Media Content vs Machine Learning
Apple has some of the brightest minds in the tech world pontificating on what people really want from their iPhones. Do they want intelligent assistance via Siri? Do they want to play games? Do they want to watch and share videos? Do they want to social connection via social media and texting apps?
Apple needs to do some hard thinking on this topic, because people can’t ask for something that doesn’t exist yet. But not only do they need to make a list of what people will want in their iPhones they also need to rank those items. Which brings me to my point. How high on the list does intelligent assistance rank?
Apple needs to do some hard thinking on this topic, because people can’t ask for something that doesn’t exist yet. But not only do they need to make a list of what people will want in their iPhones they also need to rank those items. Which brings me to my point. How high on the list does intelligent assistance rank?
I love the new intelligent assistance that iOS offers which streamlines my e-mail and music organization. But it’s more of a nice-to-have than a necessity. I like it, but when I think of getting a new smartphone, I think of taking photos, playing music, on-line shopping, and connecting with people. I never think about how my phone is going to streamline my life by reminding me of things or doing things on verbal command. But maybe some people do. Amazon’s Echo has made a big splash almost exclusively by riding the intelligent assistance wave. So I’m by no means saying that this isn’t important. I’m just questioning where it should rank beside the stuff that people actually do on their iPhones.
For instance, if Apple had to decide to put $60 billion dollars into buying Netflix or investing into machine learning, which avenue leads to the greatest financial return?
When Howard Stern was offered $500 million dollars by Sirius to leave FM radio and become a satellite radio exclusive, everyone was shocked. Would it work? Would people actually switch mediums just to follow their content? They did, and Sirius’s fortunes rode the Howard Stern rocket ship to growth. Writing for the New York Times, Ben Sisario says that Howard Stern was crucial to the growth of satellite radio.
Prior to satellite radio, Howard Stern was everywhere and he was free. Many thought that by taking the deal to go exclusive that he’d relegate himself to obscurity. Boy were they wrong.
Apple’s purchase of Netflix would be along similar lines. Like Howard Stern, Netflix is everywhere. And like Howard Stern’s audience, Netflix’s audience is virtually addicted. If Apple buys Netflix, the people will come. Or more accurately, the people will switch. They will switch from Android and they will switch from Spotify. Exclusive content is a proven way to get people to switch to your platform.
But does intelligent assistance have the same power? Are people going to switch platforms over Alexa, Cortana, or Siri? Unless one company makes huge gains over the others, I doubt it. I still think the Apple Watch + Siri is the future but that is a long ways off.
The rational mind says that there is much more value with intelligent assistance than media. But people don’t always behave rationally. When iOS 10 came out, users chose to upgrade at the highest rate of any version of iOS in history. Speculation says that it was due to new emoji and iMessage effects. Hardly consequential items, but effective nonetheless.
If you have two smartphone platforms where one has a small lead in intelligent assistance but the other has a huge lead in exclusive content, content will win.
The tech companies are all so busy trying to win the artificial intelligence race that I wonder if they’ve truly game-planned how this is going to help them make more money. If growing device sales and making a profit is the goal, it seems that exclusive content would be a wiser investment.
For instance, if Apple had to decide to put $60 billion dollars into buying Netflix or investing into machine learning, which avenue leads to the greatest financial return?
When Howard Stern was offered $500 million dollars by Sirius to leave FM radio and become a satellite radio exclusive, everyone was shocked. Would it work? Would people actually switch mediums just to follow their content? They did, and Sirius’s fortunes rode the Howard Stern rocket ship to growth. Writing for the New York Times, Ben Sisario says that Howard Stern was crucial to the growth of satellite radio.
Prior to satellite radio, Howard Stern was everywhere and he was free. Many thought that by taking the deal to go exclusive that he’d relegate himself to obscurity. Boy were they wrong.
Apple’s purchase of Netflix would be along similar lines. Like Howard Stern, Netflix is everywhere. And like Howard Stern’s audience, Netflix’s audience is virtually addicted. If Apple buys Netflix, the people will come. Or more accurately, the people will switch. They will switch from Android and they will switch from Spotify. Exclusive content is a proven way to get people to switch to your platform.
But does intelligent assistance have the same power? Are people going to switch platforms over Alexa, Cortana, or Siri? Unless one company makes huge gains over the others, I doubt it. I still think the Apple Watch + Siri is the future but that is a long ways off.
The rational mind says that there is much more value with intelligent assistance than media. But people don’t always behave rationally. When iOS 10 came out, users chose to upgrade at the highest rate of any version of iOS in history. Speculation says that it was due to new emoji and iMessage effects. Hardly consequential items, but effective nonetheless.
If you have two smartphone platforms where one has a small lead in intelligent assistance but the other has a huge lead in exclusive content, content will win.
The tech companies are all so busy trying to win the artificial intelligence race that I wonder if they’ve truly game-planned how this is going to help them make more money. If growing device sales and making a profit is the goal, it seems that exclusive content would be a wiser investment.
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