It’s a great product – but I really don’t think my Mother will use an iPod touch, and I really don’t think Mothers day in an economic downturn is the time for Kiwis to give expensive presents. However the email is so nice that you just want to click: Apple just gets these promotion emails …
Continue reading “How to write a promo email – Apple sets the standard”
Two astonishing reports on education from McKinsey. The first shows the effect that the USA’s poor schools have had on their economy – and was just released. It finds the economic loss in the order of US$2,400 billion to $4,200 billion of GDP in 2008 alone. That’s more than enough to compensate for the current …
Continue reading “Two McKinsey pieces on education – do read them”
The iPhone will dominate the top end of phone sales Even if you are a fan of other platforms, we can all appreciate that Apple has bought new levels of usability to the phone. It’s most obvious in the seamless connection with the App store on iTunes – a system that makes building, selling and …
Continue reading “The New Zealand iPhone 3G network debacle”
The latest blog to steal my – and others – content is jobs.org.nz. They should know that they are in good company – the previous offender of note was a <redacted> site. So I’ll do the google-ads-filled jobs.org.nz a favor and directly link the two together: redacted <update 2 – after a chat with a …
Twitter, for members of my family and those other 4 people that read blogs and have not yet discovered it, is a microblogging service that has just hit the main stream media. By definition it is therefore passé, but in the meantime we may as well use it well. Examples: How not to twitter. @NZStuff …
Via Jesspiration is a simple look at how flirting works these days. Note that if I start following you on twitter it doesn’t necessarily mean that I am flirting with you.
I’m warming on the idea of the Kindle – Amazon’s ebook reader. I like it for mass reduction, especially when travelling – it sharply reduces mass that you need to cart around on an airplane or motorcycle. I like it for convenience – You’ll get books that you purchase instantly, rather than waiting for days …
Continue reading “Amazon is failing to be the iTunes of book world – so far”
Prof Shiller (remember him from “Irrational Exuberance) has partnered with George A Akerlof in a strangely titled new book: Animal Spirits. I’m recommending it even before reading it. It’s basically about why we don’t behave as rational consumers when faced with economic choices. If you don’t want to wait, then there’s an excerpt from the …
First you dub an application as “Platinum” – critical to your business. That’s a good idea, so you now know you need to get the system and support absolutely right. You choose to run a trial before rolling it out to all branches – another good idea. However that’s where things started going wrong for …
We at Lingopal were pretty happy this weekend- as Lingopal was finally released for the iPhone. Check it out We think it’s vastly better than any other translation application on iPhone – with 42 languages (next best is about 6) and some really crazy fun phrases. Where else can you learn how to say “I …
I was shown Pundit the other day. It’s a site that is agglomerating a few writers to create a super blog.Good idea, but the home page needs some work. The site design does little to draw me in, and indeed I was not tempted to click on any of the articles during the time I …
It’s nice that Dick Smith have a 15% off everything sale, however I am simply not interested in shopping there any more. Dick Smith are meant to be a cheap place to get electrical and electronic kit, but they seemingly abandoned that cause a while ago, and are now selling products to unsuspecting consumers at …
Continue reading “Dick Smith sale still three times more expensive”
Staggering. While I still believe that Xero’s IPO was expensive, I also believe in the business opportunity and how Xero is going about pursuing it. While the latest round of share issues at $0.90 is dillutive to the original $1.00 IPO, it is an excellent price nonetheless: The IPO was expensive – and that was …
Yesterday I went shopping for a laser printer. I went to Pricespy and Trade Me, along with Ascent where I have successfully purchased before. Pricespy sent me to a few stores, including Ascent, but I will pick on Computer Direct who came back as the cheapest. They have a good url, but they are not …
Continue reading “Getting the basics right makes money – Ascent”
Years ago I had a boss at Mobil Oil who had a mantra – “Retail is Detail”. He was all about getting the little things right, and right every time, in order to maximise sales. It was pretty smart, though it helped to have the big stuff right first! Web sites are the same. The …
Continue reading “Getting the details right – ACC’s ActiveSmart doesn’t”
Lance Wiggs 