Disruption Happens, Somtimes with a Whisper

Apple recently announced that via it's iTunes music and now Video, store its offering of episodes from 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' for $1.99. Now, I don't admit to know all the ramifications of this deal on the TV networks or seemily more important, their local affiliates. But it is interesting to see how this is being greeted in the media and how it's being responded to by the 'other' networs and some movie studios. I think Apple (and ABC too!) got it right. They've just made a fundamental shift in the world and I'm not sure how many people realize that this is most likely a change that will be felt for many years to come.

This announcement is being met with a healthy dose of skeptisism and being referred to as an experiment. I can agree that it may look like an experiment but the biggest mistake many people make with innovations like this is they often mistake them for a) fads b) flukes c) niche products or the worst d) experiments. Implied in that term is 'failed' as in it was a 'failed experiment'. Why do I believe this not to be on the direct and short road to failure? The same reason the Internet, Online gaming, and music downloading (for pay) weren't: They've let the Genie out of the bag and there's a whole lot of money at stake. A very simple equation similar to a lit match and a combination of liquid and aresol gasoline; the result is an explosion and very hot fire that is not easily put out.

People are already downloading video (either legally or not) so there is a market. Check. Now getting the money (aka the price) right ($1.99) and the content (ABC, Check.) right was impressive. Both CBS and NBC said the price was too low. Guess what, the market has just been established by what many consider to be a premium brand, in this case ABC with it's 'Desperate Housewives' franchise. Who's going to pay $4 for CSI: Miami when the market price has been set at $1.99? Don't know, but as a consumer it will be interesting to have that choice now. And this is my last part of that equation, the Genie being let out of the bag. Now that consumers will be able to (and may believe are entitled) to download their shows, there will be no going back. The demand is there and now that someone's offering it up, they'll demand it.

These little digital devices aren't going away the same way as cell phones haven't gone away. PDA's while not as in vogue as they once were (although try asking a Blackberry user to part with his or hers!) are still going strong and being merged with personal video players or as SmartPhones. Nope. People accessing information, be it media, in all shapes, sizes and forms is starting to be simply part of being for a generation. What will all this mean? One thing: change, in ways we can't imagine. My son, now 8, asked me one day after telling him if he wanted to watch a certain TV program, that we had to home in time to watch it because it was Live.. he just stared at me for a moment and asked what I meant? He didn't understand the term 'live broadcast'. That's one change.