"Impetuosity and audacity," Machiavelli wrote, "achieve often what are the common means to achieve". If you are in doubt, can I suggest a visit to the upper layers of the Apple, Google Sonyand in which steam can be observed venting from each aperture of executives? If you undertake such visits, under no circumstances shall mention the word "Amazon".
The proximate cause of this corporate spleen is the launch last week of the service Amazon's Cloud Drive . At first glance seems straightforward: it looks like a digital locker where you can (for a fee) securely store digital assets internet in "Sky". "Anything Digital, securely stored," runs the blurb, "available everywhere." The first 5 GB storage space is free, with more available for an annual price of a dollar-per-gigabyte. Upload files to the "Cloud drive", where they are stored online and from where they can gain access to any device that you own.
So far, so harmless. It is not the online storage business, which has Apple, Google and Co "spitting feathers, but Amazon cloudplayer which goes along with the digital locker. If you buy music from the company's huge MP3 store, and then saves the free of charge in the locker, above which it can be streamed to your computer – and more important to Android , phone or tablet via a special app created by Amazon. You can also upload content from your music library to Cloud drive (although you will have to pay for the space of 5 GB). This means users will be able to stream "their" music for free.
See these developments, the musician David Bowie feel a warm glow justification. In 2002, he predicted, music, one day, "is like running water or electricity." Bowie had recognised that was the iPod users into force audio equivalent to travellers for primitive countries that carry out bottled water because public supplies are uncertain. In an in-depth networked world, he reads, people would eventually become more casual about carrying their own bottled music: when they need it, they would just get it streamed from the network.
For Bowie's predictions become reality, had four things into place: ubiquitous-mobile broadband connection the Internet-enabled mobile devices; Cloud storage services; and appropriate business models and licensing agreements, which would support the music-like-water services. In recent years there has arrived the first three – which Spotifyis how, the first major music streaming service Spotify, was will. has made good progress in Europe (where it has more than one million paying subscribers), but it has made no progress in the United States, allegedly because of the music labels suspicions, licensing streaming services could not be flexible enough revenue.
Behind the scenes in the United States, there has been hectic activity with Apple, Google and Amazon racing into streaming business. Apple has Cloud services, customers, is used to pay for music, a good selection of mobile devices, but there is no license agreement for streaming. Google has great Cloud services, and millions of Android devices, but no music store customers and there is no license agreement. Amazon has Cloud services, value reserve music paying customers, a fantastic e-commerce operation and access to Android devices. But also had no licensing agreement with the record companies.
Which brings us back to Machiavelli, impetuosity and audacity. Launch its Cloud Player, cocked Amazon a snoot at both its rivals, and music business. More you look at it, the more exquisite competitive dilemmas of its opponents now seems.
The record companies find this Amazon size, scope and dominance of the online retail trade will make it difficult to bring to heel. Apple is confronted with a rival, is much stronger in cloud computing, already operate value reserve majors and have access to zillions of affordable Android phones that heavily than Apple's iDevices animal. Google is without value reserve music, popular e-commerce system or a licensing deal – and lacks even an exclusive grip on the Android system it spawned. Get ready for the uproar since the Colosseum closed for business. And all, because people don't like bottled music.
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