FlexPlay: disposable DVD in era of enviro-sensitivity?

There is a new service in town (well, the tried 5 years ago and failed), that is offering dispoable DVD. Yep, you read that right. Kind of mission impossible isn't it? They use an oxygen reacting glue on the surface of the disc that makes the DVD laser misread the contents of the disc and renders it useless. Ok, not quite as cool as melting down but still has an element of coolness to it. Once the disc is unsealed from its package, the DVD is only good for 48 hrs. Unsealed its good for up to a year. Sounds like a great deal, right?

In a period of environmental lobbying at its peak and prices for services on the rise, I don't see how this company can sustain a lasting business model. While the technology behind the business is certainly intriguing, one must question its sustainability. The following are my doubts on this product that time will give us a proper view of how successful or otherwise the product will be.

IS THE PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE? I guess that depends upon how you define safe. Impactful? Certainly. Detrimental? Depends on volume and success. As the discs are render useless, one questions how the product will de disposed. FlexPlay does have a recycling program but the details are a bit sketchy. The only reuse I read of was in display stands which if there is a significant volume, maybe this will help spurn the new eco-techno-art I've been thinking of pushing.

IS THE PRICE WORTH THE CONVENIENCE OF NON-RETURN OPTION? This question for me holds the most weight and I'll be key to the success of the product. Currently priced at 4.99 per purchase, it would seem a bit exorbanent for merely trashing a discs for those in anger management, maybe breaking apart a DVD after use is cost effective, but for the majority this is certainly questionable. By comparison, other services exist where a rental downloaded to a computer, good for 24 hrs, is $3.99 and seems appropo for the target business traveler, especially those with iPhones. Netflix and Blockbuster also offer zero shipping fee services for their millions of titles and a very low service fee with no pressure on returns. Even RedBox (who by the way gave my family a free rental last night) is priced at $1.00 per rental and has kiosks placed generously in supermarkets where for many are frequented daily. So the price point on this just doesn't make sense to me.

WHAT RELATIONSHIP DOES THE SERVICE RETAIN WITH THE CONSUMER? This is an easy one to answer. NONE! This, to me, is one of the most damaging points of this offering. The relationship is between the distribution companies, the physical space owners (i.e. walmart, 7-11, bookstores) but not the end consumer. FlexPlay has no direct way of marketing to the consumer. There are no demographical statistics on consumer choices and therefore no good metrics for altering the business model based on sound business intelligence. Seems like an obvious dead end to me.

All this being said, new services have a way of shaping the landscape and bewildering logic. Netflix did it when Blockbuster and Hollywood video were in their hayday and its approach shifted how we consume digital video (and this is morphing once again from physical to merely digital). Will FlexPlay have the ability to yet again change the landscape?

What do you think?

Geek Squad City Staffers Compared to Mormon Missionaries

How appropriate for the writer of CNET's Geek Gestalt (Dan Terdiman) to compare Geek Squad City's employees to Mormon Missionaries. He describes the "well-groomed young people in dark pants, white shirts, and narrow black ties" as "stylized kind-of-Mormon-missionary, kind-of-G-Men" appearing staffers. I find this to be a very descriptive and complimentary comment on the good grooming of the LDS missionaries. And having served as a missionary for 2 years I would consider this to be a positive nod to our young people serving the Lord today.

What does this have to do with technology? Well, not a lot, other than to say that the technology behind the city is quite sophisticated, efficient and provides a meaningful service to the likes of Best Buy which employs the "Geek Squad" in house (you can sometimes catch a Geek Squad patrol VW Beetle roaming around our neighborhood).

So for the techie geek that may happen to be just returning home from the LDS mission, don't worry about readjusting to the world around you. Just head on over to St. Louis and hire on at Geek Squad City: no adjustment necessary :)

Web 2.0: Providers Wake Up!

Dr. Windley on his Technometria blog shares some insight from David Friedman of Avenue A | Razorfish. The gist is providers of e-commerce either need to be in the Web 2.0 space or they're dead. Consumers want to not just be talked to, but want to play with services in order to be satisfied. But that's only part of the equation. Your services should be portable and useful contextually outside of your own offering.

I would agree and pretty much everything I'm thinking about right now is centered around services, SOA, how to consume and how to provide. What's more, I'm thinking in terms of my everyday interactions and how this same model impacts real world experiences. Maybe I'm approaching a breakthrough? Hope so!

What is the best 2.0 site you've experienced?