So I've seen the future and it does not include Electronic Software Distribution. It does not include any type of process where you are downloading bags of bits into your desktop and then install those applications onto your system. Cloud Distribution is commonplace but it was only recently that I've recognized that digitally distributed software/games, as a means of distribution, is coming to an end. Companies like OnLive are and will take hold of the distribution channels over the next couple of years. Any company who serves the older processes (like DRM companies or ESD empowering organizations) should take note.
Like water, distribution always follows the path of least resistance. Any channel that reduces barriers to acquisition will, eventually win over on older, more cludgey methods. The internet itself is the best example of this. Just go ask a newspaper person. The biggest threat right now is how existing companies will transition from desktop to cloud. This is disruptive change and could prove to be a huge barrier to some organizations. The core competencies needed to create a desktop application are not the same as creating a web based service (SaaS). This, at least in my mind, creates both risks and opportunities depending on where you sit within that dynamic.
Me? I plan to release something very disruptive...
Showing posts with label Digital distribution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital distribution. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Friday, August 08, 2008
Great article from ZNet's Mary Jo Foley on Microsoft's Money moving from the physical box to the digital download... completely. They state that this does not mean they're dropping all boxed product but its a reality of the changing market for Microsoft Money. This is great news and its fits nicely into what I've been talking about for the last four years.
Microsoft to stop selling boxed copies of Money Plus by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley -- Microsoft has decided against releasing a 2009 version of Money Plus, its personal-finance-management software. The company also is planning to discontinue selling Money Plus as a boxed software product at retail -- but insisted the move shouldn't be interpreted as an immediate move away from shrink-wrapped PC software.
~chris
Friday, March 07, 2008
The Quiet Revolution
Fast forward – April 12, 2011
“Its not really all that difficult to figure out how the retail software industry got into this mess. It started with Steve Jobs announcing the release of the Macbook Air at MacWorld in Jan of 2008. This was the first big push of a major computer maker to promote 100% reliance on digital distribution. The MacBook Air released without an optical drive and soon after that all major PC makers were release their own versions of ultra thin laptops… that could not load DVDs or CDs. By Nov 2009, 80% of the laptops being sold without a DVD/CD drive. This created a bigger and bigger reliance on downloadable software.
At almost the same time of the MacBook Air release Amazon was testing the waters of Electronic Software Distribution with Turbo Tax. Later in 2008 Amazon would release a complete catalog of digital distributed software products to compliment their eBook, music and movie e-distribution. iTunes followed suit in 2009 with a massive catalog of downloadable Mac and PC software games available through iTunes. Every major games publisher clamoured to get their titles into Valve’s digital channel, ‘Steam’.
And retailer’s were left holding the bag (or box as it were…). Boxed software diminished faster than physical record sales in the early 2000’s and consumers now had very little choice when it came to securing digital product. They could either go directly to the publisher or through iTunes/Amazon channels. Publishers also had it difficult as both Apple and Amazon forced the publishers to reduce their margins as a condition of gaining access to their online stores.
Demand for software was bigger than ever and very quietly, a handful of companies like Apple, Amazon and Valve cornered the consumer software market.”
“Its not really all that difficult to figure out how the retail software industry got into this mess. It started with Steve Jobs announcing the release of the Macbook Air at MacWorld in Jan of 2008. This was the first big push of a major computer maker to promote 100% reliance on digital distribution. The MacBook Air released without an optical drive and soon after that all major PC makers were release their own versions of ultra thin laptops… that could not load DVDs or CDs. By Nov 2009, 80% of the laptops being sold without a DVD/CD drive. This created a bigger and bigger reliance on downloadable software.
At almost the same time of the MacBook Air release Amazon was testing the waters of Electronic Software Distribution with Turbo Tax. Later in 2008 Amazon would release a complete catalog of digital distributed software products to compliment their eBook, music and movie e-distribution. iTunes followed suit in 2009 with a massive catalog of downloadable Mac and PC software games available through iTunes. Every major games publisher clamoured to get their titles into Valve’s digital channel, ‘Steam’.
And retailer’s were left holding the bag (or box as it were…). Boxed software diminished faster than physical record sales in the early 2000’s and consumers now had very little choice when it came to securing digital product. They could either go directly to the publisher or through iTunes/Amazon channels. Publishers also had it difficult as both Apple and Amazon forced the publishers to reduce their margins as a condition of gaining access to their online stores.
Demand for software was bigger than ever and very quietly, a handful of companies like Apple, Amazon and Valve cornered the consumer software market.”
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Selling boxed software online... Nuns in a tree fort...
Yes, that's my analogy. Selling boxed software online and then shipping it to the end user makes as much sense as Nuns in a tree fort. I mean c'mon! At Macworld J-man announced the Macbook Air... a sexy little laptop and guess what? No optical drive! The only way you're getting software on that bad-boy is to either buy an external drive or, wait for it.... download it! We are moving quickly and steadily towards a point where the very idea of building a digital product, moving it to a physical piece of media for transportation only to convert it back to digital for use on our PC will seem as sensible as renting movies via the post office (wait for it...).
The best quote of January comes from Seagate CEO, Bill Watkins. He's being interviewed by Wired Magazine and they ask him about the battle between BluRay and HD... "Well maybe Blu-Ray won, but it's a meaningless victory. ... Because guess what: People are going to download everything." You rock Bill.
~ chris
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