As Professor Miyazaki already discussed in his last blog entry, Starbucks is about to introduce a new model of payment in the form of using a smartphone application with a pre-paid amount to rapidly purchase an item. It sounds pretty easy to begin using, effortless in practical application, and it builds on the fact that more and more people are starting to use smart phones for various uses than just phone calls, texting, and basic internet browsing.
Personally, I think that in theory, this is an excellent way of speeding up purchases, reducing lines, and ultimately, increasing business as a store would be able to serve more people. The only real question is about the protection of this data being stored and transmitted, and whether or not proper safety protocols are in place for something like this. Typically, as technology advances in a new, more radical manner, threat protection lags behind until the security holes are found and fixed. As this Mashable article points out, online payment methods and financial storage is far from 100% safe (if iTunes can experience a major hacking within the last few months, what's to stop a Starbucks debit account?), so while it's good for Starbucks to lead the way in introducing such a major new form of payment, it might be awhile until consumers really buy in.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
China's Online Presence & Its Global Effect
As most people who pay even mild attention to global current affairs are well aware of, China is growing at a tremendous rate in technology, sociology, and its economy.
As Professor Miyazaki's blog alluded to already, China's online presence (despite the fairly limited access Chinese internet users have to outside sources) is a big part of China's continued acceleration as a world power. One of the most interesting parts of this increasing technological capability for China is their use of search engines, particularly their restrictions on many popular engines versus their own custom search engines, and their uniquely lax attitudes towards other information sharing ideas.
Baidu, the primary Chinese search engine (in place of Google), is ranked 6th in the world in global traffic according to Alexa rankings, and a big part of Baidu's appeal for users is the vast amount of multimedia it allows people to search for. One of the main features of Baidu is a search option called "Baidu MP3," where someone can search for an MP3 of a song, and the search engine will come up with direct links to files for users to download for free. This feature is so popular, that a test of recording artist strength and marketability in China is the artist's place on the "Baidu 500," a chart of the most downloaded songs, similar to the iTunes download charts used here for example. The key difference obviously though, is that Baidu MP3s are entirely free, and yet this downloading still continues to take place despite legal concerns from recording artists.
To keep up with this, Google China began offering MP3s as part of its search engine, but in a legal way (partnering with major record companies and sharing advertising revenue in exchange for being able to offer the music files), and yet Baidu is still the main force for music in China.
China is often criticized for its policies towards internet piracy, and as its online presence grows globally, its certainly an issue that China's #1 search engine focuses heavily on allowing users to download music for free to help boost the site's traffic. As it has already been discussed in these blogs, online music sharing is its own controversial topic without a clear solution in the near future, but when the 6th most used search engine in the world (a ranking that can only go upwards as China continues its technological expansion) almost banks on free online music sharing, the problem grows even further.
As Professor Miyazaki's blog alluded to already, China's online presence (despite the fairly limited access Chinese internet users have to outside sources) is a big part of China's continued acceleration as a world power. One of the most interesting parts of this increasing technological capability for China is their use of search engines, particularly their restrictions on many popular engines versus their own custom search engines, and their uniquely lax attitudes towards other information sharing ideas.
Baidu, the primary Chinese search engine (in place of Google), is ranked 6th in the world in global traffic according to Alexa rankings, and a big part of Baidu's appeal for users is the vast amount of multimedia it allows people to search for. One of the main features of Baidu is a search option called "Baidu MP3," where someone can search for an MP3 of a song, and the search engine will come up with direct links to files for users to download for free. This feature is so popular, that a test of recording artist strength and marketability in China is the artist's place on the "Baidu 500," a chart of the most downloaded songs, similar to the iTunes download charts used here for example. The key difference obviously though, is that Baidu MP3s are entirely free, and yet this downloading still continues to take place despite legal concerns from recording artists.
To keep up with this, Google China began offering MP3s as part of its search engine, but in a legal way (partnering with major record companies and sharing advertising revenue in exchange for being able to offer the music files), and yet Baidu is still the main force for music in China.
China is often criticized for its policies towards internet piracy, and as its online presence grows globally, its certainly an issue that China's #1 search engine focuses heavily on allowing users to download music for free to help boost the site's traffic. As it has already been discussed in these blogs, online music sharing is its own controversial topic without a clear solution in the near future, but when the 6th most used search engine in the world (a ranking that can only go upwards as China continues its technological expansion) almost banks on free online music sharing, the problem grows even further.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Online Music Piracy and the Battle Over Distribution
“Trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube.”
When I think of the continuous discussions centered on online music sharing, I can’t help but think of this phrase to help summarize the overall issue. Free file sharing is not going anyway anytime soon, no matter how many lawsuits are brought to court by the RIAA or federal government.
According to an article from technology website Gizmodo, the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) found in 2008 that only 5% of the music people acquire online is done so in a legal manner ("95% of Music Downloads Are Pirated"). If 95% of your product is being traded for free when you're trying to actually sell it, it’s safe to say that it’s pretty far out of your control at that point.
So what is the solution? Clearly, the RIAA and IFPI’s efforts to date have not been sufficient. The method of collecting random IP numbers and tracking down file sharers has proven to be fairly clumsy and usually just results in bad PR for the record labels (such as when the RIAA filed suit against an 83 year old great-grandmother in West Virginia in 2004, without even realizing that A- she didn’t own a computer, and B- she wasn’t even alive anymore).
Sites such as iTunes and Amazon have found a lot of success as legal means of purchasing music, but with increasing rates on iTunes and more package deals for entire albums rather than just being able to buy a single song; those methods are starting to see an online backlash as well.
People have grown used to having their favorite songs available to them in any instant by using a quick Google search and finding the MP3 to download. Technology is outpacing legislation (such as anonymously used websites where you can simply load a YouTube clip of a song and it lifts the audio from the video, browser add-ons that can download streaming music, etc.), and the only way this could really be stopped would be if laws were created or music files were designed with such harsh restrictions that almost all enjoyment of obtaining music went out the window in the process.
I’m not entirely sure what the ultimate solution to this issue is, and at this point it certainly doesn’t seem like anyone does (other than things continuing to go poorly for the recording industry). But as technology continues to expand and our social interactions through technology continue increasing, those who are fighting against free online music sharing have a very difficult uphill battle.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Group Coupons: Worth the Hype?
Prior to this blog, I was only vaguely familiar with the concept of “Groupon” and similar “Daily Deal” online coupon websites. I know a few people who try to use them whenever possible, and obviously the overall concept of coupon booklets or services is a familiar one to me. However, I didn’t really understand the full reach of Groupon and related websites until researching it a little for this topic. After reading the topic at Professor Miyazaki’s blog, my thought was “is this really an investment worth pursuing so hard by Google, and what could be the future of this idea as a business or marketing plan?”
As Kara Swisher to alluded to in her article, “Google Turns Its Local Eyes to Groupon- But Who Else Could Enter Bidding?” Google going after Groupon could be a similar move, both financially and in terms of controlling market share, as their purchase of YouTube in 2006. If Groupon was going to establish itself as a similarly dominant internet force as YouTube, that would make sense. But the question is, does Groupon really have that kind of potential?
According to an article by Sarah Lacy (“Why Groupon Needs a Backlash”), the company has some serious obstacles it could be facing in the near future that will determine its lasting effect on e-commerce. One of the biggest ones is its extremely rapid global expansion, and the care (or possibly lack of) Groupon is putting in to make sure that it is done correctly. Last June, ClubeUrbano, the Brazilian Groupon site, was exposed as having vast amounts of fake promotions and even fake companies on its website. Also in Chile, ClanDescuesto, the Groupon site there, was found to be aggressively spamming people online in order to attract business. Obviously, these are not ideal ways to start reaching out to potential consumers and establishing a future base of website users. Also, Groupon already faces issues with multiple similar websites that are splintering its market share in different markets, as well as the possible problem of small businesses not continuing to use Groupon as their initial Groupon consumers only come on the promise of a great discount, and not necessarily because they want to be loyal, returning costumers.
In theory, Groupon definitely appears to be a really good idea. It combines bringing people together in their social networks (both online and off) with great deals at different local venues and companies. But before Groupon continues to expand their reach, and Google ups their offer to bring them into their corporate network, Groupon should possibly look at cleaning up their overall model and making sure they have everything in proper order.
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