Recent Blog Posts
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MSNBC.com "Knows a Trend When It Sees One"
Nov 23 20094:11 pm EDT -
Windows 7 Spin May Be on the Money
Nov 23 20098:44 am EDT -
Mapping Company Raises Millions
Nov 20 20094:09 pm EDT -
Facebook Valuations Are All Over the Map
Nov 20 200911:30 am EDT -
The Future of Tech, 2010 Edition
Nov 20 20099:13 am EDT -
Automatic Pancake-Making Machine Attracts $2 Million in Capital
Nov 19 20094:53 pm EDT -
Apple Talk of Microsoft's Annual Meeting
Nov 19 20091:27 pm EDT -
There Is Still Hope for the News Business
Nov 19 200911:50 am EDT -
The Google Phone May Be Near
Nov 18 20094:10 pm EDT -
Amazon Grocery Service Goes Mobile with iPhone
Nov 18 20099:13 am EDT
Links
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Blu-ray's Dip Not All That Surprising
I've been working on a book about the trade-offs consumers make between fidelity and convenience -- and Blu-ray keeps proving the point. Today, a report from NPD Group says Blu-ray player sales are DOWN despite the disappearance of competing standard HD-DVD.
The problem with Blu-ray is that its fidelity isn't so much better than DVDs that consumers will feel compelled to make the switch. And its convenience factor -- how easy it is to get and how cheap it is -- doesn't come close to comparing with DVDs. So Blu-ray is neither high enough fidelity or high enough convenience to win over a mass market.
My bet is that Blu-ray plods along until it gets overtaken by high-def digital downloads. At this point, trying to improve disk-based movies with a new standard is reminiscent of Kodak inventing Advantix -- then a new film-based standard -- just before digital cameras took off.
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