Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Software Media
With Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo! it looks like the media industry and all those who feed it and feed off it - like advertising, and to a lesser extent PR - will have another predator to fear. Not only is Google eating their lunch, but Microsoft and Yahoo!, in whatever form, look set to help themselves to breakfast and dinner too.
Nicholas reckons it's because software, and particularly software based on the Internet, is becoming . As he says, "the Net is not only a universal medium... it is also turning into a universal computer".
He points to the way in which young people in particular buy software nowadays. Rather than popping down to PC World to lay out for packaged software, they're going online and using the software already running on the Net like Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, etc. Even word processing suites are being offered for free by the likes of Google.
And it's free that is making software a media business. The media industry has long understood the power of giving utility away (or at least at a very low cost) and subsidising this with advertising. And that's basically what the like of Google and Yahoo! have always done. Having made its billions relying on people like you and me to buy software to install on our PCs, Microsoft now realises that the only way it can compete with the likes of Google is to acquire online scale, and acquire it fast.
The media industry should be quaking in its boots. Imagine another Google, just as large and just as powerful - taking more and more of the advertising budgets. It's time to rethink the business model, and that might not be a bad thing.
Note that Yahoo! is a client of Hill & Knowlton, but I have no involvement with that account.
Internet Device
Chumby Internet Device and Network Launches
Chumby Industries launches its new Chumby Internet Device and Chumby Network today. The company says it has secured deals with leading content providers like CBS, MTV Networks, MySpace, The Weather Channel, AOL’s SHOUT cast and Scripps Networks.
The Chumby is described as a little larger than a coffee cup with a Wi-Fi connection that allows people to get parts of their Internet at a glance. The device seems to be sort of an Internet connected alarm clock and even allows users to wake up to Internet radio stations.
The Chumby device retails for $179.99 with shipping included. "The richness and diversity of information on the Web has become critical to our everyday lives, so it becomes more important than ever to stay connected to our 'Internet life' and be able to access a wealth of information simply at a glance," said Steve Tomlin, founder and CEO, Chumby Industries. "The powerful combination of the free Chumby Network and the open and always-on Chumby creates a compelling offering to consumers to easily create, view and share what matters to them most from the Web without the need to browse on a PC. And media companies can showcase and monetize content on an exciting new distribution platform that reaches consumers in different parts of their lives and at different times of the day."