One thing I learned in class that the 18-24 segment, when having to choose what device/appliance, could they least live without, they choose their mobile phone.  Most other segments choose TV first or the internet.  One reason I believe is that they’re actually using all the devices on their phones.

MySpace has decided to ramp up their wireless presence as reported by Telephony Online.  Whereas, some functionality was offered to T-Mobile Sidekick users at a premium rate, MySpace will be offering many services for free going forward (while a premium element for more advanced users will still exist).  MySpace/Fox see two potential revenue sources stemming from this: new advertising $ from its mobile-only network of advertisers as well as subscription money.

In my opinion, this is long overdue.  I don’t know why so many music listeners put up with Itunes inflexibility and hopefully this will be a step in opening up the playing field.  I’d like to see a day when the software is web-based and not machine-based – personally so that anybody could log into to their personal music account from anywhere.

Full Article on Reuters (Canada)

During the class discussion on the Internet little was said of the Internet Browser.  I think however, that browsers are gaining importance as Firefox gains market share.  Firefox is in the midst of a major upgrade right now.

This Wired article reports on the delay of the new Firefox browser and what’s available in a recent alpha edition. Main goals of the upcoming version are to improve funtionality and probably stickiness, the browser will have searchable and better organized bookmarketing capabilities, as well as buit in malware protection and new speed.

With all the revenue generated by Google – which I’ve been around enough to remember people saying “sure its great technology, but show me the revenue”, I am suprised more attention isn’t paid to the browsers. As new revenue models are developed for these and as browsers start taking on the functionality formally associated with portal pages, we might be due for a new round of browser wars – what ever did happen to Netscape Navigator by the way?

Some Other Resources:

Market Share #s – http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0

During Monday’s Class, Group A presented on Hardware. Part of their presentation looked at ebooks and what stage in their continuing developing. Its amazing to me hat with the advances of most online media (video, podcasting, music, news) in the past few years and the hardware associated with them (i.e laptops, ipods, pda’s) that ebooks have not made more of an impact. As the presentation pointed out they have a lot of advantages, including being convenient and potentially cost-effective, and have become more lightweight with more available storage over the past few years.

Doing a quick google search, I realized that there is more hardware and content out there than I had imagined. Content shops include BooksonBoard.com, Connect, Ebooks.com and of course Amazon. A good reference for the available hardware can be found here.

So though there is more than I imagined has the market really taken off? Googling a bit more, I came across a Sept 6th article on the subject in the New York Times which recapped much of the past failure for ebooks to catch on.  The article also points out that new advantages including wireless synchronization with amazon/purchasing which should make ebook operate more like a pda than like the average digital camera which requires connecting to a computer as well as Google’s intent to grow its digital library bode well for the business.  The article also noted that book publishers are preparing for the probability that a hardware/service combo like the ipod/itunes will come around at some point and turn the existing business model on its head.  Hopefully, when this does happen (and I believe at some point a piece of hardware will catch on in a big way, if not in an ipod way) the book business will fare better than the music business. I think when schools start pushing their usage, or when phones integrate reader technology more effectively, this might be the turning point.

In Wednesday’s class we spent a good amount of time reviewing the Dell Website. Dell’s site is primarily a point of sale, but also provides a clear-cut customer service call-out and loads of information about the Dell PC. The website has won numerous awards and is chalk-full of neat functionality.

The first part of the discussion centered around a test drive of the site and its pros and cons. Generally the class agreed the site had great design, functionality and ‘usability’, including point-and-click ability to swap in new components. However, the professor stepped back for the second part of the discussion, putting everything in context of Dell’s shrinking market share (HP is taking some of it away from them!). Basically the question was posed, is this the right website for Dell’s market strategy. Dell’s PCs are known to be pretty basic – great for the cost-conscious, students, and the novices, including the fastest growing segment of online users, seniors citizens. Was Dell’s site too complex for what it was trying to accomplish? and was Dell not positioning its product in the right light for its core market?

Like we were doing on Wednesday, NYTimes.com was also probing the Dell Situation in its 9/8 Article: Can Michael Dell Refocus his Namesake.

The article not only provides a thorough checklist of what has been going wrong for Dell, including customer service issues, a failure to respond to the hot notebook market and that it has “lost the profit edge that it enjoyed from its superior procurement-and-supply network,” but also talked about the Dell culture as being resistant to change. The company has steered clear of change and innovation within their own offices. Michael Dell’s return as CEO was necessary in order to “forcefully take the company on a different path.” Changes are already in the works, Dell will begin to sell through retail chains like Walmart which goes against its old policy of dependence on direct-to-consumer sales through direct marketing channels and it also now allows users to see and touch the product before buying. Another move Dell is making is to updates its “stale design”. As the personal computer becomes more competitive, differentiation by design gains even more importance. Planned changes to the Marketing Strategy include a new slogan “One Company, One Brand, One Beat,” which reflected its more integrated strategy internally (to integrate departments better). Its overall brand goal: in the consumer market, it needs to be “much cooler and go away from low prices; a lot of people see us as a cheap PC company, and that’s not where we want to be.”

Generally, the article does spend a lot of time summarizing Dell’s problems, moreso than it defines Michael Dell’s new role in the company. However, I find Dell’s attitude to be a bit short-sighted. Generally, the company feels that they have not been running the business effectively or efficiently the last few years. With Dell coming back, they’ve made changes to reverse that trend and increase efficiences and not make some of the errors they have been making that have caused negative publicity. However, this going backwards strategy seems to go against the rapid nature of the PC market – innovation happens relatively fast and consumers preference/needs change. To go back 2 years to do it better, well, they could end up 3 or 4 years behind where Apple or HP are next year. Also, to be a succesful ‘uncool’ company is something — just think Wal-mart. Their attempt to rebrand itself and achieve what Apple has successfully achieved and HP probably has bested them at (due to better design and more lively marketing) is risky.