Linked List: May 28, 2011

Saturday, 28 May 2011

How Many Millions Did Amazon Lose on Two Days of 99-Cent Lady Gaga Sales? ★

Glenn Peoples, reporting for Billboard:

Industry sources told Billboard.biz on Friday that Amazon sold some 440,000 downloads of the album - nearly all of which were the 99-cent version (a more expensive deluxe version is also available).

So how much is Amazon losing? About $3.2 million over the two days the promotion ran, according to Billboard’s estimate. […]

But is a loss really a loss? The important aspect of this 99-cent promotion is the value of the increased traffic and awareness.

Indeed, I think it’s hard to imagine that Amazon could have drawn as much attention to their music store by spending $3 million in any other way.

Let’s Give It Another Year ★

Ed Bott, back in July 2008 on Apple’s then-use of Windows CE devices for point-of-sale in Apple retail stores:

Without resorting to snark, I think this illustrates the fundamental difference between Apple, a seller of luxury consumer products, and Microsoft, a developer of business and consumer platforms.

Yes, I know that the current CW is that the iPhone is the new platform, and that might be true. But let’s come back in a year or two and see just how successful the platform really is.

Now, of course, Apple not only uses iPod Touches for retail point-of-sale, but they distribute dongles from Square that let everyone do so too. Imagine if Apple made consumer and business platforms.