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April 04, 2005
Jumping the iPod
Posted by Dana Blankenhorn
Both Sony and Microsoft have recently announced efforts to "jump the iPod" with video downloads.
Neither effort is serious, in terms of 2005 serious. Both are attempts to place markers on the future and gain agreements with the content industries they think will mark the future.
And this is just what's wrong with them.
You don't open up a new market by focusing on the seller side of the transaction.
You open up a new market by focusing on the buyer side.
That's what Apple did with the iPod. It focused on the buyer experience, making the transport of gigabytes of music, and the purchase of more, as seamless and compelling as possible. Then Apple waited for music companies to become desperate enough in their efforts to create a legal download market to sign names on the line which is dotted.
Both Sony and Microsoft are going at it the opposite way. They're both thinking first of what the studios want, not of what the consumer wants.
They're not thinking of how we might want to experience mobile video. Instead they're both shoving it into existing paradigms, the PSP in Sony's case and the Windows Media Player in Microsoft's case.
Think about how the consumer wants to experience mobile video. I think it's quite different from how he or she wants to experience mobile music. For starters video requires full attention, music only partial attention.
This means video needs to be appointment-oriented, where music can be free-flowing.
Instead of talking to the studios, think about TiVo.
Comments (4)
+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Models | Business Strategy | Consumer Electronics | Economics | Futurism | computer interfaces
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Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
1. Tom Foremski on April 4, 2005 12:35 PM writes...
Dana, to me, it looks as if Sony and Microsoft are engaging in FUD, to some extent.
It's a blocking move of sorts to get ahead of Apple. It's the business relationships that Apple can or cannot pull together that will make or break the video iPod. The user experience is important, but only because of the content that is available.
Permalink to Comment2. dggraphics on April 4, 2005 01:18 PM writes...
Apple actually already planted a seed for this in the iTunes Music store, they moved their Quicktime Movie previews into iTunes Music Store. Wouldn't it be great to be able to download both your music and video through iTunes or The Apple iMedia Center. If anyone can pull it off Apple can. Maybe they should start by making PIXAR films available through their own download servive since they have a direct link to their content.
Permalink to Comment3. Peter on April 4, 2005 02:38 PM writes...
"The user experience is important, but only because of the content that is available."
Well, yes and no.
I have plenty of content available at home on my DVR. The tricky part is getting that content onto my mobile video device.
One of those "things that bother me" is that most of these services are trying to get me to pay to get the same content I already pay for on my cable service. Take DIY Network. I have it on my cable system at home--in fact, as a "second tier" service, I actually pay extra for it. I also have DIY On Demand. Since I pay about $90/month to get all these channels at home, I'm certainly not going to pay an extra $19.95/month to get them on my Portable.
There's no scarcity of content. We get more content beamed at us than we could ever watch. The problem is getting it formatted for these devices.
Again, consider the iPod. It came out years before the iTunes Music Store. People had plenty of "content" long before the iTunes Music Store existed. What Apple did with iTunes was to make it easy to get the music on your CDs into the iPod (or any MP3 player). Put the CD into the computer and drag the songs you want to the player.
Do that with video and you've got yourself a winner.
Permalink to Comment4. Jesse Kopelman on April 4, 2005 03:32 PM writes...
Hard to blame Sony, after all they are a studio. In this regard they have the most inertia to overcome, but also the best potential to do something truly revolutionary.
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