Amazon.com celebrated its 15th anniversary a few days ago on July 16th. While 15 years is a short time, it is a considerable milestone in the digital space. It is one of very few companies that has evolved over the years and delivered for its customers, day in and day out. Surviving and growing over this time period is not an easy task. In celebration of Amazon.com’s 15th anniversary, here are a few lessons for media companies:
Success takes time: Right now, the media landscape is an exciting place for everyone involved. Success is not overnight, nor will it ever be. Give digital media a chance. Amazon today is very different from the company it was 15 years ago.
Growth takes time: 15 years ago, very few people purchased products online. Today, a vast majority do. Amazon.com is successful because it was there when no one else was. It might not have been profitable earlier on, but today Amazon.com is one of the largest retailers in the world.
Variety: If you visit Amazon.com today, you can purchase anything from chewing gum to exercise bikes to clothes. That’s variety. Some people may purchase one thing, others might prefer something completely different. Offer variety.
Compete: A lot of media companies, new and old, small and big are afraid to compete. With the Kindle, Amazon is competing aggressively against giants such as Apple, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc. Surprisingly, they’re doing well. Competition has always been healthy.
Open: Nearly all my media is purchased (DVDs, MP3s, movies, etc.) from Amazon.com. The same applies towards books. With Amazon’s Kindle platform, their media offerings are available on dozens of different devices. By providing an open platform, they’re making it easy for their customers and hence retaining business in the long run.
Customer Service: If you’ve ever called Amazon.com, you’ll realize that their customer service agents are always helpful and courteous. Often times, the resolve problems instantly. Very few companies do that without making their customers feel like criminals.
Risk: While risk is standard practice in the media space, Amazon.com manages risk well. They’re starting to roll out their buy-back program, where you ship your books/DVDs/games to them in return for Amazon.com gift certificates. Risky? Yes. Huge potential? Absolutely.
Offerings: Amazon.com has realized that there are a few customers who purchase more products online than in stores (myself included). Therefore, Amazon successfully launched Amazon Prime years ago, making it easy for high-volume customers to purchase products more frequently. Offer premium products to your premium customers.
Experiment: If a company was capable of making every product successful, it would do so. But, that’s rarely the case. Amazon.com has and continues to experiment across the board. Some of them pay off, others don’t. In the end, these experiments create better products for the company and better offerings for customers.
Investments: Amazon.com has invested a lot of $$ by buying companies. Major names include Zappos.com and Audible.com. These investments might appear to be large, but Amazon tends to manage it’s investments well.
After nearly 15 years, Amazon is vastly different company than it was when it started. 15 years from today, it’ll be different again. Growth is not easy, neither is adapting to the changing landscape. Amazon knows that. Today, it may be their biggest reason for success.
Roku made a big splash into the connected devices market with its standalone box and Netflix partnership. While the box has evolved over time to add different partners and features, the device still delivers a core promise — online media on your TV in a simple way. In this review, I’ll take a look at the Roku HD-XR and see if it is a good fit for those trying to view their online media on a TV set.
About:
Roku currently has 3 different products. They are the Roku SD, Roku HD and the Roku HD-XR. At the core, they offer the same functionality. They deliver online media to a TV set. You cannot stream content from your computer, you cannot record on the device. It is purely a streaming box.
Setup:
Setting up the Roku HD-XR is fairly straight forward. The device, compared to gaming consoles, cable boxes, DVD players, etc. is very small. In fact, you can fit the device on your palm, making it extremely portable. To setup the device, connect it to your TV (cables included), power it on and follow the on-screen instructions. The HD-XR version allows you to connect via WiFi or via a wired connection. Once the inital setup is complete, you need to create an account at Roku.com to begin using the device.
You can add different services to the device (such as Pandora) quite easily. Currently, the device is compatible with thousands of different content providers, including Amazon On Demand, Blip.TV and even independent content creators such as Revision 3. To integrate most account based services (such as Pandora), you need to provide the device with a username and password through a computer. Overall, the device took less than 5 minutes to setup, including opening the box and watching a sample from Netflix.
Pros:
Size: Given the increasing number of hardware boxes that are entering the living room, it’s welcoming to see that Roku has kept their box small.
WiFi: In my case, the router is on a different floor than the TV. Fortunately, the HD-XR model connects to WiFi and streams content very well.
UI: The device uses a very simple user-interface that is descriptive and easy to use. No complicated menus or sub-menus to go through.
Partners: Roku has less of a name than companies like TiVo or Microsoft. However, their partner list is impressive. For a full list of partners, visit www.roku.com.
Integration: Setting up most services was extremely easy and often times completed within 30 seconds.
Cons:
WiFi instability: Often times, the Roku box would have issues with the WiFi signal, even though all other devices would work fine.
Computer dependency: Any service that requires authentication (such as Amazon.com, Pandora, etc.) requires having a computer at hand. While this is not a problem for most, it would be better to have an alternative solution in a pinch.
Price:
$79.99 (Roku SD)
$99.99 (Roku HD)
$129.99 (Roku HD-XR)
Conclusion:
Roku is one of those boxes that I sincerely believe everyone should have. It is an easy solution to view tons of content on a small, portable device. Other companies have tried to build something similar. However, their prices are either too high or they don’t have enough content partners. Roku solves both problems.
For the past few years, Microsoft has largely stayed under the radar with the Zune and other media initiatives. However, these initiatives, including Windows Media Center, the Zune Store and a host of similar services– desktop and console — are extremely powerful. They’re a little challenging to navigate for the end user, but they still deliver a great media experience.
Microsoft’s big winner in the past 18 months has been the XBOX 360 and XBOX Live. The company continues to add features for free and has partnered with various media providers, such as Netflix and now Hulu to make IPTV and connected media a real possibility. While the company has tried to entice users to develop applications for the Zune and the upcoming Windows 7 Phone, they’re still untapped and unproven territories. Just like any other industry, software development is a profession. And no one knows this better than Microsoft. However, if a certain marketplace is more succesful and far more mature, like the iTunes App Store, developers are more likely to create applications for that given platform.
Microsoft’s proven platform is XBOX 360. The company has millions of paid subscribers that are using the portal to access a host of content — streaming TV shows, movies, games, social networking, etc. Why not allow developers to build on top of that? There are a lot of developers that create content for Windows. By leveraging Microsoft owned development tools, the company could easily open up the XBOX 360 platform and create a whole new marketplace.
A similar example of this would be Roku. For those who aren’t aware, Roku is a small box that streams content to a TV set. It’s inexpensive and it’s very effective. The Roku platform allows the end-user to select their own “applications.” Pandora fan? Add Pandora to the box with a single click. Simple, easy and customized.
The same concept could apply to the XBOX 360. Microsoft should create an app store for the device and entice developers to build on top of that. Not only will that open up the flood gates for media companies, but it’ll be a real boom for casual game developers.
