Enigmatic acqusition: Apple to buy Beats

Quote of the week

What are the key factors that make this acquisition of a headphone maker by the iPhone company so unusual?

"This would be the biggest ($3.2 billion) deal ever by Apple, the first significant acquisition by (its new CEO) Tim Cook, and the first where Apple would likely want to keep the brand going, rather than absorb it." 

- Jan Dawson, Jackdaw Chief Analyst 

Blackberry Marketing and Cash Value

Remember S&H and other store stamps that had a value other than cash, like "mills?"

Today companies still substitute benefits or free accessories that have some specific proprietary value, but little or no cash value. As long as the two are distinct, there's no problem. But intentionally or otherwise confusing some dollar value other than the real one for cash value is a big marketing mistake.

Blackberry has responded to its latest high-profile service outages by offering a consolation to their subscribers: for their inconvenience, they get $100 in free apps like poker and "Bejeweled." But wait, there's more. RIM also throws in free technical maintenance for a month, which is a value of, well, let's say it's not immediately obvious on their web site. (And just how much do Blackberry owners expect to call technical support next month in the event of a problem, say, another outage?)

The lesson to learn here, as RIM flounders in their marketing efforts, is that marketing is not a standalone entity. It needs to be integrated with the business. When the purposes of the marketing and accounting or other departments collide, you often get a solution that does badly for both.

In this situation, if RIM offered a second option for a discount on next month's phone bill for example, the dollar value would certainly be lower than the one for free apps and support. What would the value of a third option for getting a check in the mail from RIM be? My guess is about $10. That's the real value.

Does RIM really want to address the legitimate concern and inconvenience of their subscribers resulting from significant outages, even down to the phone's daily alarms and reminders not working, with a consolation that has a real value of $10? Of course not. But there's a left-hand, right-hand conflict going on between the business execs and the ones carrying on the dialog with the customer (marketing) that is deeper than this one incident. As the iPhone 4S and steady developments by Android encroach even further on Blackberry's base, RIM is pouring gasoline on the fire.

(Batteries not included)

Are you leaving the right things out?

Florida Governor Charlie Crist recently left out the pro-life section he had previously included on his web site.

(He's expected to veto a controversial ultrasound bill.)

Hyundai left out the price on advertisements for its 2011 Sonata.

(You can request an e-mail, but you have to include your phone number and yes, they will be calling you.)

A friend of mine in sales left off his resume the position he held for more than a year as the National Sales Director for a growing technology provider.

(It went bankrupt and he returned to his previous employer.)

Steve Jobs left out the part of his talk about how easily the iPhone 4 connects to the internet.

(Too many bloggers in the audience were eating up the bandwidth of the local wi-fi.)

The main thing to keep in mind about what to leave out in your presentation, resume, business plan or other communication is not what you want to leave out, but what your audience expects you to leave out (or in). That will be noticeable in its absence.

The Newspaper Museum

Back in the day, I was one of those entrepreneurial urchins with a burlap sack over my shoulder taking a daily walk through the neighborhood to unload sheets of inked paper on people's doorsteps. I still see a paper on the sidewalk every once in awhile but those days are likely numbered. As Conde-Nast sheds 68-year old Gourmet Magazine this week, Jim Tyree's solo bid appears to be the last hope for the Sun-Times.

Is that kind of shift in the crystal ball for phone carriers as well, to what David Pogue calls "the right thing?" AT&T has announced it will allow VOIP as a service on its iPhones, which will certainly spread to Palm and other smartphones faster than a gps app. Even more than GoogleVoice, this development promises at the very least to change the way we think about minutes and calling plans.

A Smartphone for the Mensa Pro

For the Mensa crowd out there, Palm has just announced a really smart new smartphone called the "Pro" this week. And if you're in that market, you know who you are.

I suspect that, like the credentials of PhD's who consistently say "for him and I" and have three points in their four-point presentation, this may be something to hang on your e-mail signature ("sent from my new Palm Pro") rather than a huge jump in thinking power.

When the latest delay in the Google Android was announced, I decided to go ahead with Palm's Centro which had just been rolled out for Verizon users. Palm had quietly sold over two million of these by the end of July at $99 each. I'm not jeans-and-sandals enough for an iPhone yet, and I'm not ready for a phone that cooks breakfast for me, so the Centro is a good fit.

I'll leave the technical details to those above my pay grade, but there are some very handy improvements in the way I use the phone every day over my old Treo. It switches smoothly from MMS to SMS, copies and pastes from one application to another, has easily accessible "stacked" text conversations, creates a customizable drop down menu for any function (i.e. "text Joe," "e-mail Sue," or "GoogleDocs"), and it runs mobile versions of applications like Facebook, YouTube, TripIt and GoogleMaps very nicely. The "pTunes" audio player works for me and offers a bevy of web-radio stations. The keyboard is smaller but very usable and fast and I prefer it to the virtual version.

See if you can save yourself a couple Ben Franklins - and if you edit your signature to say you're e-mailing from your Palm Pro, I'll never know the difference.

Just Jott A Voicemail To My E-mail

When the iPhone came out, one of the spiffs Apple touted was the ability to organize your voicemails like e-mails.

But what if your voicemails came to your inbox and you could read them, hear them, forward them or archive them? That might be enough to switch to AT&T... or maybe not. Save that dilemma for another day - you can do it with Jott.

You can also transcribe a reminder to be sent to your phone or computer on a given date, or transcribe notes in the car on your phone as you're coming back from a meeting. In the messages I've sent so far the voice recognition works remarkably well, although I haven't used it long enough to be the poster child for Jott.

But maybe you will. Try it out here.

If iWoz the CEO...

So if the other Steve (Wozniak) of Apple were the CEO, he says he wouldn't have dropped the price or offered the store credit rebate on the iPhone. Of course, he bought twenty of them that he's eventually planning to give away.

Actually some people are now more upset with the recent change to their AT&T bills to "simplify" them by taking off call detail (at no extra charge)! "Press one to continue in English..."

I think the marketing team at Apple could have done better.

Pour another cup of coffee for the other impending rollout -- Halo 3 hits the shelves at midnight tonight in the US after three years since the last version. Microsoft is expecting a $150 million return on their $25-40 million investment within the first 24 hours. A million copies are pre-ordered at $60. For reference, the iPhone went to 1 million units in two months and nine days. Stay tuned...

Help! My iPhone is Depreciating by the Minute

For all Steve Jobs genius in rolling out Apple's newest avatar, yesterday's discount announcement for the iPhone is his second misstep in as many months.

The first was lining the iPhone up with AT&T over Verizon and sparking a craze of hackers making headlines by "unlocking" it to work with other service providers.

Now for pricing strategy... Normally, a big price cut should put some wind in your sales as they begin to lag. But when you do it right on the heels of most of your most loyal customers jumping on your bandwagon, it could have the opposite effect. Dropping the iPhone's price by 30% yesterday looks strangely desperate. iPhoners are going to be dialing Apple off the hook with 30-day return questions.

Does Steve have an inside line on the rumors around the gPhone? If not, he's provoked enough suspicion in the minds of remaining prospective phone buyers around stability of the whole market to make them say, Whoa -- put on the brakes - I was hoping to get something for $600 that would be all-that for years, not weeks!

The Luddites are in high spirits today.

UPDATE: Steve Jobs issues an open letter and $100 credit (on another purchase) to iPhone owners today.

Bill Gates Meets Napoleon

Some people hate Microsoft. Some people hate Bill Gates. Some people hate the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." If you're in one or more of those groups, don't watch this video. You'll hate it.

Otherwise, you might think it's pretty funny... maybe even download it to your iPhone.

ASiQ Inflight - Just in Time for the iPhone

If you've been wondering what the holdup is in getting inflight internet access, here's an update in anticipation of ASiQ's low-cost solution within the next couple months.
Just in time for you to try it out on your new iPhone, depending on where you stand in Rogers' diffusion of innovations -- and your current contract with Verizon (whose service wins hands-down over AT&T but where Steve Jobs couldn't agree on the terms of the deal).

iPhone - "Works Like Magic"

There's something magical about technology, especially at those breakthrough moments. I'm not sure the iPhone is as much of an iPod-caliber breakthrough as Steve Jobs portrayed it at MacWorld last week, but he does have a David Copperfield air about him when he describes it.

Since technology often carries a certain magic, it gets used by magicians. The best of them bring some amazing technology to the performance, and then make it invisible. Which illustrates what the iPhone and other good technology does well - it makes the man behind the curtain invisible. When technology is really good, it disappears.

And if you haven't seen an excellent adventure/mystery/suspense film since "The Spanish Prisoner," check out "The Illusionist" which just came out on DVD. It's about magic and technology -- and disappearing.