In Jim Edwards’ blog “How Candy Crush Convinced This 22-Year-Old Startup CEO That Games Are NOT The Future Of Mobile Advertising”, he introduced the 22-year-old Sauder grad, Brian Wong, who obtained his undergraduate degree at the age of 18, and is the founder and CEO of Kiip, a mobile ad company.

Kiip’s original focus was to offer gifts from major brands to people who have reached certain milestone playing games on their smartphones. This new method of advertising eliminates the interruptive nature of in-game advertising, and also acts as an incentive  as the players are unaware of when the reward would pop up.

Wong’s recent decision, which was validated by King.com’s decision of eliminating all ad in Candy Crush Sage, includes shifting Kiip’s focus away from mobile games, as addicts of popular games are likely to pay for the removal of inter-level ads.

Since January of 2013, Kiip has been expanding its customer base by pushing heavily on non-game apps. Such action is driven by Wong’s belief that users of certain mobile apps, such as apps that keeps track of a healthy living style, should be rewarded for reason of simply using the apps. Kiip runs on a business model that’s  revolutionary and distinct from its predecessors. It is likely to change the perspective and focus of future entrepreneurs.

Link:

http://www.businessinsider.com/kiip-ceo-brian-wong-changes-mobile-game-ad-strategy-2013-7

The last hurdle of the merger of American Airlines and US Airways has being removed as the U.S. Justice Department gave its approval that led to the creation of the largest airline in the world.

The merger is a strategy that provides the combined airline a sustainable advantage over its competitors, such as the linked carriers of United and Continental. Synergy can be created through higher productivity, which would be achieved by the combination of increased efficiency, and the advantage of little overlap in the routes of the two airline.

According to the news the “airline sector has been known for financial woes despite ample demand for air travel”. This merger will not likely lead to decrease in price for ticket, rather, the price is expected to continue up a steady incline as the combined firm is one step closer to obtaining monopoly power.

The combined airline is also intensely focused on a new customer target of business professionals, who have the need to fly to places around the globe with few connections.

Link:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/american-airlines-us-airways-get-final-merger-ok-1.2424053

In his effort to support public interest, EBay founder Pierre Omidyar declared to embark on the creation of a mass media organization. Omidyar wrote in a post that he considered buying the Washington Post, which was ultimately sold to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Omidyar’s change of mind is likely due to his desire of “position[ing] the company any way he wishes[, and] not have the lingering past perception from the Washington Post to be in his way”, as mentioned by Krista in her blog.

This is a smart move from an organizational behaviour perspective. The already established corporate culture of Washington Post can become a liability if the new shareholders’ value goes against the environment of the company. If Omidyar had purchased Washington Post, he would eventually have to develop strategies, such as assimilation, in an effort to create a effective, functioning, new culture.

In my opinion, Omidyar’s new venture might encounter a lot of difficulties, such as intensive government regulations. Nevertheless, the innovative mind that founded the world’s leading e-commerce website might just prove the views of his opponents wrong in his genius way.

Krista’s blog and link:

Becoming Number One Again.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/ebay-founder-plans-independent-news-venture-wants-engaged-citizens-8C11406533

On November 5, I attended a Sauder event that involved Justin Bosa from Canaccord Genuity talking about real estate investment banking. Justin Bosa, a Sauder Grad of 1997, is currently the managing director of the real estate division at Canaccord Genuity, a global scale investment bank.

Mr. Bosa talked about the future of Canada’s real estate capital market, as well as the present prospering US market. One reason for the tremendous growth in the US market is due to the economy recovering from the economic recession. Similar rationale applies to the Australian market, which is the second fastest growing market.

The Canadian real estate market , on the other hand, has came to a stall as fears of rising interest rate has facilitated extensive sell-off of Canadian (and US) REITS. This led to Canaccord Genuity’s cut back on the target price of Canadian real estate investment trusts by as much as 5%.

REITS are securities that are traded in the stock market. They allow both big and small investors to own properties while enjoying high levels of liquidity in the investment.

In the same report, Canaccord Genuity has also predicted two likely scenarios while referring to the negative relationship between long-term bond yields and REITS valuation.

Link:

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/6/12/Canaccord-Genuity-cuts-REIT-target-prices.aspx

In September, Apple launched a new line of cheaper-priced iphone product-the iphone 5C. The release was a success and Apple recently reported an increase of 4% in its quarterly revenue. However, the drop in price also led to a 8.5% drops in earning in the fourth quarter to 7.5B USD over 8.2B a year ago.

The demand for iphone 5C is elastic and a drop in price drove up sales and revenue. I think the drop in price can be perceived as a strategy Apple developed to combat its close competitors, such as Samsung. In the concept of creating shared value, Apple reconceived product and market by focusing this new line on the less wealthy customers. This way, Apple widened its customer segments by enabling a larger portion of the global population to use its product, which was not originally affordable by  many potential customers who were interested in it.

Apple expected revenue to reach between $55B to $58B in the first quarter of 2014. My opinion is that Apple should aim at ceasing its reduction in quarterly profit to maintain its stock price.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-s-4th-quarter-profit-down-9-on-cheaper-iphone-models-1.2254969