The author of this blog, James Robertson, passed away in April 2014. This blog is being maintained by David Buck (david@simberon.com).
Now, you might wonder why I care about this - having Netflix streaming on the Wii, when I already have the Xbox. Well, it's like this:
What this will do is make it easier for us to consume Netflix material wherever we want to, which is cool.
How long will it be before we can buy an iPhone on other networks? Will it be available on all networks? It'll be interesting to see the sales numbers for iPhone when it does open up.
I'm not convinced that the iPhone will come to Verizon before the next generation (converged with GSM) network rolls out. Why? Well, Apple would have to go with CDMA, which is useful in North America, and pretty much nowhere else. I can tell you that I wouldn't jump to Verizon if they had the phone, because I've had enough of carrying a useless brick overseas.
Now, they could make it a tri-band phone, I suppose, and have it work overseas - but that just adds to the potential expense. I rather expect that Verizon won't see the iPhone for awhile.
I listen to Pandora in the car - use the iPhone app, plug a cable into the Aux jack of the stereo, and off we go. That's a pretty simple solution, but it looks like Pandora is working with Pioneer on a wireless solution that could go into either factory installed or aftermarket systems:
Pioneer will sell a device that will detect users' Pandora settings on their Apple iPhones. The internet radio service claims about 42 million users, which could mean substantial revenue for Pioneer, even if just a fraction pay the $1,200 to buy the Pandora connection system.
That price point is ridiculous, but the idea seems good. Getting internet radio in the car could put a hammer to satellite radio - but only if the price comes down to reasonable levels. Right now, only an idiot would pay $1200. You could sell this for a small markup over the cost of an aux cable - so, maybe $20, tops. $1200? You have to wonder what they've been smoking...
Technorati Tags: internet radio, pandora, pioneer
Like Blu-Ray, I think this effort at a standard download format for online video is a day late and a dollar short? Why? Well, there's recognition even from the advocates:
"The market desperately needs this, but in some senses it is already moving past it toward rental of content over ownership," said Danielle Levitas, an analyst at IDC. Ms. Levitas also said DECE's progress had been slower than she expected: "I wanted to see devices in the market already announced by C.E.S."
We just picked up an XBox this fall, and I signed up for Netflix not long after that - for a flat monthly fee, I can stream a whole bunch of content whenever I feel like it. Apple just bought a streaming outfit (LaLa), so it seem slike they know where things are headed, too.
There are a small number of movies/TV shows that I want to own persistently - video simply isn't like music; most things I watch, I have no interest in seeing them again. Even for the things I do want to see again, streaming mostly solves that problem. Maybe if these guys had a standard right now, and a slew of hardware supporting it, this would have a chance of catching on - but I have my doubts even then. Blu-Ray seems to be very slow to pick up, because DVD's are good enough, everyone has a player, and streaming is coming online. Where does this initiative fit, exactly?
Technorati Tags: video download, streaming, drm
The Apple Tablet rumors are reaching a crescendo - PCWorld is reporting that Apple will be making a major product announcement in January:
Sources in a position to know tell me Apple is indeed planning a media event later this month at which the company will announce a major new product. The gathering is to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a space Apple often uses for media events like this. According to other sources, it will occur on Wednesday, Jan. 27, not Tuesday, Jan. 26, as had been rumored.
Now, it could be the tablet - or, it could be something along the lines of a real product where the AppleTV device lives. Based on some recent activity Apple's been involved in, I wonder if that's the real play here? It would be a lot like Apple to let the Tablet flames rise, and then come out with something completely different.
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