I know, blogging has been light. I'm doing my part to keep you from getting more and more "cut! slash! burn!" blog posts. You're welcome. Anyway, I'm traveling to the big apple, NYC, today. As is my normal routine, I take the super early train into Newark, NJ. Then I hop on the commuter train into Penn Station (NYC). From there, subway or bus to wherever I'm going.
I do this for a variety of reasons. First, I'm both cheap and I'm a train phreak. Second, it's a great way to tech watch with the average person. Either the kids going to school or the business folks schlepping into the city for work. During these short hauls, I can observe what people are doing with technology. For example, over the years text messaging has tracked exactly the way it was going in Europe and Asia. Kids first, then people in suits. There was a gap in text messaging usage in North America which translated into a great opportunity for those that were paying attention to the curve.
These days, MacBook and MacBook Pro boxes are noticeably more prevalent on both the planes and on NJ Transit. I'm riding on one of the newer trains (think Go Trains, fellow Toronto residents) and people have laptops open. I've counted 25 in the several car walk through and 9 of them are Macs. That's a big number in my view. 6 of the people have wireless broadband sticks (4 were AT&T as I know the device/branding).
About 40% (eyeball guess) of the people I counted had buds in the ears. While I get the whole iPod/music thing, I'm willing to bet you there is a serious tipping point in all of this where audio books, radio stations, podcasts, etc, are going to cross into serious money mode. By that I mean enough people willing to pay for non-musical content in some form or another. I know it is popular now, but I'm talking VC stuff. Sleeping, reading the paper, etc, make up the rest. Interestingly, a very very small group of people were just looking around. Why is this important? Because I continue to be down on (and pass on) all these TV advertising companies pitching systems in busses and trains.
[Note: Audible is advertising all over the subway. go to audible.com/subway and I think you can get a free book]
Kids are playing games on phones, iPods, but not Portable Gaming Systems. None of these school kids have one that I've seen. Nothing scientific here rather just an observation with respect to device convergence.
The "take all your personal belongings" continues to be code for take your crap off our train or plane.
As you look at your ideas and think about your potential customers, I have some advice. Hop on the subway. You'll be amazed at what you'll see.
If you are coming to Start-Up Empire on Thursday, please say hello. The code word is: Rachel. You might win a prize!
first of all, where do you stay in the NY area?
Second, as you well know, NY is an anomoly in the US. I lived there for years, but the commuting habits in NY are not the norm around the US.
with that said, the trends are definitely clear. But dont mistake the Bridge and Tunnel crowd in the NY metro area with PHX, STL or DEN, for example.
still love the blog. can I send you a 237 page presentation?
jim
Posted by: Jim Louderback | November 19, 2008 at 02:10