Category Archives: Uncategorized

http://www.economist.com/node/17633138 This article from the Economist chronicles some of Google’s biggest successes and problems. Although the article does not refer them specifically, we can derive two major concepts from class: 1) Strategy Google derives the vast majority of its revenues … Continue reading →

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/02/rim-buys-tat-blackberry-ui-in-danger-of-becoming-awesome/ An update to yesterday’s post: RIM is about to score a swish on the user interface (UI) of its products with its (just announced) acquisition of TAT, a Swedish UI design company. TAT is perhaps most famous for its … Continue reading →

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=aw_ppricecheck_iphone_mobile That’s exactly what Amazon has been thinking. Amazon has just released an app for the iPhone that allows consumers to instantly compare prices of products on store shelves to their prices on Amazon.com, simply by scanning the bar code … Continue reading →

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/nielsen-android-makes-huge-gains-in-us-smartphone-marketshare/ Has RIM lost its edge? According to the latest Nielson report (posted on Engadget), RIM’s BlackBerry line has lost significant market share in the smartphone market. Its share has fallen from 35% to 27.4% in just one year. That’s … Continue reading →

Economist: “…device makers already have to pay royalties for 200-300 patents for a typical smart-phone. Patent costs are 15-20% of its selling price, or about half of what the hardware components cost.” Continue reading →

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/27/rim-introduces-playbook-the-blackberry-tablet/ It seems like RIM is adopting a new strategy – competing with Apple and several other newcomers (like Samsung) in the tablet market. Based on the marketing material, the PlayBook seems like a viable competition to the iPad, offering … Continue reading →

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703743504575493504267114766.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection Volkswagen will (finally) take the North American market seriously, as part of its efforts to dethrone Toyota from the car manufacturing crown by 2020. To do so, VW of North America plans to make two broad shifts in strategy: … Continue reading →

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/10/04/uh-oh-the-rich-are-buying-gold-again/ It seems that the court of investor opinion has again shifted its verdict to gold as the investment of choice. Not surprisingly, the economy isn’t doing well – again. Last time, the gold rush happened in 2008-2009, when the … Continue reading →

While doing our business plan, I noticed something very interesting about the business plan that ties in well with the marketing we learned in class. Our business plan is one about opening a new high-end fitness center (Woodland Gym) in … Continue reading →

It seems that companies these days love to use sex to sell products. Sexual innuendo, whether cleverly subdued or downright in-your-face, seems ubiquitous. Many ads pertaining to such subject matter also seem to totally go against the concepts of positioning, showing … Continue reading →