Tag Archives: Amazon

Jan 28 2012

A new economy on the up – The Web Economy

Most of us rely on the internet to a great extent; this blog only exists because you are a connected person. And the chances are that you buy books from Amazon, pick your news up at bbc.co.uk and send emails as a principal method of communication. 20 years ago none of this existed in our homes!

you may be able to order it on-line but would the Post Office deliver it?

Now we have access to the internet on our telephones. And that is about to grow, It is reckoned that by 2016 about 80% of all internet users will access the web using a mobile phone. Google have concluded a study which also suggests that by 2016 over 3bn people (around half of the population of the planet) will have access to the internet. It is also suggested that around the same time there will be one trillion devices connected to the internet at any one time.

And with that connectivity will come a shift in the way we buy things. In four years the Google study is suggesting that commercial activity on the internet will grow from the present £1.5tn to £2.7tn.

These are amazing figures, except that this still represents a tiny proportion of what we spend. It is around 4% of the total economy – so some way to go. And perhaps some cheer for our High Streets – which still have some place in our super-fast-always-on world. We still like to go and touch and feel stuff…

As I was reminded last week, there are some things that don’t work on-line. My morning dose of Costa Coffee for instance – I might be able to order it, but the delivery might be a little more challenging?

Jan 22 2012

My broken Amazon Kindle… and great customer service

For some reason my Kindle has parted company with this life. The screen has frozen – the only visible image is half of the face of Enid Blyton with vertical and horizontal lines across the rest of the screen. It’s not easy to read my Steve Job’s biography!

What my Kindle used to look like...

I have no idea what has happened, I don’t think it has been dropped or otherwise abused – it lives permanently in the case it came with.

So, I thought I would see what Amazon thought. They have a web-page with some self-help remedies. None worked for me. Then you can email them, which I did. I got a fairly quick response (less than 12 hours) asking me to call them via a link on their website. You basically enter your phone number and asks them to call – your two options are ‘now’ or ‘in 5 minutes’. i opted for ‘now’. The phone instantly rang!

I went through a few details with the lady – she obvious knew who I was. She decided that it was definitely broken and said they would post me a new one. I need to send the other one back. She emailed me a confirmation and a return label to print. I have to use the ‘new’ box – and someone is going to collect it from my work…

When my new Kindle arrives, I simply have to register it and all of my books will automatically download!

To put it mildly, I am impressed. There was no fuss, no drama and the whole thing couldn’t have been easier. After my last dealing with Sky, this was a refreshing change. And, I’m looking forward to getting back to the life and times of the late Steve Jobs.

Well done Amazon – this is exceptional customer service…

Jan 10 2012

Retail – where next in 2012?

I have touched upon the state of retail on the High Street before – notably just before Christmas when Portas issued her queen of shopping report. The blog was here.

As the retailers start t announce their Christmas trading stories, it looks like we are going to see some big changes in the next 12 months,. Some of the retailers we have become used to seeing as part of the street scene may be on the move – in some cases it may already be too late.

We may have to come to terms with a different feel to where we shop. In the next 12 months we could see a number of big names depart – La Sensa, Thorntons, Blacks, HMV, Argos, Mothercare, New Look, Peacocks and Superdrug are all under the cosh. Some of these guys have big box shops – the departure of which will make our Cities seem different places. And not in a good way!

The general view seems to be that felt sales will be good. Of course the retailers are facing an attack from the internet. Sales in some online stores have seen big increases – John Lewis shifted £600m of stock – with a 27% increase on sale in December. Their Christmas trading statement is here.

It only seems like yesterday when I was involved in the letting to Waterstones on Bridlesmith Gate in Nottingham – that was in 1998 – six years before Amazon even existed. It was a fantastic concept based around ‘dwell time’ – in other words if you keep people in your store – they will spend money. 20 minutes was the tipping point. I still like the store – but guess that I buy four books on Amazon (three of those on Kindle!) for every one I buy in Waterstones.

At the same time though the major supermarkets just seem to be growing – they are bidding for land considerably in excess of where residential ever were – even at the peak of the market.

It will be an interesting 12 months – I wonder what Nottingham will look like this time next year?

Jul 21 2011

A new camera and a bargain too…

I take my photography quite seriously – and have a small collection of cameras. In recent times I have been quite interested in Video too – especially as we have worked towards High Definition – and the joy of AppleMac editing software. iMovie is brilliant!

At the isle of Wight Festival this year I noticed that the BBC were using Canon still cameras for their interviews for The Apprentice ‘comments’. The Canon cameras in particular have come a long way in a very short space of time! It seems incredible that these ‘pro-sumer’ cameras are good enough for mainstream TV.

I have used Canon gear for a while (well actually since my Nikon gear was nicked). I have a collection of lenses and other accessories – which is a clever way of tying you into the system.

The Canon 40D I have had a for a few years and is a very good camera – but it doesn’t do video. And I fancied one of the new ‘bridge’ cameras as they are known. I did my research and the choice was between the Canon 5D MkII or the 7D – which is around £500 cheaper. That was an easy choice…
so
I only needed a body – the camera ‘kit’ comes with a lens which is inferior to one I already have – the best price I could see was around £1079 for the body alone. This was on various web sites. On Saturday morning – before I made my final decision I went into BestBuy in Nottingham to have a look at the thing in real life. I got talking to the member of staff who told me they would not just price match but then deduct 10% of the difference too. So the price of the camera would be reduced from £1250 – their list to £1,062 – a saving of £188.

Deal done. I am now the proud owner of a Canon 7D. I have so far read the manual – which exhausted me. But I haven’t been out yet to give it a whirl. I am looking forward to this and may well post some images here shortly…

Well done BestBuy.

Nov 23 2010

The Beatles on itunes

So the big announcement last week was that The Beatles were now available on itunes. I guessed wrong on my blog. My colleague blogged about it here.

Apple and Apple Corps / The Beatles are at one. Lennon would be proud – although it has taken a while to give peace a chance. Evidently Steve Jobs has been after the Beatles back-library on itunes since it started in 2003.

But at what price. Most of the albums are £10.99 – far more than I would pay for a CD. The acid test – The Beatles Box Set. £125 on itunes and £119.99 on Amazon? Sure you get some additional material, but you also get fairly dross sounding 256 bit compressed sounds. This is on top of the 40 year old recordings and the inherent crackle.

Earlier this year Apple passed the 10 billion downloads mark – so I can only assume that people are happy to buy sub-standard sounding seriously expensive tracks which you can only share on limited computers?

Alternatively – buy the CD’s – rip them at lossless quality (between four and six times better) and get to keep a back up – just in case your laptop / computer walks or passes away… Oh, and there’s no limit on how many computers you can install on? I blogged about this nearly a year ago here.

As the croupier in Casino Royale says to James Bond, “The choice is yours”…

I know what I would do. Except I am not in a rush to buy 250 Beatles tracks!

Aug 21 2010

Music – having a good time!

Last week the PRS released some interesting facts about the state of the UK music industry – up to the end of 2009.

Clockwork Lights - the next big thing?

They found that the UK music industry was worth £3.9bn in 2009, up 4.7% on 2008. Retail spend stabilised on recorded music including CDs, downloads, music DVDs and streaming. Live music revenues have increased 9.4% to £1.5bn including direct ticket sales, secondary ticketing and ‘on the night’ spend. And recorded music revenues in the UK are shown to be larger than the US when expressed per head of population.

At last the price of a CD is coming down with the average now at £7.99, but often lower prices can be found by shopping around.

So the music industry is having a good time!

But the gap is widening between the superstars at the top and grass roots bands. With AC/DC rumoured to have been paid £3.5m for their Download appearance in 2010 and the closure of many pubs where bands start out – this may be a trend for some time to come. My sons band know this all too well. Setting out is tough – they have released an EP here – which they paid for themselves. It’s a far cry from the supergroups. But everyone starts somewhere!

It is interesting that music bucks the general economic situation – perhaps we still need cheering up from time to time. If I am not listening to Radio 4 in my car I am generally plugged into my itunes library. I am slowly working through the 14,200 songs!

I still buy CD’s as I see it as DRM free, of the highest quality and with its own back up! I do occasionally download music, but not from the itunes store anymore – generally from the Amazon MP3 store.

I am looking forward to the day when Jack’s band play the Isle of Wight…and I can hang around backstage….