Spotify positioned to compete directly with Apple and Pandora in music.

With its new funding round, Spotify will compete directly with Apple and Pandora. In my last post, I purposefully did not mention Spotify as they were not available in the U.S. market, nor did they have the funding to compete - but now they do. Apple will have their hands full once Spotify and Pandora ramp things up in the next 6 months.

There is no doubt that the future of music will be subscription vs. ownership. One could argue that Apple really doesn't care about 'owning' access to music via iTunes and that it only created this marketplace in order for them to sell more hardware. Amazon is the one most vulnerable, as it does not own a player nor the hardware. Either way, the economics of the music business will continue to shift in a very big way.

Spotify, Gearing Up For U.S. Launch, Closes Its $1 Billion Round

 

Posted via email from Jared Hendler

In music-Apple's competition is not Google or Amazon-it's Pandora!

All of you Apple fans who have been clammering for subscription to come to iTunes, that's what Pandora is, and more...especially if you are looking for the social sharing promised by Apple's Ping.

The future of music is not ownership, it's subscription. That's what the cloud is for - not to store a copy of all the music you already own for access elsewhere, but it's a cute & expensive idea. Apple cannot have missed that, but I'm not sure that the data-center approach Apple has taken is the right strategy. Pandora, with it's peer-to-peer model, may win the war. It certainly is much farther ahead of Apple, especially with it's streamed licensing arrangements with the big music labels. When the labels figure it out, their fees will plummet as they race to prop up a true Apple competitor.

Pandora's IPO could not be better timed. The liquidity that an IPO brings will give Pandora much deeper pockets to compete in this arena.

Let the games begin.

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Jared Hendler

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Posted via email from Jared Hendler

Why the new Kindle should be an Apple Tablet.

Both Apple and Kindle are fierce competitors with almost every other player in the space, both on the hardware, software and content side. A deal like this would make perfect sense.

Amazon has the best purchasing experience and the largest title library (Not counting Google's free archive of classics most people would not want to purchase anyway). Amazon is also not able to manufacture a good quality hardware device over the long term. Their second Kindle (which I own), took everything they had to pull off. The screen is great, but the rest of it is a cheap, non-touch, plastic experience. Amazon knows it needs to stick to what it does best.

Apple designs and delivers killer hardware and software combos. See my blog post on how Apple will be able to deliver the combo of both full-color backlit LCD and digital ink in one device.

I would not be surprised to see the Apple Tablet with it's e-reading experience powered by Amazon.

Amazon may still choose to manufacture a pure reading 'Kindle' device, as the Apple Tablet will obviously offer a lot more and reading will only be a small part of what the product delivers.

But if the two were to do a deal, I would not be surprised if Apple helped Amazon out with design and the best manufacturing supply chain in computing. It may even be a Kindle device powered by Apple for under $100. Apple-Kindle device anyone?

Both Apple and Amazon believe in a more closely guarded environment. This deal would make cultural sense for both companies and catapult them far ahead of everyone else. A killer combination in a quickly evolving competitive marketplace.

I can see Sony prepping for Seppuku (Harakiri) already...

Posted via web from Jared Hendler

Should Amazon be selling private label products?

Should Amazon be selling private label products?  No.  Why not?  While Amazon is an online retailer, I'll argue that the perception of their business and the relationship that the consumer has vs. a bricks-and-mortar retailer differs greatly.  The tangible nature of a supermarket, electronics, or clothing chain supports the believability and value created by private label.  While Amazon is a retailer, it is in fact a virtual one that has the perception and strength of being a neutral third party bringing the best choices in consumer products to their customer base.  Supporting their own brand conflicts with this idea plain and simple.

More on this debate can be read here.

Posted via email from Jared Hendler