Talk about your SaaS. $24,000 a year for one of these babies. I think it's how he made most of his fortune.
Edit: corrected for year
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
Edit: corrected for year
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
Not coincidentally, that's why I take his pontificating about finance and economics with a grain of salt - he was a tech savvy info delivery man who lucked into trapping people into a dog-shit ugly, expensive, and industry ubiquitous device.
It's along the lines of "I'll view Google as more than just an extremely successful ad agency when they make money on their other projects" which might not seem fair, but cuts through a lot of the enigma-like perspectives regarding tech firms.
The story goes that one of Charlie's distant relatives had cornered some part of the 1920's shoebutton market. Back then, shoebuttons were smallish ornaments you put on your shoes.
The success entitled the prince to pontificate on any and all things in unlimited fashion--especially those outside the realm of shoebuttons.
Although, having worked in municipal finance on the Street for a couple years (somewhat back office, somewhat deal support) I can honestly say that a lot of the systems and information in certain sectors is pretty dated. As in, not very good by modern standards. The MSRB is trying with EMMA - but because there's no fiscal / competitive reward like in Bloomberg's info providing case, rather it's for regulatory and market stability - but a lot of stuff was still pretty old school.
I've designed an "Information as a Service" program targeting some of the most lucrative sectors in public finance (construction, transportation, education, etc) but still haven't mastered the design / handshakes with needed sources (ex. Thompson Reuters) to really call it ready to debut. Another issue is finding the right price point - Bloomberg's got a racket going, I'd just want to hit a good spot where most businesses could afford access, or put it at a value premium where having the information before others (arranged/conditioned by the system) would be worth larger expense. Eh, good times!
For example: * Magazines provide content in their subject area. * Yahoo: provides content apps and content.
I think it is a smart move to force bundle the hardware and form the users' keystroke habits over a career. I imagine the switching costs are extreme.
I'm not a trader. I'm actually a programmer and just curious about a lot of things. One day, I contacted Thomson Reuters and asked to try their competing system, I think it was Elektron. It is a pure software system that I got bored with after a few days of exploring.
[1] http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/data-analyti... [2] http://financial.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/tools-applic...
You're probably confusing the sharing of insider information via the IM feature, which definitely does happen. But blaming Bloomberg for that makes about as much sense as blaming Apple for terrorists using iPhones.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/may/10/bloomberg-goldm...
> The Guardian also understands that JP Morgan also has concerns about how Bloomberg used information from its terminals while pursuing stories about Bruno Iksil, the trader known as the London Whale, who was blamed for massive losses at the bank last year. Bloomberg said it had blocked journalists' access to client data within 24 hours of receiving a complaint from Goldman.
Interestingly, Goldman Sachs recently launched its own "Bloomberg Terminal killer", Symphony: http://qz.com/501783/the-goldman-sachs-backed-bloomberg-term...
Funny quote from the QZ article:
> At a cost of more than $20,000 per year per terminal, Bloomberg is an extremely expensive system for users mostly interested in its chat features.