What did you get this holiday season? Was it a brand new iPad? How about a shiny new Android smartphone? Maybe you were really lucky and got your hands on a new HDTV.
As for me? Well, my holiday wish list was dominated by one entertainment option: video games.
Holidays are generally a time for high blood-pressure, so it’s always nice when technology steps in to smooth frustrations and make things easier. Unfortunately, time with family – or indeed away from them – can also introduce its own electronic headaches. Many of us make the annual pilgrimage to the family home with a bag full of cables, gadgets and thumb-drives loaded with anti-malware software, along with the apprehension that we’ll be the unpaid Geek Squad while we’re there. Some things, though, should be simple: talking to distant family via Skype, for instance. Unfortunately, as I discovered myself this Christmas, that wasn’t to be the case.
Earlier this month, Apple opened a new store inside New York City’s Grand Central Station. This is not Apple’s only store in Manhattan and does not make a dramatic architectural statement like its Cube on Fifth Avenue. Much of its retail model has been seen before in other Apple stores. Yet when I visited it just before it opened it felt radically different than any other retail environment – even different from other Apple stores – and serves as an object lesson for how to sell and support digital products at retail in an increasingly online world. Even if you dislike Apple’s products (or just some of its more enthusiastic fans), if you’re in Manhattan, Apple’s store is worth a visit. Apple claims that it sells more per square foot than any other major retailer in the world, and while some of that is due to products that sell well on their own, Apple’s retail store processes, compensation structure, and architecture all play roles worth investigating.
The year is just about over. And now, it’s time to take a step back to look at some of the winners and losers this year.
But rather than waste time thinking about some of the winners, why not just get right to the biggest loser of 2011: Netflix.
If you’ve been paying attention to the mobile market over the last several months, you know that Apple and Samsung are at each other’s throats over alleged patent infringement. And with lawsuits flying worldwide, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the war between the firms will spill over into next year.
I have a friend who is not on Facebook, and never has been. One friend. Let’s call him Marley, like the puppy (don’t spoil the ending, I’m still reading). He didn’t leave Facebook. He’s never been a member. He knows about it. All of his friends are on Facebook. Marley’s wife is on Facebook, and she’s my friend there (and in real life). Marley’s brother is on Facebook, where he also promotes a band and local tour dates. But Marley flatly refuses to join.
Every year SlashGear puts together a gift guide that covers all the usual big ticket gadgets that people want for the holidays. It’s a great guide. However, what if you you’re looking for something a bit different or trying to find something for someone a bit harder to shop for? That’s what this guide is for.
Last week, I talked about Verizon’s reported desire to acquire Netflix, and why such a maneuver would be a bad one for the company.
And although I still feel that way, it’s quickly becoming clear that in a year, Netflix won’t be Netflix. The streaming company will be part of a much larger firm that will use it as a key component in a move to expand a home-entertainment empire.
Something rather interesting has been happening as of late: an increasing number of companies, smelling Netflix blood, want to jump into the streaming space and become the average consumers’ new go-to place for entertainment.
It makes some sense. Over the last several months, Netflix has been hemorrhaging subscribers who are displeased with the company’s new pricing plans. And its ill-fated decision to spin off its DVD rental business made management seem incompetent. Add those issues to the difficult relationships it has with content providers, and it’s no wonder companies like Amazon, Wal-mart and others, want to take it down.
Early-adopter shouldn’t mean beta-tester. The Jawbone UP saga is a great example of this: pushed out too soon, eagerly picked up by keen geeks, and now the subject of a huge refunds program that’s costly both financially for Jawbone and in terms of their all-important reputation. Yet do we bring some of this post-purchase misery upon ourselves – as consumers, enthusiasts, geeks – in prioritizing and praising so doggedly the very first to market? Manufacturers have learned we’ll gobble up what we’re given, rough edges and all.
I’m shocked that anyone wants to buy the Wii. But I’m even more shocked that so many people are doing it. Earlier this week, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reported, based on his checks, that a little over 1 million Wii units were sold last month, putting the device slightly behind the Xbox 360 in overall sales during the period.
Gaming has long been Microsoft’s wildcard: while the company struggles to find its feet with Windows Phone, and faces a difficult tablet market when its Windows 8 slates finally appear, the Xbox 360 continues to sell strongly. Now Xbox TV has arrived to not only reassure 360-owning gamers that they made the right console choice, but broaden the 360′s appeal to a whole new segment. It’s not entirely fashionable to praise Microsoft, especially when it’s over something that, buried in the company’s history books, they’ve tried and failed at before. Smart TV has suffered the usual ignominies and from the usual flaws: sluggish hardware, confusing interface, dawdling internet connections. Now, with Xbox LIVE TV, all the pieces seem finally to be coming together.
