Seth Gilbert, 07-10-2008
The iPhone is here and Apple is making headlines around the world. From the Applevine, there is more going on than just the debut of the anticipated phone. Thursday, it became apparent that the company is off the hook for any backdating of stock options. Also, the iPhone 3G was cracked open and the App store went live.
Backdating Investigation Closed
While spokespeople for Apple and the San Francisco U.S. Attorney’s office have not commented, after two years, it appears the Justice Department has ended its criminal investigation of stock options back dating at Apple. They decided no charges will be filed. Sources close to the case told the Wall Street Journal the inquiry is over.
At issue were practices dating back to the period between 1997 and 2001.
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Seth Gilbert, 07-9-2008
Looking back through centuries of history only a short list of communication technologies have fundamentally changed the way people and societies share information; things like written language, the printing press, the telegraph, the radio, and television. Each, over years of evolution, utterly disrupted existing practices, pushing aside the antiquated and expanding the depth of possibilities. Each, in developmental years, had critics predicting there’d be little long term value. Each also has had champions who eagerly predicted the innovations would drastically reshape the world.
The Internet falls in to the same exclusive club but its functionality and contribution are still evolving. It will take decades before the breadth of its impact and transformative power are fully understood. Still, that won’t stop many from predicting where things will go or how the Internet will continue to shape our world along the way.
Monday, Lehman Brothers took a stab at such a prediction. Citing the disruptive power of the Internet, and its likelihood of changing business economics in the entertainment industry, they downgraded stock ratings on several companies. The recent history of the music industry was cited as one partial justification.
The view seemed extreme. This METUE review takes an in-depth closer look.
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Seth Gilbert, 07-7-2008
With iTunes, buying music has always been easy. Apple insured that with a clear pricing structure. They enforced it through aggressive negotiations with music labels and video producers. Buying the new iPhone won’t quite be as easy. The 3G phone is due in a blink, 8am on July 11th. In anticipation, global carrier partners have been rapidly revealing their pricing plans and service agreement requirements. While the 8Gb model is likely to stay near the projected maximum unit price of $199 as Steve Jobs promised in his Developers Conference Keynote, service offerings and subsidies are set to vary widely. The details will be in the fine print.
A QUICK GLOBAL SURVEY OF CARRIER PLANS
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Seth Gilbert, 07-2-2008
The proposed marriage of Blockbuster and Circuit City always seemed wrong; like two actors that peaked early, fell from favor and were looking for mutual salvation in a questionable, improbable union. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t feel right. The common ground seemed to be troubles not opportunities. Given that, the odds of one company salvaging the other, of Blockbuster resuscitating the struggling business of Circuit City, seemed small. Luckily for Blockbuster shareholders, CEO Jim Keyes reached the same conclusion before he walked the company into the Elvis Wedding Chapel and said “I Do.”
Wednesday, Blockbuster officially withdrew its $1.35billion ($6 to $8/share) offer. All it took was a close inspection of Circuit City’s books.
The review process began in May Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert, 07-1-2008
Aerosmith has sold more than 150 million albums (66m + in the U.S.) over four decades of Rock but they haven’t released a new one since 2001. In today’s music world, that may not matter much when it comes time to receive royalty checks. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the first single-band specific version of Activision’s bestselling video game, released Sunday. If it does well, the band stands to draw a sizable income without having to hit the studio anew.
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Seth Gilbert, 06-30-2008
Advertising dollars are the fuel of the Internet but in some segments like online videos, the process of attracting it seems like something from Frankenstein’s lab. Nobody yet knows the exact chemistry it will take to balance audience acceptance (or tolerance) for advertising against advertiser required metrics for measurement of return on investment. By best guess, the answer could be a combination of existing tools, or even a business model not yet invented. It’s a crapshoot. Tea Leaves and gambles.
Google with its huge share of search and video traffic (YouTube) has a vested interest in figuring out the how to make it work. Unlike all but a few companies, Google also has the kind of cash and technical expertise to take on the science project without limitation. They can afford to fail, repeatedly, than try again until they get it right.
The latest experiment from Mountain View Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
It takes money to make money sometimes. Will $50 million be enough to steal some cash and market share from Apple’s dominant iTunes digital content store? That is a question digital music service Rhapsody is hoping to answer.
Under a new strategy revealed Monday, Rhapsody will begin selling a la carte, single-song MP3 downloads without restriction. All of the music will be offered at a variable bit rate of 256kb and it will have no digital rights management encryption (DRM). Accordingly, it will be playable on any device, including iPods and iPhones.
Music bought over an internet connection will be priced at 99cents a song, or $9.99 an album. Music bought through a Verizon mobile phone via vCast will cost $1.99. The higher mobile premium will include one direct download and a second “master copy” sent to a home computer.
The changes break from what had long been Rhapsody’s approach to music sales. Click to Read More
