Month: January 2011

Skype and Qik Sitting in a Tree …

by dldamore

Around mid day on Thursday (1/6/2011) there were rumors floating around that Skype (an Internet telephony, instant messaging and video chat client) would be acquiring Qik (a live streaming video technology service). Apparently this was more than a rumor (See Mashable). This will make an interesting marriage.

Could see Skype creating live video channels that use Qik to stream and store data (AKA: Programs). Skype may integrate it with their IM client as well.

A few thoughts:

  • Favorite shows. This would allow for later viewing.
  • Recording of live chats (people use Skype for creating video netcasts, see TWiT and Andrew Warner interviews on his Mixergy site.)
  • The ability to chat and share a stream in real-time with friends.

Book Retail Market Share

by dldamore

Borders had an estimated 8.1% of retail sales of new printed books in 2010, compared to 22.5% for Amazon.com Inc., and 17.3% for Barnes & Noble, according to estimates from the Institute for Publishing Research, run by Fordham University Prof. Albert N. Greco.

via Borders Wants Suppliers to Accept Longer-Term IOUs – WSJ.com.

What go my attention in the section above is that Barnes and Noble is only 5.2% behind Amazon.com in market share for new printed books. Would have thought Amazon would have 30-40% market share and hacve a significant lead over other retailers.

Snippet on Reading: Article | Is Reading Really at Risk?

by dldamore

“Reading at Risk” breaks down its readers into Light (reading 1-5 books a year), Moderate (6-11 books a year), Frequent (12-49 books a year), and Avid (50 or more books)

via Article | Is Reading Really at Risk?.

Came across the article and snippet above while researching how many books a person reads per year.  The average is around three or four. Depending on if you count the people who read zero books.

Currently I’m a frequent reader (completed 30 in 2010). Would really like to be an avid reader. Shooting for 60 books completed this year.

Main Applications on the iPad (1-1-2011)

by dldamore

The picture below represents the current home screen layout as I currently use it.

TuneIn Radio is great, as is Wikihood.  They both offer something unique or outstanding IMHO.

From left to right starting at the top.

  • Google Maps
  • Photos
  • Earthquakes (notification and visualization of recent earthquakes globally)
  • Contacts
  • Flickr (Actually this is an iPhone app that you have to run 2x to fit the iPad)
  • Waze (Live mapping application. Has some game elements.)
  • Maps (folder of map applications)
  • Notes
  • Flipboard (Beautiful application for visualization of online content. Mostly Twitter, but also Flickr and Google Reader RSS posts)
  • Twitter (folder of Twitter applications)
  • Twitter (Official Twitter application)
  • Books (folder of book and reading applications)
  • Evernote (The everything notebook storage application)
  • AccuWeather
  • TuneIn Radio (paid 99 cents, worth $5)
  • Google (search and access to Google applications)
  • Google Voice (access and use your account on a mobile device)
  • Instapaper (Read it later application. Used in conjunction with a browser bookmarklet tool)
  • WordPress (application to create blog posts using WordPress)
  • Wikihood (Wikipedia entries for places near you)

What is 2011?

by dldamore

2011

“The Year of Solving Other Peoples Problems”

Tagline: “What’s Your Problem?”

*This came about after thinking about how camera apps could create a viable business model. This coming year should be about solving problems other people have. People may call it service. Most of the time it is a service, there are a few times where it is an idea that is implemented and that scales and creates massive value for the user. The creator gets a healthy reward for creating so much value for the customer.

Example: Supplier creates a product that crates $1M in sales for their customer with a net profit of $250,000 (25% net margin). Regular net margin is 10%. This product is creating $150,000 in extra net profit. Perhaps a third of that will go back to the creator of the solution that created a million dollars of business and created the opportunity to grow net profits $250,000. If the supplier takes a third of the excess, that would be $250,000 NPM – $100,000  SPM (Standard Profit Margin) = $150,000/3 = $50,000. There is an incentive to create excessive value and profit for their customer. Think of the 1/3rd as being a performance bonus.

*Still to be figured out.

Q: What if the buyer is OK with a 10% SPM and uses the savings to drive market share and be more competitive versus their competitors?

A: These things will have to be negotiated and put in writing.