May 31st, 2010
by Longhopper.
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I wasn’t expecting iPad to be unavailable for such extended periods of time. I assumed that I could land one home by visiting the flagship store on Regent Street. Now, given that I was away in Munich for the Bank Holiday weekend since the launch, I should have ordered the pad online. Now, it’s neither available instore, nor available online, which is kind of frustrating. I have ordered one anyway, which has an expected ship date of 15 June. Hope it’s earlier than that. My next post on this blog will be via my shiny new iPad 3G + Wireless.
Apr 11th, 2010
by Longhopper.
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So much has already been written about social media. In fact, many businesses have already ingrained social media into their business and marketing strategies. So, it comes as a huge surprise to see a few which are complete laggards. While businesses of all sizes and shapes have an established social presence, a number of them are still behind and beyond the social media realm. This is purely due to of the lack of a defined structure and strategy.
After nearly three years in online marketing, which includes a whole lot of social media activity, I must agree on one thing. Small businesses are certainly more receptive to the ever changing technology and the media that constantly evolves with it. They are also more likely to benefit as early adopters to these initiatives. They leverage the small amount publicity they get in the initial years and by the time other big businesses catch up, they have estbalished strategies which sets the ground work for big businesses to build on.
In the last few years, working for a small business, I have experimented with every new online marketing initiative that has been thrown at us by tech-savvy entrepreneurs. Some of them stuck by, and some of them, well, got stuck. From the early days of Delicious & Digg to Wordpress & Livejournal, as well as the recent phenomenon named Twitter & Facebook, I have tried everything new that came out of the box for my old company. Today, it is fairly well known in the Social Media and Online Marketing world. If I look back on the proudest moments of my employment, two instances stand out among many others:
When our online marketing initiatives were used as a Case Study for a Text Book for Master’s Degree and when a renowned Search Engine Marketing service provider patted our back in front of 200 other online marketing professionals. While these two instances are much cherished moments of my life, I also wonder what made the online marketing so successful in a small business such as the one I worked for.
It immediately strikes to me that it was neither my enthusiasm for new media, nor the technology that was on offer which made these social media initiatives sucessful. Without outstanding business leadership, you neither get the enthusiasm, nor are aware of technology. I clearly remember when I was offered the role, I was told that apart from my regular responsibilities, I have two hours to read and keep abreast of the development of online marketing, which probably made what I am today. Something like a Google philosophy: 20% time
Now it pains me to see injudicious timing, ill-advised social media approaches, particularly when the media space is completely convoluted. I feel that given the current adoption by businesses, you really need to rise up and stand tall to make your mark. Companies with inward looking social media approaches are sure to hit the wall as soon as they open their doors. Facebook & Twitter offer two of the most exciting platforms for businesses to take off. Both these platforms certainly deserve a clarity of thought and a well defined strategy, otherwise they are sure to be also rans.
Mar 12th, 2010
by Longhopper.
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Today, from the adopted land of cricket, comes the greatest annual sporting extravaganza, the Indian Premier League. With more than a 100 associated brands, the tournament is not just a sporting spectacle, but a commercial event masquerading as cricket.
Today, also marks one of the biggest days in internet broadcasting. The organisers of the Indian Premier League have signed a ground breaking deal with Google, to broadcast all the matches live on Youtube. This path breaking deal, a World first, will be closely watched by many quarters, particularly those in the broadcasting business as this could potentially shift the television industry. The service, which will be fully monetised by advertising revenue which is to be shared by Youtube & IPL, is an untested business model.
Rumours are rife that Youtube has acquired a number of advertisers across many geographies, including the UK where Lebara Mobile and Brylcreem are expected to be the first on the board. If this new revenue generating broadcast model works, then Google’s nifty acquisition of Youtube from three former PayPal employees in November 2006 will prove to be a grand success for the company as this means that many other sporting events in the world would soon be available live on YouTube, diminishing the dominating might of paid sports channels.
The Internet surpasses television’s global reach and if an event like the Indian Premier League, which is keenly followed only in a handful of countries, can be offered free to the viewer, it is imminent that it will encourage hundreds of thousands of new followers to log on to the site, who, otherwise would have skipped the tournament rather than paying hefty subscription fees to satelite or cable broadcasters. Now, imagine all the big ticket sporting events such as the English Premier League, Champions League, NBA, NFL etc playing live on YouTube!!!
With the financial power of Google, it seems a distinct possibility that this may be a vision of what lies ahead.
Feb 27th, 2010
by guesteditor.
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Guest Editor – Karin Hennessey – Karin had recently traveled to Jordan on a holiday and gives you a chance to discover the mystical land of Jordan, it’s spectacular natural beauty, ancient architecture and well preserved cultural heritage.
The Middle East is fast becoming a popular winter sun destination given its relatively close proximity to Europe (approximately 5 hours flying time from London), wonderful warm year round climate and rich cultural and historical interest.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a small country with few natural resources, and unusually for this region, no oil, but it has played a pivotal role in the struggle for power in the Middle East. Jordan’s significance results partly from its strategic location at the crossroads of what most Christians, Jews and Muslims call the Holy Land. It is one of two Arab nations to have made peace with Israel and is a key ally of the U.S.
In November 2009, we chose Jordan with a view to balancing our time between relaxation at a five star deluxe hotel (that are plentiful in the Middle East), and making day trips to the spectacular Rose City of Petra, the lunar landscape of Wadi Rum in the desert, and the mystical Dead Sea.
By far the best and most economic way to get there is with the long established Voyages Jules Verne (tour operator). VJV offer scheduled flights direct to Aqaba which no other airlines do, (the others make a stop-over in Amman, the capital city), and are currently offering a heavily discounted price at the newly opened Five star Movenpick Hotel at Tala Bay. They are promoting a week’s stay with flights and accommodation for approximately £579.00. An independently booked return flight costs almost double this price without accommodation so go now before it’s too late! If you are lucky enough, you will be greeted by the lovely ‘Laurent’ (VJV representative), who will entertain you en route over the microphone on the coach to your hotel destination with his ‘allo, allo’ French accent and ‘listen carefully, I will repeat this only once’ sense of humour!
The best place to stay on the coast, in order to swim and dive/snorkel in the Red Sea, is Aqaba. Aqaba is a major port and home to the Jordanian royal family. It is also a duty free town, although apart from a plethora of jewellery and pottery shops, there is not much to tempt you to part with your Jordanian dinars. You won’t need to worry about being hassled to make a purchase or haggle over prices because the Jordanians are forbidden by law to browbeat tourists into buying!
Although downtown Aqaba doesn’t offer much in the way of tourist attractions or nightlife, much investment is being ploughed into developing the area of Tala Bay as a holiday destination. Hotels, restaurants and man-made harbours are being constructed all along the coastline.
The Movenpick hotel certainly lives up to its Swiss attention to detail and standard of hygiene. The staff were extremely attentive and anxious to please. Facilities included five different style restaurants, an inter-connecting lagoon-like swimming pool, an infinity pool that was 75 metres wide, umpteen Jacuzzis and swim-up bars.
It was incredible to realise that from our hotel balcony overlooking the Red Sea we could see Egypt and Israel. In fact, we were divided by a strip of water that would take no more than fifteen minutes to float on a lilo to the other side (but don’t forget your passport!).
The Jordanian people are very proud of their heritage and adore their royal family. With a population of only 6.3 million they are a closely knit country and many have had a personal meeting with the King at some stage in their lives. Within every establishment you will find a photograph of the late King Hussein who died in 1999 after 46 years on the throne, struggling for peace and democracy.
We learnt a lot at the lost city of Petra which was carved from pink sandstone cliffs by the Nabateans two millennia ago and left undiscovered until 1812. The Bedouin tribes who lived in the caves were keen to give us a guided tour of their old homes, before they were moved into urban communities by the government. Petra is a fascinating insight into the lives of the old silk route traders who travelled by camel caravan, down through the siq (narrow crevice between the rocks) and out into the open and resplendent Treasury where the merchants trading took place. This was also the setting for the Raiders of the Lost Ark. At Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia came, you can travel by camel through the terracotta sand and desert landscape reminiscent of the Grand Canyon and spend a night under the stars camping with the Bedouins and eating a traditional feast of Mansaf (a dish of rice and lamb) served with generous hospitality and accompanied by singing and playing of the rebab (their equivalent of a small guitar).
Our final excursion to the Dead Sea was very educational. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets. It lies 422 metres below sea level and is a salt lake bordering Israel and the West Bank and Jordan to the East. The salinity and harsh environment has ensured that no animals can live here. We were advised not to shave two days before entering the water because it would burn, and to avoid any water getting into our eyes. On entering the water your natural inclination is to swim and then you quickly realise you will be turned upside down if you do so! Be aware that at this time of year, it is dark by 4pm which means you need to make the most of the daylight hours.
I highly recommend Jordan, and it’s wonderfully genteel and generous people, it will be an unforgettable experience which will make you yearn to experience more of the Middle East.
Jan 21st, 2010
by guesteditor.
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Guest Editor – AV - I have had a harrowing experience while renewing my passport in India early last year, which I have detailed in my post – The Great Indian Passport Saga. In fact, I have had pretty bad experiences every time I have been to the Passport Office in India, or Indian Embassies abroad. True, being an Indian, it’s a pity that I have no good words to write about the services. Last week, when my good friend, who for some reason doesn’t want to be named for the post found that he was running out on time on his Passport, I was devilishly pleased (in a nice way), for I had someone who was treading the thorny path to where I had already been. For the purposes of this post, let’s call this good friend AV.Here’s his account of the Passport Renewal Saga and some seriously simple tips to help in renewing the passport easily and quickly.
Let me be brutally honest with you, getting a new passport is going to be tough – especially, if it means making a trip to the Indian High Commission in London! Passport re-issue, as it’s called, is what one has to apply for when one has no clue where the last ten years went. That was exactly what happened to me earlier this month when I realised that this book, that I had initially bought as an essential tool to write SAT, TOEFL, GMAT, CAT, BRAT (note: this one is fictitious), GRE etc., has a validity of ten years and was due to expire soon. The good news is I have now got my new passport; the bad news is, it wasn’t easy. Getting to the point – here are some pointers and crucial insights into how you can get your new passport without getting (too) stressed out.
TOP TEN – I’ve narrowed it down to ten. Its an easy number.
Make enough copies. This isn’t an exam – copying is allowed, especially if it’s photocopying. You need copies of the front page, back page and your ‘current UK residential status’ page of your passport. One copy should do. If you’re one of those you-can-never-be-too-careful sorts, make two. I made three.
Recent photograph means recent photograph. You need four recent passport sized photographs and if you’re in the passport office, they are just called photographs. Remember the number is FOUR. Ensure you don’t have to use those dodgy do-it-yourself photo machines in the consulate as they don’t work. Again, I tried to beat the system by submitting ‘slightly’ old photos but the lady behind the counter (fresh from her recent visit to the cinema to watch Sherlock Holmes) noticed that my last three Schengen visas, which were well over two years old, had the same photos. I then had to battle that machine and ended printing three sets of pictures, one of them mine. The first two, of people I’ve never seen before.
Always Ask. If you’re in this room (picture below) and not sure where the queue starts or stops, ask. Go to the counter and ask. Any counter. The word is re-issue and not renewal as the latter is what you do when your passport is valid for five years or if your passport is expired, lost or stolen. If you speak Malayalam, even better, I’m not joking.
Enough food, water, books. Always ensure you have enough food and water with you and books (technology freaks can use those i-things). There is no restriction on carrying phones but there is a catch – no network coverage in the basement where you will be waiting. It’s not called INDIAN High Commission for nothing.
A couple of hours aren’t going to do it. If you’re planning on queuing up at around 8:00am and hoping to be back at work at 11:00am, you can forget about it. The lucky ones do, but the majority of us will have to wait longer, and, this is just to submit the passport. Again, this can take from two hours to six hours so be prepared with that text to the boss saying you are not going to be in the office until 2:00 pm. Collecting it is less stressful – between one and two hours, in the afternoons a few days later. (BTW collection is usually between 3:30pm and 4:30pm)
Get aggressive. If you have picked up any English mannerisms, such as holding the door open, being courteous, queuing up obediently, I suggest you leave it outside the consulate as it will not help you secure your objective. Even some British nationals who were waiting for their visas soon realised their Blighty way of life wasn’t working and I saw one middle aged woman step on a sardar’s foot to take that one last seat in the room. If your number hasn’t been called or you’re not sure of what’s going on, make sure you ask someone. Information on the website is not comprehensive.
CASH. Keep loads of it. You may be asked to fill up additional forms if your signatures are different, if your spouse has threatened you to change your surname, if they just want you to fill up additional ones etc. you will have to cough up some extra cash. Seriously, keep enough change and remember – no credit/debit cards!
Ensure you’ve taken the token. That’s it with this point.
Checklist. There are not a lot of things to remember but here is a summary of what I’ve been going on about. 4 photographs. One filled in form. One passport. One copy of the passport. Food. Cash. Now the chronology of events – queue outside to collect your token. Once collected, enter the building and wait for your number to be called and have everything ready. Submit it (this bit is important). Collect your receipt which will tell you the time and date to collect your passport. Go back and collect it (this is also important).
Enjoy. If you haven’t been to India in a while, this will be your mini India experience. Don’t stress yourself. Enjoy it. Imagine people from your home town’s RTO office or electricity board or even members of your local post office in India have been told to re-locate to the UK and hand out passports to NRIs who are doing the NR bit, yes go on imagine it – close your eyes…..aaahhh now THAT will be your passport experience in the UK.
Thanks dude for the post! Finally to add, the Indian High Commission in London is at
Indian High Commission
India House
Aldwych
London
WC2B 4NA
Phone: 020 7836 8484
Web: http://hcilondon.in/
Other consulates in the UK are at Birmingham, Belfast & Edinburgh. Check the website for details. Also, for Passport Renewal, make sure you download a passport renewal form and fill it as required before you head to the embassy.
Dec 28th, 2009
by Longhopper.
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A few weeks back, Google announced a great new addition to adwords, letting advertisers to display sitelinks on their ads, similar to sitelinks which appears for organic searches. Adwords sitelinks allows an advertiser to add four additional links to deep content within the site and are particularly useful as they can show the customer a quicker way to get to important sections of the site. Unlike, Organic Sitelinks which cannot be influenced, Adwords lets the advertiser choose upto ten relevant links to be shown to visitors. It’s a handy addition as it gives the advertiser an option to highlight promotions and seasonal offers for a given site.
However, a point to note is that sitelinks do not automatically appear for all the enabled keywords. They only appear for an ad which occupies the first sponsored result for a search and also has a higher click through rate. Therefore, the probability of displaying sitelinks for an ad is higher for brand or sitename terms, where the advertiser enjoys a first position listing as well as a higher click through rate.
Nevertheless, enabling sitelinks on adwords fairly simple.
Log on to Adwords Account
Navigate to campaigns, then click on settings.
Scroll down to the ‘Networks, Devices & Extensions’ Section
For each individual campaign, click on ‘Show additional links to my site’ under ‘Ad Extensions’
Specify the links you want to display for your ads. You can add upto 10 links, but Adwords will automatically show 4.
Now, how do you track these links? How will you know if the Adwords Sitelinks are bringing in any conversions? Well, since Sitelinks is a new addition to Adwords, Google hasn’t implemented tracking on sitelinks yet. The first time I enabled Sitelinks for Adwords, I was seeking out various ways to track these links on Google Analytics. When I contacted the Adwords team for answers regarding tracking, they sent a neat little document on how this could be done, which I have summarised below.
Advertisers must add a query string to the end of each URL which works as an identifier for Analytics. For example, if www.example.com/category/page is the URL, Advertisers must add ‘?sitelinks=page-identifier’. The URL will look like this:
Once the identifiers are in place, you can track sitelinks on analytics by following these simple steps:
Log on to Analytics
Click on the relevant website profile
Once you are in the dashboard, click on ‘Traffic Sources’ on the left navigation menu, which expands to show different options. Click on Keywords. It displays the list of keywords from the Adwords Campaign.
Select the filter ‘Landing Page’, which can be found below the tabbed menu and you should see the keywords which brought traffic to the site and the corresponding landing pages.
Hopefully, Adwords Sitelinks should improve CTRs and eventually result in higher conversions.
Nov 30th, 2009
by Longhopper.
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After two and half years at Arena, I decided to move on. Actually, it wasn’t an option I was looking at, but during my time off a few months back, I had casually met a recruiter to understand where I stand after my experience as an online marketer. Although, it did sound positive, nothing came out of the interviews immediately and I completely forgot about it as I returned back to Arena from my sabbatical.
It was nearly two months later that I got a call from a company and after going through the role again, I thought it could be challenging but I wasn’t fully convinced. I thought hard for a couple of weeks considering a whole lot of possibilities. Although, I was working as an marketer, I was only involved in organic search side of things and the new role promised plenty of opportunities in managing paid campaigns as well as other offline activites. Also, I am very keen on building my repertoire as complete marketing professional. This was enough to convince me to take up the role.
While monitoring search traffic and running reports, I used to marvel at how efficiently optimised and organised the campaigns were at Arena. Now I have a big challenge of doing something similar as my first challenge and I spoke with the external Camapaign Managers this afternoon to terminate the existing contract. SO officially, I am manning paid search from today.
Paid Search
After two and half years at Arena, I decided to move on. Actually, it wasn’t an option I was looking at, but during my time off a few months back, I had casually met a recruiter to understand where I stand after my experience as an online marketer. Although, it did sound positive, nothing came out of the interviews immediately and I completely forgot about it as I returned back to Arena from my sabbatical.
It was nearly two months later that I got a call from a company and after going through the role again, I thought it could be challenging but I wasn’t fully convinced. I thought hard for a couple of weeks considering a whole lot of possibilities. Although, I was working as an marketer, I was only involved in organic search side of things and the new role promised plenty of opportunities in managing paid campaigns as well as other offline activites. Also, I am very keen on building my repertoire as complete marketing professional. This was enough to convince me to take up the role.
While monitoring search traffic and running reports, I used to marvel at how efficiently optimised and organised the campaigns were at Arena. Now I have a big challenge of doing something similar as my first challenge and I spoke with the external Campaign Managers this afternoon to terminate the existing contract. SO officially, I am manning paid search from today. Lets see how this goes!
Oct 20th, 2009
by Longhopper.
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Every morning, I reluctantly pick a copy of Metro at Station on my way to work. Reluctantly because, I am keen to utilise the short journey time by reading magazine subscriptions which I always leave unfinished otherwise. But somehow, I end up reading a Metro at least twice a week. Off late I have noticed quite a few adverts on Metro by Mcdonalds and Costa Coffee trumpeting how superior their coffees are in comparison with the others. Costa, understood. It’s been a Coffee Company and it’s promotions are not surprising. But McDonald’s?
On an average, 9 million coffees are sold per week in the UK, triple of what was being sold in 2000. According to Allegra Strategies, a research firm, the UK has the largest branded coffee chain market in Europe with 3,864 outlets and until last year the numbers kept growing as companies invested heavily in expanding their presence. However, in 2009 further growth has been temporarily halted due to recession. One of the leading Coffee chains, Coffee Republic (deleted even) went into administration in July this year and had to be rescued by property firm, Arab Investments Ltd.
The bleak market outlook and the recessionary trading environment has prompted coffee chains to consolidate leading to strategy directed towards strengthening of the brand. Allegra believes that the slow down in the opening up of new shops, has resulted in Coffee chains embracing an aggressive marketing strategy. Well, then where does McDonalds figure in this?
Coffee market is not new to McDonalds. It has, in the past few years, directly assaulted single brand coffee shops like Starbucks by introducing variants of coffees such as capuccinos and lattes and targeted advertising. Although, critiques are divided on the extent of market opportunities for coffee shops, companies involved tend to think otherwise. In the recent years, the market has seen an expansion beyond urban boundaries into small towns. With sensitive pricing and good quality, non-coffee centred companies such as McDonalds, Marks & Spencer etc are quietly encroaching the coffee market, which traditionally has been reserved for smaller independent cafes or single brand coffee shops.
Sep 16th, 2009
by Longhopper.
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It's Only Rock & Roll
Apple’s much hyped media event “It’s only Rock & Roll” failed to spring any surprises. A thin, frail-looking Steve Jobs quietly strolled back to his normal self. IPod Nanos were updated as expected with new features including cameras and radio (!?!). IPod Touch doubled its maximum storage (64GB). IPod Shuffles are more colourful and have voiceover functionality. ITunes 9 was launched with an enhanced interface and some cool new features such as Genius, Home Sharing, iPhone App management etc. iPhone OS 3.1 was launched with the extended genius functionality. The Apple store too was updated with the availability of Cocktail and Pre-cut ringtones (I would rather buy a song than a ringtone). The biggest disappointment however, is the missing camera on iPod Touch and the unavailability of Beatles tracks on iTunes. Apple countered iPod Touch, by projecting it as a handheld gaming console with some interesting games (Assassins Creed 2, Madden 10 etc) being developed solely for them. Most importantly, there were price cuts across the entire iPod range. So does Apple continue to reign the roost?
A couple of days prior to the event, while skimming through news websites, I noticed a very obscure but potentially daunting article on how Apple’s iPhone is not spelling success for mobile network operators. The article was based on a research conducted by Strand Consult, a Danish Consulting firm, which for long claims to have predicted the failures of businesses where industry watchers had predicted otherwise. Intrigued by this revelation, I requested for a free copy of this comprehensive report.
A Squeeze on Shareholder Value
The report is extremely insightful, interesting and dispels all myths surrounding the iPhone. I have an affliction towards Apple’s superiorly creative offerings, which upon arrival shifts the market power and I am inclined to believe that Apple’s radical designs spell profits. Rightly so, given Apple’s super strong annual growth. However, iPhone is the first product where Apple has had to rely on external sales channels in the form of network operators to reach out to customers. Given the hysteria surrounding the initial launch of the 1st generation iPhone, helped by the company’s notoriously secretive approach to product development, iPhone was bound to be a success even before its launch. Apple consolidated the initial reception by entering into exclusive contracts with a handful of networks in mature markets. The networks on the other hand, were keen to differentiate from competition by being associated with Apple, which as a brand stands for being trendy, cool and sophisticated. So why does Strand Consult think that Apple doesn’t enhance shareholder value to the networks it is associated with?
Ever since, I have first held my mobile phone, there has been plenty of talk in the technology circles on how convergence of technologies will define the future of the mobile phone market. We have seen bursts of innovation showing glimpses of what convergence could achieve with a slew of new handsets being launched over the years with newer technologies. Cameras, MP3 Players, TV & Gaming on Mobile, eBooks etc. Except for Cameras and MP3 players, none of the other technologies have stuck on as they fail to deliver what they promise. In fact, until the iPhone, even the Cameras and MP3 players on mobile phones weren’t nearly good. The iPhone definitely is an industrial design which has turned the mobile market upside down.
But, it is not an invention which is new, but rather, a reinvention of a mobile phone with pre-existing technology. The only difference being the product performance features of the mobile phone which is being utilised to its optimum capabilities. For example, Touch Screen is not a new concept. I clearly remember a mobile phone which I owned five and half years ago, a Motorola A925 on Three network. It had everything an iPhone has now. It was a 3G phone, touch Screen, no separate keypad, it had video calling, camera, MP3 capabilities with an added memory card etc. Even the much talked Apps aren’t new. There were companies offering third party apps for mobile phones. Apple just rehashed the existing technology in a better way to give a superior product, in the process creating additional platforms to monetise self. Like I noted in one of my earlier posts, this has been the case with every product it has developed so far, be it Macs, iPods or iPhones. But all of these products have been tremendously successful.
Motorola A925
Going by Strand Consult’s report, iPhone sales haven’t been as dramatic as they seem for many reasons. Firstly, the product was launched to a select few countries and network operators when it launched. AT&T in the US, O2 in the UK, T-Mobile in Germany & orange in France representing a fraction of the market it serves to today. iPhone is now available in over a 100 markets and Apple has non-exclusive deals with multiple network operators, meaning customers have a choice to choose the network. Clearly, Apple’s comparative year on year growth is not an ideal representation given the expansion in markets. Secondly, the devout Apple consumer is usually one who is techno-savvy and seen as an early adapter. Given the contracts which the networks have in place to own an iPhone, it’s only the 1st Generation iPhone owners who are choosing 3GS. The 2nd generation customers have a few months to run out of their contracts and cost associated with early exit from their contracts deters them from adopting to the 3GS. New consumers embracing Apple is far and few as the market is flooded with iPhone look alikes with almost every mobile manufacturer offering wide, touch screen mobiles with similar functionalities.
Apple Squeeze
Also, Strand notes that despite iPhone’s initial exclusivity deals, networks haven’t seen an increase in marketshare and the high subsidies they have to offer to consumers, makes it difficult for them to cash in on other services. Unlimited Data, inclusive minutes and texts etc mean that there is no other value added resourced a network can offer the consumer at an additional cost, other than roaming which doesn’t rake in the desired moolah. With Apple widening it’s market reach by making the iPhone available through multiple networks, exclusive networks stand to loose further. In fact, Apple’s contract with O2 runs out in September, following which the iPhone is expected to be available with other UK networks, although O2 claims that it has renegotiated the contract.
I believe and attribute this to clever marketing by Apple. It has kept the company-consumer dialogue going while suppressing the delivery medium (networks in this case). Apple consumers are more connected to the company than the network. They interact with Apple more frequently than they do with their networks and in someway have developed a relationship which overrides their relationship with the operator. The efficiency and authenticity of the Apple brand stands taller than the service.
When the iPhone was due to be launched, networks clamoured for exclusivity and as a part of the bargain agreed on subsidies by giving up their part of the bargain. Now with their contracts running out they are still where they were with no bargaining power, while Apple has a larger base to choose from. Also, not to ignore the fact that Apple’s still charting an enormous positive growth irrespective of relational markets. Ultimately, what matters for a business is to be successful which can be measured by shareholder value and Apple has consistently achieved this with a number of channels. Be it an iPhone or a Macbook. However, this is a big dilemma for networks as they all want to be a part of something which hasn’t proven to offer much value. Operators have to radically realign their strategies if they were to compete in Apple space and Strand offers some valid arguments on this.
Aug 17th, 2009
by Longhopper.
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Wow. August has been a pretty hectic and exciting month. My Birthday’s around the corner and the celebrations have already begun, starting with a surprise gift last week. A Nintendo Wii. I had another surprise in store as I was gifted a U2 concert. Not just that, I got two Wii games as gifts as well, (Guitar Hero: Rock Band & Ashes 2009). Thanks people, for all these wonderful gifts.
Anyway, the U2 concert was a killer experience. It was the biggest concert I have ever attended. Going by the previous day, when U2 claimed the record for highest audience with 88, 000, I am very certain that this was no less. The main reason why Wembley could accommodate so many fans is because of it’s radically designed £15 – £20m worth concert stage. The giant claw shaped structure has a 360 degree view and unlike most gigs is centrally placed to ensure it’s wider field of view within the statium. It also has a 360 degree screen providing the audience with live close-up feeds of the event. This meant that most parts of the stadium could be used for audience. This also meant that the concert is possible only in Tiered stadiums. Apparently, the structures, which take as many as 60 trucks for transporatation, are to become gig venues in parks around the world.
U2 360 Concert at the Wembley
The Giant Claw Stage
The gates were supposed to be open at 5.00 PM yesterday and we only got there around 6 PM. There was a support act on. I have forgotten their name, but they were pretty good. Then we had Glasvegas, a Glaswegian band belting out a few good numbers. Then the U2, the longest serving and successful full band were on stage and they transported the audience to a different world. The beginning itself was fantastic with a count down being run on large 360 degree screen, before the U2 band men, Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and Edge taking up their signature positions, followed by Bono. During the concert, couple of metal bridges on the sides of the stage started moving to the middle and Bono and Edge frequently walked the bridges encouraging the crowd to croon with them, occassionally joined by Adam.
It was an incredibly exhilarating brilliant experience and one of the best concerts I have ever been to. U2’s Wembley 360 Degree songlist for the Wembley night:
I wasn’t expecting iPad to be unavailable for such extended periods of time. I assumed that I could land one home by visiting the flagship store on Regent Street. Now, given that I was away in Munich for the Bank Holiday weekend since the launch, I should have ordered the pad online. Now, it’s neither available instore, nor available online, which is kind of frustrating. I have ordered one anyway, which has an expected ship date of 15 June. Hope it’s earlier than that. My next post on this blog will be via my shiny new iPad 3G + Wireless.
Today, from the adopted land of cricket, comes the greatest annual sporting extravaganza, the Indian Premier League. With more than a 100 associated brands, the tournament is not just a sporting spectacle, but a commercial event masquerading as cricket.
Every morning, I reluctantly pick a copy of Metro at Station on my way to work. Reluctantly because, I am keen to utilise the short journey time by reading magazine subscriptions which I always leave unfinished otherwise. But somehow, I end up reading a Metro at least twice a week. Off late I have noticed quite a few adverts on Metro by Mcdonalds and Costa Coffee trumpeting how superior their coffees are in comparison with the others. Costa, understood. It’s been a Coffee Company and it’s promotions are not surprising. But McDonald’s?
