Bizzare news!!!

Click the image to read this post

It sounds so funny! According to this post on cNet.com,  Mac maker’s lawyers reportedly called a senior Microsoft executive and demanded the ads be removed. I highly recommend this post!!! If this is true, I feel really sorry for the person who actually decided to make a call to Microsoft

I understand that Microsoft’s value perception had increased since the ‘Laptop Hunters’  campaign (According to a report in AdAge). But I certainly feel that Apple would not commit this kind of blunder.

Apple’s ballastic response to Microsoft’s ‘Price Hunter’ ads

Since few weeks we’ve been witnessing the new face of  war between PC and Mac. Microsoft has been bombarding ‘Mac‘ with the missiles loaded with the dangerous chemical of “Price Value”. Recently Microsoft even stepped up the value attack by introducing a new campaign for its Zune portable media player (More on new Zune campaign).

The onslaught by PC made me feel that, it’s time for Mac to retreat. But, my beloved Apple comes up with an awesome response to the Microsoft’s value attack! It gives me immense pleasure in sharing this short & sweet missle that was recently released by Apple. I believe this action will completely devastate the already low morales in the Microsoft camp!

This is Apple’s first reply after the Micrsoft’s Price Hunter campaign. According to this commercial,there aren’t any PCs with fast processors and big screens that work without viruses, crashes or headaches. I have been using mac since past two years and going by my experience, the claim in the commercial sure does seem very real. Well, it’s just my opinion… I will leave it for you to decide.

Steve Jobs’ health memo to employees

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

iPhone ruled 2008. With series of product launch, is it BlackBerry for 2009?

Research In Motion (RIMM) and Apple (AAPL) continue their smart phone battle for the hearts and minds of consumers, according to the latest ChangeWave survey of 3,803 cell phone owners released Monday. Research suggests, new product launches (Storm, Bold & Flip) by BlackBerry have led to a  jump in consumer planned buying that suggests a full-scale battle with Apple for market supremacy in 2009.

About the Survey:

The ChangeWave survey was conducted between December 9 & December 15. The survey takes a close look at smart phone market trends, including consumer reaction to RIM’s launch of the BlackBerry Storm and how it compares to the Apple iPhone.

Current Market Share:

Apple (23%; up 6-pts) has witnessed explosive growth – up 6-pts just since September. Importantly, its overall market share has more than doubled in the past six months – a direct result of the late-June release of the 3G iPhone.

Participants planned purchase:

Blackberry features in 39% of participants purchase plan over next three months, this is up by 9 points from September. Meanwhile, the wave of enthusiasm that greeted the iPhone 3G seems to have settled down; only 30% plan to buy an Apple smartphone, down by 4 points from September.

Research also shows that an iPhone 3G buyer is way more satisfied than a BlackBerry Storm buyer. One question is, does RIM have enough to capitalize on the increased consumer interest? or will it be a lost opportunity? only time will tell. But as things are going, Apple is leaving no stone unturned. Currently ‘Expanding the distribution Channel’ is the flavor of the season at Apple Camp.

Wal-Mart Partnership!

Wal-Mart confirmed Friday what everyone who follows Apple already knew: that it will begin selling Apple’s iPhone 3G at nearly 2,500 Wal-Mart stores starting Sunday Dec. 28 — three days after Christmas. (read full article)

As per Apple 2.0 on CNN.com… “The move represents the fourth major expansion of the iPhone’s retail presence outside Apple’s own 200-plus stores.The phone was sold first at AT&T’s (T) 2,000 retail outlets then at nearly 1,000 Best Buy (BBY) outlets, and then at the tens of thousands of points of sale (many of them no more than mom-and-pop kiosks) that carry iPhones for Apple’s overseas partners.”

With all these things, This is the time for RIM to buckle up loose ends & capitalize on the opportunity.

Full length TV shows & movies on TV….. a territory more exciting than you ever thought!!!onli

While writing this post (Apple-Netflix Smackdown…)   I realized this is not all… This territory is more exciting than I ever thought! Few months back a new player has announced its entry into the war zone. This player is none other than Amazon!

_

Amazon: on July 17, Amazon announced this morning that it will launch yet another video service, this time offering streaming TV and movie content. The service will be called Amazon Video on Demand and will offer some 40,000 streaming video options for customers to choose from. (more on Amazon VOD)

YouTube: On Nov 9, YouTube  announced an agreement with MGM (an 84 year old film studio) to show full-length television shows and movies. This is great news, especially after a the trouble YouTube has got into in order to find media agreements for premium content. (Viacom ended up suing them). (more on You Tube’s entry)

Hulu: With 8-10 million online visitors, no one can ignore this new bad boy in the War Zone, Hulu is an online video service that has all your favorite TV shows, video clips and movies all in one place.  The best part is that everything is FREE! They even have a HD gallery! Hulu gets videos from over 90 different sources like NBC, MGM, Warner Bros., and Fox to name a few. This includes hundreds prime-time TV shows for viewing at your leisure.

Biggest benefit over competition - Hulu player is based on Adobe’s Flash technology, meaning that it runs on multiple platforms, including Linux and Mac OS X, unlike competing services such as Netflix’s WatchNow, which only runs on Windows.

So another question…. is Netflix gonna be left behind because of this limitation? The Answer is no!

Ever aggressive Netflix: Early this November, Netflix announced recently that it was starting to move its streaming movie service to Microsoft’s Silverlight platform. The good news for Mac users is that, once finished, Netflix’s streaming service will finally be Mac compatible. After starting a “limited test” just a week ago, however, the company has already moved testing to a public beta phase.

This will be total injustice if I miss out to mention about the great old warrior – Blockbuster. After taking a hit from Netflix, Blockbuster’s war against Online and mail DVD giant Netflix continues. Blockbuster introduced a new set top box. The service will supply movies to your TV on demand. And the great news is that it;s free!

Well, there is a small catch, you have to agree to rent 25 movies for $99 and in return will get a brand spanking new set top box which shows movies straight from the Internet in DVD quality instantly. (more on Blockbuster’s free set-top box)

Anyways whatever the catch is… its good to hear from Blockbuster after a long time! I hope we get to hear more frequently.

(my final thoughts)

For consumers: When it comes to entertainment…. its always MORE THE MERRIER!

For companies: Its all about MONEY (online ad $ & subscribers in this case) , honey!

Apple – Netflix Smackdown continues: Netflix on TiVo now!

Early this year:

(a) DVD-by-mail service Netflix Inc. announced that it will begin delivering movies and other programming directly to televisions later this year through a set-top box.

(b) Apple introduced iTunes Movie Rentals, a new feature of the iTunes Store that enables users to download movies and watch them for a short time rather than having to buy them.

I will definitely prefer Netflix… Netflix player & Apple TV rivalry is a old news now, but I just learned that Netflix will be available on TiVo too! It seems Netflix is leaving no stone unturned to save its hard fought battle ground from the onslaught from Apple! (movie rentals on iTunes + Apple TV)

Netflix goes all out!

Netflix, the largest U.S. movie-rental service via mail, has been trying to boost subscribers by augmenting its by-mail offering with an expanded inventory of titles through its streaming service and partnering with component makers to allow the streamed content to be accessed directly from TV sets.

Netflix introduced its own set-top box called the Roku in May of this year, a $99 device that could stream content from subscribers’ accounts to the TV. The price is astonishingly affordable compared to similar options (the Apple TV still costs more than $200, for example). But my question here… Are people ready to add yet another box to their entertainment systems. The same question applies to the LG BD300 Blu-ray player with Netflix capabilities.

Post its marriage with Microsoft Xbox 360 sometime in July 08. Netflix on Oct 30, 2008 reached an agreement with TiVo allowing owners of TiVo digital video recorders to stream Netflix’s movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs, marking Netflix’s continued efforts to make its digital content available to TV watchers through various electronics components. The company (Netflix) has also announced agreements to carry video-streaming content from Liberty Media’s Starz movie channel, Walt Disney’s Disney Channel and CBS.

Netflix and TiVo, which first agreed to work together on content distribution four years ago, but today Netflix subscribers who own the TiVo Series3, HD, or HD XL will be able to stream over 12,000 movies and TV shows through Netflix’s online streaming service.

This is how Netflix provides entertainment at your fingertips

This is great, post advancements in internet technology will be much more meaningful & entertaining! Great move by Netflix. TiVo & Netflix marriage finally!

On Apple-Netflix Rivalry (can Netflix win?) Here’s an excerpt from an article published on July 24, 2008 read full article here

…I’ve now learned that the accurate number of units sold is closer to 100,000. Considering the price point ($99) and the fact that the product’s marketing is very focused to a targeted audience, Roku’s penetration rate would be higher than the average product that has only been on the market for eight weeks. Plus, once you have the Roku box, the content is free.

At this rate, it will not take too long for the Roku box to outsell Apple (AAPL) TV. Apple TV has been on sale for 20 months now and based on published reports, has sold a bit less than 400,000 units. Roku has sold nearly a quarter of that in only 2 months time…

@ anishvshah

Location-based Marketing: Anytime, Anywhere…

Today Cell phones are virtually everywhere. Almost everyone are connected to cell phones! Therefore businesses see this as an immense opportunity to effectively reach nearly everybody by segregating the content through a device that triggers content relevant to your surrounding at that particular time & place.

This is the era of convergence and combination of location and accessibility with multimedia, navigation, and communication capabilities warrants what some have called, the birth of a new medium- Location based Marketing (LBM)

Location based marketing is an emerging medium to connect with consumers and being a student of creative brand management this intrigues me to dive deep into this emerging new wave of technological convergence.  As per our beloved Wikipedia, “It is an information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device.” LBSZONE.com a community established in 2003 for the technology professionals interested in Location-Based services (LBS) defines LBS in a very crisp definition i.e. “Delivering information on Location.”

Location-based service identifies a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. It also expands its scope to include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services, personalized weather services and even location-based games!