AOL Purchase Bebo - Anyone Else Think This Is Doomed Already?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
AOL, one of the more hated ISPs due to their horrific software and awful support, are purchasing the social networking website Bebo for $850m (£417m). Bebo is currently the third largest social networking website, behind Myspace and Facebook. Bebo have more than 40 million members worldwide, so there will be plenty of users for AOL to deliver their advertising drivel to.
The price of the Bebo brand is rather insignificant when compared to the price that Microsoft paid ($240m)for a paltry 1.6% of Facebook last year. Or in fact, the price that was paid for Myspace by News Corp ($580m) in 2005. News Corp now value the Myspace brand at more than $15bn. I’d love to have some of what they’re smoking…
There has been a lot of interest in social networking sites over the last couple of years and it is easy to see why. Social networking websites are seen as a very valuable method of online advertising due to the fact that the sites’ members post information about themselves and their interests and adverts can be targetted specifically towards those interests.
It will be very interesting to see what AOL do with the Bebo brand, as they’ve really failed to deliver anything useful in the ISP stakes over the last few years. I’ve lost count of the customers (mainly home users) over the last few years who I’ve supported and helped with removing AOL due to the software being bloated and about as fun to use as poking yourself in the eye with pins. Likewise, there isn’t a day that goes by without someone spamming me with Bebo invites and telling me to come and share my life with them on yet another social networking site. So with Bebo’s spam and AOL’s awful ISP reputation, I’m predicting that this will now be a ticking timebomb.
What do you think about AOL taking over Bebo? And does anyone have anything nice to say about either brand?
HD-DVD Nets Toshiba A Cool $1bn Loss - Ouch!
Abandoning the HD-DVD format has resulted in a massive loss for Toshiba, to the tune of $1bn (well $986 million to be exact), according to Reuters.
This is an amazing statistic and just goes to show that losing a battle with a rival in the current technology climate can have huge implications on your year-end profits, let alone the fact that if you are not established in other markets you could go out of business altogether.
I don’t know about you, but when I read out $1bn to myself, I’m saying it in an Austin Powers voice.
Out of interest, did any readers purchase a HD-DVD unit? If so, what will you be doing with it now? Do you have a creative use for it?
Xbox 360: European Price-cuts
Microsoft have announced that they are slashing the price of their European Xbox 360 consoles. This will be welcome news for buyers who are looking to get their first next-gen console or perhaps add to their next-gen console collection. If you’ve just purchased one at the current prices…you might feel a little less happy.
From the 14th March, the 20Gb hard drive model will cost €270 across Europe, which is a price drop of €80.
In the UK, the entry-level Xbox 360 console (which does not have a hard drive!), will be available for £159.99. This is a price drop of £40 from the previous price of £199.99. The top level Xbox 360 console which is Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite will be on sale for £259.99. The Elite has a 120Gb hard drive.
Microsoft’s price drops mean that their consoles are now cheaper than both their Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii counterparts. The PS3 currently sells for £299.99 (40Gb hard drive), and the Wii retails at £180.
The price cuts are due to Microsoft losing ground on their rivals, as both competitors have been outselling the Xbox 360 on a monthly basis. There’s no doubt that Sony and Nintendo will be viewing these price cuts with added interest and it’ll be fun to see how they react.
Do you own an Xbox 360 or will these new lower prices entice you into getting one?
Domain Names - Don’t Get Caught Out
Domain names can be a very precious commodity, with the best of the best selling for ridiculous prices at places like Sedo.
As an example domains such as VIP.com ($1.4mil), BEER.com ($7mil), BUSINESS.com ($7.5mil) and SEX.com ($11-14mil depending on which report you believe), have all sold for very very high amounts of money. Of course these are generic domains and are valuable tools with the right marketing strategy, but it’s still a hell of a lot of money to throw down for a domain name.
Due to the prices that we see some of these domain names sell for, this has led to an increasing number of Internet speculators who will register a domain and then either park it and make money from the advertising revenue or they will try to sell it at one of the top domain auction sites, like the aforementioned Sedo.
If we take a look at some of the recent sales on Sedo, we can see that even the most normal looking domains can fetch fairly high prices. For example: musicvideo.info ($1114), caregiverz.com ($1588), glorylane.com ($2188) and malehq.com ($1800), have all made their respective owners a very healthy profit. Based on the fact that a domain costs on average $8-9, this is a very good return on their investments.
So how can you get caught out?
iPhone Users Rejoice - BBC iPlayer Now Available
The BBC announced today that they have made their BBC iPlayer software available on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. This is a great leap forward from the BBC and really shows that they are happy to be embracing the new technology available in the market. It’s clearly going to be the first step in the development of the software for many more portable devices.
Both the Apple iPhone and the iPod Touch are able to stream shows from BBC’s iPlayer over any wireless network. Unfortunately it is not yet possible to stream the BBC shows directly over the iPhone’s cellular network EDGE, as it cannot support the speeds needed for streaming video at present.
The BBC have also announced that they have agreed a deal with the wi-fi network firm The Cloud, where they will provide all of BBC’s online services for free at The Cloud’s 7500 wi-fi hotspots.
I’m really excited about this software upgrade as I use BBC’s iPlayer a lot on both my PC and MacBook Pro. As I’m often running around meeting clients and working, I tend to miss my favourite TV shows - so giving things an extra dimension and allowing me to use the software on my iPhone as well is a very welcome advance.
What do you think of the BBC’s updates? Will you be utilising the new functionality that this will provide to your iPhone or your iPod Touch?