It’s a Collaboration, Not a Cage Match

Dave Hendricks has written an interesting essay over at Min, regarding the difference between device makers and content providers. For the most part, it’s a solid representation of what each brings to the table.

That being said, the premise rings a bit odd, at least to me. Hendricks writes, "Death Race 2009 has two contestants. One—the device maker—is represented at the Sprizon Wireless phone store, Best Buys and Apple/AT&T nexus of evil. The other is available on newsstands, on TV, in airports and on all the gadgets sold in aforementioned retail addiction outlets. According to numerous blogs and prognosticating prevaricators, they are in a herculean struggle from which only one will profitably emerge."

From "which only one will profitably emerge?" Would that our world would be that dramatic.

But how does a content device even hope to succeed without content? When the Kindle came out, despite a flurry of differing opinions, there was pretty much one common voice about why it could succeed: because it was tied into the Amazon store. The gadget, warts and all, has succeeded BECAUSE of content.

On the other hand, publishers have long wondered if they could be profitable delivering to such devices, but reader habits are changing at the same time the costs of print have been escalating. For these publishers, the gadgets represent an opportunity to continue to distribute content at a lower price.

No doubt: the same business model probably won’t work. Saying you could succeed the same way as before might be as simple-minded as saying that only content providers or gadget devices will profitably survive. Truth is, things are a lot more complex than that.

Consider the iPod. A few years ago, people were saying that Apple was making all the money while the artists were going out of business. And many of them did. But guys like Trent Reznor figured out that the iPod wasn’t his opponent and he leveraged it to be successful. In a nutshell: he gives away a ton of stuff and charges a premium price for limited edition work (Last year, Reznor offered a $300 limited edition compilation. It sold out in three days.). Moreover, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if musicians on the iTunes store were to disappear, the only people left buying iPods would be Apple fan boys, and even they would probably stop after one or two versions.

In the end, the only problem with Hendricks’ essay is the suggestion that it’s them against us, with only one survivor. Truth is, our collective survivals might hinge on the success of each other.