music and media - 2 industries strugling

50.000 helicopter views on music and media/advertising industries' challenges ahead.

powerfull infografy on music media/business evolution.

Why 'Cheap' May Really Be Expensive

Cheap-paradigm arrived at consumer electronics and sometimes (it seems) customers tend to forget natural laws. As my grand-father António used to say, we can't harvest tomorrow if we don't throw seeds and nurture the camp today...

this are not his words - but idea is similar ".. when a company continues to advance innovation in leaps and bounds through investment in R&D, or environmental compliance, or product quality, don’t be surprised that their products are priced appropriately. After all, ideas cost money. For companies, ideas and innovation are an investment for higher returns."

he also liked the expression "nothing is for free"....

worth reading this post at ZDnet.com

secrets revealed?

just found this 5 tips from former apple marketeer.

so - where's the secret?

it's in company DNA or it's just a well implemented mktg campaign?

it's in customer centric aproach (vs. product centric on most tech companies)? but does that explains all the hype/cool factor?...

everybody wants to rule the world...

wired magazine wrote in 2004 (after google's IPO):

"For all their differences, the two companies have a lot in common - Microsoft looks at Google and sees its own past, full of promise. Google looks at Microsoft and sees the future—a swaggering company that dominates the tech landscape"

from pcworld:

Google hopes to do for the notebook what Apple has done with the iPhone: revolutionize the wireless industry by creating a Chrome OS device married to a source for apps like the iTunes App Store

google's chromeOS...again

too early annoucement or just a clever way to start surfing the subsidized (free?) 3G netbook wave?

balmer is starting to get nervous... maybe it's time to buy a new surfboard...

rummors from apple-land: netbook or tablet or MID?

or iPod touch GS? (giant and stylish ;-)?

at this statge let's forget about apple's online RP wom machine...

thinking only about product - what's the target?

it's about price, form factor or usage model??

ChromeOS - opensource on netbooks and MID's within 1 year?

google's strategy behind this annoucement;

too early to gain mind share before Win7?

msft's kind-of (pre)answer: gazelle

edit: after all gazelle seems to be a research project.

Convergência digital - flop #724 MediaCenter extender PC/Xbox/TV

Mais uma crónica de uma morte anunciada à nascenca... too complex... poorly implemented...

windows 7 on netbooks: msft's next big challenge

how to upsell and simultaneously keeping a foot in the emerging (mini-NB's) market (without jeopardizing the new OS)? 

I'm curious to see  how MS will find balance  ...and also how market will react. 

 

o esplendor da convergência digital (part II)

já tinhamos falado da convergência PC + TV, surgem agora potenciais players (de peso) no campo da convergência PC + telefone

the netbook effect (part IV)

to understand how netbook product category was created you can read this article at wired magazine

historical detailed aproach but misleading present and future perspectives (prices are not that diferent anymore; usa market perspective only; cloud computing will not be the holy grail)

also liked to highlight a very interesting comment that explains why  innovation (paradigm) should be always the priority: 

 

I remember a story from business school. A researcher wanted to know why nearly all barns are painted red. So he asked the farmers and they said it takes a lot of paint and red paint is cheapest. So then he asked the paint makers, why is red paint cheap to make and they said because we sell so much of it.

This same feedback loop will start to affect software. Users only use these n features - so ditch the other features. Then users will only use those n features because they are all that is offered. When you pay $$$ for photoshop you are subsidizing the bleeding edge users. You are overpaying for features you don't use. But someone is using those features and they are the ones breaking boundaries. When the mass of customers stop using the software, the software maker will simplify. This then leaves the innovators with no software. Pretty soon everybody has a red barn.

netbook effect is starting to be measured (part III)

netbook has changed IT industry paradigm (built by MSFT and Intel). is there a way to turn-back?

let's look at AMD and MSFT perspectives

previous posts: part I and part II

microsoft (trying) to drive digital convergence (again)

new tentative with windows 7... will msft succeed (this time) to bring windows to living-room?

netbook effect is starting to be measured (part II)

sooner or latter,  we are starting to find out damages on IT ecosystem (i.e. wintel paradigm)...

By the midpoint of this year we'll be able to assess the damage the Netbook craze has done to traditional notebook revenues.

os 7 trabalhos do (outro) Steve

what Robert Scoble expects from Balmer's keynote at CES:

1. Introduce Windows 7 to us and make it seem a LOT cooler than Vista. Not a hard job, for sure, but he needs to nail it. This is job #1 for him this year.
2. Assure its partners that people will buy computers and its mobile phones in 2009. Next week I’ll be walking around with executives from Best Buy to find out if what Steve said resonated. BestBuy and other retailers are feeling tons of pain right now due to the economic downturn. Can Ballmer offer them any hope?
3. Demonstrate how Microsoft is pushing into new markets. It’s rumored to be bringing out a new version of Sync for automobiles at CES, for instance.
4. Explain why Microsoft Office is still the tool for workers to use, even going into 2010. In a year where entire ecosystems and Google and Salesforce and other companies are gunning for Microsoft (Adobe and Cisco are expected to make announcements for office workers in the next few years). Microsoft is being pressured for both price and functionality. Will Office 14 resonate? A lot will have to do with Ballmer’s big moment.
5. Explain how Microsoft will remain relevant to the living room. At the IFA show (Europe’s Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin) last year I was at the Panasonic press conference where they showed off Google’s YouTube running on one of their 50-inch screens. That is not a good trend for Microsoft who hopes to be able to bring its services into the living room.
6. Show how Microsoft will stay on the mobile leader’s table. Right now they are threatened with being kicked off by Apple, RIM, and Nokia to make room for upstart Google. What Ballmer says and shows next week will determine whether Microsoft has a decent position in 2010 or is seen as a has been.
7. Excite developers. Not just the ones who were using Visual Basic back in 1993, either. They need to get developers to switch their attention from Facebook and iPhone and the web and back to its stuff. Can Ballmer do it? It’ll take a lot more than dancing around on the stage screaming "developers, developers"

Netbook effect is starting to be measured

# what we allready knew: netbook concept is not fiting customer expectations (assuming he's buying a mini-cheap-notebook)

# what we expect would happen: netbook is not good for IT companies - specially not good to Wintel. Now we can stop guessing... 

CES: Toshiba blurs the line between TV and PC

"true" digital convergence is coming!