Interesting news from MediaPost on Microsoft’s pending ad spend transition…
NOT SURPRISINGLY for a tech behemoth, a top Microsoft executive said Thursday that in three years, the bulk of its nearly $1 billion in U.S. ad spending will be in the digital sphere. “We’re actually pretty confident that by 2010, the majority of our media mix will shift to digital,” said Mich Mathews, senior vice president of the company’s central marketing group, at the AAAAs media conference.
A massive collection of dollars could be in the balance. Microsoft spent $945 million in just the U.S. in 2005, according to Advertising Age.
In what Mathews termed the “Era of Customer Participation,” she said the company is simply following its consumers, who are increasingly migrating to the Web and an array of nontraditional outlets for information and entertainment. Plus, Microsoft is attracted to the potentially helpful accountability data that digital marketing can provide.
Despite Mathews’ commitment to a possible shift of more than $500 million in U.S. ad spending to the digital realm, she said TV and print will continue to play tactical roles. [MediaPost]
TV is something that simply cannot be beaten for broad awareness – yet remains a challenge when it comes to understanding performance — especially when it comes to how various media opportunities work. Microsoft is in a very strong position here to really negotiate substantial deals with the amount of money about to funnel into the online channel… interesting times for sure.
My former colleagues at MRM SF, must be pretty psyched as this means a boatload of new work for them…
I’ll be in Dallas this Sunday through Wednesday for the MuniWireless conference and speaking on a panel Tuesday on Emerging Portable Devices which should be quite cool.
Sorry, I… I gave Vista a real chance. I just can’t use it as my primary OS anymore. It’s NOT horrible at its core (by any stretch of the imagination). If all of your hardware and software are fully baked, you’re good to go – but that’s not the world I live in. I will continue to recommend Windows Vista for some users, mind you. I wish I could take the best parts of Vista and bring them back with me to XP. I’m still more than willing to help Microsoft improve Windows and get the message out to users, but I simply can’t sacrifice my own time and productivity without benefits in clear sight. I’m begging Microsoft and all of my hardware and software vendors to make Windows better for me. Until then…
Pirillo is a major windows advocate and has a very loyal following of listeners. This is not good for Redmond and while it’s not going to stop people from getting to Vista (particularly with a new PC) it’s likely to create pause.
Chris was quite vocal with bugs and issues he’d found and direct with fixes that needed to be addressed during the open beta. He’s far from satisfied with the progress that’s been made to date and going back to XP for now.
I’ve been playing a bit with Joost and Zudeo and am am quite impressed with the overall quality as well as speed in which things are happening. I should mention that I use a (almost) 30 / 5 Mbps down cable connection which I tend to also use with either a GigE wired connection at my desk or a 802.11N wireless connection, which by US standards is about as good as it gets. 😉 I am not sure if the experience I’ve been having would be as good on other network connections, though I am sure that entry level broadband would make it tougher to speed through selections…
Zudeo
Zudeo, which is built on Bit Torrent, enables shared downloads of content – you get to keep what you download. The bit torrent system tends to reward you through Karma. The more you upload, the more speed you can achieve in download. I found the content to be pretty interesting though it’s pretty heavy on Movie Trailers and shorts – not real TV-like stuff or premium tier offerings – at least not yet. There’s no DRM here so I guess that’s to be expected.
Regardless, you can get true HD content downloaded VERY quickly and it seriously looks awesome. Not too unlike your initial experience with HDTV though, once you get past the WOW that picture looks awesome effect, you start wondering what you want to spend time actually watching beyond some extreme sports and landscapes. If you do get into Zudeo, make sure you’ve got some spare HD space as it’s pretty easy to download a lot very quickly…
The interface can be confusing if you venture into the advanced settings as you’ll find yourself deep in Azureus which is the Bit Torrent client that’s really running things. If you’ve never used Bit Torrent and particularly Azurues, there can be way too many things to consider. Granted, you probably won’t have to mess with much beyond your default download location, but you may need to adjust your firewall or router to enable better connections outside of your home network’s NAT configuration.
Here’s a sample of what to expect:
Joost
For the more mass-minded consumer, Joost will probably be more appealing. So far, the Joost team has delivered a seriously elegant system focused on watching. Joost is run by the team who brought us Kazaa and they’ve retained their intellectual property to deliver robust P2P applications and it totally works and works well really well.
Joost’s interface flows. It’s hard to really compare it to anything as it’s pretty unique – at least to me. I find the space is optimized for video with other elements floating on the perimeter of your screen inviting you to either explore or simply ignore.
Finding something interesting to watch is easy enough and from what I understand the content flow has only just started. I’ve been enjoying the Fifth Gear car program as well as some National Geographic pieces and the occasional World’s Strongest Man. While there’s no HD content here, I think it’s technically feasible to expect it in the future – perhaps following the 1.0 release.
While Zudeo works with as a single play system – no playlists – Joost will play an entire channel once you select where in the queue you’d like to start watching. When you quit and restart, it begins with your last viewed program and as a show is ending you get a nice pop-up that states what’s next. There are some ads which appear in between shows though they are (so far) only on for a few moments which is far from in the way or offensive.
Here’s a sample of what to expect:
Apple iTunes / Apple TV
As most people know it’s easy to one-click your way to some shows and movies from iTunes and I expect that when Apple TV arrives this week, it will make the experience of watching considerably better than the current system of rigging your machine to a TV. The Apple TV will be there happily awaiting a sync from your main store-connected system much like your iPod does today. My only issues (and it’s not even here) are the reliance on iTunes and the iPhoto. I get that it makes live simple to use a standard base configuration, but I’d really like to use content that is not managed in iTunes – archived DVDs for one – and I don’t use iPhoto anymore now that Aperture is in the picture so I am not sure how I will be able to enjoy HD quality pictures on my TV. Front Row does not recognize my Aperture library at all… Hopefully there will be a way to extend the capabilities through a plugin or a hack to better enable access to content I already have – not just what I buy from Apple. I’m looking forward to checking it out when it arrives and I hope to be pleasantly surprised.
The Peer to Peer future?
After spending the time I have with Zudeo and Joost though I have to wonder where the P2P / Torrent part of Apple’s delivery strategy might be. By sharing the power to deliver massive blocks of content it’s clearly possible to deliver higher quality than we are used to seeing come through the iTunes store. I can’t think of too many people who want to watch low resolution video on their HD screens… come to think of it I didn’t know too many people who wanted low resolution audio either, and Apple has sold over 2 Billion songs.
Just in from the NYT… and in case you are wondering it requires Windows Media Player 11, which means yet again NO Mac Support.
On Monday, the company, whose technology unleashed a wave of illegal file-sharing on the Internet, plans to unveil the BitTorrent Entertainment Network on its Web site, BitTorrent.com. The digital media store will offer around 3,000 new and classic movies and thousands more television shows, as well as a thousand PC games and music videos each, all legally available for purchase.
The programming comes from studios, including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers, that previously announced their intention to work with BitTorrent. There is also a new partner: the 83-year-old Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which will take part by making 100 films available on the site from its 4,000-movie library. “Somebody once said you have to embrace your enemy,†said Doug Lee, executive vice president of MGM’s new-media division. “We like the idea that they have millions of users worldwide. That is potentially fertile, legitimate ground for us.â€
The BitTorrent store will work slightly differently than rival digital media offerings like the iTunes Store of Apple and the Xbox Live service of Microsoft. BitTorrent will commingle free downloads of users’ own video uploads with sales of professional fare. And while it will sell digital copies of shows like “24†and “Bones†for $1.99 an episode, it will only rent movies. Once the films are on the PC, they expire within 30 days of their purchase or 24 hours after the buyer begins to watch them. [New York Times]
Just a quick thank you to Verizon for knocking my phone service out today for some unexplained reason — and especially for not being able to address the problem until tomorrow.
I’ll keep this in mind the next time I see your advertising making sure I know that a phone is “always on” unlike my cable service on which I am still able to use for connectivity to write this as well as for VOIP calling…
Yesterday I was passing through Times Square when my phone buzzed. I looked down and saw that Dr. Sanjay Gupta was trying to send me a message. I was traveling pretty quickly so I was not able to accept it or even capture a screenshot (hey it was below 20 degrees with wind!). This is the first bluetooth ad I’ve seen first hand and has to be one of the earlier experiments in the US.
On my Nokia’s I’ve actually activated the preference for receiving ads (professional curiosity), and I am pretty sure the N73 was set to broadcast mode as well. I’m not sure whether broadcast mode status has any impact on receiving bluetooth ads or not. Anyone?
When the ad came through I was quite surprised. I still don’t really know how I really feel about this. Given the number of attention getting devices in Times Square, I can see where using bluetooth might break through a bit, but it’s still a tad disturbing. The mobile is a highly personal device and this seems to cross a line. If this had been user-initiated it would be entirely different, but on top of everything else I really don’t want messages from Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN. I’m sure it was to promote his show or an appearance rather than warn me about some looming health hazard.
Nokia got a ton of press from their announcement yesterday regarding the Smart2Go service – a free mapping application (to be called Nokia Maps) on Series60, Windows Mobile and possibly even other devices … N800 perhaps?
I immediately went to check it out and found that the site required a code to even get past the home page to see what might be available to install. This was fixed some time later in the day and the site now appropriately redirects you … however, there is NO WAY to install this. There are plenty of links to download and share with friends… even a link to get the manual. Here’s what I found :
Download via PC –
Download via SMS –
Perhaps you’d like to read the manual while you wait?
I even tried doing the send to a friend thinking that perhaps that might work… but of course found that this looped me right back to where I started.
Now I am legitimately interested in this product and would love to have quality maps on my mobile. I already own a pocket bluetooth GPS and found myself thinking how much better my experience would be if I upgraded to a more advanced gps with better reception in order to take fuller advantage of this. Yet there does not seem to be any way yet to even try it.
I’m sure people were excited to be announcing things, but the importance of matching that up to the product’s reality is rather critical. You don’t get too many chances to make a first impression. Speaking of impressions, I sent some feedback through the site stating it was impossible to download and found this lovely message as my instant on-site reply:
It’s not like they asked for my name and email so I guess I should not be that surprised to see such a note, but to state so directly that there will be no direct follow-up is just poor. Why not offer me an email or RSS updates feed…
There is one last bit here before I’ve fully beaten this one down and that’s the PC-only (don’t even get me started here) MapLoader app, which from the screenshot I saw looks nice enough, though without actually being able to install the application on your mobile to begin with it’s of no use.
Someone needs to get things in order here ASAP. If you are not ready, don’t launch the site – just go with a press release and a screen shot. Capture interested parties with an email / rss update and let the site go live when the product can be used. This is bad marketing and execution all around. The other thing I really can’t figure out is why I seem to be the only person wondering what’s up with this? The rest of the Nokia blogger base happily reported the news with their joyous posts.
UPDATE It’s Feb 10 — release day from the release (thanks to people who’ve pointed that out). The site now lists a Coming Soon… so stay tuned.
Today the company will introduce a partnership with all of the six major Hollywood studios — Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Universal — to sell digital movies and television shows on its Web site (www.walmart.com/videodownloads), becoming the first traditional retailer to do so. [New York Times]
While I am not surprised to see that Walmart is embracing Windows DRM (other than Apple’s FairPlay, it’s the only game in town), but check out this lovely view of their website on a Mac:
To me, this is a total F-U. It’s a complete lock-out. Walmart is saying, there’s only one platform that we recognize and that’s Windows through IE. I was able to get the page to load with Safari, but Firefox and Camino but displayed the loveliness above.
The only thing I can give credit to Walmart for is that they have a single price for each film (prices actually vary by title) which will let you get both a download and a portable version for the same price – which is the default. BTW — I just noticed that Apple has an ad on the NYT page promoting iPod and iTunes which not only competes with this service, but is completely incompatible.
Andy Abramson fires a few shots at P2P video which I unfortunately agree with given where we are with our current infrastructure…
So imagine what happens with video which requires even more bandwidth than Voice. Let’s face it, it’s one thing to be the only person on a T-1, but a shared pipe that’s got everyone doing everything (voice, video, data, gaming, IMing, etc.) is the next place we’re going to see Information highway gridlock.
Our networks in the USA are not built for what is coming, nor will they be as rapidly expanded as they need to be. My experiences in Europe are far different now than they were a few years ago. When I’m in a hotel which has a quality broadband network my experience is T-1 like. In most Internet cafe’s in major cities I have a similar experience, but here in the USA we don’t have the luxury of the networks being built to handle all that’s coming. [VoIP Watch:]
I have the premium tier from Cablevision — supposedly 30MB down 5MB up. I certainly don’t get that regularly and in fact rarely do. A quick test on my connection reveals a symmetrical 3.5MB. I’ve seen the greater speed, but am not getting what you would want in order to really maintain the type of experience people would be willing to alter their current video provider. Verizon FIOS is rolling out in my area (not quite to my house) but will run at least 100bucks / month just for the data connection… you then of course need to add service like telephone and TV. Integrating billing for the triple play is very expensive, even if it might be convenient.
Seems there’s still a long road ahead for sustainable IPTV solutions.
Nokia, the No. 1 cell phone maker in the world, reported a 19 percent increase in profits based on strong sales and steady profit margins.
In the fourth quarter, Nokia posted earnings of $1.65 billion (1.27 billion euros) compared to earnings of $1.39 billion (1.07 billion euros) in the same quarter a year ago. For all of 2006, Nokia saw profits of $5.59 billion, up from $4.69 billion in the previous year.
Nokia shipped 106 million handsets in the fourth quarter, an increase of 27 percent from a year ago. It gained market share in every region of the world except North America. [CNET News.com:]
It’s not surprising that North America was not a growth market at all. Nokia has very limited penetration with US carriers and that’s really how handsets move around here… Offering unlocked devices is definitely nice, but price is what drives the sales and subsidized devices are hard to beat for most people.
I could hardly believe my eyes today when I read in the press that 3, a mobile network operator in a number of countries, will no longer charge hyper-exorbitant roaming fees for UMTS data usage in their sister networks abroad. Their new offer is called “3 Like Home”. [Martin’s Mobile Technology Page:]
If you’ve ever traveled into another country with your mobile, you’ve no doubt encountered a painfully expensive bill on you returned home. Roaming data charges add up extremely quickly! This aggressive move from 3 is welcome and something we can hope leads to greater participation from other carriers as well. If I lived in the UK, I’d definitely be using 3….
Last week I had a day in NYC and after I took care of a few matters I wandered (ok made a beeline) to the Nokia Store, as I’ve been an enthusiastic user now for quite some time. I then walked a few blocks south to the Sony Style store before heading to SoHo to the Apple Store which happened to be near my planned evening destination. Each store carries the essence (or tries) of their respective brands, but they clearly serve different masters. While each store seeks to represent their brand in a unique way, I found drastic differences in how they represent both the products and their brand experiences – not too mention how customers inside were doing things.
First Stop Nokia…
I was really excited to check out the Nokia Store for the first time. I had tried to make it over on previous trips to the city, but had run out of time each prior trip. They’ve got a sweet piece off real estate – across from Tiffany’s on 57th and while narrow is packed with technology! You can see a at least 2 of not 4 of every device currently in market – though I honestly don’t recall seeing the E61, instead the E62 was there since that is the device matched for the US market. The store design is sleek and very modern and product is very well lit. It’s easy and fun to play with everything there and the staff essentially stays out of your way so you can go to town. They have every accessory I’ve ever seen on the Nokia site, which is nice – If you want Nokia Kit, this is clearly the right place.
The store is three floors – 1- the main array of devices, 2 NSeries and 3, Vertu. It did not seem like anyone was actually making a purchase. People (maybe a dozen) were milling about and just checking things out. One woman was actively shopping, but I don’t think she was leaving with a unit. Staff was young and very friendly … though I actually had a specific request and was refused. Apparently the store has no desire to service unlocked phones (mine actually come directly from Nokia courtesy of the Blogger Relations Program) and will not help you update the firmware. I was directed to the software available for download – though as I mentioned and will repeat here – as a Mac user you are completely SOL in this regard. It is impossible to do a firmware update without a Windows PC. There was a PC there, but there was no way for me to connect and update – at least not in the middle of the store!
The NSeries and Vertu Floors are smaller than the main floor as they show a more limited set of devices. The main difference is on the Vertu floor. The only way to view the devices up close, is with the assistance of the staff. There were a few younger guys up there checking the phones out, but given the asking price (thousands) this looked more like your tourist browsing in Tiffany’s than a buying customer.
Second Stop Sony…
I’ve been to the Sony Store on Madison quite a few times. It’s divided into two physical stores. On one side, you have DVDs and Playstation stuff and on the other is the main place for the rest of the CE gear. Downstairs on the right side is more like a higher end home theater salon and you can check out all the higher end Displays, TVs and watch some Blue Ray if you like. I find the Sony store – particularly the upstairs parts – pretty cold to be honest. There’s usually a few very visibly security guards standing around and unless you really want to see something specific, is not all that much fun to browse. I like the downstairs more personally as you can spend more time just sitting and checking things out. There are even a few rooms with higher end gear which one of which even used to carry the Qualia ultra high end gear. Not one person was actively shopping downstairs, though a few of us were just lounging about which is perhaps just fine with Sony. The upstairs left side (playstation) was bustling as it usually is with people playing games and making the occasional purchase.
Final Stop Apple…
It never ceases to amaze me just how many people are in line to purchase when you walk in the Apple Store in SoHo. It’s seriously intense. The line usually wraps around the downstairs and this day was no exception. I did not stand around long enough to see if there were store employees using their wireless checkout system, but I’m sure it was in place or would be soon. There was a line to touch most of the products and people were not just looking at things, they were using the computers – checking mail, posting to social sites and blogs etc. Apple seems to encourage this and even makes their wireless network open for anyone nearby or in the store to use as well if you bring your own system to hang out.
As it happened I had some time to kill and spent it upstairs near the Genius Bar. While I did not have my laptop, I did check mail and read a few things on my Nokia 770 Tablet. While sitting there, I witnessed a tutorial from someone in the Pro Care team and was also observing a walk through in the Theater – though I honestly don’t recall on what. The Apple store as I am sure you know is sleek, yet inviting and extremely well organized so you can browse hardware and software in a very straight forward fashion, by interest as well as by use. I always enjoy browsing there and even though there’s always that line to purchase, the wait seems to pass pretty quickly.
If you are a current Cingular subscriber, live in the New York Metro and also happen to have a Mastercard with PayPass, you can sign up for the next phase of the system which will give you a new Nokia phone capable of working within the PayPass system. I’ve got two of the three covered, but without an existing PayPass account I can’t sign up… Gearlog has a few more details, or you can sign up right here.
This seems like a pretty cool implementation. I hope it does not really change the physical aspects of the mobile too much to incorporate the PayPass system… too bad you need a new phone to play.
I am currently considering career options and feel like this is the ideal point for me to make a change. I’m looking for something that will enable my passion for technology and my experience in marketing to live nicely together — hopefully in a highly entrepreneurial environment. I’m not sure where it will all net out, but am looking forward to the journey. If you know of anything that might be a good fit, please let me know!
Andy points to a very cool Nokia announcement coming from NokiaWorld today… The Nokia Communication Suite!
“The use of broadband Internet access for voice communication is here to stay, and Nokia recognizes that traditional operators – both mobile and fixed – can swim in these waters as well.
“At the same time, IP gives operators better control over how their network resources are used – an important consideration as multimedia services proliferate and data traffic grows.”
By using IP, internet telephony can support calls, video sharing, video calls, instant messaging, presence, file sharing, and other multimedia services.
With Nokia Communication Suite, users can make and receive VoIP calls and other services from their PCs using their existing mobile number. Calls to their mobile number can be answered with either their mobile or PCsoftphone.
Operators can offer both PC-PC calls, calls to mobile phones, or calls to traditional telephones at competitive rates and can bundle additional services as well.
Other services can be charged to same account as the subscriber’s fixed or mobile calls, simplifying their billing and avoiding the need to set up separate, pre-paid accounts for VoIP service. Nokia’s Communication Suite can also allow travelling subscribers to avoid roaming charges for mobile calls when abroad. [Computing.co.uk]
I hope this is not carrier dependent and something we can just use… oh and Mac support please!
