Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
So what should Nintendo do about the idea it's games should onon things like Tablets? Here's what we discussed:
1. Should Nintendo put its games on non-Nintendo platforms?
More HP news, more sad economic news, and GameStop is starting to show their hand.
The HP Mess:
WebOS is apparently not dead, so it sounds like it's going to be a for-sale operating system. Well, if HP is trying to make an Android and OS alternative maybe, I dunno – though if they do manage that devs are going to want to learn about programming it. Oh, and to make things weird webOS runs better on an iPad than the HP tablets.
So did all these big announcements help HP? No, it looks like stock dropped 20% admit a crisis of confidence as HP seemed to essentially give up on their core business.
So let me spell it out career-wise: the fallout from HP may affect your career, but DO NOT send them a resume right now, as I said yesterday. If they implode (and I give them a good chance to do so), that's going to reshuffle a lot of tech markets.
Oh and to make HP more miserable, there's speculation there could be other bids for Autonomy.
Economics/Geekonomics:
The U.S. will probably have a record low of housing completions – since the Census Bureau started tracking it. That's good in that there's less houses being added to a huge inventory, but it means less work for people and that we've got a big housing backlog to play through. Housing isn't going back to "normal."
Sears is having some minor layoffs. It's very small, but this makes me nervous – they're huge, but their income is declaiming.
Anime and Manga:
A look at what a post-Borders world means for manga. An interesting read.
Video Games:
. . . and now we see the final part of GameStop's strategy. They're doing a game streaming service. So it looks ilke GameStop is going to try and do it all – and they might be able to. I'm still bullish on them, by the way, so keep them in mind for a job.
So I guess it's not just everyone want's a music service, they want a game distribution service. GameStop is uniquely positioned however, something we may need to analyze in depth . . .
Sony believes the Vita will lure tablet/mobile players. Their idea is intriguing, that mobile and handheld can be separate demographics (technically true). They seem to be working on the Serious Game market. I can't say they're right – but it's intriguing to look at their lines of thought.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think is a viable business model for GameStop – and is it like the one they're building?
Me, I like long-term planning. Part of that is my nature, part of it is the value, and part of it is because I'm a Project Manager and I'm paid to be anal-retentive and think long-term (fortunately both come naturally to me).
As I've ranted in these posts, we need more long-term planning in our government, our companies, our economies, and our lives. We have to think ahead, we have to plan ahead, otherwise we get . . . er, well look just go read the economic news. After you stop weeping, we'll get back to my rant.
So, as a person who does long-term planning, at times I have to design methods to help companies and individuals plan long-term. Sometimes it takes a lot of explanation.
And this leads to my Frustration Friday: would we even know what the hell long-term planning looks like in the realms of economics and politics? Would we recognize it?
I'm actually not so sure – and I count myself in the number.
We're used to balance-sheet BS, we're used to crisis-of-the-moment politics, we're used to short-term thinking. Politicians, business leaders, and pundits that propose actual long-term and thoughtful solutions may just not fit what we're used to. In the heat of the moment, in a distracted reading of a news article, in a short soundbite, we may not realize someone just proposed actual good long-term solutions to problems.
We're so used to the short-term planning and short-term thinking, I'm not sure we'd recognize good long-term planning from our leaders and many supposed experts.