’t actively Tweet? Double down on the... With all the speculation around whether Jack Dorsey will drop “interim” from his...

Imran Khan. Photo by Getty Images.

Snapchat’s Adult In the Room

By Tom Dotan · Sep 29, 2015 7:06am PDT · 1 comment

Imran Khan. Photo by Getty Images.

Snapchat’s Adult In the Room

By Tom Dotan · Sep 29, 2015 7:06am PDT · 1 comment

When Snapchat’s chief strategy officer Imran Khan takes meetings on Madison Avenue, ad executives are given a piece of advice: Pretend Evan is in the room.For the last few months, chief strategy officer Imran Khan has served as CEO Evan Spiegel’s proxy on all things ads. Marketers give him feedback on Snapchat's advertising... When Snapchat’s chief strategy officer Imran Khan takes meetings on Madison Avenue, ad...

Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma, who runs the company's "Yu" subsidiary. Photo by Bloomberg.

India’s Micromax May Jump Into U.S. Smartphone Market

By Amir Efrati · Sep 28, 2015 4:06pm PDT · 1 comment

Shifts in the way wireless carriers sell smartphones are luring an array of new lower-priced phone makers into the U.S., with India’s Micromax Infomatics expected to be one of the next brands to jump into the market, according to people briefed on the plan.Micromax, a 15-year-old privately-held electronics maker in India that started... Shifts in the way wireless carriers sell smartphones are luring an array of new lower-priced...

Graphic by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The Case Against Product-Market Fit

By Sam Lessin · Sep 28, 2015 7:06am PDT · 6 comments

If you spend more than a hot second discussing startups, you have undoubtedly heard the term "product-market fit," a reference to whether a product is clicking with a certain customer base. It’s typically used in two ways. One is negative: When teams say, “We haven’t yet found product-market fit,” they almost... If you spend more than a hot second discussing startups, you have undoubtedly heard the term...

The Information You Missed

By The Information Staff · Sep 26, 2015 8:06am PDT

Good Morning!Xi Jinping met with tech executives in Seattle, while the Pope met the masses on the East Coast. And we enjoyed two successful events in New York. We’re looking forward to our first Subscriber Summit in San Francisco on Oct. 8. Good Morning!Xi Jinping met with tech executives in Seattle, while the Pope met the masses on the...

The Information’s 411 — Ethical Browsing

By Tom Dotan · Sep 25, 2015 2:04pm PDT

The Information's 411

The Information’s 411 — Ethical Browsing

By Tom Dotan · Sep 25, 2015 2:04pm PDT

While Uber is waging political and business battles in China, India and Europe, it faces engineering challenges at home. Overcoming those problems is the job of Uber’s CTO, Thuan Pham, who since joining Uber two years ago has taken steps to strengthen the company’s technical infrastructure, according to a profile by Amir Efrati this... While Uber is waging political and business battles in China, India and Europe, it faces...

Photos by Luke Walter.

The Information Events

A Night Out with The Information in New York

By The Information Staff · Sep 25, 2015 11:30am PDT · 1 comment

Neither the Papal visit nor impending iPhone mania kept subscribers from coming out for a party on a warm fall evening in New York last night. Thank you to all who came and to our co-hosts Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., RRE Ventures and TrueX. We can't wait to see you again soon. Neither the Papal visit nor impending iPhone mania kept subscribers from coming out for a party...

Madison Bumgarner. Photo by AP.

The Saturation Point of Entrepreneurs

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 25, 2015 7:16am PDT · 3 comments

There is no shortage of ways to predict whether the tech boom is waxing or waning. Some of my favorites: traffic on San Francisco’s 101 highway; MBAs heading into tech; or the frequency of headlines about dying unicorns.But one that keeps coming up in conversations is constraints on the supply of good entrepreneurs. If you think leaders... There is no shortage of ways to predict whether the tech boom is waxing or waning. Some of my...

Scott Guthrie, EVP of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft Makes Inroads with Cloud Pitch

By Steve Nellis · Sep 24, 2015 11:36am PDT

Microsoft is in talks to win business of two large banking customers, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, with products that would let the banks keep some data within their own data centers but also interact with data and apps run from Microsoft’s Azure, its competitor to Amazon Web Services.Success would signal that Microsoft is gaining traction... Microsoft is in talks to win business of two large banking customers, Citigroup and Wells Fargo,...

*Calculation: More Optimistic - Less Optimistic = The Information Score

Ad Blocking Usage Grows, Despite Qualms

By Peter Schulz and Tom Dotan · Sep 24, 2015 7:06am PDT · 1 comment

*Calculation: More Optimistic - Less Optimistic = The Information Score

Subscriber Survey

Ad Blocking Usage Grows, Despite Qualms

By Peter Schulz and Tom Dotan · Sep 24, 2015 7:06am PDT · 1 comment

Call it ad-blocker remorse. A growing number of people are blocking ads on websites they visit, our subscriber survey this month confirmed. But they feel a little guilty about it. A little over half of subscribers who responded to our latest survey said they planned to install ad-blocker software in their devices using iOS 9, an increase on the... Call it ad-blocker remorse. A growing number of people are blocking ads on websites they visit,...

EU Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli. Art by Matt Vascellaro, based on a photo by AP.

The Big Interview

EU’s Privacy Monitor Visits U.S. Tech “In Peace”

By Reed Albergotti · Sep 23, 2015 7:08am PDT · 1 comment

After meetings in Silicon Valley last week, the European Union official responsible for monitoring what it sees as the privacy threat posed by new technologies declared that he had encountered “illuminated people and bad guys.”Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Union’s Data Protection Supervisor, was in town as part of his... After meetings in Silicon Valley last week, the European Union official responsible for...

Photo credit Luke Walter.

The Information Events

How To Hire Tech Talent in New York

By Alfred Lee · Sep 22, 2015 10:50am PDT

NEW YORK, NY—The New York tech industry is getting bigger. But it can still be tough to hire top tech talent in the area, making it hard to scale a business.That was the consensus of founders and managers at some of New York’s highest-profile startups and satellite offices who gathered at an event on Monday hosted by The Information.... NEW YORK, NY—The New York tech industry is getting bigger. But it can still be tough to...

Source: Fiksu

Cost of App Install Ads Soars On and Off Facebook

By Peter Schulz and Tom Dotan · Sep 22, 2015 7:06am PDT

The cost of buying app install ads on social media sites, particularly Facebook, has soared in the past 12 months. But the price of app install ads is rising nearly as fast when bought through automated systems like the one run by Fiksu, new data shows.Since the summer of last year, median prices for app install ads on social sites got as high... The cost of buying app install ads on social media sites, particularly Facebook, has soared in...

Uber CTO Thuan Pham. Photo courtesy of Uber.

Inside Uber’s Engineering Struggles

By Amir Efrati · Sep 21, 2015 7:06am PDT · 2 comments

Uber CTO Thuan Pham. Photo courtesy of Uber.

Inside Uber’s Engineering Struggles

By Amir Efrati · Sep 21, 2015 7:06am PDT · 2 comments

May 13 was one of Uber’s darkest days. The computer system used by its business-operations employees ground to a halt, for the whole day. The cause: a bug in one of Uber’s databases, which set off a chain reaction that took down other systems and was made worse by human errors in response to the cascading problems, according to... May 13 was one of Uber’s darkest days. The computer system used by its business-operations...