What If Stuff All Had Different Prices, Depending On Who Was Buying it?

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

• Imagine a world where everyone pays a different price for things based on how you shop, where you shop, etc… If you thought High Frequency Trading was a thing, imagine High Frequency Pricing. In fact, it would be hard to know if Amazon (and others) aren’t already doing this (hint: they are).
• I never saw Google Glass as the future. I always referred to it as an intermediary technology. Something that will bridge the gap from what we have today (screens) to what we’ll have in the future (a heads up display whenever we need it?). It turns out that Google Glass may, in fact, be struggling.
• YouTube is about to launch a subscription service (with a fee) to take on the Spotify and Rdios of the world. This feels like a very smart play for them, as they already have deals with most of the major publishers.
• Amazon is talking up a new product called, Echo. While it looks like a bluetooth-enabled speaker (which it is), apparently, it’s much more. It can read you the news, help you find information and more… because it talks to you. And yes, you can buy Amazon stuff just by telling it to do so. Creepy or awesome?

Listen here…