Colin's Corner

CES Roundup - 2011 The year of the “superphone” and “media tablets”

After a few years with a weak pulse, the energy, enthusiasm and crowds were back in force at CES in Las Vegas with estimates of around 140,000 attendees. 

Apple does not exhibit at the show but its influence on the industry was clearly seen in the product design and functionality of some the most interesting mobile products. These included advanced smartphones or “superphones” announced by Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG and many others.

These superphone come feature packed with dual core processors, large amounts of ram and storage, an HTML5 browser, and support for HD video, micro HMDI out, front and rear cameras, and video chat capabilities. Along with better data security encryption some even require finger print recognition to unlock the device. 3D on the phone is not too far away and may end up being much more successful than on TV screens.

Some of the current “Superphones” and others coming out over the next couple of year can function as extremely powerful computers that you carry around in your pocket.  Combined with secure file storage in the cloud, fast mobile bandwidth via 4G plus the ability to dock into peripherals such as keyboard and displays theses phones have the potential to replace many laptops.

The message being delivered at this year’s CES is that, over the next couple of years, mobile devices will totally exceed your expectations.   

Media Tablets

There were dozens of tablet announcements and lots of prototype demonstrations that focused more on technical specifications than the overall user experience plus the amount of developer support that would be at launch to support the hardware.  

One of the issues of having an annual event such as CES is that companies are forced to work to the organizers timetable rather than their own. This results in products often being demonstrated that are not quite ready for prime time. Some companies such as HP decided to hold off and will showcase the PalmPad on February 9^th at their own event.

A lot of the tablet attention at CES focused on Motorola Xoom’s one of the first tablets with a 10” screen that will ship with Android 3 (Honeycomb) the first version of the OS designed for tablets, and also on RIM’s Blackberry Playbook that has a 7”screen and is expected to do well with corporations.

However, one got the sense that everyone was holding back a fair amount of information while waiting for the details of Apple’s iPad 2 which is rumored to be announced around 1^st February with shipment early April. When asked about pricing, the answer was always “it will be very competitive”.  A year after the iPad was announced there appears to be some competition on the horizon although too many of the tablets are chasing features rather than focusing on the totality of the user experience.

 The implications for the media industry are enormous.  A very large number of people are going to be consuming a lot of content on mobile devices either through a mobile browser or via apps.

Theses devices will be as powerful as many laptops and will be able to receive and display rich media content such as HD video. Static content such as e-editions and digital replicas will start to phase out as the media industry shifts to delivering more dynamic, rich interactive content.

The ability to share and receive content over social networks also needs to be a core feature of mobile content. Today 50% of all active Twitter users are using mobile devices to share and receive information. You don’t have to be constantly monitoring your social network. Applications such as Flipboard make it easy to organize Twitter and Facebook content in a digital magazine style for easy reading when every you want.  Facebook “likes” and other sharing mechanisms are driving as much traffic as search.  With the CEO of Flipboard now on the board of Twitter, expect to see a very close alignment of these organizations.  As the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo noted at CES – “Twitter is a technology company in the media business”

With the ongoing convergence of the computer, consumer electronics and wireless industries 2011 is being viewed, as a major inflection point for the mobile devices industry.   The often-predicted evolution of the Personal Computer era into one of Personal Communications appears to be finally here.

 

2D barcodes and ViPR

One of the most interesting aspects of mobile devices is their ability to link the physical and the digital world. 2D barcoding has been extremely popular in Japan and Korea for the last few years and is starting at last to penetrate the more mobile challenged regions of the world such as the US.

In the US, the uptake on 2D barcodes and other technologies linking the analogue and the digital world has been slower- largely due to lack of agreement among the five major carriers as to which technology to adopt but even more importantly, the expensive data plans that still exist around MMS in the US and other Western countries.

One major test around 2D bar-coding and mobile discovery has been conduced at Case Western Reserve University to mixed results with a fairly negative article in the NY Times covering the experiment.

ViPR (Visual Pattern Recognition) allows the camera phone to take a photograph of an object or image - the user sends this photo to an email address after which the user receives additional information such as an invite to buy, a coupon or free gift - whatever action the marketer wants to take place.

There are various companies experimenting with ViPR technologies including MobiGlyphs.com a subsidiatry of Compex Inc. and Snap Tell which recently conduced a fun contest around the movie "Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden" and received coverage in the NYTimes for their technology.

For ViPR and 2D technologies to become more prevalent over the next years the carriers will need to more aggressively push the technologies and include them with new mobile devices - with the imminent release of the iPhone 2.0 there will be several applications released over the next month or so using these technologies which will spur adoption. While adoption has been slow to date, it's likely to pick up very rapidly over the next couple of years. One to watch !

IDG's move to "the third screen"

Just over a year ago I wrote about IDG's transition from being a print centric to web centric company.

It's often too easy to theorize and be visionary but the real proof comes when you have to execute.

Today's story in the NYTimes talks about IDG's execution over the last year, with particular reference to the team at Infoworld who successfully closed the print publication and focused entirely on online, event and mobile opportunities.

There's a lot to this story but one of the most important issues is that by being unburdened by print allowed the team at Infoworld the opportunity to focus on the changing needs of their customers and to develop online , event and mobile products. It's changed the culture of that brand.

The philosophy of listening to customers and really understanding your marketplace has been installed in the organization over the last four decades by Pat McGovern and is well summarized in a recent FT interview.

Last week in Boston, I had the opportunity to attend an internal training course of our senior managers (training is also viewed as a key competitive advantage by the company). I've experienced similar events over my fifteen years at IDG, but watching Pat McGovern work the room during dinner with those nineteen, potential future IDG executives, making them feel so special by recognizing their contributions to the company underscored the very special fabric of this organization.

In 1993 I attended such a training boot camp, having arrived in the US from the UK after being Managing Director of Dennis Publishing, Ltd. my team mate on the case study project was Bob Carrigan, now the CEO of IDG Communications Inc. I guess IDG's investment in us has paid off !

So what's next ?

Of course there is more to be done on the transition to online. In particular building on the peer to peer knowledge of our communities. Today marketers want not only eyeballs, they want truly engaged and participatory audiences and through programs such as IDG's Market Fusion initiative we demonstrate the deep engagement of our IT and Tech audiences.

Next is mobile.

While, mobile marketing initiatives are still modest and the consumption of mobile content is still in its infancy, things are going to change rapidly over the next several years. I subscribe to the belief that we're seeing the dawn of a new mass media

The mobile opportunities and the move to the 7th Mass Media are well articulated by Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore.

While the monoculture of South Korea is much different to Western cultures, they are at the epicenter of the convergence of the Internet, Telecommunications and Broadcast TV. Not everything that works within the South Korean culture will necessarily translate but publishers around the world ignore the rapid developments in this country at their peril.

To get a glimpse of the digital culture of South Korea read Digital Korea I handed out a copy to all the students at our internal training course last week. Over at the Industry Standard there is a discussion about the merger of the mobile phone and the web.

Obviously I'm not going to give away all our plans and initiatives but as the NYTimes article showed, IDG has successfully managed the transition from print to online, now I'm thinking about the transition from online to mobile.

The Transition from Print to Online is Over:Reaching the Revenue Tipping Point

Today, at the MPA breakfast briefing, Bob Carrigan, IDG Communication's President, discussed how the movement from print to online is not a transition but rather a complete transformation. Online and print are different media - online allows the aggregation of content from content creators including editors, vendors and marketers and the community. The skill is to present all this content in a manner that benefits the user. Publishers have to determine how to differentiate themselves in a world of search and aggregation. One of the most important differences is the publishers ability to help in the creation of a rich environment where the community is front and center, where the community provides content and voice and with active peer to peer interaction.

Media Bisto's coverage A Magazine Guy's Messy Internet Makes Money

Folio IDG’s Carrigan Sees Says Online Shift is Transformation, Not Transition

The Revenue Tipping Point

It’s been a challenging time to be a print publisher. In the US – the print publishing industry has been experiencing the perfect storm - we’ve seen circulations fall; margins and revenues erode as new generations abandon traditional print and question its quality and independence.  Many mainstream media organizations are upset that the print world they knew and loved has changed so much. Like a death of a loved one, publishers are dealing with several stages of emotions over the loss of a traditional, well-understood business.  OK, It’s time to let go and get over it. Let’s face the reality of the loss, deal with the pain and adjust to the current environment by investing in the new reality and our future.

In the segment in which we operate - information on technology, the stark reality is that print is not rebounding and is not likely to. Every year our print ad market contracts in terms of total advertisers and total pages and revenue and our print circulations fall.  There is nothing on the horizon that indicates any sort of reversal of this trend. Print’s not dead, it's just becoming a smaller less profitable business, and we have to adjust [our brains and] our P&Ls to the market reality!

At approx $3 billion the US online tech-advertising category is one of the largest ad categories on the net.  On the readership side, some of the most popular search is for tech-related products.  We are in a great category in the online world and we are seeing massive growth in the overall readership of our branded properties and strong revenue growth - however we recognize that this is a world where the competitive set is a lot broader and more challenging and the content distributions channels are very different.  - I like our odds but it requires a massive internal attitude adjustment to deal with the new reality that our brands go far beyond print.

Our key significant strategic imperative is to transition and transform the company - taking a 40-year print legacy that’s coded into our DNA to build the company on a balanced portfolio of print, online and event products.  Advertiser and users are spending less time with the printed medium so we have to adjust our business accordingly. This evolution away from print has challenged some of IDG’s traditional managers who have thought of their brands in narrow terms - but we have many individuals who are willing to think of their products as brands across multiple media types and also to look at audiences across brands, recognizing the amazing opportunities that are ahead of them.

We think about how to develop valuable, authoritative content and how to deliver it most appropriately to our users in what everyway makes sense to meet their needs  - we’re liberating ourselves from the restrictions and cost of the print container. The brands represent the voice and participation of their communities – and it’s this user participation that differentiates them from search and aggregation.

This transition covers every aspect of the business - it’s tricky, as we have to balance the need for appropriate continued investment in print while allocating significant resources to ensure we power online growth. Transformation involves a deep cultural shift in attitude to put online first and stop over protecting print.

Interesting times.

Poland

I recently returned from Warsaw, where I was speaking about the role of media in a world of search, aggregation and social networking.  I was incredibly impressed at the entrepreneurialism of the team at IDG Poland. Poland has around 11MM internet users, approximately 37% of the total population. Spending on the Internet is still modest, around 3.6% of the total media spend but growing around 45% year on year with the major growth coming from the FMCG sector. Google is the number one site in terms of audience with 10MM users with the local portal Onet.pl not far behind with 9.5MM users. IDG Poland covering the vertical tech sector has 2.2MM users. Its largest sites being the top tech portal idg.pl with nearly 2MM users and PCWorld.pl with over 900,000 users.

Key IDG Poland sites include:
http://www.idg.pl/
http://www.idg.pl/tv/
http://www.computerworld.pl/
http://www.cxo.pl/
http://www.itpartner.pl/
http://www.networld.pl/
http://www.jobuniverse.pl/
http://www.pcworld.pl/
http://www.macworld.pl/
http://www.digit.pl/
http://www.gamestar.pl/
http://www.cyberjoy.pl/ (not what you think !)
http://www.digitallife.pl/
http://www.zoom.idg.pl/
http://www.fotografia.idg.pl/
http://www.kinodomowe.idg.pl/
http://www.internetstandard.pl/

What impressed me so much about the online team in Poland was their attitude. It was very much - can do, let’s try it to see what works.

They have some interesting experimentation with links from highlighted content launching text, graphic and video ads.  Video ads with user suppoted control, Audiobots (when the text on a page is spoken) and are actively promoting screencasts (see definition). They recognize now everything will work but the willingness to experiment is refreshing. They have embraced community participation including blogs

There was definitely concern over the power of the search companies, Google in particular and other key aggregators although an understanding that there was a sensible co-operative way to work with sites to drive audience to topic focused area with active audience participation.

My interview for those who can read Polish is here

Insights into youth culture

I've known Guy Kawasaki for many years and always respected his marketing instincts and grass roots, community approach to marketing. His evangelism at Apple , especially among user groups was ground breaking - he has just posted an insightful interview with Kathleen Gasperini, the co-founder and senior vice president of Label Networks that discusses the current trends among "young people". Appreciating current youth culture on a worldwide basis is critical to all organizations - their attitudes and trends will carry across to college and to the workforce as they age. My advice - develop intern programs that regularly bring in smart young people who challenge the status quo of your organization's thinking.

Conversations with Digital Industry Leaders

DeSilva Phillips  have posted,  “2006 Online Advertising Roundtable,” the first in a series of conversations with digital industry leaders.  In this report, David Rosenblatt (CEO of DoubleClick), Chris Saridakis (CEO of Gannett’s PointRoll unit), and Jim Warner, EVP of aQuantive’s Avenue A / Razorfish), discuss:

·       The astounding expansion of online advertising
·       Maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit in the face of growth
·       The virtues of going private
·       How new technologies are reshaping the media, information, and entertainment industries
·       Working with and competing against Google

The report can be downloaded free or obtained from the DeSilva Philips site or from the Reports 2006 page.

and also “2006 Lead Generation Roundtable,” the second  in the series. In this report, Mike Mathieu (Chairman and CEO of All Star Directories), Kurt Robertson (CEO of FranchiseGator), Howard Tischler (Group President, Dealer Services, First Advantage Corp.), and Sam Zales (President and CEO of BuyerZone) discuss:

·       The difficulties of erecting entry barriers
·       How to deal with soaring keyword prices
·       The rise of the math geeks in lead generation
·       Why content can draw customers but undermine conversions
·       How lead quality underpins ROI

The report can be downloaded for free or obtained from the DeSilva Philips site or from  the Reports 2006 page.

The Web is where we live

Following Newsweek's article The New Wisdom of the Web covering social aspects of the web and Slate's contention that the Web 2.0 boom doesn't live up to it's name , Dion Hinchcliffe gives a good overview of the current state of Web 2.0 concluding with the final predictions:

1-The hype is going to ramp down quite a bit this year.
2- People will focus much more on using the ideas and ignoring the Web 2.0 hypesters more often.
3- A lot of folks will still hate the term Web 2.0.

Whatever debate rages over the hype and term use, publishers today must find ways to harness the collective intelligence of their communities and the willingness of the members of the community to participate and share their knowledge.

Online Brands

At International Data Group we focus on IT Technology – our goal, is to help connect buyers and sellers together within a trusted, authoritative, content rich environment. We help people make good buying decisions by providing advice all along the buying chain.  In addition we help users get the most out of their purchases.

Our brands are our core assets.  Trusted, unbiased editorial has built trust in our IT print brands over many years. But the online world is different – thanks to the power of networked communications users are turning at least as much to their peers for advice and guidance as to editors. The power of an active engaged community is enormous. So our attitude as publishers needs a major adjustment.

To retain and build trust in the online space our brands have to focus first and foremost on their users. Pushing content we think our users want is just not an option anymore. If we don’t provide the correct environments for user engagement and participation others will but if we walk the talk, we will successfully make the transition from strong print to strong defensible online content brands.

Our online sites must contain the right mix of content. This includes original differentiating content from our writers, vendors information, information databases and most importantly user generated content.

We must absolutely recognize and tap into the knowledge base that exists within our communities. We need to build active and engaged communities that are attractive to advertisers.

There has to be emotional involvement with online brands in a similar way people feel emotionally attached to newspaper and magazine. Successful brands have “sex appeal”. Publishers have to find a way to make their online sites sexy.

But unlike the print world where the content was under the control of the editors in chief – now selection of content has to be managed by an individual who really understands the needs of the community each brand serves.