Interesting People mailing list archives
a reaction to Movielink
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 12:42:07 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Robert Raisch <info () raisch com> Reply-To: info () raisch com Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 12:16:10 -0500 To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: <[IP]> more on Blockbuster Video's days are numbered. For IP, if you like. Dear Movielink, Having just signed up for your service, I'd like to make a few observations. While I find your interface easy to use, I find it difficult to use effectively because you lack a search feature, either for the movie's title, its director or its stars. The list navigator is fine if you know what movie you want before you begin browsing, but if the title is in the far end of the list (for example, an 'F' title in the 'A-F' list) your customers have to plow through a large number of pages to get to the title they seek. As I am sure you know, any user interface must support the primary purposes for which it is used. In this case, the primary purpose is to locate a movie and if there are more than a few clicks to get to the title sought, people will lose interest quickly. I would suggest you add a full-featured search engine. Another point I'd like to make concerns early adopters. I'm a technology-expert, live on my computer, make my living designing information systems, and as such, my tastes in entertainment run to science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other "non mainstream" categories. I would have thought, to gain the critical momentum needed to prove this experiment, you would have designed your system to answer the needs of your first, and most vocally supportive, customers, the so-called "early adopters." However, I note with regret that while there are a few interesting films in your lineup, Movielink lacks these primary entertainment categories in its navigation. This suggests to me a dangerous myopia regarding your customers. While I can understand your need to satisfy a broad audience, it's clear they will not use your service until they have cheap access to "big pipes" and have some way of displaying your films on their televisions. Cable companies are far better positioned to own the set-top box then you are, as even Microsoft has learned. So, while your mainstream titles are interesting, I'd suggest the very first people to use your service will be technologists like myself, people who seek diversion using the tools they feel most comfortable with and your lineup is weak considering our interests. The early-adopter issue is a critical one for far-looking services like yours. The broadband cable industry is still reeling from their ill-considered conclusion that their customers are "couch potato web surfers." I've been a broadband customer since the very first trials, (and have the arrows in my back to prove it), having convinced many of my peers to sign up, and we are not primarily interested in simple web-surfing. We require a broader, deeper experience from our broadband connections. You should consider that as you evolve. We early-adopters don't mind glitches, we don't mind crashes. We are your first customers, your best customers, and the customers you can rely upon to help build the video-on-demand service you can ultimately sell to Mom and Pop America. I wish you luck. /rr Rob Raisch www.raisch.com ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- a reaction to Movielink Dave Farber (Nov 11)