The Boston Globe has a brief interview with Sprint Nextel's COO, Len Lauer regarding their investment in next generation wireless.
A couple of interesting points. First, will consumers pay $2.50 per tune rather than the iPod 99 cents simply for the privilege of copying, burning, etc.? The music industry seems to be assuming that each person will make 2.5 copies, on average, and that they want to be compensated for the extra 1.5 copies.
Second, will video on cell phones be bigger than music (audio)? Does anyone really want to watch clips of the Patriots on their cell phone screen? I don't get it. Must be a generational disconnect. What's holding video back? DRM.
Snippets:
Q: What's preventing video from becoming bigger than music on wireless phones right now?
A: Digital rights management. Content providers obviously have been averse to people having their content. The music industry has been most innovative at working with digital rights management.
An example is the Sprint Music Store. When you download a song, not only do you get to replay that as long as you want on your handset, you can download it to your PC, you can send it to two additional PCs, you can burn as many CDs as you like. The broadcast and video content industry is a little behind the music side.
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