Digital or Unplugged holiday?!

Holiday season has arrived! Time to slip away from day 2 day work, and into a holiday outfit! Escape from reality to an exotic destination (unknown)!
Back-up systems, interns, interim labour, out-of-office assistant, … in place and we are set to go!

What do we take on holiday? Our iPad, iPhone, MP3 player, PSP, Nintendo, …. all bright and shiny digital stuff to stay connected. So what’s the use of ou back-up system when we stay connected anyway? The idea of being unplugged….but who wants to come home after a two-week holiday with a stack of Emails, Tweets, status updates, …. and work waiting at the office!? I don’t….

So thinking about how to cope with a ‘unplugged’ holiday….I’m considering staying plugged for current affairs (like the Belgian government). Keeping up with mails, tweets, status updates, news, …. just along my holiday. I’m not reserving half an hour a day work time or so…I’ll just check in when it suits me fine. We all have time to kill on holiday….so why not use it wise and smart with “keeping up to date”?
No hotel with a fancy WiFi connection needed…only a connection when I need to kill time…to make sure I’m not only working on my holiday. I truly think this is for the best…otherwise I’m coming home even more stressed then when I left….knowing all the work that waits for me at my PC/iPad/LapTop/….

Besides staying connected has it advantages besides work…you can check weather updates (quite interesting when you want to climb a mountain), check reservations (handy if you want to make sure you have a seat in a theatre), check your walking trail, …. So a digital holiday isn’t so bad after all. But as always it depends on how you deal with this digital environment!

How’s your holiday? Connected and digtal OR Unplugged!?
Take the poll and leave your comments!

The Apple business model succes?!

The Apple business model….a lot has been written already (I did myself – Flat Education – Case: Apple Inc), but then again you wonder: Is my business model Apple proof?

With the launch of the iPad 2, last week, Apple had a major advantage: they were first to give an updated version on a tablet at a ‘cheap’ price. How is it possible for a Market introduction to put these ‘low’ price for such a ‘high’ tech product. In normal marketing pricing terms, we would use a market skimming pricing strategy, coming in high and then lowering the price (a classical marketing theory….I love it – in the off-line world, or the web 1.00 world), but in the online web world of 2011 traditional marketing isn’t always the right way. So way is Apple able to introduce the new iPad 2 at a competitive price? Easy….it’s the business model!

Let me explain it you!
“Apple is the only company in the IT industry that sells the whole widget” – Steve Jobs!
Apple has used this business model since it introduction mid 70-ies. Apple wants to produce  integrated software and hardware-solutions, look at Macintosh, Apple 1, ….even the iPhone and iPod use the same strategy. Apple makes everything in-house, even adding the iTunes store as the third-party intermediary between the Apple user and the commercial world. (See my case: Apple Inc.)

If we look at the iPad (2) strategy we see the same strategy:

• hardware: Apple’s patented R&D design, with A4 Chips, …. (and not Intel, AMD, ….)
• software: a closed ecosystem (where you can run third-party Apps, but can’t change the operating system, or else….)
• sold through the Apple retail network: off-line and online Apple stores….and third party stores to get word out! Works especially well in the US, outside the US we see more traditional retail sales. 
• iTunes store which is one of the most succesful online stores around…and fully integrated on the iPad, with the iBook and App Store.

These key elements make sure Apple can sell it’s iPad at a reasonable 500$ price….Maybe the overall value of the iPad is over 500$, but to be the first in the market you can set the price (especially when you have a good product – and the iPad is more than ok! I’m not saying it’s the best!). This means you can make it hard on competitors, which don’t have this vertical integration, and are teaming up with each other….but since everyone wants a piece op the pie, the price is higher. ( Motorola’s Xoom tablet is introduced at 800$ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab is 600$). 

In addition I’m adding an interesting presentation of the Apple  Business model, in comparison to the Amazon business model (see my Amazon.com case for more information Amazon). Although the outcome of this comparison is correct, I still feel that the Amazon business model is sufficient enough to survive the second Bubble…because of other key elements of a succesful flat business (see my page on creating a flat business).

Is your business Apple proof and ready to survive the second bubble?
Maybe you want to rethink your business model?

Apple sells subscriptions

[continued from my earlier post on the my earlier post].  The iTunes App store is selling subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, music and other media, but publishers will have the chance to sell their subscriptions through their own channels or give it free with an offline subscription.

When a subscription is being sold through the App store, Apple keeps 30% of the earnings, while other distribution channels will not be charged by Apple. Other question remains: What will Apple do with the subscribers data? Will they hand over the data to the publisher of will it be the exclusive property of Apple?

Yahoo 2.0 – Livestand

Yahoo is a portal site….always has been, and still is…but becomes less relevant now social media comes around!

What’s next….Yahoo announced Livestand, Yahoo 2.0 developed for the mobile tablet (and for sure for iPad, but probably also on Android, Honeycomb, and other operating systems in the near future).  It looks like a digital magazine filled with Yahoo and tirth party content. Although you will download it as an app, it’s not ment to be an app it’s ment to a platform to use. Trough this platform Yahoo hopes to attract magazines who will sell advertising space and get subscriptions through Livestand.

Let see how Apple will react to this new business model….again they change the model to attract new revenue.

In the flat eductation section, I mention the fact that business modelling is so important when looking at the flat world business….the way you do your business now will not be the way to do business in the flat world. Be prepared to change your business model….any help on this can be found in the business model section. 

(picture source: www.businessinsider.Com)

The Daily – a New newspapermodel?

You must have noticed it…somewhere or somehow….
Newscorp launched its digital only newspaper – The Daily – in cooperation with Apple, made to fit the iPad exclusively! So what’s new…it’s more then a newspaper, it’s a multimedia newsservice where their is integration on text, images, movies, … it looks like a good newsite brought to your iPad. It looks bright, news is divided into different sections, it’s interactive (even in the games section)…and the added value to your written text off course (bright HD pictures, video, comment sections, ….). Small downside…it’s cloud based so everything has got to be downloaded, and isn’t stored permanently (and when you’re using a 3G network it might get slow….watching a video). But that’s just a minor side note.

BUT is all worth the fuzz….we might not have a government in Belgium, but we shure have a some good newssite “de redactie” where images, text and multimedia are brougth together….for free!   So what’s the big fuzz about. Is this realy the next big thing for a newspaper….is this the way to survive for the classical newspaper business?

The certainly are in need of a new business model….that’s for sure. If I look at the iPad apps from my newspapers (De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad, De Tijd – I know all in Dutch), they don’t look that flashy, and are just a copy of the paper version with some added up to date news….

You can share your ideas on this new “revolution” through the comment section!

(Picture source: www.pocked-lint.com)

iPad – monopoly [updated]

Tablet PC’s have never been more popular, but there is a limit choice of tablet PC’s.

In Q4 the tablet market  grew with 45,1%, which equals 4,8 million tablet PC’s (according to IDC). But what is most stunning is that this growth is almost entirely thanks to the increasing iPad-sales (87,4% or 4,4 million iPad’s were sold). But the major boom is to be expected in 2011, and when most competitors still have to launch their tablet (CES 2011 - look at my post on this), Appel already has the iPad 2 ready….But expectations are that the iPad will keep more than 75% of the tablet market.

The iPad’s success and his accessories are responsible for the record turnover of Apple in 2010. Apple’s temporary CEO Tim Cook says that 4 out of 5 companies use or thinking about using a tablet PC use the iPad or consider the iPad. This is unseen….since companies or most of the time a but shy when it comes to picking up new IT-trends. Apparently, according to the Apple CEO, it’s the operating system iOS that’s superior to the Android systems.

If you have any experiences on this, please share them through the comment section!

I use an iPad myself, so don’t have any experiences with the Android system….but I’m looking forward to the new iOS which will be launched in 2011!

But nevertheless, Apple shure has a monopoly …. and with a monopoly come great challenges. Will they abuse their market superiority?
The first signals aren’t very reassuring.  Apple demanded that Belgian and Dutch newspapers sold their subscription apps through the iTunes store instead of directly from the publisher….(off course this give Apple all the subscription details and the publishers only get a share of the sales).  Now the Belgian Government is looking into this, since this can be an abuse of market share. To be continued…

(Graph Source: http://www.dramexchange.com/WeeklyResearch/Post/2/2548.html)

[Update: February, 1 2011: Again Apple is testing the market....according to the New York times Apple has demanded Sony to sell everything regarding the iBooks through the Apple iTunes store. And Belgian minister for Media Ingrid Lieten asked the European Commission to look into this! "The Apple attitude might put a stop the development and innovation on the app supply market" according to minister Lieten. She also send a letter to Apple to give more explanation. Again to be contintued....]

CES vs Business

A day in computer and entertainment life….CES in Las vegas, the annual mass for freaks and geeks….but what can we learn businesswize from CES 2010.  It’s only open for a day but the trends are already visible!

CES is known as the place for new developments in television, computer, telecommunication, phone and refrigerators! But in 2011 every development is shifting into a higher gear! The 2010 introduced iPad is the accelerator for this new evolution. With a great wave of new tablet PC’s, a new era is announced. The world at your fingertips whenever and where-ever you are; I saw it with my own eyes at SAPphire Now (Frankfurt, mai 2010), where all businessmen where even at this congress in control of there business, communicating through there iPad, LapTops and smartphones!

With the AppStore (now available for mac, iPhone, iPad, google, …) a second new wave is visible. Up in the cloud, local on your system through a small app….little money for your personalized tablet, phone, …. through the apps you can individualize your own system and keep your resources in the cloud….who needs a hard disk anyway.  It’s safer to keep it in the cloud via a dropbox, iDisk, … The next step will be the apps for television. Once our flatscreen is fully connected to the net, there nothing left to loose! Your televisionset will be the communication tool with the world….controlled with the tablet or smartphone, although this is the challange. All these items are working side by side, instead of with each other!

Business will be easy….you need a screen, a internetconnection and you’re up and running! I read a story recently of a small business which was run through an RV while being on a world trip! Thanks to the flat world this is possible, and in 2011 we will see more of this new businesses ran through the flat world, the cloud and a ‘screen’.

Twitter Top10 of 2010

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the event which last year was the most twittered. But the World Cup and the iPad kept the tweeters working. According to a survey that Twitter has posted on its website.
The oil disaster and the earthquake in Haiti (4) were the last years the main news items on Twitter. The World Cup in South Africa is good for second place, and its vuvuzela really kicked it up to the fifth most discussed topic. The football results forecasting squid Paul, the unofficial mascot of the World Cup, just gets the top ten.

In the top ten we find two more films – Inception (3) and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (9) – and two technological advances – the iPad (6) and Android (7). The most bespreoken person after all, American teen idol Justin Bieber (8).

Twitter also made separate lists of the most popular subjects in various categories.

In the past years a lot of celebrities were again active in the social messaging network, according to another survey. Among them, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the Dalai Lama, Russell Crowe, Cher, Victoria Beckham, Tiger Woods and “our” European president Herman Van Rompuy.

A year in Twitter can be viewed on this link.