George Dearing dot com

 

Good analysis from Addy Dugdale on Apple's choke-hold on music

Apple holds the whip hand in the current situation--in three ways. First of all, its dominance of the digital media scene will go unchallenged, as that's the portal that music users go to first. Secondly, its amazing riches means that it can sit on Lala for as long as it likes without doing anything, perhaps waiting until Spotify turns its back on the States before it starts to phase in what Spotify's Daniel Ek calls "next-generation music industry"--that is, access to music rather than ownership--on its own terms.
via fastcompany.com

 

Filed under  //   apple   digital+media   itunes   music   music+industry  
Posted May 19, 2010
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iTunes Rewind Highlights 2009's Best Content [The Web Services Report - CNET]

via news.cnet.com

I'm clearly out of touch.

"..iTunes staff picked Michael Jackson as artist of the year, with Kings of Leon taking home album of the year for their 2009 release, "Only By the Night." The top-selling single of the year was the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow." They also checked in at No. 4 with "I Gotta Feeling," giving them two songs in the top 5."

Filed under  //   2009   itunes   music  
Posted December 8, 2009
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Camille Ricketts on GreenBeat // "Utilities eye their own ‘iTunes App Stores’ for Smart Grid apps"

via green.venturebeat.com

"Every utility will have its own version of the iTunes App Store,” said Austin Energy, CIO of Austin Energy, during this morning’s utility panel at GreenBeat 2009 in San Mateo, Calif. — essentially, every major utility, in order to be at the cutting edge of the Smart Grid, will need to have a full portfolio of applications that can help their customers trim their energy use and their monthly bills."

Filed under  //   applications   appstore   energy+efficiency   itunes   smart+grid   utilities  
Posted November 19, 2009
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Hard to Find Green iPhone Apps Are Also An Opportunity
via treehugger.com

TreeHugger's post on Green iPhone apps got me thinking about the upside that exists as mobile content and apps continue to explode. With such clear demand, you'd think it would be easy to find apps.

I like 3rdWhale President Ron Williams' idea of simply adding a "sustainability" tag to the iTunes store and homepage. And with Apple's recent Green push, you'd think they'd be all over the opportunity to boost firms with a green gene.

What this also shows is how much opportunity there is for brands and content providers. If I were a media company or brand I'd be looking to cut content and licensing deals that put my company front and center alongside these niche providers. Not to mention iPhone apps are the gateway interface to other brand touches and interactions. And guess what -- a lot of those interactions will ultimately be tied to transactions. Think M-Commerce.

Filed under  //   apple   appstore   content+distribution   content+providers   green   iphone   itunes  
Posted October 13, 2009
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Video: iTunes 9 Home Sharing and iPhone app management

via engadget.com

I missed most of the Apple updates today -- and though the event was super hyped, it looks like there's a few notable iTunes enhancements.

Filed under  //   apple   itunes   music   syncing  
Posted September 9, 2009
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Spotify App Looks Like An All-in-One Music Service

via paidcontent.co.uk

I'd love something that brings together Songza, Last.fm and Pandora-type features..
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"The Spotify app’s killer feature is offline play - push a button to download your Spotify playlists containing up to 3,333 songs to the app for playing whilst not connected."

Filed under  //   digital+downloads   itunes   last+fm   online+music   pandora   songza   spotify  
Posted July 27, 2009
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