Mastering IT Strategy (IS714--Spring 2010)

Google TV

2010-05-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

So, the long expected convergence between TV and the web is getting closer to reality. Google announced Google TV with an ecosystem of partners--including Sony, Intel, Adobe, Logitech and others.
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It is another example of launching products not as a single-firm but as part of an ecosystem.

Google TV Lauch Ecosystem

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I know that there have been many attempts to make this convergence happen. Microsoft, Apple and Sony have made inroads before but those efforts were either ill-timed or did not get the requisite traction in the broader media ecosystems. Now, the timing seems to favor Google but many technological issues remain, including the video format. In the short term, Adobe seems to be joining hands with Google (and continuing its fight against Apple over its Flash platform).
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What happened to Microsoft and its vision of "three screens and the cloud"? Will Microsoft let Google dominate the TV OS space with Chrome without a fight? What happened to Apple TV--will we see the company focus on TV now that iPad is launched? What about Apple OS for TV--as a logical extension of iTunes and App Store? Where's Amazon with its digital strategy?

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I think Google TV announcement is just the starting point. An exiting point in time for consumers who love this convergence but hated the crude and complex ways the different pieces function together. It is a complicated point in time for myriad of companies across different industries and segments as they jockey to defend their value propositions and evolve their portfolio of capabilities to win in the reshaping media network.
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Mobile Internet: Your Prediction

2010-05-14T09:20:00.001-07:00

Online Surveys & Market Research

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Here's a test poll..

Smithsonian Online and copyright tactic

2010-05-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research on seatbelts and safety via Google and found an article on the Smithsonian's website that I wanted to send to a friend. I copied some text and pasted it into an email and the website automatically copied the link location and included that as well!

This is what I pasted:

No one can tally exactly how many lives Bohlin's three-point seat belt has spared, but the consensus among safety experts is at least a million. Millions more have been spared life-altering injuries.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Presence-of-Mind-Buckle-Up-And-Behave.html#ixzz0nuiRDmUi

Notice how Smithsonian pasted the link automatically, pretty cool. Simple way to drive readership to the site and an attempt to get credit for their content. Give it a try!

Thinking About Social Networks

2010-05-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

As you get ready to graduate this week, take a look at this video that provides a compelling overview of social networks.

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Enjoy...
Good Luck..

StickyBits and Object Check Ins

2010-05-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

We do it with foursquare and microblogging and facebook status updates allow us to easily share with the world our exact location and what we're doing. Now, we can share with all of our followers how much we love (or hate) any product with a bar code.

StickyBits has come up with an application that allows users to upload comments, videos, pictures, etc and attach them to a bar code. Companies can track what is uploaded and associated to their products. Similar to foursquare and twitter, there can be an incentive for those who post frequently.

Meanwhile, now my internet of things, which for now is just my cell phone and computer, will eventually be connected to my TV, my coffee pot, apartment lights, and - it seems - my can of soda

Google Tablet with 3-D?

2010-05-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Google acquired BumpTop. This looks like another move by Google to acquire the functionality to take on Apple.

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This not only intensifies competition between Apple and Google. I think it also pushes the frontier in terms of natural interfaces for engagement with content and applications.
Where is Microsoft? What will we see from Redmond?

Adam: will it give iPad a strong competition?

2010-05-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

This device is still to hit the market however it has generated a lot of interest with comparisons drawn with iPad. It remains to be seen how much the founders live up to the promise when it actually hits the tablet market place.

Some interesting points about this device:

1. Unlike Apple iPad, it will use Flash. In fact the latest news is that, it will not be released till Flash is tested on this device.

2. It uses Android.

3. It updates NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi’s innovative low-power display, with the Notion Ink informing on a 16 hrs batter life. Tegra is capable of outputting 1080p HD video whereas the iPad maxes out at 576p/480p

4. Last but not the least, the Co-founder of Notion Ink (manufacturer of Adam) promises on a price lower than iPad

This new company will face severe competition considering the marketing power of Apple. However the video on Adam look promising.

The "Flash War": Apple versus Adobe

2010-04-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Over the last two months, there have been lots of discussions in various media about the role of Flash in devices such as Apple iPhone, iPad, mobile phones, netbooks and other devices. With the introduction of Apple iPad earlier in April and the subsequent announcement about iPhone OS 4.0, this issue has been elevated to a higher level.

Steve Jobs wrote a lengthy post on why Apple's decision is based on technical as opposed to business considerations. He lays out six points and concludes by saying that:

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

Adobe refutes many of the points. Here's the CEO interview with WSJ.

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Where do you come down on this debate? What does it mean for Adobe? Apple? the developer community? Can companies such as Google, Microsoft, Nokia and others seize upon this fight and jockey for advantage?

Apple iPhone 4.0 Prototype Saga John Stewart Style: "Chill, baby"

2010-04-29T05:18:00.000-07:00

This is funny, I think.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Appholes

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Apps in Automobiles

2010-04-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

As automobiles become digital and connected to the net, we should expect to see more "apps within automobiles." That is exactly what Volkswagen is doing, starting May 3.

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On top of it, this is an example of crowdsourcing--to leverage the power of networks of innovators.

Improving Broadband

2010-04-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting opinion piece about ways to increase broadband penetration and service quality in the U.S. Apparently, we're lagging far behind many other developed nations. Although we have widespread broadband access (meaning people can buy it if they are willing and able to pay), our penetration rates (how many people actually have it) are low due to high prices and low value for money in terms of speed and quality. I pay more to Comcast each month for my TV/internet bundle than I pay for heat. For many people in America, broadband internet remains an unaffordable luxury. Before all the cool sector-specific applications and "internet of things" we've discussed in class can really take off, we'll need a better broadband infrastructure with cheaper bandwidth.

Public policy can play a key a role here in making the market more competitive and transparent. From the perspective of Comcast and Verizon, government regulation may be a threat, but for the rest of us it can be an opportunity. I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of using transparency rules to improve the information available to consumers so they can make better decisions. I can't count the number of times I've cursed Comcast because my Netflix viewer freezes in mid play. If ISP's had to publish clear, accurate metrics like average speed, latency, jitter and uptime, and consumers could be educated about what these mean for their user experience, the market would become more competitive. I could easily tell whether leaving the devil I know (Comcast) for the devil I don't (Verizon) would be a good decision. They'd have to offer better value to keep their customers.

Video on Mobile: The trend has already started!

2010-04-27T12:01:00.001-07:00

During our presentation day, we discussed on the emerging trends. Streaming video on mobiles came out as one of the key trends in the next 5 years.

However, it seems the disruptive trend is already big. According to NY Times Article, millions of people have downloaded Justin.tv and Ustream's app to iphones for live video stream viewing. As for as Justin.tv is concerned, its iPhone app already contributes about 20% of the company's total new account sign-ups!

The question needs to be answered is on revenue sharing who gets how much share? Another challenge, as we discussed, is how to price the mobile plans? The All you can eat plans were focused on the Phone calls rather than Video on Mobile.

It remains to be seen how the TiVos and Hulus react to Justin.tv.

Spotify Goes Social--What Should Apple Do?

2010-04-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a video that describes how Spotify is adding social features.

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What should Apple do--if any--to respond?

Most Elaborate Marketing Scam Ever

2010-04-27T07:41:00.001-07:00

For those who thought the iPhone / Gizmodo story from last week was merely a marketing ploy to create buzz on the next generation iPhone: http://nyti.ms/cRlwCL

Police Seize Jason Chen's Computers
Last Friday night, California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team entered editor Jason Chen's home without him present, seizing four computers and two servers. They did so using a warrant by Judge of Superior Court of San Mateo.

http://gizmodo.com/5524843/police-seize-jason-chens-computers

Facebook Privacy Fight Continues...

2010-04-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

Facebook has a checkered past with respect to the privacy of its users. Facebook privacy settings are always opt-out and this angers a lot of people. Interestingly, the ability of information to go viral on Facebook is how a lot of people first learn about Facebook privacy changes. This may be about to change. Over the weekend, Senator Charles Schumer from New York contacted the Federal Trade Commission to log a formal complaint about the lack of privacy regulations for social networking websites. This article quotes Schumer as saying "These changes can adversely affect users and, currently, there is little guidance on what social networking sites can and cannot do and how disclosure is provided."

What prompted Schumer to take action now was a recent privacy change on Facebook called Instant Personalization. Now companies that are approved in advance by Facebook can personalize your experience on their websites based on your public Facebook data. The initial sites are Pandora, Yelp, and Facebook Docs. What this means is even if you have never visited Pandora or Yelp before, they know information about you and can target content to you if you ever do visit their website.

Given our class discussion on the inevitability of increased government regulations around privacy, I found it interesting that some government employees are already taking action to increase the rights of consumers with regard to protecting their own privacy.

P.S. If you would like instructions on how to opt out of Instant Personalization, you can find them here.

Facebook Docs -- In Partnership with Microsoft

2010-04-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Move over Google Docs.. Here comes Facebook Docs.

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Is this Microsoft's way of leveraging its financial investment in Facebook to migrate to the cloud? Is it Facebook's way of providing more applications to enable consumers to go beyond social connection to professional linkages and collaboration? What's the role of Microsoft SharePoint within Facebook? Interesting questions to ponder as the network era evolves.

Google's phone search

2010-04-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

Google is taking the search functionality to our phones which are not connected to the internet. It works fairly well now and more improvements in the voice recognition software will make this really useful.

Good Vibrations?

2010-04-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Katherine for pointing out this site called Social Vibe that has interesting implications for our charitable fundraising sector. It uses social networking to raise money for charity, but instead of donating directly, users consume advertising (often by watching videos and completing a fun survey or quiz) and recommend brands to their friends. In return, a user gets points that translate into donations by the corporate sponsors to the user’s preferred charity. At first, the site had tried rewarding users with cash or prizes, but as Wired magazine put it, this made people feel like “poorly paid corporate shills.” Helping charities proved a more powerful incentive. It could be a cool way for companies to harness the power of social networking while doing some good. But I have a couple concerns.

1. I wonder what’s happening behind the scenes with people’s data. It seems to be set up so they can map your social network through a “badge” that you put on your Facebook page and other networking sites. You get points for sharing brands and activities with your friends through this badge. The data may be the real source of value here. I wonder if the charities could get access to it.

2. The site tries to translate points/dollars raised into tangible outcomes by saying things like “Eric provided 3 school meals for impoverished children.” This is typically a good idea for increasing donor/user commitment, but I’m unsure about the execution. Perhaps I’m being ridiculous, but I found myself wondering what exactly two minutes of cancer research would accomplish, or whether nine minutes of suicide prevention services were enough to talk someone down from the edge. Are nonprofits perhaps becoming too obsessed with quantifying the impact of every dollar? If you’re providing only micro-donations, you can’t expect macro-results.

It's all in the details: Where do MSFT, Google and Apple Make their $$

2010-04-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

These charts taken together tell a more complete story.

Apple

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Microsoft

Google

Apple iPad Links to Ford Sync through Bluetooth

2010-04-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here's one more to your list of interoperating products/services.

Seeking to Establish Developer Network--It's Ford's Turn Now

2010-04-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

During the last three months, we have seen many striving to establish developer networks. Microsoft established and nurtured the developer network to make Windows succeed but could not parlay its competencies in the mobile domain. Apple failed to make its Macintosh OS open but used its developer network to make mobile phones succeed. SAP, Oracle and many others rely on complementors to make their software appeal to the end-users. We also saw attempts by RIM (Blackberry), Palm, Google and others to orchestrate developer networks around mobile devices and netbooks. When Apple announced its iPad, Amazon announced Kindle Development Kit (KDK) to enhance the value of Kindle through third-party applications.

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Now, Ford is trying to do the same by launching SYNC mobile developer network. Its CEO is serious about it. Is this where GM OnStar missed the boat? What insights can we offer Ford Sync?

iPhone app helps people with autism communicate

2010-04-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

We have talked a lot in this class about how improvements in telecommunications will affect companies and people in the next 5 years. This article on boston.com has reminded me that our lives are already being affected today. The city of Boston is teaming up with MIT and a local mom of an autistic child to create an iPhone app that helps people with autism communicate. The idea is to use the built in camera and video capabilities to show real images that an autistic person can interact with to express meaning and emotion.

Internet Retailing and the Physical World: Insights from Academia

2010-04-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

I’m on the e-commerce/retailing team, and one of the issues we’ve been looking at is the impact of virtual world commerce on brick and mortar retailing, and vice versa. A recent article in Knowledge@Wharton entitled “Geography Lesson: Why Internet Retailers Should Pay Attention to Where Potential Customers Live” (free registration may be required for access) shares findings from two recent academic articles to come out in this area. Both papers find that there is a strong symbiotic relationship between online and offline commerce, or in the authors’ words, “understanding local geography still matters a good deal for 'borderless' retailing.”

The first paper, “Traditional and IS-enabled Customer Acquisition for an Internet Retailer: Why New Buyer Acquisition Varies by Geography and by Method,” compared traditional methods of reaching customers (e.g. word of mouth among friends and neighbors, magazine advertising) and web-based methods (e.g. blogs, virtual communities and keyword searches). It finds that offline word of mouth had a higher impact on Internet customers than online word of mouth, and concludes that “geo-targeting will be vital to the success of Internet retailers, especially those with limited resources.”

The second paper, “Preference Minorities and the Internet: Why Online Demand Is Greater in Areas where Target Consumers Are in the Minority,” studied people whose shopping needs differed from the majority of folks in their physical area (e.g., “young parents living in a zip code populated mostly by elderly people”). The paper suggests that these so-called “preference minorities” are underserved by their local brick and mortar retailers, and finds that Internet retailers “draw more sales from regions that contain them, holding the absolute number of target customers per region constant,” that preference minorities are less price-sensitive, and that this effect is stronger for niche (as opposed to popular) products, which “draw a greater proportion of their total online demand from high preference minority regions.” It thus comes to the managerial implication that “selling niche brands in high preference minority markets is an especially attractive proposition for an Internet retailer.”

The full text of both papers is available at the link above for those who are interested in the complete details of the studies. Insightful and timely research!

The Publishing Industry

2010-04-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

We feel that in the next 5-10 years, the big issue for publishing is going to be less about content delivery and more about the data that comes with people consuming that content.

It's a given that as the digital world progresses, people will be consuming less content in the traditional manner. Companies like ours need to embrace that in order to survive; however that will not give them any sort of competitive advantage - delivering digital content will become a prerequisite for doing business. These companies need to figure out a new way to compete and add value based on this newly available data. They are going to have access to A LOT of consumer data, the key question is "what are they going to do with it?"

What do web coupons know about you?

2010-04-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

This article sheds more insights into the power of data and the growing role of privacy in the network era. may be the following paragraph is enough to urge you to read the full article..

A new breed of coupon, printed from the Internet or sent to mobile phones, is packed with information about the customer who uses it. While the coupons look standard, their bar codes can be loaded with a startling amount of data, including identification about the customer, Internet address, Facebook page information and even the search terms the customer used to find the coupon in the first place.

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