Playbook to follow TouchPad’s (scheme?)

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Picture courtesy of CrackBerry

In October, I blogged about the TouchPad’s firesale. Hewlett-Packard (HP) slashed $300 of their TouchPad tablet, making the price at $99.

Today, Research In Motion (RIM) also discounted $300 of their Playbook tablets: the new prices are $198 for 16 GB, $298 for 32 GB, and $398 for 64 GB. Could RIM be trying the same scheme as HP: selling their tablets for a low price to gain market share?

I believe that may be one of the reasons for the price decrease. The main difference between RIM and HP’s sale is the fact that RIM announced this price decrease is only temporary, while HP’s sale was because of their decision to drop the entire product line.

Another reason for the price decrease could be an attempt to attract additional developers with a bigger user base. Currently, the number of apps in BlackBerry App World is significantly lower than the apps in the Android Market or Apple’s App Store. When developers see an increase in customers, the additional incentive will bring more innovative apps for BlackBerry users, which will result in an increase in BlackBerry customers.

Is this a scheme for tablet sales ranking? Or is it to attract more developers? Only RIM will know.

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YouTube Entrepreneurs Rake in $1.65 Billion

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YouTube, the popular video sharing website that went live on February 2005, was founded by three entrepreneurs: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Due to the skyrocketing popularity, Google had set its sight on YouTube and came to an $1.65 billion agreement in October to acquire all the shares of YouTube. The three founders was suddenly rich!

The founders of YouTube can be considered as entrepreneurs because of:

Due to Google’s acquisition of YouTube, the founders had a sudden and large increase of wealth. Also, starting up YouTube can be considered a huge risk, as server costs (equipment) and bandwidth will usually cause web owners to earn only economic profit; or worse, lost profit. Furthermore, before YouTube there was no other easy video-sharing websites, thus creating the huge increase in popularity of YouTube.

By fulfilling those four points, YouTube’s founders can be considered to be entrepreneurs.

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Resources for Students

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Image courtesy of Google

After looking at the organizational culture of both Google and Microsoft, I found the Google Student Blog. This website sparked my curiousity and I spent the next 30 minutes exploring this blog.

Jeff Moore, the Lead Engineering Recruiter, blogs weekly tips for students wishing to pursue a career in Google. Although he describes most of his tips in the Google context, the majority of the tips apply to any students looking for a job.

For example, he talks about rocking the “non-technical interview”. He recommends potential employees for any company to research the company, review your resume, and prepare a list of questions, as interviewers will ask “if you have any questions”.

I believe this is an extremely helpful blog as the tips is coming from a professional recruiter, especially in the fifth best company to work for in 2011. I recommend readers to follow this blog if you are seeking for tips to get a job!

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Microsoft = / ≠ Google?

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Image Courtesy of Xbit Labratories

Microsoft and Google. Rivals, right?

Even the greatest rivals have similarities.What is it? Corporate Culture.

My colleague Sammie Chan discussed about Google’s latest motivator, the MetroNap Energy Pod. Google employees can take quick naps in a quiet setting, or with soothing music playing to relieve their stress.. Furthermore, Google employees have flexible shifts and access to free drinks, snacks, and Google-subsidized cafes. 

Similarly, Microsoft have a similar corporate culture for their employees, making them feel at home and work near stress-free. In 2009, I visited Microsoft’s development office in Richmond, BC. At that time, I was working with 4 Microsoft employees on my project in their “BlackComb” meeting room. After our meeting,  Mr. Graham Wardle gave me a tour around their office. Although the office was no where close to their main one in Redmond, they still had subsidized cafes, free drinks and snacks, pool and Table Tennis tables, and flexible shifts. Mr. Wardle told me that Microsoft employees love to work there because of the culture and the flexibility Microsoft provides to each employee.

As we can see, having a good corporate culture is key to a successful company, unless you deny Microsoft and Google’s success.

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Direct Business Model?

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Image Courtesy of Focalprice

In today’s class, Mahesh described advantages of the Direct Business Model and illustrated it extremely well with Dell’s situation. After a company popped into my mind: Focalprice.

Focalprice, one of China’s biggest e-commerce export site, hosting several thousand products for customers to make orders through their website. After customers place orders, the company sends these orders to manufactures and pack the products for shipping. Since Focalprice is a large and established company, shipping is free due to their contracts with the Hong Kong Post Office.

Is this an example of a Direct Business Model? I believe it is a mix between the traditional and the Direct Business Mode. Firstly, customers do not buy directly from manufacturer; they buy from a shop or middleman. However, Focalprice does not charge a hefty commission, as the cost of their business is only maintenance of the website, shipping, and packaging. Furthermore, the customers feels likes they are buying directly from a manufacturer because of the low prices.

I believe Focalprice is a unique business model, or one that we have not learned yet. Yet, the business model of Focalprice is as or even more effective than the Direct Business Model.

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Steve Jobs left four years worth of plans for Apple

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Image courtesy of Twitter

As we all know, Steve Jobs, Apple’s irreplaceable CEO, has passed away on October 5th. Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple along with Steve Wozniack in a garage. However, he was “forced” to resign in 1985 when the Board of Directors sided with John Sculley and striped Steve Jobs’ managerial powers. But in 1997, Steve was back as the interim CEO of Apple when the company was going downhill. As the CEO, Steve released the iMac and iPod, which helped the company recover from its financial crisis. Afterwards, Steve led Apple to success with the release of the iPhone and the iPad, making Apple briefly the most valuable company in the world.

Now, questions arise about Apple’s future. Will Apple be able to continue conquering the market, or will they fall once again? Apparently, Steve Jobs left Apple four years worth of plans, hoping to ensure success for Apple after his death.

Is that healthy? Will a company fall just because of his absence? According to many SWOT analysis done for Apple, its strengths and opportunities should overshadow its weakness, even if Steve Jobs left without leaving plans for Apple. Will they succeed?

Only time will tell

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HP Touchpad, end-of-the line or new beginning?

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Picture courtesy of HP.com

Apple’s iPad has dominated the tablet market, but Amazon’s Kindle Fire is likely the iPad’s biggest competitor, according to Nicole Dee’s blog post. I believe that would be the case, as the Kindle Fire has great specifications and features that rival the iPad, like the dual-core processor. However, Hewlett-Packard (HP)’s Touchpad has taken the No. 2 spot in the tablet market right before the Kindle Fire’s launch.

Recently, HP announced the discontinuation and decided to slash off $300 for their tablet: from $399 to $99 for a 16GB version. As the news hit the internet, consumers were scrambling around, trying to obtain one. According to the blog Fast Company, the HP Touchpad has became the second best selling tablet, behind Apple’s iPad.

As Fast Company noted, the main reason why the Touchpad was able to claim this spot was because of the price cut. Slashing $300 off the tablet was an incentive for consumers to purchase the product at a frightening pace. However, the HP Touchpad costs around $318 to make, according to iSuppli‘s teardown of the device.

Is this HP’s strategy, or is the Touchpad done for real? Most likely, it’s a mix of both.

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Netflix scores contract with DreamWorks Animation

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Picture Courtesy of Wikipedia

Popular online streaming company Netflix scored a contract with DreamWorks Animation today, giving Netflix users access to DreamWorks Animation’s movies and TV films, like “Kung Fu Panda” and “Shrek” in 2013.

A few days earlier, Netflix announced its plans to split the DVD-by-mail service from the online streaming in the US, hoping to charge users even more. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote in a blog post that the change was to provide a better online streaming experience for customers. Many users were angry and decided to stop using the service, decreasing Netflix’s customer base.

With the contract, Netflix once again increases their strengths and should is hoping to re-acquire their lost customers with this new contract, as more and more children use Netflix’s service.

About Netflix

Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) has more than 25 million customers worldwide. They provide service to numerous countries, including United States and Canada, along with an expanding list. Furthermore, mobile devices like the iPhone and Android phones can also get this streaming service on-the-go, providing great entertainment during long bus rides or road trips.

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GM to help pollution problems in China through electric cars

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Image Courtesy of Technorati

On Tuesday, vehicle maker General Motors (GM) announced its plan to develop electric cars in China through a joint venture with China’s biggest auto company, the Shanghai Automotive Industry. (The New York Times). GM is currently China’s largest foreign maker of cars, with 2.2 million cars sold in 2010 (USA Today). However, part of this joint venture is the requirement to transfer GM’s technology on electric cars to the venture, thus giving Chinese automakers access to these technology (The New York Times).

In today’s world, sustainability is a key factor in any product. As sustainability is put on the spotlight, many manufactures attempt to produce “green” products: products that are environmentally friendly. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, China tops the charts with 7.7 million tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions in 2009. As a result, China is trying to attract automobile makers to share their technology on electric cars in hopes of improving China’s pollution problems.

I believe GM’s decision is a wise one. Although GM is the largest foreign car manufacture at the moment, developing this joint venture will allow GM to collect even more market share and spend the increased revenue on further research for environmental-friendly technology.

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Recycling is the way to go, but what about recycling buns?

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Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

In today’s world, recycling is everywhere. Each conference, each park, and each shopping mall have recycling bins, hoping to encourage everyone to recycle.

China, the world’s top polluter, is also recycling. However, other than paper and plastic bottles, China is recycling buns. There has been many reports that bun suppliers in China recycle buns that are expired. They collect the “stale buns into a vat, add water and flour”, and then repackage them as if they are fresh and sells them (The New York Times). These “tasty” buns would definitely carry a blast!

After China’s incident of baby milk containing melamine that infected more than 300,000 babies, it seems like the Chinese have not learned their lesson yet.

Steamed buns are found on the breakfast menu of every Chinese. Since there is a big demand in China, recycling the buns are definitely a great idea, but one that is surely unethical. Products have an expiry date for a purpose, and that purpose is to prevent sickness. By recycling the buns, companies may earn more money, but consumers are getting hurt. Companies should produce products that assist consumers, not hurt them.

Source: The New York Times

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