Charles on… anything that comes along

Kudos to Crawford for pointing to this new survey in his comment to an earlier post here: the BBC reports Consumers ’snub portable video’, reporting that according to Jupiter Research only 13% of Europeans want to watch video while on the move - whereas nearly one-third are interested in listening to music on a portable player.

Just 5% wanted a player for both music and movies; only 7% wanted something for both games and video.

Actually, given that video hasn’t been available in a portable form for very long, you might think that 13% isn’t a bad start, and that one-third for people wanting portable digital music is pretty low. But I think this is where marketing desire and reality part company. The market for portable music is proven: count how many people you see wearing headphones on public transport or in the street.

Now, consider how many people have the leisure to sit down and watch a handheld video (because you can’t walk and use it) yet not enough leisure to do it on a TV or laptop. Kids in the back of cars, yes. Bill Gates is correct there. But who else? Geeks? That’s not what you’d call a mass market, even if Robert Scoble has plenty of mass.

Irrelevant note: storming piece by John Gruber on the iPod’s sales, and in particular his patient picking apart of Eeyore’s claims about what was going to happen to the iPod. Yes, whatever did happen to the “iPod-killing” Dell DJ?

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Well, that about wraps it up for the Portable Media Center (or Centre) (12 July 2004; score: 80.72%)
• That's funny, I thought the answer was 'an iPod' or 'Robosapien' (7 December 2004; score: 75.16%)
• But hang on, if they're phishing.. (9 April 2005; score: 65.83%)

This week’s Science and Technology articles are online: I’ve written about how record labels and phone companies want to control music on your mobile, Charlotte Ricca-Smith has a panoply of gadgets (including one for spotting road cameras.. hmm).

In Science, Steve Connor examines the mystery of gamma-ray bursters, and Lewis Wolpert considers whether post-traumatic stress disorder is really higher among soldiers..

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Digital images to last, gadgets to go, quantum theory proved, and why the pigeon followed the road (6 October 2004; score: 84.78%)
• These things I found interesting.. 4 September 2005 (5 September 2005; score: 48.21%)
• At Netimperative: Apple's plans for music videos (19 May 2005; score: 45.91%)

Early depression over Europe, though with bright areas over Downing Street, will give way to an easier outlook as people outside the US realise that it’s not them which has the problems ahead.

A ridge of high pressure on borrowing will lead to generalised flooding of dollars onto world markets, depressing the currency still further. Oil prices will keep growing faster than inflation - very much faster, in some cases.

European companies and countries will benefit from a lead in stem-cell research and other scientific endeavour not being quelled by decisions made through “prayer” rather than rational thinking. However, poorer countries will lose out by the lack of investment in medical programs, especially birth control - which is one of the guaranteed ways to raise a country’s GDP. The latter will breed poverty, which as one of the Dimbleby brothers observed this week, is the recruiting sergeant for terrorism.

The rise in oil prices will create extra pressure on American companies which, because the US has not signed up for the Kyoto treaty, are less prepared for the carbon-controlled world around them; they’ll have less efficient technologies and lose contracts to companies from abroad which have been coping with Kyoto for years.

Amnesty International will start a campaign to free the American 125 million.. who don’t want this guy in charge.

Update 17:44: if you think I sound gloomy (which, after a few seconds when I woke up this morning and heard the radio not announcing Kerry looking like the winner, I’m actually not) try Dan Gillmor’s glum take. Certainly the thing Americans should fear is the repeal of Roe v. Wade (which legalises abortion). Legislating yourself back to the Stone Age might be less messy than doing it with bombs, but it’s still not a good place to go. Someone should send Bush a copy of “The Cider House Rules” and tell him it’s about goats.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Tis the season to be tweaking.. Paul Thurrott (27 August 2004; score: 36.35%)
• The slow train to BT Broadband (16 July 2004; score: 28.93%)
• "The ads are for OCD... or blogging" (26 August 2004; score: 28.21%)