On Point: Executive Soundbytes (collected recent quotations)
From earnings announcements to press releases to interviews, they said it. Collected recent quips and clips from the executive suites On Gaming, On Mobile, On Internet Video, On Advertising and On Business:
“Video-game consumers are the single most sophisticated shoppers in the entertainment industry, despite their age and what you might think. People go to a movie or buy a book on a whim. But buying a video game is a much more methodical and judicious process. Next time you’re in an airport, look at how many magazines are dedicated to video games. And they’re not writing about the sex lives of game designers. They are writing about the content.” –Jeff Brown, vice president for corporate communications at Electronic Arts (New York Times)
“We had Playstation 2, it was a DVD player. It effectively started the DVD revolution, because it was the cheapest DVD player on the market. And it was – we sold that below cost, and then gradually you cut the hardware price down over time, and the software, the game development continues to pay and so more and more games. So now 200 million Playstation 2s. You’ve heard a lot about we’re behind Xbox and Wii at Christmas, well actually they were all behind Playstation 2, which is still selling more. At some point, the advantages of Playstation will take over and that’s when we hope we’ll recover.” –Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO Sony (CEO Exchange)
On the Wii: “Well that’s a wonderful device, but it is a different target –essentially a different target audience. If we fail with PS3, we’ve positioned ourselves a little bit dangerously as the Mercedes of video games. I mean the Wii has its own audience and is very effective and was skillfully designed and sneaks up on the PS3, which, for which we should be shot, but that said, PS3 is after an entirely different audience. It’s a very very sophisticated game device, which can become a computer, can become a home server, can be a setup box, can become anything we can make it if we don’t go broke in the process.” –Sir Howard Stringer (CEO Exchange)
“We thought it would be a three decade situation, kind of like a three-act play. There was going to be the decade of DVD, which is what we’ve been doing. There’s a decade of hybrid, where there’s a lot of content on DVD and only a little content online. And then the third decade will be online only.” –Reed Hastings, CEO Netflix (San Jose Mercury)
“Clearly, the big picture here is we’re moving towards a world where video is as ubiquitous as text, and that virtually every URL on the internet will have video.” –Jeremy Allaire, founder, CEO Brightcove ( and former founder Cold Fusion which was bought by Macromedia) (CEO Exchange)
one of the promises when we started this, was that you could launch these video channels and have a global audience. Video is amongst the most powerful cultural forces and it crosses boundaries and we think that will be quite exciting.” –Jeremy Allaire (CEO Exchange)
“It took Apple seven quarters, almost two years, to sell our one millionth iPod. We hope to sell our one millionth iPhone by the end of its first full quarter ending September 29th… we plan to build on today’s tremendous iPhone foundation by incorporating new software features and applications into the iPhone over time at no charge to customers….” –Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, (Earnings Conference Call)
“With all of our investment in multimedia devices and content and surfing the web, the killer application is still making basic voice calls.” –Gary Foresee, Chairman and CEO Sprint Nextel (CEO Exchange)
“I would never bet against Steve [Jobs]. But we’re obviously a lot less worried than we were when the iPod came out, because we’re all building variations on the same theme, and we all have – we have Sony has Ericcson’s infrastructure, so there are some built in advantages. …But I would never sit up here and say I’m never worried about Steve Jobs. I mean the music industry isn’t where it is today, in part because of Steve Jobs.” –Sir Howard Stringer (CEO Exchange)
"We are hell-bent and determined to allocate the talent, the resources, the money, the innovation to absolutely become a powerhouse in the ad business," –Steve Balmer, CEO Microsoft
“While the advertising environment remains challenging, we are making the steady, solid progress on key steps that are transitioning our valuable national and regional brands into sought after products in the digital age.” –Janet Robinson, President, New York Times Co (Earnings call)
“For most of our 52-year history, News Corporation has been both an information and entertainment company, producing compelling content in both areas for a growing worldwide audience. The purchase of Dow Jones with its vast news gathering resources greatly expands the information side of our company and positions us to become the strongest company in the world in both information and entertainment.” –Rupert Murdoch CEO News Corp (August Earnings Call)
“The bulk of the population comes to work every day and makes the trains run on time. You’ve got to have a small number of people who think that its their job to take risks.” – Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer
“If you’re going to be cannibalized, it’s best to dine with friends.” –John Roth, Former President Nortel
Parting Shots:
"Whether with video or blogs, citizen journalism adds a lot. But a cross-section of people with video cameras or blogging tools is not a replacement for competent professionals."
–Larry Magid, Columnist (from the San Jose Mercury)