I have kept relatively quiet over the last 18months on this - due to the sensitive nature of what we, at Conchango, have been developing for one of the UK's biggest retailer!

So to help demystify, clear up and also show some of the innovation that Conchango and their retail partner is involved in, thought that now (seeing as they have just launched their Movies & TV areas of their site) that I would share a little insight into what is going on, where they are heading (without giving away too many secrets) , what we are going to do to achieve this and importantly why??

So quick background to begin with, our client had an “out the box” white label music download service. It began at the time when all retailers that had any music heritage needed to be in the digital game. They continued with this for almost 4 years until they decided that now was the time to do something about this. Either pull out as there was no apparent money in digital media or actually have a go at it and stay in the game, seeing as physical music and entertainment has a limited shelf life - that although may still be a while off - it will demise.

Conchango arrived in May 2007 to start what would become their Digital offering. Their very own digital download service that used Conchango’s DCP, but importantly would mean that they would become masters of their own destiny.

The first point of the over arching Digital Strategy is to look at initial ambitions of our client, share some real life scenarios and also help shape and show where the industry is heading - anyone who reads my blog will know that I have one or two opinions on this. This was everything from music, film, TV, printed media, devices and innovation in storage and delivery methods..

What became apparent is that after initial discussions and some market and growth patterns – is that currently making vast fortunes from retailing music at £0.79 is not going to make millions of pounds overnight, from a retailers point of view, not great - the P&L will look slightly lightweight to say the least in the short term. The future market place was shifting daily (as it does today) and our client needed to be sure that not only were they up to speed on these developments – but needed some radical new thinking about sustainable business models within the digital landscape. Speaking with labels and studios at the start was somewhat frustrating as there seemed to be no movement on what was a traditional business model - however the longer we progressed the more flexible and open to new ideas and concepts both the labels and studios were.

The 30,000ft view is that the “mass” market consumer is where our clients consumer sit (well as you can imagine from being one of the biggest retailers) and fundamentally a late adopter in the digital media landscape. Their customers may well be behind the curve in terms of gadgets, understanding and fear of not having anything tangible to hold, touch or feel. Digital assets are of course digital files that reside “somewhere” and some will have had poor experiences in the past when after spending money on digital content may have had this "lost" or just no longer working - normally after an OS upgrade and failure to back up those pesky DRM licences, as well as some of the early digital music casualties meant that they had a bunch of files that they could do nothing with. This time had to be different!

The mission was to demystify the digital landscape, give the consumer the reassuring hand of comfort that our client delivers in bucket loads elsewhere in their business – then help guide them through the minefield of acronyms, digital lingo and anything relating to what in effect is digital.

To break down the list and in some kind of order, in how they would deliver a digital offering went something like this:

• DCP: Conchango’s own platform for the future development of their media offering.
• MP3: Agnostic media format that is used and can be used across all devices. This was of course the trickiest element of the plan as when we started working there was "talk" and only talk of a full MP3 offering. So when the site was launched there was a smattering of MP3 - which of course was slated in the press and media as only having 1million MP3 tracks - I can tell you it was not for the want of asking and attempting to do the MP3 deals - more like the stubbornness of the labels to buck the trend and allow their music out there as unprotected MP3 files.
• TV & Film: This traditionally used windows media format that had the digital rights management delivered with it. So they were in the same situation as music - however cracking the movie studios is going to take slightly longer and with more technological advances before we start to see Spiderman 4 unprotected (as such)
• Streamed Media: To give the consumer the streaming experience direct to them without having a 1.5Gb file sitting on their hard drives (a la SKY, Virgin Media) Rental, On demand and Own – as well as portable.

At this point I could go on and share the other pieces of the picture that make up the next part of the strategy - but this is only the story so far, and I'm not one for letting the cat out of the bag!

Suffice to say that I have sat back and read with great interest and dismay the reports and journalists that see our client as another "me-to" play in this area. That they wouldn't really know or understand where the market is heading and how they would take on the mighty Apple. No matter what anyone does in Digital Media we are all held up against Apple (quite rightly though, what a bloody good job they did - whether you like them or their business model or not they certainly cracked it!)  and although this is unfair to everyone (apart from Zune - who rightly deserve a comparison and poor one at that!) it will remain so.

So what happens now - you will just need to keep your eyes and ears on announcements and press releases on what happens next - and sure that The Madman may well comment again (maybe not in another 18 months)

...be it a small and went relatively unnoticed - but change is a coming!!

I meant to post this as soon as it was announced - but never got round to actually posting it. So what is happening or happened ??

Take a relatively successful Sony Television programme that had its first 3 Seasons aired in the UK on Sky 1 - the suddenly not come back for a 4th Season (well on Sky 1 at least) the US network continued both Season 4 and planned to air Season 5 - However still no word on who would pick up the next Season if at all (as we know there are some great US shows that start in the UK and then for a number of reasons get dropped!)

I then had the added insight from my friends at Sony here in the UK - who told me that they have some exciting and innovative news coming for the next season....

What was that? What was he talking about? Who was going to get the next Season?

Then in October an announcement arrived that the next Season of Rescue Me (great US show about New York Fireman post 9/11 staring Dennis Leary) would be exclusively aired on......iTunes

Yes iTunes picked up the show, and released a "Season Pass" for the entire 4th Season for £9.99 (RRP of these Season is £39.99 normally sell for around £15)

So why so significant and revolutionary?

To suddenly see Apple in the TV space premiering shows is a big deal - its not just about resale of digital assets - their Apple TV is now becoming a TV station and starting to air new programmes that are not available on any other UK network at this stage. The user also owns the episodes and can at their leisure re-watch when ever they like. They get an email  to let them know that the next episode has downloaded and is available to watch.

Forget catch-up TV - Apple have (as I said at the start very small steps) stepped into the broadcast arena in the UK - and if successful may well start to exclusively premier more new TV shows that you will only be able to see via iTunes...

... or a complete rip off with no real value at all?

That is the question that is posed with the launch of the "revolutionary new way to buy music" Please welcome..... Datz.com

Revolutionary??? Really is it going to deliver me key recommendations? Work out my music taste - however ecliptic, and deliver me a new and exciting mix of old classics and the hottest new "unsigned" bands??

No sadly not??

This, for those that don't know or haven't heard about it is the pay £99.99 per year and lets you download as many tracks as you want from a choice of millions. Sounds good, but how, where, why...?

Here is the main hitch "Please note — in order to run Datz Music Lounge software you must have the secure USB dongle that is supplied in the retail pack. If you have lost this dongle or need a replacement please contact us..."  I mean WTF???? It hails itself as a DRM free environment and can sync to your iPod - but is also not yet compatible with Macs.

But hold on a second - looking for a specific album we come across the traditional WMA DRM files - and upon checking the format information we see that the old DRM rules still apply with conviction (you will comply, you will only transfer 5 time, you must register up to 5 devices, no more or you will be taken to court and jailed for 20 years!!)

The UI and experience is not designed to set the world on fire - and a severe lack of any additional rich metadata or actually any other content at all. Less is obviously more!!

The business model and plan is that Datz.com allows the user unlimited access and as a subscriber get to download MP3s of any song on the site. There are no restrictions, no protections or so they say - however as just highlighted I've seen a few. You get to keep everything you download - so this is not the old traditional subscription / rental service that the DRM expires each month.

So in essence what else does it do... well not a lot really to be honest - you can have a look if you really know what you're after for tracks, albums and artists via the search box - and then you have the hassle of downloading one track at a time. The catalogue cannot be viewed, browsed or grouped - in context quite messy really - which will of course scare you average Sainsbury customer (that are selling the USB dongles)  If you then move in to the uber sounding "Datz Music Lounge" here you may uncover or surface exactly what you are looking for - but this area really is for the hearty and less time conscious - rather than type, search, see , buy and download...

So far Datz trumps almost 1.5million tracks - roughly the same amount of tracks that iTunes, Napster, Virgin & HMV had back in 2005. The site has a lot of the traditional POP tracks - but only a selected few - more deeper catalogue (here we go in the "perceived value" or not of the long tail again!!) which means that in the end the site is not really aimed at the mass mark later adopter - but the very same digital music freaks that for them a one-year subscription would indeed be well worth the £99 in probably 2 days of downloading - and when the year is up - will no doubt have cleared the catalogue of all perceived value to them - and in turn that business model has just in one simple business model reinforced that in fact the music industry still has no idea on how to fluctuate and embrace their own long tail!

Just as the George Lucas sci-fi classic ran for years and years - such is the space for mobile devices - and the Mobile War that will undoubtedly erupt over the coming years I'm sure that the "Empire (may well try to) Strike Back" however with the latest glut of new touch phones arriving on the scene such as the Samsung Omnia which although has "elements" of touch, the overall user experience has been severely let down by Windows Mobile 6.1 - and really should not be allowed within a touch phone environment. so much so that you either need to carry the stylus around with you or use the rather wonderful "mouse" feature on the phone. Either way a poor mans excuse for a touch application. Samsung do try and have a great entry screen into their available features and functions but once you go through the magic door of Incantations... well that's really the end of that - you no longer have the will or the impetus to carry on.

No I have been a big fan of both Apple and Google and what they are trying to do within this space in terms of delivering a great experience to the user. The iPhone still is the best phone on the planet. Yes it may have some little foibles that to some will mean that it does not live up to the hype that people like me and others have been lauding over the iPhone since launch. Google have delivered their app on what has to be described as an ugly phone - but that's not the key here - I have never really like the designs from HTC and the G1 is certainly not the sleek sexy beast that we had hope would arrive - but maybe that is the key here...

Lets us think ahead somewhat and see what the Mobile War will take on...

Both Apple and Google have run with their mobile operators to get their products out to market. Apple have already launched their 2nd version of the iPhone with some initial tweaks and some very obvious omissions (such as front facing camera, Intel Atom chip..) and Google is still shiny and new and will no doubt be looking at what they deliver in their next handset in 2009.

So lets say that I am running Apple or Google's mobile arm of their business (what a lovely thought!!)  What are the key elements that I want to achieve?

Well a great platform that means that I can attract the most avid and creative developers to design, create and upload their work to my platform. They get recognition and $$$ in return for their applications selling and my store and customers get some of the most innovative applications on their device.

I create a handset that is as desirable as any iconic device out there - I make it such a must have device that from kids to the older generation must be seen with one. (At this stage and I'm Google I would have engaged some of the designers that were behind the iPod / iPhone and any other iconic piece of CE over the last few years and be busy working away on Google's own device)

I want to get people using my device and understanding all the possibilities (as well as limitations) to what it can do for my users and keep pushing the boundaries of innovation...

But then perhaps I no longer need or want to have the mobile carrier as my main connectivity for the device. I may decide that that the best move is to be part of a VoIP mobile client that I can then start to run and support my users data, media, and voice calls over the VoIP network. This could also mean that I leverage my advertising platform effectively giving the consumer free calls with their mobile handset for the sake of some ad messages, that would be delivered via video, text, mms or voice. There are so many ways to start moving the advent of free into mobile phones that it becomes almost too easy - consider some LBS (location based service) target advertising where the user may be using, or just used some data on a VoIP and LBS knows where you are as well as the NFC within the device knows that you have just exited Oxford Street tube station and you are directly outside the Nike store - a powerful message for Nike could be that that a targeted message / promotion / coupon / NFC discount where the user only needs to turn around to enter the store...

So why does Apple and Google need to have a deal with a mobile network anyway? Well using Wi-Max as the vehicle for VoIP delivery on a mass scale - but this will never reach the level of penetration that the mass market needs - so there will be a role reversal in that the mobile providers will become the fail-over when the VoIP fails and this, depending on the location and tariff, will depend on the users usage and location on what price plan they would need to sign up with the mobile operator - so get tied in with an operator just now and maybe even one that has a great wi-fi business just now (such as T-Mobile) so that the jump to VoIP is a seamless transition...

So while we have now arrived in a brave new mobile world - this is only the beginning and will see what comes from the giant that is Nokia (they are a mobile manufacturer first and foremost - lets not worry about Comes with very little) and what Microsoft will do about their mobile platform surely it's got to get better...

Let the battle commence...