Category: Apple

Categories
Apple

OS X 10.7 Announcement:

OK, no-one has told me anything about next week’s OS announcement but, as it relates to QuickTime (and my expectation of a new footing with AV Foundation from iOS) here’s how the script might go:

QuickTime has been one of our biggest success stories: powering not only iTunes but our professional video and audio applications as well. With 10.6 Snow Leopard we introduced QuickTime X, built on what we’d learnt from playing media on iPhones. Since that time we’ve learnt a lot more. In fact we’ve built a powerful new media foundation in iOS that we think takes QuickTime to a whole new level in media creation, playback and management power.

Or something like that. It’s very consistent with the way QuickTime X was pitched for Snow Leopard and Apple’s self congratulatory style.  If I hear any words vaguely like that, I’ll be cheering.

Categories
Apple Apple Pro Apps Item of Interest

Apple to preview next version of OS X (10.7)

Apple to preview next version of OS X on October 20th. http://tinyurl.com/2f9j2k6 That’ll help FCP make 2012 timeline if the expected changes to the underpinnings of QuickTime are ported from iOS 4.1.

Let’s guess: announced October 2010, finished 10.7 at WWDC 2011, Final Cut Studio <next> sometime thereafter? I think this makes the 2012 timeline seem reasonable: announcing OS X 10.7 in July would have made it difficult.

Dubbed “Back to the Mac,” the invite’s image shows a slightly rotated Apple logo with a lion peeking through it. In the invite, Apple says “come see what’s new for the Mac…” and adds that it will present a preview of the next major version of Mac OS X—which I think we can now safely presume is Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. The company will also be providing a café breakfast and a coffee bar—isn’t that nice of them?

Categories
Apple Media Consumption Monetizing

Why 99c rentals are still too expensive

Apple’s new Apple TV and 99c TV show rentals are definitely a step in the right direction but the cost is ridiculous.

Peak, premium, the best there is, content on major networks gets between 25 and 65c per viewer per show in revenue. That’s the top, highest end. So yes, the top of the top could conceivably rent for 99c, but the lesser shows? No way I’m spending 99c to watch a Daily Show (10 to 25c tops).

Last October I did a detailed tracking of what we watched and priced it out in the Apple store of the day. We watched that month an average of an hour and a half a day and the “best price” (taking advantage of Season Pass discounts) was $112.55. With rentals that would drop to $85.14.

Now, Dish (or Cable or whatever) 100 channel plan is around $65 a month, but I can watch up to 640 hours in that month (or record it for time shifted viewing). That’s about 10c an hour, not $1 per show. Of course, no-one can watch or record 640 hours in a month. The American Average is 135 hours a month of viewing (depending on who you ask, this is the conservative, lower end) or around 43c per hour, not per show.

An HBO subscription, with 32 hours of original programming a month equates to about 31c per hour, not show.

Part of what I find egregious about Apple’s new pricing is that it’s 99c for a 22 minute show, 99c for a 44 minute show or 99c for an extended episode. No allowance for the fact that some shows are worth more than others.

I’d cheerfully pay 10c per Daily Show. If I did and Apple took their 35%, that’s roughly 6.5c per show per viewer by 2 million viewers or $130,000 revenue per episode against approximately $35,000 per episode in cost. That’s an improved deal for the Daily Show producers and a fair deal for viewers.  The absolute maximum I’d pay for a Daily Show is 25c and at that I think it’s a rip off.

Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Burn Notice et al. I’d be happy to pay 50-65c but not 99c. Even at that these shows would be better off with this revenue model.

So, nice try Apple but until watching 4-5 hours a day, every day for a month has to be under $60 a month in total for it to be considered a cable replacement. Of course, this may not be Apple’s doing at all. It’s much more likely that the content owners have some ridiculously outsize estimate of the “value” of their content.

Categories
Apple HTML5 Item of Interest

Video: Flash on Android Is Shockingly Bad

Video: Flash on Android Is Shockingly Bad http://bit.ly/bHaKkM

And yet, people think it can be done on an iDevice and even want it!

While in theory Flash video might be a competitive advantage for Android users, in practice it’s difficult to imagine anyone actually trying to watch non-optimized web video on an Android handset, all of which makes one believe that maybe Steve Jobs was right to eschew Flash in lieu of HTML5 on the iPhone and iPad.

So, to be clear. There is no working version of Flash running on any smartphone, but somehow Apple should magically make it work on their devices with no access to the source code? In what reality is that reasonable?

Categories
Apple Item of Interest

Connecting the Dots (AV Foundation and QuickTime)

Connecting the Dots (AV Foundation and QuickTime) http://bit.ly/9CEpCo

It seems increasingly likely that the reason that QTkit hasn’t had much work, is because the focus has gone into recreating what QuickTime does, in iOS, with a plan to move it back to OS X with 10.7.

Remember, Final Cut Pro can’t be “Pure Cocoa” and 64 bit before “QuickTime” is.

Categories
Apple Item of Interest

iTunes at 99c per series per month?

iTunes at 99c per series per month??? http://bit.ly/cINIzR

Right now it’s a single-source rumor so it can hardly be taken seriously, but the price point is “right”: about the same net revenue to the network as from advertising. We watch about 10 shows in any typical month, and $10 would feel very right to me.

I guess we’ll know next week.

Categories
Apple Item of Interest

Steve Jobs, Circa 1997, Reintroducing Apple

Steve Jobs, Circa 1997, Reintroducing Apple http://nyti.ms/ctAEHP

Steve Jobs, uncharacteristically in shorts, presenting to what seems like a mostly in-house audience in the Campus Town Hall space discussing what Apple stands for.

It’s very, very valuable to understanding the mind of the man who runs Apple and turned it around from near-death to “bigger than Microsoft”. A focus on people rather than MHz and the like, right back then.

He’s leading into the launch of the “Think Different” campaign, which moved me even at this distance.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

Categories
Apple Item of Interest

An In-Depth Look at the Google TV Interface [Updated]

An In-Depth Look at the Google TV Interface http://bit.ly/chYF7B

I still think it ‘s a mistake to try and put interface on the same screen as the display.  Put the controls on a second touch device! Works great with an iPhone.

UPDATE: Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, agrees with me. Check out his last point.

Categories
Apple Metadata Video Technology

How serious is Apple about metadata?

During a recent thread here where I “infamously” suggested Apple should drop Log and Capture for the next version of FCP, one of the topics that came up was the use of metadata. Most commenters (all?) appeared – to my interpretation – to feel that reel name and TC were the “essence” of metadata.

And yet, if we look at the most recent work of the Chief Video Architect (apparently for both pro and consumer applications) Randy Ubilos we see that Location metadata is a requirement for the application. According to Apple’s FAQ for iMovie for IPhone if you don’t allow iMovie for iPhone to access your location metadata:

Because photos and videos recorded on iPhone 4 include location information, you must tap OK to enable iMovie to access photos and videos in the Media Library.

If you do not allow iMovie to use your location data, then the app is unable to access photos and videos in the Media Browser.

You can still record media directly from the camera to the timeline but, without the Location metadata, you’re pretty much locked out of iMovie for iPhone for all practical purposes.

There is no location metadata from tape capture! There’s not much from non-tape media right now, although some high end Panasonic cameras have an optional GPS board. However P2 media (both DVCPRO HD and AVC-I) as well as AVCCAM all have metadata slots for latitude and longitude.

Now, I’m NOT saying that Apple should force people to use metadata – particularly if it’s non existent – and this type of restriction in a Pro app would be unconscionable. I merely point out that this shows the type of thinking within Apple. In iMovie for iPhone they can create a better user (consumer) experience because they use Location metadata for automatic lower third locations in the themes.

Where I think it’s a little relevant is in counterpoint to some of my commentors: building an app that’s reliant on metadata is a different app than one relying on simple reel name and TC numbers.

Categories
Apple Business & Marketing Distribution New Media Studio 2.0

How do you get Disney to fund your next production?

It seems like an odd idea at first: could you fund a production – film or ongoing series – using iAds? After all, Apple have lined up $60 million in ad spend for the second half of 2010 and that would fund a lot of independent production! But how would it work?

First off iAds go in Apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad – or they will from early next month – and are an integral part of iOS 4. Any developer can add ads to their App simply and 60% of the revenue from ads goes to the App developer (or owner). That’s $36 million that’s going to be paid out to someone, why not your independent project?

I’ve long thought that the future of programming was Apps. An App, like a website, gives a single place for everything about your project: blog, previews, special content, upcoming events, merchandising etc. The advantage of not only having a website, but wrapping it an App is that the App will be a better fan experience, and it’s easy to add in-App purchasing of digital goods.

So, create an App for your project. This App will have:

  • An area where you can read the production blog;
  • Forums and chat around your project;
  • The Twitter feed from your project;
  • Connection into your Facebook presence;
  • Previews of scenes or trailers of movies;
  • The full project, with a little in-App purchasing (or not).
  • Calendar for screenings, parties and other events around your project, including signup (filtered for just the geography of the fan if they want, thanks to GPS on most of the devices)

Having everything to do with your project in a mobile app on iPhone or iPad makes it much easier for your fans, friends and followers to stay involved and participate. Involvement will improve. (Connecting with Fans and giving them a reason to buy is a basic tenet of independent production in the digital era.) Plus fans will likely be clicking on some of those ads if they’re well targeted, bringing revenue to the project.

Plus, there a minor security advantage. There’s no download function in Mobile Safari and Apps can’t download very much. Plus there’s no way to actually get anything downloaded within an App out of the App to a computer. That means your finished, high quality version could be viewed in the iDevices without much risk of it being distributed without authorization. (Recognizing though, that it will get distributed unless you project just plain sucks!)

Who’s going to be the first to give it a try?