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Adobe Acrobat at 20: Successes, Second Guesses and a Few Miscues
This month, Adobe Acrobat turns 20. Adobe Systems co-founder and co-chairman John Warnock and SVP of technology Bob Wulff spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about the product's origins, early struggles and eventual success -- in addition to expounding on what's wrong with the worldwide web and why the world needs to defeat the App Store.
From: June 05, 2013
Mobile Devices and Cybercrime: Is Your Phone the Weakest Link?
As wireless devices become increasingly ingrained into our daily lives both at work and at home, they open the door to heightened security risks. Not only do such devices become points of access for cybercriminals, but they also may be more easily breached than personal computers since many consumers do not secure their smartphones or tablets with antivirus software or take simple precautions, such as enabling password protection. The implications are dire for consumers and businesses alike, but the solutions aren't clear cut, Wharton experts say.
From: June 05, 2013
TechStars' Brad Feld: A Startup Community Needs a 20-year Time Horizon
Brad Feld sold his Boston startup and moved to Boulder, Colo., in 1995. The city already had a bustling entrepreneurial community, and Feld was soon in the thick of things. He co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, earlier, Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch software companies. More recently, he co-founded two early-stage venture capital firms -- the Foundry Group and TechStars -- which provide seed funding and angel investors. A startup community has to tap its "natural resources," he says in this Knowledge@Wharton interview. Feld is also the author of several books, including Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. (Podcast with transcript)
From: June 05, 2013
Google Glass: Can 'Tech Cool' Become 'Market Cool'?
With the introduction of Google Glass, an effort to create and market computerized eyewear, Google has captured the imagination of technologists, consumers and even sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live," while also raising a number of social and privacy issues. Experts at Wharton say that the Google Glass experiment will be important to watch from a business, marketing and cultural perspective, and they add that no one -- including Google -- has any clue how the search giant's efforts will play out.
From: May 22, 2013
Adobe's Shift to the Cloud: Is This the Start of a Trend?
Adobe, the leading software company targeting creative professionals, is exiting the shrink-wrap software business in favor of subscription-based software and online "cloud" services. While perhaps painful at first, the business model change will be ultimately beneficial for consumers and Adobe alike, and other software companies are likely to follow, say experts at Wharton.
From: May 08, 2013
Is Facebook Home a Game Changer?
Facebook's launch of Facebook Home, a user interface that can replace the existing home screen on select smartphones with features related to the social network, may give the company a solid mobile strategy while potentially causing a headache for rival Google, Wharton experts say. It may also usher in a wave of new, innovative user interfaces for mobile devices.
From: April 24, 2013
Samsung: A Hardware Manufacturer Seeking Its Software Side
Samsung's splashy Radio City Music Hall debut of its Galaxy S4 smartphone marked a coming out party not only for the company's latest flagship device, but also for its ambitions to be an innovative leader in software and an integrator of multiple devices in consumers' lives. Samsung is aiming to become more like Apple, Wharton experts say. The question is, does the Korean electronics giant have the software prowess to accomplish that goal?
From: March 27, 2013
What Defines Success in the Mobile Race?
Facebook, Zynga and Google are high-profile examples of companies that are aggressively pursuing mobile strategies. But according to Wharton experts, all consumer-facing firms will have to consider the smaller screens on smartphones and tablets as a primary way to reach customers in the future. The key question, they say, is not necessarily whether companies will adapt, but rather how they will define success on mobile platforms.
From: February 13, 2013
Farewell to Fido: A Lesson in Digital Customer Relationship Management
When Zynga announced recently that it was shutting down an underperforming online game called Petville, many players were devastated over the loss of their virtual pets, and angry with the company for pulling the plug so suddenly. Outcry aside, how much responsibility did the firm have to ease the transition for its customers, particularly since the game was not a significant moneymaker? Wharton experts have differing opinions, but they note that Zynga's experience is an important lesson for any firm in how to approach digital customer relationship management.
From: January 30, 2013
Up in the Cloud: Hype and High Expectations for Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is creating waves in different industries across the developed world, helping both entrepreneurs and large conglomerates quickly respond to opportunities and manage their business processes more effectively. A recent survey by Knowledge@Wharton and enterprise software firm SAP reveals that people have very high expectations for the future of cloud computing; at the same time, they admit that they don't fully understand the technology. Knowledge@Wharton spoke with David Spencer, vice president at SAP, and Don Huesman, managing director at the Wharton Innovation Group, to clarify questions surrounding the future of cloud computing. (Podcast with transcript)
From: January 16, 2013
Apple's Foray into China -- and the Mind of the New Chinese Consumer
Apple has been a success story in China to date, demonstrating in some ways the perfect combination of product and market fit. Indeed, the company's meteoric rise suggests that Chinese consumers are slowly evolving from merely making buying decisions based on status toward demanding products that also offer superior design and functionality.
From: January 02, 2013
Dating in a Digital World: Trends in 21st Century China
According to traditional Chinese matchmaking culture, family elders drive the screening and selection of their children's future. But in the last decade, rapid urbanization, increasing gender imbalance and the coming of age of the One-child Policy generation has changed the way people find love in big cities. These factors have spurred the growth of online dating and match-making, a nascent industry in China that is expected to exceed two billion RMB (US$318 million) in annual revenue by 2014.
From: January 02, 2013
Windows 8: Will Microsoft's Latest Big Bet Pay Off?
When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer officially launched Windows 8 on October 25, he touted a "re-imagined Windows" with touch-screen capability, a new user interface and elimination of the traditional Start menu. However, declining PC sales worldwide and uncertainty surrounding Microsoft's ability to woo consumers to its new operating system -- which differs significantly from previous Windows versions -- have some experts wondering what will happen to Microsoft if Windows 8 doesn't take off.
From: December 19, 2012
'Makers': Chris Anderson on DIY Manufacturing
Just as the Internet enabled anyone with a computer to become an entrepreneur, today's newest technologies have spawned a DIY (do it yourself) micro-manufacturing movement, so anyone can be both inventor and manufacturer. Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of the new book, Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, recently spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about how technology is changing the limits of what inventors can do, what the Maker Movement is, why he started DIY Drones and how the new technologies will drive the global economy. (Audio with transcript)
From: December 17, 2012
Disconnected? The Perils of Digital Interdependence
The damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy revealed the vulnerabilities of the nation's telecommunications networks. Services that used to operate as independent networks are now controlled by the same underlying infrastructure, making them more efficient and cheaper to manage -- but also more exposed to an attack or natural disaster. Sandy has prompted the federal government, telecom firms and the public to address this issue -- but there are no easy answers, experts say.
From: December 05, 2012
