Two Posts To Reflect Upon
Source: andyabramson.blogs.com
London based Uber Analyst (I rank him alongside pal Martin Geddes as bringing sense to all the hype) Dean Bubley has two posts this week (well actually many more) that are home runs in my book.1) His post of the Comcast packet sniffing soon to be fiasco. I say “soon to be” because you can’t go into continual PR denial, then try to spin things to get the story out. I mean how many weeks passed by when the story first broke in the blogs, then the Associated Press broke it big time.It’s time the publicly traded companies started to realize that this kind of obfuscation (my old argumentation Professor Towne would be proud here) is akin to a forward looking statement and thus as much a SOX issue as it is a truth in advertising issue. Maybe its time the FCC/FTC and SEC all got on the same page and looked closer at Comcast by convening a joint task force to investigate their departmental process of “we have to ask before we comment” type of approach. Heck, just imagine if they brought in DOJ and look at RICO (racketeer influenced criminal organization) statutes too, and you found that process, form and custom all smack of a system of keeping things a certain way that may not be in the best interest of the customer, public or even society. HMMMTo my friends at Comcast–this is too easy of a problem to fix. Just at the outset admit what you are doing by selling or offering tiered service. For the people who want to use P2P services raise your prices and offer it, instead of selling a speed boost package that sniffs.2) Dean’s second post is a beauty. It’s about Pudding Media (the start up with the dumbest name in VoIP) Dean has the same questions I have about the service.The idea of offering a free service in exchange for ads only attracts the no pay crowd unless its done right. Personally, I don’t see the future mash up of Meebo, Tok Box and Pudding by investor Sequoia as being that compelling. Ike Elliott’s post on Free is Not a model pretty much sums up what I’ve been saying for years on Ken Radio..about the “If It’s Free It’s Me, If I Gotta Pay It’s No Way” crowd.I mean, what media planner in their right mind wants a 4-6 percent conversion user base after years of free use? With 4-6 percent conversion, which is what those who know say is normal on the uptake rate for getting someone to subscribe, that means if you go pay only the other 90+ percent either never pay, or go elsewhere to the next free service to come along.
