Apple, IPTV, gadgets, politics and more
Rafat Ali from PaidContent.org quotes Bear Stearns analyst Spencer Wang’s report on, Long Tail, but focuses on what he calls the mid part of the content and distribution value chain, where he sees the most value in the long run…that mid part is the part of aggregation-and-context players in the market, with the theory that “Value of aggregation and brands increases with exponential increase in content choices.”
This chart below has some detail:
An article by Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch.com explores the death of broadcast (linear) TV. Some research indicates that online video watchers watch less TV, well duh.
The key tipping point will be when a startup is able to distribute proper television content over the Internet legally. People will begin to abandon their cable tv subscriptions in favor of Internet distribution. MobiTV is in the best current position to do this - they have a ton of cash and are only a few deals away from being able to offer the equivalent of a cable television subscription over the Internet. And The Venice Project may also win. iTunes will continue to pursue their pay per show model, and that will also take market share.
I realized something was different the first time my wife and I watched Youtube for 2 hours one evening, forgetting to turn the TV on.
Sphere: Related ContentOne of the issues that every company faces is how much information to share with customers and employees. At work, there is a constant battle between disclosure of raw and immediate information and processing or summarizing information to ensure it accurate and will be understood.
Over at The Longtail blog, Chris Anderson has posted an article called “In Praise of Radical Transparency“. He states,
“Perhaps the most interesting of these is the shift from secrecy to transparency. The default communications mode of companies has traditionally been top-down, with only executives and official spokespeople permitted to discuss company business in public. The standard rule, explicit or not, was “That which we choose not to announce is not to be spoken about.” Aside from some special exemptions, such as conferences where those employees trusted enough to go chatted guardedly with outsiders, employees were cautioned that what happened at work should stay at work. Loose lips sink ships, etc.”
It’s a big day for Moore’s Law. I’m not sure anyone else has noticed this, but by my calculations we have in the past few months reached the penny-per-MIPS* milestone. Intel’s Core Duo running at 2.13 GHz now costs around $200 at retail (it’s around $180 at volume), but can do about 20,000 MIPS. I remember my first 6 MHz 286 PC in 1982 that did 0.9 MIPS. I have no idea what the CPU cost then, but the PC it came in cost nearly $3,000 so it couldn’t have been cheap. Say it was around $1,000/MIPS back then. Now it’s $0.01/MIPS. I know I shouldn’t be astounded by Moore’s Law anymore, but that really is something.
Continue reading ‘The Rise of “Freeconomics”’
Sphere: Related ContentAccording to ABI Reasearch, the market for home networking and connected entertainment devices will grow from $14 billion in 2005 to more than $85 billion in 2011, ABI forecasts. This “astonishing” growth rate will be driven by a desire for “pervasive connectivity” in applications such as multi-room PVRs, place-shifting, and networked gaming, according to the market research firm.Another factor driving the market will be the use of home networks for video distribution by IPTV providers such as Verizon, France Telecom, and AT&T, ABI says. These and other service providers see home networks as a way to extend data services without the need for any rewiring, ABI says.In terms of unit volumes, ABI expects the total number of network connections shipped into the home market to grow from 247 million in 2005 to over 861 million units by 2011.
ABI Principal Analyst Michael Wolf stated, “This market has reached a major turning point. Home networking has moved beyond a basic broadband sharing model to one of networked entertainment and convergence across the PC, consumer electronics and communication devices. The emergence of enabling technologies such as 802.11n for wireless video distribution, HomePlug AV and MoCA as alternative multimedia network backbones, and DLNA media server and device interoperability software, are all solidifying the foundation for an explosion of new devices and applications based on a fully connected home.”
More information on ABI’s study, “Home Networking and Connected Home Market Analysis,” is available here.
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This blog post by Derrick of Stamford CT, talks about his recent purchase of a Belshaw Donut Robot Model 42 from Ebay for $900. This thing makes 384 donuts per hour! Derrick connected it to the 240V AC power in his laundry room and let her rip…Great pictures included.
According to Podcasting News, early reviews are in on the Microsoft Zune, which debuts today. The consensus is: the Zune zucks.
The Zune has benefited from a tremendous amount of buzz. Unfortunately, it appears that Microsoft’s second attempt at an iPod/iTunes killer suffers seriously in comparision to its 5th generation competition.
While the first generation Zune has failed to impress most reviewers, Microsoft is already talking about updates to the Zune software and upgraded Zune hardware. It’s likely that Microsoft will make frequent updates to the Zune system in the next year, until it has a platform that has mass-market potential.
I could agree more. I am sticking with my 6 or 7 iPods.
Sphere: Related ContentSiemens Home Entertainment’s largest European customer, Belgacom has hit 100,000 subscribers this month, a full year of schedule. See Belgacom press release. Forbes is running an article that also discusses this milestone and the cross-polination with Belgacom’s mobile division.
Congratulations Belgacom!
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, Light Reading reports that “several industry sources” have indicated that Motorola may have started their holiday shopping early and are rumored to be in the market for an IPTV middleware acquisition.
Plug for Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment IPTV solution: “Siemens has done the best job of providing reliable middleware and currently leads all middleware providers in the number of households served. Microsoft has made IPTV a big focus for their company and has done an excellent job of getting IPTV contracts, but several companies have already complained at their inability to deliver on their promises, due largely to middleware issues.”
Sphere: Related ContentThis must be one of the most unintentionally funny video clips I have seen. The original clip has been removed from most sites due to overzealous lawyers from Universal.
Below is a site which has extensive information on the video, its origin and includes links to the video.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/11/todays_new_york.html
http://www.spike.com/video/2795634 Sphere: Related Content
