Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) was once the leader in the digital video recorders for Televisions business. The cable companies have most of that market now and TiVo struggles to find a place in the consumer electronics world. In 2004, its shares traded above $12. They have never gotten back there and now change hands around $7.

So to give itself a legitimate place in the world, TiVo keeps coming up with new services. The latest one might be more useless than most. According to The Wall Street Journal, “TiVo Inc. and Nero AG of Germany are expected to announce Monday that they’ll be launching a package that turns a Windows Computer into a Television recorder, just like a TiVo set-top box.”

That would be the same Computer that can get movies and TV shows from illegal file-sharing services. It would be the same Personal computer that can download video from services like Hulu, and the same Computer that grants consumers to get movies over IP from NetFlix (NASDAQ: NFLX).

The market for getting movies and TV shows onto Personal computers and portable devices is so crowded that even some of the largest content providers and consumer electronics firms may be pushed out of it.

TiVo is too small and too late to the game to have anything to offer.

Douglas A McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: World wide web, Web services, web 2.0

Planning a road trip in the near future? Cost To Drive is a web application that can help you figure out how much cash to take out of the ATM before you hit the road. Sure, you could certainly get a rough estimate by dividing the number of miles you have to drive by your car’s average mileage and then multiplying that figure by the average price of gas. But where’s the fun in that?

Cost To Drive lets you choose from a long list of vehicle makes and models dating back to 1999. Just select your vehicle from the list, plug in the locations for the begin and end of your trip, and the internet site will spit out an estimate of how much gas money you’ll burn through. The figure is obtained by looking at the mpg for your car and the average price of gas in various spots along your route.

[via TechnoSpot]

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Nokia Corp. (NOK)

It looked like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was going to go out of the business of selling “unlocked” iPhones, which are set up to work on any wireless network. Its new 3G model was going to be sold through about two dozen carriers worldwide. They would be the sole distribution method for the new handset and would make money on the wireless subscription plans marketed with the phones.

It looks like things are not working out that way. According to the AP, “Apple Inc. is putting on sale unlocked iPhone 3G in Hong Kong, allowing people to use it with any mobile phone carrier.” The unit will cost consumers $695.

Apple may be taking a significant misstep. If it alienates its carrier partners by undercutting their capability to make money on the product, over time they could push competing products from companies, including the Samsung Instinct and several products that Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world largest handset company, will introduce later this year.

Apple is a bit vulnerable now. Its 3G iPhone has run into connection problems in the U.S. That might have made some customers less likely to run into stores to get the new devices. Damaging relationships with its distribution operators by offering unlocked iPhones gives the competition an opening.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Permalink

Share This

Share This