Monthly Archives: January 2009

Drink Chai Tea if you support Obama

Posted on January 31, 2009 by

We hear that Obama is bringing fresh change to the White House. Perhaps least, the NYTimes reports, is the change of preferred Presidential drink: Honest Tea.  Honest Tea (Horrible Flash Website warning)  was co-founded by Yale Professor Barry NaleBuff, with a … Continue reading →

Posted in NZ Business | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

eBay should buy Trade Me, but they won’t

Posted on January 29, 2009 by

Apparently rumours are circulating about Trade Me and eBay – not that I heard about them until just now. Mod has squashed them anyway, but oh what fun.  The problem is that eBay traditionally purchases auction sites, then brings over … Continue reading →

Posted in fairfax, NZ Business, Trade Me | Tagged | 9 Comments

Final Ferrit: The governance failure

Posted on January 26, 2009 by

Part four of  a four part take on the end of Ferrit. We started with Market Space, then  site idea and execution, and business economics. This is hopefully the last Ferrit post, but the most important in this series The … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadband, Internet Business, NZ Business, telecom | 6 Comments

Final Ferrit: The business economics

Posted on January 25, 2009 by

Part three of  a four part take on the end of Ferrit. We started with Market Space, then  site idea and execution, and governance failure will finish things off. The economics The business result had to be razor thin commissions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadband, Internet Business, NZ Business, telecom | 2 Comments

Final Ferrit: The site idea and execution

Posted on January 24, 2009 by

Part two of  a four part take on the end of Ferrit. We started with Market Space, and business economics and governance failure are next. The idea of the Ferrit site So while there was a space, the proposed way … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadband, Global Macro Trends, Internet Business, NZ Business | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Final Ferrit: The market space

Posted on January 23, 2009 by

Design flaws led to Ferrit’s downfall sings out the Independent, but it’s a bit more complicated than a pithy headline. I’m quoted in the article, and so am providing a bit more background to those quotes. I also promise that … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Internet Business, media, NZ Business | Tagged , | 2 Comments

BHP Billiton SSM job loses – WA and NZ impact

Posted on January 21, 2009 by

Nickel prices are very low, and so there are some big cuts just announced for BHP Billiton Stainless Steel Materials. As rumored the $2 Bn Ravensthorpe laterite plant is going to go flat, and about 2,100 jobs in total will … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Macro Trends | 1 Comment

Business lessons from the Kiwis World Cup victory

Posted on January 20, 2009 by

Over the weekend I finally managed to watch the New Zealand – Australia rugby league world cup final. The Kangaroos were expected to crush the Kiwis, but the Kiwis won, and won in style. Much has been written about the … Continue reading →

Posted in NZ Business | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Time to update the airline safety procedures

Posted on January 16, 2009 by

Notice anything? That’s right – nobody is wearing a lifejacket. I’ve always been amused at the traditional picture of a plane floating gently in the water on the safety briefing cards. Now that we finally have one after billions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Travel | 2 Comments

More commentry on Ferrit’s rise and demise

Posted on January 14, 2009 by

Perhaps we will never know, but some details are emerging on the likes of Twitter and personal emails. I’ve also had a conversation with Ralph Brayham, which is sadly confidential. All I can say that I won’t be purchasing Ferrit. … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Business, NZ Business, telecom | 2 Comments

The blog and twitter comments on Ferrit closing

Posted on January 13, 2009 by

Here are what other commentators are saying about the Ferrit closure. It is certainly a popular topic, and the themes are recurrent and certainly entertaining. Everyone brings a slightly different perspective, and it is worthwhile checking them out. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Business, NZ Business | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Ferrit should not close down

Posted on January 13, 2009 by

While it is very clear that Ferrit has failed as a business, I do not believe it is as clear that it should be closed down. The reasons for the business failure are usability, costs and strategy. All three can … Continue reading →

Posted in NZ Business, telecom | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

The reasons Ferrit failed

Posted on January 13, 2009 by

Ferrit’s failure has been tipped enough times in these pages – so to make it easy here are the main posts over the past 2 years. I believe that Ferrit failed for three main reasons: Very poor usability, with the … Continue reading →

Posted in auctions, Internet Business, NZ Business, Trade Me | 5 Comments

Want to start a business to reduce the road toll?

Posted on January 8, 2009 by

Mathew Sanders raises an interesting point is comments to the last post. It is very difficult to report poor driving in New Zealand. It seems it is also difficult to do so in Australia. In other countries there are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Business, NZ Business | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Alcohol and driving: make it 0.0% or forget it

Posted on January 7, 2009 by

Good news  - the NZ Government wants to look at reducing the drink driving limit from 0.8 g/l to 0.5 g/l.  It’s been 0.5g/l in Australia for years – folk over 40 will remember Peter Brock always had had 05 … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Motorcycling, Politics | Tagged , , | 10 Comments