Companies – Page 94 – Digital-Lifestyles

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky have been mulling about an IPTV service for a while. They were in discussions with THUS who provide the telecoms back-end for their SkyTalk service and helped Sky with their WapTV services, they were talking about doing an IPTV trial with THUS, but THUS pulled out of the LLU arena due to lack of cash. They were looking at spending £20m+ on just a trial.

Though Sky have 7.3m+ subscribers, they estimate around 20% of households (in the coverage) areas cant get Sky due to dish or coverage problems (including multi-tennant buildings). City centres tend to be problematic due to high buildings obscuring the satellites. There’s also a major problem if the building is in anyway listed.

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky have got the resources to bolster a depressed telecoms market and put the necessary cash into a company to achieve a reasonable roll-out. Of course they also have the content that consumers want. If another “triple-play” broadband provider wants to get into the game (including BT Retail), Sky can make it very difficult for them by not licensing Sky content (of course Ofcom may force them to, as they have done in the cable industry).

Sky have also been talking to other high-speed broadband providers such as Be who also want to offer a triple-play.

If Sky do purchase Easynet, it’s likely they’ll move all their telecoms and Internet activities to them too, which will put THUS in a difficult position as a large ammount of corporate revenue comes from the Sky account.

Possible Impact Of Sky Buying EasyNet Sky are also in an odd position as they’ll probably utilise MPEG-4 as the coding system, which means they’ll have to modify (or supplement) their existing transmission systems which are all based on MPEG-2. They’ll also have to introduce a new IP based set-top-box. However they’ll have to be carefull as to not make it too feature rich compared to existing STB’s used to decode the satellite transmissions or existing users will want to migrate to the broadband version – which will cost Sky a huge ammount as the exisitng boxes are considerably subsidised.

Whatever route they go, Sky moving into triple-play will have a major impact on broadband and LLU in the UK.

Nokia Unveils L’Amour Collection

Nokia Unveils L'Amour Collection Mobile phone giants Nokia have announced three new phone models aimed at the “style-conscious” market.

The new models, the 7360, 7370 and 7380, are to form part of Nokia’s ludicrously named “L’Amour Collection,” expected on the market in the first quarter of 2006.

Alastair Curtis, Vice President of Design at Nokia’s Mobile Phones division was on hand to trot out the airy-fairy waffle, “For many consumers, the mobile phone has truly become an extension of their personal style – it is a fashion statement as well as an advanced communications device.”

Like Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on steroids, Curtis continued, “Every detail of these products, from the nature-inspired graphics to the velvet-lined pouches, has been carefully considered with the style-conscious individual in mind. We are very confident that consumers who appreciate design and attention to detail will fall in love with the L’Amour Collection.”

The PR team were clearly caught up in the general arty-fartiness, trotting out a load of tosh about how the Nokia 7380 was a “reflection of discerning taste”, the Nokia 7370 “designed to make heads ‘turn’ and the Nokia 7360 somehow managing to exhibit “charming, graceful and compact” qualities.

Trying our best to avoid the loud klaxon noise emanating from our nearby BS Detector, here’s the phones in more detail:

Nokia 7380
Nokia Unveils L'Amour Collection Desperately described as a phone for “trend-setting men and women who enjoy being the centre of attention,” the highly distinctive 7380 looks like it’s come from the same bonkers design studio as the 7280.

Sporting a keypad-less form and clad in leather with a mirrored display, the slimline fashion phone packs in a 2-megapixel camera with 4x zoom, an MP3 player and intuitive voice dialing.

Fashionistas can expect to fork out around €500 (~£340, ~$600) for the 7380 and should be able to start strutting around and making dramatic mobile fashion statements in Q1, 2006.

Nokia 7370
Nokia Unveils L'Amour Collection Employing a sliding keypad, the Nokia 7370 comes with a 2-inch QVGA colour screen (320 x 240 pixels), stereo speakers with 3D sound effects and a 1.3 megapixel camera (8x zoom) onboard.

The designers have gone to town on the fascia, emblazoning it with “beautiful patterns, etched into the elegant metal trims” which are contrasted by “leather-inspired faceplates” which, somehow, add a “romantic appeal and an element of the exotic.”

To be honest, we’d be a bit worried if we met someone who found their mobile phone romantic, but I guess it takes all sorts.

The Nokia 7370 comes in two colour schemes, coffee brown and warm amber, each with matching graphics and screensavers.

The phone should be knocking out for around €300 and available in Q1, 2006.

Nokia Unveils L'Amour Collection Nokia 7360
Looking somewhat more conventional but still, apparently, a phone for “trend-conscious men and women” (albeit cheapskate ones), the bottom of the range Nokia 7360 comes with an integrated VGA camera, stereo FM radio and MP3 ring tones.

It also sports the same silly ‘designer tag’ sticking out the side of the phone as the rest of the range, and is available in the two “signature L’Amour Collection colour schemes”, i.e. brown and amber.

The phone will cost around €200 and gyrating down the nearest catwalk in Q1, 2006.

Nokia

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System Sony are keen for us to ‘redefine’ our living rooms with the release of their new VAIO XL1 Digital Living System, a twin box offering combining a high-end multimedia PC with a 200-disc media changer/recorder.

Clad in natty silver and black casings, the combo runs on Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and connects to a television via an HDMI cable, outputting high-definition video and multi-channel digital audio in a single connection.

Boasting unique functionality as the result of a “close collaboration with Microsoft”, discs inserted into the changer are automatically detected by the PC which connects to the Web (via wired or wireless network) to download any available metadata, including jewel case covers and artist information.

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System A similar process takes place for movies, where an in-depth synopsis and star, cast, director and producer details etc are automatically downloaded and made accessible onscreen through the included wireless keyboard or remote control.

Sony has innovated once again by introducing a product that is a monumental step forward in defining the way consumers enjoy digital entertainment,” insisted Mike Abary, vice president of VAIO product marketing for Sony Electronics in the US.

“With the XL1, users can still manage all their meaningful entertainment content such as downloaded music, home movies and personal photos. But the really groundbreaking functionality is the additional ability to easily organize, sort, and access packaged content – all of the DVD movies and audio CDs that have been traditionally relegated to a bookshelf,” he added.

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System There’s no denying that the recording functionality seems mighty impressive to us, with the XL1 able to automatically and sequentially record up to 200 audio CDs from the media changer to the hard drive.

Users can also record a series of television show episodes to the hard drive, and transfer them to blank DVDs stored in the changer

Beating in the heart of the XL1 A/V system is a powerful PC boasting an Intel Pentium D dual-core processor, half a gig of DDR2 memory, PCI-E graphics and space for up to three SATA hard drives (RAID ready).

Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System To ensure that your late night listening pleasure isn’t spoilt by the sound of a mass of Boeing 747-like fans starting up, the XL1 system uses liquid-cooled components for quiet operation.

The Digital Living System will be sold as a package and will be available next month for about US$2,300 (~£1,300, ~€1,930).

Sony VAIO XL1

Gmail UK -> GoogleMail – The background

Gmail UK The background Going into Gmail today we noticed “Google Mail in the UK” highlighted in red on the top line. Ever curious, clicking it revealed that from today, 19 October 2005, all new accounts created in the UK will use the domain googlemail.com, not the previous Gmail.com.

Sensing a story, we dived onto Google news to find a number of publications had got there first. Figuring if you can’t be first, be thorough, we present the following.

The details below come from extended digging and a long conversation with Shane Smith, CEO of Independent International Investment Research (IIIR), the company in dispute with Google over Gmail. At the end of the piece is a copy of the press release from Google.

There has been a long running trademark dispute in the UK between Google and an UK AIM-listed company, Independent International Investment Research (IIIR), who claim trade mark confusion with their G-mail service.

Given it has been such a long running dispute and anything that Google is close to is so news worthy, it’s not clear why it’s taken so long for this to get on to the news radar.

Google’s free email service, Gmail, started in April, 2004. IIIR’s Mr Smith told us that on that day he’d sent a letter to Larry and Serge at Google pointing out that IIIR already had a service called G-mail, and suggested that at this early stage, they could quickly change its name to GoogleMail to avoid confusion. There was no reply from Google central.

Gmail UK The background IIIR’s G-mail is an email service that is part of their offering to their clients, enabling them to send IIIR’s research to their clients clients (if you follow). G-mail is an abbreviation of the full name – Graffiti-mail.

Speaking to Smith we learnt that IIIR felt that they had common law in certain jurisdictions, but in their words, “to ensure protection”, applied for trade mark protection in the EU block and the US. Surprisingly this was not something that Google had done already.

Discussions with Google did start, at this point on a friendly level. Smith told us that Google requested that IIIR get an independent valuation carried out for a basis for their discussions, which they duly did.

Back in December 2004, IIIR received a valuation report from Valuation Consulting Ltd putting the value of the trademark at between £25m-£34m.

The document is an interesting read with the crux of it being …

“that a large amount has been written about the free email based service using the Mark and that to re-establish the brand presence would be very costly for Google, we are confident that conservative assumptions should yield a solid valuation as follows.

We have used a very conservative royalty rate of 0.5%, applied to Google’s annualized revenues of $3,224million to give revenues of around $16million attributable to advertising promoted by use of the Mark. Using a very conservative multiple range of 3 to 4 to capitalize this amount gives a range of values of, say, $48million to $64million or, using an exchange rate of 1.9:1 £25million to £34million.”

Smith told us that following this Google rejected the reports findings and counter-offered an amount “seemingly picked out of thin air”, that “couldn’t be justified”.

To add to the complexity of this tale, there’s a separate dispute in Germany over the Gmail name, by a company separate to IIIR (as mis-reported in many publications). Back in September, this other company had their injunction against Google upheld (PDF).

Reading through past press releases of IIIR it’s clear that one of their concerns has been having sufficient funds to pursue Google, whose pockets are significantly deeper. In their September release we not that IIIR points out that “the Board (IIR’s) notes that it has received three expressions of interest in providing finance for costs of litigation and these approaches will be explored further.”

Gmail UK The background Given Google’s world-shattering valuation, it’s hardly surprising (if not a little disheartening) to hear that there are people queuing up to find a dispute with Google.

__We wonder …
We’ve been wondering for a while at Digital-Lifestyles towers, why we’ve been seeing news stories to the right of email in Gmail, rather than the pure commercials that were previously being shown. Given IIIR’s estimated values are based on a percentage of Google advertising revenue, we wonder this has lead to the new mixture of news stories and advertising.

There was a buzz around the office when we wondered if the use of the new googlemail.com domain is a chance to get a better/more personal username on the service. A dash to the browser and some frantic keying later revealed nothing of the sort. It appears that the both gmail and googlemail accounts are drawn from the same pool.

Another thing we learnt reading through the papers prepared for IIIR is that Google didn’t invent the technology behind AdSense themselves, they bought a company back in April 2003, Applied Semantics, who provided it. This was news to us.

__Summary
When I asked what Smith thought of Google’s Don’t be evil mantra, he suggested they might add that “to be pretty nasty is OK.”

We’ve got no idea who is right and who is wrong here, we’re just reporting what we’ve been told. We leave the legal wrangling to overpaid lawyers.

It’s clear that many Gmail users are pretty unhappy today, Smith said he’d received a large number of mail from Gmail users asking why he was ‘bullying’ Google.

————————–
Google’s Press statement – On record
From today, Google is changing the name of its web-based email service, Gmail, to Google Mail in the UK.

Another company has claimed the rights to Gmail but their applications are still pending and they have not provided sufficient evidence to establish common law rights based on use in the large number of countries it claimed use. In spite of the tenuous nature of their claims, we still tried to resolve this matter through negotiations.

This company has been very focused on a monetary settlement. We went back and forth trying to settle on reasonable terms, but the sums of money this company is demanding are exorbitant.

We are still working with the courts and trademark office to ensure our ability to use the Gmail name, but this could take years to resolve, and in the meantime, we want our users to have an email address and experience they can rely on.

We also want to relieve both Google and our users of the distraction of the dispute, so that Google can focus on providing a great product, and our users can enjoy a consistent, positive email experience.

So, we are voluntarily making the switch from Gmail to Google Mail and have now begun to issue new users ‘@googlemail.com’ addresses.

Starting October 19, 2005, all new accounts will have @googlemail.com addresses. We believe this is the most simple solution rather than having what could be years of distracting negotiations and disputes for the company and uncertainty about the name for our users.

We want to reassure our users that the service itself it not changing: all messages are being sent and delivered as before

On background

Google first offered the Gmail service on April 1st, 2004. Immediately after we offered this new product – which made front page news worldwide – the CEO of a company called Independent International Investment Research (IIIR) filed a trademark application in the US for the name ‘Gmail’.
IIIR’s G-mail (note that IIIR uses the mark with a hyphen but filed for Gmail without a hyphen) is a feature in IIIR’s Pronet financial analytics software that a Pronet user can click on to send a report to someone else who also has Pronet software.
It appeared that our product and their feature seemed to have two different audiences and uses, and were fairly distinct from one another. (We do not believe their product is a web based email service; to say that it is would be like saying Picasa is an email service because it allows you to email photos.)
Shane Smith, IIIR’s chairman and chief executive, contacted us in June 2004 and claimed rights to ‘Gmail’ and sought a “business solution”; in other words, they wanted money.
In usual circumstances, when a trademark owner who cares about and wants to protect the rights of their mark approaches the user of the mark with a claim, they take a fairly standard number of actions: they seek to prevent further use (often through a cease and desist or an injunction) and determine ways to reduce consumer confusion.
IIIR did not take any of these standard courses – they did not ask us to stop using the name until almost a year after first contacting us and never went to court to ask for an injunction – they just asked us for money.
Gmail is obviously a name we care about and millions of users around the world are now familiar with, so we of course began negotiations—starting with asking for details of their product and instances of their usage of the name.
While we only received more letters and a few company brochures, we really wanted our users to keep the name Gmail and thus we went back and forth trying to settle on reasonable terms. IIIR rejected our offers.
Bear in mind that IIIR’s claim to rights in the Gmail mark is tenuous at best. They do not have a trademark registration (they have a pending application). They do not use Gmail, they use G-mail (with a hyphen). They don’t use G-mail for an email service.
During our negotiations, we asked for evidence to support their assertion that they had common law rights in 80 countries, and evidence of their actual user base. To date, they have still not sent us that information. But they have continued to ask for money.
Last June, more than a year after Gmail was launched and over which time the product had become well liked by users, IIIR finally asked us to stop using the name.
They asserted that our use of “Gmail” was not respecting their intellectual property rights and was tainting the integrity of their business.
At the same time, Mr. Smith decided to go to the UK media with his story, despite having asked us to keep our discussions confidential. When we tried to respond to media inquiries, IIIR became incensed and provided more alleged ‘information’ about our confidential email discussions.
Trying to work things out has become distracting, and annoying. We feel like we are being taken advantage of.
We believe that we have a good case for the trademark rights, and would be willing to leave it up to the courts to decide. Unfortunately, this process can take years.
We do not want new users to constantly wonder whether they’ll need to change their email address. We do not want users caught in the middle of what has become a very public debate. We do not want to be continually distracted by this while we’re trying to build a better email service.
So starting October 19, 2005, everyone in the UK will see Gmail as Google Mail. All new email accounts we issue will be @googlemail.com accounts.
This change seemed a good way to resolve this to the benefit of our users.

PIPEX Purchases Freedom 2 Surf

PIPEX Purchases Freedom 2 Surf There still seems to be plenty of cash slopping around the broadband sector, as PIPEX has just waved its weighty wad in the direction of Freedom to Surf (F2S) and bought the company for £10m.

F2S is a major UK ADSL provider, boasting 40,000 broadband customers at the end of September 2005.

When added with PIPEX’s existing customers, the combined user base will make the company the 5th largest broadband DSL provider in the country

PIPEX Purchases Freedom 2 Surf It’s uncertain whether existing Freedom2Surf customers already using LLU via the EasyNet LLUStream range will stay where they are or be shunted on to a PIPEX LLU product.

PIPEX had previously announced that it was currently unbundling 60 exchanges, and the acquisition of F2S will greatly increase customer density around exchanges already allocated for unbundling, thus improving return on their investment.

The 40,000 extra customers also makes the possibility of unbundling a further 40 exchanges more feasible.

PIPEX Purchases Freedom 2 Surf Peter Dubens, Chairman of PIPEX, said: “In the light of our recent decision to unbundle an initial 60 exchanges, we are very pleased to add F2S to the PIPEX group, which will further increase the density of customers around each exchange, thus improving the return on capital and enabling us to offer higher speeds to a greater number of our customers. F2S’s customers will be able to benefit from our extensive network and the broad range of services we provide.”

Elsewhere, Wanadoo UK revealed yesterday that it has already unbundled 150 BT exchanges in five UK cities (Leeds, London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham) and has plans for another 500 exchanges over the next 12 months.

PIPEX

W900: Sony 3G Walkman Phone Launches

Sony Launches W900 3G Walkman Phone Sony Ericsson has today announced the launch of their first 3G (UMTS) tri-band GPRS Walkman phone, the W900.

The new handset sports a thumping great 470MB of internal free memory space, providing room for between 120 and 240 songs in the main popular formats: MP3, AAC or AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF.

There’s also a Memory Stick PRO Duo slot onboard, allowing storage expansion up to 2GB – enough for up to 1,000 tracks

Sony Launches W900 3G Walkman Phone The phone comes stuffed with multimedia widgets, with a built-in FM radio and 2 megapixel auto-focus flash camera offering 8x digital zoom and the ability to record and playback video at a nippy 30fps.

As ever, Sony’s designers have done a great job of coming up with a desirable phone, with the fascia dominated by a large 2.2-inch, 240 x 320pixels 262k TFT display and a neat sliding keyboard offering access to a numeric keyboard.

Sony Launches W900 3G Walkman Phone In line with its Walkman branding, the phone has dedicated music controls, letting users scroll through play lists, artists or individual songs, and a bundled LCD remote control.

Music can be transferred to the device via cable and Bluetooth, with the handset supporting over-the-air music download services, letting users download tracks directly to the phone while on the move.

“In our first UMTS Walkman phone we have combined fast download speeds with superb sound quality and crystal clear 30 frames a second video recording and play-back in a really simple and easy to use device. The W900 will not only appeal as a music phone. The superb communications, multimedia and imaging functionality will appeal to all those wanting a true multi-media capable device,” said Sony.

Sony Launches W900 3G Walkman Phone The W900 UMTS Walkman phone will be commercially available in black or white finished by the end of Q4 2005 in two versions:

W900i – Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) – GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
W900c – Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) – GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China.

Sony Ericsson

Speedy Macs; iMac G5; End Of Internet – Teenage Tech News Review

Quad processor powermac Did someone say fast?
This week’s update is an Apple-feast… Apple sent out a media invitation a few days ago, titled “One More Thing…”. This phrase has often been used in the past by Steve Jobs to introduce new hardware. So I sat and waited with bated breath, or, well, I was excited anyway.

Sadly, the 4-processor Powermac that I had spotted on French site, www.hardmac.com, didn’t materialise, but I didn’t really expect it to until late next year. The specs on the Powermac I spotted there did never the less impress me a lot: Overall, more than 11Ghz of processing power in one box. Would probably also heat most of the house, but that’s beside the point.

I’d love one of these, as it would surely mean the little waits I have now opening Photoshop and other professional applications would finally vanish and it would simply cool. I do however doubt I will EVER be able to afford one.

iMac G5 iSight Couch Potatoes Rejoice
Some of the hardware that was actually released includes the new iMac G5. The difference this has from earlier models? It is equipped with a built-in iSight, basically a webcam. I have played around with an iSight before, and the performance and image-quality is far above what I have experienced with other web cams.

The other difference between this model and the last is that this includes a handy technology called Frontrow which is basically a remote control. This places the new iMac as a serious competitor to Windows Media Centre, something that our friends at Microsoft will be worried.

In my opinion, any industry that has more than one competitor in it will always have more innovation than a monopoly, because companies are actually forced to compete. I hope that this will bring some exciting new ideas into the fairly stagnant home entertainment computer market.

Data Highway Internet? Break? Yeah right…
Yes, it’s that time of the week again: The usual doomsday announcements this week included an announcement from the EU that the Internet could fall apart next month. If this is serious, I am going to have to find some other way of life…

The trouble nowadays is, that there’s so many people saying the world’s going to end and that civilisation will collapse, when it never does, that no-one takes anything that will change their entire lives seriously, and until something life-changing actually happens, nobody will.

“Internet Spam Gang” Gets $37m Fine

Internet Spam Gang Leo Kuvayev, the leader of the largest Spam gang, and six of his business partners have been handed a $37m (~E30m, ~£21m) fine by the courts in Massachusetts.

They were prosecuted under the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

Running the two businesses, 2K Services Ltd. and Ecash Pay Ltd, from both a Boston Post Office and Russia, he was helped to court by information supplied by Microsoft. The spammers had used many different Hotmail accounts to blast the unsuspecting world with their spam, where they sold counterfeit Vioxx, Zoloft, Paxil, Lipitor, and Viagra; copy-software; and Casino playing.

This was no small operation. Microsoft collected more than 45,000 spam messages believed to be from the Internet Spam Gang in just 22 days between 12 June and 4 July 2004. Not bad, with an average of 2,000 emails per day.

These boys had permanently itchy feet online as well as in real life. They registered domain names in Monaco, Australia and France, and used computer servers located in China, Korea, Brazil and Taiwan.

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Riley took civil action against the collection of companies and obtained an emergency court order, bringing down a number of websites including BadCow.com.

Leo’s been known about for a while. A glance to the ever-helpful Wikipedia, shows information that was collected about Leo Kuvayev, or Leonid Aleksandorovich Kuvayev to give him his full name, as far back at June 2004. Wikipedia reports that all of this information was then passed to the Head of Macromedia anti-piracy unit, and eventually made it to the FBI.

From this, we can see that Mr Kuvayev didn’t limit his business activities to just being the worlds largest spammer, but ran software copying organisations and online casino’s and most frighteningly credit card processing.

Internet Spam Gang He appears very enterprising, does’t he? He’s also listed as the 2nd worst spammer on the Spamhaus top ten – (thanks to them for the photo).. Not bad for a 32 year old (if you like that sort of thing) .

On the amusing side, In what we assume must have been his less wealthy days, Leo looks like he tried to sell a few of his possessions on usenet. Interestingly the ad says that they ‘Must sell by 5/31/96’ – on the move again?

We suspect that the chances of him being caught is pretty slim, and those of him clearing his $37m fine, slimmer still.

We also wonder how long it will be before Viaden.com removes the testimonial from Kuyayev!

Case information from Massachusetts Attorney General

iTunes 6 Tested: Your Next TV Supplier?

Russ takes us those who haven’t got a US credit card through iTunes 6 with the downloading of video and contemplates its impact.

I’m sure by now everyone has heard that the new version of Apple’s iTunes (version 6) permits the U.S. user to download music videos and television shows (the U.K. user gets the music videos, but not the television shows). Apple’s announcement, released yesterday, says:

iTunes 6, the next generation of the world’s most popular music jukebox and online music store, lets fans purchase and download over 2,000 music videos and six short films from Academy Award-winning Pixar Animation Studios for just $1.99 each. Customers can also now purchase and download their favorite television shows from iTunes the day after they air on TV, watch them on their Mac or PC and Auto-Sync them onto the new iPod for viewing anywhere.

So, I tried it today. Here’s a snapshot of my experience and my hastily-drawn conclusions for media and communications policy.

My experience: iTunes 6 Tested: Your TV Supplier? * I downloaded and installed iTunes6. Takes 5-10 minutes. No big deal. iTunes6 has the same basic interface and purchasing/sampling system as previous versions of iTunes.

* I do not own the new video-ipod. Some of the press coverage makes it sound like the video-ipod is required to enjoy the video downloads. It’s not – you can play them on your PC or laptop.

* The product selection is not bad, for the second day of availability. There were episodes from 5 Disney TV shows available (including Lost and Desperate Housewives) and what looks like hundreds if not more music videos. There were also 6 Pixar films available. I think they are short films. By the way, the ‘Apple Music Store’ is now a misnomer.

* I purchased two items for about $4.00 – a music video (All These Things That I’ve Done, by The Killers) and an episode of Disney’s Desperate Housewives (first episode of season 2). I don’t mind paying $1.99 for a music video (something that I will likely play frequently), but it’s a steep price for a television episode that I might never watch again. I suppose it depends on the product selection and whether sports and news ever make their way on to this service.

iPod With Video; New iMac; FrontRow; iTunes 6: Apple Summary * File sizes: Killers video: 20.1 mb; Desperate Housewives episode: 208.6 mb. Both were MPEG-4 video files.

* Both downloads completed in about 2 minutes each. I’m on a high-speed connection, and obviously times will vary depending on what’s under your PC’s hood.

* Both video products were of good—but not great—quality and played in what looks like a Quicktime video window. You can manipulate the screen size, so smaller screen = better quality.

* Unlike the BBC’s interactive media player (IMP), I ‘own’ these videos and may keep them on my PC just like music files for as long as I want. The IMP really seems to serve a different purpose and seems more like a DVR than the Apple product. We’ll see.

Hastily-drawn policy conclusions:* The EC should put off serious consideration of any proposed revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive for at least one year. The EC should see where the market heads before acting. Really, folks, it’s absurd for an intelligent regulator to be developing ex ante rules that may be seriously missing whatever developments occur in the marketplace. Viviane Reding might want to rethink her linear / non-linear distinction if the marketplace offers nothing much by way of linear services, or offers something that is not easily pigeonholed into a category being created at this time. Ms. Reding’s actions may actually have the Oedipus-effect of encouraging IPTV players to avoid linear products. Madness.

* I attended an IPTV conference earlier this year and the focus was completely on telcos offering IPTV service (in a triple play with internet and telephony) that resembles a cable or satellite offering. Well, Apple’s not a telco and iTunes6 does not resemble a traditional multichannel video offering. Same for Major League Baseball, the other important IPTV offering available at this time. Again, we’ll see what happens.

* Broadband, broadband,broadband. The number one priority for policy-makers should be to get faster, cheaper broadband to more areas of the country. With these types of services and free PC-to-PC VoIP, is there any policy goal more important than broadband if you really have the interests of consumers at heart?

iTunes 6 Tested: Your TV Supplier? * I’m sure there are some underlying copyright / “rip-off Britain” issues at play here. I’m just not smart enough to figure them out. But there is a problem when the popular television shows are not available on iTunes-UK and the same music video is 1.89 GBP or about $3.30 – that’s $1.30 extra for each music video that UK customers must pay.

* Public service broadcasters (PSB) in Europe beware. The ‘quality and universality’ arguments you’ve made over the years to avoid true competition are about to be seriously put to the test.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the Desperate Housewives video had no adverts in it. There appeared to be quick gaps where adverts would normally be placed.

Considering Apple’s Impact

Considering Apple's Impact Last night Apple launched 3 new products (as we briefly noted). A new versionof iTunes, updated iMacs and as expected, a video-enabled iPod.

New iMac G5
They’re faster and thinner (and the 20″ version is cheaper than itsprevious incarnation). They now include an iSight (video camera) builtinto the unit and come with new software “Front Row” which include anIR remote, looking suspiciously like an iPod shuffle which attaches tothe side of the iMac (the IR receiver is allegedly hidden behind theApple logo).

Already considered a design classic, the new iMacs look even better, butin reality though Apple have added more power for the buck, they’rejust iMacs. However the real innovation is Front Row which is designed to directly compete with Microsoft’s Media PC, and it does this by using Apple iLife applications being simple to use and control(the Microsoft Media PC has 24+ buttons, the Apple remote has 6).

Considering Apple's Impact Front Row gives extremely simple access to content stored on the iMacincluding music through iTunes, videos (including the newly availablevideo content that’s available through iTunes), photos stored in iPhotoand DVD’s though iDVD. The remote works up to 30 feet away from theunit.

Currently Apple are not saying whether Front Row will be available asan upgrade for existing Mac users, however the new universal iPod dockdoes have an IR receiver on the front and the remote is available as aseparate purchase so an educated guess would be that it will be.

The iSight is a nice addition (the add-on version costs over GBP 100),but it’s a fantastic webcam. It obviously works with iChat (Apple’s IMsystem) allowing video conferencing with up to 3 other people, andthere’s now Photo Booth which allows snap-shots to be taken and thenmanipulated by adding effects etc.

Both the 17″ and 20″ come with 8x SuperDrives which are now dual-layer(DVD+R DL/DVD+-RW/CD-RW), they have a PCI-X bus (faster than the oldPCI bus) and PCI-X video cards (17″ is a Radion X600 PRO and the 20″ aX60 PRO XT). Both come with 512MB RAM expandable to 2.5GB, the 17″ witha 160GB SATA disk and 20″ with 250GB. CPU speeds have been upped to1.9GHz (17″) and 2.1GHz (20″). UK pricing starts at GBP 899 (inc VAT)for the 17″ and GBP 1,199 for the 20″.

Considering Apple's Impact Since there’s no base unit (everything is built into the actualdisplay) the amount is space they require is minimal. They’d look justas good on a desk as in the living room.

Video-capable iPod
The 5th generation iPod is here, though probably not what manyexpected. It’s just a prettier, thinner version of the iPod Photo witha larger screen (now 2.5″). The iPod’s lines are now much closer tothat of the new iMacs (excepting the click wheel and of course it nowgenerally available in black as well as white).

The screen is crisp, clear and remarkably bright, though it’s only320 x 240 resolution, which is good enough to watch music videos andsuch like, but rather small compared to other devices on the market.However album art, podcasts etc. with some aspect of video (or photo)content does look very good. Though Apple have probably alreadydeveloped a widescreen video iPod, why launch it now just to give thecompetition a chance to catch-up? The new iPod is a step change overexisting versions and everyone is again going to have to compete withit.

Currently video can only be imported through iTunes (like photos),however this is likely to be a move to appease the movie studios.Whether they’ll be an upgrade to iTunes to import (noncopyright/encrypted) video content is yet to be seen, it might nothappen for a while. The iPod plays MPEG4 and H.264 video content.

If the iPod is plugged into a dock, the video can be sent to anexternal display like a TV, but it’s still only sent at 320 x 240 whichlooks pixelated.

There are a few extras in-line with the nano, such as extra clocks,being able to lock the unit, more games etc. A real improvement is thecalendar application which suits the new display perfectly.

Pricing is GBP 219 for the 30GB version and GBP 299 for 60GB (both incVAT).

iTunes 6
Considering Apple's Impact iTunes 5 was launched with the iPod nano, and a month later there’s nowiTunes 6 to go with the 5th generation model. The main new advance isvideo content, there are now around 2000 music videos available on theiTunes music store (unfortunately there’s still a huge pricedifferential between the US and UK with a music video costing $1.99 inthe US and GBP 1.89 in the UK – with the UK getting panned on price, as usual).

Since Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) is also CEO of Pixar (the animationcompany that made Finding Nemo, The Incredibles etc) there’s 6 PixarShorts also available for purchase on the iTunes store (same price as amusic video).

In the US there’s also terrestrial TV shows available from ABC and theDisney Channel (Lost, Desperate Housewives and others). Why may TVshows available as downloads when you can buy DVD sets? Because itgives revenue for PVR opportunities i.e. it’s unlikely someone willdownload every episode of Lost, but they will download and pay for theepisode they missed last night (and can watch it on their hour commuteto work), iTunes makes it incredibly easy to do this, rather thanworking out how to set your PVR, and then getting the content off it.Though content can be watched through iTunes, it’s likely more peoplewill use it with their iPod.

It’s somewhat odd that Apple are working with Disney as Pixar have beenvery publicly rowing with Disney over distribution agreements fortheir films. What people forget is that Pixar are contracted to make 6new films for Disney, so assuming that’s one a year that’s 6 years tosettle the arguments (even lawyers can work to those timescales). It’sjust a matter of money, Pixar want more and Disney don’t want to payit. By the time 6 years are up it’s likely they’ll be buddies again andboth with have reached a happy compromise.

Considering Apple's Impact The video aspects of the iTunes store, though limited at the moment,are a major break-through (even ground-breaking) especially with thecurrent shows being available. Disney obviously have a huge amount ofcontent they could make available if all the legal intricacies can besorted. Once one studio cracks, they’ll all follow suit.

It shows how successful iTunes is considering that arch rivals Realand Microsoft have just made an agreement to share technology etc andjoin forces rather than fighting with each other to try and expand the25% of the market they JOINTLY command.

There’s some other new features of iTunes, gifting which allows anyoneto give away a track, albums, music videos or their playlists to anyother registered iTunes user (i.e. the gifter purchases it and it’smade available to another user for download).

Just for You is in beta, whereby iTunes suggest purchases based onprevious behaviour – a suggestion engine.

One of the most request features for podcasts has been user ratings andthis is now available, so like a podcast you can now rate it and themore ratings it get, the higher up the listings it goes.

Considering Apples future

Considering Apple's Impact Apple’s future has definitely been shaped by the iPod (they sold 1mNanos in 17 days – how many returned was, not surprisingly undefined) which is molding how the company moves forward.

Macsare becoming companions for iPods rather than the other way around. Keyto all of this is content and iTunes is definately leading the way with75%+ market share (globally) and higher in specific markets (UK it’sover 85%).

If Apple can crack the video market, they’re going to dominate for along time, and though the 5Gen iPod is a step in the right direction,it’s just that. Though Apple never pre-announce products you can besure the 6Gen and even 7Gen iPods are already designed and waiting in thewings and they’ll be full blown widescreen systems.

Macs are going to change as Apple move away from IBM Power processorsto Intel CPUs, but that’s an internal change and they’ll stillergonomically beat the pants of almost everything else out there.

Apple