It's interesting — this study establishes what Apple guessed ten years ago: the only way to win against piracy is to compete with it in ease of acquisition.
I don't believe in the media industry enough to think this will have any impact but I'm glad to see the details laid out.
Meanwhile, the world moves on. I watch Starcraft casts by two Canadian guys recording in their bedrooms. I can watch their stuff instantly on my iPad when they upload it, anywhere in the world. I'd happily pay for more. Let's hope this leads the way to the future.
> the only way to win against piracy is to compete with it in ease of acquisition.
I purchase music and tv on itunes because it's even easier that torrenting. I think they were bang on with that. Although it doesn't consider the people who are against paying for things, but they're always a lost cause.
the only way to win against piracy is to compete with it in ease of acquisition.
Apple makes money selling high-margin complements to piracy, not competing with it. iTunes is a low-margin (to Apple) strategic incentive to convince labels not to look so closely at how many billions of dollars Apple makes drizzling the magic margin-increasing white paint on top of commodity hard drives sold, primarily, to pirates.
"Apple makes money selling high-margin complements to piracy, not competing with it."
I read that iTunes was originally launched as a ploy to move hardware and then it turned into a major profit center for Apple, albeit not one they are eager to advertise.
"iTunes is a low-margin (to Apple) strategic incentive to convince labels not to look so closely at how many billions of dollars Apple makes drizzling the magic margin-increasing white paint on top of commodity hard drives sold, primarily, to pirates."
I don't think that most iPod and iPhone purchasers and consumers are pirates. Did I misread you?
This isn't about easy of acquisition; TFA has little to do with Apple in particular.
This is about the market having 'failed' with regard to proper pricing of certain goods.
Piracy is therefore an indicator of a failure in the market, not a legal problem or something that can be solved by superior content distribution.
(Although it can be solved by superior content pricing, which Apple may have done by allowing the purchase of songs piecemeal, which is actually a big deal considering how many albums only have 1 or 2 songs that are worth buying).
I would say ease of acquisition is part of the market failure - if your market can't easily get your products, then why would they buy it? Of course, that's also partially legal failure as well.
I think "market failure" covers a huge swath of reasons and problems with digital media. Including pricing and acquisition.
I think we're wildly extrapolating in this report -- it's a Canadian-backed report, sure, but it's about emerging markets "at the low end of the socioeconomic ladder". I think a more interesting discussion might be about how the marginal costs of digital goods pushed towards consumers is going to be pushed closer to the cost of production for certain market segments. I don't know how to guide the discussion but I can offer some questions. Can we resegment the market and make apps for the wealthy? What is the elasticity curve, exactly, and what various strategies can we take to maximize revenue under it in this global economy?
I also don't see how you are jumping to the conclusion that ease of acquisition is the only way to compete with piracy, based on that report, or how it's particularly germane. Not to say that I disagree with it -- it's been my intuition as well, simply because people love convenience...
I don't believe in the media industry enough to think this will have any impact but I'm glad to see the details laid out.
Meanwhile, the world moves on. I watch Starcraft casts by two Canadian guys recording in their bedrooms. I can watch their stuff instantly on my iPad when they upload it, anywhere in the world. I'd happily pay for more. Let's hope this leads the way to the future.