Archive for September, 2009
September 24th, 2009
It’s amazing that iPod’s marketing is so clever that many Americans assume the terms “MP3 player” and “iPod” to be synonymous. Well, America, that’s not the case. There are many other types of MP3 players out there and often the other brands have cool features that an iPod doesn’t. The history is that once Apple gained so much recognition for the iPod, Microsoft knew they needed to get into the market and came out with the Zune. It didn’t exactly blow away the competition but it was strong enough to come out with the latest portable media player, Zune HD that just launched this month.
So how is this digital player different than iPod? Most notably is the 3.3 inch OLED touch screen display. It takes the iPod’s screen and laughs at its quality with a crystal clear grin in high definition and amazing colors and contrast. OLED is a technology that we don’t see much of because it’s fairly new and is notoriously pricey.
Content is key with the Zune. Built into the device is an HD radio tuner with cool features like tagging songs to download on the spot if you have a Zune Pass ($14.99 monthly subscription to access millions of songs and you get to choose 10 to keep for free each month). This version also has a new Internet browser allowing you to surf the web as well as access the Zune Marketplace where you can download tunes, apps, games on the fly.
Overall it’s a great choice if you’re strictly a PC person (as the Zune can’t be used on a Mac) and really does make for an awesome portable entertainment experience. For $90 more you can get an adapter that hooks this baby up to your HD TV so you can watch high quality video on your big screen, too!
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September 24th, 2009
Q: So is paypal your growth engine going forward?
September 24th, 2009
(continued)
September 24th, 2009
Wrapping up opening comments – proud but humble company. Proud of what we've accomplished, but humble enough to realize that if we don't change we won't succeed.
- Getting clear at what we are good at – and be really good at it. Shopping in a marketplace format and be Best in the World in online payments.
- Embrace disruption don't resist.
September 24th, 2009
(continued from last post)
- We think we are in the early days of ecommerce
- 5% of commerce is online – still early days
- The lines between online and offline blurring – used example of someone in store using iPhone to check prices.
- Formats blurring – auction/classified/fixed price
- Mobile big
When eBay started people thought ecommerce would be 'winner take all' – what we see is that ecommerce increasingly reflects what off-line reflects. There will be multiple winners (fragmented) – amazon, eBay, eforcity, macys can all be winners.
- eBay - allow sellers of all sizes to use eBay as an alternative channel. Used to be just for smaller, always will have that. But increasingly eBay buyers want access to larger retailers. Secondary market – one season old, liquidation – eBay is a strong market for this. The online outlet mall.
- Payments - Be the standard for online payments.
Thought Skype would be a good fit, wasn't. Talked about the spin-out.
- Platform - When started, took walled garden approach. Made sense, but clear now that is not the way to go. Best example is the iPhone – simply a platform on which thousands of applications have been built.
- Creating great consumer experiences
- Doing same thing with paypal – next month will have a developer conference on this.
- Paypal will be the payment platform – allowing innovation to be built on top
- Using the twitpay and facebook examples.
- Mobile and devices – eBay iphone app has gone from bad to good. 4m downloads. Last week someone bought a $400k Lamborghini via iPhone – $150k boat.
- Growing double digits every month.
- Visual recognition is coming – point at a product, see if available online (amzn app does this fyi)
September 24th, 2009
It's 9am in Vegas and John Donahoe (JD) is taking the stage for a talk and later will have Forrester analyst Patti Freeman Evans do a fireside chat. This is a fire side chat kind of format. I'll be doing some live blogging and tweeting.
- Show of hands – how many people bought on eBay (95%)
- Show of hands – sold on eBay (50%)
- Show of hands – paypal - 95%
- Show of hands – cross border trade – 10%
- Show of hands – Skype (20%)
- Show of hands – skype video (10%)
Every year 300-400m people use our products, which gives us lots of great feedback of what's going on.
September 24th, 2009
Last Wednesday the tech community was pleasantly surprised, so much that they gave a nearly minute long standing ovation, to see the trusted leader in the revolution of portable music, Steve Jobs, who recently recovered from a liver transplant, deliver the not so surprising news that yet another generation of iPods will be hitting the market. The latest version of the gems that will help justify your need to replace the one you just bought and sell your outdated version on eBay now comes in a few forms.
First up, the new Nano will come in 9 colors, will have a larger screen, an FM tuner with live pause, a camera that can take video and a built in pedometer!
Speed and price are what’s going to make you finally want a Touch, with 50% faster processor on the 32GB and new 64GB versions, and a price cut to $299 and $399. Steve made it known that size does matter by bumping up the iPod Classic capacity from 120GB to 160GB (that’s over 40,000 songs) and shrinking the price size down to $249.
Lastly, Shuffle fans will now have the choice of 5 different colors, and the ability to use a variety of different headphones, instead of being limited to Apple’s version.
As for software updates, iTunes lovers can expect to see an improved iTunes store – now boasting the world’s largest online music, movies, games, podcasts and application collection. This new iTunes version will be Facebook friendly so you can let your friends know what you’re into, listening to and purchasing and will have a much cleaner layout that’s easier to navigate. Cool new features include the ability to download “LP” type information such as artist and group pics, song lyrics and liner notes, special new video features, and comes with increased home sharing capabilities. So look out Zune, although you have HD playback, this new line up should really give you a run for your money!
September 24th, 2009
eBay CEO and President, John Donahoe took the stage at Shop.org this morning and the theme of his keynote focused on how consumer behavior is driving changes in technology. For close followers of eBay, John started by going over key messages and points we’ve heard in recent presentations – nothing new here. Two core businesses – ecommerce and payments – all about connecting buyers and sellers.
eCommerce Stats
o 88 million eBay users in 39 markets, nearly $60b worth of goods sold in 2008
o 75 million active PP accounts in 190 markets and 19 currencies
o The largest classifieds presence on earth – in more than 1,000 cities, and counting
Payments Stats
o $60b TPV in 2008
o Millions of merchants accept PP; great opportunity for incremental sales
o BML being integrated – adds more value for consumers
o Unmatched advantages (consumers, merchants, network): we bridge the best of web and payments
The second half of his presentation made for more interesting and compelling viewing. John reiterated his belief that customer behavior is driving changes in technology and offered two key areas as proof points – Open Platform & Mobile Commerce.
Open Platform
After giving an overview of the eBay Selling Manager Platform (a kind of app store for online sellers), John talked about how the PayPal platform will be opened to 3rd party development on November 3. He also demonstrated the ease of use of PayPal mobile (he sent Scot Wingo $10 via his iPhone in about 40 seconds direct from the stage).
Mobile Commerce
The meat of the preso, however, came during the closing focus on mobile commerce. It has been a topic of discussion in every presentation and session I’ve attended here at Shop.org and the one key theme has been that “Mobile Commerce is coming, and we need to be ready for it.” John took it a step further saying that it’s not coming down the road, it’s here now and it’s a force. First, John gave some market data to support his statement:
o By 2013, more than 40 percent of all U.S. Internet users will also use their mobile phones to get to the web. (eMarketer, June 2009)
o The iPhone accounts for 43 percent of mobile traffic today, yet the iPhone has only an 8 percent share of the market for mobile. This is the first and best platform for m-commerce … so far.
He then gave some hard data from eBay businesses that hammered it home:
Kijiji
The Kijiji classifieds app, which launched in June, has seen people use it to view nearly 2 million Kijiji ads, and thousands of people have already used it to post ads using their iPhones.PayPal
PayPal’s Send Money app for iPhone launched last July …
o 1.6 million downloads
o WW coverage (190 countries)
o 15 languages supported
o 19 currencies supported
(It should also be pointed out that PayPal is the payment system for RIM’s BlackBerry World app store. Student Accounts launched, allowing parents to fund debit cards for their kids via mobile).eBay
eBay Mobile app for iPhone launched last year and to date, it’s been downloaded by 4 million users, regularly appearing in the top 3 free apps in the lifestyle category.All kinds of things sold through eBay mobile app … the most expensive include:
o A rare Lamborghini for $750k
o A $300k power boatMobile is our fastest-growing business. Our GMV so far this year through the eBay mobile app alone is about $350 million … and growing double digits week on week.
I managed to get some video footage of the Q&A with Patti Freeman Evans of Forrester Research but wanted to share some of the stats quoted throughout his presentation.
Stay tuned for more…
Cheers,
RBH
September 23rd, 2009
Over on Amazon Strategies, we have details of ChannelAdvisor's new Amazon solution that I thought everyone would be interested in learning a little more about.
September 23rd, 2009
I had major fashion headache today what with the inability of my American computer to connect to the worldwide web.
England’s street fashion took my mind of flashdrives, harddrives and software as I went for a drive and people-watched. Women in killer gladiator heels, opera jackets and asymmetric vests. Men in bunny ear hairbands and Charlie Chaplin pants. These were not on the runway, I swear.
Fashion week in London is serious business. In addition to the talent displayed on the catwalks (as they’re called here), the streets are filled with fashion and there are photographers everywhere, capturing every model running from job to job, every fashion moment, every editor.
Oh, i just saw Anna Wintour. Anna is a rock star (she’s from England, you know?). Photographers snap her picture, she’s on the front page of the daily paper and a public relations person at a show was heard declaring triumphantly and with a relieved sigh, “Anna’s here.”
I saw Pringle of Scotland last night – leather crop capes, intricately knitted sweaters, skintight dresses – not at all my perception of the Pringle of yore. THAT Pringle is more like one of my favorite sweaters – a pale yellow, fitted cardigan with pearlescent buttons which I wear with an even paler yellow chiffon, bow-tie blouse by Derek Lam, both of which I bought on eBay. Guess, it’s time to rethink Pringle.
I think England is where all the models go to finish off their careers. Just two days into my LONDON SOUJOURN and I’ve already seen Trish Goff, Erin Wasson and Kirsty Hume. At least, I think it was Kristy. I remember that walk. She was in the Twenty8Twelve show, the line designed by Savannah and Sienna Miller (the actress, who opens on Broadway, stateside this fall).
I recall Sienna told me once, when she was promoting her line at Barneys, that the name stands for Marilyn Munroe’s birthday or her and her sister’s birthday. Really, I don’t remember exactly, but in case you were wondering what that name means,and I know you were, it’s something like that.
Very Truly Yours,
Constance
*Photo licensed to: Photorazzi.com
