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According to BetaNews Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is switching a phone that was supposed to ship with Windows Mobile to Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Android platform. Is this a cost issue or a marketing decision?
From a licensing perspective, Android is free whereas Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) charges for each phone that Windows Mobile is put on. Motorola’s handset division has been in financial straits for some time now so this could be a cost cutting maneuver.
It may also be that Motorola is trying to get the device out the door as soon as possible with a more modern OS. Windows Mobile 6.1 is a bit long in the tooth since it is visually almost indistinguishable from WinMo 5, a platform that shipped nearly 4 years ago. WinMo 6.5, which is substantially updated, was just completed this month, but it will be three months or more before the first devices start showing up. -
Sprint (NYSE: S) threw a cold bucket of reality on the pipe dreams of AT&T (NYSE: T)’s Randall Stephenson and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’s Lowell McAdam. It verified that it will be the sole distributor of the Palm Pre “through 2009.”
Sprint spokesperson James Fisher spoke in no uncertain terms. He said, “We have the Pre through 2009.”
That means AT&T and Verizon Wireless will have to wait at least six months before they can sell the device, which won’t put the Pre on their shelves until very close to the December holidays, if not into January.
This statement comes after AT&T’s Randall Stephenson and Verizon Wireless’s Lowell McAdam both indicated they’d be offering the Palm Pre at some point in the future. Verizon’s McAdams went so far as to say, “Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm.”
Category: Uncategorized Page 15 of 16
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Every time customers experience your brand, you want them to remember what you do, why it is important to them, and why it is unique to you. By developing a clear expression of what is important to your customers and unique to you — and reinforcing it with every customer interaction — you will help your customers remember what your brand stands for. This starts with developing a brand positioning statement.
Developing a brand positioning statement involves four steps:
1. Describe your customers
2. Define yourself in terms of your competition
3. Explain your greatest benefit
4. Put it together into your brand positioning statement -
Structured like Gmail, the developer and end-user software interoperates with other Web services, such as IM, forums, wikis, and blogs.
At its developer conference on Thursday, Google plans to offer attendees a chance to try Google Wave, the company’s new real-time collaborative communication system.
Lars Rasmussen, who was lead engineer for Google Maps before co-founding the Wave team with his brother Jens, describes Wave as “what e-mail might look like if it were invented today.”
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I get it. You want a dream team, a devoted group of employees who would move mountains, face their fears, and work tirelessly to help you meet your entrepreneurial goals. I hate to break it to you bucko, but they ain’t you. They may love you and their job, but nobody will ever be as determined as you to make your business a success. And if you think money will make the difference, you are fatally wrong.
Money does NOT motivate. In fact, money is the world’s greatest anti-motivator. If you pay people too little, they will right that wrong by under performing, coming in late, or even engaging in a little sabotage. If you pay people too much, they will work hard, but they will not work harder. No one can put in more than 100% effort, even if they try.
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Palm has done a platform reboot with its new webOS and the company is swinging for the fences with its first webOS device, the Palm Pre. So will Palm strike out or hit it out of the park? Here are five reasons why I expect it to be a homerun.
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For the last decade, I have been convinced that the three most important factors in determining the success of a start-up are (1) team, (2) product or service, and (3) market (timing, size, etc.). Take an A+ entrepreneur, with a great idea for a new product or service, at the right time, and about as fast than you can tweet Susan Boyle you’d have a success brewing.
Recently, I have added one factor to the must-have list: the right start-up culture. In other words, add a dose of bad culture to a team of superstars, a killer product and good market opportunity, the result is almost always death by a thousand backstabs.
What defines a great start-up culture?
Justice Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” standard seems particularly apt here, but not actionable.
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The progress of e-commerce in Germany—home to Europe’s largest Internet population—was relatively slow, retarded by many of the same issues seen earlier in other countries, such as the UK and the US. Heightened security concerns and adherence to traditional payment habits on the part of many Germans hindered the development of online selling.
But the situation has changed.
By the end of 2008, the GfK Group reported that retail e-commerce sales—excluding event tickets, financial products and travel—reached €13.6 billion ($20 billion), up €2.2 billion ($3.2 billion) from 2007. -
Cloud computing lets companies move data and applications from their own servers to those managed by someone else. The dream is to forget all about managing infrastructure, but in reality, applications are still deeply tied to surrounding software, such as a specific operating system or database, so it’s not so easy to move them.
A company based in Raleigh, NC, called rPath is winning admirers among IT experts by selling technology that addresses this problem. The company won top honors last week in the “cloud and infrastructure” category at a competition held at the 2009 Venture Summit East conference in Boston.
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You know you have way to many things on your to-do list. Here are some ways to down-size that list, and turn it into a powerful income generating tool at the same time.
Step One
Acknowledge that it is impossible to do it all. Decide right now that you are going to choose the Highest Leveraged Actions in the important areas of your life, and focus on doing those every day.
Step Two
Do a mind dump. Unfinished business weighs on your mind and drains your energy. Take 10 minutes and make a list everything that’s in your mind that needs to be done, in every area of your life, personal and professional. Just keep writing until without ordering or prioritizing until you can’t think of anything else. This is not a to-do list. This is a cleansing list. I do them periodically; just to be sure I’ve captured everything.
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When I was a venture capitalist there were lots of reasons why we did not make investments in particular startups. My goal was to try to provide some honest feedback/guidance as to the reason for passing on the opportunity. Given the deep deal flow at my fund, this was not always possible, but if I had used up more than a few minutes of the executives’ time learning about their company I tried to give a little bit of the color behind the rejection.
This ranged from “the end market is too small” or “you need more user traction” or “it is too competitive of a market” or “we are not comfortable with this particular technology.” But the fact of the matter was, sometimes there were not great reasons for passing on a company. Many times these were just excuses hiding the real reason: -
The Time Warner board has approved the spinoff of AOL as an independent, publicly traded company, undoing the disastrous merger between the two in 2001, which came to be a symbol of failed synergy between content and web distribution. It also positions Time Warner for a return to its roots: as a dedicated content company.
The spinoff is targeted for the end of the year, after Time Warner buys back the 5% stake in AOL it doesn’t own from Google, which it says it will do in the third quarter of 2009. The deal follows Time Warner’s spinoff of Time Warner Cable earlier this year.
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The global market for carbon emissions trading doubled in value last year, but actual realized emissions cuts fell as the global economic slowdown dented clean energy financing, according to the World Bank.
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Many in today's market are turning to internet businesses as a way to make money without the overhead of a brick-and-mortar store. After all, an internet-based business grows our market place to a global one–the internet has a global presence and our customers can come from all over the world. Regardless of the economic climate, the more customers the better. And you can get started for less than $5,000.
What can you do with less than $5,000 to make a great web-based business? First, don't skimp on design. Work with a great designer who understands user experience. You should interview several web designers who are local to you so you can sit down and explain your vision to them. Logos are less important than usability– how usable customers find your web site.
Dear Friends,
Please excuse the impersonal nature of this note, but I wanted to make sure that each of you had my new contact information.
After
almost nine years of building buySAFE, I’ve wrapped up my time at the
company that I founded while in grad school at Wharton. I am leaving
buySAFE in very capable hands, with fresh funding, and the brightest
future that the company has ever had. It has been a quite a ride, and
I am pleased with what we accomplished. We made the Internet safer for
tens of millions of shoppers and more profitable for thousands of
ecommerce merchants; we developed new products and technologies now
licensed and utilized by some of the largest safety and security
companies in the world; and we had a lot of fun in the process. Here
is our official announcement… http://www.stevewoda.com/2009/03/thank-you-buysafe.html
It
has been a few weeks since my last day in the office, and the rest of
the buySAFE team has continued and will continue to do great work for
our customers and investors. I am confident that they will perform at
the same high level that buySAFE is known for. If you need to contact
anyone at buySAFE in the future, I suggest you touch base with Jeff
Grass, buySAFE’s CEO, at jgrass@buysafe.com or Tim Woda, buySAFE’s VP
of Biz Dev and Sales, at twoda@buysafe.com. I am quite sure they can
either assist you directly or point you to the person that will.
As
for me, I am stepping back, spreading my wings a bit, and looking for
new challenges. I am thinking about new venture ideas, consulting and
advising for a number of companies, and considering interesting
executive leadership opportunities. Of course, drop me a note if you
think I might be helpful with anything you are working on. I am always
willing to assist if I can.
My buySAFE email address and phone
are no longer actively monitored, so in the future, please use my new
contact information below (You can also download my updated Vcard). I
look forward to catching-up with you soon, and of course, I will keep
you up to date on my future adventures as well.
Best regards,
Steve
****************************
Steven L. Woda
202-321-5482
steve@swoda.com
http://www.stevewoda.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevewoda
http://twitter.com/stevewoda