October 13, 2004

Portable Speakers

XT1.jpg

Portable speakers turn PC or iPod into stereo. Since we are going on the road alot and using multimedia, we need some way to play the sound. Most venues have a projector now, but sound is another story.

Google reviews a good quick review of portable speakers. As usual, the prices vary by 10x, so listen up. BTW, this is a great story of different market gaps. Overall, everyone seems to be playing stealth/add-on to the iPod, that's the big story in portables today.

Here are the conclusion:

  • Bose Soundock. This is an amazing $300, weighs 5lbs, but I'm sure sounds incredible. What niche, do you think they are covering :-} It mates directly with an ipod.
  • JBL On Stage. $200 so still amazing and seems to occupy the position of Bose, but cheaper. Both of these require AC though, so that's a concern for most venues where you have to assume no free power outlets.
  • Altec Lansing inMotion. $120. Seems to be a best of both, more expensive, but doesn't sound great loud.
  • Creative Labs Travel Sound. Creative seems to love to do little gizmo's that don't work so well. At $60, it uses AAA and sounds tinny.
  • Radio Shack Portable Amplified Speaker. $20. Uses C batteries and you can't even find it on their web site, but is in their stores. Who cares about sound quality.

Consumer markets tend to be like this, there is a different price point for every shape and size of user. There are few business that span 10x in pricing, but heres another example.

And in surfing sites, Altec Lansing seems to have the most innovative products. The XT1 pictured above is really designed for this use. Powered from USB so you save the batteries, its probably not loud, but really convenient.

Posted by rich at 08:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 04, 2004

The X# of Digital Disruptions

Post worth thinking about from A VC about the (first 5, then 7, now 9) "Digital Disruptions". He sites...

1. MPEG/MP3 - Disrupts the music and movie business
2. PVRs - Disrupts the TV ad business
3. Broadband Entertainment - Disrupts the TV business
4. Digital Cameras and JPEGS - Disrupts the film business
5. Linux - Disrupts the operating system business
6. Network Computers - disrupts the PC hardware/software business
7. Wireless Networks - disrupts the wire line phone business
8. VOIP - disrupts the entire phone business
and now from comments
9. RSS - disrupts content creation and distribution

Finding the business opportunities, and understanding the landscape in each of these is a very important thing for any investor or technology player to do.

also via Om Malik

Posted by johnza at 05:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 17, 2004

Broadband Playing Field

Talk about a gap in the playing field. Look at the numbers below. Here is the penetration of broadband into US homes by city according to Internet Retailer reports on Nielsen/NetRatings.

The top 10
San Diego, 69.6%
Phoenix, 68.4%
Detroit, 67%
New York, 66.8%
Sacramento, 64.9%
Orlando, 64.7%
Seattle, 63%
San Francisco, 63%
Los Angeles, 61.6%
Boston, 61.4%

Bottom 10
Baltimore, 50.1%
Miami, 49.6%
Chicago, 48.4%
Denver, 48.3%
Minneapolis, 46.9%
Milwaukee, 39.3%
Salt Lake City, 35.3%
Pittsburgh, 33.3%
Charlotte, 31.6%
Columbus, 26.9%

OK, some cities have higher broadband penetration than others. And happy to say Seattle is one of these. (The total penetration nationally is 51%). But compare even the best city to South Korea where (according to very worthwhile review in Chief Executive) overall broadband penetration is 78% of households. This is really significant. We are way behind in the most important area of infrastructure of the day.

The implications are dramatic. This is not just some techno geek issues or an just an opportunity for more massively multiplayer games. This reaches into everything. Think of what could be done if this kind of infrastructure gap was closed. Think of what kinds of new businesses or changes to existing business smart entreprenuers could accomplish. Think of distance learning. Think of healthcare.

I know there are lots of other issues this election year, but we need the same attitude about this infrastructure as we had in thirties about rural electrification and basic telecoms or in the fifties about interstate highways. This is the most critical infrastructure of the modern world. Invest in it ahead of the concrete applications and you will get the most innovative applications to fill it (witness the original internet). Wait for others to show the way and you get let behind. Access is key. It needs to be universal and cheap and flexible. Not exclusive, expensive and monolithic. The government can help. And it needs to get on the stick or watch or productivity go down the tubes. End of sermon.

Data via Perception Analyser.

Posted by johnza at 07:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack