Blockbuster Bankruptcy, Yet Again, Highlights How It's Not Easy To Just Copy The Disruptive Innovation
from the and-there-we-go-again dept
Late last week, there were a ton of press reports about how Blockbuster was preparing to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. It's not shutting down, but just trying to restructure its debt, get out from under a bunch of store leases and try, try again. That said, this is yet another example of the fallacy of the claim of many that if you have a good idea some big company will just come along, copy it, and be successful. It also demonstrates the huge difference between idea and execution.
Netflix had a good idea and executed well on it. But for years everyone thought it was only a matter of time until the company got destroyed, because all these bigger (at the time) companies were just going to copy Netflix and win. First it was Wal-Mart. The retail giant started a service that seemed almost identical to Netflix way back in 2002. Everyone thought there was no way an upstart like Netflix could compete with the likes of Wal-Mart. Fast forward two and a half years and Netflix took over Wal-Mart's online DVD rental business, because Wal-Mart's offering couldn't compete.
In between those events, in late 2004, Amazon stepped into the market (oddly, Netflix itself broke the news), by starting a Netflix-clone in the UK, though everyone expected them to bring it to the US as well. Even those who thought Wal-Mart didn't have the digital know-how to compete with Netflix figured that Amazon had a strong likelihood of success given its e-commerce success. Jump forward to 2008 and Amazon, which never brought the offering stateside, dumped the DVD rental business in Europe.
And, of course, there was Blockbuster. It came out with a Netflix-like offer around the same time that Wal-Mart did, and while it held on for much longer, it was just never able to build up the same sort of userbase that Netflix did, and now the company is going to declare bankruptcy and try to restructure once again.
It's really a fascinating case study. If you just looked at the simplistic analysis of "oh no, big company will crush small innovative company," you had to imagine that at least one of these firms would destroy Netflix along the way. Wal-Mart is a retailing giant, and even if it didn't have the digital chops, it had more money and distribution process efficiencies than Netflix could ever dream about. Amazon similarly had cash and distribution scale, along with that digital knowhow. And then Blockbuster had the relationships with Hollywood and a massively powerful brand name when it came to rentals.
But none of them were able to execute in this market nearly as well as Netflix, which really did focus on making the consumer experience top notch from very early on. None of this means that the small company always beats the incumbent. Certainly some big companies are able to step in and crush upstarts. But it's not nearly as easy as some people make it out to be.
51 Comments | Leave a Comment..
Forget cable TV at school. Your dorm or fraternity likely pipes basic cable to your room, but you don’t want to be stuck in there, watching Gray’s Anatomy every Thursday night. No, you need to be out, enjoying your collegiate experience so take all that media with you. Or, hook something up to your TV that allows you to play back anything you want. That’s how the cool kids do it.
On the go
Your phone
There’s a good chance that your phone can also double as a quality media player. Perhaps all it needs is a large Micro SD card for a bit more storage. But even most feature phones support at least the popular media files while some smartphones can playback nearly everything. You often sacrifice battery life in exchange for the convenience, but it’s also cheaper. Just think of all the beer you could buy not spending $100 on a media player.
SanDisk Sansa Fuze +
There is so much to like about this PMP line. They’re relatively cheap, have expandable memory, FM radio, and supports nearly every media format man has ever created. On the downside, the screen is a tad small for videos, but it should work in a pinch. But one of it’s biggest draws is that it’s not an iDevice. Anything with an Apple logo tends to mysterious disappear during parties and events. They seem to scream “Steal me and sell me for book money!” The Sansa Fuze + doesn’t have that feature.
iPod touch
Word of advice: You can totally con your Mom into buying you a new iPod touch if you promise to have some quality Facetime with her once a week. You can also probably tell her that you need one for a certain app like, say, for your medical terminology class. But you need to guard said iPod touch with your life. Buy one of the sports arm bands and strap it to your inner thigh because people will try to steal it especially if they know it’s one of the fancy new camera models.
In your room
Your computer
The majority of TVs and computers these days have an HDMI jack, making connecting the two rather easy. Just head over to Monoprice and pick up a long cable. This is by far the easiest and least expensive way to playback all of your media on your TV. It isn’t, however, neccesarly the best. HD playback often suffers at the hands of the graphic processor and it’s not at all convenient without a remote or interface designed for a TV. But it works and that’s all that matters.
The WD TV
Geeks love the WD TV. It’s supported by a large development community and plays back everything. Content can either be feed via a network or USB drive. Best of all, it’s small, portable and can be found for under a $100 online.
The Boxee Box
You’re going to have to ask Santa for this one. It doesn’t come out until November, but when it does, it will no doubt be the defacto standard in media streamers. The Boxee software utilizes an Atom platform paired with an Webkit browser running an HTML5 interface to serve up one of the classiest UI’s ever. It connects with all the major and minor video sites from ABC, NBC, Revision3, YouTube, Netflix and all the rest and streams the content right to your TV bypasing all the annoying Internet noise. Oh, and it has a QWERTY remote. Until it drops, though, you can always download the software and put it on your PC that’s connected to your TV anyway.
See the rest of our Back To School 2010 coverage right here!
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benchcraft company scam
Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Zoe and Brad Goreski Calling It Quits — Amicably <b>...</b>
Thomas Evans/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa "Bananas!" Celeb stylist Rachel Zoe and her bow-tie clad assistant Brad Goreski have sadly decided to go their separate ways, effective Oct. 1.
<b>News</b> Roundup: Gordon Ramsay Responds to Chef's Suicide, Brad <b>...</b>
Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the death of 'Kitchen Nightmares' contestant Joseph Cerniglia. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ramsay expressed.
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Blockbuster Bankruptcy, Yet Again, Highlights How It's Not Easy To Just Copy The Disruptive Innovation
from the and-there-we-go-again dept
Late last week, there were a ton of press reports about how Blockbuster was preparing to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. It's not shutting down, but just trying to restructure its debt, get out from under a bunch of store leases and try, try again. That said, this is yet another example of the fallacy of the claim of many that if you have a good idea some big company will just come along, copy it, and be successful. It also demonstrates the huge difference between idea and execution.
Netflix had a good idea and executed well on it. But for years everyone thought it was only a matter of time until the company got destroyed, because all these bigger (at the time) companies were just going to copy Netflix and win. First it was Wal-Mart. The retail giant started a service that seemed almost identical to Netflix way back in 2002. Everyone thought there was no way an upstart like Netflix could compete with the likes of Wal-Mart. Fast forward two and a half years and Netflix took over Wal-Mart's online DVD rental business, because Wal-Mart's offering couldn't compete.
In between those events, in late 2004, Amazon stepped into the market (oddly, Netflix itself broke the news), by starting a Netflix-clone in the UK, though everyone expected them to bring it to the US as well. Even those who thought Wal-Mart didn't have the digital know-how to compete with Netflix figured that Amazon had a strong likelihood of success given its e-commerce success. Jump forward to 2008 and Amazon, which never brought the offering stateside, dumped the DVD rental business in Europe.
And, of course, there was Blockbuster. It came out with a Netflix-like offer around the same time that Wal-Mart did, and while it held on for much longer, it was just never able to build up the same sort of userbase that Netflix did, and now the company is going to declare bankruptcy and try to restructure once again.
It's really a fascinating case study. If you just looked at the simplistic analysis of "oh no, big company will crush small innovative company," you had to imagine that at least one of these firms would destroy Netflix along the way. Wal-Mart is a retailing giant, and even if it didn't have the digital chops, it had more money and distribution process efficiencies than Netflix could ever dream about. Amazon similarly had cash and distribution scale, along with that digital knowhow. And then Blockbuster had the relationships with Hollywood and a massively powerful brand name when it came to rentals.
But none of them were able to execute in this market nearly as well as Netflix, which really did focus on making the consumer experience top notch from very early on. None of this means that the small company always beats the incumbent. Certainly some big companies are able to step in and crush upstarts. But it's not nearly as easy as some people make it out to be.
51 Comments | Leave a Comment..
Forget cable TV at school. Your dorm or fraternity likely pipes basic cable to your room, but you don’t want to be stuck in there, watching Gray’s Anatomy every Thursday night. No, you need to be out, enjoying your collegiate experience so take all that media with you. Or, hook something up to your TV that allows you to play back anything you want. That’s how the cool kids do it.
On the go
Your phone
There’s a good chance that your phone can also double as a quality media player. Perhaps all it needs is a large Micro SD card for a bit more storage. But even most feature phones support at least the popular media files while some smartphones can playback nearly everything. You often sacrifice battery life in exchange for the convenience, but it’s also cheaper. Just think of all the beer you could buy not spending $100 on a media player.
SanDisk Sansa Fuze +
There is so much to like about this PMP line. They’re relatively cheap, have expandable memory, FM radio, and supports nearly every media format man has ever created. On the downside, the screen is a tad small for videos, but it should work in a pinch. But one of it’s biggest draws is that it’s not an iDevice. Anything with an Apple logo tends to mysterious disappear during parties and events. They seem to scream “Steal me and sell me for book money!” The Sansa Fuze + doesn’t have that feature.
iPod touch
Word of advice: You can totally con your Mom into buying you a new iPod touch if you promise to have some quality Facetime with her once a week. You can also probably tell her that you need one for a certain app like, say, for your medical terminology class. But you need to guard said iPod touch with your life. Buy one of the sports arm bands and strap it to your inner thigh because people will try to steal it especially if they know it’s one of the fancy new camera models.
In your room
Your computer
The majority of TVs and computers these days have an HDMI jack, making connecting the two rather easy. Just head over to Monoprice and pick up a long cable. This is by far the easiest and least expensive way to playback all of your media on your TV. It isn’t, however, neccesarly the best. HD playback often suffers at the hands of the graphic processor and it’s not at all convenient without a remote or interface designed for a TV. But it works and that’s all that matters.
The WD TV
Geeks love the WD TV. It’s supported by a large development community and plays back everything. Content can either be feed via a network or USB drive. Best of all, it’s small, portable and can be found for under a $100 online.
The Boxee Box
You’re going to have to ask Santa for this one. It doesn’t come out until November, but when it does, it will no doubt be the defacto standard in media streamers. The Boxee software utilizes an Atom platform paired with an Webkit browser running an HTML5 interface to serve up one of the classiest UI’s ever. It connects with all the major and minor video sites from ABC, NBC, Revision3, YouTube, Netflix and all the rest and streams the content right to your TV bypasing all the annoying Internet noise. Oh, and it has a QWERTY remote. Until it drops, though, you can always download the software and put it on your PC that’s connected to your TV anyway.
See the rest of our Back To School 2010 coverage right here!
benchcraft company scam
Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Zoe and Brad Goreski Calling It Quits — Amicably <b>...</b>
Thomas Evans/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa "Bananas!" Celeb stylist Rachel Zoe and her bow-tie clad assistant Brad Goreski have sadly decided to go their separate ways, effective Oct. 1.
<b>News</b> Roundup: Gordon Ramsay Responds to Chef's Suicide, Brad <b>...</b>
Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the death of 'Kitchen Nightmares' contestant Joseph Cerniglia. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ramsay expressed.
benchcraft company scam benchcraft company scam
Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Zoe and Brad Goreski Calling It Quits — Amicably <b>...</b>
Thomas Evans/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa "Bananas!" Celeb stylist Rachel Zoe and her bow-tie clad assistant Brad Goreski have sadly decided to go their separate ways, effective Oct. 1.
<b>News</b> Roundup: Gordon Ramsay Responds to Chef's Suicide, Brad <b>...</b>
Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the death of 'Kitchen Nightmares' contestant Joseph Cerniglia. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ramsay expressed.
benchcraft company scam bench craft company rip off
Castlevania demo leads PSN update PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our PlayStation 3 news of Castlevania demo leads PSN update.
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Zoe and Brad Goreski Calling It Quits — Amicably <b>...</b>
Thomas Evans/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa "Bananas!" Celeb stylist Rachel Zoe and her bow-tie clad assistant Brad Goreski have sadly decided to go their separate ways, effective Oct. 1.
<b>News</b> Roundup: Gordon Ramsay Responds to Chef's Suicide, Brad <b>...</b>
Gordon Ramsay has opened up about the death of 'Kitchen Nightmares' contestant Joseph Cerniglia. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ramsay expressed.
bench craft company rip off
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