On November 15, Sony PlayStation 4 is offered for sale at a price of $399 in North America. With only $100 less than the Microsoft latest gaming console, the Xbox One, which is scheduled to be released on November 22, this will make Sony a strong competitor in gaming consoles market for Microsoft.

Sony is providing some freebies for the early buyers, this included a free usage of the Sony Music Unlimited and the PlayStation Plus for a month and also a $10 credit in the PlayStation Store. With only mere $10, some players can opt to upgrade several selected PlayStation 3  games and make them compatible to play with PlayStation 4.  With this, Sony can ensure the loyalty of a handful of buyers and gamers to support their product.

Nevertheless, some reviewers complaint about the incompatibility of many PS3 games, thus shrinking the size of PS4 gaming library. Reviewers have appealed that buyers should wait for more features and games to release before they buy it.  The lack of compatible game can badly affect the sales of Playstation 4. It would be nice if Sony can delay PS4 releasing date and expand their game library by developing more games that are compatible for the utilization of PlayStation 4.

References: Brien, Lucy O’. “Sony Posts Troubleshooting Guide for the PS4 ‘Blue Light’ Issue.” IGN. N.p., 17 Nov 2013. Web. 15 Oct 2013.

Carnoy, David. “PS4: Everything you need to know.” Cnet. N.p., 14 Nov 2013. Web. 15 Oct 2013.

Images: Long, Neil. PS4, next gen rivalry and the Vita rescue plan: in conversation with PlayStation’s Jim Ryan. 2013. Photograph. EdgeWeb. 15 Oct 2013.

In San Francisco, a brand new type of credit card is currently being developed by Coin’s team. This brand new slim-looking magnetic stripe might soon replace the plastic credit card we are using right now because innumerable cards, debits and credits can be stored into this all-in-one credit card. 

Although the prototype is still in development, Coin’s team has created a website which enable public for pre-order to fuel Coin’s fundraising campaign.  People can purchase a completed black card at a price of $50 for a limited period of time.  Nonetheless, the device will cost $100 after the fundraising campaign ends.  It seems that this new credit card could revolutionize the uses of credit card but it is definitely not an easy task to punch through the market. Nowadays we know that the plastic market and credit card market is monopolized by MasterCards, Visas, and ATMs.  Coin’s team needs to employ several tactics to ramp up the sales or at least acquire a foothold in credit cards marketplace. For example, Coin can hold a few promotion campaign to advertise his product or utilize the social media to help him to publicize the advantages of having an all-in-one credit card.

References: Statt, Nick. “Inside Coin’s techie vision for the all-in-one credit card.” Cnet. N.p., 14 Nov 2013. Web. 15 Nov 2013.

Images: New All-In-One credit card concept. 2009. Photograph. Oled-infoWeb. 15 Nov 2013.

Luxuries often link me to fine quality and quality connects me to comfortable. Likewise, Vista Jet provides their customers the best of the best. They probably have the most outstanding air stewardess, food and utilities. However, normal person like me will not be able to enjoy this kind of luxuries. My classmate, Rui Wu, had mentioned that Vista Jet’s customer segments are very narrow. They can only target groups and business companies.

In my opinion, if they are willing to pull down the price for their services, and also construct bigger planes, they can then accommodate more people and hence, revenue shoots up. Currently, I noticed that a lot of China people enjoy travelling the world ever since their economy has been opened up to the public. If Vista Jet is willing to lower themselves down a little bit and target these travellers, I am pretty sure that their annual revenue will escalate even quicker than their current pace. Nevertheless, this also depends the company’s own objective. If they value their contemporary reputation as a high-end service more than revenue, then no implementations should be made.

References: https://blogs.ubc.ca/ruiwu/2013/10/08/vista-jet-to-give-you-the-very-best/

Images: English, Jennifer Leach. Bizjet Order Is Largest Ever. 2012. Photograph. bjtonlineWeb. 1 Nov 2013.