This List (No.8)

12th August 2016

This week I enjoyed this…

• News that Mondo, the UK mobile banking startup has been granted a UK banking licence, albeit with some restrictions by regulators. Via an iOS or Android app, the service offers the ability to do things like track spending in real-time, view geolocation-marked transactions on a map, analyse spending by category, and get a graphical timeline of overall expenditure. Being granted the licence means that Mondo co-founder and co-CEO, Tom Blomfield, is now the youngest CEO of a bank in the UK. Mondo has an open API and regularly runs its own hack events, differentiating with in-house banking tech that can swiftly offer features that legacy high street banks struggle to implement with out-dated software and infrastructure. Looking forward to seeing what’s next for the company as it gears towards a full banking launch early next year.
• Article on the audacity of copying well, especially in reference to Instagram’s rollout of ‘Stories’ - a feature that’s almost identical to the central feed in Snapchat. The writer notes that the first mistake most incumbents make when building new products in response to threatening new competitors is attempting to win on features. The problem with focusing on features as a means of differentiation is that nothing happens in a vacuum: category-defining products by definition get a lot of the user experience right from the beginning, and the parts that aren’t perfect become the standard anyway simply because consumers get used to them. The fact features don’t offer useful differentiation does not remove the need for differentiation though: the key is figuring out what else can be leveraged. In introducing ‘Stories’ to Instagram, the Facebook owned company decided to leverage one of its most valuable assets: 500 million existing users. The potential risk of this is creating a fractured user experience that feels like two completely separate apps and goes against the grain of the original value proposition: can ephemerality and authenticity easily sit next door to permanence and perfection? Also, while on the topic of Snapchat in general, there was a Business Insider piece this week on how some teenagers are using the service - a fascinating personal account that’s well worth a read and to my mind adds fuel to the argument that ‘Stories’ will be unlikely to have much impact on younger Snapchat users.
• Guardian Labs article (sponsored by Spotify I should add) pitting a label manager and record store owner against Spotify’s Discover Weekly feature in a bid to beat its algorithm and nail a music lover’s taste. I was particularly partial to this piece as the store owner in question is Spencer Hickman, the founder of Death Waltz Records and manager of Mondo - one of my favourite labels releasing some of the most ornate and beautiful physical products in their field (including the re-issue of the fantastic Twin Peaks soundtrack that was released this week). The article is one of a five-part series looking into human and algorithmic music curation - a new article on the subject will go live every Monday for the rest of August on the Guardian Labs site.
• Annual UK communications report from Ofcom. Lots of data and insight to dig into here but even some of the key headlines make for some interesting reading. Almost a fifth of adults currently use a music streaming service, up from 13% the previous year. Even more (26%) watch paid-for VoD services each week though. Nearly 90% of consumers tuned into the radio in 2015 and spent just over three hours listening each day. Time spent listening by 15–24 year olds, however, has fallen by five hours in the past ten years. Although faster internet access is more widely available than ever before with an increase in the take-up of super-fast broadband and 4G, the research also found that one in three adult internet users (equivalent to 15 million people in the UK) has sought a period of time offline in the last year. Of those that have undertaken a ‘digital detox’, 25% spent up to a day internet-free; 20% taking a week off; and 5% going web-free for up to a whole month.
• Analysis of the title sequence of Stranger Things, Netflix’s latest original show. I haven’t had the chance to finish the series quite yet, but the amazingly eerie sequence had me sold within the first ten minutes. The show is loaded with subtle nods and not-so-subtle homages to some of the most beloved films of the ’80s and the titles are no exception. Backed by a synth laden John Carpenter-esque track, the refreshingly simple intro just consists of a few pans of the glowing red logo. As the author notes, the typography is a modified version of the distinctive font used on a multitude of Stephen King novels - immediately evoking the macabre. I’d recommend checking out the show for this alone; a real testament to the power of type in motion and the potency of nostalgia.