CES/Digital Hollywood Building Blocks
Me and Chris Heuer at CES Digital Hollywood Building Blocks
Originally uploaded by dynamist.
Gosh, the organizers of this event sure did know who to call upon when they decided to throw a spanner in the works…
Don’t get excited: I did not offend or outrage anyone (to my knowledge). But it was clear from the conversation happening around my remarks that an ad-based revenue model is pretty much the only game in town as far as most of the people attending were concerned. (They’d probably claim that was an unfair assertion. Okay, they’ll also entertain the idea of subscriptions as a business model…but it’s mostly subscriptions to video ads disguised as “content” that they’re talking about.)
One particularly sweet moment was when, while I was speaking, one of the audience members in the front row went to Qik.com, signed up for an account, and started Qikking the whole thing from his BlackJack II.
Many thanks to Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman for making sure things went smoothly - we had no long-winded statements from audience members masquerading as questions - and for a great conversation during the drinks reception. That’s also when I was reunited with my friend Chris Heuer, who stayed with us in London a couple of years back (and who, with his lovely wife, hosted me several times in San Francisco over the last few years). Doing so reminded me of yet another reason I’m so glad to be back in the Valley: No matter what crowd you’re in, no matter what event you’re at, you’re amongst so many friends in this area that you just never know when you’re going to bump into a total sweetheart.