The Future Of Music Is The iPad and HTML5

Roger McNamee says in the bold new world, Microsoft and Google are on the way out as mobile devices dominate computing’s and music’s future

This is the short version of Roger McNamee’s of Elevation Partners presentation to Paley Media Centre that focuses on where the money is in the music business.

The presentation, about 52 minutes, is a concise explanation of the inflection point in computing and creative content. According to McNamee and it seems probable more people will be accessing the internet from mobile devices than desktops, breaking the monopoly that Microsoft and Google have created.

McNamee is the founding partner in Elevation Partners, which invest in high-tech companies. He is a charming speaker, and his points are controversial.

His basic premise is that we will be mobile consumers of computing devices. Apple has shipped 240 million iPhones and iPads. That number is predicted to hit 1 billion in short order.

Looking around my place, that appears to be true. There are still 4 desktops/laptops, but there are 5 Apple/Blackberry mobile devices.

That will give Apple the upper hand in computing. Apple is already muscling the industry by demanding 30% royalty from anyone who sells products on the App Store.

Amazon.com took the direct buy button of the Kindle app.

That % is punishing since most businesses don’t have enough margin to give up 30%.

McNamee explains how content creators can easily build HTML5 sites to deliver content, advertise and sell around Apple.

The presentation is controversial, and you may not agree, but it will make you think. What follows is the text of McNamee’s presentation to NARM, the industry conference.