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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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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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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ATT Data Pricing Bad for Apple
Posted on June 17, 2010
Phil Leigh
Download Audio Narration Here.
Extensive research into usage-based pricing of communications services conclusively demonstrates two points. First, consumers hate it. Even when metered-pricing would consistently result in a lower bill, they prefer a flat-rate. Second, flat-rates markedly stimulate network usage.
Consider how Rochester, New York telephone subscribers reacted to the following message from the Bell System 124 years ago in 1886.
Unlimited telephone use leads to unnecessary occupation of our wires and to much borrowing of telephones by parties who are not subscribers. This encumbers the system with unnecessary and illegitimate calls resulting in greatly impaired service.
When Bell switched Rochester to metered rates, nearly everybody in the city quit subscribing. Read more…
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AT&T’s Seeds of Self Destruction
Posted on June 10, 2010
To download, instead of stream, this video click here.
AT&T Wireless’ decision to replace iPhone and iPad $30 monthly unlimited Internet access with metered pricing is significant for two reasons. First, consumers will learn that it is much more restrictive, or costly, than they want. Second, it will stimulate the development of competitive lower cost municipal-mesh-WiFi-networks or alternate technologies which consumers will eventually prefer. Consequently, AT&T has planted the seeds of self-destruction.
AT&T claims that most subscribers will save money under the new plan. While presumably valid when based upon historical usage, there’s not a shadow of doubt that the projected future usage patterns for all-you-can-eat pricing were going to be much more data intensive for two reasons. One is that iPhone patterns were already trending that way. For example, it was recently reported that iPhone data traffic was bigger than voice traffic. A second reason is that iPad Internet usage is expected to be even more intensive than that of the iPhone particularly considering the new product’s enthusiastic market reception. Read more…
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