Anuj Agrawal

Microsoft Live Search: New Dog, Old Tricks

It's been about a month now since Microsoft launched its Cash Back promotion around its new search engine, Live Search.  When I first saw the promotion, I found it to be an interesting concept.  Setup a standard affiliate program (although MS probably gets better rates than others) and pass back the affiliate commissions back to the consumer.  However, in looking at the rates on the Cash Back offers vs. the affiliate rates posted on their retailers sites, clearly Microsoft was giving more than standard affiliate rates.

In actuality they're giving consumers a portion of their ad revenue. They are applying a new model to search by collecting payment from advertisers after SALES instead of CLICKS.   This is clearly a strategy to differentiate from Google and lure advertisers to the Microsoft engine.  But my question is, what is the sustainable advantage for this model?  If this turned out to have traction in the market, Google could simply create a similar program to eliminate any incentives advertisers have in going to Microsoft.  And all this would lead to eroding profits in the online ad world as all the search engines one up each other with cash incentives.

For An Effective Mobile Ad, Send a Text

Up until the last few years, the majority of non-voice revenues from mobile phones has been in the form of SMS and mobile content such as ringtones, games, and more recently, ringback tones.  But now that the market for mobile advertising is starting to become real, we can start to assess which modes may be the most effective in terms of both customer experience and click through rates.  Having managed products in the mobile content industry, I am a stickler on keeping an optimal customer experience on a mobile phone and to me, understanding the mobile customer experience will be the main driver in determining which ad formats will ultimately prove to be successful.

The majority of ad placement is currently distributed via banner ads on popular WAP sites or applications (as in the picture above). For me, these are ineffective for 2 reasons: 1) waiting for banner ads to load on WAP pages detracts from the experience of the WAP page and 2) given the already limited amount of relevant information on a WAP site due to a lack of screen real estate, if I need to spend additional time waiting for subsequent pages to load, I am highly unlikely to spend the time clicking on an ad vs. clicking on more info from the WAP site I am visiting.  Also, on a handset, I don't have the luxury of clicking through to advertisers sites and clicking back to the publisher site easily due to the fact that pop-up windows are not prevalent on handsets (yet).  This all makes banner ads ineffective for the publisher, advertiser, and consumer.

Dolby Volume, Where Are You?

I can't wait for products to come out with the new Dolby Volume technology.  My wife and I were able to take in a few movies on the tube over the weekend, and our remote control was getting quite a workout.   When our receiver switches sources from content played with Pro Logic to content played with Dolby Digital, there is a dramatic shift in the volume level.  I know I am not alone on this.  The problem of course spans to almost any consumer electronic device given the various ways different audio sources are encoded, but it all comes down to consumer experience.   No doubt it can be improved.

Enter Dolby Volume, a new technology coming soon from Dolby that should help address the problem.  The basic premise is that the technology measures and analyzes how humans perceive sound and is able to regulate a volume level across all types and sources of audio. So when you go from watching a DVD in 5.1 to a TV program in stereo to a movie in ProLogic, the sound level and quality will remain consistent.  Another cool component of the technology is that it will allow you to customize the range of low to high sounds that are heard.  Thus, if you are watching a program late at night, you can customize the experience to keep the voices clear, while the intermittent music is toned down. 

3G iPhone: The Worst Kept Secret is Finally Here...

So after I finished taking in a live blog of the Apple WWDC 3G iPhone launch event, my first reaction was that the sticker price of $199 is going to be a home run.  Of course, we should thank AT&T, who is now applying a subsidy, even though they are offsetting it by increasing the service plans by $10 more per month on the basic plan.

We all remember the hype that the Motorola RAZR received during its launch and subsequent price cuts.  Soon it seemed like 80% of the population were taking RAZRs out of their pockets.  Of course the RAZR craze has fizzled out as it has been unable to retain the sleek image and brand it commanded during its unveiling. But the same is not happening with iPhone.  Although the transition from RAZR to RAZR 2 was very quiet, this 3G iPhone has been the most anticipated gadget of the year. 

Book Review: The Strategy Paradox

I try to keep on top of the latest strategic frameworks and research coming from leading institutions by reading books and various business mags.  I'll keep the blog up to date with what I'm reading now as well as provide my views on what I'm reading.  The first installment is a review of The Strategy Paradox.

The Strategy Paradox comes from Michael Raynor, the co-author with Clayton Christenson on "The Innovator's Dilemma".  Michael presents an interesting view into the "uncertainties" that businesses face about the future given changing industries, regulations, environments, etc.  He writes that in order to execute a particular strategy successfully, you must fully commit to that strategy.  The paradox is that this same commitment can come back to bite you if the future doesn't turn out quite as you expected.

The book certainly brings to light the theory around developing real options and provides a very basic framework about how to develop the right options.  However, the framework is not rigorous in its presentation and would require a strong personal interpretation by those who choose to use it.  In the end, most of the book spends its time convincing you that the future is uncertain (which most people know anyway) with interesting examples of Sony's Betamax and MiniDisc failures and very little time in developing a truly useful framework for the problem.  This could have easily been adapted into an HBR article and given the reader the same takeaways.

Is Internet TV On TVs Starting to See the Light?

These days, you can't open a digital media newsletter without reading about a newly launched Internet site trying to figure out how to finally take serious timeshare away from the TV. Usually these are me-too type sites but having finally spent some time on Hulu (the JV between News Corp and NBC Universal), I can finally see the "convergence" (sorry, I am tired of the word too, but it fits so well) of Internet and TV. Anyone who has gone to Hulu will be pulled in by the vast amount of TV and movie content in a very user friendly design that makes it very difficult to pull yourself away from the site. This is what a true On-Demand service needs to look like on the TV set.

The Comcast On-Demand service I have is adequate, but with so many categories and different types of content, a user can tend to get lost looking for content. Also, the depth of the content offering is pretty thin, at least when it comes to network TV programming. Now there is no doubt that this is not purely Comcast's fault since it takes two to tango and it's up to the networks to distribute their programming. But if broadcast networks are driving the Hulu model, we should be able to get the same level of content on our cable systems. Surely cable companies must be recognizing that a good chunk of their ad and subscription businesses are in jeopardy as more people view Internet content vs. the broadcast programming they are distributing.