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About this site

For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Saturday, June 05, 2004

Beware of Brand Bias

Motley Fool: "I received many responses to my article on music downloading and heard from some very passionate users of Apple's iTunes, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, and MusicMatch ... Readers wrote that my analysis was lacking, and some suggested trying their favorite brand. However, my naive experience was quite typical of what many Middle Americans have had or are going to have in the near future. A large portion of Internet users still connect via dial-up and shop at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. For many of those people, their first music-downloading experience isn't going to be with iTunes. I didn't have an enjoyable first experience -- I think many others won't either -- and for the time being, that is going to hold back the entire industry from reaching its full potential ... Don't be blinded by a favorite brand. A respected brand name and great product can be an important factor in stock price appreciation, but it's not the only one. There are many examples of great and well-loved products that don't make good investments. Apple is trading at 1987 prices, Ford is trading near a two-decade low, and General Motors -- hard to believe -- is at a 40-year low."

Grudgingly, I have to admit that the man has a point. My initial reaction to his original article (link above) was that he was an idiot, but I might have to reassess that. On the other hand, he compared himself to Jeremy Piven in PCU. Yeah, he's still an idiot.

[ Posted at 10:09 PM | Permalink ]