I seriously don’t have anything to say about these guys!
I mean I would love to come up with something original, with a different point view, with a different Investment strategy but I can’t. It has all been said and done.
It’s not that I believe that these guys are perfect, no not at all, I just think I’m not in a mood to write so I’ll share links to let you guys do my job:
Google Business not as successful as it used to be:
- China: in and out, Market Share 2nd place after Baidu Inc. in the fastest growing Online Market. http://bit.ly/5YdLMr
- Recently “Leapfrogged” by facebook: http://bit.ly/cl8ZtB
- Legal issues: Antitrust investigations and personal data storage/privacy: http://bit.ly/3vOhZ
- The continuous changes in digital advertising market and the difficulties for a single company to continuously reinvent itself
The first thing I would do if I want to advise someone about investing in such a company would be to look at their financial statement and their stock performance.
For the finance geeks: enjoy yourself http://bit.ly/9mKbjm, or for those who just want to hear the success story go ahead and read their blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ .
Now not to be completely on the negative side, and because _if I had the money_ I would invest it in Google. Here are my arguments:
I had my eye on the mobile business for a long time. I wasn’t interested strictly in smart phones (even though I would gladly support one brand if they give me a free one) but I believe strongly in the mobile banking as a revolutionary product for emerging markets well even though Google are not heading there (yet) but I can say I’m pretty pleased about Google finally closing the deal buying Admob http://bit.ly/bRR8Bc
R&D: well if you compare how many products Google produces per R&D $ http://bit.ly/9mKbjm and how much Microsoft gets per R&D dollar spent http://bit.ly/hf0A well u get the joke right. The company looks innovative enough to face any future market changes. At some point it is ridiculous the amount of products that these guys already have. I feel if they stop today I’ll need a year’s time to use their products that I haven’t used yet.
Google Chrome OS: and not as a single product, but rather more on the market positioning strategy. (war of the Titans) as if Microsoft did not have enough on their hand with Apple now they have to deal with Chrome OS that like most Google products promise to be very promising.
Without getting into the technicalities, if Google is addressing the software market and the mobile market and continuously innovating. I believe this answers the question that Warner Buffet always asks before any investment decision: “Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years”.
I think I would go long for Google
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The People Are Asking For The Truth: I'll give them cookies
CNN Harolds Article!
Reading through the CNN web page about the Qatari Royal family buying Harolds for 1.5billion GBP, a comment by the top branding analysts caught my attention. I couldn’t help but ask myself why would a person as Simon Middleton Author of "Build A Brand In 30 Days," be interested in advising about the threat that can face the brand if the shop was to expand quickly overseas!
I mean as the new buyers have stated, they do not have a plan yet (to expand) and they would need 3 months to think about what they want to do.
Why? Why? Ya Antonios Why? (I asked myself)
Answer: CLARO! If some one in the mid of this recession can afford to pay a couple billion Dollars to buy 1 shop, they can surely afford a brand advisor to charge them ridiculously high fees to guide their next step.
I mean after all who is better than a guy who wrote "Build A Brand In 30 Days," to tell them what to do. I mean that’s marketing! The simple Qataris need 3 moths to figure out what their “road map” is going to be and yet you have this guy not only foreseeing their next step he also will "Build A (their) Brand In 30 Days," I mean he will save them 2 months (3months – 30 days =2 months).
When I grow up I want to be a brand advisor!
That ‘s neat who ever said business isn’t fun well you better think twice about it.
I hope that my comment doesn’t come out as if I’m criticizing the guy and I do apologize if I offended any one (or if I will offend any one/ coz I ain’t done yet) I mean if the guy was so creative to make people pay for reading his advertising _or as others may call it his book_ he deserves appraisal.
And if my MBA professor really believes that I’m the marketer that I am it should be a shame if I don’t see through this tactic.
You guys might think that I have a lot of time on hand to write such a lengthy passage. No not really but I just wanted to share with you in preparation for my next topic which is about Google.
Ok what’s the connection… easy when I go through the pages of few IT news sites and I am talking about some of the most reputed ones… I realized how difficult it is to find an objective opinion.
OMG!!! OMG!!! (That’s: oh my God) for those of you who don’t spend their day reading gossip magazines OMG!!!
People have a hidden agenda! What a discovery :P. I know I haven’t invented the wheel neither have I cracked the Bermuda triangle enigma but I’m just trying to say that these guys make my task much harder.
I want to have a decent analysis and these guys make it harder for me. Now I’m left with 2 options either think for my self :D (god forbids) or Google fellow bloggers: “for there lines shall bare the truth”.
Seriously think about it… it’s the medical care model all over again. If you are sick You shouldn’t go to the doctor and you can’t go to the hospital because these guys are the ones who want you to be sick otherwise they run out of business. The only couple of people that really care about you are: your mom and the insurance guys.
Same here the only couple of people that want you to know what is really happening with GOOGLE (or any other big Company) are Enrique Danse http://www.enriquedans.com/ :P (do I get any extra points for that) and the other bloggers…
Finally I want you to pause and savor this thought: can you sense the implications of the power shift. Now I just skim the headlines of the newspapers and I seek the truthful information from my fellow bloggers!
Reading through the CNN web page about the Qatari Royal family buying Harolds for 1.5billion GBP, a comment by the top branding analysts caught my attention. I couldn’t help but ask myself why would a person as Simon Middleton Author of "Build A Brand In 30 Days," be interested in advising about the threat that can face the brand if the shop was to expand quickly overseas!
I mean as the new buyers have stated, they do not have a plan yet (to expand) and they would need 3 months to think about what they want to do.
Why? Why? Ya Antonios Why? (I asked myself)
Answer: CLARO! If some one in the mid of this recession can afford to pay a couple billion Dollars to buy 1 shop, they can surely afford a brand advisor to charge them ridiculously high fees to guide their next step.
I mean after all who is better than a guy who wrote "Build A Brand In 30 Days," to tell them what to do. I mean that’s marketing! The simple Qataris need 3 moths to figure out what their “road map” is going to be and yet you have this guy not only foreseeing their next step he also will "Build A (their) Brand In 30 Days," I mean he will save them 2 months (3months – 30 days =2 months).
When I grow up I want to be a brand advisor!
That ‘s neat who ever said business isn’t fun well you better think twice about it.
I hope that my comment doesn’t come out as if I’m criticizing the guy and I do apologize if I offended any one (or if I will offend any one/ coz I ain’t done yet) I mean if the guy was so creative to make people pay for reading his advertising _or as others may call it his book_ he deserves appraisal.
And if my MBA professor really believes that I’m the marketer that I am it should be a shame if I don’t see through this tactic.
You guys might think that I have a lot of time on hand to write such a lengthy passage. No not really but I just wanted to share with you in preparation for my next topic which is about Google.
Ok what’s the connection… easy when I go through the pages of few IT news sites and I am talking about some of the most reputed ones… I realized how difficult it is to find an objective opinion.
OMG!!! OMG!!! (That’s: oh my God) for those of you who don’t spend their day reading gossip magazines OMG!!!
People have a hidden agenda! What a discovery :P. I know I haven’t invented the wheel neither have I cracked the Bermuda triangle enigma but I’m just trying to say that these guys make my task much harder.
I want to have a decent analysis and these guys make it harder for me. Now I’m left with 2 options either think for my self :D (god forbids) or Google fellow bloggers: “for there lines shall bare the truth”.
Seriously think about it… it’s the medical care model all over again. If you are sick You shouldn’t go to the doctor and you can’t go to the hospital because these guys are the ones who want you to be sick otherwise they run out of business. The only couple of people that really care about you are: your mom and the insurance guys.
Same here the only couple of people that want you to know what is really happening with GOOGLE (or any other big Company) are Enrique Danse http://www.enriquedans.com/ :P (do I get any extra points for that) and the other bloggers…
Finally I want you to pause and savor this thought: can you sense the implications of the power shift. Now I just skim the headlines of the newspapers and I seek the truthful information from my fellow bloggers!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
To Bill Microsoft
Dear bill,
I decided I don’t like your company anymore.
You stopped making new products like you used to do before.
Dear bill I don´t like your company anymore.
Even if your R&D put their heads together
You can´t innovate for ever
Dear Bill I don´t like your company anymore
Is that the Mercedes Syndrome?
Or you got a glitch in your CD-ROM
But you can´t innovate your products anymore.
What´s wrong with you gringos
You´re still hanging to your windows
Dear bill why don´t you put a new product in the stores.
You are a big corporation… you can buy your own nation.
U gave up your position and now we´re looking to what´s gonna happen (I ran out of rhymes)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Foursquare
Foursquare is a networking website/ mobile application that let’s you share, through your mobile your location with friends & people you have added to your network.
The concept in itself is not new and the guys behind Foursquare (Dennis Crowly and Naveen Selvadurai) acknowledge that the concept of Foursquare is taken from Dodgeball (developed by Dennis Crowly himself) that Google decided to abandon _among other products, sites and applications_ since Google people didn’t see these sites to generate enough interest.
Well not to make the Google guys look like idiots, I must admit that there are some key differences between Dodgeball and Foursquare.
Where this comparison is not our main topic we shall explore the key elements that constitute the business model of Foursquare:
1- The product is a mobile application that works on most smart phones.
Is it? I believe the main product(s) is what can be generated from all the data that people would willingly be updating to Foursquare. Whether selling bulk or packaged or in any different form is still being studied.
2- Again who is paying? Foursquare is downloaded and subscribed to for free. Well at least for users but as stated by both founders their 2 main sources _at least for the time being_ are advertising and analytics. Well for a social network that gives you real time personal data, business owners better be ready to pay generously. Come on that’s the holy grail of mass customization the dream of every marketer.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/foursquare-introduces-new-tools-for-businesses/?scp=3&sq=foursquare&st=Search
3- As Dennis Crowly put it: “recommendation is the core of Fouresquare”. A huge amount of promotion and PR is needed for a start-up but what can be better than the word of mouth positioning Foursquare as the application to check if you want any advise when you are visiting a new place dining at a new restaurant etc...
4- The Distribution channel is still narrowed to small shops where most of the testing is taking place but with Foursquare teaming with Zagat, Bravo, Conde Nast, The New York Times we can see where these people have their eyes set on.
I know it is a bit simplistic to study an innovative product according to traditional marketing standards. Believe me I‘m not that simple but only a lunatic would venture into defining what the business model of this new gadget is.
“it’s a bird…it’s a plane” who cares for now as long as it is flying
For now the “traditional” Internet model works; if there is traffic there is money… (Not that kind of traffic you stoners). For now all the money as stated above comes from the either advertising or from selling the analytics,
!!!!! But how good are your analytics if the customer doesn’t need to be present at the place to post his visit!!!!!
If people buy into this, next we might see a “Foursquare friendly” logo on the entrance of our local bars just next to Wi-Fi and the Visa/MasterCard logo. Here we are counting again on how much people will abuse the system and how the foursquare team will be able to redirect the usage into what benefits their model and increases their returns.
Another note is that there is a general consensus that Foursquare will generate more money once it is more geographically segmented.
This Article was partially based on articles from Forbes.com, The New York Times and Wikipedia.com
The concept in itself is not new and the guys behind Foursquare (Dennis Crowly and Naveen Selvadurai) acknowledge that the concept of Foursquare is taken from Dodgeball (developed by Dennis Crowly himself) that Google decided to abandon _among other products, sites and applications_ since Google people didn’t see these sites to generate enough interest.
Well not to make the Google guys look like idiots, I must admit that there are some key differences between Dodgeball and Foursquare.
Where this comparison is not our main topic we shall explore the key elements that constitute the business model of Foursquare:
1- The product is a mobile application that works on most smart phones.
Is it? I believe the main product(s) is what can be generated from all the data that people would willingly be updating to Foursquare. Whether selling bulk or packaged or in any different form is still being studied.
2- Again who is paying? Foursquare is downloaded and subscribed to for free. Well at least for users but as stated by both founders their 2 main sources _at least for the time being_ are advertising and analytics. Well for a social network that gives you real time personal data, business owners better be ready to pay generously. Come on that’s the holy grail of mass customization the dream of every marketer.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/foursquare-introduces-new-tools-for-businesses/?scp=3&sq=foursquare&st=Search
3- As Dennis Crowly put it: “recommendation is the core of Fouresquare”. A huge amount of promotion and PR is needed for a start-up but what can be better than the word of mouth positioning Foursquare as the application to check if you want any advise when you are visiting a new place dining at a new restaurant etc...
4- The Distribution channel is still narrowed to small shops where most of the testing is taking place but with Foursquare teaming with Zagat, Bravo, Conde Nast, The New York Times we can see where these people have their eyes set on.
I know it is a bit simplistic to study an innovative product according to traditional marketing standards. Believe me I‘m not that simple but only a lunatic would venture into defining what the business model of this new gadget is.
“it’s a bird…it’s a plane” who cares for now as long as it is flying
For now the “traditional” Internet model works; if there is traffic there is money… (Not that kind of traffic you stoners). For now all the money as stated above comes from the either advertising or from selling the analytics,
!!!!! But how good are your analytics if the customer doesn’t need to be present at the place to post his visit!!!!!
If people buy into this, next we might see a “Foursquare friendly” logo on the entrance of our local bars just next to Wi-Fi and the Visa/MasterCard logo. Here we are counting again on how much people will abuse the system and how the foursquare team will be able to redirect the usage into what benefits their model and increases their returns.
Another note is that there is a general consensus that Foursquare will generate more money once it is more geographically segmented.
This Article was partially based on articles from Forbes.com, The New York Times and Wikipedia.com
Sunday, May 16, 2010
just to cheer you up.
1- Boy: What do you do when you wake up in the morning!
Girl: I come back home.
2- Boy: Hello, do you sell Colored printers here?
Girl: yes sure how can I help you sir!
Boy: can I have a green one!
3- Boy: Mom!!! who did I get my intelligence from?
Mom: I'm sure you got it from your dad. I still have mine.
Girl: I come back home.
2- Boy: Hello, do you sell Colored printers here?
Girl: yes sure how can I help you sir!
Boy: can I have a green one!
3- Boy: Mom!!! who did I get my intelligence from?
Mom: I'm sure you got it from your dad. I still have mine.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The twitter Model
Hello on this lovely sunny cold Sunday,
Since you all just got my blog I thought I'd bring out a topic maybe not as appetizing as my friend Laura's cafedegenes.blogspot.com pizzas, but more to prove to myself that a hangover can reduce my social skills but not my IQ.
well doesn't reduce it to a point where I no longer can copy paste.
I was and still intrigued by how twitter are going to make money. I still don't have an account with them because every single time I log in there I start wondering "where is the hit coming from".
I love logging on to Google and see their adds, even when I have some free time I google, hotmail and log in to my account from google to spread bill's wealth among other industry leaders.
maybe it will be a good idea to go to some start up search engine and start look up everything we want from there. ok I either started the new technology wave or no one is even going to read what I wrote and it will be archived with all the "what has this dude been smoking ideas"
to go back to my twitter story well this guy;
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2009/ca20091027_535681.htm
tried to explain it but I think he's been paid to do it ;)
what do you guys think?
Since you all just got my blog I thought I'd bring out a topic maybe not as appetizing as my friend Laura's cafedegenes.blogspot.com pizzas, but more to prove to myself that a hangover can reduce my social skills but not my IQ.
well doesn't reduce it to a point where I no longer can copy paste.
I was and still intrigued by how twitter are going to make money. I still don't have an account with them because every single time I log in there I start wondering "where is the hit coming from".
I love logging on to Google and see their adds, even when I have some free time I google, hotmail and log in to my account from google to spread bill's wealth among other industry leaders.
maybe it will be a good idea to go to some start up search engine and start look up everything we want from there. ok I either started the new technology wave or no one is even going to read what I wrote and it will be archived with all the "what has this dude been smoking ideas"
to go back to my twitter story well this guy;
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2009/ca20091027_535681.htm
tried to explain it but I think he's been paid to do it ;)
what do you guys think?
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