Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom are not new to this blog and no doubt they will appear again. But whereas their previous ventures are known to nearly all they remain relatively unknown. When you mention Kazza to music downloader’s, there is an instant recognition of a the pioneer of peer to peer file sharing. When you mention Sykpe, the fact that there are some people who are still not connected to this phenomenon of free internet telephony is a mystery. But today Janus and Niklas have moved onto Joost and a free broadband TV service.
Joost aspires to be a global TV network, free to enjoy and sponsored by advertising. No longer restricted to the small video window, or short YouTube clip, but full screen, higher quality with entire TV programmes and the ability to share with friends.
The trick is harder here as they have to get users watching, get content owners to supply and keep the advertisers involved. They have already signed up 800,000 in an invitation only phase. So success beckons or does it?
In many countries it looks likely to happen but the UK’s terrestrial companies have ganged up to for Project Kangaroo, which is trying to do for broadband what Freeview has done for digital TV. Interesting time with the Beebs iPlayer due out and the other channels all make their offerings. Somehow I think this duo will still achieve much and are the ones to watch.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Welcome to Barbie World
Barbie is being reborn — she’s got outfits galore — but the doll also has some unusual features as this Barbie, who is smaller, also functions as an MP3 music player. Barbie on a memory stick which when her feet are plugged into PC docking station comes alive. She comes with, pages and games, virtual shops and online chatting functions on the www.BarbieGirls.com Web site. Within 2 months 3 million have signed up and Mattel is apparently adding new users at the rate of 50,000 a day. And this is still just in its Beta version.
BarbieGirls.com has been pitched by Mattel as the world's first global online community designed exclusively for girls. When a girl registers on the site, she can create a personalized virtual character, design her own room, shop with B Bucks (virtual money) that she earns, play games, watch videos and have real-time chats with other girls. Girls can create and choose their own virtual characters, fashions, accessories, faces, expressions and hairstyles. This also extends to each girl's room, colours, floors, backgrounds and furniture. With children’s leisure-time habits shifting online, toy companies are responding with new products that can be fun both online and offline. This represents a change not only in the design and function of toys, but also in how toy makers use their Web properties.
Next is Zizzle, the company that makes Pirates of the Caribbean toys. The concept behind Web-connected toys is not new and was experimented in the late 1990s but stalled in a large part because Internet connections were too slow. The Walt Disney Company, last year, it introduced a digital camera that lets people download images of Disney characters from its Web site to their photos.
Merchadising is part of the total rights package and publishers have the content. Transferring this and fully leveraging it into the merchandising world is often a bridge too far, but publisher now have are in a perfect position to leverage the IP in many potentially different ways.
Nevermind the Quality, Understand the Width
Charles Aurthur’s report in the Guardian is very interesting in both what it says but also some of the messages it coveys. He talks about the fact that the latest Harry Potter book is available via bittorrent over the net but that it only provides ‘blurry’ PDF page images and that to print these off, would cost as much as buying the book itself. However, people download it because they can and it didn’t effect sales. He concludes that he believes that books are one section of the media resistant to file-sharing.
The same argument could have been written in the early days of Naspter or Kazza when the quality of files was poor or inconsistent. Remember those early Amazon search inside images and those that weren’t even straight! Look at YouTube and the quality of some of the videos available but more importantly the impact the hand held video is now having in the professional arena. It’s not about file sharing, which is just the commercial or non commercial relationship. It is about online, versus physical and the delivery format, its about free to view versus pay to view. A book can be represented perfectly online and at relatively little cost and with much more functionality than in the physical world. Alternatively we can all find badly scanned PDFs of fax copies that are hard to read and in a font that is not appropriate for online reading.
Let’s get real, the internet is the best thing for all media. It offers new interest, diversity, rich information, easy access and is a great vehicle promotion and publicity. It even let you to touch people you never knew and who never knew you.
Today it is about marketing, publicity and promotion of the richest form of information – the book. It is also about engaging with the audience and linking the author and the reader in a virtual environment. We should drop our hang-ups about physical versus digital and embrace digital for what it can deliver today – more interest and more business.
The same argument could have been written in the early days of Naspter or Kazza when the quality of files was poor or inconsistent. Remember those early Amazon search inside images and those that weren’t even straight! Look at YouTube and the quality of some of the videos available but more importantly the impact the hand held video is now having in the professional arena. It’s not about file sharing, which is just the commercial or non commercial relationship. It is about online, versus physical and the delivery format, its about free to view versus pay to view. A book can be represented perfectly online and at relatively little cost and with much more functionality than in the physical world. Alternatively we can all find badly scanned PDFs of fax copies that are hard to read and in a font that is not appropriate for online reading.
Let’s get real, the internet is the best thing for all media. It offers new interest, diversity, rich information, easy access and is a great vehicle promotion and publicity. It even let you to touch people you never knew and who never knew you.
Today it is about marketing, publicity and promotion of the richest form of information – the book. It is also about engaging with the audience and linking the author and the reader in a virtual environment. We should drop our hang-ups about physical versus digital and embrace digital for what it can deliver today – more interest and more business.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Think about the reader
Facebook continues to grow and the Telegraph reported that some 150,000 people in the UK are joining each day! In 3 years the site has grow to support 30 million worldwide and 3.2 million UK users. It is claimed that the average Briton spends some 15.8 hours a week online and that half the all broadband users spend on average 3 hours a week on these new social sites such as Facebook.
However, The Times report that one in five companies in the UK have logged on to these social sites. Is it to gauge the social web 2.0 demographic, or to advertise their product, or promote their brand? The Times gave us the interesting insight that it was in fact to vet potential employees!
Think about it, people often express their deepest thoughts on many subjects thinking that it is just them being able to freely express their feelings and share these with others. If we all did it then the head-hunter’s job would be very easy. They could quickly find out more about us than we would ever dream of disclosing in an interview or on a cv.
Puts a different slant on Big Brother.
However, The Times report that one in five companies in the UK have logged on to these social sites. Is it to gauge the social web 2.0 demographic, or to advertise their product, or promote their brand? The Times gave us the interesting insight that it was in fact to vet potential employees!
Think about it, people often express their deepest thoughts on many subjects thinking that it is just them being able to freely express their feelings and share these with others. If we all did it then the head-hunter’s job would be very easy. They could quickly find out more about us than we would ever dream of disclosing in an interview or on a cv.
Puts a different slant on Big Brother.
The Dark Continent
In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, and electricity is often not guaranteed, is the internet really a priority? Last month I spoke in Cape Town about digitisation at the IBF conference. It is clear that the third world is far behind the developed world in technology infrastructure and connectivity, but where as Asia and Southern America are making ground, the lights are clearly switched off in Africa. The issue is not about entertainment and leisure reading but about communications and importantly education.
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on this continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web and most subscribers are in countries that have strong western connections and relative stability such as South Africa and North Africa.
The lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, civil conflict has destroyed what existed and continuing political instability deters new investment. Africa’s only connection to the Internet’s backbone is still the 2002 cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa.
Ironically, E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States and about 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this same way at a significant costs. Many national telecommunications companies link to the sea cable and often maintain an access monopoly which further restricts usage. East Africa is heavily dependant on 20 year old and aging satellite technology for Internet service which offers slower and reduced bandwidth.
The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world. It is hoped that the ‘one laptop per child’ programme will start to make a difference, but we are seeing a gulf between not just the haves and have not’s, but the connected and unconnected widen.
Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on this continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web and most subscribers are in countries that have strong western connections and relative stability such as South Africa and North Africa.
The lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, civil conflict has destroyed what existed and continuing political instability deters new investment. Africa’s only connection to the Internet’s backbone is still the 2002 cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa.
Ironically, E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States and about 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this same way at a significant costs. Many national telecommunications companies link to the sea cable and often maintain an access monopoly which further restricts usage. East Africa is heavily dependant on 20 year old and aging satellite technology for Internet service which offers slower and reduced bandwidth.
The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world. It is hoped that the ‘one laptop per child’ programme will start to make a difference, but we are seeing a gulf between not just the haves and have not’s, but the connected and unconnected widen.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Potter goes Pirate Viral
Last week it was the complete transcript of Mr Campbell’s Blair Years that were being emailed around the internet for many to read, search and digest for free. One Journalist in the Telegraph had great fun counting word repetitions. This week we now hear that the secret is out and Harry Potter’s final and highly embargoed book is circulating on the Web ahead of its magic launch.
The New York Times states that the pictures can be downloaded through sites like the Pirate Bay and MediaFire and that despite the amateur scanning that the highly protected ending was definitely legible. According to BigChampagne, a research firm that tracks file-sharing, tens of thousands of people downloaded the files yesterday.
However the best and most insightful comment comes from Steve Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, “If in fact the book is posted online or the ending is revealed prior to midnight on Friday, it will not result in us selling a single less copy of the book.” As far as Mr. Riggio is concerned, the press coverage and noise just increases more advance orders. Spot on and it shows the power of the viral market even if its in the control of others.
The New York Times states that the pictures can be downloaded through sites like the Pirate Bay and MediaFire and that despite the amateur scanning that the highly protected ending was definitely legible. According to BigChampagne, a research firm that tracks file-sharing, tens of thousands of people downloaded the files yesterday.
However the best and most insightful comment comes from Steve Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, “If in fact the book is posted online or the ending is revealed prior to midnight on Friday, it will not result in us selling a single less copy of the book.” As far as Mr. Riggio is concerned, the press coverage and noise just increases more advance orders. Spot on and it shows the power of the viral market even if its in the control of others.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Riverdeep get deeper into education
The FT gives us another twist in the story of the giants and changing hands that dominate global education publishing. Eight months Riverdeep in a reverse takeover of Houghton Mifflin rose from a school software company into a $5bn educational publishing giant. Now is poised to complete on a $4bn (£1.97bn) bid for Reed Elservier’s remaining education assets.
HM Riverdeep will pay $3.7bn in cash and Reed will take $300m in stock for an 11.8 per cent equity stake. The sale comes after Pearson, bought Harcourt’s assessment and international education divisions for $950m in April, bringing gross proceeds to 20.8 times the division’s adjusted operating profit.
Private equity groups have been snapping up educational publishing assets, attracted by their strong and transparent cash flows. In May, Apax Partners and Omers Capital Partners paid $7.7bn to acquire Thomson Learning, while in March, Bridgepoint Capital paid £750m to take control of the education division of Wolters Kluwer, the Amsterdam-listed publishing group.
Education looks good for some and the stellar rise of Riverdeep shows that many believe that this sector promises much.
HM Riverdeep will pay $3.7bn in cash and Reed will take $300m in stock for an 11.8 per cent equity stake. The sale comes after Pearson, bought Harcourt’s assessment and international education divisions for $950m in April, bringing gross proceeds to 20.8 times the division’s adjusted operating profit.
Private equity groups have been snapping up educational publishing assets, attracted by their strong and transparent cash flows. In May, Apax Partners and Omers Capital Partners paid $7.7bn to acquire Thomson Learning, while in March, Bridgepoint Capital paid £750m to take control of the education division of Wolters Kluwer, the Amsterdam-listed publishing group.
Education looks good for some and the stellar rise of Riverdeep shows that many believe that this sector promises much.
Different Cheap PCs
A pay as you go PC will hit the US market this summer. The model is from Zonbu, is Linux-based, will be priced at $99 with a $12.95 monthly subscription charge and can save $10 a month in electricity compared with a standard 200-watt PC. The computer is the size of a cigar box and uses a low-power Intel compatible microprocessor, comes with four gigabytes of flash memory instead of a disk drive, and saves energy with no drive or fan. The system will lack a keyboard, mouse and monitor, which the company will sell as options.
The Zonbu PC is targeted at the second PC in the home, cheap cheerful and practical. Will it take off? Personally we think its expensive for the limitations is has, but shows that many people are chasing the cheap PC.
A far more realistic and focused proposition comes from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which developed the XO laptop--a personal computer it plans to put into production in September at a cost of $176 (the device was originally touted as the $100 laptop). The One Laptop Per Child project is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte, the former chief of the MIT Media Lab.
We wrote about this in the Brave New World report and now out of the blue Intel has stated that it will support the project to put computers in the hands of poor children around the world, reversing its long-standing opposition to the proposal.
Current backers include Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices, which makes a microprocessor that runs the XO laptop, along with Web search engine Google, which is providing users e-mail accounts and free backup services. Software maker Red Hat, which developed computer programs for the device, and media giant News Corp. also have board seats. So educationalists now need to consider this new PC and its impact on their programmes
Are Your Files Safe?
Imagine your hard drive crashes or a virus attacks it and you effectively loose all your photos , music and books. What would be the cost of replacement and can you replace? Well today it may not be much, it is estimated to be around £257 on average, but is bound to change as our storage moves from physical to digital.
OK we all back up our files in a disciplined and routine way. We all have external hard drives. We are all covered by insurance both today and tomorrow. So what is the problem?
Which Computing recently found that insurers would not pay to replace tracks and only cover fire theft and flood. Only 22 of the 46 surveyed would offer any kind of insurance cover for digital collections and none covered hardware or mechanical failures. In addition, there is the question of whether laptops, MP3 players and mobiles are fully covered by home insurance when outside the home.
Collections are just that collections and often take time to build and treasured. Remember that it will often not be possible to go back and ask for another copy for free so we need to back things up. This means that the DRM systems need to let us do this as well as recognise that when we restore them they will be often on a different machine and maybe different operating system.
OK we all back up our files in a disciplined and routine way. We all have external hard drives. We are all covered by insurance both today and tomorrow. So what is the problem?
Which Computing recently found that insurers would not pay to replace tracks and only cover fire theft and flood. Only 22 of the 46 surveyed would offer any kind of insurance cover for digital collections and none covered hardware or mechanical failures. In addition, there is the question of whether laptops, MP3 players and mobiles are fully covered by home insurance when outside the home.
Collections are just that collections and often take time to build and treasured. Remember that it will often not be possible to go back and ask for another copy for free so we need to back things up. This means that the DRM systems need to let us do this as well as recognise that when we restore them they will be often on a different machine and maybe different operating system.
Sign of the Times
On 1st July we wrote about the new Prince album being made free with the mail on Sunday and yesterday it happened. I managed to get the last copy at my supermarket and the album was certainly worth the cost of the paper. It’s a pity I can’t say the same about the paper but it was a great move.
Later in the day friends told me that they could get a copy so not only did the Mail sell more copy but no doubt they also had fewer returns.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Who are You?
Imagine clicking on a search result believing you were going to a Waterstones to find yourself at Borders, or thinking you were going to Wordsworth Editions and found yourself at Penguin Classics. I bet the feathers would soon be flying along with ‘passing off’ legal letters. Passing Off yourself as someone else is a legal offence but like many legal issues on the internet the water can get murky. Remember the days when enterprising folk bought up URLs containing brand names in the hope of selling them on the the brand owner.
Today the Times covers a story about The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), a consumer watchdog who is taking legal action against Google over the way it sells and displays its sponsored links.
In 2005, an Australian classified ads magazine Trading Post, took out sponsored links in the name of two car dealerships from Newcastle, New South Wales. People clicking on the names of the dealerships found themselves on Trading Post’s website. The ACCC dropped a case against Trading Post when the publication said it would stop using its competitors’ names in Google sponsored links. However, the ACCC now claims that Google “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” by allowing Trading Post to buy ads in the name of the car dealerships and also that the way Google displays its links is misleading in that it fails to adequately distinguish sponsored links from ‘organic’ search results.
Google Australia described the lawsuit as “an attack on all search engines”
The article quotes that Google has faced a many lawsuits from companies alleging that rivals have bought sponsored links triggered by their trademarked words or phrases. Google has won some cases and lost others. One would dismiss this as maybe a small and insignificant lawsuit until one thinks about the issue a little closer and in the context of initiatives such as Booksearch.
Today the Times covers a story about The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), a consumer watchdog who is taking legal action against Google over the way it sells and displays its sponsored links.
In 2005, an Australian classified ads magazine Trading Post, took out sponsored links in the name of two car dealerships from Newcastle, New South Wales. People clicking on the names of the dealerships found themselves on Trading Post’s website. The ACCC dropped a case against Trading Post when the publication said it would stop using its competitors’ names in Google sponsored links. However, the ACCC now claims that Google “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” by allowing Trading Post to buy ads in the name of the car dealerships and also that the way Google displays its links is misleading in that it fails to adequately distinguish sponsored links from ‘organic’ search results.
Google Australia described the lawsuit as “an attack on all search engines”
The article quotes that Google has faced a many lawsuits from companies alleging that rivals have bought sponsored links triggered by their trademarked words or phrases. Google has won some cases and lost others. One would dismiss this as maybe a small and insignificant lawsuit until one thinks about the issue a little closer and in the context of initiatives such as Booksearch.
DAPs, DADs and DARs
Around 100 publishing folk gathered in London yesterday to hear the UK rendition of the Klopotek Digital Asset Distributor conference. It was certainly an informative day and all the DAD suppliers lined up in the beauty parade to give their 15 minutes of fame speech, as to why they were different from the pack.
As part of the parade it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the individual messages but the similarity and consistency of message was both scary for some and interesting for many.
What is a DAD? Well it’s a part new definition of the digital publishing life-cycle that encompasses; DAPs Digital Asset Producers – publishers to you and me, DADs Digital Asset Distributors – either publishers again or 3rd parties who distribute content, metadata (marketing and promotional stuff from bibliographic to the latest widget or blog) to DARs Digital asset retailers – anyone who sells stuff. We even had MUMs but that got too much and the meaning was lost on me.
Defining where one starts and another finishes is often down to consultants, salesmen and technologists. Whether you need three separate silos or just different views into the same silo is down to individual business needs. There is obviously the check it in and check it out editorial pre press development cycle, the archive and retrieval phase, the distribution of content and context and rights and finally the commerce. The question as to whether all DADs can support other areas is interesting and this blurring of boundaries is what makes putting labels on things often very difficult.
There were two interesting presentations from Abobe and Google and Google ‘Crawl’ certainly do what it says on the box!
But the event certainly raised the profile of the digital market offers and some of the issues we all face and congratulations must go to that dynamic duo of Mark Bide and Mike Shatzkin for pulling it together the timely and much needed research and to Klopotek for funding and supporting it.
As part of the parade it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the individual messages but the similarity and consistency of message was both scary for some and interesting for many.
What is a DAD? Well it’s a part new definition of the digital publishing life-cycle that encompasses; DAPs Digital Asset Producers – publishers to you and me, DADs Digital Asset Distributors – either publishers again or 3rd parties who distribute content, metadata (marketing and promotional stuff from bibliographic to the latest widget or blog) to DARs Digital asset retailers – anyone who sells stuff. We even had MUMs but that got too much and the meaning was lost on me.
Defining where one starts and another finishes is often down to consultants, salesmen and technologists. Whether you need three separate silos or just different views into the same silo is down to individual business needs. There is obviously the check it in and check it out editorial pre press development cycle, the archive and retrieval phase, the distribution of content and context and rights and finally the commerce. The question as to whether all DADs can support other areas is interesting and this blurring of boundaries is what makes putting labels on things often very difficult.
There were two interesting presentations from Abobe and Google and Google ‘Crawl’ certainly do what it says on the box!
But the event certainly raised the profile of the digital market offers and some of the issues we all face and congratulations must go to that dynamic duo of Mark Bide and Mike Shatzkin for pulling it together the timely and much needed research and to Klopotek for funding and supporting it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
News or Noise?
Two interesting articles from yesterday’s Daily Telegraph.
Britons now apparently read more than they did 30 years ago. Social scientists from Manchester University claim that women now read more and that the numbers of readers has increased from 13% to 17%. However the fact that women on average read six and men two more minutes a day than they did previously, is hardly earth shattering, or a fact that will change life. The data referenced is between 1975 and 2000 and is not even current. This unfortunately falls into the ‘noise not news ‘category and shows that its obvious nearly August and a time when we have a dearth of news.
Meanwhile another article quotes the latest figures from BPI, the music industry’s trade association. They show that CD sales have fallen significantly. Sales in the first half of the year fell in the UK by 10% and in the US by 20%. When netted against digital download sales, the UK decline is 7.7% and the US 9.3%. This is not the end of the world, or the end of music, but it is clearly the beginning of the model we once knew. This is not noise and a continued wake up can for all IP orientated businesses.
Britons now apparently read more than they did 30 years ago. Social scientists from Manchester University claim that women now read more and that the numbers of readers has increased from 13% to 17%. However the fact that women on average read six and men two more minutes a day than they did previously, is hardly earth shattering, or a fact that will change life. The data referenced is between 1975 and 2000 and is not even current. This unfortunately falls into the ‘noise not news ‘category and shows that its obvious nearly August and a time when we have a dearth of news.
Meanwhile another article quotes the latest figures from BPI, the music industry’s trade association. They show that CD sales have fallen significantly. Sales in the first half of the year fell in the UK by 10% and in the US by 20%. When netted against digital download sales, the UK decline is 7.7% and the US 9.3%. This is not the end of the world, or the end of music, but it is clearly the beginning of the model we once knew. This is not noise and a continued wake up can for all IP orientated businesses.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Mine's bigger than yours
The University of Berlin, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, have managed to work out how to store 500GB of data on a regular HD DVD or Blu-ray disc. This is effectively 100 times as much data! They even claim that storage could go to 1TB!This haS allowed for an increase of the storage capacity far beyond the limits of today's red-laser DVDs and next-generation blue-laser discs.
The Microholas project developed a microholographic recording technique, using nanostructures inside the disk rather than on the surface as in conventional optical storage systems.I didn't understand it eiother but the results are significant.
Storage is becoming cheaper and an acapable way of storing much more than ever. In addition it is becoming more designer! Only this last month I got a ICY BOX a 100 MB external hard drive, a polished steel designer small device that was delivered in a leather pocket sized wallett to fit any inside pocket! Forget the memory stick, I bet we will be carry our total hard disk on a chip soon.
The Microholas project developed a microholographic recording technique, using nanostructures inside the disk rather than on the surface as in conventional optical storage systems.I didn't understand it eiother but the results are significant.
Storage is becoming cheaper and an acapable way of storing much more than ever. In addition it is becoming more designer! Only this last month I got a ICY BOX a 100 MB external hard drive, a polished steel designer small device that was delivered in a leather pocket sized wallett to fit any inside pocket! Forget the memory stick, I bet we will be carry our total hard disk on a chip soon.
Shelfari Releases New Facebook Application
New Shelfari Application Enables Facebook Members to Share Their Reading Lists, Discover New Books and Authors, and Participate in a Growing Community of Book Lovers
Facebook application users can view all their books on a virtual bookshelf, import books already added on Shelfari.com, rate and review their books, and share those ratings and reviews automatically through Facebooks personal newsfeeds. They also can view the rich book information and discussions from Shelfari without leaving Facebook.
The Facebook Platform enables people to use their social network to express themselves and new applications like Shelfaris will enable Facebook members to engage with a large community of readers.
It will be interesting to view how people use this new service. We know people often love to tell others about what they like and don't be it films, books and music and Facebook certainly appeals to many of the right demographic.
Facebook application users can view all their books on a virtual bookshelf, import books already added on Shelfari.com, rate and review their books, and share those ratings and reviews automatically through Facebooks personal newsfeeds. They also can view the rich book information and discussions from Shelfari without leaving Facebook.
The Facebook Platform enables people to use their social network to express themselves and new applications like Shelfaris will enable Facebook members to engage with a large community of readers.
It will be interesting to view how people use this new service. We know people often love to tell others about what they like and don't be it films, books and music and Facebook certainly appeals to many of the right demographic.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Digital News or Digital Noise
It is hardly surprising that we find ourselves scratching our heads when we read the news on digital publishing today. Are we reading real news or just hearing digital noise?
Journalists are trying to eke out the real stories, but find themselves bombarded by press releases that are often pure marketing spin with much noise and little substance. One commented on a story from BEA that they had covered with a basic one liner with, “I thought this could be important but didn’t really know why”. Another trade press release was covered by press both in the US and UK as significant development, yet to those who understood it was something that many could do today but just hadn’t bother to write a press release because it was neither new nor news.
It is hard enough for those in the industry to sift the vapourware, hype and spin from the real innovation and news. The Brave New World report and BA initiative was not just about researching the issues but also educating the market on the issues and landscape. It is important that this vital process not only moves forward to engage the market but continues to educate it too.
Journalists are trying to eke out the real stories, but find themselves bombarded by press releases that are often pure marketing spin with much noise and little substance. One commented on a story from BEA that they had covered with a basic one liner with, “I thought this could be important but didn’t really know why”. Another trade press release was covered by press both in the US and UK as significant development, yet to those who understood it was something that many could do today but just hadn’t bother to write a press release because it was neither new nor news.
It is hard enough for those in the industry to sift the vapourware, hype and spin from the real innovation and news. The Brave New World report and BA initiative was not just about researching the issues but also educating the market on the issues and landscape. It is important that this vital process not only moves forward to engage the market but continues to educate it too.
Saga Silver Surfers
It was interesting to read in the Bookseller this week that publishers are missing out on the Saga Silver Surfers.
As Publisher potentially lurch from one demographic to another it appears that just like with Classics, what goes around comes around and the grey market is the next best thing. Anyone who has read the statistics on internet adoption, broadband connectivity, or visited a bookstore or library will be able to tell you this.
Reaching this audience is getting easier and harder. They may be getting switched on but they are also discerning and probably will not be on Facebook, MySpace and definitely not Bebo. They are also becoming discerning in giving away their email address and responding to direct marketing slush mail. The Brave New World report last year said that the silver surfers were an obvious Book buying audience.
So yes the content needs to be appropriate by why are we covering something that is so obvious as news?
As Publisher potentially lurch from one demographic to another it appears that just like with Classics, what goes around comes around and the grey market is the next best thing. Anyone who has read the statistics on internet adoption, broadband connectivity, or visited a bookstore or library will be able to tell you this.
Reaching this audience is getting easier and harder. They may be getting switched on but they are also discerning and probably will not be on Facebook, MySpace and definitely not Bebo. They are also becoming discerning in giving away their email address and responding to direct marketing slush mail. The Brave New World report last year said that the silver surfers were an obvious Book buying audience.
So yes the content needs to be appropriate by why are we covering something that is so obvious as news?
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Digital Erotica goes mainstream
Between the sheets there is some new bedtime listening. Virgin Books has launched an erotic audiobooks joint venture with Audible who will deliver downloadable titles under Virgin's Black Lace, Nexus, Cheek and Erotic Memoir imprints.
In technology, Erotica always leads and others follow. The questions are whether Audible’s model will appeal to erotic buyers and ordinary audio book buyers and also whether this can capture new download sales or merely replaces those in the old formats? Today there are 521 erotic titles available from Audible.com and 239 at Audible.co.uk, of which Virgin has just loaded 20. However, Virgin does have a huge list of titles, so it can convert a lot more and could be become a major contributor to this genre in Audible.
A visit to the US site is interesting. Listening to the samples may do it for some, but personally it didn’t work for me! ‘Between the Sheets’ took some two minutes before the steam started to rise and then it cut out. ‘Erotic Short Stories was certainly quick to the point, but the reader was so fast I wondered what the softly spoken lady was talking about! Like a schoolboy I then searched all over the UK site. I couldn’t find the Virgin titles but loads of ‘In Bed with Susie Bright’. In fact 115 titles are hers! She produces audiobooks like a blog, or a podcast, each about 26 minutes long for around £3.99. One can sample as many as you need for 5 mins for free! She sounds just like an American lady, just talking off the cuff and into the mike. The Susie Bright model is however interesting and shows how to viral market, blog and potentially make money. In fact she has her own website, blog, store, entry in wikipedia, generates over 400K hits on Google and produces a weekly podcast which is sold via Audible!
So what have we learnt? Certainly an insight into viral marketing and promotion but is it digital news or just I we suspect, more digital noise?
Monday, July 02, 2007
The Cat is out of the Bag
The cat is out of the music bag and it will be hard to put it back in.
First there was Steve Jobs who announced DRM-free downloads, then Amazon followed suite and now the retailer, HMV has just announced that it is to provide a DRM-free download service from September. HMV’s offer will include, at launch, a 1 million track DRM-free catalogue from EMI, along with other DRM-free tracks from independent record labels.
So the first question we must ask is, why would anyone want to buy DRM restricted tracks? The second is, if DRM-free takes over, who will win, the pirates, or the legal downloads?
The HMV news comes hot on the back of the news that HMV’s full-year pre-tax profits have just dropped form £98.2m to £48.1m. Changing times sometimes call for bold moves, but its rather ironic that HMV is the same company who derided Prince’s free ‘Mail on Sunday’ promotion as ‘devaluing’.
So the movement to DRM free is gaining ground. This may have wider impact on other IP entertainment and information sectors.
The second news is of the pricing spat between Universal, the world’s largest music corporation and Apple, the world’s largest download service. Last week Universal notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes. Some music executives consider iTunes has a near-monopoly position in the digital sector and wish to wrestle back pricing from the 99 cent track price point which Steve Jobs created. They don’t believe that low pricing fights piracy and want to go back to charge more for popular tracks and wrestle back control of pricing.
If Universal were to remove their business they would be potentially removing one out of three new releases sold in the United States. Conversely, if Apple were walk away from Universal’s recordings, the music company and mainly leading artists could sustain a digital blow.
It is interesting to observe an industry where the giants still haven’t learnt to co-operate and work together and where the artists and the consumers appear to be forgotten voices.
First there was Steve Jobs who announced DRM-free downloads, then Amazon followed suite and now the retailer, HMV has just announced that it is to provide a DRM-free download service from September. HMV’s offer will include, at launch, a 1 million track DRM-free catalogue from EMI, along with other DRM-free tracks from independent record labels.
So the first question we must ask is, why would anyone want to buy DRM restricted tracks? The second is, if DRM-free takes over, who will win, the pirates, or the legal downloads?
The HMV news comes hot on the back of the news that HMV’s full-year pre-tax profits have just dropped form £98.2m to £48.1m. Changing times sometimes call for bold moves, but its rather ironic that HMV is the same company who derided Prince’s free ‘Mail on Sunday’ promotion as ‘devaluing’.
So the movement to DRM free is gaining ground. This may have wider impact on other IP entertainment and information sectors.
The second news is of the pricing spat between Universal, the world’s largest music corporation and Apple, the world’s largest download service. Last week Universal notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes. Some music executives consider iTunes has a near-monopoly position in the digital sector and wish to wrestle back pricing from the 99 cent track price point which Steve Jobs created. They don’t believe that low pricing fights piracy and want to go back to charge more for popular tracks and wrestle back control of pricing.
If Universal were to remove their business they would be potentially removing one out of three new releases sold in the United States. Conversely, if Apple were walk away from Universal’s recordings, the music company and mainly leading artists could sustain a digital blow.
It is interesting to observe an industry where the giants still haven’t learnt to co-operate and work together and where the artists and the consumers appear to be forgotten voices.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
For a Princely Sum
Do artists need traditional channels to market? Do they even need to play by the traditional rules?
We have already written about Stephen King who broke the rules with “Riding the Bullet’ and is now bringing his latest work out in Esquire. There are others such as Paul McCartney whose latest album is available from Starbucks. Now comes the latest artist to do they own thing, Prince.
Prince has been paid a reputed £500K to let the Mail on Sunday to freely distribute his new album ‘Planet Earth’ with every newspaper! Never before has an artist released their new album as a giveaway. Already HMV CEO Simon Fox has referred to it as ‘absolutely nuts’ and fears the move will further devalue its product.
The result is that the UK arm of Sony BMG’s Columbia records has now withdrawn from its global deal to distribute the 10-track album.
The move is brave, but now artists are not longer restricted by yesterday’s rules. The trick is to work with artists, not deride them and ignore them. After, Napster, Kazza, MySpace etc you expect the music industry to have learnt something by now.
We have already written about Stephen King who broke the rules with “Riding the Bullet’ and is now bringing his latest work out in Esquire. There are others such as Paul McCartney whose latest album is available from Starbucks. Now comes the latest artist to do they own thing, Prince.
Prince has been paid a reputed £500K to let the Mail on Sunday to freely distribute his new album ‘Planet Earth’ with every newspaper! Never before has an artist released their new album as a giveaway. Already HMV CEO Simon Fox has referred to it as ‘absolutely nuts’ and fears the move will further devalue its product.
The result is that the UK arm of Sony BMG’s Columbia records has now withdrawn from its global deal to distribute the 10-track album.
The move is brave, but now artists are not longer restricted by yesterday’s rules. The trick is to work with artists, not deride them and ignore them. After, Napster, Kazza, MySpace etc you expect the music industry to have learnt something by now.
Friday, June 29, 2007
YouTube versus MySpace, Place your bets
Video wars again but not betamax versus VHS but Google’s YouTube versus Murdoch’s MySpace.
MySpace have taken the gloves off and recognised the huge market and video demand in the social space. YouTube, dominants the online video space and its market share continues to grow. A recent Hitwise report stes that their share has grown 70 percent since January, compared to MySpace Video's 13 percent growth in the same time period. YouTube's current market share is 60% compared to MySpace Videos' 16%.
MySpaceTV will be an upgrade to the video site it launched two years ago, and will showcase premium content like the Sony Minisodes, which debuted on MySpace last week. These feature short clips of classic TV shows, alongside user-generated content and other sophisticated Internet video offerings. MySpace has announced a handful of deals with the usual content partners, including National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, Fox's IGN Entertainment, Animation Show and the Daily Reel. It will not only be open to Internet users who do not have an account on the social networking site, but MySpace users will be able to create their own TV pages by uploading videos to the site.
Intrestingly, when YouTube first launched, MySpace was its largest source of traffic, and that it continues to be a large driver. With the advent of TV services such as Joost and iPlayer it is going to be a crowded space with many vying from the same eyes. What is clear is that the video, film and TV worlds are changing.
MySpace have taken the gloves off and recognised the huge market and video demand in the social space. YouTube, dominants the online video space and its market share continues to grow. A recent Hitwise report stes that their share has grown 70 percent since January, compared to MySpace Video's 13 percent growth in the same time period. YouTube's current market share is 60% compared to MySpace Videos' 16%.
MySpaceTV will be an upgrade to the video site it launched two years ago, and will showcase premium content like the Sony Minisodes, which debuted on MySpace last week. These feature short clips of classic TV shows, alongside user-generated content and other sophisticated Internet video offerings. MySpace has announced a handful of deals with the usual content partners, including National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, Fox's IGN Entertainment, Animation Show and the Daily Reel. It will not only be open to Internet users who do not have an account on the social networking site, but MySpace users will be able to create their own TV pages by uploading videos to the site.
Intrestingly, when YouTube first launched, MySpace was its largest source of traffic, and that it continues to be a large driver. With the advent of TV services such as Joost and iPlayer it is going to be a crowded space with many vying from the same eyes. What is clear is that the video, film and TV worlds are changing.
Taylor and Francis Continue to Grow Digitally
Whilst many edge their bets and make much noise, some take action. Both strategies may be right, but it is interesting to see the continued rise of Taylor & Francis in the digital world. This week it’s parent Informa, announced that its publishing divisions are all continuing to grow from the move to electronic delivery of information and services. Taylor and Francis is an example of a publisher who has fully embraced the digital environment and its opportunities.
In a statement they say, "The increased utility and customer value from digital delivery has provided extra pricing power and market penetration. Digital archives, data services and daily information provision have all contributed to good growth further enhanced by cross leveraging event brands and publishing PI intellectual property."
Taylor and Francis was one of the first to take bold steps into the digital world and now has some 17,000 book titles fully available in all formats, some 150 plus web sites and this is not the only digital programme that they have successfully achieved. Their foresight and ability to read opportunities and move quickly to capture growth is an example of recognising that Digital Publishing is now Publishing.
In a statement they say, "The increased utility and customer value from digital delivery has provided extra pricing power and market penetration. Digital archives, data services and daily information provision have all contributed to good growth further enhanced by cross leveraging event brands and publishing PI intellectual property."
Taylor and Francis was one of the first to take bold steps into the digital world and now has some 17,000 book titles fully available in all formats, some 150 plus web sites and this is not the only digital programme that they have successfully achieved. Their foresight and ability to read opportunities and move quickly to capture growth is an example of recognising that Digital Publishing is now Publishing.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
We know where you all are!
Imagine a birds eye view of traffic across the Uk and not only can you see the congestion areas but you know the speed of all the vehicles. Now add information about the programmed journeys and directional flow of traffic and you can send everyone down the same rat runs and on. Its quite frightening and makes one wonder about privacy and the big brother world we are now entering!
Seriously, being able to see the flow and speed of traffic and plans of drivers is powerful information. TomTom has announced it is to work with Vodafone UK on developing such a new traffic information system. It will collect information from Vodafone on the location of mobile phones to provide real-time information on the speed and direction of cars travelling on all major roads across the UK.
The service is expected to launch in the first half of 2008, when further details will be made available. The system will also be available for road authorities and businesses, who may use it for dynamic traffic control management and improved fleet management.
Seriously, being able to see the flow and speed of traffic and plans of drivers is powerful information. TomTom has announced it is to work with Vodafone UK on developing such a new traffic information system. It will collect information from Vodafone on the location of mobile phones to provide real-time information on the speed and direction of cars travelling on all major roads across the UK.
The service is expected to launch in the first half of 2008, when further details will be made available. The system will also be available for road authorities and businesses, who may use it for dynamic traffic control management and improved fleet management.
BBC iPlayer launches into the iWorld
The BBC enters the "iWorld" with a beta version of its on-demand TV service, iPlayer on 27 July. It will be only available to UK licence fee payers and will offer programmes from BBC TV channels to watch on the PC. Users will get access to programmes for up to a week after broadcast and they then have 30 days to watch it. After viewing, the file deletes itself from the computer.
Later this year, iPlayer will become widely accessible with links from YouTube with many others such as AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo!, MySpace, and Bebo planned. It also hopes to expand to handheld devices such as mobile phones.
Again we now see technology convergence between the PC and the TV and home entertainment worlds. Imagine the home of the future with everything supplied on demand music, films, video, audio, TV, news, information and eyes books. All through one infrastructure and fully interoperable and downloadable, to any device. “Some may say I am a dreamer…”
The iPlayer was developed by the BBC's Future Media & Technology division in partnership with Siemens and Red Bee Media.
Later this year, iPlayer will become widely accessible with links from YouTube with many others such as AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo!, MySpace, and Bebo planned. It also hopes to expand to handheld devices such as mobile phones.
Again we now see technology convergence between the PC and the TV and home entertainment worlds. Imagine the home of the future with everything supplied on demand music, films, video, audio, TV, news, information and eyes books. All through one infrastructure and fully interoperable and downloadable, to any device. “Some may say I am a dreamer…”
The iPlayer was developed by the BBC's Future Media & Technology division in partnership with Siemens and Red Bee Media.
One Day to go to Lift off!!
Forget Harry Potter there will always be crazes and next year there will be another. Live live the King!
Its now only hours to the biggest awaited and potentially landmark event, the US launch of the iPhone. The New York Times claims that there have been over 11,000 print articles about it in the last 6 months and that it turns up about 69 million hits on Google today. Forget Wimbledon tickets, there are people are camping out in front of Apple US stores today.
Anyone who hasn’t seen it or need to understand what it has click here to visit David Pogue’s NY Times walkthrough of its features.
Let’s not dwell on it limitations, it has many. We know there will be several versions before its perfect and Apple has a good track record with the iPod of constant refinement and improvement. It may appear expensive at $500, limited in battery life, has no memory-card slot, no chat program, no voice dialling, can’t handle Java or Flash, no MSM picture swapping, text entry is a new skill that doesn’t need those trained Blackberry thumbs, and finally in the US, there is a sole AT&T network supplier and its implications.
But even in version 1.0, the iPhone is still the most sophisticated, iconic designed and importantly lifestyle-changing electronic device to come to market in years. It does so many things so well, web graphic, email, voice mail. You can enlarge text, web pages or images, rotate the screen which automatically adjusts the image to the wide views. The iPhone is also an iPod. The iPhone downloads music, videos and photos from your PC. The Google Maps module lets you view street maps or aerial photos for any address. The iPhone isn’t GPS so route directions are interactive today, in the US it gives free live traffic reporting, indicated by color-coded roads on the map.
Anyone who doubts technology convergence to the mobile and that we still need clunky tablets just to read books please leave the room as you’ve missed the plot.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Espresso Books come to the New York Library
It may appear to be a long way off from setting up shop next to more traditional vending machines,or the local bookstore but those in New York CIty can now get their instant-book from the library. The Espresso Book Machine, which was successfully demonstrated at BEA this month has now been ibstalled in the New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library. It contains over 20 titles from the Open Content Alliance database, which visitors to the library can print off as books free of charge.
Do the readers care if its printed on demand? It certainly is hot off the press and importantly the titles are never out od stock.
The Espresso manufacturer On Demand Books appear to be attracting attention and potential takers for the machine, with the New Orleans Public Library, the University of Albe rta, the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont, and the Open Content Alliance in San Francisco each already in line to get one this fall.
When will the price drop to that magic figure that wakes up bookstores to installing ing it.
I bet Starbooks are keeping an eye on its development.
Bowker aquire Medialab Solutions
R.R. Bowker, the bibliographic information management company, has announced that it has acquired Medialab Solutions by Amsterdam. Medialab are the creators of AquaBrowser Library search and discovery platform which is used by more than 60 million patrons in public libraries throughout the U.S. and Europe. The acquisition mergers one of the richest collection of bibliographic data sources with what isd repected by many as the most popular and user-friendly visual faceted search technology in the library industry.
AquaBrowser Library seamlessly integrates with major library systems, opening up both the library catalog and any other information sources. Through AquaBrowser Library, libraries can offer the finest user interface available today, without changing the way they work, their existing systems. This gives Bowker a significant opportunity to develop new librarian services and fight what many would regard as an eroding market in this new world of increasingly rich digital context..
AquaBrowser Library seamlessly integrates with major library systems, opening up both the library catalog and any other information sources. Through AquaBrowser Library, libraries can offer the finest user interface available today, without changing the way they work, their existing systems. This gives Bowker a significant opportunity to develop new librarian services and fight what many would regard as an eroding market in this new world of increasingly rich digital context..
Four days to a New World
On Friday it happens! The iPhone launches in the US and is set to be a landmark shift in the convergence of technology, content and design. AT&T-owned stores will close early at 4:30 p.m. and reopen at 6 p.m. to sell the iPhone for the first time. Some Apple stores are not planning a pre-6 p.m. shutdown before the iPhone goes on sale. Still, other Apple stores did say they were going to shut down as they got ready for the onslaught of want-to-be iPhone customers to fill their stores. Proving that its not just Potter that gets the queues.
Before its hits the streets content providers are recognising that we are moving from the often clunky presentations of web offers over the mobile networks to one which mirrors the online world, is slick and potentially one that will define much for the next phase of mobile evolution. Steve Jobs and the Apple team come at it from a different perspective. They have designed their own application so consumers can receive YouTube videos through a Wi-Fi network and this could lead to even more consumers bypassing traditional networks altogether.
This will not be Mr. Jobs’s first experience in redefining an industry. Many hailed Mr. Jobs as a saviour when the iPod was introduced in 2002 because it was an alternative to the illegal online music sharing. Three years later, the music bosses are deriding him over pricing. But let’s get real, he was not to blame for their ‘head in the sand’ attitude to pricing, but merely exposed the price point needed to engage the consumer.
Now the major film studios are cautiously resisting Apple ’s overtures to put movies on the video iWorld. They want guaranteed copyright protection and reduced prices. The reality it will be dictated by the consumer and the likes Jobs. When it happens it is obviously better for the film studios to be inside the tent than outside.
Imagine what Jeff Bezos is thinking as he prepares to launch his Amazon/Mobi reader? Will it end up like that much hyped but doomed from the start Sony ebook reader which failed to capture the consumer’s imagination or find real content. It is hard to see it capturing the same level of hype as Apple’s iPhone.
Many are merely waiting with open mouths for Friday and a ‘New World’ start.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Capture them Young
Scholastic is launching BookFlix, an educational Web site pairing short films based on popular picture books along with nonfiction e-books that allow early readers to follow the text online.
This starts to introduce multimedia content in the jacket and may show an animated film of a storybook, where children are able to turn pages, backward or forward, by clicking on an arrow on the lower right- or left-hand side.
Disney Publishing Group plans a similar project later this year, making favorites such as "The Jungle Book" and "Cinderella" available online and while Scholastic, is sticking to the school and library market, Disney will offer books to general consumers.
Some remain skeptical as to whether the children’s market is ready for ebooks and believe that a laptop device may be a more acceptable delivery device. But it is the content that counts and Scholastic and Disney are not standing still and waiting for the market to make up its mind.
BookFlix begins with 80 pairings, 20 of them also available in Spanish, with categories ranging from "Family and Community" to "Music and Rhyme." They are working with US schools, teachers kids in small groups and have received enthusiastic responses so far.
Imagine no more ‘read with mother ‘ but ‘click with mother’.
This starts to introduce multimedia content in the jacket and may show an animated film of a storybook, where children are able to turn pages, backward or forward, by clicking on an arrow on the lower right- or left-hand side.
Disney Publishing Group plans a similar project later this year, making favorites such as "The Jungle Book" and "Cinderella" available online and while Scholastic, is sticking to the school and library market, Disney will offer books to general consumers.
Some remain skeptical as to whether the children’s market is ready for ebooks and believe that a laptop device may be a more acceptable delivery device. But it is the content that counts and Scholastic and Disney are not standing still and waiting for the market to make up its mind.
BookFlix begins with 80 pairings, 20 of them also available in Spanish, with categories ranging from "Family and Community" to "Music and Rhyme." They are working with US schools, teachers kids in small groups and have received enthusiastic responses so far.
Imagine no more ‘read with mother ‘ but ‘click with mother’.
Second Life of a Book
The Russian delegation at the IBF conference last week in Cape Town raised a few eyebrows with their latest book buying scheme. It certainly made a change from the fixed price phobias from other delegates.
Their ‘Second Life of a Book’ scheme has recently started and enables bookstore be returned to any bookstore that stocks the title. No receipt required and as long as the book is in mint condition the retailer will hand back 50% of the retail price of the book. They don’t give it refund in cash but in the form of an electronic top up on a book debit card. The book is then returned to the shelf and sold at 10 to 15% discount. The returns can also only be done between the hours of 10 and 10 on a Saturday.
The Russian bookstores are already collecting some interesting statistics from the exercise re the types of books returned, full demographics of the reader and of course volumes.
There are many questions, royalties, rights, store cash flow, discounting, personal information etc. It is also easy to envisage a marked rise in criminal opportunities but it is certainly a very brave step in a new direction. It’s either the maddest or the brightest initiative to happen and we watch with anticipation on how it develops.
What is without doubt is that all books deserve a second life.
Their ‘Second Life of a Book’ scheme has recently started and enables bookstore be returned to any bookstore that stocks the title. No receipt required and as long as the book is in mint condition the retailer will hand back 50% of the retail price of the book. They don’t give it refund in cash but in the form of an electronic top up on a book debit card. The book is then returned to the shelf and sold at 10 to 15% discount. The returns can also only be done between the hours of 10 and 10 on a Saturday.
The Russian bookstores are already collecting some interesting statistics from the exercise re the types of books returned, full demographics of the reader and of course volumes.
There are many questions, royalties, rights, store cash flow, discounting, personal information etc. It is also easy to envisage a marked rise in criminal opportunities but it is certainly a very brave step in a new direction. It’s either the maddest or the brightest initiative to happen and we watch with anticipation on how it develops.
What is without doubt is that all books deserve a second life.
The Cape of Hope
The Cape Town Book Fair was certainly different. The aisles were jammed packed with people but not just the trade but ordinary people who had come in their thousands to look, handle books and even buy books. It was truly uplifting to see so many children there and perhaps it is a salient lesson that Bok Fairs are not just about the trade but about reaching the people.
The other marked difference was that the Fair was certainly about books. Not digital ones but physical ones. I could only find one stand that offered digital services and although widely publicised it was empty of representation and visitors.
Africa and South Africa are not immune to the digital issues but it is certainly not top of their agendas. Publishers such as Brian Wafawarowa, MD of New Africa Books, are certainly switched on to all the issues. He gave a enlightening and thought provoking speech at the IBF conference on both Publishing in Africa from both an educational perspective (the sector that dominates the market) and some interesting insights to the potential role of publishers in the future.
We often dismiss the developing world and focus on the two dominant markets of the US and UK. What is clear is that all countries are not born equal in the digital world of publishing and that the consumer and markets will eventually dictate the winners, looses and pace of change and what works in New York and London may well not be adopted in other places for some time.
The other marked difference was that the Fair was certainly about books. Not digital ones but physical ones. I could only find one stand that offered digital services and although widely publicised it was empty of representation and visitors.
Africa and South Africa are not immune to the digital issues but it is certainly not top of their agendas. Publishers such as Brian Wafawarowa, MD of New Africa Books, are certainly switched on to all the issues. He gave a enlightening and thought provoking speech at the IBF conference on both Publishing in Africa from both an educational perspective (the sector that dominates the market) and some interesting insights to the potential role of publishers in the future.
We often dismiss the developing world and focus on the two dominant markets of the US and UK. What is clear is that all countries are not born equal in the digital world of publishing and that the consumer and markets will eventually dictate the winners, looses and pace of change and what works in New York and London may well not be adopted in other places for some time.
Internet Penertration and use in the Devloping World
The following is an extract from a speech I gave at the IBF (International Booksellers Conference) in Cape Town last week. It relates to the digital issues in the developing world.
In South America, the Internet is starting to be universally adopted. If we ignore the special case of the Falklands, the two economic powerhouses of Brazil and Argentina clearly are moving ahead in terms of penetration and adoption.
If we look at Asia the picture is somewhat more confusing, comparing highly developed countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, with strong growing economies such as India and China and less developed ones such as Bangladesh is difficult. However, we can’t ignore the percentage of overall users already connected in India and China and can only expect this to rise significantly. This geographic region is significantly advanced in terms of infrastructure and the technology investment and these will fuel further growth.
Africa’s lights are still switch off. Those countries that are potentially moving are those closely aligned to the western economies, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria. Africa doesn’t have the telecommunications infrastructure to fuel growth and in particular South Africa is still heavily reliant on that old sea cable. Things will change with mobile GPS, Wi Fi etc, but growth is restricted today and the resultant environment and initial usage may well be different as a result.
It appears that the Internet needs somewhere around 60% to 80% perpetration to take off, which is a long way to go for many in the developing world.
We must also look at consumer behaviour in the developing world. Consumers may have a PC in the house but if it doesn’t have high speed connection it is very limited it will limits the potential. Many in these countries have connectivity in the office but not in the home.
The Indian government has recently declared its intent to connect all citizens to high speed broadband by 2009. Although the word ‘all’ is a bit loose, the intent and impact is potentially massive.
In many countries, initiatives are coming from the government and specific sectors such as education. Libya is investing in the $50 PC programme and China’s has stated its aim to replace text books with 165 million ebook readers. We may find ourselves no longer talking about the haves and have nots, but the connected and the unconnected.
In South America, the Internet is starting to be universally adopted. If we ignore the special case of the Falklands, the two economic powerhouses of Brazil and Argentina clearly are moving ahead in terms of penetration and adoption.
If we look at Asia the picture is somewhat more confusing, comparing highly developed countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, with strong growing economies such as India and China and less developed ones such as Bangladesh is difficult. However, we can’t ignore the percentage of overall users already connected in India and China and can only expect this to rise significantly. This geographic region is significantly advanced in terms of infrastructure and the technology investment and these will fuel further growth.
Africa’s lights are still switch off. Those countries that are potentially moving are those closely aligned to the western economies, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria. Africa doesn’t have the telecommunications infrastructure to fuel growth and in particular South Africa is still heavily reliant on that old sea cable. Things will change with mobile GPS, Wi Fi etc, but growth is restricted today and the resultant environment and initial usage may well be different as a result.
It appears that the Internet needs somewhere around 60% to 80% perpetration to take off, which is a long way to go for many in the developing world.
We must also look at consumer behaviour in the developing world. Consumers may have a PC in the house but if it doesn’t have high speed connection it is very limited it will limits the potential. Many in these countries have connectivity in the office but not in the home.
The Indian government has recently declared its intent to connect all citizens to high speed broadband by 2009. Although the word ‘all’ is a bit loose, the intent and impact is potentially massive.
In many countries, initiatives are coming from the government and specific sectors such as education. Libya is investing in the $50 PC programme and China’s has stated its aim to replace text books with 165 million ebook readers. We may find ourselves no longer talking about the haves and have nots, but the connected and the unconnected.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Browse this Space
This week Steve Jobs announced that Apple would make its Safari Web browser available for Windows based PCs. The gloves are coming off all over the Microsoft empire and potential wars loom.
This is a significant step forward for Safari. Jobs claims it would have twice the performance capability of Microsoft’s browser but importantly Apple has declared a desire to go after the half a billion downloads of Apple’s iTunes software to Windows users and shift the application focus squarely on the Internet.
Microsoft has currently 80 percent market share is a continuing threat to its competitors. Safari’s current market share is currently about 5 percent with Firefox, the open source browser, about 15 percent. Whatever happened to Netscape?
The broader appeal of the browser might have implications for Apple’s new iPhone, its interfaces and compatible applications. Browse this space.
This is a significant step forward for Safari. Jobs claims it would have twice the performance capability of Microsoft’s browser but importantly Apple has declared a desire to go after the half a billion downloads of Apple’s iTunes software to Windows users and shift the application focus squarely on the Internet.
Microsoft has currently 80 percent market share is a continuing threat to its competitors. Safari’s current market share is currently about 5 percent with Firefox, the open source browser, about 15 percent. Whatever happened to Netscape?
The broader appeal of the browser might have implications for Apple’s new iPhone, its interfaces and compatible applications. Browse this space.
Skype to Go
Skype has unveiled Skype To Go, a new way to call anyone worldwide. As part of the global roll-out of Skype Pro, users can talk to their best friend abroad from their mobile phone for as long as they want without it being expensive. Users can sign up to Skype Pro for e2.00 per month and, as a Skype Pro customer, they will receive a Skype To Go number at no additional cost. To activate the Skype To Go number, users choose the friend or family member they want to call who lives abroad. Then users simply enter their international number and in return, Skype To Go will give them a local number to use instead. Calling one's friend in Australia now costs the same as calling one's friend across the street.
Used Books and Stars for All
Used books have always been here but the Internet is simply make them more available. First came ABE and Alibris, then Amazon and now eBay. Gone are the days when private collections only had one channel to and Albris now suggests that `house clearances' will become a rarity. For collectors, it may be difficult to gauge a seller's ability to accurately describe a book, its condition and its faults with the descriptive terminology used being often a different language to many.
ABE have embarked on a scheme that is based on the seller’s rating. Apparently the scheme is based on 5 Stars and aims to help promote those booksellers who reject the least number of orders and receive the least number of returns. Obviously those sellers with a higher rating will benefit from increased buyer trust as well as greater resulting revenues. Buyers will see a dealer’s six month rating in the search results, and can also view a dealer’s 3, 6, 12 and current monthly ratings. The scheme doesn’t appear to deal with sellers who ‘white label stock’ and have it drop shipped by a 3rd party.
ABE are waiting for reactions and comments from their sellers’ before implementing the scheme.
ABE have embarked on a scheme that is based on the seller’s rating. Apparently the scheme is based on 5 Stars and aims to help promote those booksellers who reject the least number of orders and receive the least number of returns. Obviously those sellers with a higher rating will benefit from increased buyer trust as well as greater resulting revenues. Buyers will see a dealer’s six month rating in the search results, and can also view a dealer’s 3, 6, 12 and current monthly ratings. The scheme doesn’t appear to deal with sellers who ‘white label stock’ and have it drop shipped by a 3rd party.
ABE are waiting for reactions and comments from their sellers’ before implementing the scheme.
Are Amazon going to be Riding the Bullet?
Newspapers and magazines have always provided publishers with opportunities to get their titles reviewed or serialised and into the public eye. Serialisation once offered direct and often high supplementary income. However today we read in today’s NY Times that this is now potentially shifting in the US market. There will always be that conflict where the newpaper wants to tell it all versus the publisher who wants to lead you to the book. As revenues change then this issue gets more defined. At the same time we read in the National Examiner that the next Stephen King thriller "The Gingerbread Girl," a 21,000 word work, will be published in its entirely in the July issue of Esquire. What does Esquire and Stephen King know that others don’t? Mr. King made history with his serialisation of ‘Riding the Bullit’ in the late ‘90s when he released it by instalments as digital downloads. Today it is amazing that others have not followed his lead, or should one say the Dicken’s model and published digitally by instalment. Some have done so with new authors by why not with established ones? Can you imagine the explosions that would have happened if JKR had published the latest Potter this way? Both the digitisation market and potentially pod market would have moved on with a leap and the tills would have been ringing and the hardcopy would have still been in-demand at the end but at a maybe at a better price.
So while the jury is out on the Latest King foray into men’s top shelf magazines there remains the issue of the serialisation and reviews in newsprint.
A well-chosen slice of a book in the appropriate magazine can jump start a publicity campaign. According to the chosen journal, it can add weight and importance, create noise or appeal to a certain demographic. Today’s weekend paper’s are weighed down with pages upon pages of reviews and serials but do they shift units in the market or act as secondary sales opportunities for the papers themselves to drop ship to the consumer who in reality ‘never leaves the page’. Are the self serving the newsprint and in fact stealing the larger market?
The questions raised in the NY Times cover the science of too much versus too little or just right reviews. This is always a subjective issue. The more that is written, the less the need to read the title, but the less that is written or relevant, the less the draw to the title.
It is interesting that Amazon is quoted as expressing an interest in first serialisations. An obvious step for Amazon and one to watch!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Stealing versus Search
An interesting Blog from those great book bloggers Booksquare http://www.booksquare.com
Stealing vs. Search - The Difference
Now don’t get us wrong, we think that Richard Charkin is a bright, savvy man. We would have, at one point, even suggested that he understood the difference between search and anonymity. Sigh. Let us try this one more time. Search is not about Google — search is about making sure your customers find you. Publishers are [...]
My response:
The premise of what you say is absolutely correct, search is fundamental to discovery and our switched on lives. I don't think anyone is in dispute here. What is in question is what Google and MS want to be when they grow up. If they merely want to sell ad space great no problem. If they want to sell books, which one has and the other hasn't decided on, then that is different.
There is also the thorny issue of the Orphan Act and potential associated ‘land grab’. The ownership of the digitised copy – is not really touched in your article.
If rights revert or the book gets 'lost' in the RUC or OP list then 'scan first and ask later' could be a real issue.
The problem is we are looking at the issues in a one dimensional way and anything can work when we argue in this manner. Rights are licensed not owned, there are term times there are constraints. Can authors choose to elect out if rights revert? Will Google use copy to publish albeit through a digital only format? Who will control resolution and will it remain persistent? Many questions are not answered but many assume that they know best and ‘pooh pooh’ any debate.
Stealing vs. Search - The Difference
Now don’t get us wrong, we think that Richard Charkin is a bright, savvy man. We would have, at one point, even suggested that he understood the difference between search and anonymity. Sigh. Let us try this one more time. Search is not about Google — search is about making sure your customers find you. Publishers are [...]
My response:
The premise of what you say is absolutely correct, search is fundamental to discovery and our switched on lives. I don't think anyone is in dispute here. What is in question is what Google and MS want to be when they grow up. If they merely want to sell ad space great no problem. If they want to sell books, which one has and the other hasn't decided on, then that is different.
There is also the thorny issue of the Orphan Act and potential associated ‘land grab’. The ownership of the digitised copy – is not really touched in your article.
If rights revert or the book gets 'lost' in the RUC or OP list then 'scan first and ask later' could be a real issue.
The problem is we are looking at the issues in a one dimensional way and anything can work when we argue in this manner. Rights are licensed not owned, there are term times there are constraints. Can authors choose to elect out if rights revert? Will Google use copy to publish albeit through a digital only format? Who will control resolution and will it remain persistent? Many questions are not answered but many assume that they know best and ‘pooh pooh’ any debate.
Potter versus iPhone
Forget Harry Potter’s latest adventure and June 21st there is something potentially far larger happening later in the month. After six months of anticipation, three new television commercials for Apple’s iPhone divulged the product’s release date and it will go on sale in the US on June 29, 2007.
Apple has formed an five-year exclusive US alliance with A.T.&T. and has still to announce its international partners.
Apple has formed an five-year exclusive US alliance with A.T.&T. and has still to announce its international partners.
The first two iPhone models are priced at $499 and $599 for four- and eight-gigabyte storage options, respectively. The phone does not have a hard disk and is based on a basic version of the Mac OS X operating system, comes with a 3.5-inch screen that can be used either vertically as a phone or turned horizontally to display video or still images and is less than half-inch think.
The iPhone has three radios - cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth - and is advertised as having 5 hours of battery life and 16 hours of audio playback when used as a music player.
Innovation is also provided with a technique called "multi-touch," which is based on a series of gestures with one or two fingers. For example, it is possible to shrink or expand a picture on the screen by simply sliding thumb and finger apart or together.
This will set the standards for all to follow and force the pace of device convergence. It is hard to see ebook readers surviving this onslaught and Mr Bezos will have to pull out all the stops if he has any chance of winning the Mobi Vs Adobe, or Jobs Versus Bezos battles.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Suits You Sir!
Nice threads sir! Marks and Spencer have now created the suit for the man with everything!
A suit made from a fabric that transforms the inside lapel into an iPod control panel. Instead of fumbling around to change volume or channel you simply press a piece of fabric. User can also skip tracks and rewind songs. Sounds straight t out of ‘m’s Bond outfitters!
The only problem is when you are squeezed into a busy London tube and your iPod goes out of your control.
A suit made from a fabric that transforms the inside lapel into an iPod control panel. Instead of fumbling around to change volume or channel you simply press a piece of fabric. User can also skip tracks and rewind songs. Sounds straight t out of ‘m’s Bond outfitters!
The only problem is when you are squeezed into a busy London tube and your iPod goes out of your control.
Classic Audio, Read by Class Acts at Great Prices
Silksoundbooks.com have launched a new digital download venture with 60 titles and expects to have 1,000 within three years.
There are several interesting aspects to this. Firstly it is being backed by top tier actors such as Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Richard E Grant, Jane Horrocks who may take shares in the venture in lieu of fees. This certainly gives them an edge and a vested interest in making happen. Secondly the focus is on unabridged English classics an obvious approach and one which aligns known names with known actors. Thirdly the price is a flat rate £7.95, a clear logical price point and one that will be attractive to many. Fourthly the files will be on MP3 and iTunes compatible formats, keeping it simple and aligned to where the players are. Fifthly they don’t need the overheads of the physical channel and have some graet names to advertise the wares to a wide audience.
This is a significant step and is equal to when the likes of Wordsworth classics first put out the £1 classic. This is common land and it will be interesting to see how the high price points currently given to audiobooks will survive this broadside. Well done!
There are several interesting aspects to this. Firstly it is being backed by top tier actors such as Bill Nighy, Judi Dench, Richard E Grant, Jane Horrocks who may take shares in the venture in lieu of fees. This certainly gives them an edge and a vested interest in making happen. Secondly the focus is on unabridged English classics an obvious approach and one which aligns known names with known actors. Thirdly the price is a flat rate £7.95, a clear logical price point and one that will be attractive to many. Fourthly the files will be on MP3 and iTunes compatible formats, keeping it simple and aligned to where the players are. Fifthly they don’t need the overheads of the physical channel and have some graet names to advertise the wares to a wide audience.
This is a significant step and is equal to when the likes of Wordsworth classics first put out the £1 classic. This is common land and it will be interesting to see how the high price points currently given to audiobooks will survive this broadside. Well done!
Thursday, June 07, 2007
DIY wiki archives
The National Archives has launched a ‘wiki based’ site to help access its huge materials that spans 900 years from the Doomsday Book to today. It has been suitably named ‘Your Archives’ and is aimed at sharing content, submitting articles and uploading transcripts of documents.
The national Archive is aware that there is a huge volume of material to add to the catalogue and this way it will be more productive than them doing it themselves.
http://yourarchives.nationarchives.gov.uk
The national Archive is aware that there is a huge volume of material to add to the catalogue and this way it will be more productive than them doing it themselves.
http://yourarchives.nationarchives.gov.uk
Beware the Google hover cometh
If you can’t get all the content from the publishers why not get 10 million books from the universities and libraries?
Today we hear that Google is to hover up more university material from Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Illinois, Indiana Univ., Univ. of Iowa, Univ. of Michigan, Michigan State Univ., Univ. of Minnesota, Northwestern Univ., Ohio State Univ., Pennsylvania State Univ., Purdue Univ., and Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. They already have the Univ. of Michigan and the Univ, of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as Harvard and the Univ. of California
Unlike the publisher program Google will give the universities digital copies of the books they provide and state that they will also digitize the books "in a manner consistent with copyright laws." An interesting statement, given the universities don’t know who owns the copyright of books other than those in ancient tomes which are clearly in public domain.
It is hard to knock the initiative and the result should provide them with a significant repository of content which will be public domain and therefore free to render any which way. So we can see lots of old books coming back along with no doubt a number of orphaned works leaving just the current lists to publishers.
Today we hear that Google is to hover up more university material from Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Illinois, Indiana Univ., Univ. of Iowa, Univ. of Michigan, Michigan State Univ., Univ. of Minnesota, Northwestern Univ., Ohio State Univ., Pennsylvania State Univ., Purdue Univ., and Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. They already have the Univ. of Michigan and the Univ, of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as Harvard and the Univ. of California
Unlike the publisher program Google will give the universities digital copies of the books they provide and state that they will also digitize the books "in a manner consistent with copyright laws." An interesting statement, given the universities don’t know who owns the copyright of books other than those in ancient tomes which are clearly in public domain.
It is hard to knock the initiative and the result should provide them with a significant repository of content which will be public domain and therefore free to render any which way. So we can see lots of old books coming back along with no doubt a number of orphaned works leaving just the current lists to publishers.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Letter from America
The BEA lived up to its reputation for creating lots of news and the digital word was certainly hot on most people’s lips. So what caught the eye?
The Espresso Book Machine Model 1.5 machine sat boldly under the Crystal Palace for all to see. It is currently eight feet long and five feet wide and attracted much attention. It has a smaller brother apparently on the way but has still to drop in price to make those heads really turn. A StarBOOKs or Costabook could certainly be interested in serving books on demand as you wait for that skinny latte but this one is heading off to a library. Although it has 200,000 out-of-copyright books through the Open Content Alliance, 2,200 World Bank titles, and Arabic-language books from the Library of Alexandria, these are hardly titles to die for or to read over a doughnut and it remains to be seen whether the company can collate a sufficiently large base of attractive content.
Ingram Digital is no longer a ‘venture’ but a group. Interestingly the news that it had struck up a deal with VHP (Macmillan US) went largely unrecorded. In the digital world this was a significant story and leads one to speculate exactly what the global strategy is for Bookstore and MPS. However, it is good news for Ingram and VHP in the US.
There is a new digital appointment within the trade environment who enters not from music, newsprint , sales, editorial but from the major digital force that is Elservier and it is going to be interesting to see how Hachette-Livre is going to move now.
Rights reversals continue to bubble along. A close colleague used to say ‘ be careful what you wish for’. Publishers need to be wary of changing established practices that have stood the test of time just because the end format is changing. It is highly unlikely that any but the highest tier of authors would sign away their works for what would be clearly a lifetime plus. What could happen is the emergence of new term and revenue rules which would be easier to reverse and activate. This could lead to some works enjoying a second wind or even a first one.
We now have DADs (Digital Asset Distributors) which is different from Digital Asset Management and so on. The forthcoming Klopotek conferences in New York and London have certainly gathered all the usual suspects plus those industry gurus Shatzkin and Bide and should be a very interesting. I will be speaking as a DAD and hoping to introduce the wider digital family of Mum, son, daughter etc.
The Espresso Book Machine Model 1.5 machine sat boldly under the Crystal Palace for all to see. It is currently eight feet long and five feet wide and attracted much attention. It has a smaller brother apparently on the way but has still to drop in price to make those heads really turn. A StarBOOKs or Costabook could certainly be interested in serving books on demand as you wait for that skinny latte but this one is heading off to a library. Although it has 200,000 out-of-copyright books through the Open Content Alliance, 2,200 World Bank titles, and Arabic-language books from the Library of Alexandria, these are hardly titles to die for or to read over a doughnut and it remains to be seen whether the company can collate a sufficiently large base of attractive content.
Ingram Digital is no longer a ‘venture’ but a group. Interestingly the news that it had struck up a deal with VHP (Macmillan US) went largely unrecorded. In the digital world this was a significant story and leads one to speculate exactly what the global strategy is for Bookstore and MPS. However, it is good news for Ingram and VHP in the US.
There is a new digital appointment within the trade environment who enters not from music, newsprint , sales, editorial but from the major digital force that is Elservier and it is going to be interesting to see how Hachette-Livre is going to move now.
Rights reversals continue to bubble along. A close colleague used to say ‘ be careful what you wish for’. Publishers need to be wary of changing established practices that have stood the test of time just because the end format is changing. It is highly unlikely that any but the highest tier of authors would sign away their works for what would be clearly a lifetime plus. What could happen is the emergence of new term and revenue rules which would be easier to reverse and activate. This could lead to some works enjoying a second wind or even a first one.
We now have DADs (Digital Asset Distributors) which is different from Digital Asset Management and so on. The forthcoming Klopotek conferences in New York and London have certainly gathered all the usual suspects plus those industry gurus Shatzkin and Bide and should be a very interesting. I will be speaking as a DAD and hoping to introduce the wider digital family of Mum, son, daughter etc.
Radio Ad Times
eBay has said it would begin selling radio airtime to advertisers this week through a partnership with Bid4Spots. It will offer advertisers a way to buy unsold radio ad slots from 2,300 radio stations in the top 300 media markets in the United States. Advertisers can buy airtime on the eBay Media Marketplace, which was originally a cable television ad forum which began in March.
The eBay ad exchange has been disappointing so far but it is hoped that widening its remit to radio will reverse this. Bid4Spots works as a so-called reverse auction with advertisers who join designating what they are willing to pay for a spot, then radio stations with the available airtime make offers to win their business.
Google, paid $1.24 billion to acquire dMarc Broadcasting, a rival to Bid4Spots and in April, it did a deal with Clwear Channel to sell ads across the company’s 675 stations through its AdSense platform.
The interesting issue is whether the opportunity to effectively auction and buy radio slots will move advertisers to radio away from other sectors. Radio is potentially a great way to promote books!
The eBay ad exchange has been disappointing so far but it is hoped that widening its remit to radio will reverse this. Bid4Spots works as a so-called reverse auction with advertisers who join designating what they are willing to pay for a spot, then radio stations with the available airtime make offers to win their business.
Google, paid $1.24 billion to acquire dMarc Broadcasting, a rival to Bid4Spots and in April, it did a deal with Clwear Channel to sell ads across the company’s 675 stations through its AdSense platform.
The interesting issue is whether the opportunity to effectively auction and buy radio slots will move advertisers to radio away from other sectors. Radio is potentially a great way to promote books!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sign of the times
“Are you watching I am on the screen over here? Now what is your name ?”
Next the pen writes and signs the book and your favourite author has saved themselves the journey and they haven't even left home!
This week comes the announcement that Dean Koontz is to perform his first ever UK book signing in Waterstones Piccadilly on 23rd June while he remains 6,000 miles away in his home in Los Angeles. Just think you will not only see the man but how he lives and his soft furnishings.
The LongPen technology was first unveiled at last year's LBF and again this year and is too be used by many at this week’s BEA. After all who wants to go to New York for a trade show?
So no more gruelling publicity schedules and environmentally unfriendly air miles or car journeys. But will it really be the same?
Even the rock stars turn up for the street promotions. Should authors alienate themselves from their fans or is this actually increasing their appeal? Will their be a two tier signing schedule – the virtual one for the famous and the physical one for the not so famous? Will the events be restricted to the chains and big stores who desperately need something to pay for the footage and not touch those smaller stores who make signings successful?
Next the pen writes and signs the book and your favourite author has saved themselves the journey and they haven't even left home!
This week comes the announcement that Dean Koontz is to perform his first ever UK book signing in Waterstones Piccadilly on 23rd June while he remains 6,000 miles away in his home in Los Angeles. Just think you will not only see the man but how he lives and his soft furnishings.
The LongPen technology was first unveiled at last year's LBF and again this year and is too be used by many at this week’s BEA. After all who wants to go to New York for a trade show?
So no more gruelling publicity schedules and environmentally unfriendly air miles or car journeys. But will it really be the same?
Even the rock stars turn up for the street promotions. Should authors alienate themselves from their fans or is this actually increasing their appeal? Will their be a two tier signing schedule – the virtual one for the famous and the physical one for the not so famous? Will the events be restricted to the chains and big stores who desperately need something to pay for the footage and not touch those smaller stores who make signings successful?
Amazon to provide 'lightening' service on POD
Amazon Booksurge subsidiary has announced agreements with major publishers including; HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Springer, Gale, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Princeton University Press, SAGE Publications, Kensington, Hal Leonard, LexisNexis, and the International Step by Step Association (ISSA).
Booksurge aims to follow a true print on demand mode and not the current short print run dominated one. It aims to deliver next day and therefore the same service as it offers physical books.
It will therefore be interesting to see how this works out in a world where the rights reversal debate is all about the long tail on demand and being never out of print and the environmentalists have yet to wake up to the facts that although it cuts down on the current ‘print just in case’ over production, POD paper is far from ‘green’ and the process is very environmentally un friendly.
Booksurge aims to follow a true print on demand mode and not the current short print run dominated one. It aims to deliver next day and therefore the same service as it offers physical books.
It will therefore be interesting to see how this works out in a world where the rights reversal debate is all about the long tail on demand and being never out of print and the environmentalists have yet to wake up to the facts that although it cuts down on the current ‘print just in case’ over production, POD paper is far from ‘green’ and the process is very environmentally un friendly.
Friday, May 25, 2007
The Cat's out of the Bag
Following on from our blog earlier this week there is now lots of fresh noise around rights reversals.
This classic quote from the Bookseller Bulitten of yesterday ‘S&S Uk could follow parent’s rights grab’ ‘UK publishers, meanwhile, are calling for the whole concept of rights reversion to be heavily revised or even scrapped. "Why should it be that way? If you buy a house and you don't go to it, you don't stop owning the house," said one publishing c.e.o.. "It seems to be based on a weird notion of punishment, where you're punished for not trying hard enough." ‘
Its understandable that the publisher wished to remain unknown, with a arrogant quote like that I would too.
Authors create the wealth and content, others merely add value to its development, marketing and distribution to the consumer, who pays and are the only ones who put money in. Authors will use publishers to get exposure and maximise their revenues and opportunities but once a book is past its attention span they should be able to reclaim their rig, is wrong. It does not maximise the opportunities for the two people that actually count – the author and the consumer. The author gets lost in history and although they may be found via a search engine their creation is out of their control. The book may have been a huge success in its day but the publisher has no intent to promote it again to a new audience. The consumer also can’t enjoy it as they will never find it. The marketing theory that new is good and deserves money and attention and old isn’t is strange at a time when the classics are been rejacketed and produced by everyone standing.
The real threat is that the technology is providing the opportunity for authors to do more themselves. They can promote themselves and sell they content direct through pod models. Maybe the publishers are merely trying to get the cat back in their bag?
We already have the Ophan works Act in the US, or to the cynic, the licence to hoover or google old works or scan first ask later. We all know how hard it can be to establish copyright ownership after time once works go out of print. Given all this, why can't a sensible and fair solution be found and the rectric become positive and less adverseral.
This classic quote from the Bookseller Bulitten of yesterday ‘S&S Uk could follow parent’s rights grab’ ‘UK publishers, meanwhile, are calling for the whole concept of rights reversion to be heavily revised or even scrapped. "Why should it be that way? If you buy a house and you don't go to it, you don't stop owning the house," said one publishing c.e.o.. "It seems to be based on a weird notion of punishment, where you're punished for not trying hard enough." ‘
Its understandable that the publisher wished to remain unknown, with a arrogant quote like that I would too.
Authors create the wealth and content, others merely add value to its development, marketing and distribution to the consumer, who pays and are the only ones who put money in. Authors will use publishers to get exposure and maximise their revenues and opportunities but once a book is past its attention span they should be able to reclaim their rig, is wrong. It does not maximise the opportunities for the two people that actually count – the author and the consumer. The author gets lost in history and although they may be found via a search engine their creation is out of their control. The book may have been a huge success in its day but the publisher has no intent to promote it again to a new audience. The consumer also can’t enjoy it as they will never find it. The marketing theory that new is good and deserves money and attention and old isn’t is strange at a time when the classics are been rejacketed and produced by everyone standing.
The real threat is that the technology is providing the opportunity for authors to do more themselves. They can promote themselves and sell they content direct through pod models. Maybe the publishers are merely trying to get the cat back in their bag?
We already have the Ophan works Act in the US, or to the cynic, the licence to hoover or google old works or scan first ask later. We all know how hard it can be to establish copyright ownership after time once works go out of print. Given all this, why can't a sensible and fair solution be found and the rectric become positive and less adverseral.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Facebook Leaps Forth
At a time when all marketing eyes are either watching the move by the search engines into traditional advertising space or experimenting with social networks comes the latest figures on the later’s performance. It appears that not just the Labour party’s hopeful Deputy Leaders are using this channel.
According to a Hitwise report, MySpace still accounts for roughly 79% of social networking traffic. However, since the September 2006, Facebook has experienced a traffic increase of 106%! We must however note that they opened up their collegiate service in this time to all Internet users, so the increase may just be a blip.
Year over year growth is signioficant with Facebook 126% traffic increase and Bebo.com 184%. Again these figures look astounding but must be viewed in terms of their positions as relative new startups. The I nteresting insight is that MySpace accounts for roughly 24% of the traffic that hits sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Imeem. So social networkers are not satisfied with using only one platform and users appear to join all the new spaces as a way to meet even more people.
The message to online marketers is that the sector is growing and that there appears to be a clear need for users to maximise their reach to their ‘friends’. It will be interestingtoi see if this is that same with respect to other growing site Second Life.
According to a Hitwise report, MySpace still accounts for roughly 79% of social networking traffic. However, since the September 2006, Facebook has experienced a traffic increase of 106%! We must however note that they opened up their collegiate service in this time to all Internet users, so the increase may just be a blip.
Year over year growth is signioficant with Facebook 126% traffic increase and Bebo.com 184%. Again these figures look astounding but must be viewed in terms of their positions as relative new startups. The I nteresting insight is that MySpace accounts for roughly 24% of the traffic that hits sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Imeem. So social networkers are not satisfied with using only one platform and users appear to join all the new spaces as a way to meet even more people.
The message to online marketers is that the sector is growing and that there appears to be a clear need for users to maximise their reach to their ‘friends’. It will be interestingtoi see if this is that same with respect to other growing site Second Life.
Amazon Buys Brilliance
Amazon has acquired Michigan audiobook publisher Brilliance who have a catalogue of over 1,000 audio titles and releases 20 to 40 new titles a month.
Amazon's subsidiary CustomFlix will now support both standard CD and mp3-CD audiobook formats in its "disc on demand" service which produces audio titles on CD on demand. The question it raises is when this model will flip into audio downloads. Was Brilliance bought for it content and list? Does this now make Amazon a publisher and fill in the last space in the value chain?
Reality is that it is probably now time that Amazon wants to stop referring audio customer to Audible and the move is one more part of the jigsaw before Bezos takes on Steve Jobs’s iWorld.
Amazon's subsidiary CustomFlix will now support both standard CD and mp3-CD audiobook formats in its "disc on demand" service which produces audio titles on CD on demand. The question it raises is when this model will flip into audio downloads. Was Brilliance bought for it content and list? Does this now make Amazon a publisher and fill in the last space in the value chain?
Reality is that it is probably now time that Amazon wants to stop referring audio customer to Audible and the move is one more part of the jigsaw before Bezos takes on Steve Jobs’s iWorld.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
DK travel to create 'My Guide'
We all said that travel would be one of the first trade genre to move at speed into the digital era and further evidence of this was seen this week with their announcement that they will provide flight search functionality on their web site and enable consumers to create their own guides.
The personalised guides are clearly a move towards ‘My Book’ and will feature maps, travel tips and guides to local attractions. My Guide will be standard A5 format and printed on perfect bound, glossy paper. The price is unclear and whether the consumer will contribute their pictures, comments and ratings remains in the future.
Visitors can already produce their own PDF versions of the guidebooks and it envisaged that the new glossy versions will be available within days of ordering and will be more user-friendly.
It is easyto question whether retaining the ‘book’ concept is appropriate and whether a glossy bound book is required over a loose leaf compilation. Irrespective bold steps are being taken and it now down to establishing the sales channel and consumer awareness.
The personalised guides are clearly a move towards ‘My Book’ and will feature maps, travel tips and guides to local attractions. My Guide will be standard A5 format and printed on perfect bound, glossy paper. The price is unclear and whether the consumer will contribute their pictures, comments and ratings remains in the future.
Visitors can already produce their own PDF versions of the guidebooks and it envisaged that the new glossy versions will be available within days of ordering and will be more user-friendly.
It is easyto question whether retaining the ‘book’ concept is appropriate and whether a glossy bound book is required over a loose leaf compilation. Irrespective bold steps are being taken and it now down to establishing the sales channel and consumer awareness.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Who's Copyright is it?
Today we read from the excellent Booksquare blog http://www.booksquare.com about Simon and Schuster’s approach to changing the rules about rights reversals. It is reported by Booksquare that Simon & Schuster have announced that it is changing its standard contract to retain rights to a book for the entire length of a copyright. Simon & Schuster recognise they will now own the rights to a work and are able to distribute it for 70 years after the death of an author for works created after 1978. This change raises many questions, such as, whether electronic rights are deemed subsidiary rights or remain primary rights and the impact of this change on royalties and permissions in a fragmented world.
Authors, by default and law, own the copyright to their work. Publishers merely acquire the right to publish or distribute the author’s work.
Publishes will argue that the move is good for authors and that the technology now enables this natural change. They are all embracing print on demand technology and this in turn is presenting by the authors and publishers the opportunity to keep their books alive, available and selling in the marketplace in a way that was not previously possible. The new Simon & Schuster language essentially means that as long as a book exists in the publisher’s “catalogue”, the publisher owns the rights.
Let’s get real. Publishers make mistakes, not all books make it first time round and some need a second opportunity. This could be viewed as locking up the art works in the vaults merely for the sake of owning them. The majority of contracts today enable the rights to revert back to the author once the title has gone out of print. There may be a period where the reprint is under consideration but once out of print the option exists but in the world of POD, titles may remain always “in print” and this now makes this a major digital issue. Will the publisher continue to market and actively sell the “long tail” of titles as they move from in-print to POD, or just put it on the pod bookshelf and deprive the author of republishing it with someone who cares about it and is willing to invest in it? Will they literally sit on it and wait for the search engines to find it and collect the money for nothing.
We could work together to protect the interests of the creators of wealth, the authors, or as we fear , just turn a blind eye and hope that fair practice will prevail
Authors, by default and law, own the copyright to their work. Publishers merely acquire the right to publish or distribute the author’s work.
Publishes will argue that the move is good for authors and that the technology now enables this natural change. They are all embracing print on demand technology and this in turn is presenting by the authors and publishers the opportunity to keep their books alive, available and selling in the marketplace in a way that was not previously possible. The new Simon & Schuster language essentially means that as long as a book exists in the publisher’s “catalogue”, the publisher owns the rights.
Let’s get real. Publishers make mistakes, not all books make it first time round and some need a second opportunity. This could be viewed as locking up the art works in the vaults merely for the sake of owning them. The majority of contracts today enable the rights to revert back to the author once the title has gone out of print. There may be a period where the reprint is under consideration but once out of print the option exists but in the world of POD, titles may remain always “in print” and this now makes this a major digital issue. Will the publisher continue to market and actively sell the “long tail” of titles as they move from in-print to POD, or just put it on the pod bookshelf and deprive the author of republishing it with someone who cares about it and is willing to invest in it? Will they literally sit on it and wait for the search engines to find it and collect the money for nothing.
We could work together to protect the interests of the creators of wealth, the authors, or as we fear , just turn a blind eye and hope that fair practice will prevail
Monday, May 21, 2007
So where do you advertse?
An interesting article from Gavin O’Reilly in the Independent last week. He argues that far from the death of newsprint the industry is seeing increased circulation and advertising.”These days it is nearly impossible to find a media analyst who actually reads a newspaper or who can see anything other than doom and gloom for the industry.”
He cites circulation not just in India and China, with paid circulation growing globally by 1.9 per cent in 2006, with sales of 510.4 million copies a day. The number of paid-for titles he reports are at a record 11,142, up 3.1 per cent on the previous year. The there is the rapid growth in free dailies - titles such as thelondonpaper, 20 Minutes, Metro and the rest - which together distribute 40.8 million copies a day.
Finally he states that newspapers and magazines are actually the largest advertising medium with a combined 42.3 per cent share of the market.
Interestingly, UK research company TGI, claim that newspaper readership has grown by 2.1 per cent over the past five years, with readership among 15-24 year olds growing by 6.9 per cent and readers over 65 growing by 3.7 per cent.
The key to media exposure he states is the time that people spend reading, watching, using or listening to that particular medium. US private equity fund Veronis Suhler Stevenson, claim that for every hour of TV viewing, advertisers spend $40.1m (£20.2m). For each hour of radio they outlay $19.3m (£9.7m) and for the internet advertisers only spend $65.4m (£33m).
Interestingly, newspaper advertisers spend $316.3m (£160m) for every hour of reading, eight times more than TV. He claims that this reflects the quality demographic that a newspaper delivers.
What is clear is that there is no silver advertising bullet. No one media that kills all others. What we can see is that advertising is getting supposedly smarter and starting to target consumers based on know likes and dislikes and it is inevitable that the internet has the relationship and technology to do this best. However, cost and audibility are key and no advertiser will choose only one channel to their campaign and therefore as the search engines hover up new players they must also get into all channels.
He cites circulation not just in India and China, with paid circulation growing globally by 1.9 per cent in 2006, with sales of 510.4 million copies a day. The number of paid-for titles he reports are at a record 11,142, up 3.1 per cent on the previous year. The there is the rapid growth in free dailies - titles such as thelondonpaper, 20 Minutes, Metro and the rest - which together distribute 40.8 million copies a day.
Finally he states that newspapers and magazines are actually the largest advertising medium with a combined 42.3 per cent share of the market.
Interestingly, UK research company TGI, claim that newspaper readership has grown by 2.1 per cent over the past five years, with readership among 15-24 year olds growing by 6.9 per cent and readers over 65 growing by 3.7 per cent.
The key to media exposure he states is the time that people spend reading, watching, using or listening to that particular medium. US private equity fund Veronis Suhler Stevenson, claim that for every hour of TV viewing, advertisers spend $40.1m (£20.2m). For each hour of radio they outlay $19.3m (£9.7m) and for the internet advertisers only spend $65.4m (£33m).
Interestingly, newspaper advertisers spend $316.3m (£160m) for every hour of reading, eight times more than TV. He claims that this reflects the quality demographic that a newspaper delivers.
What is clear is that there is no silver advertising bullet. No one media that kills all others. What we can see is that advertising is getting supposedly smarter and starting to target consumers based on know likes and dislikes and it is inevitable that the internet has the relationship and technology to do this best. However, cost and audibility are key and no advertiser will choose only one channel to their campaign and therefore as the search engines hover up new players they must also get into all channels.
Place your bets on the next best seller
So its official publishing is a gambling business and spread betting is real. A very well respected consultant James Lichtenberg who I once had the pleasure of working said the publishing was like two frogs mating. They created millions of spawn, which turned into thousands of tadpoles, which turned into hundreds of tiny frogs, of which a handful made it onto the bank where one was kissed by Oprah and became a best seller. The story being you needed the millions of spawn to make the selection process.
So we hear today that the founders of Media Predict (www.MediaPredict.com), and US publisher Simon & Schuster, plan to select a book proposal based on bets placed by traders in the new market.
Media Predict is soliciting book proposals from agents and the public and posting pages of them on the site. Traders, who are given $5,000 in fantasy cash, can buy shares based on their guess about whether a particular book proposal is likely to get a deal, or whether Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will select it as a finalist in a contest called Project Publish. If either happens within a four-month period, the value of the shares go to $100 apiece; if not, the share price falls to zero. Traders are not voting on the book they like best, but rather are placing bets on which they think will do well. The success of the site is dependant on it attracting enough traffic to make the bets meaningful. Similar sites in other sectors such as the Hollywood Stock Exchange, are reported as capturing about 25,000 traders a day.
So we hear today that the founders of Media Predict (www.MediaPredict.com), and US publisher Simon & Schuster, plan to select a book proposal based on bets placed by traders in the new market.
Media Predict is soliciting book proposals from agents and the public and posting pages of them on the site. Traders, who are given $5,000 in fantasy cash, can buy shares based on their guess about whether a particular book proposal is likely to get a deal, or whether Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will select it as a finalist in a contest called Project Publish. If either happens within a four-month period, the value of the shares go to $100 apiece; if not, the share price falls to zero. Traders are not voting on the book they like best, but rather are placing bets on which they think will do well. The success of the site is dependant on it attracting enough traffic to make the bets meaningful. Similar sites in other sectors such as the Hollywood Stock Exchange, are reported as capturing about 25,000 traders a day.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Goose has laid its Golden Egg
According to the latest Internet sales statistics from Interactive Media in Retail Group last months sales rose 55% on last year to hit £3.47 billion and they also passed the watershed £100 billion mark. The first retail internet stores are only 12 years old and WHS was one of the first and they now generate more sales a month than all the West End of London stores do in a year!
When the Internet first appeared most retailers shunned it, said it offered little return, was risky and pointed to Amazon and said no thank you. The booktrade was no different and although WHS was followed by the other chains the effort was often half hearted. We must remember that WHS actually bought up The Internet Bookshop, a very successful starter and one that offered a clear brand but then merely merged it into their offer and lost its real potential to take on the likes of Amazon. Many accountant would lok at Amazon and see one goose and not see the golden egg let alone undersand the positive cash flow, global branding and potential marketplace they were building. Today Amazon is everything but a publisher and owns mobibook, booksurge, marketplace etc.
So what about the traditional retailers? IKEA and Topshop have joined the party this last year. Travel now accounts for the largest consumer spend with the likes of BA.com and Ryanair.com. The largest retailers are Amazon, Tesco, Dell and Argos.
What will the next 12 years offer? Who will dominate this landscape then and more interestingly what business models will porevail.
When the Internet first appeared most retailers shunned it, said it offered little return, was risky and pointed to Amazon and said no thank you. The booktrade was no different and although WHS was followed by the other chains the effort was often half hearted. We must remember that WHS actually bought up The Internet Bookshop, a very successful starter and one that offered a clear brand but then merely merged it into their offer and lost its real potential to take on the likes of Amazon. Many accountant would lok at Amazon and see one goose and not see the golden egg let alone undersand the positive cash flow, global branding and potential marketplace they were building. Today Amazon is everything but a publisher and owns mobibook, booksurge, marketplace etc.
So what about the traditional retailers? IKEA and Topshop have joined the party this last year. Travel now accounts for the largest consumer spend with the likes of BA.com and Ryanair.com. The largest retailers are Amazon, Tesco, Dell and Argos.
What will the next 12 years offer? Who will dominate this landscape then and more interestingly what business models will porevail.
Health Warning as Internet Advertising is Bought-up
In the struggle for advantage in the digital advertising boom the search engines are buying up online advertising companies, sometimes for eye-popping prices. This week Microsoft agreed to buy the online advertising company Aqauantive for $6 billion, which is Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever. This month Google bought DoubleClick, a competitor of Aquantive, for $3.1 billion. , outbidding Microsoft.
Yahoo recently bought the 80 percent of Right Media that it did not already own for $680 million. The company operates an auction marketplace in which advertisers and publishers buy and sell online advertising space in real time. Also this week, AOL bought Third Screen Media, which operates an ad network for mobile phones, and Adtech, an online advertising firm in Germany. AOL was the first Internet portal to buy a major advertising network, Advertising.com, in 2004.
According to eMarketer, online adverts accounted for 5.8 percent of the $285 billion spent on advertising in the United States in 2006 and it estimates that the online share will rise to 10.2 percent by 2010. As dollars move online, the big Internet companies see a chance to capture an ever-larger portion of the advertising dollar.
Google, which leads the online advertising world, is among those trying to make inroads into Microsoft’s traditional software business by offering word processing, spreadsheets and other software free. Quantive, which is based in Seattle, will bring many advertisers to Microsoft.
The technology helps Web publishers earn the most for the ad space available on their sites.
The recent deals are also blurring the lines between the big Internet companies and traditional advertising companies and last week the WPP Group bought 24/7 Real Media, another DoubleClick competitor, for $649 million, to compete better with Internet companies.
As we see business models shifting to advertising based free content these shifts become even more alarming. Imagine if music, videos and even books where available free to download as long as you accepted the advertising feeds. Just like ITV and the other broadcasters it have done for years. What will that do to people who are still trying to sell in the traditional model and what will be the impact on price?
Yahoo recently bought the 80 percent of Right Media that it did not already own for $680 million. The company operates an auction marketplace in which advertisers and publishers buy and sell online advertising space in real time. Also this week, AOL bought Third Screen Media, which operates an ad network for mobile phones, and Adtech, an online advertising firm in Germany. AOL was the first Internet portal to buy a major advertising network, Advertising.com, in 2004.
According to eMarketer, online adverts accounted for 5.8 percent of the $285 billion spent on advertising in the United States in 2006 and it estimates that the online share will rise to 10.2 percent by 2010. As dollars move online, the big Internet companies see a chance to capture an ever-larger portion of the advertising dollar.
Google, which leads the online advertising world, is among those trying to make inroads into Microsoft’s traditional software business by offering word processing, spreadsheets and other software free. Quantive, which is based in Seattle, will bring many advertisers to Microsoft.
The technology helps Web publishers earn the most for the ad space available on their sites.
The recent deals are also blurring the lines between the big Internet companies and traditional advertising companies and last week the WPP Group bought 24/7 Real Media, another DoubleClick competitor, for $649 million, to compete better with Internet companies.
As we see business models shifting to advertising based free content these shifts become even more alarming. Imagine if music, videos and even books where available free to download as long as you accepted the advertising feeds. Just like ITV and the other broadcasters it have done for years. What will that do to people who are still trying to sell in the traditional model and what will be the impact on price?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Winalot, Walkies and Maps
Having spent some very interesting time at the Ordnance Survey partner conference it was alarming how little one knew about the world of maps and cartographers. The innovation and usage of mapping information goes far beyond those folded and infamous explorer maps. The organisation supplies geographic information for business supporting through their effective partner programme; emergency services, government, health, insurance, land and property, retail, transport, utilities, wireless and communications.
The map sector is now a classic case of a sector that was joined together by one format, paper, that is now diverging with digitisation. Different market segments need different information, delivered on potentially different devices and in different formats and also different levels of detail. The business is now having to react to diverging segments. What is clear is that the old A1 sheet and grid system is not relevant in the digital world. It begs the question that if they could break out of the old paper and grid paradigm and get the paper sizing down to say A4, the opportunities for print on demand are clear for all to see. Everyone now wants ‘My Map’ and the pricing has to recognise that Google and other are free and that business models, particularly in the consumer world are changing.
When you hear about the increasing level of GPS navigation, the proliferation of devices and their potential uses, one can only sit back and wonder how our bodies are going to cope with this bombardment of electronic waves let alone information on tap. Forget privacy the equipment that is already deployed and planned for cars makes one wonder if driving will ever be fun again and whether your every move will be logged in some huge databank in the sky.
However, the real gem was when a marketing executive eluded to a new partnership opportunity with Winalot. Yes, the dog food manufacturer. Maps for dog walkers aimed at showing them all those exciting walks they may have missed and no doubt where the nearest pooper bin is. At this point I wondered whether I was dreaming or the kids had truly taken over the chocolate factory.
Whether the Guardian ever wins its campaign to privatise the Ordnance Survey is immaterial as this organisation and sector face some huge digital business challenges which by their nature change the shape and potential make-up of the organisation.
Map information is a whole new world.
The map sector is now a classic case of a sector that was joined together by one format, paper, that is now diverging with digitisation. Different market segments need different information, delivered on potentially different devices and in different formats and also different levels of detail. The business is now having to react to diverging segments. What is clear is that the old A1 sheet and grid system is not relevant in the digital world. It begs the question that if they could break out of the old paper and grid paradigm and get the paper sizing down to say A4, the opportunities for print on demand are clear for all to see. Everyone now wants ‘My Map’ and the pricing has to recognise that Google and other are free and that business models, particularly in the consumer world are changing.
When you hear about the increasing level of GPS navigation, the proliferation of devices and their potential uses, one can only sit back and wonder how our bodies are going to cope with this bombardment of electronic waves let alone information on tap. Forget privacy the equipment that is already deployed and planned for cars makes one wonder if driving will ever be fun again and whether your every move will be logged in some huge databank in the sky.
However, the real gem was when a marketing executive eluded to a new partnership opportunity with Winalot. Yes, the dog food manufacturer. Maps for dog walkers aimed at showing them all those exciting walks they may have missed and no doubt where the nearest pooper bin is. At this point I wondered whether I was dreaming or the kids had truly taken over the chocolate factory.
Whether the Guardian ever wins its campaign to privatise the Ordnance Survey is immaterial as this organisation and sector face some huge digital business challenges which by their nature change the shape and potential make-up of the organisation.
Map information is a whole new world.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Slushpile.com
We read today about the The Lulu Blooker Prize is the world's first literary prize devoted to "blooks"-books based on blogs or other websites, including webcomics.
It comes on the back of many news articles on publishers chasing the blogshere for new authors, content and fresh thinking. Can we now expect the blogshere to soon resemble the slushpile? Are we merely moving from one pile to another? We those who fail to get attraction still be able to live on the ‘long tail’? Will Richard Charkin be offered a book deal on travel and architecture?
The question is whether the blogs will be written by bloggers or people wanting to get attention and promote their longer works. Viral marketing can be a minefield to most but to the savvy social communicators raising their profile is not difficult. This begs the question whether the best content gets to the top or whether it’s those with the biggest community or hits.
A few years ago I was invited to a conference with top BBC managers to discuss strategy. The event wasn’t a small event and I found myself alongside other outsiders with considerable and different media input and thinking. I felt like a traditionalists in my open collared shirt and chinos as the others were aged between 16 and twenty-something, wore their street clothes and had little respect for Auntie and the rules by which she played. They told the executives about the internet world in which they lived and what the BBC needed to do. Interestingly, the BBC reacted, listened and many things that were discussed have impacted on their subsequent strategy. It was a brave approach but a wise one. These executives just didn’t understand what was happening around them.
The people at the edge of this space often are multi dimensional in their content and thinking and will use video, voice, and words to get their points across and market themselves. They may not even use the Queen’s English or care about correct grammar. They certainly live outside of the printed book dimension and offer much to our thinking.
It comes on the back of many news articles on publishers chasing the blogshere for new authors, content and fresh thinking. Can we now expect the blogshere to soon resemble the slushpile? Are we merely moving from one pile to another? We those who fail to get attraction still be able to live on the ‘long tail’? Will Richard Charkin be offered a book deal on travel and architecture?
The question is whether the blogs will be written by bloggers or people wanting to get attention and promote their longer works. Viral marketing can be a minefield to most but to the savvy social communicators raising their profile is not difficult. This begs the question whether the best content gets to the top or whether it’s those with the biggest community or hits.
A few years ago I was invited to a conference with top BBC managers to discuss strategy. The event wasn’t a small event and I found myself alongside other outsiders with considerable and different media input and thinking. I felt like a traditionalists in my open collared shirt and chinos as the others were aged between 16 and twenty-something, wore their street clothes and had little respect for Auntie and the rules by which she played. They told the executives about the internet world in which they lived and what the BBC needed to do. Interestingly, the BBC reacted, listened and many things that were discussed have impacted on their subsequent strategy. It was a brave approach but a wise one. These executives just didn’t understand what was happening around them.
The people at the edge of this space often are multi dimensional in their content and thinking and will use video, voice, and words to get their points across and market themselves. They may not even use the Queen’s English or care about correct grammar. They certainly live outside of the printed book dimension and offer much to our thinking.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Joost in Time TV
We have reported before on the new breed to TV services spearheaded by Joost from that innovative team that first created Kazaa and Skype. Joost and a rival, Babelgum, a site backed by the Italian telecommunications magnate Silvio Scaglia are both currently under beta and the initial experience is amazing.
Both sites require a quick download to get started and a continuous Internet connection.
The main difference between these sites and YouTube is that the content is full-length and professionally edited. YouTube and MySpace only give you short videos with consumers on average only visiting YouTube for 11.5 minutes at a time.
Advertising rules. Joost requires you to register our age, gender and other details, and both Web sites say they will monitor your viewing patterns. Joost has already signed up more than 30 major advertisers and within a few minutes of logging on to Joost, ads will appear.
The service is multi dimensional and enables you to chat online as you watch TV – true multi tasking! Well maybe, if you are by yourself. It is very easy to see it taking off in the US where the TV is never off and the sound bite a way of life.
BT Vision this week starts to promote its new broadband services in the UK. They are backed by Microsoft and Phillips and are focused at pushing broadband boundaries TV, demand services and much more through their free set boxes and integration services.
We are certainly entering a new era of television and what will that mean to how we socialise, communicate, access on demand services? Ultimately will broadband provide all home services and wi-fi all mobile ones? What will that mean re the devices that will prevail?
We are not only witnessing the convergence of delivery technology but also of content itself and this presents one dimensional publishers with some interesting challenges!
Both sites require a quick download to get started and a continuous Internet connection.
The main difference between these sites and YouTube is that the content is full-length and professionally edited. YouTube and MySpace only give you short videos with consumers on average only visiting YouTube for 11.5 minutes at a time.
Advertising rules. Joost requires you to register our age, gender and other details, and both Web sites say they will monitor your viewing patterns. Joost has already signed up more than 30 major advertisers and within a few minutes of logging on to Joost, ads will appear.
The service is multi dimensional and enables you to chat online as you watch TV – true multi tasking! Well maybe, if you are by yourself. It is very easy to see it taking off in the US where the TV is never off and the sound bite a way of life.
BT Vision this week starts to promote its new broadband services in the UK. They are backed by Microsoft and Phillips and are focused at pushing broadband boundaries TV, demand services and much more through their free set boxes and integration services.
We are certainly entering a new era of television and what will that mean to how we socialise, communicate, access on demand services? Ultimately will broadband provide all home services and wi-fi all mobile ones? What will that mean re the devices that will prevail?
We are not only witnessing the convergence of delivery technology but also of content itself and this presents one dimensional publishers with some interesting challenges!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thomson Education Sold
The long awaited and much talked about sale of Thompson’s educational business has been concluded. Apax Partners, a private equity group, and an Ontario-based pension fund, will buy Thomson Learning and textbook provider Nelson Canada.
The sale price of $7.75bn sailed past analysts' forecasts and will give Thomson a large cash boost to help fund its purchase British news agency Reuters, which could cost $17.5bn in cash and shares.
The sale is part of Thomson's strategy to offload its higher education and library reference material division, announced last October. It follows hot on the heels of the sale of Harcourt to Pearson and clearly demonstrates that the publishing giants, Reed Elsevier, Thompson and Pearson are now focusing on their markets and growth. In doing so they will continue in their migration from publisher to content workflow providers and embed themselves deeper into their market’s eco systems.
The sale price of $7.75bn sailed past analysts' forecasts and will give Thomson a large cash boost to help fund its purchase British news agency Reuters, which could cost $17.5bn in cash and shares.
The sale is part of Thomson's strategy to offload its higher education and library reference material division, announced last October. It follows hot on the heels of the sale of Harcourt to Pearson and clearly demonstrates that the publishing giants, Reed Elsevier, Thompson and Pearson are now focusing on their markets and growth. In doing so they will continue in their migration from publisher to content workflow providers and embed themselves deeper into their market’s eco systems.
iPod News with a Difference
MacNewsWorld threw up two interesting articles on that fashion icon this week.
Invasion of the Killer iPods?
First there is the question of health risk. A study from the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Institute at Michigan State University has raised concerns about the possibility that iPods could cause pacemakers to fail.
The study is questioned on several grounds but the headlines were rather scary and reminisant to those that questioned if mobile phones scrabbled ones brains and the more recent reports on the effect.
A presentation made Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting in Denver this week heard that electrical interference of pacemakers was found about 50 percent of the time when an iPod was held within several inches of a patient's chest for five to ten seconds. Interfere with the implanted devices was even found when they were held 18 inches away and one pacemaker completely stopped functioning.
Many questions were raised about the study not testing other portable music players, or that the research failed to determined which pacemakers were most affected and of course the impact of all the other electromagnetic field disturbances that surround us.
One wonders whether in the near future we may see a health backlash against some of the technology we take for granted and use today or whether given commercial pressures and ownership we may never really know?
Show me the way to Amarillo
Welsh computer researchers at the University of Wales, Swansea have developed a hybrid MP3 player and sat-nav for pedestrians. Instead of urging listeners to "turn left in 100 yards," the device turns the volume down in one ear to prompt walkers in a particular direction until they reach their destination. The destination can either been preset, or be one that the device knows the user might like.
If the user is heading in the right direction, the music is clear and strong through both headphones. But if the user needs to change direction, the balance changes, with clarity and volume shifting to the left or right ear according to the direction to be taken.
Imagine your device knows that you like coffee, it can give a 'nudge' when they're in the vicinity of a coffee shop. If the user decides to follow the cues to see what the device thinks is of interest, the system will then guide them to the destination. If users ignore the hints, the device will stop nudging until it comes across something else of potential interest. Imagine walking down a busy high street, you may be nudged from pillar to post.
Swansea University's three-year project to look at the navigating MP3 player, which uses GPS (global positioning system) satellite technology, begins later this month.Funded with a grant from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the research is being undertaken in collaboration with Glasgow University in Scotland.
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