Wharton Tech Blog

The Register reports that 3G phone standards organization has adopted HE-AAC format for streaming audio to mobile phones. After the DVD Forum adopted this format for audio in the new HD DVD media, this brings a loss for Microsoft in the platform adoption battle for the future digital media. The HE-AAC is a slight modification of the AAC format used in Apple’s iTunes songs that has increased efficiency. This means we have a 2-jockey horse when it comes to HD DVDs with Microsoft ruling the video stream with the WMV 9 format and Dolby rulling the audio stream. This poses interesting challenges for the makers of HD DVDs. Given how retardedly difficult it is to assemble DVDs today (it’s actually easy with today’s software, but the format and files are unnecessarily convoluted), it beats me why these minor decisions are made. This could be intentional by the DVD Forum to prevent a single vendor (ie Microsoft or Apple) from rulling the HD DVD format stream and collecting exhorbitant fees later on. I have my own doubts as to the viability of the HD DVDs when they start coming out but I’d be interested in comments.

The decision by the 3G companies to adopt the HE AAC format in mobile phone puts Apple’s iTunes store in the driver seat for the future of digital audio. If you can imagine that the future generation iPod will be a wireless device, one can but instantly songs from iTunes and have them streamed to their iPods. You need a high speed wireless connection granted, but this isn’t far off in some countries. Maybe we’ll get rid of multiple audio devices finally and have high quality audio collection of our own available everywhere. This scenario may work only if the current DRM schemes survive a technology upgrade cycle, hi speed wireless is readily available, and the record companies continue to support more artists through digital distribution. Any comments on this?

Knowledge@Wharton has an interesting article on the Oracle / Peoplesoft merger. Fifteen months after launching its hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft, Oracle has moved closer to victory by winning a Department of Justice lawsuit that sought to block the merger. While the fight is far from over, will the victory - if it arrives - be a Pyrrhic one for Oracle? Experts at Wharton and elsewhere weigh in on the prospects.

My own view is that this is part of an ongoing commoditization in the layers of software applications, from the low-level OS (linux, freebsd) throughout the middle-ware, high-end business and consumer apps (openoffice, J2EE, postgresql, etc). Value has been created by key software vendor in each of these layers (Windows, .Net, Oracle, SAP, Office, Adobe, etc) that has been able to hold the commoditization wave and the competitor solutions haven’t reached the “good enough” stage. Now, when even ERP software is being sold at 70% discount, this begs the question of what’s the competitive value of an Oracle business apps package over one from Peoplesoft. Clearly SAP has stood out from these battles, but the erosion in the commercial value of software layers continues. As open source moves from one layer to another, the bottlenecks in these software layers are places where software companies can expect to create most value and profits at the same time.

I have more ideas on this topic and will continue to add.

In a timely follow-up to my previous post, a UK magazine Revolution reports from a survey that a vast majority of people prefer CDs to online music as a lasting music purchase. The survey reports that most people view online music sales as impulse purchase or to sample new albums before buying the actual CD. In fact, most people indicate that they will buy same number or more CDs in the future.

This survey is based on 1400 respondents and could be biased toward

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Yahoo agreed to buy MusicMatch for $160MM in cash. This purchase, to be completed in the next quarter, effectively puts Yahoo in the downloadable music business. Let’s take a quick look at this rapidly growing market:

iTunes — 1 million songs, AAC format, 100MM downloads, 70% share of market, iPod
MSN Music — over 1 million songs, in beta now, WMA, brand new service, over 70 devices
MusicMatch — over 700,000 songs, WMA
Napster – over 700,000 songs, WMA
RealPlayer Music Store — over 600,000 songs, AAC format
WalMart — over 400,000 songs, WMA
BuyMusic — over 500,000 songs, WMA

This puts the legal online music selection to anywhere between 1MM songs and 5MM songs.

Prices per song start at $.49 and go up to $.99.

Dear Class of ’05,

Welcome back!

Wharton Technology Club’s new management team is excited to provide MORE to achieve our mission:

Build a sense of community among students and alumni with interest in technology.
Provide resources, guidance and support to club members interested in exploring and pursuing careers in technology-related fields.

So what’s included in “MORE”?

Monthly club sponsored socials
Talks by C level executives
Technology Mania networking event during West Coast Trek
Wharton Tech Blog
Day on the Job
Networking with Class of 2006 through the buddy system
Resume reviews, mock interviews, and interview preparation materials
2nd annual HP Case Competition
Student panels

Please join us for our

First Technology Club Social

WHEN: Wednesday, September 15th, 6:00 pm

WHERE: Cavanaugh’s Bar (Corner of 39th and Sansom)

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Join The Wharton Technology Club

$15 gives you one year of discounts/access to Wharton Technology Club events and activities.

Please pay your dues at WGA Store

Sign Up on Our Mailing List

You can sign up on the techclub05 mailing list at https://inside-secure.wharton.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/maillists/cat7.cgi if you did not do so last year.

We look forward to an exciting year.

If you have questions, please contact us:

Peter Y. Kim & Deepak Rammohan
Co-Presidents
Wharton Technology Club

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - For about $10 million, city officials believe they can turn all 135 square miles of Philadelphia into the world’s largest wireless Internet hot spot.

You heard it here first.