Why the 99 cent app is killing traditional app publishing
Food for thought from David Barnard on App Cubby around the pricing of mobile apps and the race to zero for purchase price on apps, even with the big-ticket apps and games available for the mobile platforms. But Barnard goes beyond the problems for developers, and suggests this is what Apple intended:
…Apple’s policies and the design of the App Store itself initiated and even accelerated the race to the bottom. It’s clear to me in hindsight that this was either Apple’s intent, or at least something they didn’t actively discourage. To Apple, apps are merely complements to their highly profitable hardware sales.
Where other companies , such as Amazon with the Kindle Fire and console makes like Sony with the soon to arrive PS Vita in Europe and US, rely on additional sales to make up their profit, that’s not the Apple way. The majority of profit is in the handset, and the temptation to buy it is in app ecosystem where you can load up on thirty apps for $20 after your purchase.
Strike.
More than 45,000 Verizon workers are currently on strike and have been since midnight. The company is demanding more than 100 concessions that decimate 50 years of collective bargaining.
Why should I care? My father is a Verizon retiree who stands to lose his company-paid medical insurance as this is a proposal from management. He worked 35 years and walked miles of picket lines to protect those benefits.
Why should YOU care? Breaking unions has been a top priority for corporate America. And truly, that is what is killing this country. It’s all about the race to the bottom. How can we make everyone’s job low-paying with shitty benefits? It’s no coincidence that the middle class started to slide backward when unions came under attack.
We need a paradigm shift in this country. People need to stop saying: Why should you have that [health insurance, pension, wage, etc.] if I don’t have it, too?
They need to start asking: How do I get that benefit, too?
That’s the only way to stop the slide. Everyone should want more, instead of wanting less for everyone else.
Race to the Bottom
HeartsoundsHeartsounds - Race to the Bottom
“Another problem for traditional businesses is that even if they are successful in creating new digital models, they accelerate the cannibalisation of their still high-margin legacy businesses by the new low-margin platforms. It doesn’t help the position of the traditional players that they face different market expectations than their purely digital competitors. They are measured by their profitability, whereas profits are secondary to growth rates for the digital aggressors.”
—A Kodak moment for Barnes & Noble? | Stephen Bartholomeusz | Commentary | Business Spectator. The business world eats itself, summarized nicely. Competing against models that aren’t profitable is non-ideal!Report: U.S. Again Lags Behind In Math And Science Scores | Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
As we continue to gush billions of dollars for Afghanistan and Iraq as well as giving $100 million buildings to Israel, our school system continues to decline and our students continue to rank below a long list of other countries. The most recent reports of fourth and eighth graders shows the United States lagging behind Asian and European countries in math and science. Nevertheless, we will continue to give billions to wealthy countries like Israel with better schools and increasingly hostile countries like Pakistan and Egypt. The real threat to this country is the collapsing educational system and erosion of our competitive labor force.
The two new reports, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, show South Korea and Singapore leading in science in the fourth grade and Singapore and Taiwan leading in the eighth grade. The U.S. ranked 11th in fourth-grade math and 9th in eighth grade math. We ranked 7th in fourth grade science and 10th in eighth-grade science.
I am less worried about the ranking as I am with the fact that only 7 percent of students reached the advanced level in eighth-grade math compared to 48 percent of eighth graders in Singapore and 47 percent of eighth graders in South Korea.
I have been admittedly harping on this issue for years. I fail to understand how our leaders can get away with the lack of priority shown toward education which plays directly into our competitiveness in the world market.
“In Citizens United, the Supreme Court declared the corporations are, for the purposes of the First Amendment, people. Okay, then it's time for them to be better people and better citizens. People who commit extortion, it should be noted, go to prison. ”
—http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/hoffman-estates-sears-6619974'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' Renewed: TLC Orders Additional Episodes, Three Holiday Specials
huffingtonpost.comCongratulations, America. ‘Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’ will now officially have had at least as many seasons as ‘Twin Peaks’.
THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!!!
Daring Fireball Linked List: Race to the Bottom, Eh?
daringfireball.netPeople still persist in claiming that Apple’s hardware is overpriced. If you’re content with a bunch of off the shelf parts crammed into a cheap plastic box, then sure, you can get the same specs for a lot less. If you want a quality, custom made machine, that doesn’t feel like you’re going to break it in half as you use it, then things even up dramatically.
And I can prove it. The new HP “ultrabook”, which is designed to compare directly with the MacBook Air, is MORE EXPENSIVE than Apple’s machine. When trying to match the quality of an Apple product, even “race to the bottom” poster child HP can’t compete on price.
HP's PC operating margins: 5.7%, Apple's PC operating margins: 23%
bit.lyYou can’t squeeze a dime out of the PC market. The race to the bottom finally went thud. The future is bleak for PCs. Sell off the PC division now while the asking price is good. Sad move, but prolly the right one.
#UniteBlue This is WELL WORTHY of repeating: Plutocrats want you to work for $2 a day.
articles.latimes.com
Speaking at the Sydney Mining Club, Rinehart said her country’s mining industry couldn’t compete with nations that are willing to pay workers less than $2 a day for their sweat and labor.
