MG Siegler is a general partner at Google Ventures and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009.
Previously, MG was a general partner at CrunchFund. And before TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat.
Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he was a web developer. He also writes at his own blogs, ParisLemon and Massive Greatness, writes movie reviews in haiku format, and tweets a lot.
He now lives in San Francisco.
============= Conflicts Of Interest =============
I am a partner at Google Ventures, a venture capital firm with investments in many startups around the world. I am also a limited partner in a couple other venture funds. And I’m an advisor to a few companies.
Previously, I was a partner at CrunchFund, and as such, have a vested interest in that portfolio of startups as well.
Currently, the only public stocks I own are Facebook and Apple — both of which I bought because their stock prices crashed way too low for no apparent reasons and because I like good deals.
I have compiled a list of investments here — though there are quite a few that aren’t yet public, so it’s not quite complete.
As an investor with a lot of positions, I’ll be transparent about them when appropriate. It’s that simple.
“So why is iPad so phenomenally successful? Well it turns out that there’s a simple reason for this,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told an audience at the Apple event last week in San Jose. “People love their iPads.”
The response drew some awkward laughs as it seemed almost like the punchline of a misfired joke. But it wasn’t a joke — Cook was absolutely serious. → Read More
After this past week’s Apple event, one thing stood out to me above all others. And just to make sure, I watched the event again. Same result.
The shots fired at Android tablets.
For everything that Apple announced (new MacBook Pros, Mac minis, iMacs, iPads, and iPad minis), this was what I walked away thinking about. It was a fascinating look into the collective mind of Apple. → Read More
Apple’s Q4 2012 results were mixed. As usual, reading Twitter, you’d think this was the end of the world. Nevermind that Amazon managed to post a loss on $13.8 billion in sales today — Apple only made $8.2 billion in profit. “Ahhhh!!!!! What is wrong with Apple?!!!” “This would have never have happened under Steve!”
That’s right, such a profit wouldn’t have happened under Steve. In fact, it… → Read More
A year ago sucked. I mean, it was actually great, but it sure seemed to suck at the time. We were getting CrunchFund off the ground and I think everyone thought we were going to do that in full conjunction with Aol — they were and are the largest limited partner of the fund, after all. → Read More
I remember my favorite Sony Walkman. It was yellow. And bulky. And slow. And ugly. I loved it. It played cassettes. Cassettes! I took it to Australia one summer. It’s still something I think about from time to time. Just me and my music in this yellow player thousands of miles from home.
So when Apple asked if there was a particular color of the new iPod nano that I wanted to test out… → Read More
It’s easy to forget that the iPod touch didn’t even include a camera until 2010. While such a key feature has been standard on the iPhone since its initial unveiling in 2007, Apple apparently didn’t think it was one of the must-have features of the touch. That changes this year.
With the new iPod touch (the fifth generation, for those keeping score at home), which was unveiled a few weeks ago… → Read More
You pick it up and it almost feels fake. That’s not to say it feels cheap; because it doesn’t — quite the opposite, actually. It just doesn’t seem real. Certainly not to someone who has been holding the iPhone 4/4S for the past two years. It feels like someone took one of those devices and hollowed it out.
The iPhone 5 is here.
I’ve had the opportunity to play around with the latest iPhone… → Read More
The opening dialogue of Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film, The Prestige:
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course…it probably isn’t. The second act… → Read More
It turns out we may have been over-thinking it.
If the invite sent out this morning by Apple is any indication, the next iPhone is likely to be called the “iPhone 5″. No, it doesn’t technically make sense — it is the sixth iteration of the iPhone — and yet, at the same time, it makes all the sense in the world. It’s the iPhone 5 because that’s what everyone is calling it. Sometimes it is… → Read More
Joking aside, this is remarkable. Apple’s market cap now stands at $623 billion. That’s a new all-time high for a publicly-traded stock in the U.S. The previous record was $618.9 billion, which Microsoft hit on December 30, 1999.
Yes, adjusted for inflation, Microsoft’s tally is far higher (about $850 billion), but you should also consider another inflation: that was the height of the tech… → Read More
When asked why he robbed banks, legend has it that Willie Sutton said, “because that’s where the money is.”
I’m reminded of this quote today when reading the reports that Apple is in talks with the cable operators about their television plans.
Why are they talking to them? Because that’s where the content is. → Read More
When the iPhone launched in 2007, there were three key components of the device that relied on Google:
1) Maps
2) YouTube
3) Web search
Let’s look at that list today, following the news that YouTube has been given the boot in the latest beta build of iOS 6: → Read More
Trying to write a review of OS X Mountain Lion is tricky. First of all, I had already written a review back in February, when Apple legitimately surprised the world with the revelation that the ninth iteration of OS X was just about ready to go. Granted, back then I only had a few days to play with an early build. But it was already pretty solid at that point. Now, months later, I’ve had a lot of… → Read More
Time to panic. Apple has produced another “miss” with their just-released Q3 2012 results. It’s their second such “miss” in less than a year. The sky is falling. Sell — Wall Street already is. Run.
Well, unless you’re a rational human being. Then maybe walk. Or stop. Look. And listen.
Why did Apple produce another miss this past quarter? It’s pretty straightforward, actually. They didn’t… → Read More
Trolls, feel free to skip to the bottom of this column and post your comments immediately without reading a word. Actually, who are we kidding — you didn’t make it this far.
Everyone else, brace yourselves. You may want small children to leave the room. I’m about to do something I don’t do often — something I always said I’d do if the product deserved it. Something some people seem to think… → Read More
It was nearly two years ago that I said goodbye to my MacBook Pro. I loved the device, but the new MacBook Air was that good. My Pro — which was only six months old at the time! — seemed like total overkill for my computing needs. The Air was finally fast enough to use on a daily basis, and it was (obviously) significantly thinner and lighter. It was a no-brainer in my mind: Air all the… → Read More
It’s simple really. The new MacBook Pro with the “Retina” display is something you have to see to believe. Perhaps you were watching the live coverage of the keynote today and thinking it’s not a big deal. It’s a very big deal. Once you see this screen, you will forever be ruined. You will not be able to use another screen. The effect is similar to the one we first saw with the iPhone 4 and later… → Read More
Flashback to December 6, 2011: Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is on stage at LeWeb in Paris and is asked by an audience member why most application developers still choose to develop for iOS first rather than Android? Schmidt’s response:
“Six months from now you’ll say the opposite. Because ultimately applications vendors are driven by volume. And the volume is favored by the open approach… → Read More
There’s been a lot of flirting going on in recent months between Apple and Facebook. In February, Apple CEO Tim Cook told a group of investors that Facebook was “the one company that is closest to being like Apple”. Last week, Apple did a big App Store promotion for Facebook’s new Camera app, and clearly knew about it well beforehand. Then, of course, there were Cook’s comments at the D10… → Read More
For Google Maps, winter is coming. Potentially.
As you’ve undoubtedly seen by now, with the upcoming iOS 6 software, Apple intends to replace the Google Maps aspect of their default Maps application with their own, in-house version. Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac was the first to report this news, and dives into more of the detail behind it, including the 3D aspect. John Paczkowski of AllThingsD … → Read More
In September 2010, I wrote a post that ignited an absolute shitstorm around these parts. “Shitstorm” in this case meaning a post with a thousand comments, the majority of which were spewed up by rabid Android fanatics. The title of that post:
Is Android Surging Only Because Apple Is Letting It?
At the time, we were in the midst of a massive Android surge to the top of the smartphone… → Read More
Two quarters ago, Apple unleashed Godzilla. It was a quarter so spectacular that the only appropriate way to describe it was in pure expletive form. $46 billion in revenue. $13 billion in profit. 37 million iPhones sold. 15 million iPads sold. A gross margin of 44 percent. These weren’t just good numbers, they were obscene.
That’s what made yesterday’s earnings release insane: Apple almost… → Read More
Five years ago, Microsoft reported revenue of $14.398 billion. They reported a profit of $6.589 billion. Last week, for the same quarter, Microsoft’s revenue was $17.407 billion. Their profit was $6.374 billion. The company is still growing, but not fast. And they’re actually making less money.
Compare that with Apple. Five years ago, revenue was $7.1 billion. Profit was $1.0 billion — the… → Read More
Will Apple make a 7 inch iPad? That’s the question being batted around yet again today. The true answer right now is easy: I don’t know. No one does. Most likely not even Apple. They’re undoubtedly thinking about it. And may even have to make a call soon. But it has probably not been decided just yet. But that’s a lame answer. Let’s sexy it up using history, logic, and common sense.
Will Apple… → Read More
Attention George Foreman: report to an Apple Store near you immediately. There’s a hot (literally) product, you simply must buy the entire inventory of to keep your grilling empire alive: the new iPad.
Or at least, that’s what the latest nonsense from Consumer Reports would have you believe.
We’ve seen this ridiculousness from Consumer Reports before. In June 2010, at the height of… → Read More
Earlier today, AT&T announced record sales and activation numbers for the new iPad. During the Apple dividend/buyback call, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke of a “record weekend” for the new iPad. Unfortunately, neither had actual numbers to share. And that was odd since normally when Apple has a new record number to crow about, crow they do. This was more of an Amazon maneuver where “records” are set… → Read More
The new iPad nears. Apparently Walmart will be selling them in just a few short hours, well before Apple itself does tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, the first direct-to-consumer shipments should be hitting anytime now. Long story short, a lot of people are going to be getting the new Retina display iPad over the next several hours. Unsurprisingly, the Retina-ready apps are already flowing in.
When… → Read More
I remember watching the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray wars closely a few years back. I wanted one to win so I could go out and buy a next generation movie player. But the battle went on and on, and by the time Blu-ray won, I had set my sights on a new frontier: digital distribution. I never did get that Blu-ray player. And now I’m quite certain I never will. The new 1080p Apple TV is here.
To be clear… → Read More
Even if you have perfect vision, indulge me here for a second. You know when you go in for an eye exam and you’re asked to look at a combination of letters and numbers on a chart against a far wall? You read the first few lines, then realize you actually can’t go any further. Then you get prescribed glasses (or contacts) and you can all of a sudden read every letter and number. And even the ones… → Read More
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