Apple. Google. Microsoft. Facebook.
Circa 2030
And the winner is....
I already wrote an article "Beware the Datum" about the manipulation of information, or data, or statistics.
"Figures don't lie, but liars figure." Unknown.
I am not going to reinvent the wheel.
Slim Fairview's Four Rules of Communication:
Precision
Concision
Enumerate
Specify
The Concepts:
Apple:
Gadgets and gizmos. Maybe content. Talked about i-TV and home control systems. Rumors about an Apple Car.
Google:
The ultimate search engine. So much a part of the fabric of online activity that Google has become a verb. Not unlike Xerox(R) Also involved in devices, R&D and Social Eugenics. Hope is a plan. Came up with the idea of implementing an ill-considered name change to Alphabet. Analogy: Did Apple change its name to fruit cocktail to reflect the many different activities the company is engaged in?
Microsoft:
You can talk for a thousand years. Microsoft is a high-tech, okay, a very high-tech stationery store. A digital ream of paper. 25 (million) column accounting paper. Calendars and appointment books. A digital DayTimer® And an "outsourced" office management system.
"There is no cloud. It's just someone else's computer." Unknown.
Each launch of a new system seemed to be a failed attempt to improve on Windows 98 2nd Edition. More bells and whistles. More loud noises, bright colors, and shiny things. Nonetheless, A virtual Staples®
Facebook:
Facebook:
Metaphorically speaking, "literally a virtual world." A global community. Of the 7.3 Billion people on the Earth 1.8 billion people are on Facebook.
"When we stop calling it social media and start calling it business media, we will better understand the medium" ~Slim Fairview.
This is where life will happen. This is where life is happening: Business, Entertainment, Communications, Content, Movies, Television, Telephone, Telegraph, Camera, Photo Album, Yellow Pages®, you name it, it's Facebook.
A Three Legged Table
Just as a three-legged table can't wobble because all three legs sit in one plane, technology needs three legs. Device, Content, Audience.
For the purpose of this discussion,
Apple provides the ultimate receptor: the i-Pad.
Facebook provides the ultimate audience in addition to a vital element. The ability to analyze market segmentation. Vast, diverse, interested, global.
Content:
Here, the keyword is flexibility.
Case in point: One reason it is so difficult to succeed in the restaurant business is that the population has increased 3-fold, but real-estate has not. Land demand drive up the rent.
The second reason is that the market has changed. What is that change? The change is that the market changes. Quickly. Fads come and go and at an accelerated and accelerating rate.
- You don't know what the next fad is until it's upon you.
- You don't know how long the new fad will last.
- You don't know when the current fad will end.
- You don't know what the next fad will be.
- And investors have money to invest.
Just as many people (Slim included) believe that MTV shortened the attention span with music videos that offered 2-second pic-bites, "Social Media" has created a society of cocoons. And remember:
"A caterpillar becomes a butterfly in a cocoon. Not under a microscope."
~Slim Fairview.
In a rapidly changing world, filled with uncertainty, there is a primal need safety and that safety comes in the form of control. Even if only over one's own life. Therefore, people are building firewalls.
The Experts
People never see change coming.
For those who are too young to remember, and those who are too old to remember, the reality is this simple:
Despite the fact that research has shown that people don't want more choices, people want closure, the store will stock sweaters in 14 colors not 4. And this does not touch on market segmentation.
When I grew up, television had channels: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13.
Today? 150 Channels? 500 Channels?
You can see how dividing the market will cut ratings, cut ad revenues, cut profits, put some out of business, cause others to merge and/or acquire, and create a desperate quest for ad revenues. Ad revenues mean the company stays in business. No money, no TV.
Today, when content exceeds the demand, a company like Facebook, with a bit of data, and only a nodding glance at analysis, can tell the advertisers who are watching what, where they live, what their interests are, what they buy, how much they spend, and who should buy ad time. Also, how to capture the attention of the audience.
I already wrote about the Observer Effect and Observer Bias.
It is short, metaphorical, E-Z 2 understand.
Experts:
Talkies
"Folks don't want to listen to all that chatter. They want to see real acting.
Television
"Folks don't want to squint at that tiny screen. Folks want to see the Big Screen.
The Motor Car:
"Noisy, smelly, toy for the rich. It'll never replace the horse."
The Airplane:
If God wanted me to fly, there'd be an airport in every city in the country. Do you see any airports?
Vinyl to 8-track. 8-track to cassette. Cassette to CD. CD to Napster, to i-Tunes, to streaming music.
VHS v. Beta. VHS to DVD. DVD to Video on Demand. Video on Demand to Streaming.
All the people who head up what's hot in technology have these in common:
The refusal to see what's coming.
The refusal to accept what's coming.
The denial of what's coming.
Justifying the status quo.
This brings us to our original question.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook. Circa 2030.
And the winner is......
Which company will lead the pack? Which company will be the also-ran?
The keywords are adaptation, co-operation, flexibility.
Moonshots and marketing won't pay the bills for long.
The Definitions of Slim Fairview:
Advertising: convince the consumer to buy what you want to sell.
E.g. Every day low pricing.
E.g. Every day low pricing.
Marketing: Sell what the consumer wants to buy. (Find a need and fill it.)
E.g. Discounts and coupons.
E.g. Discounts and coupons.
11 February 2013 I posted the article
Word on the street. Folks inside Apple floated the idea of buying TWX.
The Receptor
The Audience
The Content
The mechanism of Facebook allows people--globally--to make their demands known. And the information provided by consumers will allow the content providers to give the customers what they want and give the advertisers the information they need to give the consumers the information they need to make informed decisions when purchasing
goods and services.
This is called "on the pulse of the market".
It changes faster than Mr. Blandings can keep up with even after he finishes building his dream house.
Sincerest regards,
Slim Fairview
If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. Sincerely, Slim.
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. Sincerely, Slim.
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
Copyright (c) 2017 Bob Asken
All rights reserved.
