An absolutely awesome announcement, I mean who wouldn't use Overpass?! I wish it were in Australia.
Pros:
- The quality of the apps available in the bundles are second to none. (JJ, there's your content
)
- Super easy to make an in app purchase, rather than some external subscription method. I see the 99 cent plans being a real winner for sporting events and series binge watching.
- Great economics; The savings for the consumer are essentially 'irresitable' it almost makes the subscription a need rather than a want, especially for lower incomes.
- The company is proceeding with caution conducting a limited commercial release to gather customer feedback before launching full scale.
- AT&T wholesale data costs are now sitting at 10% (100% - (70% + 20%) = 10%) of their original cost (almost free).
- Subscription prices should come down over time.
Cons
- The app store description now only concerns the US customers, what happened to the information pertaining the the previous version? After all, the rest of the world is not concerned with Overpass at this point.
- There is now a bit of mash-up between the two uses of the freeway app. One would think a separate Overpass application would have been more appropriate.
- Why not launch with the improved UI optimised for OTT services? Or more to point, why would you even include this information in the announcement? Its like saying; we have launched, but it needs improvement...
- No information regarding the % amount of revenue that is generated by a subscription. They know this, however, choose not to share.
Conclusion
Clearly, Overpass is in a trial mode and will probably not be in full effect until August. It would be nice to know what percentage revenue is generated by a subscription, but SYT has never been forthcoming with this kind of information. All in all, IMO, the pros outweigh the cons, and I am super stoked at the direction the company is headed with this upgrade. I think that Overpass will prove to be a significant revenue stream and combined with the Verizon contract just makes the company so much more attractive. Hopefully, this walks the price up over the next few weeks, and we see a nice little re-rate when revenues are reported at the end of July.
All IMO Cheers.
