Three’s a Crowd: Google, Amazon and Comcast Reach New Heights in Digital Media
Three key players of present day’s digital media have separately reached new heights in their quest to get ahead of competition within their respective and interweaving industries.
The first one is with resident search giant, Google. After experiencing setbacks from its scanning project late last year, Google has finally reached an agreement with Hachette Livre in France. The deal was inked today with preliminary clauses defining the agreement between Hachette and Google.
The agreement will allow Google to scan thousands of out-of-print books by Hachette. Hachette will have full authority in deciding which books can be scanned and distributed via a virtual library. In turn, Google takes a cut in whatever sales this project will harness. This is indeed a breakthrough for Google as this could be a framework that the organization can capitalize on to attract more publishers in Europe to join this scanning venture.
Meanwhile, Amazon has surprisingly taken a different route and is somehow directing its interest into videos, as it launches Amazon Studios. Amazon.com is the largest internet retailer in the world, but delving into movie-making is something that shocked the industry. According to reports, Amazon’s latest venture invites independent filmmakers and screenwriters to submit their content to the site in order to get discovered and possibly even have their movie made by Warner Bros., the “real” studio behind the project.
Last, but certainly is not the least, Comcast continues to pound on its hyperlocal campaign with as it partners with Sporting News Today to create subscription-based online news sites offering coverage and analysis of local teams and players. This is something that might challenge Google TV and will later push the company to delve into local search, news and ads—which are already going hyperlocal. Comcast has becoming more and more engaged and serious in dominating internet TV, which is evident in its recent launch of Comcast Xfinity TV for iPad.
Apple has solidified its stand as the world’s largest music retailer as it clinches a deal to sell The Beatles songs via iTunes. Also, the Oprah Magazine application is now available for iPad users. With all these developments, looks like digital media has been trending well these days and will continue to flourish in the coming years.
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