Apple Standalone Podcast App Could Be Disruptive For Content Producers Especially Studios

I don’t want to get into rumors but I would like to speculate on this one:  Apple may be giving podcast producers and listeners their own app.

And if this is true, wow, this could be a huge deal depending on how far Apple wants to take this.  I think it’s quite possible that this could be a part of what Steve Jobs said to his biographer when he said he cracked television.  If I’m right, Apple could be cracking more than just television but video and audio broadcasts as we know it.  And broadcasts would no longer be known as “broadcasts” but as podcasts as well.

When I learned about this standalone podcast app, I started digging through Internet tubes to find out as much as I can about it.  They all kind of reported the same rumored details.  So, it left me to wonder and do what I love to do: speculate wildly.  Here goes.

Apple could go further by giving the app the ability to subscribe to podcasts, whether in video or audio, and allow producers to charge for them.

Yup.  This is the key to it all.  Imagine a podcast app that allows the producers/authors to charge for their podcasts.

First, let’s step back a bit.  If you think podcasts now, you think the hundreds if not tens of thousands of audio as well as video podcasts that people can download via iTunes or any other podcast capture app.  Some of these podcasts range from mere just ramblings to professional grade productions.  Some, again, are just ramblings (like this blog you're reading) that has found an audience to music selections to even dramatic or book readings.  And as far as the subject matter, well, there is virtually no limit.

Giving podcasts their own app could be a great benefit for podcast discovery.  Maybe on the most basic level, this is what Apple hope to achieve.  It's just like the apps getting their own app store or ebooks with the iBooks app.  Or, Apple is up to something even bigger.

If given a subscription function that allows payments, audiobooks could be podcasts and give authors the ability to charge users directly for access instead of going through Audible.com, Amazon, or even Apple’s iTunes. It also works for any other podcasts as well.

Sure, Apple is likely going to be collect their standard 30% fee.  Before you start thinking about how greed Apple is, consider this.  Right now, podcasts are generally free or rely on the goodness of the hearts of its listeners to donate funds.  So, podcasters were not making much money if at all.  Also, consider authors who likely got very little proceeds from audio versions of their books.

There is a podcast called Mysterious Universe that I listen to on occasion during my jogs.  It has free podcasts but also has more content available exclusively to paying listeners.  More recently, Your Mac Life also switched over to a subscriber model to help foot the fill for the podcast. I can't tell if subscribers also get additional content or not. Even if not, appreciative listeners who want to help sponsor podcasts would be able to do so.  All this is done through Paypal or a third party (or themselves).

And while they currently don’t have to share their revenues with Apple, by allowing subscribers to directly purchase the paid subs will likely increase the size of the paid audience than they currently have via iTunes.  The ease to purchase subscriptions using this podcast app instead of making users go directly to the website could be worth giving some money to Apple.

Now, let’s look at what independent studios can do if they want to produce higher qualities of podcasts.  They could produce shows like those old-time radios or even videos.  The podcast app would allow the studios to be paid.  And they would instantly know the size of their audience and the popularity of their shows.

Should this take off, this would instantly send chills to the various studios, broadcast channels, and cable/sat TV companies.  The shockwaves will instantly upend the ancient distribution models.  Howard Stern would not need Sirius but can communicate directly with his audience when they pay him directly.  Imagine other celebrities producing podcasts that their fans are willing to pay for.

Public radio and television shows can be supported directly by fans if they chose.  Suppose This American Life continues to offer its podcasts for free as they do now through the app. Now, they can offer paying subscribers if they want additional audio or even video for the show.

And right now, the timing for podcasts to expand could not have been better as throngs of users cut the cable.

I’m gonna take this speculation even further.  I’m sure you’ve been frustrated by ABC, NBC, Fox, or another channel that puts a show on broadcast but cancels it midseason or kills it before there is a satisfactory conclusion to the show?

One show that quickly comes to mind is Firefly (wiki). The podcasting app could have give Josh Whedon the opportunity to release the shows in podcast format and let the fans pay for the show.  A meddlesome studio exec would not have been able to interfere with the show.

And a show’s continuation and popularity would be directly tied to the number of paying audience for the show.

And with podcasts, the broadcast rights would not be limited to American audience but expanded worldwide so that insane contractual agreements would not be able to hinder audience in one country or region from enjoying the show.

The question is how likely is this to happen?  I think the chance of Apple offering a standalone podcast app is 100%.  As to whether Apple will provide the app subscribe and pay for podcasts, I think that’s got a less than 50-50 chance of this happening.  Apple might threaten to do this to get terms it wants from studios.

And the other issue cost but I don’t see that as an issue.  Small producers or studios can get financing from other studios or banks.  Even from Kickstarter as well.  A video show like those we can on TV can cost tens of millions to produce.  Let’s suppose a show costs $50 to $100 million to produce twenty videos.  Compensated for Apple’s cut, they could jump to $70 to $140M.

Now, suppose each show has an average of 5 million subscribers.   It would cost about $15 a season for the $70M show or $30 a season for the 140M show.  Not entirely unreasonable.  The cost could actually be much lower because the audience could be much bigger.  And it’ll be even more profitable if these shows prove to popular and get picked up for broadcast or syndication.

Again, this is just speculation on my part and Apple’s new podcast app being used in this manner is highly improbable.  Again, if Apple does go this route, it will have a global impact on producing audio/video shows.  It could also do something for producers that Google’s Youtube won’t be able to – make money.

And if my speculation is even remotely close to what Apple has happened for this podcasting app, it may not be called “podcast” and could be a killer app for its iDisplay, some call it Apple’s HDTV, plans.  Maybe the podcast app would have a "screencast" component as well.

Possible Nexus 7 Details Emerge

Source:  GottaBeMobile  via The Verge.  

 Okay, so there’s the iPad and an assortment of Android tablets today.  Oh, and let’s not forget the Kindle Fire.  That’ll be joined by some new Windows 8 tablet soon which will be announced today by Microsoft at 3:30PM PST.  Now, these are likely spy-pics of Google’s Nexus tablet.  Looks like a 7” variant (I say variant because I’m sure we’ll see other Nexus tablets in various sizes). 

From the pic, it looks like it’s called Nexus 7.  From the imagine, we can gleam that the resolution is quite possibly 1280 x 960, which is at a much higher resolution than its likely closest competitors with the Kindle Fire’s and Samsung Tab Plus 7’s anemic 1024 x 600.  If I may go a step further into the rumor world, Apple’s unicorn iPad coming in between 7-8” is suppose to have only 1024 x 768. 

Is this pic for real?  I hope so.  And there’s chatter that Google could price this to compete with the Fire at $150.  With the specs I’m hearing and at this price, it could be going after not only Amazon but Apple and Microsoft as well.  Personally, I don’t see an iPad or Windows 8 tablet priced at $150, much less $200.


Below is a video showing us what we can expect from Nexus 7.  The experience is likely to be similar.  I cannot way to see this tablet and how others from Apple to Microsoft to Samsung to Amazn/BN responds.

iOS 6: New Maps Is Nice But Bunch of New Small Improvements Key

Apple announced a bunch of new features like Maps and Facebook integration.  They got all the attention. Oh, Passbook is nice and it's not getting much love from blogs.  Nor are a bunch of small unhighlighted improvements that taken together shows how Apple's attention to details make iOS and the iPhone and iPad so popular among mobile warriors.

Here are a couple that I like:

• Geofencing for Find My Friends and Reminders.  Seriously, how awesome is this?!
• Better privacy features - this will give the user more control than Google or Facebook will ever give its users.
• Store improvements - as good as the App Store is now, Apple will continues to try to make it even better for app discovery.  The same goes for iTunes.  In fact, Apple is moving the podcasts over to a standalone app.  And when you download/update an app, iOS doesn't take you away from the store.  It has been an annoying "feature" we've had to put up with for years.
• Different mail signatures - not a big deal for me but it's nice to have if I never need it.
• When a call comes in, the ability to dismiss the call with a reminder or text is pretty awesome.  
• Government/Emergency Alerts
• Better notification controls.  You can control what notifications come in first for e-mails.

Lastly, I have to mention Passbook again.  And I warn you.  I'm gonna want talk about this quite a lot because more than television, it'll be Passbook that could be one of the legacies of Apple like Siri has the potential of becoming.  Passbook is Apple dipping its foot into the mobile payment arena.  With or without NFC capability, Passbook could revolutionize retail and how we pay for goods and services.

Oh, and there's something about emoji improvements that I'm not particularly interested.  But it's here if that's your kind of thing.  

So, there you go.  Worthy iOS 6 improvements that in their own rights could have been mentioned at the WWDC keynote last Monday.  Among those I mentioned above, geofencing and privacy control are my favs.

Can Apple Be Stopped? Who Will Win With Microsoft Bring Windows 8 to the War? Can Google’s Android Brush Off Redmond?

The day Steve Jobs returned to Apple, no one then could have thought that Apple would still be around today let alone remain one of the most valued companies in the world.  And through it all, Apple has resurrected its Mac computers, disrupted markets, created new devices, and continue to innovate to this day.  Easy, right?  Definitely not.

Sure, Steve Jobs, now Tim Cook, and the rest of Apple made it seem easy but I’m sure it’s the challenges of creating the perfect Macbook or crafting a device that they themselves would want to use and the continual assaults on its position is what is driving them forward.

Today, Macs are selling at a healthy clip but its still computers installed with Windows that dominate the market.  Apple just refreshed its Macbook lines from the Macbook Pro with the new Retina Display to the Macbook Air, it’ll look like the back-to-school season is going to be a blow-out one for Apple.  Still, the PC market will be dominated by Windows-based PCs.

The story is more rosy for Apple’s mobile devices. Fom the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, Apple has withstood challenges after challenges to its dominate position.  The iPod remains the top selling MP3 player with over 70% of the market.  What of the iPad?  It has continued to retain 60 to 70% of the market as challengers from the Xoom to the Galaxy Tab to the Kindle Fire tried to unseat it.  Oh, and let’s not forget HP’s Touchpad or RIM’s Playbook.

And while Apple’s iPhone doesn’t have the market-share the iPod or the iPad currently enjoy, Apple did manage to become smartphone seller in the Holidays quarter of 2011. Today, it has about 70% of the mobile profit.  Depending on who you talk to, the iPhone has taken back share from Android when it started selling on Sprint and Verizon or, at the very least, stunted Android’s growth.  And the game between the iPhone and Android is not over yet.  Apple is expected to release a redesigned iPhone with a new body, bigger screen, and with LTE support this fall.  Samsung’s just released Galaxy S III may have the whole summer to itself, down the home strech to Christmas of 2012, it’s likely going to be all Apple’s.

Don’t think it’s all smooth sailing for the Cupertino-based company from here on.  Like video games where levels get progressively harder and harder, nothing Apple has seen since the Android onslaught will be more determined to knock Apple out of the game.  And that is?  You guessed it.  Microsoft.  For Apple and  Microsoft, the coming  battle between these two old foes will be every bit as epic as the personal computer war waged in the 80s and 90s which Microsoft has taken the crown.

Apple thinks its ready for this and, while there is no signs of , Tim Cook and company are confident with this final match.  It has the feel of the last battle between two bosses like in the video games.  And it is a final match for either Apple or Microsoft.  The winner will most likely be king of the hill for a long while.  This war will be waged on more fronts than that fought between Apple and Google.  It’ll be fought in the social media market, PC market, mobile market, and even the auto industry will feel its effects.  It could redefine content distribution and home entertainment.

And the brutality of the Apple-Microsoft match is going to be for our benefit.  It’s about an all out competition to convince us they have the best products and services.  Blog surrogates will

Should Apple stumble, it will prove that Microsoft’s residence, as it has shown time and time again, has paid off.  Redmond’s patience helped it win the PC war.  And when it was under assault by AOL, Netscape, and Sun, with the help of some illegal monopolistic moves, Microsoft won the browser war and rendered all those companies inert.

Want more proof that Microsoft is patient and resilient?   How about the search market?  Sure, Google has the lion’s share of the search market and while Yahoo and Altavista, to name two are no longer threats to Google, Microsoft has launched volleys after volleys at Google with MSN, Live.com, and, now, Bing.

Apple’s war with Microsoft will commence in a couple of months when both iOS 6 and Windows 8 are released and products based on them flood the market.  Even if Apple does win 2012 or even 2013, it can expect Microsoft to try and try again to beat Apple’s products.  Tens of billions of dollars will be wage this war on both sides.

It’ll be a tug of war the likes we have never seen before in tech history.  The reason is simple.  Neither can Apple, Microsoft, or, for that matter, Google afford to lose.

Certainly, Google’s Android is not suddenly going to go away.  In fact, Apple and Microsoft will continue have to deal with Google, RIM, or anyone else.  It will certainly be dangerous for either them or anyone else to discount a comeback by any company.  We’ll certainly hear a lot from Google this fall with its next version of Android that will pit itself against iOS 6 and Windows 8.

Apple will come at its competitors hard with new innovative products year after year.  Microsoft knows it has to be patient and work deals.  And it has billions in the bank to drag this out.  The same goes for Google.

However, of the three, only Microsoft has the most to lose.  The momentum is in Apple and Google’s favors.  Let’s face it.  The PC market is growing but slowly and has at times shrunk due to global economic conditions.  Apple has the tablet market all it itself and there is proof that its cannibalizing laptop sales.  And what is one of Microsoft’s biggest money making?  Windows.

As for Windows Phone, Microsoft’s proxy, Nokia, has done well with the Lumia phones but, so far, they have not stopped the iPhone or Android.  At best, Windows Phone devices from Nokia has only managed to replaced Symbian sales.  Android devices has over 50% of the market with Apple trailing at around 30%.  Windows Phone devices are still truggle to get to 2%.

This is why the launch of Windows 8 is so critical for Microsoft.  We’ll know this late fall and winter if Windows 8 has the makings of a Vista or Windows 7.  If it’s another Vista debacle, Microsoft risks being made even more obsolete and may even give consumers more reason to look at the Macs as their next PC purchase.  However, if Windows 8 with its new Metro UI is a hit, Microsoft could hit two birds with one stone.  Windows 8  could gain traction in the tablet market, something that Android has failed to do.  And it could give consumers reasons to give Windows 8 phones a along hard look over the iPhone or Android devices.

Perhaps with Windows 8, Microsoft only has to show that it is willing to stay in the game and fight. Any traction, no matter how little in the tablet and smartphone market could be all the difference.  It would harkens back to the original release of the Xbox in 2001.  Against the Playstation and N64, it didn’t do much but slowly, it showed the market that Microsoft was offering something different.  A choice that was not previously available.  Today, the Xbox 360, released on 2005 is the best selling console.

While Microsoft has proven it is capable of developing decade long strategy to win a market, the Xbox is different from Windows.  It is Windows where it derives its profit and it’s the platform where other software like Office runs on.  So this is why Windows 8 cannot only do well in the shrinking PC market, it has to show that it can compete against the iPad in the tablet market and become a viable competitor to the iPhone, Androids, and Blackberries.

We don’t know who will be left standing at the end of the day.  It could be another decade before we can crown a winner.  Maybe there won’t be just one winner but two.  Or Apple, Google, and Microsoft could be locked in a stalemate with equal shares of the market and profit.  However, I know one this for sure:  we mobile warriors will greatly benefit from the innovation and rapid speed of hardware and software releases.  The market needs competition.  The more the better.

There is so much war to talk about.  Xbox, Playstation 3, Wii, and whatever follows will have to contend with Apple TV and Google TV.  Apple is looking to move Siri into your car while Microsoft is already there. And don't forget Google's self-driving car either.

Friday Movie Clip: The Expendables…Two!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve put up any awesome Friday movie clips and while I’ve got a few more zombie-themed ones, I think I’ll go in a different direction.  No Pixar stuff this week either.  It’s from a movie that I didn’t think much of but, more and more, I think when I first saw it, I did it know.  Yup, that’s right.  I watched the move wrong.

I wanted great acting, smooth dialogue, and a Oscar caliber story.  But with a bunch of anging former action stars, all you’re gonna get are loud over the top explosions with our heroes winning seemingly impossible battles and bad guys who cannot hit anything at all with their guns.

That was The Expendables.  And now, I can’t wait for The Expendables 2 to come out.  This time around, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be joining the fight.  I saw the commercial for it during either the Stanley Cup Finals (which the LA Kings won its first ever championship despite East Coast bias of the crappy NBC Sports announcers) or during one of those NBA playoff games.

Now, now The Expendables 2 coming to a theater near you on August 17th.  I can’t wait!  And this time, I’m gonna watch it the right way.  My mind and any sense of realism checked at the door.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

My Impression of the Macbook Pro With Retina Display

My iPhone 4 died yesterday so I went to the Apple store hoping that they would replace it with an iPhone 4S as I’ve heard from various online reports.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  There was some kind of part that the Apple genius replaced quickly within a couple of minutes and I was sent on my way.  However, I did not leave without getting a good look at the new Retina Display Macbook Pro.

Wow, oh, wow, oh, wow…

On so many levels, the RDMBP is the perfect laptop for a majority of the mobile market.  From a design perspectively, Apple said this was the best Macbook they’ve designed.  I think they did a great job with the Macbook Air, particularly, my 11” Air so it was kind of hard to top but I think many fans will at the very least agree it’s on par with anything Apple has come out with.  The thinness of the RDMBP was apparent sitting next to a regular Macbook Pro.  And the lid with the screen was sickly thin (but in a good way).

I lifted the RBMBP a bit to gauge how hefty it felt.  It was sturdy to say the last at 4.6 lbs.  Definitely not a backbreaker and lighter than the older design MBP.  Because it look and feel bigger due to the 15” screen, my mind quickly played a trick on me into thinking it was heavier than the 13” MBP.  However, the 13” MBP weighs in at 4.5 lbs but the RDMBP weighs in a 4.46 lbs.

As for performance, there was a giant Scot who was looking at the RDMBP with me.  I bet he played rugby.  Anyway, apparently, he was a developer looking to upgrade from the same model 11” Air.  (To him, he thought it felt heavy.  But we quickly reminded ourselves that we were coming from the perspective of a 11” laptop.).  He found the performance to be satisfactory while the SSD was not as quickly as he said Apple promised.  Still, it was faster than the SSD in the Air.

Then he went into the preference and started playing with Apple’s display settings.  We went from the optimal Retina Display option to one that gave us more desktop real estate.  We used Adobe’s apps, Word and Excel, and Safari.  Bascially, we were looking for apps that were not yet optimized for the Retina Display.  Maybe we weren’t too discerning but the text and everything was absolutely gorgeous.

As zoomed in and out of websites and adjusted the resolutions and you got rendering quality as far as text goes that you’ll see on your iPhone 4 and 4S or the new iPad.

At the end of the day, I concluded the 11” Air that I have could sill carry me through another year.  And maybe in that time, Apple will update the Airs with their own Retina Display.  The giant Scot developer agreed but he was also interested in seeing what speed improvement Apple made to the newer Airs.  I had to go so I didn’t get to know what he found out.

The RDMBP does carry a small premium but it is well worth it.  The Macbook Pro with Retina Display is statement to the rest of the PC market, try to follow us and copy this if you dare.  Apple found a way to make it lighter and incorporate new hardware features without compromising performance.

Anyone looking for a Macbook Pro should definitely get the RDMBP.  If you don’t, you’ll be kicking yourself later on.  As for current Air folks, we can only hope that Apple will bring Retina Display in a year or so.

Make no mistake.  Even as Apple tries to move the consumer market towards the post-PC era dominated by its iPad, it has not neglected the “trucks”.  If anything, the new Macbook Pro with Retina Display serves as a model for where Apple wants trucks to go and is daring everyone else to follow.

Anandtech has done a great review/analysis of the Retina Display.  I recommend a read.

Where is Google’s Siri Response?

Competition is good for consumers in general.  And specific to the mobile market, the continuous battle between the various tech giants has been great for us mobile fans.  And with Apple’s Siri, it was an answer to Google’ voice commands.  And Siri, with its beta problems, is clearly setting the mark to hit.  So, I wonder where is Google’s , or Microsoft’s, response to Siri?

Yesterday, Apple unveiled iOS 6 with a marginally improved Siri.  I reckon it’ll still be a beta feature through the life of iOS 6 because I think there is just too many basic functions, that while works, require more improvements.  And this has offered Google an opportunity to upstage Apple, RIM, or Microsoft.

Perhaps, we’ll see Google’s Siri killer baked into Android 5 when Google releases it later this year.  Or it could operate as a standalone app being made available on competing mobile platforms.  Right now, we just don’t know yet.  In the past, there were rumblings of an app or project called Majel, named after Gene Roddenberry’s wife who was the voice of the starship USS Enterprise’s computer.

I think given the hyper-competitive atmosphere, Majel should prove to be ever bit as robust as Siri and likely offer a few tricks that Siri won’t be able to do as we know it now.

Personally, I like to see how Google’s take on a mobile assistant will differ from Siri.  On top of that, what kind of personality will it have.  Because, if you don’t already know, Siri definitely has a personality.  However, that is just one aspect.  There are plenty that Google can make Majel stand out from Siri.

Given my experience with voice search, Android already does an awesome job understand its users.  I reckon Majel will be just as good if not better.  And that could be better than what we know Siri to do now.  On top of that, Google has its own voice tech that could give Majel a more natural feel.  Perhaps Siri’s robotic, albeit femine voice, is a Pixaresque quirk, who would not want a digital assistant that sounds more natural?

From the WWDC keynote, the Siri demo was neat but I get the feeling that Apple could be holding stuff back for a bigger unveiling in the fall that could be used as a wow-factor to help it sell the next iPhone.

So, which Siri at this time seems like a low hanging fruit for Google’s Majel to meet, Apple has a habit of going to where the puck is going to be, and Google better do the same with Majel as well.  Siri in the fall will not be standing in the same spot today’s Siri is currently.