It's a Fight: Bing vs. Google

There's a fight a brewing in the online search world and the champ (Apollo Creed/Google) may have to worry. The kid out of nowhere (Rocky Balboa/Bing) has a new manager and business partner (Mick/Yahoo) to help train for the big fight. It's gonna be a huge fight. Bing created by Microsoft and Yahoo see more advantages by combining forces. "Through the pact, Bing will become the default search engine on Yahoo, creating a search player with close to 30% market share of search queries, compared with Google's 65%, according to ComScore data." Is Google worried; let's see.

So, do you have a preference for search engines? Do you use whatever is in your toolbar or are you willing to try the other guy and compare? Which one wins out. I may be leaning more toward one than another but I am still open. For many, asking the right question is the key to good results. Some though aren't sure how to ask and hope the search bar understands what they are asking and responds with the best matches first. For most, the process of searching can get long and cumbersome and these folks are ready for a change if it can be proved that the challenger is more adept.

I can tell you one thing, this fight will get more interesting as each site markets itself aggressively. Round One is officially on.

All Digital Means No TV Without A Box

My cable company sent us a letter informing us that even more unscrambled channels are going digital and the only way to view them is with a cable box. And that means the end of my Tivo box, unless I purchase a new one that takes a CableCard. Otherwise I am in need of a cable set-top box, a big, ugly, brick of a box that offers none of the great features that Tivo offers.

So why can't the cable company offer at least a fuller variety of options. Currently, they seem to be either ugly or useless. Nowhere in the mailing is their information on CableCards. Want more information, go to the website. Not in this case. And have you ever tried talking to a rep; it becomes extremely clear to me that they know less than I do about what they offer. Solve a problem; perhaps, but it is evident they are simply accessing a page in a book and reading me the instructions.

And so I have a month remaining before my Tivo becomes useless and I need to make a choice; put a cable DVR in my bedroom or confirm that my cable company has a Cablecard that can go into a Tivo box. Or I can hold my breath till Tivo is part of my cable company's options.

Amazon Apologizes But Still Has A Fight On Its Hands

Amazon may have apologized last week for pulling off of its Kindle versions of 1984 without notice, but it faces new competition and customer reaction. "A growing number of civil libertarians and customer advocates wants Amazon to fundamentally alter its method for selling Kindle books, lest it be forced to one day change or recall books, perhaps by a judge ruling in a defamation case — or by a government deciding a particular work is politically damaging or embarrassing." Will other content providers try the same thing, looking inside our digital devices and deciding whether we can keep something or not, no matter if it is owned legally or illegally. Doesn't the right of privacy matter in a democracy. Amazon may have admitted its stupidity, but it still demonstrates that a bigger problem exists.

The key concept here is D.R.M. or digital rights management, and it ultimately affects all kinds of digital content, print, video, and audio. It sets security measures that can limit how content can be owned, viewed, copied, and shared. "D.R.M. has created a new dynamic between consumers and the vendors of digital media like books and movies. People do not so much own, but rent this media. And the rental agreement can be breached by the manufacturer at any time, sometime with little or no notice." Where in printed form, a book can be handed over to a friend to read after you finished with it; with D.R.M. controls, that same digital book may be limited to the device it was sent to. More profit, no sharing, no illegal reselling.

And now, Amazon faces a new battle from Barnes and Noble and their Plastic Logic E-Book reader. How will this competition be received by current and potential customers and how will B&N address these issues? D.R.M. is a major issue that will affect all digital content; these issues will need to be more fully addressed by other content distributors as well.

Hulu Could Charge Subscriptions

News Corp isn't the only company looking at turning free content into pay. Disney's CEO Bpb Iger also thinks Hulu should become a pay site. "In addition, Iger said at a conference presented by Fortune magazine, Disney is developing its own Web site that would make available movies, TV shows and games to consumers who pay for a subscription, according to an Associated Press report."

Will the consumer accept or will they find technological ways around this. And once you give something away, will consumers be willing to change to payments; will they see the value. Or will it simply make viewers that much more driven to find new, "cheaper", viewership options. Perhaps it will ultimately force consumers to maintain their cable subscription in order to receive their video on other platforms.

News Corp Plans to Charge for Content

It doesn't pay to give it away for free and so News Corp thinks it can start charging for its content. But will the consumer pay? It seems that so much of the web is duplicative so that there are numerous ways to get what you need. If one site requires payment and another is free, it seems obvious which one the consumer will pick. What is not so obvious is how to make content exclusive and how to market its value in such a way that consumers also value it. Not so easy. The New York Times hopes it can, but we can only wait and see if they have the marketing skills to pull it off. To my knowledge, the Wall Street Journal, a News Corp business, has successfully built a fee based model for its business news, but it never gave it away to begin with. I am not sure that model is so easy to duplicate with its other web sites. Still, "News Corp. plans to increase revenue at its Internet businesses by charging customers for news and entertainment, according to Jonathan Miller, the company’s chief digital officer."

Record 589 Million Views Served, Up 15% Year Over Year

VOD views on a month over month basis are soaring! On demand views for June 2008 grew by 15% for June 2009. "For 2008, operators served 3.8 billion VOD orders (excluding adult programming), a year-over-year increase of 28%, according to Rentrak's annual report." This data from Rentrak represents data from the top cable operators covering over 70 million digital cable set-top boxes. Viewers love VOD!!!

It would also be valuable to get the research on unique user growth. Are more viewers using VOD or are the current users simply watching more VOD. And what the average number of titles viewed per set top box is and how much that is rising too. "This June, subscribers viewed an average of 16.5 minutes of VOD per day per active unique set-top box, up 10% from the previous month. Free VOD children's content had its best month of the year, with 106 million views, a 7% increase over May." I would expect to see a noticeable bump in new usage although there still remains a significant portion of the population hesitant to use VOD, especially on a transactional basis, as opposed to free on demand.

Comcast Teams With RealNetworks For Web Games

Can't get enough games, well more is on the way. Comcast is adding games through its internet portal as well. "Through the partnership with RealNetworks' RealGames division, Comcast.net users can download trial versions or buy full-version games. In addition, the site offers a subscription service, GamePass, that allows customers to purchase games for $6.99 per month." As a fan of casual gaming, it could be fun; but with so many other web sites and social networks offering gaming as well, I wonder how differentiated these games are from those. And would exclusivity on a game through a particular IP provider be another differentiation tool in the fight for customers. "Comcast also said it is using a tool from marketing-technology company Bunchball to provide broadband customers with "reward-based activities" that include earning points through game play and redeeming them for virtual goods." Are real rewards and prizes, like free movie rentals and premium discounts, the way to go. It might just further incent me to remain loyal.

Kindle and Amazon Have Got Some Competition

Barnes and Noble don't want to go down without a fight. As digital content becomes more accepted, book stores, like record stores before them will go away. To stay in business, Barnes and Noble needs to adapt to a changing business model. And you can't let Amazon and Kindle get all the book business. "The book retail giant just announced its new e-book strategy. It includes:
An e-book store with 700,000 titles and pricing competitive to Amazon's, including $9.99 bestsellers. An exclusive deal to provide e-books for the forthcoming Plastic Logic e-book reader, which will debut early next year. More than 500,000 public domain books from Google, which are free."

Will they beat out Kindle; hard to say. The Kindle name has gotten more awareness and buzz, both good and bad. Having not played with either device, it is hard to say which will come out stronger. My neighbor has a Kindle and raves about it. In fact, he was thrilled to show it off except he forgot to turn off the wireless and he drained the battery. No reading material for him at the pool! Still, it holds a lot of books and newspapers in a small package. I still believe that Apple should enter the fray. Their experience with the iPod and iTunes and their App store give them a competitive advantage to build and distribute a device that offers reading content. I hope they announce one soon!

The Price Of Connectivity - Big Brother Retains Control

Don't be mistake, this move by Amazon is only the tip of the iceberg. And how ironic that it affected a George Orwell novel, 1984, that literally talks about Big Brother. While Amazon may be all apologetic and thinking that they were protecting the rights of the copyright holder, their ability to remotely delete content from their device, without notice, and without customer knowledge, spells bad news. It demonstrates first hand the ability of a big company to take information away from the masses, to control what we can and can't own, and to take a piece of our privacy away, one deletion at a time.

"Amazon appears to have deleted other purchased e-books from Kindles recently. Customers commenting on Web forums reported the disappearance of digital editions of the Harry Potter books and the novels of Ayn Rand over similar issues." Without our knowledge and without our consent, it demonstrate oh too well that Big Brother is not only watching what we do, but controlling what we can or can't have. How will this affect Kindle sales and what will the on-going buzz be in the digital community. I'm eager to know how outraged the public will become. Or apathetic. And that is problematic, too!