Saturday, June 05, 2010

Stevie interviewed.

Steve Jobs at D8 on June 1, 2010, several videos.
(This list has more variety.)

Mister Jobs says that a healthy press and editorial oversight is very important, and he does "not want to see us descent into a nation of bloggers". (But it's OK for non-US countries to do so, I wonder?*)
On the one hand I can see his point. On the other hand, it seems to me most of the press has always been dishonest, unethical, and biased, so why is it so important that they survive as a business? Thoughts?

He says a smart thing though, he wants papers/mags to be more aggressive (cheaper) in their pricing for digital content than they have been for print, due to them no longer having the huge expenses of printing and distribution. I've been saying the same thing for a long time, but it seems very hard to convince the old guys. You know, NYT trying to charge two dollars for a *single article* and so on, it just won't cut it.
I will certainly pay $5 per month for a digital NYT, but I won't pay $20.

I think these guys need to realize that the traditional profitability of print papers/mags was based scarcity of news and entertainment, a scarcity which, putting it mildly, is gone now!  If you're the only guy selling water in a town, you're golden. If five other guys move in, the  party is over.

*Just a mild joke there. It's funny how we still often think in nations, for no reason whatsoever.

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