There's an interesting article over at The New Yorker on how Nintendo is poised to win the videogame console wars, in the long run. This quote in particular was illuminating:
"The point is that business is not a sporting event. Victory for one company doesn’t mean defeat for everyone else. Markets today are so big—the global video-game market is now close to thirty billion dollars—that companies can profit even when they’re not on top, as long as they aren’t desperately trying to get there. The key is to play to your strengths while recognizing your limitations."
They've learned nothing, absolutely nothing from the iTunes Music Store and eMusic. We don't want them to tell us want we want, we want our music our way.
Until they figure that out, they're on a path to extinction.
Spam is anethma to my job. It hinders legitimate, opt-in emailers like me from reaching our customers. No one is more anti-spam than a legitimate email marketer.
So reading this story on how the recent surge in stock-trading emails is due to a huge network of infected (Windows) computers showed me just how formidable the forces arrayed against us truly are.
I agree with Jeff Jarvis (again): A "Word Of Mouth Marketing Association" goes against the idea of WOMM.
"You cannot buy our word of mouth. It’s ours. You cannot buy buzz. You have to earn it. The only way to get either is to create a good product or service and to treat your customers with respect by listening to and being open and honest with them."
The very instant you switch from trying to make your product better to trying to make people pay attention to you, you've gone from word of mouth marketing to regular ol' marketing. Word of mouth marketing is based on the customer's trust in your company and their passion for great products; once you lose either, you have to rely on regular marketing to win them back.
“What Google is doing is cool and they are innovating, but it’s still really geeky,” Eric Ott, president of WebAssist, told Macworld. “It can be challenging to pull it off. That’s where Dreamweaver comes in — we like to have a no code approach and make it dead simple to get something implemented.”
Using Dreamweaver Tools for Google adding Google Checkout, Google Maps and Google Search to any website is a matter of a point-and-click, according to Ott. The extension provides a wizard that guides users through every step adding a Google service to their Web site.
Ott said that while this is the first version of the extension, his company is working with Google to provide more functionality in the future, like AJAX search, for example.
I've been saying it for a while: The future of computing is a data-centric model, where you control how and when you use your data, not the people who make your computer.
"We are in free fall, remember? Further evidence: a trade group reports that the audience for US newspaper websites is up almost a third over last year and, in the latest quarter, they viewed 2.7bn pages online vs. 1.9bn pages in print(Emphasis mine. -ed). This means the public is rushing on to the net way ahead of papers or advertisers."
Yep, I did. And yes, we are running away from print. Fast. A door-door salesman tried to sell me a subscription to a major local paper the other day, and I turned him down easily. With a laptop, wireless hi-speed network at home and Netvibes to organize my RSS feeds, why do I need someone else to collate and organize the news for me?
We entered a pumpkin-carving contest this week, and in honour of our upcoming election, I need you to do your best Richard J. Daley/Katherine Harris impersonation and vote early, vote often.
Click here, click on Pumpkin Carving Contest, then vote for number seven.
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