Next-gen comics

It's not often that you come across a new type of content, but today was one of those days for me. Take a look at this from Marvel. They are called Motion Comics and they are "not quite comics and not quite animation" - sounds like most of the cartoons my daughter watches.



The first Motion Comic to be released will be "Astonishing X-Men" and I have to say, it looks quite interesting. I think I have seen a few things like this before, but the big question is whether or not this actually catches on among a fairly tight community,

MyTake - How often do you see a new type of content, not often (as I already said...bad blogger) which is what makes this so interesting. The other interesting aspect of this is the level of innovation in a fairly tactile community - aren't comic fans interested in actually owning the comics anymore? Will it catch on, who knows, will it help expand the audience base thanks to the huge popularity of the likes of iTunes, who knows....... will it give comic fans another way to get their fix, for sure.

Napster gets Best Bought

The first experience most of us had with online music probably came through Napster (not me gov, clean as a whistle I am!) when they were lauded as a peoples champion for allowing us to “share” our music using the Internet. Many of us probably watched their decline and inevitable battle with the giants of the music industry in what arguably laid many of the building blocks for the online music services we have today. So, as 2008 turns its head towards the final quarter of the year, Napster’s ride comes to a close as it steps closer to a buy-out by US electronics retailer Best Buy.   

According to the press out there so far, Best Buy has valued Napster’s share at twice the market value as it prepare to seal the deal. Despite a few acquisitions of their own and the long (and hard) road they have travelled, it looks like we’ll be saying goodbye to the little chap with the earphones. I’m not exactly sure what Best Buy’s plans are for the brand, if they’ll keep it or if they are simply after the interface and subscribers, but it does seem sadly ironic that the maverick of music is getting bought out by a mall stalwart.   

MyTake – We salute you Napster, for showing us that there was an easier way to get, store and play our music – who knows where the online music industry would be today without you. The likes of iTunes owe a lot to the early pioneers of online music, Napster being the biggest. So, unplug those earphones little fella and take that nap you’ve been after. 

MySpace pokes Apple in the iTunes

So, MySpace comes out and tells the world that it’s set to take on iTunes and Apple does the cultural equivalent of bending down and patting it on the head. The men in white wasted no time in telling the world that Apple iTunes sales have now exceeded that of Wal-Mart stores, putting them in the number one spot in the US – some of you may have read my last post on the Apple Vs Wal-Mart battle where Apple came off in second spot.

Back to the MySpace offering - MySpace Music is a partnership with Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music and although they aren’t talking money, they did say that it would be ad-supported to some extent. In terms of making money, they were quite forthcoming with that detail, stating that they would be selling digital music downloads, ring tones, concert tickets and t-shirts.

MyTake – MySpace is a massive network and the different content flying around is amazing and obviously very appealing to its audience. As for taking on iTunes, I reckon that’s a bit of a stretch. iTunes can be anything to anyone and the important thing is that it acts as your library and your music store. If you think about the demographic for MySpace and then the penetration of iTunes, I think you’ll agree, it’s a bit of a redundant debate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome that MySpace is doing this, the more interesting and appealing content the better. As time goes on, I think we’ll see more and more individual ways of searching, finding and consuming content.

Surfin’ Safari

Safari, for those not in the know, is the internet browser that comes as standard with all Apple Macs and has a pretty good reputation among Mac users. Until recently, only Mac users got to experience Safari, but that all changed with the announcement last year that Apple was going to make Safari available for PC.

Now that’s interesting and all, but the really interesting thing is the way that they (they being Apple) have distributed it. Jobs and Co came up with the light-bulb idea of delivering Safari as part of its latest software update as well as including it in its iTunes software. Now, I don’t need to tell you about the penetration of iTunes across both Mac and PC – it’s enormous.

MyTake – genius move by the boys at Apple, even if it is a bit of a Trojan horse. Distribution is everything when it comes to content, that’s why I am a firm believer that Apple is going to be a major threat to the likes of Blockbuster in the next few years. However, we have to remember that the power is in the content as well as the distribution model.

iTunes kept from No 1 spot by the Wall

It may seem like it’s been around for ever, but in only five short years iTunes has become the second-biggest music retailer in the US. According to a new survey by NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey, the only retailer to out-muscle iTunes in 2007 was Wall-Mart, aka HD DVD killer.

Apple’s journey into the top three US retailers has come of the back of worldwide take-up of the service, mainly due to the phenomenal success of the iPod. But this is not to downplay what has been achieved in terms of brokering deals with the major record house – not an easy thing to do.

MyTake – iTunes is everywhere and if you think about the power of what is a solid distribution model, Apple are in a pretty sweet spot. In addition, not only do they have a great distribution model, it’s a model that gives you what you want, when you want AND it’s customisable. Thinking about the true nature of content sharing, iTunes is the perfect personal content aggregator, only it’s not run by a (ro)bot, it’s run by you.