Simon Perry

Microsoft OneCare Hits US Anti-Virus Second Spot
The study of sales figures after the first month of Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare will not make pleasant reading for the current PC security software companies.
Research from The NPD Group shows that Microsoft has grabbed the second spot for sales in US shops.
The natural dominance of Microsoft had always made companies such as McAfee and Symantec nervous and it appears to have been well founded. Their position has been assisted by pretty aggressive initial pricing, with its list price of $49.95 slashed to the bone at $19.95 at Amazon.com.
As NPD analyst Chris Swenson told News.com, “Microsoft’s penetration pricing strategy is clearly working and they are capturing significant unit share.”
NPD’s figures showed that the losses for the previously dominant security companies – Symantec cried the biggest tears with a 10.1% loss; McAfee said bye bye to 3.3% and Trend Micro 1.3%.
We think it’s pretty hilarious that Microsoft get to charge people who have bought their operating system up to $49.95 to secure against, among other things, virus attacks to their own operating system.
NPD
14 August, 2006
Visual Radio Finally Launches with O2 and Virgin Radio
We’ve been keeping our eyes on Background on how it all works).
Today it’s been announced that two radio stations in the UK, Virgin Radio in London, and GWR FM in Bristol will be launching support for the service, with Virgin Radio leading this week.
There are three partners involved, HP supplying the backend, O2 carrying the data, and the radio stations providing the content.
James Parton, Head of Music, TV and Radio products at O2 comments, “The in-built radios in many of our handsets have always been popular with people who are always on the move, but now visual radio lets you really interact whether that is with the actual DJ themselves or downloading ringtones of your favourite songs over the O2 network.”
In covering the main reason that Virgin Radio are interested in it, James Cridland, Director of Digital Media at Virgin Radio, said “It can also give advertisers a more dynamic platform to communicate their messages.”
As we’ve covered many times before, one of the sticking points is whether the already-burdened mobile subscriber will be prepared to pay extra money to use these services.
O2 have announced the usage charges of Visual Radio. At O2’s standard data rates of £3.00 per Mb dependent on tariff or O2 Browse and Download bolt-ons from £3 for 2mb and £5 for 4mb.
Although the amount of data that will be transferred won’t be that considerable, with small graphics being the most hefty, it will still cost people money to listen to the radio – something they’re not used to.
People may also legitimately ask why they should pay to help enhance people advertising to them.
Earlier this week Nokia bought Loudeye, the company that they partnered with to process their music.
Visual Radio
11 August, 2006
Viacom’s Big Shift to Digital: Summarised
Viacom have been making further moves to secure their future in digital media. Given all of the moves they’ve made this week, we thought it was worth summarising it.
The first recent deal was the one with Viacom doing a multi-part deal with Google. Viacom will provide Google with video clips and commercials for syndication through Google’s AdSense network, with income being split three ways, Viacom; Google; and the Web site owner. Videos from the Viacom group of companies will also sell their videos on Google Video for $1.99.
The day after this Viacom announced that they were going to buy Atom Entertainment (AtomShockwave as was, made up of Shockwave.com, AddictingGames.com, AtomFilms.com and AddictingClips.com). Viacom put $200m on the table for this one.
They’re be adding this to their other recent purchases, XFIRE, Y2M, GameTrailers.com, IFILM and Neopets, placing them all under MTV Networks.
Viacom are experts at delivering messages (TV, films and adverts to you and me) on television and films, and as we can see from the above deals, they’ve caught on that they really ought to be able to do this online too. To try and simplify this, they were looking for a way to smooth the transition of their content to the digital realm.
This brings us to the latest deal, between Viacom and Adobe, where Adobe’s Engagement Platform will be the preferred tool to digitise the content. The two will also ‘work together in developing new media applications,’ which sounds like an interesting idea, sadly no further detail was available.
The upshot of this is pretty bad news for Microsoft and Real as Viacom will be serving all of the online video adverts using Flash Video. Another nail in the coffin for a use of Microsoft’s Windows Media.
Viacom
Google
Atom Entertainment
Adobe
11 August, 2006
DVD With CSS To Be Burnt In Store, Then Home
After refusing to entertain the idea for many years, the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), are ‘actively considering’ letting DVD to be burnt in-shops and by video download services.
The only caveat? ‘Special blank DVD discs’ would be require as they will use the current DVD protection scheme, Content Scrambling System (CSS). It also give the studios to charge consumers extra money for the disc, that they’ll use to burn films that they also be paying for (or are we just getting too cynical?).
It’s anticipated that early uses of this will be kiosks in public places, probably shops when the public will be able to select films, possibly the more obscure ones (see Long Tail), and walk out with a DVD disk that they can play in the DVD player.
DVD CCA are saying that once they get that up and working, they’ll work on a version that consumer can use at home. They’re talking about letting it record films, TV shows – clearly predicting the time when TV programs will not be freely recorded. Some online services like MoveiLink have been considering this recently.
The DVD CCA is a vehicle for the film industry to control and dictate the technical specification of DVDs.
The film industry really had to do something to counter what lots of people are doing anyway, making copies of their DVDs to use in their holiday homes or in their cars. This has been made possible by CSS being cracked many years ago by Norwegian computer programmer, Jon Lech Johansen, otherwise know as DVD-Jon.
CSS was significantly flawed by its design, as it uses fixed software keys to encrypt the content of the DVD. These keys were kept secret, so when some of those became revealed, the protection was cracked.
DVD CCA
11 August, 2006
Portable Media Players Hit US Consciousness
Recent research shows that US consumers are becoming more aware of Portable Media Players (PMPs), devices that can play video as well as music. Over 75% of 1,099 people polled were aware of PMPs.
The iPod video is picked out as the device that raised general awareness of the PMP, despite many not classifying it as a true PMP.
In-Stat estimates that the worldwide market for true, video-centric PMPs will grow to 5 million units by the end of 2006, up from under half a million just two years ago.
Putting on her wise-head, In-Stat analyst, Stephanie Ethier said, “Despite the fact that PMP shipments are finally gaining traction, suppliers and manufacturers continue to face challenges. PMPs will continue to compete with other portable devices offering similar functionality, such as notebook computers, portable DVD players, handheld gaming products, and other mobile devices.”
Sony threw their hat into the PMP ring when they launched the Mylo earlier this week.
If you want to read the research in full, In-Stat will be more than happy to help you while taking $2,999 from you at the same time.
In-Stat
10 August, 2006
BBC To Take Live Webcam Feeds To TV Shows
A visual communications company, All New Video, have announced a deal with BBC to enable feedback and input into TV programmes from viewers, video calling from 3G phones, Web cams and ISDN. On the voice side, it will add VoIP to its inbound voice channels.
It will open up and encourage the input of BBC viewers into news television programmes, widening the chances for user-generated content. The first show will be ‘Have Your Say’ which is aired on BBC World and BBC News 24, which they hope will before the end of the month.
We think this is a really exciting idea, with the live element being the real revolution. We spoke to David Hogben, General Manager, to get the low down.
Webcam to Live Broadcast
During live shows, the producer will be able to ask viewers to join in with the programme, by connecting with their 3G mobiles (unlikely and expensive for the caller), or far more interestingly, their Webcams.
To get to add their two penny worth, prospective video chatters will go to the BBC News Web site and download an ActiveX control (sorry Windows only currently), which will pick up their Webcam and/or microphone, letting them connect.
As the Application can be downloaded by anyone, input can come from anywhere worldwide.
The system give the assistant producer the ability to carry out a video chat with the viewer letting them ascertain their suitability of the show – frankly, filter out those not relevant. Each person can also be ranked and some notes made about them.
When the assistant producer thinks they’ve got the best of the bunch, they are passed in to a ‘waiting room’ where the producer can also chat with them, and then they decide if it’s time to put them live into the broadcast. As the 3G video is low res and the Webcam quality variable, it’s likely that video feeds will only be broadcast at quarter screen resolution for the time being.
The whole process runs through a Web-browser on All New Video’s servers, until the broadcast, when a server at the BBC is connected with, feeding the video and audio out through an SDI interface.
Video comments
Those old enough will remember UK broadcaster, Channel 4, used to have ‘feedback booths’ in a couple of UK cities where viewers were able to go into a darkened box and share their views with the UK audience.
The new BBC system will let people do the same from the safety of their own bedrooms, where they’ll be able to leave their five minutes of video wisdom in a video mail system.
Background on All New Video
All New Video started in 2002 with the advent of 3G as they thought it would address a lot of the problems the founder, David Atkins, had encountered in their previous video conferencing business.
Their first big business win was a contact with Orange to supply the technology for their video answering service. Any time you can’t get through to someone with a video call on a 3G or 2.5G phone, you’re connected to the All New Video kit, where you can leave up to a 30 second message which is then delivered via MMS.
As we’ve been hearing from Vodafone recently, video calling isn’t being embraced by the 3G owning public, neither, more widely, is 3G. This lead to a rethink for them and a switch to including Webcams and other Internet technologies such as VoIP to be included.
They’ve previously done deals with two UK TV companies ITN and ITV’s breakfast show, GMTV. Neither are advanced as the BBC system advised today, with the ITN handling video messaging and the GMTV allowing video calls going direct to air, both from 3G phones.
All New Video
10 August, 2006
446m Mobile Phones TV User By 2011? We Consider
Will you be one of the near-half billion (446m to be exact) people that IMS Research estimate will be watching TV on their cellular handsets around the globe by 2011?
Their latest research project a 50% year-on-year growth all of the way until 2010.
In a frankly over-optomistic tone, one of the report’s authors, Stephen Froehlich exclaimed, “Given the right conditions, mobile TV has the potential to spread from one customer to the next like few technologies before it.” We assume he either lives in the US, where text messaging didn’t grow at the speed it did in Europe, or he’s got a short memory. SMS was the ultimate viral application on mobile.
There’s been a lot of buzz about DVB-H, built up by a combination of the TV and mobile phone companies. It’s not far off the truth that the content industry are obsessed with video content on mobile phones.
Our take – All of these estimates are a pipe-dream if the mobile operators think that their subscribers are going to pay to watch TV, at the data rates that are charged by many companies, certainly those in the UK. People’s mobile bills are pretty huge already and they have a lot of other things to be spending their money on.
IMS Research
10 August, 2006
Cricket Mobisodes On The Ashes To Launch
The mobile division of TV production company Twofour and Player One Sports are working together to create a weekly short form TV show covering the Australian portion of the Ashes tour for portable devices.
The six minute shows will be formatted for mobile phones, iPods, or PSP’s. They’ll be chunked into one to two minute blocks, “for ease of use on different delivery mediums.”
Coming this Winter, sports presenter, Mark Durden-Smith (no we haven’t heard of him either, but when it comes to sport, that’s doesn’t mean anything) will be fronting the show where they plan to cover analysis of the action and try to give an understanding of life on tour in Australia.
It appears that they’re hoping to pull in the interest of posh types who like cricket, and more than likely don’t care how much it’s going to cost them to keep up to date. It may be of course turn out that these are the sort of people who don’t currently have the kit to play the content.
Twofour are clearly planning to flog the maximum amount of ‘media’ to lighten with heavy-wallets of their punters. Alongside the mobisode (and we suspect, cross-promoted during it), there will be a range of associated content including Freddie Flintoff’s Allround Cricket, a Web and mobile fantasy cricket game and a range of other downloadable content such as wallpapers, ring tones and video blog.
A rather over-excited Mr Philip Bourchier O’Ferrall, Director of Twofour Mobile gushed, “We are in the midst of a media revolution and I’m excited that Twofour is leading the way.”
Twofour mobile
4 August, 2006
Domesday Book Goes Online
Today, a rather old book from the late 11th century England (1086 to be precise) will be brought online to be searched. The Domesday Book, is the earliest surviving survey and valuation of the King, his senior supporters, the land they owned and their resources.
If you’d wanted to look through it previously, you had to drag yourself over to the National Archive in a rather calm building in Kew West London, or cough up a couple of thousand pounds to get them on CD.
By going to the Domesday Web site, you can search and get an idea if there’s anything in The Book about your chosen subject. If you want to see a scan of the page, you, me and anyone in the World will be able to pay £3.50 per page to see it.
Those not wanting to pay for the documents can head over to Kew where they can be printed out for nothing.
You might think that there’s a little difficulty in using it, as many of the surnames used by people and names of areas have changed substantially over the last thousand-odd years. Luckily they thought of that one. Simply enter the modern name in the Place Name box, if you’re a boffin with knowledge of ye-olde world, you enter the old name in the Other keywords box.
We don’t want to cast a shadow over this notable event, but we wonder if it’s right that UK residents, who already fund the National Archives through their taxes, should pay the same amount to access the info as those from abroad.
There’s a couple of theories as to why it’s called the Domesday or Doomsday Book (depending on your preferenece) – Biblical Day of Judgement or when some bloke called Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Neither of them particularly jolly.
Those long in the tooth will remember the BBC launch the BBC Domesday Project, to put the book on the 12-inch laserdisc. Sadly, these days, this project is remembered as an example of information lost to an old format that cannot be retrieved.
Get going and research your family or local area at the National Archive Web site at domesday Book
Background on the Domesday Book
4 August, 2006
Vodafone Admits That Video Calling Has Flopped
Vodafone is hotly denying that its enthusiasm for 3G has waned, after rumours began circulating that the operator was cutting handset subsidies and abandoned all hope of the technology ever becoming a lucrative commercial success.
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Reports that the rumours began to circulate after Enders Analysis revealed that sales of 3G phones had crashed from 20 per cent of all handsets bought to a mere 12 per cent, in just one quarter, CNet tells us.
Vodafone insisted that the figures were “definitely an overestimate,” before the spokesperson engaged industry-speak overload:
“The share has dipped as we’ve rebalanced investment across our customer base. We’re now perhaps seeing lower ARPU (average revenue per user) from lower ARPU customers, so the kind of commercial investment we were making into customers is no longer justified.”
What this means in a language approaching English is that Vodafone is no longer keen to plough its own cash into subsidising 3G handset sales, because punters aren’t shelling out for enough of their extra services to make it worth their while.
Video calling
Vodafone hoped that its 3G-equipped customers would be making use of what was supposed to be one of the great selling points of 3G, video calls, but yesterday the company admitted defeat, sighing, “Video calling is not a service that is used by a lot of people.”
Mobile TV
Mobile TV has, however, proved popular, with Vodafone claiming that, “more than 50 per cent of people who buy a 3G phone in our UK stores are taking a mobile TV package, and most are adopting the [premium] £10 package.”
This claim is rather at odds with the Enders report, which found that 76 per cent of all phone users surveyed said they had no interest whatsoever in mobile TV.
Alice Enders, the big cheese of the analyst firm, explained that this disparity may be down to the very small number of people using 3G services being the ones interested in mobile TV.
3G obsessed
Enders suggested that Vodafone’s “obsessive over-engagement in 3G” – reflected in the less popular 3G handsets sharing the same amount of store-space with non-3G devices – had led to the company suffering financially because most punters simply weren’t interested in anything other than voice and text services.
Not surprisingly, the UK’s only 3G-only network, 3, were quick to quibble about the claims, insisting that the wild popularity of their downloadable music and mobile TV services is proof positive that the demand is there – if the technology is marketed correctly.
Frothing like a cappuccino machine on overdrive, 3’s spokesperson insisted that, “Uptake is phenomenal and growing day by day…..We’re even rivalling traditional music suppliers. We’re second only to iTunes in terms of downloads… and the World Cup really put mobile TV on the map.”
The spokesperson went on to blame a “lack of maturity” from the other 3G operators, claiming that “some incumbent operators” had found it could “suit their commercial model to keep some of their users on old technology.”
With Vodafone rapidly cooling on 3G, it begs the question whether any of the operators who invested vast amounts of moolah on 3G licences and infrastructure will ever get to see their flthy lucre again.
What are your thoughts/actions about Video calling on your mobile? Take 10 second survey
Vodafone
3 August, 2006