IBM Happenings: March 2007

The month of March at IBM was filled with a slew of announcements in hardware, software, services, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. In the public sector, IBM will develop a data management system that will provide detailed information about student performance and progress for New York City's public schools. Here are all the announcements made by the company during the month. The complete index of prior IBM Happenings is here

IBM March 30, 2007 10:45 AM

Royalty Free Music

I have to admit to my confidence that it would happen -- more than $1 Billion in sales of digital music in 2005, which was triple the year before. Revenues in 2006 doubled to about $2 billion. People are willing to pay for music if it is offered to them in a contemporary way -- i.e. digital. Consumers like choice and when it comes to music, they have access to many music sites with unlimited shelf space. It should not be a surprise to the music industry that if people are offered the choice to buy tracks of music of their liking instead of being forced to buy an album containing mostly songs they don't want, they choose the former. Apple continues to be the thought leader on this. Today they announced that if you like some tracks you have purchased and want to buy the entire album later they will give you full credit for the tracks from the album that you have previously bought on iTunes. In other words you don't have to pay twice for the same song when you purchase an album containing tracks you already own from that album.

Not only is choice a big thing for consumers but also for businesses. Stores and restaurants and companies of all kinds have been using "elevator music" for years and have paid dearly for it. Now they have some new choices. It is called "royalty free music". Operating as one of Jupitermedia's new companies, Royalty Free Music.com offers thousands of tracks of high quality music for every occasion and from every genre. Once a company pays an annual licensing fee, they are free to use the music they download on a nearly unlimited basis. After downloading their choices, they can connect their PC to their audio system and use iTunes, Winamp, or any MP3 player to shuffle and play the music whenever and wherever they choose. For example, rather than using "piped in" music a store can pick the music they want and can feature sounds and songs that may remind customers of things the store has for sale or sets the atmosphere they want to create in the store.

In case you are reading the patrickWeb blog via email, take a look at the patrickWeb homepage and try the music. Let me know if there is something else you would like me to add to the collection.

As for the music industry, I continue to believe the core problem is attitude. The industry group that publishes data on music sales calls itself the "International Federation of the Phonographic Industry". Does that give us a clue that they are not keeping up with the times?

Music March 29, 2007 09:23 PM

Home Automation (update)

Thanks for all the feedback on the BusinessWeek magazine and video pieces. Seems to be a lot of interest in home automation. I will continue working on the series of stories that I promised. I just realized that BW has archived the video version of the story. It is still available and I have updated the link below. Unfortunately, you have to watch a short video advertisement at the beginning. I don't like this as you may have gathered from my various stories about advertising.

The story ran in the January 22, 2007 issue of the magazine, pages 82-83.The follow-on filming ended up on BusinessWeek Weekend (carried by ABC-TV) on the Sunday after Christmas. Here are links to the story and video.

King Of His Digital Castle (magazine)
Ultimate Wired Home: A look at a computer-controlled home (video)

Not so sure about "master" and I certainly don't think of my home as a "castle" but now that the cat is out of the bag, I have decided to write a series of stories to share the details about the home automation system in the hope that it will be useful to others. I will include what went into the planning, what technology choices I made, the design choices, and what I have learned. Stay tuned.

Home Automation March 23, 2007 03:40 PM

Turning Silver into Gold

One day back in the late 1990's, Mary Furlong paid a visit to IBM to give us an update on what she was doing at SeniorNet, which she had founded in 1986. SeniorNet 's mission was to provide older adults with education about and access to computer technologies to enhance their lives and enable them to share their knowledge and wisdom. IBM was one of the corporate sponsors of the effort, and my interest was to offer ideas on how the Internet could take a larger role in the mission.

Mary had other ideas beyond SeniorNet.org -- namely SeniorNet dot com, which would later become ThirdAge Media. Her idea was that in addition to the non-profit mission -- which continues today -- there was a for profit opportunity in serving the needs of midlife adults -- generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s -- and those who want to build a genuine relationship with them. ThirdAge has a vision to rewrite the rules of getting older and "transform the voice of aging from one of limitation to one of possibility". ThirdAge refers to the concept of lifelong learning, self-development and fulfillment, and the period of life following young adulthood. Some would say ThirdAgers are those who have gone from being a child to having children to becoming a grandparent.

In 1999 I joined the advisory board and worked with Mary as ThirdAge went through tumultuous growth to later be followed by the gyrations of "the bubble". During this time Mary visited the White House and appeared on CBS, NBC's Today Show, PBS, and NPR to discuss trends in aging and technology. ThirdAge Media was acquired in 2000 by MyFamily.com. In 2001, private investors purchased the company, which was then renamed ThirdAge Inc.

Mary moved on to bigger and better things, continuing to capitalize on the huge market opportunity presented by ThirdAgers. She formed yet another company, Mary Furlong & Associates, to help socially and consumer-conscious companies do a better job of reaching the ThirdAgers with their products and services. In her spare time she is Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship and Women in Leadership at Santa Clara University. Mary's latest book is called Turning Silver into Gold -- How to Profit in the new Boomer Marketplace and I highly recommend reading it. If you think you know what a "boomer" is you may be surprised.

America's 78 million boomers earn more than $2 trillion and own more than 77% of the assets of the country. They spent $44 billion on clothing in 2004. Prescription drugs have grown from $40B in 1990 to $250B in 2005. Guess who buys the majority of them? The boomers represent the first generation to have more than 50% with some form of higher education. They spend more than $150 billion per year on travel. Mary's book expands on the many new market opportunities that are emerging because of boomers. From clothing styles to exercise to food to financial planning, Mary details the key market factors and how to appeal to the boomer buyer. Mary operates on the principle that by focusing on the for profit business opportunity it can enable a financial return which can in part go back to the non-profit sector to meet the needs of those who are less fortunate.

Founders Hall blog

People March 21, 2007 07:15 PM

Three Percent

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2006 were $29.3 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from the third quarter and 24.6% above the fourth quarter of 2005. In fact, the year to year growth has been more than 20% for every quarter since it has been tracked back five years or so ago. The impressive double-digit growth rate is more than triple the growth of retail sales overall. E-commerce has now reached 3% of total retail sales

Why isn't it 20% instead of 3% ? There are many reasons -- most of them are not technology related. Other than the major sites, many web businesses have lame web pages that ask you to re-enter a date because you forgot the dashes, or re-enter the date because no dashes are allowed, or enter your favorite color and then tell you it must be at least five characters in length (nix red, blue, gray, tan, pink), or make bold statements about how their e-business is there for you 24x7 and then displays a page that says "sorry, our web site is temporarily unavailable", or "you can't there from here" error messages . When it comes to concerns about security, identity theft, and privacy, I am optimistic that these issues will be adequately addressed. However, the ease of use issues require a shift in attitude to solve. I must confess that I thought this would be well understood after a decade of e-commerce but we clearly have a long way to go.

As eBay and Amazon continue to grow and show real profits to the world, business leaders are paying more attention. The free markets are driving competition and innovation is beginning to kick into high gear. We have barely scratched the surface of what is going to happen. It will never be 100% of retail but I can see it getting to 25% which will make it a trillion dollar business.

e-Business March 14, 2007 06:10 PM

ThirdAgers

For years I have been urging corporate executives to talk to "kids" so they could better understand the future. " Look over their shoulder", I have urged them. Ask them what they do on the Internet. Talk to them about their values. What do they think of intellectual property rights? What do they like most about the Internet? What do they like least? What sites are really with it? Which are brain-dead? What do they think the Internet will be like in five years? How do they expect they will use it after they get a job? If what they tell you makes sense, I have urged, then think about how you can incorporate some of their kind of thinking into your business or institutional planning. If what they say doesn't’t make sense or you don’t agree with what they say, talk to kids some more. If you don’t have any kids, borrow one! If you can’t find any kids to talk to then talk to some ThirdAgers.

If you can’t find any teenagers to validate your business plans for the web, look for some 60 year olds. When I visited the Heritage Village retirement community and went into their “web room” I saw a huge banner across one wall. It said “Keeping Pace in Cyberspace”. That is their motto. They are not intimidated in the slightest by technology. A petite elderly lady looked up from her keyboard to say hello. She was helping a friend learn how to send email to her grandchild. At their monthly meeting a seventy-year-old gentleman made an announcement that the “Hardware” special interest group (SIG) was going to start a new project whereby each participant would be building their own PC from scratch and he asked if anyone would be interested. Dozens of hands were in the air to join the group.

ThirdAgers are generally between the age of forty-five and sixty-four. The heart of the group is made up of those who Mary Furlong, founder of ThirdAge Media, described as being in their “transitional fifties”. Some are going through job changes or a divorce. Others have aging parents, health issues, or are experiencing the birth of grandchildren. These are all issues which change lives and create a desire to join a support group, go to a class or pick up a hobby. Where I live in Connecticut, people go to Founders Hall to spend a day with friends and just "hang out".

In many cases, Mary explains, people become more intrinsically motivated”. For all these reasons ThirdAgers are flocking to the web. They are not intimidated by the technology. They have goals and the web can help them cope. ThirdAgers are learning the web and are sharing family pictures and learning about genealogy. They are going to ThirdAge.com to get career or health advice or check the romantic tip of the day. There is no substitute for the loss of a loved one but web sites are helping people find others with similar interests and enabling them to create new friendships. In many cases these have lead to marriages.

ThirdAgers represent a fast growing segment of the economies of the world. ThirdAgers have time, motivation, and decades of experience. As the next generation of the Internet evolves into the new medium it will enable members of this highly skilled workforce to come back to work part time from their retirement via telecommuting. They may prove to be crucial in filling the huge skills shortage that is facing the information technology industry today. For those who don’t choose to come back to work the Internet will enable them to fulfill their lives in various ways and to find help in meeting the challenges they face, make new friends and continue the quest for lifelong learning.

Other patrickWeb stories

People March 11, 2007 12:11 PM

IBM Happenings: February 2007

The month of February at IBM was filled with a slew of announcements in hardware, software, services, acquisitions, and corporate initiatives. I was particularly pleased to see IBM introduce Jam Consulting Service. The new service will help drive innovation by initiating dynamic new forms of collaboration among employees, stakeholders, customers, and partners for many companies. Here are all the announcements made by the company during the month. The complete index of prior IBM Happenings is here.

IBM March 10, 2007 05:23 PM