Will mobile video become the killer application for 3G? - an empirical model for media convergence

Mobile carriers have continually rolled out 3G mobile video applications to increase their revenue and profits. The presumption is that video is superior to the already successful SMS, ringtones, and pictures, and can create greater value to users. However, recent market surveys revealed contradicting results. Motivated by this discrepancy, we propose in this paper a parsimonious model for user acceptance of mobile entertainment as digital convergence. Integrating research on Information Systems, Flow, and Media Psychology, we take a unique approach to user acceptance of digital convergence - platform migration. Our key proposition is that the interaction between media types and the platform-specific constraints is the key determinant of user evaluation. Particularly, users' involvement in the media is determined by both the entertaining time span on the original platform and the attentional constraint of the new platform. The mismatch between the two spans can result in lower level involvement, which in turn cause no or even negative user emotional responses. The model was tested with empirical data. We discuss the theoretical contributions, strategic and design implications, and future research directions derived from this theoretical framewor

Quantum Zeno Effect and Light-Dark Periods for a Single Atom

The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) predicts a slow-down of the time development of a system under rapidly repeated ideal measurements, and experimentally this was tested for an ensemble of atoms using short laser pulses for non-selective state measurements. Here we consider such pulses for selective measurements on a single system. Each probe pulse will cause a burst of fluorescence or no fluorescence. If the probe pulses were strictly ideal measurements, the QZE would predict periods of fluorescence bursts alternating with periods of no fluorescence (light and dark periods) which would become longer and longer with increasing frequency of the measurements. The non-ideal character of the measurements is taken into account by incorporating the laser pulses in the interaction, and this is used to determine the corrections to the ideal case. In the limit, when the time between the laser pulses goes to zero, no freezing occurs but instead we show convergence to the familiar macroscopic light and dark periods of the continuously driven Dehmelt system. An experiment of this type should be feasible for a single atom or ion in a trapComment: 16 pages, LaTeX, a4.sty; to appear in J. Phys.

Social media and sensemaking patterns in new product development: demystifying the customer sentiment

Artificial intelligence by principle is developed to assist but also support decision making processes. In our study, we explore how information retrieved from social media can assist decision-making processes for new product development (NPD). We focus on consumers’ emotions that are expressed through social media and analyse the variations of their sentiments in all the stages of NPD. We collect data from Twitter that reveal consumers’ appreciation of aspects of the design of a newly launched model of an innovative automotive company. We adopt the sensemaking approach coupled with the use of fuzzy logic for text mining. This combinatory methodological approach enables us to retrieve consensus from the data and to explore the variations of sentiments of the customers about the product and define the polarity of these emotions for each of the NPD stages. The analysis identifies sensemaking patterns in Twitter data and explains the NPD process and the associated steps where the social interactions from customers can have an iterative role. We conclude the paper by outlining an agenda for future research in the NPD process and the role of the customer opinion through sensemaking mechanisms

The impact of open source software on the strategic choices of firms developing proprietary software

Open source software (OSS) is now posing significant competition to proprietary or closed source software (CSS) in several software markets. In this paper, we characterize the response of a firm developing CSS to the presence of an OSS in its market. In particular, we look at the firm’s choice of resource investments to improve quality and the firm’s pricing decisions. We are primarly motivated by the following questions: Would a firm producing CSS produce higher-quality software when it faces competition from an OSS than when there is no OSS in its market? Would there be a change in the firm’s response if the CSS faced competition from another CSS in addition to competition from the OSS? We show that the firm produces lower-quality CSS when it faces competition from an OSS than when it does not. Also, the quality of the CSS decreases as the quality of the OSS increases. This result holds true even if we consider network effects. When we consider competition from another CSS, in addition to competition from the OSS, then the quality of the CSS could increase or decrease as the quality of the OSS increases. The change in quality depends on how closely substitutable the two CSS are. We also extend our base model to consider: i) competition for resources, ii) uncertainty in resources available to the OSS, and iii) uncertainty about the software development process

The short-run price-performance dynamics of microcomputer technologies

Models of technology growth are often conceived in,terms of long-run trends in performance and price because, in general, short-run parameter stability and even the form of the growth function have proved elusive. Yet short-run growth models are arguably more useful for managers and research scientists, because the majority of their decisions are concerned with discretionary spending and operations rather than longer run strategic plans and investments. Our research explores short-run growth in microcomputer technologies by specifying growth models and parameter estimates for six commercially important computer technologies over short time periods with weekly data. Observations were acquired in a homogeneous market, limited to a collection time frame of less than two years. Data was collected at granular, weekly intervals, with concurrent tests to determine whether parameters were stable over successively longer intervals; conversely candidate growth models from longer `strategic' planning horizons were tested to determine whether they scaled down to operational planning horizons. We found that an exponential model of performance-to-price growth is supported over short time horizons in all but one microcomputer technology (nonvolatile RAM). The exponential model and technology specific parameter estimates that are valid over short horizons were found to accurately scale up to longer planning horizons. We expect our results to contribute to more accurate price-performance forecasting at the corporate and product level; better decision making concerning inventory management, capacity utilization, lead and lag times in supply-chain operations, and efficiency of logistics. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Will mobile video become the killer application for 3G? - A theoretical framework for media convergence

Mobile carriers have continually rolled out 3G mobile video applications to increase their revenue and profits. The presumption is that video is superior to the already successful SMS, ringtones, and pictures, and can create greater value to users. However, recent market surveys revealed contradicting results. Motivated by this discrepancy, we propose in this paper a parsimonious framework for user acceptance of mobile entertainment as digital convergence. Integrating research on Information Systems and theories of Media Psychology, we take a unique approach to user acceptance of digital convergence – platform migration. Our key proposition is that the interaction between media types and the platform-specific constraints is the key determinant of user evaluation. Particularly, users’ involvement in the media is determined by both the entertaining time span on the original platform and the attentional constraint of the new platform. The mismatch between the two spans can result in lower level involvement, which in turn cause no or even negative user emotional responses. We discuss the theoretical contributions, strategic and design implications, and future research directions derived from this theoretical framework