The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Ignore my sarcastic view of the PR sweet-spot words in this otherwise notable press release from Adobe.  Flash has made a big comeback with it’s popularity driven by applications in YouTube and other media aggregation sites.

Some of you may say - “Comeback - have you been under a rock or something?  Hasn’t Adobe’s Flash been a critical element of web design, rich media ads, etc for years?”  and to some degree, rightly so.  Here’s the reason for my choice of words “Comeback”:  Flash grew popular in the late 90’s and early 00’s for visually stunning mulitimedia websites.  Then came search engine optimization and search engine marketing best practices, which looked down upon the use of Flash in websites, as search engine spiders could not “read” a Flash file.  So, it’s been out of vogue if you wanted your website to be search engine friendly.

With the advent of YouTube and other media aggregation sites, Flash has become the new poster child for media distribution capabilities.  Now that it has an even newer lease on life on cellphone platforms, it may be here to stay.

So, strategic question - will the use of Flash media files take the place of MP3, MP4, due to the ubiquity of the Flash Player?  Of course, you technology strategy geniuses out there are saying “Ed - I had that figured out 2 years ago - what took you so long?”. 

This would have just a LITTLE impact on the current technology that drives music, film, podcasting and iPods, etc.  If cellphone MFRs implement Flash as their media technology of choice, the ramifications are pretty large…..I’ve already said that cellphones replace the iPod and other MPx players in the end game.  Maybe this accelerates the end game.

I guess it’s about time to discuss the iPhone.  I’ve procrastinated on writing this post, due to the potential impact the iPhone has on the market and yet weighing the risks to Apple and other phone manufacturers.  It’s somewhat difficult to be unbiased on either side of the battle that has begun.

First, let me say that the pictures of the iPhone (check here with my friend Blake Burris of CocoaRadio for some great firsthand shots) look great.  The concepts of the OS and Software the phone is built around sound great.  Watch Steve present the Keynote at MacWorld for details.

Question - how will we like typing on a completely flat surface (the phone screen)?  It may take us a while to conform to a new manner of typing.  We’ve all gotten comfortable over the course of our lives with the raised keys with “finger curves” and the feeling of pressing down to create a keystroke.  I’m sure we can adjust, but wow - it will take some committed early adopters to stick with it!

Visual voicemail is new to cell technology, but old hat to VOIP users.  I’ve had it for 3 years now - a great invention.  Glad it’s finally coming to cell phones, although, since I have a Blackberry, technically I’ve been able to do this for a long time.

As usual, Steve blows people away, generally until they walk away and go…”hey - I’ve been doing this for a long time - how come he made it seem so special?”  Welcome to the mystique that is Steve Jobs.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m looking forward to seeing this on the market and how it will force all the other manufacturers to get moving on some creativity.  We, the consumers, will all benefit.  Let’s be glad!

Well, no great surpise as this from Matt Richtel of the NY Times has been discussed in the blogosphere for several weeks now.  But, what I want to comment on here is that Verizon won’t have the lock on this for long (blinding glimpse of the obvious, BGO for you Barbarians at the Gates fans) and YouTube and other aggregation points will be readily accessed by cell phones soon and without too much muss or fuss.

Look for this to be the norm before long WITHOUT Verizon’s $15 surcharge….

Apparently, in the world of Web 2.0 (or other semi-relevant monikers), the rules are changing.  Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Back in the 90’s, Mark Cuban was fond of saying “Content is King”.  While I can’t say if this slogan is attributed to him, it was and has been the rule of the web.  Today, that slogan is officially aged and cracking.

This morning, Rafat Ali, of Paid Content scoops Bear Stearns analyst Spencer Wang in his research article on how Aggregation and Context is the highest value in the information chain.  I use the word “scoop” because it showed up on TechMeme first and now the Bear Stears blog is the headliner.  Shows you how I rate and rank my content, eh?

This confirms what I’ve been believing and therefore modifying the MPReach business plan accordingly.  Watch this space for announcement of new audio/video/text networks that we’ll be launching (can’t call the digital media “podcasting or video podcasting, as Apple Computer might decide they own me….)

Very timely and interesting research from eMarketer today - DVD was obviously the first uptick in non-primetime viewing of primetime shows - go into any Blockbuster in the US and you’ll find increasing shelf space dedicated to TV.

But, the growth in online downloads of shows is dramatic and ID’s the future.  As with many things, Blockbuster and Netflix will have only temporary rule here of the off-TV viewing of TV shows. iTunes has 67% market share of downloads - shouldn’t Blockbuster or Netflix have been there?  Missed opportunity in a big way.

Steve Gillmor grabs a great post title today. Great writing too. The landscape is changing fast, even for someone who embraces change as easily as I. I remember hearing the word “disruptive technology” for the first time about 7 years ago, when Nortel had a “Disruptive Technology Group” (before they got laid off, I’m sure). I think we are all experiencing this to a great degree, maybe now more than anytime since the www first broke into our lives.

Both exciting and dangerous, in terms of business planning, eh? Let’s keep pushing forward and get some traction together in this mud. 

Well, as we all know, Google pulled out the equity checkbook and bought YouTube.  There are many naysayers amongst the wise gurus (primarily due to copyright risks engaged via YouTube’s business model), but I did notice that Google and YouTube has leveraged their clout to negotiate deals with major content owners to preempt at least some level of the risk.  Who knows where this will come out?  Additionally, will YouTube be more than a passing fad?  Will quality still rule?  Only time will tell.  If you’ve read my blog previously, you’ll know what my predication would be….

The US Wall Street Journal Online has an article today (subscription required) on audio and video search tools that are now coming into focus.  The proliferation of audio and video on the web, combined with the hope for becoming the next “Google” has thrust Podzinger, Blinkx, and TVEyes into the spolight, much to the delight of their PR teams.

Podzinger partnered with BBN Technologies of Cambridge, MA to bring their product to market. 

This is a market that has a pretty huge barrier to entry, considering the technical complexity - so, assuming they are able to satisfy advertisers with results, these companies that hope to become the new “Google” very well could.  The article mentions that Blinkx states that there is about 60% accuracy on amateur voices and near 100% on professional voices.

This proves to be an interesting space to watch - keep your eyes open, but don’t expect the original Google to sit back and watch.

Much like the Real Estate world (location, location, location), the new digital media world slogan may end up being “licensing, licensing, licensing”.  The YouTube discussion continues via Ben Werdmuller, following John C. Dvorak’s MarketWatch article from last week.  Ben mentions that YouTube has been named the “Napster of video”, which suggests illegal distribution of media.  This also pertains to Google Video as well, or for that matter, any website that is allowing uploads of video.

Similarly, this issue was addressed in an interview with Bill Gates, by a panel of journalists from WSJ Online on June 19, 2006.  Bill was busted at the end by admitting to watching pirated content on YouTube.

We just thought this related to music and the RIAA, but it appears that digital media everywhere must change their expected models of distribution and compensation, otherwise we’ll be fighting over this after I’m dead and gone…

Giovanni and I just finished a podcast discussing this - stay tuned for the publish date!