Sunday, August 21, 2011
red queens, redbox, red logos, in and out of the red
A recent course assignment called for the viewing of a movie based on the work Philip K. Dick. As I looked through the list of available movie choices, I hoped I would be able to see something new. That hope was dashed because, well, I’m lazy and impatient. I didn’t want to wait for a DVD to be shipped to me and I didn’t want to leave my house to go pick up something from the library or the neighborhood video spot, Casa Video, so I went with what was streaming on Netflix, Blade Runner (maybe I’m secretly brilliant because there are talks of a Blade Runner follow up). I curled up with my notebook computer and watched as the protagonist fell prey to human emotions as his mission to eradicate the planet of the remaining replicants is complicated by his romantic interest in one (or is she human?!).
I see the current business of DVDs as evolve or die. Redbox is attracting many and making money but it is a dying market as technology continues to develop and file formats change to reduce demand on bandwidth. Will it be dead tomorrow? No, there is still a large audience interested in renting and purchasing DVDs – collectors, owners of home entertainment systems not designed to stream online materials, those unable to afford Internet connected devices and/or connectivity, etc; but that audience is declining in size.
However streaming media is an excellent example of the Red Queen’s hypothesis as expanded upon by Dr. David Thornburg AND the hypothesis increasing returns put forth by Dr. W. Brian Arthur. The Red Queen’s hypothesis, simply put, is evolve faster or die while increasing returns lauds that “for that which is ahead to get further ahead, for that which loses advantage to lose further advantage” (Arthur, 1996, p. 1). Streaming video or video-on-demand is developing at a rate that paid cable stations are scrambling to come up with the technology and planning necessary to compete with the likes of Netflix while Netflix continues to hold onto its grasp on the market by creating more partnerships with various broadcasting companies to increase offerings and turn around time from original air date (theatrical releases along with cable and network T.V.) to availability to its subscription base. Because Netflix is so much further ahead in the evolutionary process, I believe that other companies like Amazon and Hulu will continue to fall further and further behind with the only options available to them are to either build better networks to ‘lock in’ on the market or develop a better technology/system/process to head Netflix off at the pass.
I see the current business of DVDs as evolve or die. Redbox is attracting many and making money but it is a dying market as technology continues to develop and file formats change to reduce demand on bandwidth. Will it be dead tomorrow? No, there is still a large audience interested in renting and purchasing DVDs – collectors, owners of home entertainment systems not designed to stream online materials, those unable to afford Internet connected devices and/or connectivity, etc; but that audience is declining in size.
However streaming media is an excellent example of the Red Queen’s hypothesis as expanded upon by Dr. David Thornburg AND the hypothesis increasing returns put forth by Dr. W. Brian Arthur. The Red Queen’s hypothesis, simply put, is evolve faster or die while increasing returns lauds that “for that which is ahead to get further ahead, for that which loses advantage to lose further advantage” (Arthur, 1996, p. 1). Streaming video or video-on-demand is developing at a rate that paid cable stations are scrambling to come up with the technology and planning necessary to compete with the likes of Netflix while Netflix continues to hold onto its grasp on the market by creating more partnerships with various broadcasting companies to increase offerings and turn around time from original air date (theatrical releases along with cable and network T.V.) to availability to its subscription base. Because Netflix is so much further ahead in the evolutionary process, I believe that other companies like Amazon and Hulu will continue to fall further and further behind with the only options available to them are to either build better networks to ‘lock in’ on the market or develop a better technology/system/process to head Netflix off at the pass.