2014 Oct 24

Web vs Apps, Year 4

Today, BusinessInsider - about whom I should write more, as their "Top Stories" have become more sales promotion and less news, and thus I look forward to receiving their updates less than I used to, but that is for another day - published a piece by Alyson Shontell about the future of mobile apps. In short, they see mobile apps migrating towards the Web, with native apps more like bookmarks or small content holders.

2014 Oct 22

Know Your Subject

I have made my share of embarrassing faux-pas, saying the wrong thing, pronouncing a word the wrong way. But when I put something in writing, I try very hard not to make silly mistakes. That includes knowing my subject well. Here is a quote from a recent BusinessInsider article on how hackers work. In case it get taken down, it is reproduced here: One way people make themselves vulnerable is by having a weak password.

2014 Oct 21

The Not-So-Simple SIM Card

The SIM card in almost all of our phones is a tiny smartcard, a computer, that enables your mobile device to connect somewhat securely with a wireless carrier. In the old days of mobile, there were 2 major competing technologies - GSM and CDMA. Most of the rest of the world went GSM; the USA went mostly CDMA. Unlike GSM, which had a SIM card, and thus could have (unlocked) phones switch carriers simply by switching cards, Americans bought their phones from carriers, and closely affiliated the phone with the carrier.

2014 Oct 20

Incredible Shrinking Bluetooth Car Adapter Market

I drive a several-year-old car that came with no bluetooth integration. When we bought it, it mattered, but only a bit. Since then, all of our audio and video have become digital, and we have multiple bluetooth-capable mobiles with us on a regular basis. Bluetooth has come to matter much more. Unfortunately, the design of our dashboard, like many cars in the last ten years, makes replacing the radio extremely complicated.

2014 Oct 17

Qik or Slow?

Messenger apps have been all the rage in the last few years. iMessage and WhatsApp and Google Chat and Kik and Skype so on. This has been distinct from real-time or synchronous conversation, which started with the phone, and moved to more modern options, some of which are closely related to messaging, such as FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc. Now, apparently, "Skyperosoft" is looking for its next big growth area, and wants into the multimedia messaging game.

2014 Oct 15

It's Not Your Competition... It's You

If your business gets killed, don't blame the competition; it's you. If your industry is upended, don't blame the competition; it's you. Back in the late 90s, partners and I founded 2 start-ups. The first - electronic transcripts in the Web's early days - died in its cradle, when the big gorilla in the industry indicated it was going in that direction. In retrospect, letting our startup go was a mistake.

2014 Oct 13

Donations Are Sales and Other Charitable Marketing

In the USA, when someone needs a medical device - wheelchair, crutches, etc. - one buys them from the local drugstore or supplier via insurance. Many of these can even be found on Amazon. With one-day delivery and Amazon Prime, it often pays to order from them rather than buy at the local supplier. When you are done with it, you sell it. Even though they don't market this are too heavily, eBay has 32,000+ active listings for wheelchairs alone!

2014 Oct 8

When Doctors Take Vacations

Over the weekend, I had a lovely dinner with a friend of mine, an excellent general practitioner / primary care physician, who works in a medical system built mostly upon HMOs. While there is non-HMO practice, it is mostly reserved for specialists and people who cater to the wealthy, like the rapidly-growing field of concierge medicine. In this particular structure, the HMOs all have a mix of employee doctors and private practice doctors.

2014 Oct 6

SaaS and Soft Drinks? Maybe Not

Last week, we looked at PepsiCo and its channel strategy for Pepsi True. A third possibility did occur to me - unsurprisingly, since I spend the bulk of my time in the technology world - that PepsiCo envied SaaS. Let's look at 2 companies, PepsiCo and Salesforce (numbers as of this writing): PEP: Market cap of $139BN, revenues of $66BN, operating profit of $6.7BN, revenue multiple of 2.1, P/E of 20.

2014 Oct 3

It Isn't Just the Product

"If you build it, they will come." - Field of Dreams Other than in films, the "Field of Dreams" philosophy is a really bad way to build a business. After all, it isn't just about the product. It may not even be primarily about the product. It is about the entire package - the product, packaging, price, placement, promotion, channels - that we call "strategic marketing", combined with the ability to execute - operations, product development, etc.