Hello All –
We start this week off by focusing upon the value of gathering accurate Product Requirements, Content for Usability, and Apple’s Design Tools and Process. Continuing on we read about the unfortunate Blimp crash near the U.S. Open, the role of technology in the transformation of transportation, and finally on the growing scarcity of sand.
In case you missed it today, Amazon announced it is acquiring Whole Foods. Skipping through all of the noise about the deal, the most important aspect to consider is how the face of retail shopping is changing. It is well documented how traditional brick and mortar companies are losing valuable ground to online retailers like Amazon and Walmart, but what perhaps is not talked about is how people discover and learn about new products, how home delivery is changing shopping patterns, and the impact that well thought out design has throughout the shopping cycle. As a result, this week’s entries are heavy on Amazon, Wal-Mart, and rippling market effects. Jeff Bezos has made quite a bit of news this week with this acquisition, his call on Twitter for Philanthropic ideas, and rumors about a potential deal for Slack. Meanwhile Wal-Mart is pushing their own vision with acquiring Bonobos, the online menswear company.
The future of retail is changing. One does not have to think too hard to see how Virtual Reality may have a profound impact upon many industries in the not-so-distant future.
Have a great week-end…
M
1. How To Create Product Requirements In One Hour Or Less
“One of the most boring and time consuming tasks in software development is creating product requirements. You spend endless days taking UI screenshots, writing up descriptions of what each UI control does, how users will interact with it, what kind of results the screens will show, and how the app will handle errors and edge cases.”
https://medium.com/@keynotopia/how-to-create-product-requirements-in-one-hour-c030927d6e5b?mc_cid=5037e5c1d7&mc_eid=0896e2d71c
2. Writing Content For Usability
“Beyond formal content strategy lies a truth: designers and developers often have to write content that end-users see. And if you don’t consider yourself a wordsmith, then this effort can seem futile.”
https://aycl.uie.com/virtual_seminars/writing_content_for_usability/
3. Big News! Exposure Of Apple’s Official Design And Apple Design Tools
“Apple has long been leading the market for its advanced design idea and the unique innovation spirit. Not a single company with determination doesn’t want to make achievement as huge as Apple. I guess you are also dying to know how Apple design a product. Actually, with only unique innovation is far from sufficiency. Moreover, acting out those fantastic ideas is key to achieve a great product. Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief designer, disclosed Apple’s unique design process during the interview at New York Times. Meanwhile, I’d like to recommend the specific Apple design tools depends on the distinct design process.”
https://www.mockplus.com/blog/post/apple-design-tools/
4. Amazon To Acquire Whole Foods Market
“Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announces a deal to acquire Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7B.”
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/16864228-amazon-acquire-whole-foods-market
5. What’s The Grocery Business Really Worth To Amazon? More Than You Might Think
“The answer is two-fold. One of those answers is it may well be worth it to Amazon. For perspective, Amazon turned $136 billion worth of revenue in 2016 into income of $2.3 billion. The company is clearly no stranger to thin margins. Indeed, grocery margins may actually be better than Amazon’s norm, particularly if it’s able to impose its usual level of efficiency and scale on the operation. And it looks like it will. If the organization can only capture 10% of the grocery business income, Amazon’s net income would improve by a couple hundred million dollars. The second and more prescient answer is Amazon’s primary aim may not even be to turn a profit. It’s been noted before but bears repeating now that Amazon isn’t an e-commerce retailer or a provider of digital services. It’s a lifestyle company, looking to become the centerpiece of consumers’ typical day. Its Echo keeps users in touch and entertained, hands-free. Re-ordering goods as mundane as laundry detergent is as easy as the push of a button. A myriad of on-demand video contact piped into your home by Amazon is a click away. One way or another, Amazon is going to monetize you, even if some of its services are loss-leaders. Given enough time and enough personal data about you, it will figure out a way to extract profit from you. Groceries are just another hook. And it’s quietly, consistently casting out more hooks.”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4081821-grocery-business-really-worth-amazon-might-think
6. Jeff Bezos Wants Ideas For Philanthropy, So He Asked Twitter
“On Thursday, Mr. Bezos sent a tweet to his more than 222,000 followers asking for suggestions for philanthropic giving. He specifically asked for ideas that could help the world in the near term, a contrast to long-term personal investments he has made in for-profit companies with social impact, like Blue Origin, a space firm, and The Washington Post.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/technology/jeff-bezos-amazon-twitter-charity.html
7. Amazon Targets Your Fridge With $13.7 Billion Whole Foods Deal
“For Amazon.com Inc., the blockbuster $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. is a giant step toward dominating every part of a consumer’s shopping experience. Amazon is already in your mailbox, with all of the items you’re purchasing with your Prime membership; your living room, with its Echo device and Prime television services; your library, with its Kindle; and your closet, with Zappos. Now it wants to fill your fridge. “This is an earthquake rattling through the grocery sector as well as the retail world,” Mark Hamrick, analyst at Bankrate.com, said in an email.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-16/amazon-targets-your-fridge-with-13-7-billion-whole-foods-deal
8. Walmart To Buy Bonobos, Men’s Wear Company, For $310 Million
“Walmart has agreed to acquire the men’s clothing company Bonobos for $310 million. The purchase is part of a sweeping effort by the world’s largest retailer to revamp its business model as it tries to better compete with Amazon, which on Friday announced that it would buy the upscale grocer Whole Foods for $13.4 billion.Bonobos, founded 10 years ago in New York, began by selling simple chino pants on the internet. In recent years, it has expanded to offer shirts, suits and other men’s clothing, and has opened dozens of brick-and-mortar locations, as well as boutiques in Nordstrom department stores, a previous investor in the start-up.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/business/walmart-bonobos-merger.html
9. Slack Is Said To Be In Talks To Raise $500 Million
“Slack, an office messaging company, is in talks to raise around $500 million at a valuation around $5 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the financing.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/technology/slack-amazon-fundraising.html
10. Virtual Reality’s iPhone Moment
“For every new technology industry, there’s a point in its development when it becomes cool. When it’s no longer the remit of nerds in the basement — it’s a popular item that is sought by the general population. This is when hype and reality collide in a sonic boom of window-shattering glory.”
https://medium.com/@pauric.holleran/virtual-realitys-iphone-moment-c8e21b8773f2
11. The Most Revolutionary Thing About Self-Driving Cars Isn’t What You Think
“The hype around autonomous vehicles has reached a fever pitch, with most people focused on the immediate innovation and novelty of driverless cars. Headlines in leading publications reinforce the hype: “Driverless cars inspire a new gold rush in California.” The potential has been reinforced by Intel recently spending $15 billion to buy Mobileye, which makes self-driving sensors and software. As this purchase highlights, and what many have yet to grasp, is that the true transformation isn’t the car, but the underlying digital technology.”
https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/the-most-revolutionary-thing-about-self-driving-cars-isnt-what-you-think-27f617dd49ca
12. Blimp Pilot Suffers Burns After Crash Near U.S. Open
“Walsh called Thompson one of the most sought pilots of this type of airship in the United States, and he credited crew chief Matt Schmidt with saving his life. Schmidt told ESPN.com that he was the first to arrive at the crash scene and that he pulled Thompson away from the burning wreckage just before the blimp’s propane tanks exploded.”
http://www.espn.com/golf/usopen17/story/_/id/19644989/pilot-sufferes-serious-injuries-blimp-crashes-site-us-open
13. The World Is Running Out Of Sand
“It’s one of our most widely used natural resources, but it’s scarcer than you think.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
