Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Apple and Disney's two-inch disappointment
Apple's latest video iPod that lets you watch movies & TV on the go (after you've downloaded them) really highlights for me just how desperate media companies are to sell us content is new and varied ways. but the key thing here is not the 'new and varied', which is interesting and deserves some attention, but the sell. Of course companies need to make money otherwise they go bust but the cynic in me really has me shaking my head at the massive amounts of content that are being pushed at us right now, and I wonder how long it will be before people just get completely sick of it. Ringtones, wallpapers, MP3s, video... it's all very expensive, and I refuse to believe that companies are just breaking even on the back of all this. Mobile operators still make a large part of their fortunes from data (and yes, that includes SMS) and when you see that they're charging £2.50 or more for a postage sized image of Beyonce or whoever to spruce up your mobile phone, you've got to wonder if maybe we're all being ripped off. the new iTunes phone is another example - long awaited, and released with much fanfare, the phone is artificially limited to storing 100 songs no matter how much memory you put in it. why? cos Apple don't want you to buy the phone rather than an iPod. this is not progress. too many people have their eye on where the money is, and mine is staying in my pocket.
Apple's latest video iPod that lets you watch movies & TV on the go (after you've downloaded them) really highlights for me just how desperate media companies are to sell us content is new and varied ways. but the key thing here is not the 'new and varied', which is interesting and deserves some attention, but the sell. Of course companies need to make money otherwise they go bust but the cynic in me really has me shaking my head at the massive amounts of content that are being pushed at us right now, and I wonder how long it will be before people just get completely sick of it. Ringtones, wallpapers, MP3s, video... it's all very expensive, and I refuse to believe that companies are just breaking even on the back of all this. Mobile operators still make a large part of their fortunes from data (and yes, that includes SMS) and when you see that they're charging £2.50 or more for a postage sized image of Beyonce or whoever to spruce up your mobile phone, you've got to wonder if maybe we're all being ripped off. the new iTunes phone is another example - long awaited, and released with much fanfare, the phone is artificially limited to storing 100 songs no matter how much memory you put in it. why? cos Apple don't want you to buy the phone rather than an iPod. this is not progress. too many people have their eye on where the money is, and mine is staying in my pocket.
Comments:
Surely we are being ripped off.. but isn't it inevitable that the battle between pipe and content companies will continue so long as there's not an apparent brand loyalty among consumers? Seems companies are all in the content distribution game because it's never clear who commands the entrance fee. U2 or Apple? And I think the content creators, e.g U2, ought to distrust that traditional marketing industries (music distribution) know how to do this right. And then... there's the fact that technology simply won't stop developing!
cheers!
Post a Comment
cheers!
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
Atom
RSS