Facebook Is Expected to Unveil Media-Sharing Service - NYTimes.com

Facebook is expected to unveil a media platform that will allow people to easily share their favorite music, television shows and movies, effectively making the basic profile page a primary entertainment hub. In other words, Facebook will become a content distributor in a more active way, if not a direct way, at the moment.

Facebook, which has more than 750 million users, has not revealed its plans, but the company is widely expected to announce the service at its F8 developers’ conference.

Facebook to Unveil Media-Sharing Service

Netflix’s DVD business: Does Qwikster have a future?

Most, perhaps all of the commentary about the Netflix decision to create separate streaming and DVD by mail businesses seems to be negative. Netflix says the separation will provide an easier user experience, but a fair-minded person might question that position.

Creating two separate billing entities, with different and distinct commenting and rating systems, with the need to update two different sites when personal or billing data changes, is hard to envision, as an enhancement.

Some users will gladly trade off selection for immediacy. As Netflix moves toward offering more TV content, that could change. Netflix users might find they have a wider selection of TV content to choose from, compared to Qwikster users. For TV-centric viewers, that could be the tipping point. For movie-centric users, the tipping point might be quite some time away.

Perhaps most think the separation, which could result in better management of each entity, might speed the demise of the DVD operation. The transition is likely to be more gradual than many expect. The reason is the value proposition. Right now, the streaming operation simply does not offer the content richness that the DVD by mail option can offer. And in a content business, breadth of content matters.

Does Qwikster have a future?

Google Wallet Launch Largely Symbolic?

Google might be launching its Google Wallet service soon, a move some would say is more of a "private beta" than a "public beta," given the small number of people equipped with devices featuring near field communications, and the relatively small number of retail locations where those phones can be used to shop.

Changing consumer behavior could prove challenging in the near term, many would say. Using plastic cards is comfortable and familiar to most people and many users will seen no reason to alter their behavior, unless there are deals or other incentives to get them to adopt mobile payments.

That last point is why some of us think "daily deals," social shopping, promotion and marketing apps must be part of the emerging mobile payments and mobile wallet business. If the payments system isn't broken, there is no driver for a "fix." What could alter the value-hassle or value-price equation is significant new value.

Google Wallet Launch Largely Symbolic

Netflix Splits in 2: Why?

Netflix says it is separating its DVD by mail and streaming operations into two separate business units, with Netflix retaining the current brand name, while a different "Qwikster" brand being created for the DVD by mail business. Netflix splits in 2

"Streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently," says Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies.

Qwikster will add a video games upgrade option, similar to the current upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games.

Hastings says the separate, non-integrated websites will offer greater simplicity for users, though that might be a point of contention.

Each website will be focused on just one thing (DVDs or streaming), and will be even easier to use, Hastings argues. But a negative of the separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

Since about 60 percent of Netflix subscribers appear to pay for both streaming and DVD access, the implication is that 60 percent of users now will get two separate bills, have to use two different sites, and see partial sets of recommendations and reviews on each site. If you rate or review a movie on Qwikster, it doesn’t show up on Netflix.

"If you subscribe to both services, and if you need to change your credit card or email address, you would need to do it in two places," Hastings says.

What is clear is that it will be better for Netflix. The price move was not a “decision,” so much as a “reality” presented to Netflix from the content owners in Hollywood, argues Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist at Benchmark Capital. The first sale doctrine  likely is involved. Basically, under U.S. law a product (a DVD) can be purchased and then lent or sold without further payment of royalties to content owners. 


The key point is that "first sale" does not apply to streaming services. If you want to know why content owners prefer streaming to DVD rentals, that's the reason: they make more money. 


Netflix must negotiate for each and every streamed title, and the price of the right to stream that digital title is up to the whim of the content owner. If an owner says "no," no distributor can get access. Copyright rules under "first sale"

If you assume Hollywood stuidos wanted a price per month per user to license streamed content, there is an economic problem for Netflix. Netflix obviously would prefer to pay only for content that users actually watch. 

By separating the two businesses, Netflix actually pays less (if the scenario is correct) because the number of potential subscribers is less. Though susceptible to the charge it has made a bit of a kludge out of its business, Netflix might have been forced to do so for financial reasons beyond its control. 

Android and iOS apps combined hit 1 million

Android and iOS combined for a total of one million applications, according to app tracker Apps Fire.

This number shows all applications that have been developed on both platforms, but doesn’t mean that today you’ll find exactly one million apps if you combine the two largest mobile app stores, since some apps run on both platforms.

It isn't always so easy to figure out what it all means, though.

Some apps are helpful for branding or marketing, while others actually represent new products and categories. A million Android and iOS apps

Large brands use apps to create or support major ad campaigns, for example. In other cases, such as mobile gaming, apps arguably represent a new category of "games" that increasingly compete with console gaming.

In the former case, apps are helpful in the same way that other channels are helpful; in the latter case the foundation for whole new revenue streams or business segments.

In a third set of cases, mobile apps are more about user engagement, making it easy for users to interact with content sites they also use when in tablet or PC mode. In yet other cases, mobile apps create a capability that might have indirect or direct monetization potential, but are important for the displacement of other apps that represent a revenue stream.

Facebook Mobile Messenger, for example, could disrupt mobile service provider text messaging revenue. Facebook Mobile Messenger

Google Wallet to Launch Sept. 19, 201?

Will Google Wallet launch this month, perhaps even on Sept. 19, 2011?

hj

Google Wallet

Much Google+ Activity is Hidden

It's hard to remember that Google+ is still in "private beta." It hasn't even gotten to "public beta" yet. Nor is it really possible to determine how much engagement Google+ is getting.

Private posts will not show up in any third party statistic reports and so it instantly skews the results. According to ManageFlitter’s statistics, Google public posts have dropped by 41 percent in the past two months. While it could indicate a decrease in Google usage, it could just as easily indicate a choice to have more control over who sees your posts.

Also, my subjective use of Google+ does not revolve around public posts, or even posts. I use it every day, typically multiple times a day, for content consumption. None of that will tend to show up in posting activity. That might not be what most people do, or what Google intended. But my activity has grown over time. Only Google knows what is happening across the breath of its user base.

Google+ activity is hiddenGoogle: