Saturday, May 21, 2011

Wait. I thought our economy was a information economy.

O.K. We shipped our manufacturing overseas. But no worries, we have information to sell.

Wait? You want that information for free?

Why do I have a sinking feeling...?


Trying to argue with techies is like trying to argue religion.

"MRI Shows Apple Stimulates Fan's Brains Like Religion." (The Consumerist.)

"When he was looking at Apple stuff, the areas of his brain lit up in the same way as religious people's do when shown faith-based imagery.

"This suggests that the big tech brands have harnessed, or exploit, the brain areas that have evolved to process religion," says one of the scientists."

I wonder sometimes if these techies realize that MOST of the world is just not as into it as they think. Most of the world is still reading books, for instance; e-books are still a very thin slice.


Look -- you can't can't get much more dominant in an industry than the video game industry is -- and yet, I can continue to sell RPG's and Boardgames.

I think the same thing will happen with books. Sports cards are probably selling 1/100th as well as at the peak, but I still sell a chunk each month. And so on.


I will also say -- straight out -- that every industry that I have been involved in selling has collapsed when it moves to the online world.

That is -- it hasn't just been bad for the small retailers -- it's been bad for everyone, including ultimately, the consumer whose choices dwindle and inconvenience increases. Manga, anime, sports cards....

Who cares if the stores don't make money? Who cares if the publishers don't make money? Who cares as long as I can get mine?

One question. Who gets paid? And how do you find them? And how do you know they're any good? And ....

I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this.

5 comments:

RDC said...

Duncan,

Retail evolves, business evolves. Go have a chat with buggy whip manufacturers. Every business changes. The successful ones evolve, the ones that don't change tend to fail.

The direction of business has been to shorten logistics chains. Remove middlemen. Are publishers are necessary part of the equation or not? You seemed to think that they are not necessary or desired in your own comments a few weeks back.

Anonymous said...

I really can't say what is more nauseating. RDC, or HBM, or DP, or BP.
This site is really going to the shits.

It can be said that amerikkka gets the leadership it deserves, it can also be said that Bend gets the intellectual stimulation it deserves.

Anonymous said...

OH come on ... must I state the obvious.

The INTERNET post 1995 was sold by stealing, mostly music and porn, or stolen and given away for free on the net.

Copyright infringement is what re-started the dead-Apple.

Like all great fortunes including Kennedy, its always on crime.

Today of course Apple is legit by selling the music for a BUCK, and giving a nickel to the artists, but hell people used to RIP for free and play on their iPod.

The biggest IPO recently was HUFFINGTON post which sold for $300M ( private of course ), but essentially they only post stolen material, ... great biz model.

STEALING pay's.

Yes, DUNC all the HW is made in Asia, and the SW in India. So fucking what.

What does USA make? SHIT&URINE. Who will flush the toilet on the USA? Only time will tell.

In the meantime keep enjoying your reality-TV, and junk food. The USA is going to become the meanest and nastiest prison in world history.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"MRI Shows Apple Stimulates Fan's Brains Like Religion."

Many people over the years have said Apple is a cult, and I'm inclined to agree. Why else would anybody pay a $1,500 premium for a laptop with the same capabilities as a Windows machine -- or less -- and with a lot fewer software options?

H. Bruce Miller said...

"It can be said that amerikkka gets the leadership it deserves, it can also be said that Bend gets the intellectual stimulation it deserves."

So when are you going to provide some, instead of sitting on your ass flinging anonymous insults?