Michael Wenner

I am not a regular at fast food restaurants and probably frequent a visit every fortnight.  But whenever a fast food chain introduces a new product, I make it a priority to experiment. 

Before being taken private in 2010 by the Brazilian PE firm 3G capital, Burger King was the champion of #FastFoodInnovation. The archrival to McDonalds was constantly experimenting with bold menu items to stand out for the plebeian sesame seed bun and French frie combo.  They advertised their deviation from the norm with fearless items like the BK Oreo Sundae Shake, Chicken Fries, and of course, the BK Quad Stacker.

Only two years after leaving the stock market, BKW has returned to the NYSE- up over 60% since the summer of 2012. But a new BK has emerged, and the daredevil restaurant that used to captivate my palate melted into a shadow of its former self.  The menu lacks excitement and personality while touting diet French fries.

The Fire Rises

While BK slides down a slope into the mundane, a Dark Knight has risen from the depths to become a shining paragon of fast food innovation. I’m talking of course about Taco Bell. Images of soggy tacos from beef hoses have been replaced by food items we didn’t even know existed.  Waffle tacos, crunch wraps with eggs, cinnabons with the icing inside! Instead of following this “health” trend that America seems to be heading towards, Taco Bell is embracing its contrarian culture by constantly innovating new items, and even new meal times.  On top of driving more Americans to eat out for breakfast, T-bell is pushing mid-afternoon happy hour deals in addition to their infamous 4^th meal special.

As McDonalds remains in an identity purgatory, expect T-Bell’s Yum! Brands siblings to continue to follow Taco Bell’s example.  KFC is engineering sandwiches with patties for buns, while Pizza hut collects over $1 million in sales from their XBOX app…per month. These companies are embracing technology, their customer base, and most importantly, fast food innovation.

Telecommunications: the transmission of information as words, sounds, or images, usually over great distances…by telegraph, telephone, radio, or television.

Even before Ben Evans posted this tweet last week, I had been pondering the same issue.  From virtual reality to drones, Facebook’s expanding presence has and will continue to focus on one thing: connecting people. 

From smoke signals to the Pony Express, man has spent hundreds of years trying to hasten communication over long distances.  With the development and proliferation of the Internet, instantaneous communication became a reality not long ago.  Now that speed has been mastered, the next frontier is expanding this capability to everyone.  Mark Zuckerburg’s desire to connect the globe and provide Internet to all of Earth’s inhabitants are akin to those of Samuel Morse and Alexander Bell.

Major TelCo Users

Facebook: 1.3 billion
China Mobile: 700 million
Vodafone: 440 million
AT&T: 105 million

Although they do not build the wires or lay the cables that enable transmission, Facebook (along with WhatsApp and Instagram) seems to be aligning its goal of connectivity to the definition of telecommunication. If I want to send words, sounds, or images, I am going to use SMS, a phone call, or SnapChat from my GS4 or iPad. I am not going to use my telegraph, telephone, radio or television.  Actually sometimes I use my telegraph.

SOE to IPO

The Chinese microblogging website Weibo is going public this Thursday, spinning off from its parent company, SINA Corp.  Although SINA will own 80% of the voting stock, Alibaba has the option to own up to 30% of the regular shares following the IPO, which they will likely exercise.

Pronounced “Way-Bwah”

Weibo is different from Twitter in many ways, mainly in its ability to deliver long-form content.  Embedding pictures, videos and music directly into a user’s feed has always been a central part of the platform.

Weibo looks to consolidate content distribution which has traditionally been fragmented between different groups of microblogging platforms.  However, the fundamental growth story is not so much a function of technological innovation, but a growing middle class and a reforming government. There is a proven correlation between free speech and consumer spending.

140 ≠ 140

Twitter’s newly announced profile layout looks very similar to that of Weibo’s– which has been in place since 2010. One of Twitter’s major problems is the inability of advertisers to stand out in a user’s stream compared to Facebook’s and Weibo’s larger more visually appealing feeds. 

The more fundamental difference between the two is the disparity between 140 characters in Chinese and 140 characters in English.  In Chinese, a user can get across about 5x more information and meaning with 140 characters than in English.  Weibo has hit the sweet spot between short form, microblogging, and long form.

A New Era in E-Commerce:

Another fascinating component is their strategic partnership with Alibaba.  The two companies launched an O2O payment system together, and with that may have cracked the code into social commerce.  Their tight knit relationship could finally bring together e-commerce and social in a way Amazon and Facebook never have.  Weibo has plans for “product cards” which can be placed directly in a user’s feed.  A two-click payment system will allow purchase of an item without leaving the site.  The benefits of this two-way data exchange are profound.

The Dream of the 90’s is Alive on Amazon

With Facebook entering the mobile payment market, the convergence of social media and electronic and mobile payment seem like the logical next step.  Take one look at Amazon’s home page and it looks like a trip back to the 90’s- cluttered, unorganized, and socially barren.  The next stage in third party advertising revenue will not be driven by ad sales, but actual product sales.  Companies can sell their product right to the customer, with a thriving pool of data they did not have access to before. We are on the brink of a new era of social commerce, and I’m excited to see who takes the lead in the West.

Trying to Survive on 95

This past weekend I visited my friends in Miami, where I went to school (UM).  It was a great time but I noticed something about tech adaptation that I found upsetting.

Venmo

On two occasions I went out for a big group meal with a large bill at the end.  In New York, this process has streamlined with one person typically agreeing to put the bill on their card, and everyone else venmoing their due amount to that person.  It’s not a perfect process (tax and tip + figuring out what everyone owes is still in limbo) but it is much better than splitting the check between cards and cash. But since everyone in NY has Venmo, the time after the check arrives has become less awkward.

There are a few different apps that are attacking this uncomfortable part of the meal, but this clip from one of my favorite shows, Portlandia, captures this moment perfectly. 

Uber

Another issue I had was transportation.  I am not old enough to rent a car, and unlike New York, you can’t get around with public transit.  Although I rarely use Uber in NYC, I use it almost every time I go out in DC. Multiple times I waited on the street for more than 10 minutes for a cab and once inside had to pay cash every time. (The Uber problem is a political one, which I will save for a later post, but you can sign a quick petition encouraging Florida’s state congress to allow Uber to operate here.) 

I know NYC is a tech hub, but it was interesting to see how technological integration and progress was so divergent between two major US cities.  Hopefully Facebook’s step into e-commerce will encourage further mobile payment going forward.

Software = Hardware

Johnny Ive becoming head of software design is a fascinating inflection point for software design. The lines between hardware and software are blurring as hardware innovation flattens into a purgatory between smartphones and wearables.  As we wait for the smartphone to die and the next wave of devices to emerge, the race for brilliant software will hasten.

 
I have a Galaxy S4, and if you’ve been around me you know that I’ve been a snob about it–that it’s so much coo-ler than the iPhone.  And then iOS 7 came out. The impact it had completely changed not just software, but businesses and advertising as well. Flat design has completely taken over, with companies re-branding their logos and mascots to match that of Apple.

Open Source to the Rescue

When I had all but lost hope of Android ever finding beauty like iOS, I discovered three apps that changed my mind. Any.do is a simple to-do list app, but beyond getting alerts in the notification center, reminders emerge from the bottom of the home screen. I didn’t know apps could permeate into different parts of the phone but I thought it was cool nonetheless.  Then I downloaded Cover.

My seemingly boring lock screen is now “smart” and contextually knows what apps I want to use based on my location and the time of day.  Cover also provides a much improved ability to switch between apps—a huge upgrade from the current hold and scroll option.  Along with Google’s acquisition of Timely (a fairly simple, but elegant alarm clock app) we are witnessing a renewed focus on software aesthetics, and most importantly, making the little things matter again.

Until Google releases their own phone, I’m looking for more apps to come out and bridge the end-to-end software gap that Android suffers. 

*Cover was acquired by Twitter last week