Fellow classmate, Justin Chan, his blog was about the gaming-industry. Justin commented how the gaming-industry has a low entry and exit barrier because technology is common.

I don’t completely agree. Entry barrier is low, but exiting is high. Even though the technology is common, the key success in a game is the creativity, aiming at what consumers want and keeping it that way. Anyone can enter the gaming industry, but the challenge is making the game attractive and successful, and maintaining it at that state. That’s what defines the entry barrier to be so low.

Call of Duty released a number of successful games. Most recently Black Ops 2, earning $500 million in the first 24 hours, because they create what consumers want, and make new games that continue to interest gamers.

RuneScape was a very successful web browser game. In 2009, the company made an upgrade and lost millions of dollars and customers, simply because no one liked it. This is the perfect example of a company that did excellent in targeting what consumers liked but they failed at keeping up with the trends and updates. There are no factors in common technology, but I believe its purely about strategy and product.

Read more here.

Recently, Bank of Canada released the new $20 bill. The money doesn’t rip but disadvantages are that it wrinkles easily and it’s too slippery, sticking to the other polymer bills.

The new polymer $20 bill.

With the new $20, the biggest problem is that it isn’t accepted every where. Due to the new polymer material, multiple machines weren’t modified, rejecting the money instantly.

Technicians have already been flustered with the problem of updating vending machines, dealing with the new lonnie and toonie. It will be months before modifications for $20 bills will be made.

In my views, this will make an influence on businesses. TransLink machines don’t accept the new bills. Therefore consumers will need to find an alternative such as taking a taxi. With these few issues amongst many more that are about to come, some company’s could possibly be influenced to the point where they loss money.

I don’t understand why Bank of Canada didn’t update machines beforehand, so when the new money goes public, vending machines will still be perfectly functional. No one can be successful without planning for the future, and I think Bank of Canada did the unprofessional act of doing the exact opposite.

Read more here.

I wrote about how UrtheCast is a newly developed company, thats going to launch the world’s first HD video platform of Earth.

Classmate, Taymour Bouran, did the same. He mentioned how terrorists remain hidden and how UrtheCast will present the opportunity of hopefully tracking down these criminals.

If UrtheCast existed during the time of 9-11, do you there will be enough time for UrtheCast to locate the planes, and stop 9-11 from happening?

I strongly disagree. UrtheCast gives the time when the camera will show imagines of the location asked for. This can be easily avoided. Also, the camera travels all over the globe constantly around the hour, missing several spots on earth. The time that is spent in Africa will be very short, and that certainly will not be enough to track down any terrorist activity.

Long before UrtheCast even existed, the U.S military has many satellites roaming around the globe, not the mention the number of soldiers they are overseas.

In my views, UrtheCast will be a successful company for the being the first to stream live footage of earth from space and not for the use of military action.

A few days ago in class, I had the opportunity to meet the Director, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of UrtheCast, Wade Larson.

Wade introduced the company, that is going to launch the world’s first high-definition video platform of Earth, streamed from space. Larson also explained several ways of generating profit via Media Content sales, Earth Observation Data sales, Application Platform sales and Web Advertising.

Speaking to Larson myself, I learned that the company is at a critical stage. UrtheCast needs approximately about $30,000,000 from investors in order for the project to be up and running. Without this money, UrtheCast could potentially shut down.

There is no doubt this project can be profitable. The concept of how everyone can view space live online is very unique, but the fact how they’re short so much money is unreal. Having no backup plan is even worse. Alternatives can be made such as applying for government fundings. With the information that Wade has provided me, if the company continues to have the same attitude towards potential barriers like money shortage and not working to overcome this problem, I think there will be lack of development for the company in the future.

Read more here.

I read a blog from Canadian Business, explaining with the release of the new iPhone 5, or the update to iOS 6, apple is introducing their new maps application.

Apple maps – 3D flyover function

The blogger mentioned “the possibility that Google is withholding maps in an effort to differentiate its Android phones from iPhone, but it’s equally likely for Apple because it competes with a core function of its device.”

Google maps – TransLink trip planner & street view

I believe Apple was the one who pulled Google out of their system. Google purchased Motorola Mobility,  meaning they’ve entered the cell-phone market. Now that Apple has a competitor, I think this is a reason why Apple decided to take Google Maps out of their operating system.

Why wasn’t it have that Google took their applications away from Apple? Because Google makes profit. Samsung and HTC still apply Google Maps in their operating system. Now that Google is apart of the cell-phone industry, why didn’t Google decide to leave Samsung or HTC also?

“Two powerful forces fighting it out for map supremacy is likely to mean one thing: better maps are coming.”

Read more on Google’s purchase here.

Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 7.43 million vehicles worldwide due to a faulty in power-window switch. Grease wasn’t applied evenly during production, causing friction and sometimes smoke.

Personally, I believe that Toyota’s reputation got destroyed by our social media, making a big deal. A couple years ago, Toyota recalled a number of their Prius, due to the gas pedal that cased unintended acceleration. After research, it was proven that the acceleration issue was caused by driver error or pedal misapplication. Was it made a big deal when GM recalled almost 50,000 vehicles due to a cracked part that caused fuel leaks? Or when nearly 500,000 vehicles were recalled because the car continued to roll even in park gear? No because GM is an american company. Their “strategy” is by making Toyota look like an unreliable company, trying to move themselves up the ladder.

Toyota is a very strong company because with such issues happening, they deal with these problems, overcome them and improve in the future. Toyota does right by the consumer when making a mistake, recall their products, taking responsibility and not having dealerships suffer because of their faults. I guess thats why Toyota is the largest automaker in the world.

Read more here.

“It’s the lightest and thinnest phone we’ve ever built, iPhone 5.”

The iPhone 5. Bigger, thinner, lighter, “better.”

Apple made some new updates to the iPhone 5 such as LTE, panorama, new maps application, A6 chip and FaceTime without wifi. The new design is thinner and lighter. The connector changed as well, the cord that has connected and charged all Apple products since 2003.

The new iPhone 5 connector.

I found the iPhone 5 a huge disappointment. What they claim that’s “new” in the iPhone 5, it was already out or a useless function. The LTE service in a smartphone was available early as 2010. It also drains the battery of the phone. FaceTime will use a lot of the phone’s cellular data, resulting in a big bill. Since google is entering the smartphone business, Apple decided to take the google maps out. I have an iPhone myself and I think Apple’s map is the biggest joke. Area’s are labelled incorrectly, addresses couldn’t be found, and the Translink trip planner isn’t included. As a student, that’s the most important part of the phone.

If the company continues their business at this pace, Apple will become the new Blockbuster.

Read more here.

Nexen Inc. is an gas and oil company based in Calgary. Now, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) offered a $15 billion deal to buy a major Canadian petroleum producer.

The Board Directors of Nexen has all agreed to accept China’s offer. The big question; Will Canada’s government approve this business proposition? Ever since CNOOC made this offer, Nexen’s stock market increased by ten percent.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is the major national oil company in China, interested in purchasing Nexen.

Currently, Canada is only selling their oil products to United States. If this business plan is approved, Canada has the potential in expanding the oil business world wide. This will result in multi-markets in Canada’s oil business.

The economy in the States is pretty bad and Europe is collapsing because of the debt crisis. Canada has the chance to strength their economy and make better relationship  with China. China is a developing and strong country. I believe there will be a day when China will be as powerful as the United States. So having a good relationship with China could be beneficial for Canada in the future.

I remember when I was a little boy, my parents would drive by the nearest gas station and find the price at $0.49 a litre for regular. Now that we’ve all grown up, go for a drive and fill up the tank. How much is it now?

Throughout the last ten years, gas prices has been slowly climbing up the ladder. In Montreal, there was a night when their gas prices was $1.53 a litre. Throughout Canada, gas price ranges from $1.17 to $1.40. Roger McKnight, senior petroleum adviser with Oshawa-based energy consultants said, “There is absolutely no reason for this price increase at this time, especially for gasoline.

An unhappy driver fills up his tank at a ridiculous price.

In our everyday society, technology has made some huge advancements so gasoline is somewhat on our “needs” list. Such as riding the bus to school, driving to work, heating up the house, etc. I think the oil companies have a very “powerful hand.” Even if they increase the price of their products, consumers still need to buy it. The demand may go down a little, but the oil companies still make a lot in profit.

Read more here.

With this great business opportunity, high-end U.S. retailer, Nordstrom, is expanding their business into Canada. Nordstrom is an upscale department store chain that originated in the United States, a big profitable company that holds a very competitive position in the stock market. After a long time of research and consideration, the company finally decided to move into the Canadian market.

Nordstrom will be 6 different locations across Canada. The image shown is the Nordstrom soon to be located in Calgary’s Chinook Centre that will cover over140,000 square feet of land.

There may be a slight downside having this company move to Canada. Other businesses that are currently in Canada will face more competition in attracting customers. It will add an extra competitor on the ladder and everyone will fight to reach and maintain at the top position.

Overall, I think  Nordstrom developing in Canada could be at a huge advantage in many aspects. Expanding the company will give Nordstrom the chance to strengthen their business and increase profits. Also, the new opening could potentially result in 1000 new jobs, creating more tax for the government to collect. Eventually, this will begin to strengthen Canada’s economy.

Read more here.