About Me
I’m Charles Fitzgerald and this is my blog. I write infrequently and nominally on the economics of platforms, or whatever else captures my interest.
Follow Me on Twitter.
Author Archives: Charles Fitzgerald
Do Not Call: Robodialer Retaliation Coming Soon?
I despise robodialers and their political masters who exempt themselves from the popular Do Not Call legislation. At one point in these pages I dreamed of retaliating in kind against those who wield them: Retaliate in kind – I could … Continue reading
Amazon: Retailer or Platform Company?
Amazon’s App Store for Android has been denounced as “Rotten To The Core” by Shifty Jelly, a small Australian developer. It would be safe to say Shifty Jelly’s experience as the “Free App of the Day” didn’t meet their expectations. … Continue reading
A Tale of Two Stocks
IBM MSFT Revenue (TTM) $101.62 billion $68.62 billion Profit (TTM) $15.1 billion $21.79 billion Net Margin 14.9% 31.8% Price/Earnings 14.28 9.72 Forward P/E 11.67 8.84 Price/Sales 2.03 3.01 PE/Growth 1.33 0.9 Price/FCF 19.19 10.74 Dividend Yield 1.76% 2.61% Debt/Equity … Continue reading
Fun With Numbers: New York Times Digital Subscriptions Edition
We run the numbers so you don’t have. There are four new options: Plan Description Rate (every four weeks) Free 20 free articles a month plus unlimited access to the home page, section fronts, blog fronts and classified. Plus free … Continue reading
Strategic Sprawl, We Do It All
HP’s new CEO has unveiled his strategy for the company. The debut was accompanied by an epic press release. Some of my favorite parts: “Connected World” – hopefully Paul Allen won’t call from the 1990s and ask for his strategy … Continue reading
Economic Forecasting in Alternative Universes
<dweeby econo-skepticism follows> The New York Times Magazine today has an article on the past, present and future of the Obama administration’s economic policy. It is a good if long read and chock full of inside baseball, political speaking points … Continue reading
A WARM-Up Act
As WARM (Windows-ARM) reportedly takes the stage in Las Vegas tomorrow, some thoughts: This is “big” Windows, not yet another repackaging of Windows CE. Remember Windows NT got its start supporting multiple CPU architectures. This has huge implications for Windows … Continue reading
Quantitative Easing Explained
Forget reading Fed minutes, this makes it all clear. (via Business Insider)
Fun with Numbers: State Fiscal Policy Edition
Warning: serious wonkery ahead. Not for the faint of chart. Amid discussions of how dire are the fiscal situations of American states and which state most resembles Greece, plus various initiatives on the ballot in the recent election, I was … Continue reading
