Connie - Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone

I thought this was an interesting article about how not everyone likes the iPhone:

Apple's iPhone has wowed most of the globe — but not Japan, where the handset is selling so poorly it's being offered for free.

What's wrong with the iPhone, from a Japanese perspective? Almost everything: the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it's not Japanese.

In an effort to boost business, Japanese carrier SoftBank this week launched the "iPhone for Everybody" campaign, which gives away the 8-GB model of the iPhone 3G if customers agree to a two-year contract.

To read the rest of the article, click on this link:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/why-the-iphone.html

Amy & Alibaba

Alibaba is the service I used to find both a factory and a shipper for my product. There were many leads -- in fact I continue to get inquiries -- and I found that the ones who responded to my I follow-through panned out; that is, they were legitimate companies with legitimate facilities to produce my product. I found this to be almost magical.

I was a sole member of a none-company, that is not I wasn't not listed on D&B, with a small product that hadn't even been consumer tested, and yet I could engage legitimate companies to produce my product without getting ripped off. Now this last comment may sound a bit jaded, and perhaps living in NYC for so long has jaded me some, I was completely leery of business as an institution and business people as a group. SHU and alibaba have changed that perception for me. I would recommend its both this institution and alibaba to anyone who was looking for the services they provide.

Ritsa- Booking Buddy

I recently came across Booking Buddy which is an online vacation comparison website. Instead of going to the direct site of airlines or sites like priceline.com, Booking Buddy lets you fill in the details of the trip you are planning and then allows you to choose from among many online ticket distributors.

For example, after filling in the departure and arrival information such as destination and dates, Booking Buddy allows you to choose whether you want to check prices at expedia.com, or priceline.com, or cheap tickets.com, or a dozen other ticket sites including airline sites such as jetblue.com.

Like the pricegrabber.com, an online comparison site of almost anything, Booking Buddy lets you compare prices of all flights and vacations (i.e. cruises, hotels, car rentals) in order for you to find the cheapest price.

To check it out, go to www.bookingbuddy.com

Shane - Netflix

Last time I was at Blockbuster it cost me five bucks to rent a movie. If you talked to any one of my friends you would know I'm far from cheap. I usually waste money on stupid stuff that has cool advertisements. i.e. I'm an advertisers dream. The aftermath of me asking myself why I purchased that has yet to prompt a return. Blockbuster just took me away, however, by charging so much money for one movie that I am only allowed to have for 48 hours. I've been a member of Netflix for about two years now and I couldn't be happier. For $12 a month (which equals about two and a quarter movies if I was renting from Blockbuster) I get a movie at a time sent directly to my house with a prepaid envelope for return, and as many rentals as I want in that month. On top of all of that I get unlimited movie streaming directly to my computer or xbox 360. What do I get from Blockbuster again? Oh that's right... late fees.

Ok, so I don't always take advantage of all Netflix has to offer that is included in my plan. In fact, I received a movie in the mail a week ago and have yet to watch it. So, this month I may end up only watching two movies. That still equals the amount that Blockbuster would give me for around the same price. Depending on where the nearest Netflix shipping facility is in relation to my house at the time, it usually takes no more than three days turnaround to send and receive a movie in the mail. It could be the bright red envelopes that are hard to miss that assist the post office in the speedy delivery or maybe a bargain Netflix made with the US Postal Service that all mail workers get Netflix service as long as they move quick to process others. Whatever it is, they do it well. Now that Netflix streaming has become so popular through the use of xbox 360 and LG tv's along with TiVo, Netflix has come up with plans that offer streaming only usage.

To learn more click here for the full article.

Drew-Dell's Identity Crisis

In the tough times of this unpredictable economy many companies are redifining how some things are done. Shifting trends can also mandate a change in a company's strategy. At the moment Dell is seeing a bit of both contributing to a reevaluation. According to an article I read, much of their sales is attributed to servers and PCs. With the demand for these products going down they need to realign some things. Close competitors such as IBM and HP are more diversified because they're sales can rely heavily on software, services, and printers. On the other side is Apple who has a lock on innovation and is tough to compete with. Dell needs to find a way to keep from falling between the cracks and maybe reinvent themselves a bit. A recent effort for them is a super thin laptop that can be ordered in a number of ways including artists' designs on the outside. They say they want to put some more effort into the design of their products. As they move away from their traditional ways to make money they say the next big market will be mobile.
check it out:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/26/technology/dell.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest

Liz - online shopping

EBAY, Pricegrabber, netflix, etc...online shopping has changed our world. I am sure there are additional reasons, but the Trumbull mall has a number of vacant stores. There will always be your mall-goers, but I think retail stores take a hard hit with increased online shopping. Online prices are better, you can get exactly what you want and large or small, it is delivered to your front door. I do most of my work related shopping for equipment online - I can find everything online as opposed to going to 5 different stores and traveling all over the state. And it is cheaper! A dozen of softballs can cost upwards of $60-$70; pricegrabber has them for $49. I found it interesting that Pricegrabber.com has links to competitor sites selling similar products (Eastbay, eSportsonline, Target, Modells). I took a look at Eastbay and a recreational level basketball went for 59.99 while the exact same ball goes for 35.19 on pricegrabber.

Mark - Pricegrabber

With today's economy, no one wants to spend more money on a product than they have to. Many people turn to online shopping and shopping agents such as pricegrabber to find the cheapest prices on products so then can keep some extra money in their pockets as well as save gas by not having to drive to the store. I was reading an article about pricegrabber for my final paper for this class, and it discussed how pricegrabber's UK site has launched their new site theme of 100% free shipping on all products on the site. The site is http://freedelivery.pricegrabber.co.uk, and customers can use the sites comparison tools to evaluate deals on thousands of products from so many different retailers. Hopefully this free delivery option will spike customer spending and leave them happy by leaving some extra money in their wallet.

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