So Theresa finally retires from Telecom NZ. finally. But sadly not until June. She is proud that there has been ‘almost no involuntary turnover in the top 100 in Telecom’ and is ‘proud of culture of Telecom’. I wouldn’t be. Sure it was a tough hand-over – inheriting under investment in infrastructure, and antediluvian CDMA …
Category Archives: Business
Telecom overvalued?
Yes says Goldman Sach’s local branch, but if you use the “what’s it worth to a takeover buyer?” approach (see Marty Whitman) then Telecom is probably undervalued. Imagine the extra value that could be dredged from Telecom by an operator that understood where the internet is taking telecommunications…
Virgin America
What a great product – Virgin America promises to shake up the US airline industry. It’s a shame the forces are conspiring against them – in spite of compliance with the law the department of Transportation just knocked back VA’s application. Enter VA’s grass roots campaign, along with a substantial restructuring in the ownership of …
Sleeping your way to the tourism dollar
Rob Fyfe mentions some airlines are toying with economy class bunks. It is something that AirNZ has to make work if we are to attract increasing numbers of tourists to New Zealand. The space of an economy class seat is used poorly right now, but a combination bunk and perhaps stand up seat for landing/taking …
Impact of comcom chasing Credit Card MSF’s
NZ credit card interchange fees, which dictate the minimum merchant service fee (MSF), are under attack by the commerce commission. That seems to be a great thing – these days the infrastructure and transactional costs should be trivial. The ComCom is also chasing merchant rules that prevent merchants from charging surcharges to credit card users …
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AirNZ fare cut
Good news – I’m a huge fan of value based flights, which increase volume of travel and thus reduce the dependance of the airline on the wealthier segments of business and society. It’s not for nothing that the two biggest discounters (Jetblue and Southwest) in the USA are the two most profitable (and liked) airlines …
eBay no longer fun?
One, two , three interesting posts from the eBay eCommerce forum, happening now. ebaystrategies is live blogging from there, and the linked posts are from a presentation by Meg Sloan on consumer research. Some snippets: Meg’s team divide buyers into four categories: – Shopping driven passionates – Convenience driven enthusiasts – Price driven value finders …
iPhone
The best summary of the iPhone I’ve seen. The device is beautiful, does everything you could dream of and more but is fatally tied (the phone locks out other SIMs) into a 2 year contract with dubious Cingular. To give Apple credit, ALL of the USA mobile networks in are terrifyingly poor – with Cingular …
Big Retail
Big online retail sites tend to vary a bit by country. Check out the biggest French, German and UK sites – measured by Comscore traffic. Strange huh? Amazon is #3 in France, #2 in UK and Germany, while eBay doesn’t make the list – probably because Comscore fall into the old trap of treating eBay …
Brands playing together
Microsoft just got together with Ford to launch their car audio system Sync. The system appears to be pretty good, but it says volumes that Microsoft launches with Ford – a company in real trouble. Meanwhile Apple launched their original simple iPod system with, who else, Mercedes Benz…
Fly in comfort – check out Seatguru
If you are flying soon check out Seatguru – it gets behind the airlines spin and shows you the actual configuration of the seats on the plane. Use it to see exactly how much space you will ‘enjoy’, and what the best and worst seats are. For business class travel check out the AirNZ 747 …
Retail sales in NZ
Retail sales in NZ have been quoted a few times as $60bn NZD. Let’s dig into that a little. The latest stats from Govt.stats.nz show $60.5 bn for the year to the September quarter, 2006. The big spends are $13bn in supermarket, groceries and produce, $5.8bn in fuel and $7.8bn in motor vehicle retailing. If …
why “ecommerce has flopped in NZ”
That article again – right at the bottom, from out of nowhere, come “five reasons ecommerce has flopped in New Zealand”. “1. Mall mania. Trips to the shopping centre are a top Kiwi recreation. 2. Security fears. Kiwis are paranoid about giving credit card numbers online. 3. Bargain hunting. If it’s not cheaper online, why …
new news sites
Stuff and NZHerald upgraded late last week. I should really, and much before now, have commented on the new design of both. Frankly neither of them really do it for me and I have simply stopped looking at them. The sunny days probably have something to do with it… Friday page impressions were up against …
Getting good airline seats
British Airways has changed their policy for allocating seats – and I like it. If you pay full fare, are Business or First class, or have gold or silver membership – then you can reserve your seat at the time of booking your ticket. If you have kids with you then you can reserve your …
Lance Wiggs 