iPhone proving to give traditional entertainment outlets a run for their money
Article about the new trend in entertainment media outlets.

/Electronics News Articles/ - January 20, 2008 - Remember the days when "antiques" such as Atari 2600 game machines, VHS players, and mobile phones that were too big to even fit in your glove box were the hottest technology known to mankind? And you just HAD to have them! No? Well, for you post-Gen-Xers out there just think of them as the equivalent of what the presently obsolete walkman CD player is to an MP3 player.

And unless you're still playing Combat while waiting for your movies to rewind (it almost sounds comical to think of nowadays doesn't it?), you're probably aware that the Apple iPhone is THE hottest selling piece of technology on the market. A single piece of portable equipment fitting in the palm of your hand that combines the features of a personal computer, game system, DVD player, and MP3 player has now revolutionized the way we do entertainment. Its everything the Palm Pilot wished it had been. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that its also a cell phone? Never before have so many different entertainment and communication technologies been combined into such a nice, neat, convenient package. No wonder everybody wants one.

Not so ironically, with the advent of the iPhone a new marketplace is emerging online for websites that offer downloads galore. If you recall, with the invention of the MP3 player came controversial sites such as Napster, the website that threatened to topple the big music production industry by allowing people to download volumes of music to their computer or MP3 player virtually for free? It was apparently so problematic that mega-giant music stars like Metallica and the ultra-mega-giant record labels that supported them had to band together and file revolutionary lawsuits that had the old-school judges scratching their heads. Luckily, for Metallica, big music won - sort of. However, to the large corporations that actually have to produce and stock products such as CDs, and to the distribution and retail stores that sell them, the MP3 player is merely the "Mini-Me" of a much bigger "Dr. Evil" known as the iPhone because the video capabilities of the iPhone now threaten DVD production, sales and rental outlets just as the music industry has been already.

Several websites now offer a huge library of digital downloads to your debonair doo-hickies for a reasonable one-time fee. And unlike Napster, I predict that the new phenomena of the iPhone may indeed someday shut down some of the mega-giant industries we sentimental types so fondly cherish. We've already seen the good ole fashioned movie rental stores like Blockbuster have to adapt their modus operandi to the popular online mail-order services like Netflix. And speaking of Netflix, they have now upped the ante themselves by allowing direct download of movies right to your home computer, laptop, or DVR. Similarly, devices such as the iPhone take the popularity of digital media one step further by offering a pocket-sized version. Let's face it, the portability of laptops is convenient, but you're probably not going to lug it with you to your dentist's office simply to entertain yourself by watching an uplifting movie like Marathon Man while you're waiting to get a root canal. However, with iPhone you can do just that.

Lookout Blockbuster, the way of the DVD is doomed! The future of entertainment has arrived in the form of digital media downloads, and iPhone has become a major factor in redefining that market. Retail stores will be the first to fall, and the online mail-order websites will more gradually become the relic that entertainment retail stores are today. The revolution may not happen overnight, but retail stores that specialize in the sales of music and movies will continue to notice a trend away from their walk-in way of business. The first chink in their armor occurred when online CD and DVD sales outlets emerged through websites such as Amazon. After all, why bother getting out of the house when you can shop for music and movies online, order it, and have it arrive in a matter of days? Thus far, the larger entertainment store chains were able to weather the storm by intelligently locating their stores in shopping malls where people may already be inclined to browse. Unfortunately for them, now even the online entertainment media outlets should shudder as digital media downloads provide the same convenience they offer in just a matter of minutes, and without having to worry about scratched discs or finding a place to stack all of those plastic cases in the corner of the living room - what a mess!

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Clint Barger
The Eternal Skeptic
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