30 July 2012: Difference between a degree and dropping out and The end to poverty predicted

Apple and Adobe not participating in public Australian parliamentary inquiry into international and domestic IT price differences. In last week’s private hearings, FIN Review understands Apple blames layers of AU taxes, warranties, and copyright holders. iTunes songs set at a flat fee, and up to copyright holders to charge differently in each country, leaving it with music publishers such as Sony Music, Universal Music, and EMI.  Adobe also did not make a submission, claims prices due to taxes, charges, and strict warranty rules. [CR: Rather than making a deal about the software companies not participating in a public and therefore politically dangerous questioning, how about responding to what they are saying are the issues with the system? Not as fun as demonising big corporate, but may prove effective.]

Difference between a degree and dropping out: Mike Dockery of Curtin University study found getting a job before you have the average schooling of employees in that field outweigh the downsides.  While more schooling increased wages, the effect fell once passing the average level of qualification for people in the profession, and the penalty for being underqualified was small, very likely less than the extra years of education. Argues against assuming that extra schooling increased earnings just because people who finished school tended to earn more: “classic evaluation fallacy; people do better because they are different, not necessarily because of the level of school.” Article expressing sentiment from the likes of Clive Palmer, university and billionaire, and web company Atlassian co-founder and drop-out Scott Farquhar, who say education is as much about on-the-job as from university. But for every Clive Palmer or Steve Jobs, there is a Marius Klopper, CEO of BHP who has a bacherlor of engineering, an MBA, and a PhD in materials science. [CR: Agree, it is based on the individual and their ability to capitalise on the education.]

Olympics – Chanel Nine opening ceremony traffic: 1.72 million people watched the early morning start, compared to the 2.9 million viewers for afternoon opening of the 2008 Beijing games.

Environmental protestors halt China paper mill: Demonstrators entered a government office in the port city of Qidong near Shanghai and smashed computers and destroyed furniture to protest against a waste-discharge plant they said would pollute the local water supply. Company website followed by saying the mill project had been abandoned [CR: The people rise up. Wonder if it is setting precedence.]

End to poverty: Christopher Kojm, head of National Intelligence Council in the US, says worldwide poverty will be virtually eliminated by 2030, and a middle class of some 2 billion people will push for more rights and resources. The 1 billion people who live on less than $US1 per day will drop to roughly half that amount in two decades. [CR: Optimistic, must look him up. Poverty gone in our generation? It is a dream I am willing to share and be a part of.]

India accounted for 56% of the world’s new leprosy infections in 2010 (126,800 of a total of 228,474 cases.) [CR: following the previous story, access to medical aid a big part of ending poverty.]

Australian advertising market to grow 2.8% a year over the next four years to $14 billion, 2% in 2012 to $12.5 billion (PwC report). Entertainment and media market to grow 4.1% over four years to $38 billion. Internet advertising expected to grow from $3 billion to $4.7 billion over four years. Media companies face two scenarios: a “dystopia” where consumers continue to expect digital content to be free; or “the more likely outcome” whereby media companies provided a collection of niche, customised content for which consumers were willing to pay. [CR: Digital is significantly cheaper and more engaging through interaction than TV, but that does not mean you do not have to work for your spend.  I have blogged in the past about the lack of accountability using marketing spends as an example. We are seeing the invisible hand of the market correct itself, as competition in the digital space raises the quality of engagement.]

Losses of Facebook and other internet companies: Facebook initially valued at $US100 billion on eve of May debut now at $US65 billion. Social gaming Zynga stocks at 25% of peak from last year. Groupon and Netflix also under pressure. Old line tech companies like Apple, Google and Amazon are doing fine. CEOs and early investors might have been a little too eager to cash in. Companies can grow their markets faster than ever – but that means they can also reach saturation faster than ever. [CR: Is it a common failure as the banking system – greed and pride? The promise of celebrity status overriding solid business models and traditional academic business rigour?]

PWC Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012-2016: Australian free to air (FTA) ad revenue expected to drop 4.5% next year. Digital channels accounted for 25% of total FTA viewing last year, helped boost overall FTA audience by 5%, but FTA will need to continue to evolve to accommodate technology advances and continuing fragmentation across platforms. Personal video recorders (PVRs) are now in at least 44% of homes, threat to effectiveness of TV advertising, 45% of viewers disengage or are not viewing ads at all. Newspaper advertising expected to fall at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% over the next four years. Digital newspaper advertising expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.3% until 2016, but represents only 8% of the total annual newspaper advertising revenue. Magazine advertising expected to fall ata CAGR of 8.5%, magazine digital expected to increase 20.6%, represents 5% of total magazine advertising. Internet advertising will sustain 12% CAGR until 2016. Search and directories to grow at a CAGR of 13.2%, online display advertising to grow at a CAGR of 8.3%, Mobile advertising to grow CAGR 46% over the next four years. Mobile banners at 0.61% click through rates compared to 0.07% for browser-based banners. Australia has the world’s second-highest smartphone penetration rate behind Singapore. Global m-commerce expected to increase at a rate of 39% over the next four years.