Missing Notes at iTunes-10
Posted on September 1, 2010
In the movie Amadeus, Mozart eagerly asks the Austrian Emperor for his opinion of the composer’s new opera, The Marriage of Figaro. At first the Emperor is evasive but upon Mozart’s insistence he responds that “there are too many notes.” An offended Wolfgang sarcastically asks “which ones should I exclude?”
Download audio narration to iPod, iPad, and iPhone here.
Evidently somebody in authority decided the tenth version of iTunes that Apple released today would also benefit from a mystifying exclusion. It’s “Ping” social networking is probably the most significant innovation to promote artists and record labels in the last decade. New release popularity was suffering because digital music forced a decline in radio, the chief recorded music promotional vehicle of the past sixty years. As radio’s successor, Ping permits 160 million iTunes users to spontaneously join affinity groups enabling them to discover new music and artists from one another. They can share recommendations within invitation-only groups, or among people with similar tastes from anywhere in open groups. Read more…
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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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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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Apple’s New Move into Living Room
Posted on June 28, 2010
A couple of weeks ago Apple introduced a “redesigned” MacMini computer. It’s the unit’s biggest upgrade in five years making it especially attractive as an Internet gateway and media center for televisions.
Download audio to iPod, iPad, or iPhone.
A MacMini is a computer typically sold without a monitor. Increasingly it is often mated to an HDTV, just like a DVD player or video game console. As a result, the television becomes a gigantic computer monitor. Users often buy a wireless mouse and keyboard in order to control the MacMini from a convenient viewing distance such as the living room sofa.
The unit includes lightning fast dot-11n WiFi enabling it to connect over a home network to the Internet. Consequently, broadband ISP subscribers get high speed Internet right on their televisions. They can choose to watch conventional TV with a one-button click on their TV remote by selecting, for example, the CATV input. Alternately, they can chose Internet access on the TV with a one-button click on the same remote by selecting the socket where the MacMini is connected. Read more…
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Modifying Metcalfe’s Law for Apple
Posted on June 21, 2010
Download Audio Narrative Here (5 Minutes)
According to Metcalfe’s Law the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected members. With apologies that WordPress does not permit superscripts, the concept is expressed algebraically as:
Metcalfe’s Network Value = n<2>
where n is the number of network users and <2> is a symbol for squared.
The Law is more of a metaphor than an ironclad rule. But it accurately describes the importance of adding participants. For example, the infant telephone industry of the late 19th century provided little value when there were few subscribers to call. But as numbers grew the network’s utility for each subscriber increased exponentially. In principle the law applies to all multilateral networks such as fax machine users and social websites like FaceBook and FourSquare. Read more…
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