{"id":1610,"date":"2009-01-24T12:50:06","date_gmt":"2009-01-24T20:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2009-01-24T12:50:06","modified_gmt":"2009-01-24T20:50:06","slug":"news-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/24\/news-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"News Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can Fox News Survive?<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not talking about Rachel Maddow and I’m not talking about Obama.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m speaking of the dreaded Internet, which has eviscerated the music business to the point where even Interscope is laying off staffers.<\/p>\n

CNN.com rules online news.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a significant sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 By 3:30 on Tuesday, CNN.com had served 21.3 MILLION streams.\u00c2\u00a0 Far eclipsing the 5.3 million streams served up on Election Day. According to AdAge, 40 million unique visitors watched online versus 37.8 million who watched the inauguration on TV.<\/p>\n

Can you see a trend?\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the one that occurred in the music business in the last decade?<\/p>\n

I’m waiting for those TV ads.\u00c2\u00a0 Telling people to turn off their computers, to continue to pay for cable, not to access their media online.\u00c2\u00a0 Those thieves ruining the business model…\u00c2\u00a0 Americans must pay exorbitant rates for cable television, the networks depend on it!<\/p>\n

Sure, cable has a foothold in Internet access, but even that is threatened.\u00c2\u00a0 Verizon Wireless has EV-DO on every tower in New England, and if you don’t know what this technology is, you’re probably still using a RAZR.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, last fall in Vermont I didn’t have to worry about lack of cable Internet access or Wi-Fi, I just employed my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry!\u00c2\u00a0 And not only got my e-mail, but surfed the Web at high speed!<\/p>\n

CNN.com triumphed on Tuesday.\u00c2\u00a0 The site had 11 million unique viewers.\u00c2\u00a0 MSNBC was a close second with 10 million.\u00c2\u00a0 Then came Yahoo with a bit over 9.\u00c2\u00a0 Fox had 4, AOL 3.95 and the "New York Times" 2.4.<\/p>\n

There’s so much to learn here!\u00c2\u00a0 Fox did better than usual, because it was a special event.\u00c2\u00a0 AOL normally does better, because people go to that site to check their e-mail.\u00c2\u00a0 But, is this another nail in the coffin for Steve Case’s old service?<\/p>\n

Newspapers, online for eons, still don’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 That you’ve got to have video along with words.\u00c2\u00a0 People don’t think of going to the "Times" for breaking video news.\u00c2\u00a0 Nor the Tribune papers or the "Washington Post".\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe newspapers are truly dying, because they just can’t adjust that fast.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only are they losing classified ads to Craigslist.org, they don’t seem to be able to deliver what the public wants online.<\/p>\n

The record business is still trying to claw the public into the past.\u00c2\u00a0 Wants people to pay exorbitant amounts for very little music.\u00c2\u00a0 And their dollar (now more!) per track offering is a solution geared to 2003, not 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t rest on your laurels.\u00c2\u00a0 To survive in the digital age you must be ONE STEP AHEAD of the curve.\u00c2\u00a0 Giving people what they don’t even know they want.\u00c2\u00a0 So when it comes to watching the inauguration, people don’t even think of staying home in front of the TV, but know they can watch online, at work, because they’ve seen all those other little, maybe irrelevant, news clips on your site already.<\/p>\n

Train people to come to you.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t yell for them to come back. <\/p>\n

Facebook\/MySpace<\/span><\/p>\n

What happens when a major media company takes over the flavor of the moment.\u00c2\u00a0 No different from Time Warner buying AOL.<\/p>\n

These sites are stored on servers.\u00c2\u00a0 Which can be wiped clean and covered over with the creation of a new company overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 What are you buying here?\u00c2\u00a0 Temporary eyeballs?<\/p>\n

Sure, MySpace was a better Friendster.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s like saying a Tesla is a better DeLorean.\u00c2\u00a0 Is the Tesla the electric car of the future?\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out the company is having a problem raising cash.<\/p>\n

MySpace allowed people to hook up.\u00c2\u00a0 Literally.\u00c2\u00a0 Never underestimate the power of sex.\u00c2\u00a0 But the company didn’t make it easy.\u00c2\u00a0 The interface was slow, buggy and cluttered.\u00c2\u00a0 They tell me you can hear the history of recorded music on the site now.\u00c2\u00a0 Could be true, but I can’t FIND IT!<\/p>\n

Then comes Facebook.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is really no different from an Apple product.\u00c2\u00a0 The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, just the best!\u00c2\u00a0 It worked!<\/p>\n

We love efficiency.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why the wii is burgeoning and the PS3 is dying.\u00c2\u00a0 Utilizing my PS3 is like launching the Space Shuttle, without a manual.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m stunned they can even sell a product like this. Then again, Stringer is steering Sony into the cesspool.<\/p>\n

However, Facebook suffers from being run by Mark Zuckerberg, an anti-social brain looking to monetize at all costs.<\/p>\n

Can social media ever be properly monetized?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe not.\u00c2\u00a0 But people want to connect.\u00c2\u00a0 And right now, Facebook is the place.\u00c2\u00a0 In case you missed it, as of November, Facebook had 200 million unique users to MySpace’s 100 million.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, MySpace is holding its own in the U.S., but it’s a worldwide business.<\/p>\n

In other words, MySpace, if not completely toast, could soon be an also-ran.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, usually only one site survives online.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s one Amazon.\u00c2\u00a0 One iTunes Store.\u00c2\u00a0 There might be only one social networking site.\u00c2\u00a0 You want to go where everybody else is.<\/p>\n

How did Fox fuck up so bad?<\/p>\n

By concentrating on money first and foremost.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to have soul, then comes the money.<\/p>\n

If the money comes at all.<\/p>\n

Apple<\/span><\/p>\n

Would be laughing hysterically if their leader weren’t so ill.<\/p>\n

Even so…<\/p>\n

While Facebook is figuring out how to make money, Apple has created a whole ecosystem around its iPhone, known as the App Store.\u00c2\u00a0 The iPhone is becoming the portable gaming platform of choice. Even if the Palm Pre survives Apple’s legal challenges, that doesn’t mean developers will write programs for it, and that people will download them in droves.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s an advantage to being first. Despite Roger McNamee’s Kanye West-type histrionics, there’s a distinct advantage to having a functioning device in the marketplace two years ahead of your competitor.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve learned that not every OS can survive.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, people would be computing using Gassee’s Be.<\/p>\n

So the iPhone is great business.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only for voice, but games, services, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 And, the iPod Touch can employ almost all of these advantages.\u00c2\u00a0 Meaning that Apple is no longer dependent on the music business to sell its hand-held devices.<\/p>\n

But more fascinating is the computer business.\u00c2\u00a0 Pundits said that Apple’s products were overpriced and the line was absent a netbook.<\/p>\n

But Apple exceeded their projections.\u00c2\u00a0 In a nation where even Microsoft fires people, Apple had a stellar quarter.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the recession doesn’t exist in Cupertino.<\/p>\n

But the great quarter has been built upon ten years of hard work.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple stands for innovation and quality.\u00c2\u00a0 People switching to Mac today may have been thinking about it for years.\u00c2\u00a0 Mac is not flavor of the month, it’s established.\u00c2\u00a0 And users know that a computer is often used for hours a day.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re willing to pay more for something that won’t break down, that they can rely on.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is the same reason that the Yugo failed in America and even now, it’s hard for car companies to sell their smallest, least equipped automobiles.<\/p>\n

In other words, price is something, but it’s not EVERYTHING!\u00c2\u00a0 People will pay more if they believe they’re getting a quality product.<\/p>\n

No one believes the new acts being promoted by the music industry are lasting quality products. Usually, they’re here today and gone tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t even have to pay attention to their quality, they’re already gone.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we get people to pay attention to acts, revere acts, the same way Steve Jobs gets casual computer users to watch his keynote addresses?<\/p>\n

There must be honesty.\u00c2\u00a0 And trust.\u00c2\u00a0 And value.<\/p>\n

Not sizzle and artifice.<\/p>\n

The music business focuses on explosions.\u00c2\u00a0 Arena shows are spectaculars.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re like all those unusable features in Vista, or the craplets loaded on to a Dell machine.\u00c2\u00a0 The purveyor says they’re added value, to the end user, they’re a headache.<\/p>\n

If you create quality products and have an honest relationship with the consumer you can profit in this recession.<\/p>\n

Sony is closing plants.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple outsources production, so they don’t have this burden.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got see into the future, you’ve got to be nimble.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t be focused solely on the bottom line.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to make something people want.<\/p>\n

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Can Fox News Survive? I’m not talking about Rachel Maddow and I’m not talking about Obama.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m speaking of the dreaded Internet, which has eviscerated the music business to the point where even Interscope is laying off staffers. CNN.com rules online news.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a significant sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 By 3:30 on Tuesday, CNN.com had served 21.3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-online","category-the-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-pY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}