Mar
11
Hamel on Apple
Filed Under innovation, leadership, startup, technology | Leave a Comment
Two articles from one of the world’s leading business strategists, Gary Hamel:
Mar
11
Extending ebooks
Filed Under economics, innovation | Leave a Comment
From HBR:
Ebooks: Getting Beyond Disruption
This is exactly what the publishers need to be thinking about – how to create long-term value using eBooks.
Mar
11
Article on eBooks
Filed Under innovation, strategy, technology | Leave a Comment
With the iPad coming, there’ll be lots of articles on eBooks. Here’s one from NYT:
Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book
It’s interesting but wrong. The prices of eBooks will do down to zero. Why? Because the price of a good always moves towards the marginal cost, or the cost to reproduce a product. Since eBooks are digital, the cost of making a copy is essentially zero, which will drive down the price.
Mar
3
Angel investing
Filed Under innovation, startup, venture capital | Leave a Comment
Last week, I was just recommending that someone get an Angel rather than approaching a VC firm. And, lo and behold, this article pops up a few days later. Awesome.
Link:
Angels vs. Venture Capitalists
Mar
2
A Facebook payment platform?
Filed Under innovation, social media, strategy | Leave a Comment
Is Facebook going to create it’s own currency? Maybe.
The interesting question lies in the intersection of the payment system with the popular games on Facebook. Need materials for Farmville? Put in your credit card number and get virtual credits. With the surprising success of the Facebook games, incorporating real money for virtual seems like a winner.
Link:
Is Facebook secretly planning an internet-wide payment platform?
Mar
2
Facebook users and broadcast media
Filed Under innovation, social media, strategy, technology | Leave a Comment
This is pretty interesting.
Facebook users send more traffic to news sites than Google. Further, the sites they visit are mostly broadcast media. Google sends most of it’s traffic to print media.
What does this mean? I think it is starting to describe the usage of Facebook. Facebook (at least in this instance) is being used as a recommendation engine for news. Why don’t people recommend print stories? They do, but most people can’t stand to read long stories when a video is present. Why read when you can watch?
The real value lies in which companies can incorporate this into a marketing strategy.
Link: Facebook Users Prefer Broadcast Media
Mar
2
Innovation from Twitter
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I believe that open APIs are the foundation for the next generation of web services. We’ll see great innovations from clever programmer who understand how to manipulate the APIs, create new things, and handle enormous amounts of data.
Link: Enabling A Rush of Innovation
Mar
2
Social media being used by small business
Filed Under innovation, social media, strategy | Leave a Comment
Link: How Small Business Is Using Social Media [STATS]
According to stats from the University of Maryland’s Business School, small businesses are using social media sites twice as much as last year. That’s quite an increase.
Even with this increase , or maybe because it, I see many of them using social media incorrectly. The bulk of the usage I’ve witnessed falls into 2 categories – they create a business page that’s rarely updated, or they spam everyone on their list. It seems the old model of interruption advertising stills has a hold of their head.
Remember, social media is about community, connecting with your base, and creating value. Don’t spam your followers with your latest daily specials or deals.
Social media is a new tool for business. Make sure you interact and engage your fans. You’ll see huge returns.
Mar
1
Digital News is preferred method of consumption
Filed Under innovation, technology | Leave a Comment
This really isn’t shocking research, but Pew has found that news consumption is still shifting from mainstream channels towards the Web. The ‘Web’ includes news sites, personalized aggregators, but also smartphones. People in the tech industry have seen this coming for some time. Consumers are moving towards digital.
Here are a few links and commentary about the research:
Pew: Internet surpasses newspapers, radio for news (via Washington Post)
Pew Summary of Findings Overview (via Pew Internet Research)
News Has “Become a Social Experience”: Pew (via GigaOm)
The most shocking part of the day comes from a different story in which the print media giants are going to start an ad campaign to try and re-vitalize the print usage. My favorite ad slogan is: “The Internet is fleeting. Magazines are immersive.”
This is lame. Stunts like this just reinforce the fact that media co as an industry doesn’t get the Web.
Link:
Mags To Their Digital Units: Drop Dead
Feb
19
Sex in the app store no more
Filed Under innovation, technology | Leave a Comment
It looks like Apple is removing ‘adult’ flavored apps from the App Store. While it has never allowed explicit sexual content, there are some apps that toe the line by including pictures of scantily clad women.
From a strategy standpoint, there are positives and negatives depending on which side you are on. On the negative side, the developers of these are going to take a hit. According to reports, download numbers for some of these apps are well above 500,000 and the lifetime revenue generated over $100,000. That’s a huge hit to take if Apple is banning your App.
For Apple, this ‘filtering’ is a brilliant strategy. It’s a move that indicates long term strategic thinking as opposed to short-term results.
Here’s what I mean…
Currently, these downloads are pulling in fantastic numbers. But these apps are early entrants. Over time, more players will rush into the market, squeezing out the profits and leveling out the download numbers. This happens in every market. (What we can’t predict is the time frame.)
As the number of bikini apps goes up, the search costs for other iPhone applications will go up. These increasing search costs will play a role in the overall usefulness of the device. Most people aren’t going to use a device that is ostensibly ‘filled with porn.’ Further, Apple will suffer from issues related to perception and credibility. Users who are browsing through the App Store will likely be turned off by the overtly sexual material.
In the long term, this negative perception will diminish the end user’s overall utility of the App Store, causing them to switch to a different device. This user exodus from the iPhone lowers the incentives for application developers for the platform. Eventually, you have a platform full of bikini apps all battling for a few eyeballs.
By controlling the content now and suffering small hits in metrics, Apple is continuing to build a platform that has longevity and sustainability.
Links:
Did Apple Just Ban Sexual Content From The App Store?
Apple Now Blocking ‘Overtly Sexual’ Apps from App Store
Apple’s War On Porn Is Just Getting Started
