Operations

How Pandora can swing to a profit

A week or so back Pandora announced their FY 13 results and the stepping down of their CEO. It was a bit of a shocker and curiosity came calling. Pandora is a great service and I use it personally – the near pervasive nature of the service is really compelling- available on one’s phone, home or car. So I went around looking for what was going on within their financials. Read more…

The extraordinary(extended) life of a PC

Dell’s announcement of going private did not come as a surprise to many.  This was being discussed in the press for a while now. Going private is a turning point- not just to Dell, but to the PC industry as a whole. What this really says about Dell and possibly extends out to the remaining players in the industry Read more…

iPhone subsidies are here to stay

The best companies in today’s world have a disproportionate influence over their entire ecosystem. Think Coke, Pepsi, Walmart, Ford, Microsoft etc-  In other words they are at the center of the ecosystem- having significant influence over their suppliers, channel partners, complementary partners and customers. Even add rivals to the list- i.e. Rivals are forced to adapt their existing product and services strategies in response to moves made by either the company or any of the ecosystem players Read more…

What will iPad 3 look like?

The iPad buzz is starting again. Citi analyst Richard Gardner provided his view recently on an upcoming update ( though not much on details)

Then there’s another one on suppliers struggling with newer type displays

and there are more. I guess a 2012 Q1 launch is starting to look like a given, especially given Apple’s track record of launching Read more…

What can Netflix do?

The Netflix story just keeps getting worse. The stock is down 75% over it’s peak of around $300 in just a couple of months. Nothing could be worse for any company. It’s simply unbelievable but true! Read more…

Amazon Kindle’s the Fire

Earlier today we saw another bold bet by Amazon – this time with Kindle Fire.

Kindle Fire is a 7 inch color tablet computer and betters the popular Kindle ebook reader in several areas and comes with a ‘tablet’ price tag of $199.

All features apart, and assuming the product is a good one, on the surface it does appear that comparisons with Apple’s iPad are much warranted especially in the pricing department.

Read more…

Why sales tax on e-tailers is the wrong idea

Jeff Bezos Amazon’s CEO recently provided a good interview at the SSCR summit ( Consumer Reports). Among the questions that he answered was the one about the sales tax controversy. Read more…

Time to replace the P in PC?

The Power of Distribution or should it be distributing power?

The triumph of exclusivity

A recent survey found 2 of the 4 US wireless carriers at the bottom of customer satisfaction scores. Both AT&T and (surprise) Verizon were at the bottom of the list. If the above ratings are valid in 2011, consumers should end up with a similar experience on both networks for any smartphone, unless there is a really significant difference in carrier technology.

It is also quite possible that this outcome is due to consumers having much higher expectations than before, owing to the numerous digital avenues that are available for collective expression – think Twitter and Facebook. Read more…