Amazon Now Hawks MP3s, Targeting iPod Crowd

Amazon Now Hawks MP3s, Targeting iPod Crowd: "Amazon Now Hawks MP3s, Targeting iPod Crowd By Nicholas Carlson There's a new way to fill up your iPod -- but the latest music store to open on the Web isn't from Apple. It's from Amazon.

Open to public beta today, the online retailer's new Amazon MP3 music store features what the company characteristically calls 'Earth's biggest selection' -- over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists, represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels.

Making good on plans announced in May, every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format and lacks digital rights management protections (DRM), a company spokesman told InternetNews.com.

The absence of DRM means each song will be playable on any hardware device, from Microsoft Zunes to Apple iPhones, as well as through any music management application. Each song is encoded at 256kb per second and most will cost between 89 cents to 99 cents, Amazon said.

Typically, the top 100 best-selling songs will sell for 89 cents each, and mostly albums will go for between $5.99 to $9.99, with the top 100 best-selling albums marked at $8.99 or less."

Mobiles offering movies

This is a long post. I've been digging into modern mobile phone applications and new trends. The street smart smart phones will soon be showing multiple mobile TV channels. We're going to receive more entertainment than we ever can consume.

Podcasters and mobile video casters will soon start to produce and distribute content while on the move. Celebrities and politicians will be the targets of massive armies of citizen journalists. Mobile applications will be moving fast into new smarter application areas while the lifespan of mobile gadgets is soon down to 6-12-24 months, compared to 3-4 years for a portable computer.

iTunes is offering movies on a 640 x 480 display. DVD 720 x 640? Have to check it. Did I get the numbers right. My experience is based on what I've seen. The Mobile device for watching movies is quite interesting. The user interface works with a touchscreen pen.

The presentation wasn't not the ideal way to show a video on iTune, but I was able to grasp the idea. Current UMPCs run around 900 MHz to 1GHz processors and have integrated graphics with shared video memory.

iTunes and UMPC Kevin C Tofel:

• 40 Gb to download movies, music, podcasts
  
• iTunes UMBC story
• Some interesting eye candy was deliverd
  
• The presentation did show how to go to search the movies from an Internet site
  
• Various movie posters were shown in a 3D gallery on the Internet page
  
• Scrolling the movies highlighted the one you wanted to select for downloading
• I did see how the movie was downloaded and how much time was used
  
• 2 h 11 minutes of movie took over 1 h of 20 minutes to download over ADSL. Maybe the server was quite busy. With a faster connection the download to the UMPC would be faster
• You could select chapters, read them just like dvd-chapters
• Watching in actual size, turn the volume down, playback is very good
  UMBC has been made to provide portability, it's not a high-definition tv like 800 x 680 (or is it 480) have to check this out
• iTunes I can re-size it, Dolby surround size, a quite good sound without headphones

"I wish you would have shown us the full screen of the video, but still, it's good." Was a comment to the presentation.

Mobile marketing. Mobile youth on marketing interview in UK. "They text you all the time," a teenager told. A nice video is appreciated. New phones makes mms possible. The mobile youth opinion on marketing analyzed how text messages and pictures were sent to teenage target groups. They get sms and mms delivered to their phones. "The ads load all the time. Night clubs. Stuff of bills. Where to go. All kinds of invitations." One of the youths told.

Are the advertisers really harming people with the mobile phones? The ads just keep popping up. Mobile storytelling is becoming a new thing in evolution. What does it mean for you? me? us? consumers? What can mobile digital storytelling be used for? What kind of business models can we figure out around digital storytelling?

There is a continuous search for new high-profile applications that will appeal to various target groups and especially to the younger generation.

• Ads should / could be classified
• Tele-medicine reports delivered over your mobile phone
• The mobility as a life saver in case of an accident promises new possibilities
  
• "I'm ok," information to folks at home in case of accident
• Teenagers watch: Where are you now? Is everything OK?
  

I try to put many pieces together. Radio online. Podcasting. Mobile TV. Gaming. Multimedia. They do already have mobile TV and entertainment online in UK. Imagine what the life was without the present mobile phone. Bluetooth will add something? The phone can be connected more easily to devices. Visual Radio is a project initiated by a Nokia ecosystem and I guess after some digital rights discussions about compensations to artists this service will be implemented. The mobile TV is just around the corner.



I rush into a new situation. This is a journey into digital lifestyle. I don't know what they are doing. The youngsters walk around in a mall and make a low-quality mobile movie and plan to publish it on YouTube. The calendar is set. Their timing is excellent. They talk to strangers. It won't be a box-office hit, but it's an example of cool things today's teenagers can do with their mobile phones while on the move. It's probably okay for a small target group. Shaky picture. There's isn't an attempt to make an intelligent statement. It's enough that it's cool to make and fun to watch. The viewers will be family and friends. Or maybe the whole world. Sharing is an important aspect. Did someone say party? Alright. Young people coming together, having fun, recording, laughing, joking, telling stories. That's it. It's a toy. But it can be used for business and other more serious applications as well. Documenting accidents.

I also dig into a talk about Telecom TV. "It's a pleasure to chat with you." Says the moderator and the story begins: "The big new thing is mobile content." I learn about Executive reports. Very small phones. The carriers are offering new pricing models.

1. Continuation of mass-market growth in India, China and Southeast Asia
   
2. Developed markets are getting much more segmented services
   
3. The rise of the youth market has great potentials
   

New models are available to appeal to

• gaming
• video
• audio
• music
• social networking
• picture messaging
• entertainment on the move
• choosoo??
• digital database

China and India are growing markets. The rise of the new economies means that a lot of mobile phones will be sold to China, India, Southeast Asian countries in the coming years. A rising tide of micro entrepreneurs is adding to the need for smart mobile phones in those areas too. The ability to run their business on the move is very important. The mobile phone can be used as a download tool in Internet Cafés.

Intelligent segmentation has also brought new phone users. There are mobile Symbian phones destined for the sporty persons. Another interesting segment is the phones for elderly where the camera can be used to magnify a part of the menu in a restaurant. Elderly people get devices that can make their every day life easier. A lot of innovations have been made over Symbian platforms, but they haven't been advertised much. They would earn to be more talked about.

• The service providers are catching up
  
• More and more discussions going on
• Now there are early users / adopters
  
• 3D doctor application that measures blood pressure
  
• The phone then takes the information to a online doctor

The aspiration for seamless connection. Mobile devices can be used everywhere:

• Mobile TV
• What is happening in the east? Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hongkong, China?
  
• There are 2 million digital TV watchers in Japan (DoCoMo)
  
• NTT Docomo is launching three new Symbian handsets
• What kind of content do we see in the future on mobile devices?
• Broadcast TV, also reporting TV programs
• Flickr, Photostream, podcasting
• The wild west of the web is not yet on the mobile devices
  
• How to introduce multimedia environment is an evolutionary process
  
• Third party applications will spread the mobile application range
• There are still vast underexploited areas to be covered
  
• Laptop doesn't have a location
• You can report with your mobile while wandering down the road
• Mobiles will be exploited in a very different way
  

What are the issues not yet taken in consideration

• Flash and mobile space
• Flash
• Same kind of transition
• Flash is a great technology also for mobile phones
  
• The user experience has to be made affective and interesting
  
• The user experience has a great role in mobile space
• It's a growth area
• Browser plug-ins
• S-60 browser, Flash-light will be available
  
• Lacks some of the functionalities that Flash has
• Lack for support of the video
• Emerge into the same devices
• Use the graphical strenghts of Flash
  

Gizmodo. Samsung Q1. TV. Antenna. Full screen, change the screen resolution. CF-card, USB, power, the ccapabilities of that. It's going to be a mass market. Where can I find interesting websites? Do you want to share?

• Opera is the browser that will be used
• The device has positional values. We need to
• Simplicity to identify
• Personal configuration.
  

Websites can / should / would be marked as mobile friendly:

• Technical solutions still needed
  
• What's the best way to do it?
• Opera will be used as browser in mobile devices
  
• Automatically formatted for mobile viewing
  
• How to make mobile even more successful
• Can we get a microphone for better audiorecording(podcasting)
  
• Lauri Tirkkonen at Nokia explains
  
• Why mobile users don't use data services?
• 2 % at present

They have to promote these mobile places. Mobile friendly sites are available but we still don't know where they are. There is much more publicity needed.

• ICANN the master of Internet
• We have a special permission...
• Provide a great user experience
• Highlight games: it's one of the ways contents is used
• Games communities
• Chats with mobile phones
  
• The kids at schools are the trend setters
  
• That ought to be a success
• Push a rich gaming platform
  
• It's happening already
• User generated is very important!
• Focused devices to various user groups
  
• I'm not too educated about it yet
• Communities and games will be very important
• Stand-alone games
• Social mobile services already exists
• Legal music downloads
• We are going to see a change
  
• Content devices
• 4,5 h video play downs are needed not 30 minutes
  
• New generation of devices are able to do that already
  
• It's already been used
• Videocapture
• Social mobile games
• The X-box communities

The mobile is super nice. I like to have some fun with my mobile. Watching entertainment while on the move. Teenagers tell again that there is too much advertising on Internet"I like the iPod ones. Where they show the chocolate ads...Animation of photos, I can't remember. The orange is very good. Loads of music with the ads would be appreciated. Such things attracts you to the phones. I don't know about the techie things. I got them on my MP3 player. Like to watch or listen while on bus or on train."

When would you watch mobile TV? "If I'm out and missing a TV program." It would be great to get the show on my mobile.

• 40-50 services
• convergences are happening
• networks, IPTV, 3G and other networks
• How can we be deliver more
• DVB-H
• Multichannel TV
• Cellular capability
• Internet
• Oxford Trial 16 channels of television
  
• Users expanding their mobile usage to more than 3 hours a week
• The surprise: most are doing it at home, the project didn't expect that
  
• The home is a much stronger viewing place than expected
  
• There is a mobile TV trial operating in Spain
• The Olympics in China will bring mobile TV
  
• The rights of content, choices of content have to be broad
  
• The individual on the move wants to watch, view and communicate
  
• 150 companies offering content
• Italy, Spain, Germany
• The content community is very keen
• We need to address that market that clearly exists today
• Talking with telecoms
• The information comes from Barcelona
• Cherry source
• There is a proven demand and we need to be delivering to that demand
• The content producers are bring that opportunity
• Do you have to deal through operators?
• There are direct to consumers portals
• The industry has developed a lot during the past two years
  
• Access control and age verification. We need to limit access to certain content
  
• Content brings a revenue model to screen viewing
  
• What they search for has to be provided
  
• Operators own the consumers
• Where do you source the content?
• Aggregating from ad production companies
• Slow to download content doesn't work so well
  
• Now producers are shooting specifically for mobiles
• Filming is taking in consideration the limitations of the screen
  
• 2 minutes clips, these are the restricting elements
  
• Poor end-user experience
• Do they resent you?
• Are you down there?
• Mobile entertainment
• They want a third partner aggregating on their behalf

We need to have a clear business focus. The operator industry is coming together with the content providers and suppliers

• Providing a pipeline
• Act in a very controlled way
• There is a proven demand
• Build their own systems
• How many messages
• 333 messages a day is most
  
• 600 messages inthe month as an average for some mobile sms addicted
  
• Young woman says: "I love the mobile phone"
• Another says that "Maybe my mobile phone is number one and mother comes next."
  

People are addicted to that

• Sign up here. Go mobile. Mobile phones are everywhere
• Bring us all together, communities are evolving, they are not same as on Internet
  
• Are the devices driving usfurther apart from each other? Or where are they taking us?
  
• More ad more ways to interact with each other with mobile and online tools
  
• Browse the Internet
• Wireless communication with Bluetooth
• 160 mobile messages in a month to a third person
  
• Young people are constantly messaging
• Couldn't live without it. It's my life live
• UK 60 mio mobile users
• TV on the move is the next big step
  
• I love my child first and the mobile phone next
• Live Television
• Rather than speak we use a different language sms and mms
• Predicted text helps to send sms
• Children in school: short form has a bad impact on grammar
• 30 40 messages per day
• Some use hundreds of pounds per month for sms and mms
• Watching media will increase the bill
  
• It can be seen on every public place, the addiction is evident
• Speaking about seeing our partners
• More dependent of mobile phones
• As a society: It's gone a little too far
• Shouldn't talk on the buses says older lady
  
• Youngsters and teenagers: I can't imagine life without mobile
• A big part of my life: Dependency is evident
  
• Always hooked on to a mobile device
• You don't leave home without mobile phone
  
• Inseparable used in moderation, sometimes excessively
• A weekend without a mobile phone?
• I like to try. Maybe I couldn't survive without it