With the popularity and buzz surrounding the iPad (which has
something like a daunting 3 million units sold across 80 days) as well as other
mobile and tablet devices you could be forgiven for thinking that the hardware
is singularly responsible for driving a technological shift. The hype and shininess
are pretty compelling reasons for why so many consumers are choosing fork out a
not inconsiderable sum for these devices, but the underlying changes and
refinements in content provision and revenue generation, the marketplace, that makes them work is an arguably more interesting
development.
Even with the popularity of the marketplace model, it is
clear that there is no single strategy driving its evolution; the options
available at the moment allow content to be bought, licensed, rented or
borrowed with the different rules for different geographic regions. Whilst what
the consumer is paying for and getting is not always particularly clear, going by the sheer number of items in Apple's marketplace it is a
model that emphasises convenience and low-cost in a way that has proved very
popular.
(Image copyright brendanlim from Flickr)
As far as marketplaces go, Amazon's Kindle platform is
notable in that, as well as having its own tailored hardware, it also targets a
range of devices providing access to the same broad collection of subscription
based alongside the more well known eBook. Included in the devices that are
supported is the practically ubiquitous iPhone. Whilst Apple's ‘App store' marketplace
model is quite tightly controlled, applications are able to provide an
additional store front to content, a
marketplace within a marketplace, though there is generally some kind of
competition. In the case of Kindle this comes from a number of other devices
and applications, as well as from the original creators and publishers of the Newspaper
and Magazine titles who provide both commercial and free routes to access their
content.
If the benefit of access to numerous mobile devices and a
pre-existing marketplace whilst only having to forego a percentage of the
revenue generated from content sales isn't enough of a draw card, bundling in the
tools to reformat display the content might make it one. This is where the current offering around
video looks a less convincing.
Access to video content online is still a space that is
somewhat unsure of itself, with technology playing a far less transparent role
that it arguably should, if our familiarity with the television is anything to
go by. It seems that the view of success is still very much a kind of lonely
experience based around a small rectangle sitting inside webpage, often failing
to even match the quality and convenience of plain old analogue
standard-definition television.
Google's foray into the online television space with some serious
hardware partners could change this. Based around the Android operating system,
GoogleTV is being sold as a platform that brings the findability of the web to
the simplicity and tangibly social setting television enjoys. When viewed
alongside Google's broader activities, including development of a music market
place and acquisition the video technology company On2 for the VP8 video codec, it has a lot of
promise.
Assuming that GoogleTV is not entirely ad-supported and just YouTube on your TV, it will
be interesting to see how the marketplace element of this service compares to models
like Seesaw, AppleTV, Microsoft's Zune and the subscription and pay-per-view scenarios
common amongst cable and satellite broadcasters. Even more so will be seeing if
it can provide a very compelling shortcut to an on-demand web based service to
those who were a little bit late on the bandwagon. If this gambit delivers the
right mix of ease of use and richness, it should set out an approach and a
platform that many traditional linear broadcasters and even content producers
will follow.