snapshot 6/28/07

Hollywood tries to get a grip on iPhone's impact
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070628/tc_usatoday/hollywoodtriestogetagriponiphonesimpact;_ylt=AqsJ1pu5b3q9ABhx_UUQKVBkM3wV
But Hollywood and other entertainment providers will be looking for more than sales: They'll be watching for signs of the next mobile revolution. "It is a paradigm shifter," says John Latona of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, which has monitored online chatter about the iPhone. "The launch itself has transcended whether this is a business or entertainment device."

That could mean new customers for the iTunes store, which stocks more than 5 million songs, 350 TV shows and 500 movies. IPhone users interested solely in music can load 800 or more songs onto the device.


Hanging up on ringtones
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,2112665,00.html
With the market for downloadable over-the-air content flat, operators and music companies are looking to other ways of making money from mobiles, says Adam Webb. "I think the ringtone business is in peril now because the operators have allowed into the market mobile phones which can sideload MP3s and use them as ringtones," says Andrew Bud, executive chairman of mBlox and vice-chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum.

Internal Apple Stevenote: iPhone, iPods with OS X, and "off the charts" Macs in the pipeline
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/06/28/internal-apple-stevenote-iphone-ipods-with-os-x-and-off-the-charts-macs-in-the-pipeline
He then expanded upon OS X, and what it means for the business. There is one OS group that does Mac OS X for the Mac and the iPhone, as well as "some iPods we're working on." Could it be that the next major revision to the iPod video will, in fact, be a widescreen iPod similar to that of the iPhone?


A Longer Look at the Long Tail
http://www.bearstearns.com/bservlet/BSFile?filePath=I60QwqJMFL0MFhHqI8HkYegbHVSVCr%2bWe4EAYKWikL5LWp6KzJC2Sg%3d%3d&preview=yes
• TAIL WAGS THE DOG? Our “Long Tail” thesis argues that digital technology and economics are loosening barriers to entry in video production. This augurs a material increase in video content supply from many sources, which could lead to slowing growth for incumbents and a shift in value from content creators to aggregators/packagers.
• USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) NOT LIKELY A FAD. Text-based UGC (e.g., blogs/social networks) already accounts for at least 13% of Internet traffic and continues to grow unabated. Also, our online video survey finds that UGC is the No. 1 and No. 2 most popular content category among men aged 18-34 and all respondents, respectively.
• “PARADOX OF CHOICE” SHIFTS VALUE TO MIDDLE OF SUPPLY CHAIN. Increased video content supply could lead to lower user satisfaction, given cognitive dissonance due to regret, confusion, etc. Therefore, we submit that new aggregation vehicles will emerge to solve this conundrum, as search engines did in the text-based Web, which is where the vast majority of value accrued.
• CONTENT ISN’T KING, GREAT CONTENT IS. The problem with the “content is king” axiom is that no one company has proven capable of consistently creating only great content, as evidenced by fluctuations in TV ratings, box office per film, etc. In addition, while entertainment firms are focused on “digital,” this revenue stream will likely remain small relative to overall sales for the foreseeable future. The risk is that, as with newspaper companies, strong digital revenues do not offset decelerating growth in core revenue streams.


DVD-CCA to allow CSS in DVD burning
http://www.contentagenda.com/article/CA6456420.html?nid=3038
fter a series of false starts, DVD burning has cleared its last technical hurdle, smoothing the way for movie download services and DVD kiosk companies to offer on-demand disc burning using CSS copy-protection technology.
The DVD Copy Control Assn., the administrator of CSS, approved a final amendment last week clearing the way for burning. The group is expected to finalize the language of the amendment next week, making the change effective immediately. Movie download services will then be able to offer downloads that can be burned to DVD and played in set-top DVD players, a move that is expected to make downloads more appealing to consumers.


Meebo introduces “partner” rooms, featuring music industry
http://venturebeat.com/2007/06/27/meebo-introduces-partner-rooms-featuring-music-industry/
Meebo, a web service that lets you use different instant messaging services from a single page, has been busy working to monetize their month-old IM chat room feature. The service is intended for general use, although Meebo has announced an impressive list of musicians and labels that have jumped on the bandwagon (see the lengthy list below). But for these partners, there’s one big obstacle to making money from the Meebo service: Many of these artists carry their chats on musician-popular MySpace, and that site doesn’t allow advertising.