Finally, the industry has decided to move in the right direction. With an incredible number of illegal movies downloaded from the web, one shall be worry to see the movie industry going into the same direction as the music industry. IFPI estimates the trade of pirate discs was worth US$4.5 billion globally in 2005. At the same time, almost 20 billion tracks were illegally swapped or downloaded on the Internet in 2005.

For almost 10 years, the music industry rejected digital format totally and continued to sell CD and cassettes tapes. The music business completely disregards the digital revolution and the potential damages to its industry.

The results: CD sales continue to decline throughout the last decade. The CD, which in 2006 accounted for over 80% of total global sales, is rapidly fading away. In America, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the volume of physical albums sold dropped by 19% in 2007 from the year before—faster than anyone had expected. For the first half of 2007, sales of music on CD and other physical formats fell by 6% in Britain, by 9% in Japan, France and Spain, by 12% in Italy, 14% in Australia and 21% in Canada.

On the other hand, share of digital format increases steadily, placing Apple / iTunes as one of the top music reseller in USA. Paid digital downloads grew rapidly, but did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs. (read here)

The movie industry had even harder to resist, facing similar challenge where people copy movies and watch them on their portable player or laptops. The threat is even bigger since people usually consume movie the same as consuming food: you watch it once and you do not watch it again. The temptation to just download movie and not pay for a hard copy is high. Rare are the ones (I still belong to them) who want to enjoy the physical copy of the disc and still buy DVD and now, Blu-Ray.

The proposed solution that is coming from studios like FOX, called digitalcopy.

The idea: include a digital format with the hard copy. (GREAT! This is exactly what I would need as a consumer.)

How does it work ? The DVD or Blu Ray disc you buy is provided with another CD that contain the dedicated digital format. You insert your CD in your computer, enter the provided code and you are ready to transfer the movie into your preferred iPod or Laptop. I did not check yet which format was provided but at least the iPod is supported.

Consumers are not buying a format; they are buying a movie. Therefore, they should not be forced to follow technology in a world where it is so easy to copy and get hold on illegal movies. The solution is promising and I wish it could be extended to other studios and their entire catalog.

So far, only a small number of movies benefit from this concept but as consumers, we shall support it. New titles are regularly proposed from the Amazon.com website. Recent titles includes The Dark Knight and Wall.E

Guys, well done, continue on the same direction. This is a great initiative that deserves praise.

Do not read the news paper or watch TV often? Now you have little excuse for not knowing who is running for the US presidential campaign. Democrat, Barack Obama, made an interesting move by running his campaign advertisement in the least unexpected place - online video games.

Moving from traditional advertising to the digital realm, Obama’s camp purchased ad spaces in 18 popular games such as Need for speed: Carbon, Guitar Hero 3, Madden 09. However, these ads are directed at certain states and viewers of the ads can be traced through their IP addresses registered. Obama even have a mii, a digital avatar created for the Wii games, which is hugely popular to download.

Aimed at targeting voters who are male and between the ages of 18 to 34 years old, spend a minimum of six hours per week playing games, thus digital advertisements adds to Obama’s edge over his rival among the younger voters.

Advertisements coming in forms of banners and billboards in the games, gamers will see Obama’s face and  a reference to voteforchange.com – an easy to navigate site where voters can register online to vote, find polling locations, register to vote absentee, and obtain additional information on voting.

Understanding the shift in where people are spending their time and that traditional campaigning methods are no longer well received by the younger generation, Obama’s camp also placed ads in social networking sites such as facebook to reach the net savvy crowd earlier in the month. It is very interesting to see that the use of interactive media which is close to the heart of today’s society, has moved from commercial use to presidential elections. With such a bold move, the reach of Obama’s voters will be expanded.

Well done Obama’s camp! I am sure your creative way of campaigning will definitely pay off.

Never heard of Matsushita? You are not alone.

Matsushita, which makes a wide range of gadgets including flat-panel TVs, digital cameras and car navigation equipment, is far better known outside Japan as Panasonic.

Matsushita, founded by entrepreneur Konosuke Matsushita in 1918 in the western city of Osaka, has used the brand name Panasonic for products sold abroad and electronic and audiovisual products for the domestic market since 1955. Matsushita, who died at age 94 in 1989, was one of Japan’s most respected entrepreneurs.

With effect from October 1st 2008, Matsushita Electric Industrial is ditching its founder’s name to trade under one name globally — Panasonic, its best-known brand.
In conjunction with the cooperation’s 90th anniversary in business, the name change intends to gain more international recognition and to shift its business focus to the global market. It is also hoping that this and an $11 billion reserve of cash will increase its growth outside Japan and help the company compete with rivals like Samsung and Sony.

Matsushita’s U.S. division made the switch four years ago, but the Japanese parent company was more reluctant to ditch the traditional banner, which honored the company’s founder.
President Fumio Ohtsubo was the first to tackle the issue head-on earlier this year, as there was a big downside to inaction with the division of the company’s marketing budget.
Marketing executives divided up the money among the different brands, watering down the impact of the branding message. That showed in the split personality the company presented to the public.

For years, Matsushita’s rivals ridiculed its look-alike products as “Maneshita”, a pun on the company’s name that translates to copycat. Overseas, the branding was more consistent, under the brand Panasonic. Few consumers were familiar with the Matsushita name. In addition, corporate execs from Panasonic in New Jersey and others totally butcher the pronunciation of Matsushita.

Expansion overseas is a critical task for Matsushita, which earns half its revenue from its home base of Japan, where the population is aging. Sony earns more than three quarters of its sales outside Japan, helped in part by its strong brand name.

In terms of brand awareness, a crucial element in the industries of consumer electronics and home appliances, Panasonic ranks 78th on Interbrand’s most recent list of top global brands, well behind Samsung, at 21st, and Sony, ranked 25th. With the unification, the company will lead all its resources and activities to enhancing the value of ‘Panasonic’ brand and its slogan ‘Panasonic ideas for life.’

The company also sells home appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators under the National brand in Japan, but will also switch to Panasonic, ending the brand’s 80-year history. It expects to complete the changeover by the end of March 2010.

Matsushita’s decision to change its name comes half a century after a rival company, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, was renamed Sony.

Cliché as it may sound, but it’s always better late than never.’

Google teamed up with HTC and T-mobile to produce the T-mobile G1, the first phone to run the Google Android OS system. This phone is set to be officially released on the 22nd Oct, Wednesday.

Running as a competitor of apple’s iPhone, the G1 uses the same touch screen technology as the iPhone. However, it uses a slider QWERTY keyboard instead of the touch screen which greatly reduce the inaccuracies in spelling faced using the iPhone.

Since it is a Google product, the G1 comes fully equipped with the Google applications such as the Google maps, gmail, gsearch, youtube, etc. and these applications are easily accessible with a one-touch access on the G1.

Instead of going to the apple app store to purchase applications like the iPhone, G1 users can download applications from an Android Market. The difference between both places is that the Android Market comes with an open concept. Anyone can upload their applications on the Android Market. However, for the apple app store, only apps deemed worthy after a review by apple will be put on the apple app store. For me, both has its pros and cons. By reviewing the app, it reduces redundant apps and reduce the chances of viruses. However, one man’s junk might be another man’s treasure, thus with the apple app store, we might run into the possibility of rejecting apps which might be useful to a handful in the community.

Looks wise, as we know that apple focuses on the interface and the appearance of its product, whereas Google focus on the simplicity usage of its product, the iPhone would win hands down with its slick looks.

With the new G1, it is really interesting to see how a search engine company is morphing and expanding the market segment it is going into. From Google search, it developed the Google applications, then Google chrome early in the year and now G1. I am waiting to see how much more can Google expands its consumer market share.

For further reading: t-mobileG1, Android Market