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Do you love your cable guy?
"Love" might be a strong word, generally if we need to have someone work on our system we're just happy if they show up on time, do their work and leave with no traces they were ever there...other than perfectly working HDTV service. Despite that somewhat tenuous relationship, this New York Times article is focusing on the part of the service beyond adding more channels and extra features, customer service. From the techs coming to the house or the callcenters, now that many people can get TV from their phone company or phone and internet from their cable company all of them claim to go the extra mile to keep customers happy. Of course there is the occasional disastrous video of a sleepy tech but while most service calls are a bit more low key, a bad experience can definitely lead customers to look elsewhere with more competitors fighting for their attention.[Via digg]
A media company seemingly lacking a business model? Maybe Apple should buy it...
...or not. Jan's post about the latest brewing business suggestion that Apple should buy YouTube betrays a strange trend in the news and blogosphere. Apparently, if a media-related company is either floundering or doing well but lacking a sure-fire business model, they're fresh meat for an Apple acquisition.Remember the rumors of Apple buying TiVo last year? TiVo's stock shot up 17 percent simply because the rumors started making their rounds. Now these rumors of Apple buying YouTube are fluttering about, and they simply don't make any sense in my book. Apple already has a ton of branding invested in the iTMS - including a very, very healthy video offering - and (as far as I know) they're the only major service which offers their own YouTube-like, grassroots media outlet: the Podcast directory. As Jan also mentioned yesterday, anyone can get a podcast listed in the iTMS, so they've already traveled down the road of offering a strong dose of user-generated content.These claims of YouTube being a perfect buy sound a little far-fetched too - no one can figure out how they're making money (NYT even admits that in their third paragraph), and the company has never dropped even a hint to clear up the confusion. As far as everyone can tell right now, they're spending kagillions on bandwidth without much of a business model besides 'place one or two banner ads.' Let's not forget this is also digg's 'business model' at the moment, and that "Kevin made $60m" story from Business Week was thoroughly debunked as being nothing more than an estimate; they don't have a dime of that money in their pocket. In fact, they're allegedly barely breaking even - and they don't eat nearly as much bandwidth as the video-intensive YouTube.Which leads me to the mortal question: how would YouTube show Apple the money? Could Apple charge $1.99, or even $.99, for that hilarious compilation of funny cats? My gut reaction is 'probably not,' though given the things people pay for these days, I could easily be wrong there. Nevertheless, I just don't see how acquiring what must be a money-pit of a company could benefit Apple, when they already have most of the tools and features in place to offer YouTube-like services and community on their own with the iTMS.Time, of course, will tell on this one, but my money is on Jobs and co. saving their check book for a different rainy day. Just because a company is up a creek without a business model, doesn't mean Apple should be the one to toss them a paddle.
NY Times on Vista's widescreen gaming woes
Vista promises to give PC gamers an experience that's more Xbox than XP but, as the New York Times' Seth Schiesel discovered, they've got a ways to go before delivering on that goal. His umbrage: widescreen gaming. Hardcore PC gamers -- a profligate breed whose annual technology budget amounts to more than the last 3 generations of consoles combined -- and their requisite widescreen gaming displays are an important audience for Microsoft's latest OS upgrade. So what's the trouble? Schiesel explains:"Beta Vista simply does not run games properly on many of the big monitors that Microsoft and media companies are encouraging consumers to buy. I have no doubt that Microsoft will come up with a solution before Vista is released. But it is such a glaring problem, and one that goes so directly to the heart of the gaming experience, that if any halfway serious gamers asked me right now if they should install the beta Vista on their main PC's, I would say no."Well, if we're only gonna be talking about beta software having bugs, then count us out. That's why it's not out yet! Granted, Vista probably should have been out now a couple times over, but this is another reason why it isn't. Schiesel focuses his criticism with, "But this video-display issue raises a question about how well the company really understands the hardcore players who will always be the tastemakers and most faithful customers in PC gaming."Good question. I use my 24" Dell monitor to play my 360 in glorious, widescreen HD. PC games ... eh, notsomuch. Any gamer with a widescreen monitor has spent more than their fair share of time traversing widescreengamingforum.com fiddling with arcane settings in the attempt to duplicate the seamless experience we've grown to expect from consoles. Microsoft is going to need more than a fancy new operating system to make all games widescreen compliant, they're also going to need the full support of an increasingly diverse development community.[Via VGM Watch]
NYTimes: games industry is taking a beating
The New York Times is running a doom and gloom piece on the current economic state of the big four publicly traded game publishers: Activision, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and THQ. It's nothing we haven't heard before; higher next-gen development costs coupled with a console transition which have not only historically proven to be difficult, but the current one especially so. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick "acknowledged that there were challenges, including a growing need to produce games more efficiently. He said the industry would probably also focus more narrowly on games with hit potential (selling several million copies) as opposed to a scattershot approach of creating numerous games that sell one million copies or less." This blockbuster approach runs contrary to the XBLA success story, or quirky DS hits like Pheonix Wright. So basically, Activision doesn't subscribe to the long tail.Pretty damning evidence of this trend: following E3 in May, "Electronic Arts' shares have fallen to $42.30, from $56.80; Activision to $11.58, from $14.19; THQ to $21.49, from $25.63; and Take-Two to $13.10, from $17.05." Ouch! Well, that's my cue to go grab some TTWO and ATVI shares![Thanks, laserboyjc]
Select subscribers getting TiVoCast web-based programming
Following last month's deal with web video publisher Brightcove, TiVo has announced another round of partnerships that will bring various on-demand video clips to broadband-equipped Series 2 owners, with a new service called TiVoCast. The company has been making moves in this direction for some time now, but this is the first time we're being offered content that we'd actually bother watching, including NBA and WNBA highlights, New York Times-produced video (featuring David Pogue's often-humorous reviews), advice from CNET, and a dose of hip hop culture from H2O, along with male- and female-targeted programming from Heavy.com and iVillage, respectively. The new content -- accessible from the "Showcases" screen when it begins appearing next month -- will not be available to everyone, however, as USA Today is reporting that neither DirecTV subscribers nor Comcast customers will have access to any of these value-added TiVoCast downloads.
NYTimes examines Sony's worldwide appeal
Though not directly about the PlayStation 3, this profile of Sony's worldwide appeal in Sunday's New York Times dovetails nicely with my look at the lead up to "the price." Titled "Cutting Sony, a Corporate Octopus, Back to a Rational Size," writer Martin Fackler examines the marginalization of Sony in the international marketplace. The company's name was once synonymous with not only portable music, but electronics in general; now, faced with increased competition, they're looking to "restore" their image "to prevent the problems in Japan from spreading overseas."A Merrill Lynch analyst said, "What is Sony? We don't even know anymore. Consumers used to pay more because the brand meant something special." Another echoed that sentiment, saying, "Sony has to trim its premium ... The brand equity, although still high, is clearly on the decline in consumers' minds."One way to improve that brand image: trim the premium (sorry little buddy) and focus on "champion products." CEO Howard Stringer says "[they] need to rebuild the brand seriously in terms of energy and perception around the world" and the PS3 and Blu-ray are a serious part of that strategy.[Thanks, Stephen](Update: Merril is spelled Merrill)
A world without high definition DVDs...
...is not one in which I would want to live. But that's the sort of world David Pogue seems to be suggesting today in the New York Times. A careful read of the article reveals that deep down, he's one of us. Despite the cynicism about consumer electronics companies and their motives he came away impressed by the visual quality of HD DVD movies and the improvements provided by the interactive menus. Of course as Ben pointed out, he mentions the debut Toshiba HD-A1 player has some warts, long initial load times being one of them. Add on DRM concerns, a brewing format war with Blu-ray and you have plenty of reasons to sit on the fence. How long consumers stay there remains to be seen.Does that mean both formats could go the way of the Dodo, Laserdisc and other dearly departed items as he suggests they might? Severely doubt it, everyone has too much invested for that to happen. Companies on both the hardware and software (content) side have too much to lose for the formats to just fade away. What appears to be most likely, is an extended format battle in which choosing a side means potentially giving up some feature or movie you want that is only available on the other. The life of an early adopter is fraught with peril but maybe, just maybe the 1080i/p rewards for your HDTV are worth it.Note: Even I haven't decided which -- if either -- format to purchase yet.
Keep iPod away from the third rail
There's an amusing story in the New York Times this morning about a man and his iPod. Having been long separated from his companion (it had been away for repairs for a couple of months), Thomas Beller was glad to finally have his iPod back. While rushing to catch the subway, he watched in shock as the iPod fell from his coat, skidded across the floor and slipped into that small space between the platform and the train. It was down on the tracks. What happened next...well, we'll just let you read the article. Let's just say he really loves his iPod. Who could blame him?
