I had the distinct pleasure of being a judge at the first annual Deloitte National MBA Case Competition this past weekend. It didn't hurt that it was in Miami in January, or that Deloitte footed the bill at a gorgeous hotel right on the water, but the crux of the matter, for me, was the subject of these cases--which was the ebook reader market.

The contest itself came down to this: Students had approximately 12 hours to build a case. The teams could choose from four main ebook market areas: Raw materials, devices, software/services/publishers or content. They had to decide which aspect of the ebook reader market they would attack, after which they had to identify and research a company within that market segment with the goal of convincing a fictional venture capital firm why they should buy it. Judges acted as the VCs and asked detailed questions about the presentations.

After a long night with very little sleep, 14 teams of very bright students from some of the best business schools in the country, made their cases. This was not just for school honor either. These teams were fighting for cold cash with the winning four-person team getting to split $20,000. In the end, it turned out that it was about content, which could explain why I was there.

You might see where this is going, but before I get to the conclusion, I have to say that I saw some very interesting presentations. One team went for screen technology in the raw materials category. Another went for a text book publishing platform in the software/service category. Most looked for products that were social because they stressed the network effect and could build markets quickly, making it more likely the fictional venture capital firm would get a high return on its investment. Given the time pressure, every one of the teams I saw did a remarkable and extremely professional job.

But a funny thing happened at the awards dinner on Saturday night when the winners were announced. Ken Landis, Principal in Deloitte's IT Strategy practice, gave a little speech about the presentations and he bluntly told the students they all failed. Why? Because folks it's about the content, and his view all of the teams failed to recognize that. Now, here's a man after my own heart.

Specifically, Landis said, "It's not about the device or the infrastructure or the application-- it's about the content." You gotta love that, don't you? Landis went onto say that we don't buy a Samsung 55 inch TV and hang it on the wall to do nothing with it. By the same token, he reasoned, you don't buy an ebook reader to look at it. You get it because you want another outlet for viewing content.

Landis admitted that the content market had become compressed in recent years under pressure from a number of online sources, including free and low cost varieties. He pointed out that although the New York Times is struggling to find ways to capitalize on emerging devices, such as the ebook reader, it's still a great brand, and it's still looking for a way to deliver that content wherever you want to read it.

To be fair, at least one team I saw did go for content, albeit niche content, but content nonetheless.

Regardless, the entire weekend was a great experience and it confirmed one of my key maxims--that the CMS, the search engine, the platforms and the devices are all empty vessels. As Landis drove home so clearly and eloquently Saturday night, none of these would exist without the content. It's first, last and always about content. - Ron