BPN 1604: Dutch cross media on the mend again

In the past week the iMMovator Cross Media Monitor 2012 was presented. It is already the fourth edition of the biannual snap shot of the creative industries and ICT. The monitor is a co-production of iMMovator, Paul Rutten Research and TNO. This is my translation of the press release published by the 

foundation iMMovator Cross Media Network at Hilversum.

The stats

The Dutch cross media sector provided nearly 553 000 jobs in 2010 which is nearly 7 per cent of the Dutch employment. Cross media is the combination of creative industries and ICT segments. Of this 3.5 per cent accounts for the creative industry (over 280 thousand jobs) and 3.4 per cent for the ICT sector (over 272 000 jobs). The turn-over of the cross media sector accounted for  € 90 billion in 2010, of this amount € 32.8 billion is generated by the creative industry (2.9 per cent) and € 57.2 billion by ICT (5 per cent). In ICT more sales were generated with less people than in the creative industries.

Hesitant recovery

The number of jobs in the Dutch cross media industry has again increased slightly (0,5 per cent) between 2009 and 2011. The job reduction of the crisis year of 2009 has been brought to a standstill. Creative industry is growing again by 1.9 per cent, while ICT shows a slight decrease: -0.9 per cent. The sector has some difficult years ahead. The economic downturn will certainly be felt in the cyclical ICT segment. The cuts of the national government will hit the creative industries, particularly arts and cultural heritage as well as  media and entertainment. Arts will be less subsidised in the coming years. Also the public broadcasting system and its suppliers will feel the impact of government measures.

Need for co-operation between small creative businesses  

An important part of the growth in creative industries is attributable to the rise of self-employed entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs increase in number, while large firms are getting smaller. Downsizing is the key word in the creative industry more than in the rest of the industry. The creative industries have low entry barriers and is therefore open to new professionals. This creates the need for new forms of working together. In this way self-employed entrepreneurs and small businesses can compensate the lack of scale of large companies. This leads to inefficiencies within the creative industry. While the number of jobs in the creative industries is increasing, teh revenue declines. ICT sees the reverse effect, the number of jobs decreased while sales increases.

Amsterdam and Utrecht fastest growers in the media cluster

In The Netherlands there are two major cross media areas, called the Northern, ranging from Haarlem, Amsterdam, Almere, Hilversum, Amersfoort to Utrecht and the Southern wing, ranging Delft, The Hague, Rotterdam, Breda, Tilburg, Eindhoven to Den Bosch. The fastest growing concentration is in the Northern Wing. Amsterdam and Utrecht have generated the largest number of cross media jobs in the past years (2009 ttill2011).  Amsterdam had the largest  growth with over 7,500 new jobs in cross media (+5.6 percent)  in 2009 to 2011, while Utrecht had an increase of almost 3 thousand (+5.3 per cent) in the same period. Hilversum is a different story: the town lost nearly a thousand jobs (-3.6 per cent) over the past two years due to the decline in major media and entertainment industry. The media cluster in the Northern Wing of the Randstad is still an important engine of the Dutch economy. A strengthening of the cluster strategy is necessary, partly in view of the internationalization of the sector, which will intensify the competition. The clustering of cross media companies currently mainly provides efficiency, but must increasingly become a source of innovation.

BPN 1604

Non-commercial announcement

Call for Speakers for the 2012 Academic Network Conference:
The Social University – Towards Higher Education with Students as Producers!
22-23 November 2012
Graz, UNESCO City of Design, Austria
Full announcement: http://academics.eadim.org/

For more info: EADiM Secretariat

European Academy for Digital Media / Academic Network Conference
International Center for New Media / ICNM
Moosstrasse 43a, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Ms Lucie Jagu, Project Manager, jagu@icnm.net, T: +43 (0)662 630 408

BPN 1603: Digital antiques: growth brilliants?

On June 15, 2012 Sotheby auctioned off an Apple 1 computer, which had been manufactured by hand by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. It was one of 200 handmade devices and it took 295.000 euro. On November 23, 2010 an Apple 1 was sold for 157.000 euro by the auctioneers Christie’s in London. This device was bought by the Italian business man and collector Marco Boglione.  The device, number 82 out of the 2000 devices,  had been sold before on eBay in November 2009 for 37.500 euro.

The devices  are the first digital ones being brought to be auctioned off. The value is partly due to the brand name Apple. The difference in the prices they took is depended on the configuration. The Boglione computer is a simple mother board with a 6502-micoprocessor, a 4Kb RAM memory, an audiocassette-interface and the Integer basic programming language built into the ROM chip. The original sales price of the computer was $ 666,66 (487,76 euro). A key board and monitor still had to be linked up separately.

Why did the Sotheby’s Apple 1 computer fetch a better price.  Quality factors. History: 36 years since its production. Moment: the auction was held one-and-a-half year later. The configuration: this computer was still working and had a keyboard and monitor linked to the motherboard; besides if was offered with four manuals.

This rise of financial value might indicate the beginning of a new branch in the auction business: digital hardware. The Apple 1 is in 2012 only 36 years old. Antiques usually are 70 years of age. So this Apple is only just a little bit over half the antique deadline. Or is this trend going to follow the law of Moore. Next will be the Apple II.

Looking around in my museum the following devices, still dating back to last century, should be kept ready for auction:

-        Apple IIe (e being the European edition), 1980

-        NEC portable computer, 1982 (see illustration; © Jak Boumans Collectie)

-        Tandy Model 100, 1983

-        Speak & spell, 1983

-        ZX Spectrum, 1984

-        Commodore 64, 1984

-        Olivetti Quattro, 1987

-        Sony Datadiskman, first e-reader with several ebooks on minidisk, 1993

-        The Nokia brick or Nokia Communicator, 1995

-        HP PDA, 1996

-        Franklin Rocket eBook, 1997.

And these are just hardware devices, which will be up for auction some day. Interesting will be to see the first auction of a content product, such as content on floppy disc or CD-ROM. Of course the content products will be country and/or language related. In my museum I have a number of English and Dutch language CD-ROMs, which were produced as text products between 1985 and 1990.

Are the devices and content products value growth brilliants? I guess that the small overview above might become valuable over the years, if they survive. But a better option will be to get these devices and content products exhibited in an experience center for later generations.

BPN 1603

BPN 1602: Mobile in South East Asia

This morning I received a mail from my good friend Madanmohan Rao from India. This man is unbelievable. he thinks faster than the lightning of the light, he speaks faster than three people at the same time and he writes faster than the keyboard can follow. This man has produced again a report, named Mobile Monday Southeast Asia Research Report 2012. The accompanying press release reads:

"Southeast Asia has been a trade hub for thousands of years, and is a digital crossroads for Internet and mobile innovation now as well, according to our new research released today. The full report was presented to the media at the Mobile Monday Developer Lounge during the annual Communicasia conference and tradeshow. Titled “Crossroads of Innovation,” the 52 page document [PDF] showcases a wealth of detailed features including profiles of mobile markets and startups from across the region".

Overview: The focus of this report is on overall innovation ecosystems, which include a range of stakeholders: industry, entrepreneurs, government, academia and civil society. The report also addresses the crucial role of innovator networks and incubators, who truly make SE Asia a regional and global crossroads of innovation. Sustainability of the innovation ecosystem requires the right blend of bottom up entrepreneurial energy and top-down facilitation of investment policies and infrastructure. These roles are played by global+local networks of mobile startups and professionals, such as MobileMonday. MobileMonday has been active in Southeast Asia since 2006, with chapters in the capital cities of the six key mobile markets: Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok and Hanoi. “In sum, across the length and breadth of the mobile ecosystem, innovation will be needed in incremental as well as disruptive modes. Sustainability of the innovation ecosystem requires the right blend of bottom up entrepreneurial energy and top-down facilitation of investment policies and infrastructure,” according to Dr. Madanmohan Rao, research projects director for MobileMonday, and editor of the report. The material in this Mobile Southeast Asia Report is drawn from interviews with over two dozen digital media experts and organisers of the MobileMonday chapters, plus extensive research from books, journals, news, and market reports. This research joins our collection of regional reports, such as the popular Africa series, and we plan to continue these efforts focused on other areas in the future.

BPN 1602

BPN 1601: The Dutch are CHAMPIONS… in Internet access

Although there is a lot of doubt in the Netherlands about the national soccer team reaching the second stage of the European Soccer Championship, there is no doubt about the Dutch households being the champions in internet access with 94 per cent in 2011. That is one of the results published in the report ICT, knowledge and economy by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

Of the 27 countries of the European Union almost 60 per cent of the Portugese households have access to internet. The average per centage of households linked to internet in the 27 countries in the European Union is 77 per cent.  The Dutch have been in the top of the European internet access for households for a long time. In 2005 it was with 78 per cent.  But while having most likely reached the ceiling of internet access, the use of internet is still growing.

Less than once a month

Minimally 1 a month, but not weekly

Minimally 1 a week, but not daily

Daily or almost everyday

In 2011 no less than 86 per cent of the Dutch internet users went online daily, while this was 68 per cent in 2005. Half of all internet users had in 2011 also access to the web by mobile equipment (laptop, smart phones and tablets); the youngsters between 12 and 25 have a mobile, fit for internet access, while only 13 per cent of seniors from 65 to 75 years of age have such a mobile.  

One of the most important internet activities of the Dutch internet consumers is communication. Almost nine out of ten internet users have searched for products and services. But 60 per cent of the users went to internet to use it for listening to the radio and watching TV. Almost two-thirds of the users were active on social media; not surprisingly 95 per cent of the youngsters were active on social media.

In 2011 the number of persons shopping on internet grew to 9,5 million. In Europe the Netherlands together with Sweden, Danmark and the UK belong to the countries having the most shoppers. The category Travel, Holidays and Accommodations are on top the list. Other products are clothing, event tickets and books. Second hand goods are popular but not as popular as new products. Four out of ten shoppers indicated that they spent 100 to 500 euro in the past three months; a quarter spent in the same period 50 to 100 euro on new products. The majority of the frequent e-shoppers bought goods from Dutch persons or companies in 2011.

BPN 1601