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A simple yet insightful contributions on the challenges that innovation is bringing to the printed media industry and its consolidated business models.

The shift to digital media requires a shift in business models. But, are customers willing to pay enough to cover the costs?

An interesting article on the battle being fought by Apple and Google, arguably the companies that are more likely (maybe with Facebook) to shape the future of IT and media. The article shows the two competing visions and philosophies, with Google focused on information management and Apple on user experience. Not by chance, the once dominant Microsoft is not even taking part in this game.

IT is a peculiar technology, rather similar to electricity. Rather than being a sector on its own, it is becoming an enabling technology stimulating radical innovation for an ever broader range of industries. After telecoms, then media, and many other industries, it is now the turn of energy to be affected by "smart grid" technology. Spotting the next radical and disruptive inovation could be easy: just try finding an industry where IT has not yet created a lot of change.

Another basic paper that discusses the impact of technological innovation on mature industries (TV in this case) and on their business models

Part of Google's success is due to its secret algorithm, capable of delivering search results that are relevant to users, but also marketable to firms. The problem is that Google has the power to grow or kill any business by simply moving it up or down the hierarchy in search results. Some firms are starting to complain about fairness of this (especially the ones that partially compete with Google). However, it is up to antitrust authorities and end users to decide on the right tradeoff between convenience and neutrality of results.

Yet another take on e-book readers, this time looking at the impact on magazine publishers, whose business model is likely to be impacted more than for book publishers.

Flat pricing schemes for mobile internet are enticing customers to dramatically increase use of bandwidth. Interestingly enough, that is the axiom on which most operators have buidlt their mobile internet business models. Will this be sustainable in the long run?

Another comment on the HP/Palm acquisition. 

You know that little sleep indicator light on the front of your new MacBook Pro -- the one that simply disappears when your notebook is wide awake? Apple wants to do that for buttons, too. Cupertino's latest patent application is for pressure-sensitive, capacitive touchscreen materials it could build right into the surface of its aluminum-clad devices, and identify with laser-cut, micro-perforated holes that let light shine from within. According to the filing, the technology could potentially be used to eliminate existing buttons in favor of a smooth, solid slab, and / or integrate new ones into surfaces that weren't previously considered for use. Engineers imagine light-up controls on a laptop's lid that could be used while closed for things like USB charging and media playback, and local heat and sound sensors that selectively light up interface opportunities when users are in close proximity. Not bad, Apple. As long as you let us keep our nice, springy keyboards, we're all for revolutionizing the rest of modern input.

Bloomberg takes a look at Apple's spate of corporate acquisitions over the past six months, which has seen the company reverse a long-standing policy of making very infrequent deals with its recent purchases of Quattro Wireless, Lala Media, Intrinsity, and Siri. In particular, the report points to the growing rivalry between Apple and Google, stoked in large part on the acquisitions front by Google reportedly swooping in to snatch mobile advertising firm AdMob just as Apple was looking to finalize a deal to do so. "The pace has really picked up, there seems to be a strategic shift," said Charlie Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co. in New York. "It looks like there's an acquisition frenzy going on between Google and Apple in the sense that there's an increasing urgency on Apple's part to stay even if not ahead of Google in the phone space and apps space. One interesting tidbit included in the report is evidence that Apple has sometimes moved very quickly when looking to make an acquisition, even giving targets as little as three hours to agree to a deal. To avoid publicity and possible rival bids, Apple in some cases has offered a target only a three-hour period in which to accept the terms of a sale, according to one executive with knowledge of the situation.

"La nascita dello store dedicato all'editoria digitale - ha dichiarato Franco Bernabè, Amministratore Delegato di Telecom Italia - rappresenta un'importante opportunità per costruire assieme agli editori un nuovo modello di business, completamente diverso da quelli già adottati in altri Paesi, lasciando alle case editrici la più ampia autonomia in termini di scelte commerciali e di determinazione dei prezzi".

Are 3D movies going to become the "dominant design" for the industry and supplant 2D? Or will the two technologies co-exist, with directors, producers and audiences preferring one or the other depending on the movie? A question still un-answered, where technical features intermingle with consumer preferences that are hard to fathom. Companies making investment decisions on this technology may find it difficult to make rational choices. 

e-book sales are growing fast. Is it likely that in a not-so-far-away future paper-based books will be little used, if not in niches? It sounds impossible, given the centuries-old technology, but it might come. One key question arises: what will the business model of publishing become then?