One of the business bloggers that I follow is: Seth Godin. Godin has 12 best selling books and writes business articles or quick posts on his blog about the business world, social media or changes in the world. One blog that caught my eye was “Entrepreneurship => impact.”

The blog is short and quick, but provides the reader with a deep insight. he showcases to his readers that innovation and in turn impact is a tool all the entrepreneurs use. Further, he mentions that these tools and skills can’t be taught to an entrepreneur. One has to care enough about the problem and be confident enough to stand up and bring about a change.

I completely agree with him…One, especially an entrepreneur, has to be fully passionate about what he is working towards. Being passionate about the work that you are doing makes an entrepreneur take more efforts and give it, his 100%. This is why persistent is one of the many important traits that an entrepreneur should possess to achieve success and his goals. This persistence comes either naturally or through extreme passion.

Sources:
1.) Seth Godin’s blog post, “Entrepreneurship => impact” can be found here

I agree with Harnoor Gill in her blog: “Apple Risking Market Dominance?” She argues that it was a mistake on Apple’s behalf to launch two iPhones into the market simultaneously. The company introduced the iPhone 5S which is the upgraded version of the iPhone 5. Alongside it released the iPhone 5C which has been portrayed as a cheaper alternative for the 5S though is an iPhone 5 repackaged. Since it is similar to the 5, the 5C has not been popular in the market as a result of the Android and Samsung alternatives.

It has been noticed though, that the 5S has been selling really well in the market. As a result of this situation, Apple is thinking about cutting down the production of the 5C and increasing it for the 5S for their last quarter. This is a good move for Apple since it will benefit their sales. Apple did market the 5C as a “cheaper” product but as Harnoor mentions, it was not affordable or cheap. I agree when Harnoor says that Apple has a high class value, and hence they should not make an attempt to enter any other markets with products like the iPhone 5C.

Sources:
1.) Find Harnoor Gills blog here

2.) Jim Clare, Carsten Paul. “Apple cutes orders of iPhone 5C as consumers prefer 5S.” Reuters. 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/16/us-apple-5c-idUSBRE99F08J20131016>

This is blog is in relation to a blog post: “Sweatshops are unethical” written by Shawn Wu. Shawn argues in his post that “sweatshops are playing a positive roles by making the world a better place, rather than simply sucking up the employees’ blood.” He supports this by saying that the companies are actually helping the workers by giving them a pay cheque. If it weren’t for these companies the workers won’t even receive this money and this will affect their living standards as well as the local economy.

I agree with this analysis to a certain extent. It is logical to say that the economy and living standards will be affected without the presence of these companies in these areas. Though something that should be taken into consideration is that these giants should not take advantage of the poor conditions that the workers are present in to exploit them. Therefore, as a first step towards being ethical, the companies should make a one time investment in providing the workers with a suitable environment to work in. Other measures such as a raise in their pay or general improvements can be taken over time by the management.

Thalmic Labs is one of the famous start-ups based on Waterloo, Ontario. The company was founded by a trio of University of Waterloo students last year and has up to 40 employees since it is gearing up for the early 2014 launch for its first product, the Myo armband.

The $149 armband is a portable version of Microsoft’s Kinect, or gesture-recognition device that can be plugged into the Xbox 360 console and allows the wearer to interact with his/her computer, smartphone or other devices with simple hand motions. It reads electrical activity in the wearers arm muscles when figuring what actions to perform.

Since wearable technology is hot right now, Myo fits in the overall category perfectly and has a bright future. Experts say technology is advancing though there will be a time where it is going to be stagnant and there will be no future. Fortunately, start-ups and innovators like these proves this wrong.

Sources:
1.) Nowak, Peter. “Thalmic Labs: Canada’s hottest startup.” Yahoo Finance. 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dashboard/thalmic-labs-canada-hottest-startup-134431829.html>

2.) https://www.thalmic.com/en/myo/

3.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWu9TFJjHaM

One of the hottest startups of is Snapchat; the two year old company founded by Stanford undergrads is a mobile photo and video sharing service available for both iOS and Android devices. It follows “Instagram and YouTube’s path” (CNN Money, 2013). Currently, Snapchat maintaining an audience of more than 100 million users along with more than 350 million snaps. The company isn’t making any money though…so whats next for Snapchat?

Recently, Snapchat raised around $60 million in funding through five different groups, valuing the company at an estimated $800 million. It reportedly also turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook. So how is the company going to survive?

The erasable media trend that the app offers is an extremely attractive option for many social media users in the current digital age. Even though revenue might be hard to generate, plans for including advertisements are on there way. One thing is for sure, Snapchat is not going to disappear anytime soon.

Sources:
1.) Covert, Adrian. “What is Snapchat?.” CNN Money. 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/14/technology/social/snapchat-primer/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River>

2.) DeHahn, Patrick. “Snapchat has a brigh (and long) future.” CNN Money. 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/25/technology/social/snapchat/index.html?iid=EL>

Recently after the company’s largest shareholer, Fairfax Financial Holdings abandoned the proposal of taking over Blackberry, the company decided to make a brave decision. Hire another CEO. Thorsten Heins agreed to step down and was replaced by John Chen the former Sybase Inc. CEO. Another change in the company is that Fairfax has also announced that it will raise $1-billion for the company, “with convertible debentures” (Globe and Mail, 2013). Furthermore, Manulife Financial Corp.’s has also recently joined Fairfax and other investment firms to purchase $70-million of Blackberry’s debt.

This is supposed to assist Blackberry to run their finance operations. It is a good decision for the company since this financial arrangement has been carefully tailored to fit Blackberry’s situation.   This distressed debt investing also makes the investing firms major creditors of the company and gives them power during any of the reorganization or liquidation of the company. This was seen when the company shook up its management completely. Things might finally start to look up for Blackberry, only time will tell.

Sources:
1.) Marlow, Iain. “Manulife buys into Blackberry financing deal.” The Globe and Mail. 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/manulife-buys-into-blackberry-financing-deal/article15355818/>

2.) Silcoff Sean. “Interim CEO Chen takes the reins at Blackberry.” The Globe and Mail. 13 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/interim-ceo-chen-takes-the-reins-at-blackberry/article15421758/>