Internet Video Subscriptions
Posted on March 2, 2010
Video Insider Logo
Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider on March 2, 2010.
By: Philip Leigh
Since Shawn Fanning launched the original Napster about a decade ago CD music sales dropped by 50%. Unfortunately, legitimate digital downloads recaptured less than half the total. Given steadily compounding improvements in computer, storage, and network bandwidth, video-centric media companies have been apprehensively awaiting the new media Tsunami on their own shores. Many industry executives conclude it is now arriving. It appears their response is to (1) charge new incremental monthly fees and (2) increase existing ones. In short, after a decade to prepare, it looks like the industry’s most imaginative solution is to raise prices. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
The Future of Apple
Posted on February 20, 2010
The Need:
Since the turn of the century Apple evolved from a secondary computer company into the most potent force transforming media. It is the premier Digital Media innovator as evidenced by the iPod, iPhone and most recently the iPad. Basically each introduction defined a new product category or enabled an incipient one to “cross the chasm” into mass market acceptance. More of the same is expected in the future, not only from products but also from transactional services.
Most any business affected by the future of media will be directly impacted by Apple’s future innovations. Moreover, its existing product lines alone will carry the company past the $100 billion revenue threshold in less than five years.
Revenue Forecast - Percent Sales by Product Line
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
Selling e-Books as Agent
Posted on February 17, 2010
Phil Leigh
Amazon’s grudging agreement to act as agent when selling Macmillan e-books next month has important implications.
An agent is a business partner. However, Macmillan’s partnership notion is not fifty-fifty. The publisher concludes that they contribute more than twice the value of Amazon by taking 70% of the sales price for themselves and leaving only 30% for the online merchant.
There could hardly be a better example of irony considering that the 167-year-old publisher never found enough time to develop an e-book business on its own. Instead, 14-year-old Amazon.com invented the Kindle. To date Amazon has done more than any single business to launch the entire e-book industry, yet it gets the short end of the stick. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | 3 Comments
Rewriting Apple’s History
Posted on February 6, 2010
Video Insider Logo
As Mark Twain put it, “Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest don’t happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.” Normally the winners write history, but Apple’s success and lofty stock price has given a number of media executives a bad case of P/E envy. They’re distorting the past by accusing Apple of dictating terms of media consumption on the Internet.
For example, when Apple convinced the recorded music industry to sell digital downloads in 2003 it allocated seventy percent of the sales proceeds to the record labels and music publishers. One might suppose a business partner would be happy with a 70% share of incremental revenues, especially when that partner incurs almost no added cost. Perhaps they actually were smugly pleased with the deal originally. Maybe they figured Apple had been suckered into giving them more than twice as much as it kept for itself. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
Inventing the Future at Apple
Posted on January 30, 2010
Phil Leigh
As Xerox PARC pioneer Alan Kay once put it, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. Much like it did with the iPod and iPhone, Apple again invented the future when it introduced the iPad tablet computer in January.
From one perspective the iPad is an evolutionary extension of the iPod Touch. It uses the same operating system and user interface. Consumers familiar with the iPod Touch will quickly get the hang of the iPad. Neither device has a hard drive, or unpacks out of the box with a keyboard. Both can use the approximate 140,000 apps available at the Apps Store. The most obvious difference is the iPad screen which is about seven times larger. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
Lessons from a Digital Media Pioneer
Posted on January 23, 2010
Phil Leigh
Like the lost adventurer Carnehan from Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would be King, RealNetworks crept back into the news with the recent resignation of its CEO and Founder, Rob Glaser. Also like Carnehan Real hardly resembled the robust $12 billion market value industry leader it was at the turn of the Century having since dropped 95% in stock price. While Carnehan had an amazing story to tell, at least Glaser has an edifying one. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
Apple Service Might be a “Game Changer”
Posted on January 18, 2010
Phil Leigh
It’s become obvious over the past seven years that Apple can develop innovative products that revolutionize both emerging and established industries. An example of the first is the iPod. When it hit the market about seven years ago it was the first portable MP3 player with enough capacity to enable most of us to carry our entire music collection around with us. An example of the second is the iPhone which forever changed our concept of what a mobile phone should be able to do. In short, it combined voice telephony with unlimited Internet access.
Now, speculation is rife that Apple is at the threshold of introducing not only a new product but a new service as well. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
Lessons from Early Radio
Posted on January 6, 2010
Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider yesterday.
Lessons from Early Radio
By: Philip Leigh
January 5, 2010
Much like today’s Internet, during its early years radio enjoyed a high intrinsic growth. For example, while most industries were shrinking during the Great Depression radio advertising alone grew from $27 million in 1929 to $185 million in 1939 translating to a compound annual growth rate of 21%. Radio entertainment during the era included mix of music, drama, comedy, and variety shows. However, music was considered essential. Read more…
Filed Under Podcast Audio | Leave a Comment
