deborahjaffe

tanya77:

parislemon:

The smoke around the Apple Television continues to billow, ever-thicker. But this latest report by Jessica Vascellaro and Sam Schechner for The Wall Street Journal sure makes it seem as if things are still in the fairly early stages. It sounds like Apple is putting a lot of options out there in their talks with the media companies to see what sticks.

If that’s correct, I say there’s no way we see an Apple Television until mid-2013 at the earliest. But perhaps Apple is farther along and is just holding their cards really close to the vest (likely knowing that the media industry is just about the worst when it comes to the leaking of information).

But despite years of skepticism by many, I continue to believe this is happening. You don’t have to look past this paragraph in the WSJ piece to realize why:

The pace of change puts media companies that make TV shows and program TV channels in a dilemma. On one hand, they hope that they can increase their profits by selling new services on new devices. But they are worried that a proliferation of new services could undermine the existing TV business, which brings in more than $150 billion a year in the U.S. in advertising and consumer spending on monthly TV subscriptions from cable, satellite and telecommunications companies.

They’re throttling innovation so as not to disturb their current cash cows. That’s not a winning strategy, it’s a losing one. And someone is going to come along and hand their asses to them eventually. It may be Apple, or it may be someone who can do it sooner. 

I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen. I know this business. This broken down car of the Entertainment Business is going to drive as long as it can, until it stops running completely. It will not stop to get gas. It will not stop for any repairs. It will not stop to update anything. And it will be run into the ground.

It will stop. And then, after some time, individuals who have been quietly preparing for that moment by learning innovative ways to distribute, record, and market will emerge and reveal a new level of Entertainment. It will not be what you think it’s going to be and it will not be done by any of the people you think are going to do it. 

Unfortunately, it will take a long time because of the greed, fear, and stubbornness of those in in power now.

It doesn’t need to take a long time, but it will.

If it wasn’t for Andrea, who gave me my start when I won the chance to shoot the cover and a six page fashion shoot at Sassy I don’t know where I’d be today. She is such a uniquely talented person whom always inspires.

All these months later, the revolution’s ardor fading, Tahrir Square feels less a model, more an inspiration.