Further evidence that this industry really has lost the plot.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/14/mobile-phones-and-movie-security
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Monday, 13 July 2009
Copyright
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/07/fry_on_copyright.html
Some of what Stephen Fry said on copyright echoes an earlier post on this blog. To stay relevant the music and movie industry really needs to take on board the following points; and though there is nothing here that is not intuitive/plain obvious, these appear to be alien concepts to movie and music executives. And for the record, yes piracy is wrong, but that is not your principal problem at this time.
1. Replace your management teams with people who do not regard all of their customers as criminals or potential criminals; surely no business that views its customers as the enemy is going to succeed.
2. Realise that a continuing failure to understand changes both in technology and consumer tastes, are a far greater threat to your long term prospects than piracy. It will take time to re-orientate your business model; trying to wring as much as you can from your customers in the mean time will not bode well for the longer term.
3. Put in as much effort into addressing the needs of your paying customer base, as you have into patronizing advertising and PR campaigns that have only served to alienate you from all consumers.
4. Appreciate that consumers are willing to pay for digital downloads, but also accept that they are not stupid; they know that downloads should be cheaper than physical media, and they will no longer pay above the odds for music and film (the price of new DVDs and CDs is still exorbitant - and is why sales of physical media will continue to fall). Your short termism on pricing will keep downloads as a niche market, while slowly suffocating sales of physical media; this is not optimal.
5. Try to re-build a relationship based upon trust with your customers; people are more likely to see piracy as wrong if they are well disposed towards you, just as they are more likely to buy your product if they don't think that you are constantly trying to fleece them.
6. Revisit the whole issue of DRM for digital video; people who want to obtain pirated movies can do so with the minimum of effort; so exactly what purpose does DRM serve (other than to annoy your paying customers)? Make it easy for me to buy a DVD and rip it into a format of my choosing (since I have already paid for it). You may point to the fact that you have already done this with music, but that move was initially made to give Amazon a competitive advantage over iTunes, and when that failed, it was used as leverage to force higher music prices from Apple. This should not have been why you abolished music DRM, and it showed that you had in fact learnt nothing.
Some of what Stephen Fry said on copyright echoes an earlier post on this blog. To stay relevant the music and movie industry really needs to take on board the following points; and though there is nothing here that is not intuitive/plain obvious, these appear to be alien concepts to movie and music executives. And for the record, yes piracy is wrong, but that is not your principal problem at this time.
1. Replace your management teams with people who do not regard all of their customers as criminals or potential criminals; surely no business that views its customers as the enemy is going to succeed.
2. Realise that a continuing failure to understand changes both in technology and consumer tastes, are a far greater threat to your long term prospects than piracy. It will take time to re-orientate your business model; trying to wring as much as you can from your customers in the mean time will not bode well for the longer term.
3. Put in as much effort into addressing the needs of your paying customer base, as you have into patronizing advertising and PR campaigns that have only served to alienate you from all consumers.
4. Appreciate that consumers are willing to pay for digital downloads, but also accept that they are not stupid; they know that downloads should be cheaper than physical media, and they will no longer pay above the odds for music and film (the price of new DVDs and CDs is still exorbitant - and is why sales of physical media will continue to fall). Your short termism on pricing will keep downloads as a niche market, while slowly suffocating sales of physical media; this is not optimal.
5. Try to re-build a relationship based upon trust with your customers; people are more likely to see piracy as wrong if they are well disposed towards you, just as they are more likely to buy your product if they don't think that you are constantly trying to fleece them.
6. Revisit the whole issue of DRM for digital video; people who want to obtain pirated movies can do so with the minimum of effort; so exactly what purpose does DRM serve (other than to annoy your paying customers)? Make it easy for me to buy a DVD and rip it into a format of my choosing (since I have already paid for it). You may point to the fact that you have already done this with music, but that move was initially made to give Amazon a competitive advantage over iTunes, and when that failed, it was used as leverage to force higher music prices from Apple. This should not have been why you abolished music DRM, and it showed that you had in fact learnt nothing.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Chrome vs Windows
The headlines today have been predictable, framing Google's OS announcement as an imminent threat to Windows' hegemony. And although this is where Google should be going strategically, this play is by no means in the bag. Even if Google comes up with a phenomenal operating system, the impetus to switch from Windows will be tempered first and foremost by practical considerations. The adoption of a future Chrome OS will depend critically on Google's ability to provide a seamless alternative to Microsoft Office. The OS by itself will mean little without the programs that people use on it. Google will surely be pushing Docs hard from now until the release of their OS.
So provide a better OS environment, supply the equivalent applications free of charge , and add to this a sweetener for hardware manufacturers (that box is already ticked, Chrome OS will be free), and you may well be on to something. But the lethargic adoption of the Android platform should serve as a gentle reminder that just because it says Google on the box, it is not a guarantee of immediate and overwhelming success. Like Microsoft (and unlike Apple), Google will be reliant on innovation from hardware manufacturers; Android handsets have thus far not exactly caught the imagination on that front. Nonetheless the current technological environment favours Google if it is bold and aggressive over the coming years. Taking a first tentative step with netbooks makes sense, as the rationale behind a netbook does not fit well with a clunky operating system like Windows. But move to desktop computers and laptops, and the picture becomes a little less clear cut. The onus in on the consumer to break a habit (albeit an unproductive one), and this will be Google's greatest challenge.
So provide a better OS environment, supply the equivalent applications free of charge , and add to this a sweetener for hardware manufacturers (that box is already ticked, Chrome OS will be free), and you may well be on to something. But the lethargic adoption of the Android platform should serve as a gentle reminder that just because it says Google on the box, it is not a guarantee of immediate and overwhelming success. Like Microsoft (and unlike Apple), Google will be reliant on innovation from hardware manufacturers; Android handsets have thus far not exactly caught the imagination on that front. Nonetheless the current technological environment favours Google if it is bold and aggressive over the coming years. Taking a first tentative step with netbooks makes sense, as the rationale behind a netbook does not fit well with a clunky operating system like Windows. But move to desktop computers and laptops, and the picture becomes a little less clear cut. The onus in on the consumer to break a habit (albeit an unproductive one), and this will be Google's greatest challenge.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Google OS
Now it starts to get interesting:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
Monday, 6 July 2009
A Missed Opportunity?
Did the big mobile telephone operators miss a trick with 3G? Did the astronomical costs of securing 3G licenses prevent them from innovating and shaking up the broadband market? The value proposition of having access to broadband anywhere surely remains a very attractive one for the customer; and with a little more tweaking and investment, 3G speeds could be consistently superior to the real world speeds that currently come with broadband from fixed lines. My 8Mbps ADSL connection does not deliver more than 2-2.5 Mbps on a good day, and this is despite the fact that I live very close to the exchange; furthermore the fixed nature of my connection means that it is only accessible throughout my house. Were my mobile phone company offering mobile broadband with good coverage in all urban areas, a comparable download speed, and the same download limit for a competitive price, I would switch over tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
