Month: October 2010

We’ve been on the look out for a zero-impact car that drives well and looks good.

Well, it’s here.

The Tesla Roadster 2.5 debuted in 2008, and the electric, emissions-free automobile is now on the roads of over 25 countries. A key turns on its ignition, and rather than revving to life, the Tesla Roadster silently purrs awake, completely inaudible even to pedestrians. Superbly responsive to its driver, the Roadster provides instant torque and deceleration, with a braking system that converts kinetic energy into stored electricity. Most importantly, the Roadster’s electric motor is paired with a battery strong enough to power an average home for several days. Tesla’s Toronto sales manager Hans Ulsrud says, “It’s a lot of juice.”

Unlike hybrid vehicles of the past, this car is 100% carbon-emission free. Rather than filling up at a gas station for upwards of $50, you can charge the Roadster’s battery for a few dollars. Its exterior is sleek and shiny; with its leather seats and carbon-fibre body panels, the Tesla Roadster is dead sexy.

We’ve dreamed of this car for years.

But at a minimum of $116,500, it’s too bad we didn’t dream of a lower price tag to go with it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/reviews/teslas-quiet-confidence/article1747900/

H&M is one of those savvy businesses that just knows what people want. Sure, it’s a clothing store, but it markets more than that.

Most clothing brands have a very specific identity. GAP is all about Americanism, Tommy Hilfiger is heritage, and Urban Outfitters is eccentricity. H&M, on the other hand, is a bit of a mish-mash of everything, marketing women’s wear, kid’s wear and mens wear. It’s not the first to offer cute clothes at low prices – Old Navy beat it to the chase in that aspect – but it’s still got a competitive edge. It is the first to successfully merge with designers to offer high fashion at low, low prices.

It’s old news that H&M has had agreements with fashion giants in the past; it’s done collaborations with Jimmy Choo, Stella McCartney, and Viktor and Rolf, to name a few. But this year, it announced a partner that would knock even the most fashionable socks off: Lanvin. An established fashion house, Lanvin epitomizes French artistic flair to a tee. This collaboration creates a highly promising business opportunity for H&M, not only promising revenue by the buckets, but will also elevating H&M’s brand image from high street to high fashion.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/10/05/1653707/hm-does-luxury-with-lanvin.html

People like music. Whether you pay $0.99 on iTunes for a track, buy a $12 album or shell out $100 for a concert, music has always been a profitable industry. However, times have changed, and music now relies more on live performances than recordings for profits.

From cassettes to CDs to mp3 files, the mediums in which music is bought and sold have changed. Now, with the rise of supernovas like Lady Gaga and the longevity of entertainers like Madonna and the Rolling Stones, live entertainment seems to be the music industry’s breadwinner. Though some may say that the music industry is vanishing, the truth is that it’s as alive as ever. While CD sales may have slumped in the last few years with the development of file sharing, people are paying more to see their favourite acts in person. In the last decade alone, sales for concert tickets have tripled. It cost $25 to see a concert in 1996; last year the average ticket cost $62.57.

With the high entertainment value of today’s peformers, live music looks financially promising. Whether it is CD or concert ticket sales, merchandising, or corporate sponsorships, music will continue to attract the attention – and capital – of the population.

http://www.economist.com/node/17199460

“I’m a Mac.” “And I’m a PC.” For years, Apple used these to brand itself a superior maker of personal computers. However, this changed in 2007 with the launch of a product that put Apple in a completely new playing field: the iPhone. Since then, Apple has branched out from the computer market, developing the iPhone and eventually launching the iPad, the revolutionary tablet computer that is currently unmatched in the market.

Apple’s main competitor since the inception of the iPhone has been RIM, the maker of the BlackBerry. With the iPad’s popularity, it comes as no surprise that RIM is now playing catch-up in the tablet market. Having bought QNX, a software firm, earlier this year, RIM announced its plans for its own tablet in 2011, the PlayBook.

Already a year behind the iPad, the Playbook will have to impress if it’s to compete with the iPad. Promising efficiency alongside fun, as its name suggests, the PlayBook is powered by QNX and boasts “advanced security features,” making it a worthy competitor to Apple as a business tool. But with the ever-changing nature of technology, RIM will need more than impressive software to dethrone the tablet king.

http://www.economist.com/node/17151127