saila: Pretty obvious results in hindsight, but this is a useful map of app engagement on mobile devices

I’m elbows-deep in an optimization project, helping the client track churn, retention, ARPU and LTV. Forbes online published this article warning about the dangers of relying on LTV; I agree with much of it. The headline was misleading, but the article was quite good. LTV is a tool, not a substitute for strategy. LTV forces you to think about retention and upsell. Many companies have no idea what their retention is by channel.

This month’s Fast Company features a cover story about Amazon’s Kindle. It describes how Amazon could use the Kindle to squeeze publishers out of the book value chain. It also talks about how Apple might respond, and what the ensuing battle might look like. Over the past few years I’ve been impressed by Amazon’s willingness to create products and services in markets where there still is really no business - like Kindle.