If you think about it, from a branding perspective, even though they may not have profited hugely from iTunes, they definately enhanced their brand...at least until they bailed on the thousands of loyal fans. They're going to continue to lose viewers to the net, P2P, gaming, etc. but those downloaders were getting a postive experience from NBC with iTunes. Now they've shot it all down the drain and alienated lots of people who may jsut as soon actaully avoid their programming since it's not convenient to get if they miss an episode.
The way I see it, NBC should have been willing to make no money on the iTunes partnership, and chalk it up to marketing cost.
The difference is that those other companies aren't facing extinsion if they don't make changes. TiVO needs to ramp up their innovations to get ahead of Comcast, TWC, Charter, etc. The other option would be to broaden their product line, but I don't see that happening either.
This is the way TiVo should be thinking. They have the installed base. They have the brand. They have the rabid fans. Why can't they let developers (aka hackers) get in on the action; open the gates and let the free world play with their product - make it a platform instead of another cable-type set top box. Chances are, it would build a bigger user base and increase demand for their product.
Lord knows, they need all the help they can get these days.
What's the point of bringing back the PDA? I was at the Web 2.0 Summit last week and saw Nokia's latest entry into the PDA market. I was shocked to learn that their new "pocket computer" didn't include telephony in the equation. And if you could buy an iPod touch which does pretty much the same thing in a much sexier, more graceful package, why would anyone buy an iPaq, or a Nokia for that matter?
With all the phone/computer devices out there, is there really a market for one (or in this case, now two) devices that don't have telephony features, other than wi-fi? I think not. These things are going to die a fast death.
No one wants to carry around two devices anymore when there are too many one that can do it all. HP and Nokia are trying to ressurect a dead product group. The PDA is dead, long live the I-can-do-anything phone.
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