Kindle 3 - The Transformation of Content Begins

Its not that the price of the newly announced Kindle 3 will be ONLY $139 for the Wi-Fi version, the screen is vastly improved as is the speed.

Writing in Fast Company, Dan Noscowitz says that Kindle 3's most impressive new feature is the screen which is, "bar none, the best e-ink screen I've ever seen. It's fantastically sharp, with excellent contrast (Amazon claims 50% better contrast than any other e-ink display on the market), and it refreshes noticeably faster (Amazon says 20% faster) than the previous generation."

The WiFi-only version will sell for $139 as "Amazon's Anti-iPad," as the Forbes headline has it. Amazon has no intention of trying to compete with the iPad's bright and colorful multi-touch display, according to Russ Grandinetti, vp of Kindle content. "We're not really focused on that," he says. "We're really focused on building a purpose-built e-reader ... on making this device better."

More than anything, what the new Kindle does is continue to demonstrate that the distribution model for content is finally evolving to where it should be - out of print and into the cloud with highly mobile, functional and CHEAP devices enabling users to consume when and how they want to.

The publishing industry is just the beginning. The quick adoption of these devices will start to impact industries in a variety of ways, some obvious and others not. Afterall Amazon reports that e-books now outsell hardcover books by 80%, and that it sold three times as many e-books in the last quarter as it sold in the same quarter last year. Few would have believed that possible 2 years ago, but it is. Watch the WSJ report on the new device below.

The Cloud and Total Cost of Ownership

My partner and I consult with a variety of firms on the topic of cloud adoption. It is surprising how few really understand the strategic and ROI benefits of its application. Total Cost of Ownership is an important number to use when evaluating IT and in particular when comparing extant systems to cloud solutions. Often the thinking is that what an organization is using now is a better place than making a change - and the primary driver in most people's minds is cost. Utilizing TCO is the only way managers can evaluate apples to apples. Often there are apples to oranges comparisons and this is why more organizations aren't jumping into the cloud faster. They simply aren't doing the proper math to realize the savings.

My friend and partner Clint S. Lee recently shared this post on a new tool to help you evaluate TCO.

Use this interesting evaluation tool. See what your organization is missing by not embracing the cloud.

A Personalize Magazine for iPad - Flipboard

I've got an iPad and have enjoyed it - particularly when it comes to reading the WSJ, NYT or the various books I am reading. However, last night after a suggestion from my friend Clint Lee I got the Flipboard app (watch video below), a free "social magazine" that debuted to great reviews, resulting in a digital traffic jam at Apple's App Store that made it hard to download the program.

Wow. Now when I’ve referred to new business models that incorporate fresh ways of delivering content - this is what I was talking about.

So what is Flipboard? Imagine the huge list of updates and links served up on your Facebook or Twitter feeds transformed into a handsome, clean magazine format that is easy to peruse. Imagine that this "magazine" includes Web content of your favorite newspapers or magazines. Your tablet is now a personal, virtual newsstand.

"We thought the idea of a social magazine would be an incredible thing," said McCue, who sold his previous startup, TellMe Networks, to Microsoft for a reported $800 million. The iPad emerged as the ideal format. And it certainly helped that Doll was a prominent Apple engineer who had taught a popular Stanford class on iPhone app development.

The Flipboard app includes a contents page that enables you to dive into your favorite Web features with a touch. Pulling up the keypad lets you comment on articles.

Flipboard relies on an editing process that uses algorithms to update the news. Their recent acquisition of Ellerdale gives Flipboard a team of engineers focused on analyzing large, real-time data streams. Ellerdale co-founder Arthur van Hoff, now Flipboard's chief of technology, said his team provides a "back-end" complement to Flipboard's consumer-facing technology, playing a key role in providing users with the news that is most relevant to them.

Today an ad in Men's Health might look pretty. Now imagine that ad on Flipboard inspiring you to make a tweet or tap a "like" button. Now imagine an alert about a sale at a store near you. You get the idea.

Mobile Devices Meet Bricks and Mortar

A recent WSJ report Venture Capitalist's New Frontier, Where Cellphones Meet Retailing points to Reid Hoffman, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who put money early into hot start-ups like Facebook Inc. and online gaming company Zynga Game Network Inc., who now has his eye on the intersection of mobile phones and bricks-and-mortar retailing.

As well he should. The explosion of mobile devices, adoption of social media and new business models that blend online and bricks and mortar components around the customer will contribute to new ways to engage shoppers.While the technology is emerging in traditional retail, I fully expect it to increasingly enter the bricks and mortar fitness and wellness space soon. Members should be able to purchase and interact with facilities using mobile devices wether outside or inside of the four walls. Solutions that bridge the mobile and facility worlds will flourish.

Hoffman's latest bet as a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners is on Shopkick Inc., one of a number of young firms hoping to turn cellphones into tools for spurring sales. Mr. Hoffman, who joined Greylock last November, is leading its $15 million investment in the company and taking a seat on its board on behalf of his firm.

Founded in June 2009, Shopkick is building applications for the iPhone and devices powered by Google Inc. software that will offer product information or coupons when users check into a store with their cellphones.

The company plans to launch the application this summer and has signed up a number of partners, including Best Buy Co., Macy's Inc. and Procter & Gamb le Co. Sonny Jandial, brand manager with P&G, said the company is trying to learn how to take advantage of consumers' obsession with their cellphones.

The enhancement "of the retail experience through your mobile phone is guaranteed to be part of the future," Mr. Hoffman said. Watch the interview with ShopKick's CEO.

Major Ad Firms Will Struggle In Social Media

A recent WSJ article titled Social Media Draws a Crowd addressed the surge in social media advertising dollars and how traditional ad agencies are racing to get a piece of the action.

The push to form a more formidable presence in social-media advertising is being fueled by the increasing number of marketers who are eager to figure out how they can use sites such as Facebook Inc., which has almost 500 million users, and Twitter, with more than 120 million registered users, as a marketing weapon.

"Social media is now part of all our clients' plans; we can't not be in this space," says Matt Seiler, chief executive of Universal McCann.

Ad spending on social networks world-wide is expected to rise 14% this year to $2.5 billion, according to research firm eMarketer. Although social media represents only a fraction of the $55 billion online-ad market, it is one of the fastest-growing segments.

Some corporations have taken a hands-on role in crafting their efforts: PepsiCo Inc.'s Gatorade, for example, recently created its "Mission Control Center," which is set up like a broadcast-television control room and is charged with monitoring the sports drink around the clock across social-media networks.

Marketing is changing quickly but large firms will unlikely be very proficient at addressing the opportunity of new media. Its too decentralized and fluid. As I pointed out in a previous post titled, "The Days of Mass Everything Are Over":

In his book, "The Chaos Scenario", Bob Garfield, writer for Advertising Age magazine and co-host of NPR’s On the Media program, forecasts the disintegration of mass media and advertising structures that have dominated commerce for hundreds of years. Garfield astutely warns that all formerly top-down institutions cannot dictate to consumers with advertising through mass media as before, but must retool, restructure and reengineer their business models enbracing new digital tools and forging better relationships with customers—no longer seeing people as eyeballs or votes, but as REAL stakeholders in their enterprise.

Watch the video. Its really good.

The Chaos Scenario from Greg Stielstra on Vimeo.