"Traffic.com Is Poised To Fuel HD Drive-Time Reports"
"HD Radio can expand beyond title/artist displays and alternative programming. Addressable HD Radio receivers hitting the marketplace will be able to deliver stunning content like real-time traffic data. Traffic.com says “as soon as a station is willing and wants to do that, we’re capable of providing that service."
http://tinyurl.com/2fsaps
"MSN Direct Goes High Def with Clear Channel"
"Microsoft Corp. and Clear Channel Radio today announced at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that they have executed a collaborative agreement to build a nationwide data delivery service using HD Radio technology, providing personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers. This initiative will be branded MSN® Direct HD, an extension of Microsoft’s existing MSN Direct service, which currently transmits a variety of information including traffic, weather, movie times, sports, and stocks to Smart Watches, weather stations, Global Positioning System navigation devices and small home appliances."
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-08ClearChannelSPOTPR.mspx
"Microsoft provides personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers"
http://www.indoorlbs.com/id225.html
Now, to the good stuff:
"MSN Direct pricing - how much is too much?"
"Fossil's site finally sheds some light on the pricing of SPOT watches. At $180 each, plus about $10 per month just to actually use the core features of MSN Direct - well, many buyers could balk at the pricing. The service pricing is detailed on the MSN Direct site. The $9.95 per month plan included the first 30 days free. However, it seems to make much more sense to prepay and get the yearly plan, which runs only $59 per year - 50% off the monthly rate. An interesting point to note is that both plans "include News, Weather, Calendar, Messages, and Watch Faces, plus up to five additional channels from a list that includes Sports, Stocks, and Daily Diversions." So it's not even an unlimited service. Rather, it appears that you have to pick and choose from a list of functions that your watch could perform. Is that some sort of design limitation? Can the watch only "store", say, 10 functions, although more are available? Or is it a marketing and pricing decision? If so, can you pay extra to get all the possible functions? So here's the big marketing question for Microsoft: would somebody rather have an Xbox or a SPOT watch? (Or whatever else $180 + $60 will buy you these days - maybe a really nice "normal" watch?)."
http://www.dolcetechnica.com/blogs/peter/archive/2004/01/04/941.aspx
Now, let's take a look at the consumer go-to sites for MSN Direct and HD Radio:
http://www.statsaholic.com/hdradio.com
http://www.statsaholic.com/msndirect.com
They are both in exactly the same place - in trouble. And, take a look at who is carrying both HD Radios and MSN Direct devices:
http://msndirect.com/WeatherStationBuy.aspx
A pattern here of mediocore technologies that have associations with mediocore outlets (Sharper Image, Circuit City, Radio Shack). No doubt, HD Radio will be charging for its HD channels, since sales of HD radios have been so lackluster. And, if any of you have doubts, what a successful technology looks like, try apple.com, the go-to site for the iPod:
http://www.statsaholic.com/apple.com
"HD Radio can expand beyond title/artist displays and alternative programming. Addressable HD Radio receivers hitting the marketplace will be able to deliver stunning content like real-time traffic data. Traffic.com says “as soon as a station is willing and wants to do that, we’re capable of providing that service."
http://tinyurl.com/2fsaps
"MSN Direct Goes High Def with Clear Channel"
"Microsoft Corp. and Clear Channel Radio today announced at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that they have executed a collaborative agreement to build a nationwide data delivery service using HD Radio technology, providing personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers. This initiative will be branded MSN® Direct HD, an extension of Microsoft’s existing MSN Direct service, which currently transmits a variety of information including traffic, weather, movie times, sports, and stocks to Smart Watches, weather stations, Global Positioning System navigation devices and small home appliances."
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jan07/01-08ClearChannelSPOTPR.mspx
"Microsoft provides personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers"
http://www.indoorlbs.com/id225.html
Now, to the good stuff:
"MSN Direct pricing - how much is too much?"
"Fossil's site finally sheds some light on the pricing of SPOT watches. At $180 each, plus about $10 per month just to actually use the core features of MSN Direct - well, many buyers could balk at the pricing. The service pricing is detailed on the MSN Direct site. The $9.95 per month plan included the first 30 days free. However, it seems to make much more sense to prepay and get the yearly plan, which runs only $59 per year - 50% off the monthly rate. An interesting point to note is that both plans "include News, Weather, Calendar, Messages, and Watch Faces, plus up to five additional channels from a list that includes Sports, Stocks, and Daily Diversions." So it's not even an unlimited service. Rather, it appears that you have to pick and choose from a list of functions that your watch could perform. Is that some sort of design limitation? Can the watch only "store", say, 10 functions, although more are available? Or is it a marketing and pricing decision? If so, can you pay extra to get all the possible functions? So here's the big marketing question for Microsoft: would somebody rather have an Xbox or a SPOT watch? (Or whatever else $180 + $60 will buy you these days - maybe a really nice "normal" watch?)."
http://www.dolcetechnica.com/blogs/peter/archive/2004/01/04/941.aspx
Now, let's take a look at the consumer go-to sites for MSN Direct and HD Radio:
http://www.statsaholic.com/hdradio.com
http://www.statsaholic.com/msndirect.com
They are both in exactly the same place - in trouble. And, take a look at who is carrying both HD Radios and MSN Direct devices:
http://msndirect.com/WeatherStationBuy.aspx
A pattern here of mediocore technologies that have associations with mediocore outlets (Sharper Image, Circuit City, Radio Shack). No doubt, HD Radio will be charging for its HD channels, since sales of HD radios have been so lackluster. And, if any of you have doubts, what a successful technology looks like, try apple.com, the go-to site for the iPod:
http://www.statsaholic.com/apple.com
