Articles Dragos Novac

The crisis we speak of has even more severe consequences for Europe’s global competitiveness. In our research on the state and pace of digital evolution worldwide, we have found that the old continent is in the midst of a “digital recession.”

Of the 50 countries we studied in our Digital Evolution Index, 23 were European (not counting Turkey).

Of these, only three, Switzerland, Ireland, and Estonia, made it to a commendable “Stand Out” category – which means that their high levels of digital development are attractive to global businesses and investors and that their digital ecosystems are positioned to nurture start ups and internet businesses that can compete globally.

one example

Mailing a parcel from Munich to Salzburg (distance: 145km; 90 miles) costs many times more than mailing it from Munich to Berlin (distance: 585km; 364 miles).

There’s also the matter of language complexity — for small and medium enterprises, creating a web storefront and customer support in the plethora of European languages can be prohibitively expensive.

If things look bad for goods moving across borders electronically, they look even worse for transporting content. There are a staggering 250 collective management organizations overseeing digital content, according to a 2014 EC press release. Transparency and governance issues abound. In some cases, competing organizations represent the same category of rights-holders; in some others, national monopolies dominate.

the whole argument: Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession

250 collective management organizations for 23 countries... Very fragmented.

So, who's making money digitally in Europe in spite of this situation? Yup, global brands like Google and Facebook.

the entire presentation is very good, you can find it here

Since January, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and funds from across Europe have signed a total of 28 investment agreements (PDF) worth over €1 billion, the Commission says, in turn enabling fund managers to invest in promising startups and SMEs.

The Commission says that, by mobilising other investors - including funds from the private sector - the plan is expected to result in overall investments of more than €12 billion across the European Union.

EU Commission: We’ve funded over €1 billion in equity financing for European startups since January

The thing about Internet scale is it doesn’t just have to mean you strive to serve the most possible people at the lowest possible price; individuals and focused publications or companies can go the other way and charge relatively high prices but with far better products or services than were possible previously.

Differentiation and Value Capture in the Internet Age

Bonus

You could hold a rock concert. Or you could hold a ballet concert. But don't tell people they are going to a rock concert, then put on a ballet. Or conversely, don't tell people they are going to the ballet, then put on a rock concert.

Jeff Bezos

Amazon.com implements more than 2.5m price changes every day, compared with just over 50,000 total price changes made by brick-and-mortar retailers BestBuy and Wal-Mart throughout November 2013, in its quest to be the most price competitive retailer on the web.

With price the number one driver for value-conscious shoppers, Profitero’s analysis also reveals Amazon.com has increased its number of daily price changes 10-fold over the last 12 months. At the beginning of December 2012, the online retailer implemented just 269,113 price changes.

Amazon changes over 2.5m prices every day in quest to be most competitive

2.5 milioane per day

Ask a kid. Take teenagers 20 years ago and ask them would they rather have a car or a computer? And the answer would have been 100% of the time they'd rather have a car, because a car represents freedom, right?

Today, ask kids if they'd rather have a smartphone or a car if they had to pick and 100% would say smartphones. Because smartphones represent freedom. There's a huge social behavior reorientation that's already happening. And you can see it through that.

And I'm not saying nobody can own cars. If people want to own cars, they can own cars. But there is a new generation coming where freedom is defined by "I can do anything I want, whenever I want. If I want a ride, I get a ride, but I don't have to worry. I don't have to make car payments. I don't have to worry about insurance. I have complete flexibility." That is freedom too.

Inside the mind of Marc Andreessen

when I was in my 20s, a car was a status thing. Today, things start to change, little by little, even though the car (and the house) still remains an aspirational element signaling the wealth.

But, in an increasingly congested traffic in the big cities, a taxi, shared ride, pubic transport or even walking can be better and faster options from getting from A to B. As such, I have started using the car less and less, more so for shopping or getaway weekends.

found on twitter

Today, Facebook reported that its mobile share of ad revenue was 53%.

Two years ago, at IPO in spring of 2012, that figure was 0%. It is possible to monetise worse on the web. :) Or maybe not, and it's just a tactic to control the growth pace from the future.

At the end of December 2013, Facebook had 943M mobile MAU and 556M per day.

Whoever says that Facebook has no future doesn't know what he is talking about.

link

Santa is a concept, not an idea.It's an Emotion, not a feeling. It's both Yesterday and Today. And it's Tomorrow as well.

dedicated to my advertising friends