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Amazon Is Everywhere And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what’s going on in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

We get all hyped about Apple product launches (see last week’s iPhone and Apple Watch announcements), but maybe the tide is turning, and we need to pay more attention to Amazon. Last week Amazon unleashed a staggering amount of new, smart and connected devices. From Alexa and Echo to smart wall sockets and beyond. In short: a huge and big push from Amazon. For your consideration: Amazon is going to be collecting our data in ways that we could never have imagined. George Orwell much?
While we are discussing the power of Amazon. Many look to them as the reason that retail is such a state of disruption (destruction/disrepair)? Well, if Amazon is killing physical retail stores, then it’s wild to hear that Amazon has plans to open up 3000 (yes, 3000) of their Amazon Go convenience stores. Yes, the cashierless, no checkout line stores are coming to a city near you and, maybe (just maybe) this marks the “phoenix from the ashes” moment for physical retail from the company that is most associated with trying to kill it.
App of the Week: Flipd. From the Washington Post: “Professor Lorenz Neuwirth was tired of his students scrolling through their phones during class. The students were physically present, but mentally many were miles away — and their class participation and grades reflected that. So two years ago, Neuwirth used his own money to pay for his students to download a new app called Flipd, which monitors the amount of time users spend on their phones. If students engaged with their phones during his classes, Neuwirth could see and track it, and it affected their final grades.”

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.