Ideal e-Book Reading Device
Posted on July 27, 2010
It’s increasingly evident that book publishing is undergoing a fundamental transformation. First, for two-and-a-half years Amazon.com pioneered the e-book market toward critical mass, largely keeping industry statistics to themselves. Second, the March iPad launch accelerated matters by initiating an irrevocable chain reaction that has only just begun. Cascading new developments seem to materialize monthly, if not faster.
For example, by unit volume June e-book sales at Amazon.com were eighty-percent greater than hard covers. Earlier this month notable authors such as Pat Conroy and Philip Roth contracted with powerful agents to publish their pre-Internet-era novels as e-books. The arrangement circumvents traditional publishers and increases author royalties. Simultaneously e-book reading devices are proliferating and prices are dropping. Visiting a typical Barnes & Noble store symbolically underscores the magnitude of change. As the leading terrestrial book chain few companies could be more dependent upon physical book sales. Nonetheless, each store now normally exhibits the Nook electronic reader prominently at the entrance. Read more…
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Now WiFi Networks Can Make Money
Posted on July 21, 2010
If you want to learn how your company can profit from potentially explosive growth for commercial WiFi networks, this video is for you.
Our eight minute PowerPoint explains the triggering factors, sizeable potential, and enough concrete information to get your company started.
Download video for iPad, iPhone, and iPod here.
First, AT&T Wireless’ decision to impose usage-sensitive data pricing on the iPad and iPhone will cause subscribers to seek WiFi hotspots. Read more…
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Profiting from AT&T’s Retreat
Posted on July 18, 2010
Compelling research from AT&T Labs strongly implies that AT&T Wireless’ adoption of usage-sensitive Internet pricing for iPhones and iPads will seriously curtail per-subscriber growth of data usage. Most competitors are expected to follow suit, even after deploying 4G networks. Consequently the per-subscriber growth for the entire Wireless Internet will slow dramatically unless cellular bypass alternatives or other solutions materialize.
Download audio narration for iPod, iPhone and iPad (four minutes)
Our July, 2010 Mobile Bandwidth Crisis research report identifies alternatives and explains implementation. For example, in an earlier post we discussed how ad-supported WiFi networks could successfully bypass cellular congestion. Furthermore, we noted that iPhone-4 features such as FaceTime video calling– prohibited on AT&T cellular — combined with the expected popularity of media streaming on the iPad will lead owners of such units to seek out WiFi alternatives. Such networks could grow rapidly and earn exceptional profits. Read more…
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How Cord-Cutting Will Happen
Posted on July 15, 2010
Most anyone having more than six months experience with a computer-to-TV connection to get unlimited Internet access at the television realizes that cord-cutting is inevitable. It is not a question of “if”, but merely of “when”. But for businesses that must adapt the more important question is how it will happen. Once that process is understood, inevitability is hard to deny and constructive planning can begin.
Download audio of narrative for iPod, iPad, and iPhone here.
For the uninitiated, “cord-cutting” refers to a consumer’s decision to discontinue a television subscription service and replace it with various Internet activities on the TV screen. Generally Cable operators, media companies, and conventional industry researchers dismiss the possibility. For example, earlier this year one prominent industry analyst labeled it an “urban myth” because TV subscriber numbers continued to climb. Read more…
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Mobile Bandwidth Shortage
Posted on July 12, 2010
Download to iPod, iPhone, and iPad here.
The decision to adopt usage-sensitive data pricing by AT&T Wireless is significant. It is likely to cause a chain reaction fundamentally transforming the Wireless Internet. The changes will create important new business opportunities in both regulated and non-regulated sectors. The reaction sequence will proceed through three steps.
First, most major cellular carriers will follow AT&T’s lead. For example, Bloomberg reports that Verizon will be Apple’s second cellular operator when it launches its 4G network in January. Importantly, the carrier has separately commented that it will abandon unlimited pricing on that network. Although network congestion resulting from past explosive traffic growth accompanying smartphone and iPad popularity is the official explanation, it is also an opportunistic way for the industry to increase average subscriber revenue and thereby profits. Read more…
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Will Apple Make Televisions?
Posted on July 5, 2010
Unless it enables consumers to conveniently upgrade them without buying an entirely new set, Apple is unlikely to manufacture televisions. Instead it will more probably offer HDTV-compatible appliances that permit abundant Internet access on the TV screen.
Download audio narration to iPad, iPhone, or iPod.
Typically consumers buy a new TV every ten years. Presently a typical 52-inch model costs about $1,200. Presumably an Apple version would add Internet access, memory, and electronic intelligence thereby lifting the price even higher. If it adds as much memory and intelligence as contained in the MacMini, a hypothetical 52-inch Apple television would almost certainly be tagged over $2,000. (The MacMini is an Apple computer typically sold without a monitor.) Given such a price consumers would probably replace old sets at about the same once-per-decade rate. Read more…
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