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- How an App Store Could Revolutionize the TV Industry
This week's media event could finally confirm (or scuttle) rumors of a new Apple TV device. If it's based on iOS 4, like many pundits believe, there's strong potential for this device to feature its own App Store. If such a future came to fruition, Apple could be facing another round of tough negotiations with content producers like it faced when it introduced the world to digital music and movie downloads. If it’s successful though, Apple could revolutionize the television content marketplace.
The Current Marketplace
Consider how you currently watch TV, which could be through broadcast or cable television. If you watch cable, you pay a fee to a provider (like AT&T), which allows you to see certain channels based on your subscription (though that model doesn’t seem to be panning out so well anymore). The providers pay a portion of your subscription fees directly to the networks (an average of about 26 cents per channel). Networks make additional money with the ads they run on their channels as well. If a network doesn't show ads, you can expect they charge the cable provider substantially more than 26 cents per channel, and the opposite is true if they show an average amount of ads. This is all relative and pretty much a standard business model.
How Apple Could Shake Things Up
With the introduction of the App Store, we're starting to see how some industries are shaking up the status quo. For instance, consider the magazine industry. Wired now provides its app directly to consumers, and can sell a digital version of its magazine at a comparable price (per issue) to the newsstand price. Yet, without having to incur the printing costs behind it, and even while giving Apple 30 percent of the revenue, Wired pockets a lucrative profit.
Can the same model work for the television industry? Network providers already provide their content through iTunes, and, through negotiation, have arranged to sell content at $2-$3 per episode. Rumors of 99-cent TV shows have been rampant but unfulfilled, simply because of the tough negotiations required to make it happen. Could the solution be to simply bring an App Store directly to the TV? If so, similar to the Hulu or Netflix app, a network provider like HGTV (s sni) could provide its own app for free and charge within for in-app content, like episodes of a show. If it wanted to provide streaming content of the past few episodes for free, it could do so. As long as it approves of the 70/30 profit split with Apple, it would maintain a lot more control over its content and pricing. The networks would be happy, and Apple would be happy. Networks could still run ads as they wished and earn even more profit.
Who would stand to lose from this? At the outset, nobody, but if such a solution were to become mainstream, then cable providers could begin to see a dip in subscriptions. Why would most consumers pay a monthly fee of $30 to over $100 if they only want to watch a certain show or a certain network? Instead of paying for needless extra content that consumers never watch (based on their own viewing habits), they can pay for content that matters to them. The providers are aware of this, which is why many of them also provide internet service (think about Verizon, Comcast (c cmcsa) and AT&T).
I think an App Store on the TV could really revolutionize how we watch and engage with content.
What are your thoughts? A new Apple TV could revolutionize the television experience. Do you think it will take off? I'd love to hear what you think, so please share your comments!
Related GigaOM Pro Research: 3 Things Apple iTV Must Do to Succeed
Переслать - 4 Top iPad IM Apps
While the iPad fits a niche between an iPhone and a laptop, I’m still having trouble thinking of it as a truly mobile platform. Sure, it’s light and portable for easy touring, but I recall Fender once marketed the very-bulky Fender Twin Reverb in the same way.
Instant messaging apps on the iPad underscore the fact that the iPad is more likely to stay in my bag than be used while out and about. Very rarely do I have a serious conversation via IM, and I tend to use it as a form of text messaging while I’m on the train home or running errands. However, I do find myself using an iPad IM client when I’m using the device as an accessory computer. Often, while playing a game on my Mac, I’ll have the iPad next to me with an IM client open.
Last year, I wrote an article highlighting 10 Instant Messaging Apps for the iPhone. This year’s iPad version is slightly different. As with the iPhone apps, I found it really came down to BeejiveIM, IM+ Pro, and AIM, so I’m going to take a closer look at those this time.
Before I get to the analysis, here are a few explanations: Both BeejiveIM and IM+ connect to the usual services: AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and Facebook. IM+ also connects to Skype chat and Twitter. AIM will connect to AIM, MobileMe, and Facebook.
Obviously, none of these will connect to any proprietary corporate IM service.
You can also change your background in both paid apps, but I find that to be of limited value.
Beejive IM ($9.99)
I’ll get the one big strike against Beejive out of the way early: It’s not a Universal app, so if you own the iPhone version, be prepared to pony up another 10 bucks.
Of the two paid apps, I feel Beejive has the better interface. The screenshot below is a sample shot, but under where it says “new chat” is where the list of active chats is displayed. It’s very easy to see who’s online and what chats you have going.
One feature BeejiveIM has that I couldn’t find in IM+ is the ability to e-mail the chat log. This is very handy if you need a record of the conversation. I’ve never used it, since most of my chats seem to be about why the Red Sox bullpen is imploding this year as opposed to discussions of actual work, but that feature may be necessary for those using IM on the iPad for business discussions.
I didn’t run into any major problems using Beejive, but I’ve seen reports of folks having crashing issues when they reviewed this on the App Store.I didn’t encounter any stability issues.
IM+ Pro ($9.99)
Unlike BeejiveIM, IM+ Pro is a universal app, so you can buy it once and it use it on both devices. I’m not a big fan of the interface, however. BeejiveIM has one window that shows active chat participants, the chat you’re typing in, and your contacts list, but with IM+ Pro, it’s a toggle between chat participants and contacts. It’s not a gigantic hassle, and the chat window itself is larger this way, so depending on your likes, it can be a wash. I did find myself warming to it over time. You can also send voice messages via this app. Also available (as an in-app purchase) is speech recognition for messages.
I mentioned it earlier, but it bears repeating: IM+ also connects to Skype chat as well as Facebook.
While BeejiveIM had no noticeable stability issues, I can’t say the same about IM+. One time I got an error when sending a message telling me the account was disconnected, but the account settings showed me still active. (I had actually dropped off, according to the person I was messaging.) I also noticed frequently it would say “reconnecting” when I launched the app to send a message, and according to my lucky test subject, I’d also dropped off the wire. It appears there may be some serious issues with this app staying connected, at least through Google Talk.
IM+ Lite (Free)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention IM+ has a free version. This version differs from the paid version in two notable ways: It doesn’t connect to Skype chat, and there are small ads at the bottom of your chat window. You also don’t get the ability to purchase of speech recognition in-app.
AIM (Free)
If you’re lucky and all your friends just use AIM, the free AIM app is likely all you need. My testing with this falls into the “very limited” category since most of my contacts are scattered across the IM service sands. Given that limited testing, I give it a cautious Mark Crump It Seems To Work Just Fine award.
Conclusion
Going into this, I felt this was IM+ Pro’s battle to be lost. Given that it’s a universal app, I hoped that would give it the edge. Unfortunately, the connection problems were too frequent for me ignore. Therefore, my choice in the multi-protocol IM client battle is BeejiveIM. Yes, it sucks you need to pay twice if you’ve got the iPhone version, but a lot of apps I own aren’t universal, so paying twice is something I’m grudgingly getting used to. If you just use AIM, then there’s nothing wrong with the free AIM for iPad app.
What iPad IM client do you prefer?
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Can Anyone Compete With the iPad?
Переслать - Over 250,000 Apps Now in the App Store
Apple’s App Store now offers a selection of over a quarter of a million apps — a record reached in just a little over two years since the App Store first opened its digital doors.
The 250,000 milestone, a figure which Apple will no doubt mention at its upcoming September 1 media-event, was recorded by 148Apps, who released the newly collected data this weekend. Its numbers detailed that over 50,000 developers are now actively working on the iOS platform, with them submitting an average of 626 applications per day. Further insight revealed that the average price of a paid application is now $2.67.
148Apps new data noted that Apple’s App Store now plays host to exactly 252,227 iPad and iPhone applications. This sizable figure paints a vibrant picture of the success of Apple’s application store, which dwarfs the competition by a large margin. The second largest application store is Google’s Android Market, which is estimated to have around 100,000 applications available. Other application stores, including BlackBerry’s and Nokia’s, have a significantly smaller number of apps available for their platforms.
With new applications being added to the store every day, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find and discover new content. Of course, users can use the Genius tool to find recommendations, ask friends, or check out Apple’s own new and notable suggestions. Beyond that, application discovery is becoming a more tedious task as every day goes by. With the App Store racing towards its next milestone of 300,000 available apps, what changes would you like to see to the way in which you can find new downloads?
Let us know your thoughts on the App Store and what your favorite apps are in the comments!
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Is Marketing Key to Mobile App Store Sales?
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