Netflix is a U.S. based company that was founded in 1997, but you probably didn’t hear about it until at earliest 2000. Netflix began its DVD shipping service officially in 1999, and has been growing ever since. In the last 5 years, Netflix (NFLX) has increased an amazing 550%. The company marketed itself very appropriately, and was able to invade a market which Blockbuster had dominated for so many years. Now, Blockbuster seems like a thing of the past. Netflix has moved the world forward so fast that it’s hard to even remember a time when you had to go to the store to get a movie; but could the same thing that has made them so successful be their eventual downfall?

According to the article Will Netflix Destroy the Internet?, Netflix is in danger of growing too fast for its own good. Think about it this way, what would have happened if 5 years ago (when Netflix really began its amazing growth period) the U.S. Postal Service was overwhelmed by DVD mailings and moves didn’t arrive at your home until weeks or maybe even a month after you ordered them? What if they never arrived at all? Netflix stock would not just not be where it is today, but it may not even exist. This is exactly the same problem that the company faces today, except in digital form. The bandwidth demand of Netflix’s online streaming feature.

Netflix accounts for 20% of downstream Internet traffic during peak home Internet hours in North America (United States and Canada.) If you need something to clarify that number for you, that beat the shares of YouTube, iTunes, Hulu, and even the P2P network BitTorrent. BitTorrent accounts for 8% of the bandwidth during peak hours, but it wasn’t long ago that people thought that the movie industry would soon be suffering the same fate as the music industry. Who is going to spend the money to watch movies and TV shows instantly when they could watch pirated versions for free? Well it turns out the answer is a lot, since Netflix now dominates the share compared to BitTorrent. When you really think about it, the idea makes sense. The biggest excuse for global media pirates in the past was that there was no way to legally obtain their TV shows, movies and music that wasn’t expensive. Netflix has taken care of that problem and added the benefit of it being instant. Sure, not everything is available on the instant queue, but enough things are that make it worth it to spend the 8 dollars a month that Netflix chargers. The days of torrent’s and P2P networks may be dwindling, but they’re not gone yet.

I’m sure some of you don’t believe me, thinking how could P2P networks ever become obsolete? You use them for everything right? Sandvine is a networking equipment company that publishes annual reports on broadband usage since 2002. If you were to study the previous editions, you could see a pattern that develops beyond just Netflix’s dominance over BitTorrent, but shows a larger story about how our Internet use is changing. Slowly, the United States has shifted away from asynchronous (definition here) applications and more toward real time applications. To put it simply, we’ve shifted more to a download what we need right now and less stuff that we need later. Sandvine’s 2008 report which is a PDF file shows that every area of Internet traffic that saw an increase over the past year was dependant on real time access: online gaming, skype, Web Video, and things like this. P2P networks are asynchronous, so what that means is you spend a lot of time to get a movie or game that you’ll watch or play later. By 2009, P2P traffic had declined by 25%

I believe this will open a new market for someone to create, the next Sean Parker to create a new version of P2P sharing that could somehow include the instant feature that Netflix has? I don’t know if this is possible because even if they were able to implement this on a website, they wouldn’t’ be able to compete with the variety of electronics that Netflix currently works on.

These are just some of the more popular hardware that is Netflix ready: Apples iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple TV, Microsoft Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, Nintendo Wii, Sony Blu-Ray, Tv’s, Google TV devices, and PS3. Of course the list of products is larger, if you’d like to see it you can click here.

Back to my point though, I don’t believe that there is any way that P2P will ever be able to re-grasp the popularity it once held on the internet.

Netflix isn’t concerned about P2P sites and their vitality. They care more about their own company and the direction that they’re heading in. It is estimated by 2014 that about 90% of the traffic on the Internet. This is where the title of my blog comes more into play. What could possibly go wrong with this business plan? How could Netflix fail with such a strong following and a great service? Well, there is one major problem that Netflix is facing: Will Netflix crash the Internet? It sounds crazy but it is possible. The biggest question is, will there be enough available bandwidth for Netflix to keep growing? In the time that Netflix hits around 20% of broadband use, it is only being used by UNDER 2% of its subscribers. If 2% of users account for 1/5 of the all traffic, what will happen when others decide to use their service during peak hours? There are really only a couple options of how everything could sort itself out.

Netfilx could be seen as maybe biting off more than they could chew. Not to say that everything they have done has been bad, because a company with that much success obviously knows what they’re doing. Netflix recently signed some good content deals to expand its content. Most recently they signed a five year, $1 billion deal between Netflix and the cable network Epix, which is a joint venture owned by Paramount Picture, Lions Gate Entertainment, and MGM. The fear of course though is that if Netflix were to grow too quickly, as I said earlier in the blog, and crash the Internet in Canada or the U.S., or even just regions of the U.S., customers may move away from the streaming video provider just as quickly as they jumped on board.

The second thing that could happen is a bit deeper of a topic, and something that I’m going to talk about in my next blog so I won’t talk about it too much here, only in the reference of Netflix. The idea is the concept of Net Neutrality. The issue boils down to whether providers of Internet access (fixed-line phone networks, cable networks, mobile phone networks) should have the right to prioritize – or even block – traffic for certain services on their network. Today I won’t talk about whether or not it’s right, just the implications for Netflix users.

I’ll try to make a simple point out of it. If you are someone who almost never uses your internet, don’t have any extra services that you run except your cable line, maybe you check your e-mail once a day and do a few searches when you have a question about something, you would benefit net neutrality not existing. If cable companies were able to throttle or control the internet usage and prices to certain users, you would certainly benefit and be charged less for your monthly bill.

However, if you’re someone who uses Netflix a lot, or plays online games on your computer, or gaming consol, or both, you’re in trouble. Basically, cable companies are hoping to be able to blatantly slow down the services that are taking away from their own bottom lines. So if you ordered that movie from Netflix, they may slow down your connection, so you get a lot of Buffering screens, which may incline you to use their service, which of course would be a lot faster. Not just that, but if you were using more bandwidth than the 90 year old woman next door, you’d be paying a lot more for it too instead of the standard monthly rate you pay now. This of course has two sides to it. The idea of cable companies being able to practice this is that they would be able to pay to keep up with the added bandwidth that may be needed with the more and more users of services like Netflix and whatever else may arise in the next few years.

I’ll end this blog with a quote from Bloomberg Businessweek’s article “Will Video Kill the Internet, Too,” : “Carriers such as AT&T and Comcast will see Internet revenues grow by 5 percent a year through 2020. Meanwhile, traffic will surge by 27 percent annually, and carriers will need to increase their investments by 20 percent a year to keep up with demand. By this math, the carrier’s business models break down in 2014, when the total investment needed exceeds revenue growth.”

First we have the resume.

A good resume depends on your major. Education majors have long resumes listing all the different activities they’ve done and places they’ve worked classes they took related to whatever course it is their hoping to teach or something along those lines. Business majors like me are instructed to generally keep a resume to one page in length (unless you’re older and one page is just not possible for your experience). I don’t know much about other resume’s so I’m going to stick with what I know, the business resume. There are two types of resume’s you can produce, one focusing on your education and activities and one focused on your work experience. Generally, students like me who are soon to be college graduates would favor the resume focusing on the relevant course work I’ve completed and the experiences that I’ve had so far. As far as work experience goes in my major I am lacking; which is unfortunate and will be a disadvantage, but because of that I have to focus on all my other strengths. A clean and clear resume is important.

This is an example of my favorite type of resume.

This is my personal favorite format for setting up a resume, but by no means is it the only way that you can do so. It’s important to attract attention to your achievements and also your name. If it is hard to find your name on a resume you’re starting off in trouble. You need to make sure these people take a look at this piece of paper and say hey, this guy (insert name) has done this, and this, and this. Increase their interest in your product and you have a very good shot. Of course, the resume can only get you the interview. You have to follow it up with a spectacular interview, and that is not easy for everybody.
The Interview.
You’ve heard this 1,000 times but you can’t hear it enough; eye contact is one of the most important things you can have in an interview. If you’re in an interview and you’re not making eye contact, the interviewer will think you are rude and not interested. Eye contact, although uncomfortable for many people, is a form of respect that is not something that only some people look for; everybody looks for it and everybody remembers it.

Another thing you’ve heard 1,000 times that is completely true is the handshake. It’s important whether you are a male or a female to have a good firm handshake. It’s also important to know handshake etiquette. When a man shakes a woman’s hand his thumb should go down on the back of her palm over the knuckles, like this. When a man shakes another man’s hand, the thumb should go forward so that it’s parallel with the other mans thumb, like this.

It’s also important to maintain eye contact while you are going through the handshake. Don’t break your gaze just because you are shaking this person’s hand. Culturally, it is also important to recognize that not everyone wants you to shake their hand, therefore be aware of your surroundings, and if you don’t know, do some research about what is proper and what is not.

What You Wear

There is one general rule of thumb that you should follow, no matter what job it is that you are applying for, or interviewing for. You should always dress more professional than you have to. Even if everyone in that office is wearing jeans and polo’s you should come in with a shirt, tie, and smart pants and shoes. There is nothing wrong with making yourself stand out in an interview crowd, and there’s no reason you can’t dress like this for any interview. Sure, it may not be necessary, but the people interviewing you will take notice for sure, especially if none of the other people applying for the job do so.

A tie sometimes can make or break an outfit. You have to make sure that you select the right one, and the right knot for the tie. Different sized people wear different types of knots better. For example, I myself had broader shoulders and a wide neck so I wear a full Windsor knot. People with smaller frames than me, or that are skinnier than me would probably wear a half Windsor knot. These, of course are not the only rules of tie etiquette, if you would like to learn some more click on this link here and you can read about it. Below is a video of a full Windsor knot being tied on youtube.

The Company That You Are Applying To

It is important to have knowledge not just of the position that you are applying for, but some knowledge about the company that you will be working for as well. Do a lot of research about the company; their mission statement, what charities their involved in, what they do in the community, what they invest in what’s important to them. It’s important to make sure that the company’s moral fiber and integrity match up with your own. You don’t want to work somewhere where you don’t know anything about what they do, or when you don’t agree with practices that they may undertake. Other than that though, it’s always impressive to a potential employer when someone shows up knowledgeable about the company. There is probably about a 85-90% chance that you will be asked what you already know about the company and what you know about the community that they work and live in. You can make or break your interview at this point, knowing a lot about the company can help you just as much as knowing nothing can hurt you.
Of course every piece of this puzzle is important in an interview. I don’t know the secret to success, but I can tell you that not following these simple guidelines and rules is the path to failure. There is no way you can get an important job without doing a combination of all these factors to present yourself. Of course there are careers out there that are more informal and don’t care about everything I just mentioned; a Windsor knot for instance, or knowledge of their company (for instance, a collections company may not care if you have knowledge about their business) however any job that you are applying for in business will require all of these things from you. Again I will reiterate that my thoughts and my ideas are all based on my business/marketing experience, and I am therefore referencing these types of interviews/resumes/preparation ideas. Even doing all of these things correctly, there is no guarantee of getting a job ever, so doesn’t be over confident. It’s also important to remember that not getting a job is not the end of the world, there are plenty of jobs out there and you will find one that fits you. Don’t give up your search because one company said no.

Hope you enjoyed the read, glad to have a post up finally after a few months! School work has been rough. I’ll try to get back at this though!

Facebook is in no way the first popular social media site, that award belongs to MySpace. The very first modern social media site was Six Degrees. Six Degrees was launched in 1997 and was the first modern social network. It allowed users to create a profile and to become friends with other users. While the site is no longer functional, at one time it was actually quite popular and had around a million members at its peak. In 2000 it was purchased for $125 million and in 2001 it was shut down. Social Media is the newest and most powerful online business and marketing tool available on the internet. You can create pages for your company for free, publish events to get the word out, put up advertisements anywhere on the site, and even target your consumers easier than ever before, especially with Facebook advertising which gives the ability to easily target the people that are interested in certain products based on their facebook page information, as well as their pages that they “like” on Facebook.

Today social media sites are bigger than just social networking sites, there’s a site for virtually ever niche that you could think of. Sites like Photobucket give you the ability to host pictures, and sites like YouTube allow you to host videos and your own channel for people to view if you wish. The newest thing that I have seen has been on Facebook, a lot of my friends have started using this site called Formspring.. The site is used for people to post anonymous questions and comments about a person, and then the person answers if they wish. It doesn’t seem that exciting to me but apparently it’s catching on.

Today there are such a variety of social media sites it’s almost impossible to keep up. Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, Revver, and Digg are all good examples of some of the most popular. They all do different things in different ways, from professional social networking to quick updates about what’s on your mind. There’s something for everybody.

What is exciting about these sites is the opportunity they lend to businesses and marketers in their fields. I’m going to talk about how it is good for any business, and then talk about how it is good for marketers.

In general for a business, sites like Facebook allow them to get immediate exposure to millions of users. You can pay some money and get your own page for people to look at as a Facebook Business, as well as making a fan page for free where you can run events from and also send out promotional links for different things. Marketing of course ties in here, you can use Facebook advertising to figure out your CTR( Click Through Rate) which is a way to measure the number of users who clicked on an advertisement on a website.

They also allow you to measure other statistics which are used in online marketing with websites, such as Cost Per Mille, Cost per Impression, Pay per Click, Cost per Action, Pay per Click, and View-through rate. All of those words have definitions linked inside of them so I can save some time and space writing this blog, so if you’re interested go ahead and click on them to learn their meaning.

Social media has changed the position of a businesses capability to be an international business. Businesses that may have previously only dealt with a small portion of the country can get themselves out there on the internet for the whole world to see, whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google advertising, Search Engine Optimization, or whatever tool they may be using. Now they could be shipping across the nation and even internationally.

In today’s economy, being fluent in social media sites is a spectacular edition to any resume. If you are able to make a successful online campaign through social media sites you can probably manage one in any channel of advertising. Viral marketing is a strong part of online advertising and in social media sites. YouTube probably has the largest crowd of Viral Marketing. The current most popular viral marketing campaign is (not coincidentally) the same marketing campaign that is having the most mainstream media success…Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. They accomplished this by doing a string of YouTube videos addressed directly to specific people, and allowing people to remix their video in ways of their own. Here’s one of the Old Spice created video’s, the last one in the series, and below that is one that some video blogger made as a remix for his own personal use.

I love this video, to be honest.

I could continue on forever about the different ways to get your name out there on the internet, but to celebrate Facebook’s accomplishment today, i’ll end it with them.

Facebook has one of the easiest to use advertising tools in the social marketing industry. You can specifically target any demographic that you wish with easy to follow instructions as well as measuring tools to keep track of how you have to pay for the advertisement. The prices are low considering the exposure you’re receiving, and you can pull the advertisement at anytime. Google’s Adwords program is another good one to look at if you’re new to the internet advertising scene and looking to get started.

Well friends that’s all for today. Until next time I hope everyone has a great day, and i’ll see you tomorrow!

This is the press conference from last Friday by Steve Jobs and Apple about the current iPhone 4 situation, and this is the follow up to last week’s post about their iPhone 4 mismanagement.  Please, after any of these posts, feel free to leave your comments on the bottom and tell me what you think.

I’m not going to make this a long post, and I’m definitely not here to rain on Apples parade more; I’m here to talk about the marketing and the PR success and failure of this conference.

Overall I give this news conference a B.  By the time the conference was over, Apples stock had begun to make a turn around, despite that awful introductory song that they played.  He said the right things and made the right promises almost the whole time. Jobs has always been very good at this.  He sold the phone very well in the beginning, talking about the distribution of three million of them in only 3 weeks, and commenting on how it is the best product that Apple has ever made (better than the iPad? I can’t believe he’d admit that..but I guess so).

During the video, he has a certain tone. I can’t tell if it’s arrogance, or just plain anger that spurs his tone in some moments of this conference. This goes back to my older blog once again about how Apple is not used to being on top and in some parts of this video they demonstrate it once again. If you only watched the beginning of this 30 minute long video, please I urge you to continue on. The beginning of the video easily gets an A+, Jobs does a great job deflecting blame and talking about how great his product is, making notes of having the highest customer satisfaction rating of any iPhone, and also any OTHER smart phone on the market.

Then when he tries to use his infamous spinning techniques by pushing blame on other phone’s as well, he starts a slow downward spiral.

It’s not just me that says this, Jobs has been historic for what has been dubbed his “reality distortion field”. This has worked in the past for fans because what Apple did was concentrate on its core of dedicated fans who relate to their egalitarian rhetoric (you like that word? I had to look it up. Definition available if you click on the word). To some people, his once charm now comes off as dismissive and almost manipulative. I say this because not only of this press conference, but his constant bashing of his phones users for holding it the “wrong way”, and making such a belittlement of the problem.

Here’s the bottom line for Apple, and I’m sorry to my friends who love them so much but it’s true just like it would be for any company. When you are the leader in a category and have the best product like Apple does in the iPhone 4, and there are problems with it like there have been, you have to take care of them. Here’s the catch though; take care of the problems without making it seem like your customers are idiots, too impatient, or telling them via another persons YouTube video that if they don’t like your phone take it back. That’s not how you do things when you’re at the top of a category like that, because everyone will take shots at you. Is it fair? No. But it’s the way the world works today and Apple just isn’t used to it yet.

This doesn’t mean I think Apple is doomed; they’ll learn, they’ll get better, at least I hope so. Steve Jobs is an interesting character. A genius for sure but I believe slightly more arrogant than Bill Gates, and that has tended to get him in trouble sometimes when he lets some things slip.

Early in the conference he talks about “Antennagate”, and how it is not unique to the iPhone 4. I strongly encourage you to take a look at this page on Apples website, located right here.. These are the same examples used in the video above, but if you didn’t watch it, then at least take a look here. These videos are interesting and of course good news for Apple, however it does not address the bigger problem. What they should be doing is showing how the iPhone 4 is different, and better than these phones, not that it’s exactly the same in its shortcomings… this may turn out to be harmful for them in the future, especially with reports saying that the Droid 2 is going to be more powerful than the iPhone 4, and they had advanced notice of this antenna problem and I’m sure they’ll take care of it before release.

Then there’s the algorithm. Jobs has continuously over the past few weeks blamed the problem in the iPhone 4 on the algorithm for the reception bars being incorrect. Positive side to this spin: easy software fix that has already been taken care of with the released of the new update for the iPhone 4. Negative side of this spin: It’s not the real problem and seems to be just another thing to compare the iPhone 4′s problems with other phones. I don’t know how many times someone can say this to somebody, the iPhone 4 is the best, and is therefore held to higher standards than the rest and expected to perform better. That’s exactly what Apple has wanted over the years, to be known for making the best of the best. So now that is what they’re known for, and when something doesn’t work, they’re going to catch flack for it. The worst thing they could do is compare their product to other, lower level products, saying they have the same problems. Apple is the best, they shouldn’t have to compare them to those lower level product. It’s a mix up of marketing, you can’t market yourself as one thing and then come out and talk about it being just like everyone else. You’re going to confuse the general consumers mind on what to think about you. Apple has the unique case of a small core of dedicated fans who don’t care what Jobs says or does or what Apple says or does for that matter, and that’s what has kept them going all these years. But Steve Jobs has to keep inspiring new minds to the Apple way or their lifetime will fall shorter than it should.

Back to the video.

Around the time he’s showing off his testing facilities, he finally admits something he had denied for almost the entire three weeks before the product release; they knew about the iPhone 4′s problem. Of course, Jobs wasn’t handling the PR on that front, so maybe he didn’t know about that, or maybe he just thought it was time to come clean. His logic isn’t totally unreasonable, saying that other phone’s have the same product so nobody will care. I feel like a broken record when I say this, but again this has everything to do with not used to being the leader in an industry. When you’re the leader, you’re not supposed to approach the situation like that. You have that problem you fix it and you make it a marketing point for that product and point out how others haven’t solved this problem yet. You don’t ignore it and say well everybody does it so it’ll be fine. That doesn’t work, Steven.

I mentioned in my first post (Apple: iPhone 4 Mismanagement) about the one half of one percent, so I just wanted to include a link in case anyone didn’t read about it last time. I wont comment on it again, but just a reminder that one half of one percent of their customers is still 15,000 people, not a small number. The free bumpers they are going to give out up until September 30th is a short term solution to the problem, but of course Jobs says that the reason that no one bought the bumpers to begin with was because no one wanted to shield how cool the iPhone 4 looked. Possibly true…but just another jab at PR I believe.

Despite all these problems in marketing, public relations and of course the hardware and software problems, Apple is determined to push forward with international distribution. There have been two companies historically that have made a very similar devastating mistake; Wal*Mart and Disney. Wal*Mart extended its brand over-sea’s, despite having problems with workers and other things here at home. Disney decided to build Euro Disney without knowing anything about the market they were diving into and just assumed it would be a success. Wal*Mart has failed in the majority of its over-sea’s projects, and in the meantime has lost its solid reputation with employee’s and consumers around the country. They’re a shadow of the time when Sam Walton ran the company. Euro Disney has only posted a profit in three of its years of existence, and those three years were when the banks granted them the option not to pay interest for those years. Since then, in the red every year. I hope that Apple is not making this same blunder by forcing a deadline on foreign release of the phone before problems are fixed, because the media in other countries is much harsher than the media in this country. The phone is set to release July 30th in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Steve Jobs needs to pull himself back out of public site and let his absolutely terrific PR department at Apple handle the situation, and I mean that, Apple does have probably the best PR department in the industry. Most of Apple’s PR mistakes can be traced directly back to Steve Jobs. His well known and popular arrogance is exactly what the company needed in its dark days of the 90′s to pull themselves out of the hole that they were in. While others were telling them to wrap it up, call it quits, and just admit defeat to Dell and Microsoft, Jobs said no, instead talking directly to the consumers and giving them what they wanted. Now that Apple is back on top of the world again, many people around the internet are calling him the same thing: a “sore winner”.

I believe Jobs is a visionary who wants the best for Apple and for its customers, but he has lost his capability to manage his image, and thus the image of his own company. Apple’s PR department is in charge of creating Apple’s perception, but their efforts are being drowned out by the personality at the helm of the ship. At his best, Steve Jobs is a brilliant, inspirational spokesman for the company. At his worst, he is a pompous winner who needs to be taken down a notch.

In the end I think things will be ok for Apple because they are a company full of extremely intelligent engineers, and Jobs is as equally brilliant as he is arrogant. Hopefully he can handle the situation and take Apple back to the place that they were before, plus something new: Being the best, AND being on top.

I am very happy to say that over the past week, I have never fallen below 20 viewers a day, and for that I thank all of you, whether you only read one post, two, or all of them, I really appreciate it. Knowing that anyone reads this and cares even slightly about my thoughts on anything is impressive, and important.  Unfortunately with the passing of my dog this weekend, some other family issues, I have not had any time to do the appropriate research for my follow up on Apple’s iPhone 4 situation.

I promise that starting tomorrow, my posts will once again be regular.  Thank you again for your support and I hope it continues, hope everyone has a great week!

Sincerely,

Robert Junge

1) Gatorade- Revolution

I think that this campaign is one of the most clever in recent years by anybody, but also specifically by Gatorade.  They completely reinvented their brand by doing something that is very important; they focused their attention and targeted their market more specifically. They know that the people who buy Gatorade are more generally athletes who are looking to perform at whatever sport/activity that they’re participating in.  This video above was the beginning of a campaign in which they were introducing their new product line; a three piece set that reinvented the image of Gatorade.  Gatorade 1, also known as “Prime”, Gatorade 2, also known as “Perform”, and Gatorade 3, also known as “Recover”.  This is the advertisement for those three drinks.

When Gatorade was testing their new products, they handed them out to athletes to try out in real life activities.  After all, that would be the best testing scenario right?  The three athletes they chose were (in order) Usain Bolt, Dwight Howard, and Peyton Manning.  Cameras were sent to all three during certain times to document that happenings.  Bolt used the Prime before training for a race and was quoted as saying that it was a big help for him.  Dwight Howard used the originally Gatorade, now called Perform, during their basketball playoff last year.  This wasn’t a change of course because the formula for the original Gatorade hasn’t changed.  Finally Peyton Manning and the Colts were given the Recover formula to drink during the Superbowl game against the Saints.  The Colts, of course, lost that game, however that was not the focus of the cameras.  The video footage was good and the athletes all reported feeling better after using the sports beverages, and the change was made.

2) Nike- Write the Future

This campaign was created for the World Cup this year and I think it was brilliant.  It’s a brilliant advertisement not only for the rest of the world, showcasing the sports greats, but especially for America, where excitement and hype is hard to come by when you’re talking about Soccer.  In America, a lot of our sports are based on star power.  When you go to see a team play, you go to see certain players.  Not in every sport is it necessary, but in every sport it helps to bring people out.  In baseball more people will come to the games when the Yankee’s come to town.  In Basketball there are so many stars that there is more than one team that will bring out extra crowds to see them play; be it the LA Lakers and Kobe Bryant, the Miami Heat and Lebron James and company, or the Denver Nuggets with Carmelo Anthony.  In America, our biggest soccer star is Landon Donovan, and unless you’re on the west coast or your team hosts a MLS team, you’re not going to be able to see him.  This commercial showcased to the American people the stars of the game and got them interested in the sport.  It showed the average American who you should be watching, and could expect great things from.  If Donovan had been included in the commercial it may have experienced more commercial success in the States, but it was still in my opinion one of the best for the World Cup that i’ve seen.

3) Lowe’s- First Time Home Buyers

To be honest, this commercial hasn’t had much commercial success, I just enjoy it and wanted to post it on here for anyone who hasn’t seen it.  Lowe’s does a good job with this series showing their position in the market that they want to hold as being the friendly and helpful home improvement store.  It’s a simple straightforward message that they injected with a little bit of humor, and I think that it is pretty clever.

1) Old Spice- The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

These two commercials were sequential advertisements released by Old Spice and they are their new campaign for the year.  Their results have been tremendous; the first video has over 11 million views on YouTube.  It has also received praise from advertisers around the country as being the best campaign of the year, and I have to agree.  Not only did I enjoy the first advertisement, but I was anticipating the release of the second one.  How big has it been?  It’s not just me that liked it, the commercial made by Wieden & Kennedy Portland, won the grand prix award at the Cannes International Film Festival.  Mark Tutssell, president of film lions category, said that the commercial had “taken an old, sleeping brand and woken it up”. “Overnight [the ad] worked its way into popular culture, it has re-ignited a sleeping giant”.  The previous campaign to this, which featured Terry Crews, an actor and ex football player in which he played an over hyped up excited shouting muscle monster who gained his power from Old Spice’s “Oder blocking power”, was a failure.  These were not very successful and have been mostly replaced by thte Man Your Man Can Smell Like campaign. What was better is that after the release, they made over 180 personalized viral videos released on YouTube for fans of the series.  Just how popular was it?  According to Mashable, 5.9 million people have viewed these videos, leaving 22,500 comments, and that was since this past Tuesday (7/13/2010).  The series has been so successful, it’s already been compared to Apple’s “Mac vs PC” campaign.

2)Philips Television “Parallel Lines- The Gift” by Erik Rinsch

The commercial, which was made by DDB London, is the latest from the Dutch electronics company in which they show the crystal clear quality of their televisions set by way of some type of epic story/commercial.  This commercial has not received much play in the United States, and without proper research I probably would’ve never encountered it.  I’m sure that it is run here, I just haven’t seen it on Time Warner Cable yet.  The point of this commercial is to advertise the new, unique cinematic viewing experiences offered by Philips range of televisions sets.  The campaign demonstrates Philips commitment to bringing the cinema experience home, and Philips seems to understand that if what they’re trying to sell is a “cinematic experience”, then creating compelling cinematic content is the best way to offer consumers the chance to experience the cinematic capabilities of its TVs.

The Philips company, which is not known for its strong advertising, has in the past couple years transformed itself in that manner.  Last year, Philips also won an award for their commercial last year (which you can view here) and most have said they’ve shattered the image of not being an advertising company.

3) Johnnie Walker- “The Man Who Walked Around The World“

This commercial, starring Robert Carlyle (If you don’t know who that is, click here), was all shot in one take near Loch Doyne in Scotland. During the commercial, Carlyle talks about the history of Johnnie Walker (the apparently true history) and I believe it is the setting and the delivery that give this commercial its greatness. I really enjoyed watching it and although it was simple and pretty cost efficient it was very effective. For some reason, everywhere that I read mentions that it took about 40 takes to get this commercial right, and it was the final 40th take that they used as the commercial. That is pretty interesting I suppose. Anyways, it’s a great spot and I’ve enjoyed watching it, it also won an award at the Cannes Film Festival this year, beating out Gatorade’s “Replay” advertisement shown right below this. I wanted to include this because I thought it was moving, however it failed to bring home any hardware.

4) Apple’s IPhone 4 Ad

This is one of 4 ad’s, if you’d like to view the rest of these advertisements you can click on these links in parenthesis (You’re going to be a Dad, New Haircut, and Smile). Lets pretend for one second that Apple hasn’t totally screwed up this whole IPhone 4 thing with their design flaw, this is not the point of this post. If you’d like to read about Apples problems, you can read my other blog entitled “Apple: IPhone 4 Mismanagement”.  These campaigns tug at the hearts of their audiences and I believe they are brilliant.  I don’t particularly like the “You’re going to be a Dad” one, merely because I don’t like the actress in it very much, but I do enjoy the other ones.  When you have such a strong brand like Apple does, and clearly a brilliant advertising team, you have a great formula for success.  Man, what I wouldn’t give to be on that advertising team; what a product brand to work with!

That’s all for the top campaigns of the year.  Tomorrow, I will update my four personal favorite ads for the year so far.  Hope you all have enjoyed this, and don’t forget to catch up on my other blog series on my HOME page

Apple’s stock is falling, and after their press conference, which is currently going on, they continue to fall. Apple usually takes the road of being superior, that’s kind of their pitch…superior products, superior personnel…superior everything.

With these new problems Apple’s Steve Job’s has resorted to something not like him…he’s blaming everyone else. He’s mentioned that other phone’s also have problems, that the IPhone isn’t perfect, and admitted publicly finally that they knew if the phone was gripped a certain way, that the reception bars would go down. He is quoted as saying “We’re not perfect, no phone is perfect”. This is true, but when you’re Apple, and when you’re the leader in the industry, you’re supposed to be better than this. He quoted a number for the first time, one half of 1% have complained about this reception problem. That sounds like nothing, however based on the numbers of sales, and when you do the math, that’s about 15,000 phone’s. That is no insignificant number.

Do you think if Microsoft had this mis-hap, that Apple would let it go? Jobs would be all over it, attacking Microsoft and boasting about his own companies success and how they work harder to get things right; not this time. He’s even gone as far as to point out other phone’s problems other than his own; deflecting the blame. The bottom line is what I said in my last blog series that Apple doesn’t know how to handle being the first in the market. Of course this doesn’t affect their advertising department, which you can see by these videos is still going strong. What they did do today was keep the news away from the Motorola and the Android X released today.

When companies are perceived as being invincible that is when they can fail. An important rule in marketing from one of my favorite books “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Ries and Trout says that “success breeds arrogance, and arrogance leads to failure”. This is so true and Apple may be on the verge of portraying this. Recent press has portrayed Apple as the invincible company, whatever they put out, sells. The problem is that when you’re at the top like they are now, and Microsoft was for so long, people take more shots at you, and everything you do is being watched.

So far, based on this press conference (I am listening to it as I update this blog) Jobs is doing an absolute terrific PR job covering up all of his problems. His claim to why this may be happening? “Because of this new sleek and attractive design, less customers are walking out with bumpers or soft covers because they want to show off the look of their new cool phone”. Cop out? Yes. Brilliant? Even more so. The argument of not being perfect was also excellent. It’s a deflection for anything anybody can says now. “Well what about this problem”…”we’re not perfect”, etc etc. “We care about every user, the company will not rest until we get to the bottom of every customers issues”. Brilliant, and another new solution to the problem? The News Desk has come out as saying that they will give a new case out to every IPhone 4 purchased up to September 30th. If you already purchased a bumper, you are due a refund. This is just excellent and was exactly what I was looking for from them. This is an excellent response for their first big issue with this phone. It is less than $1 to make a bumper, they sell for $30. It is a smart, less expensive way to fix this. Hey guess what? After these announcements, Apple stock has just started going up again. It’s amazing how these solutions can work isn’t it? The world is based on marketing and perception, and now that it is perceived that Apple is capable and willing to solve this problem, their stock is up, already back up a whole 1% in less than one minute! Currently selling (as I write this) at $252.81 after bottoming out at about $248. This doesn’t sound that dramatic, but for a leading company, it is pretty extreme.

My god this man is a genius. Do you know the difference between your high school nerd and these men? Nerds have no social skills; these men are not nerds. If you are a nerd you may be extremely smart, however you are not capable of interacting in social scenarios. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs do not fit this bill. They are not nerds, they are genius’s.

Jobs is under fire for a few things. First, shipping a phone that they knew had problems like this. How could a company of such stature do this? It’s true that this is a relative blip on their radar, they will get through this. The bigger problem is the resurgent Android phone, with this problem and re-emergence of the Android, will Apple be able to regain all the position that they had before? It is highly unlikely, the Android is a big success. Steve Jobs understands his brand, he came back from vacation in Hawaii to handle this. Don’t for one second think that someone told him to return, Steve Jobs calls the shots at Apple. He made the choice to return himself. Jobs has also been criticized in the past for tightly controlling the development of his products, from the IPad to this IPhone. He’s so secretive about his plans that it’s hard to believe that anything ever gets done. Developers aren’t allowed to take any plans home to work on and only a few eyes get to look on the real design of the machines. Maybe if more eyes had seen this phone, these problems could’ve been averted? No one really knows. Another criticism of Jobs is his placement of Apps on the IPhone. He wont allow certain things onto the IPhone (Google Voice) and although it makes sense when you look deep into the reasons, it’s really just because he’s afraid of giving up any more ground to his competitors. They don’t know how else to slow down their competitions except…stomping them out. That sounds a lot like Microsoft to me…and you know why? Because it’s exactly what Microsoft has done and does to stay ahead in it’s category. Like i’ve said many times, this is something that Apple just hasn’t ever had to do, and now they do; stay up front in a category that they lead in no matter what the cost. Following the same type of topic, Jobs recent bashing and neglecting of the Adobe Flash player has a lot of people upset. He refuses to make his products compatible as possible with the Adobe Flash player so that they can’t get the credit that Jobs wants for his company. The problem with this is that Flash is currently the accepted video software on the internet and on many websites in general, and he surely can’t just keep ignoring it…but, he is. Finally he is criticized for the new IAd technology which was supposed to revolutionize the advertising on the IPhone. My friend Marina wrote a blog about this awhile back you can read here. It seems so far, there hasn’t necessarily been as many glitches as their has been lack of interest in the channel of advertising. It has experienced success, but it wasn’t the revolutionary idea that he and many others (including myself) thought that it would be.

Sept 30th there will be a new hardware design for release for the IPod 4. This could change the cost in the device nationally and internationally. Apple has not swayed from its international release date, sticking it with July 30th for 17 new countries, well before the new hardware and software will be out. I guess all there is to do now is wait and see what will happen. I will update again later when the video of the conference is available if anyone is interested!

It’s true; everybody loves a Mac one way or another. They are good looking and efficient machines. Even Windows users have a desire for the “taste” of a Mac. That’s why there are tons of downloadable widgets and bars that look just like the Leopard OS X that you can run easily on your PC computer. They do this because it is NOT legal to run the OS X on a PC; however it is legal to run windows or Linux on a Mac. As I mentioned in my previous blog, it’s very hard to pick out the bad spots in Apple, and in Mac computers. Completely reverse, it is very easy to pick on Microsoft and the Windows OS’s. Not only is Microsoft a known corporate conglomerate, they’re known for weeding out any other operating systems that try to spring up, and stomping on anything they don’t deem worthy (aka Linux).  Think of a software version of modern day Wal-mart.   Because of this, I’m going to reverse my previous strategy and start with the negatives of the Microsoft Corporation.

Most people know about the United States v Microsoft case, but just in case you don’t, the important facts are:

1) Alleged violation of anti-trust laws by Microsoft
2) Bundling of Internet Explorer and Windows OS considered reason Microsoft won the “Browser Wars”
3) Microsoft was accused of altering or manipulating its application programming interfaces to favor Internet Explorer over third party web browsers
4) The settlement that resulted said that Microsoft was required to share its API’s with third party companies, as well as appoint a panel of at least 3 people who will have full access to their systems, records, and source code for five years to make sure that they comply with this court order.

Of course this settlement didn’t satisfy the Microsoft haters, however it also didn’t satisfy Microsoft supporters. A lot of people were upset that the case reached as far as it did to begin with because they felt that it was an unnecessary move against a mostly unregulated sector that could bring more government regulation into the industry and impede the technological process of all companies. I personally agree, and don’t believe that it should’ve come this far, Microsoft never made a direct profit from IE, and it’s downloaded by anybody anytime. Today of course things have changed; I don’t know about you, but I use Mozilla, and I have a lot of friends who use Google’s Chrome. Google; what a company…that’s a topic for another day.

Microsoft is also widely criticized for falling behind in the portable devices market. They’ll never catch up to the IPod although the Zune is an impressive piece of equipment, the marketing just isn’t there for it. I can’t personally recall seeing an advertisement for a Zune recently that I appreciated. These two that I found however I do remember, and I thought they were great advertisements.

I really enjoy these commercials, and if they had come out before an IPod commercial I’m willing to bet that they would be on top of the market; but they didn’t. Not only did IPod have a better advertising plan before Microsoft but they also have been able to hold the market share, adapting their product to so many new heights. So far, Microsoft just has the Zune, which has minimal updates and features. The Zune store is huge, but not many people tend to utilize it. If there were more Zune users, the Zune marketplace would grow.

The market share for Microsoft is tremendous however. Even with their failing side projects, Microsoft has two things that Apple does not. First, they have 90% control of the home PC market, and they do exist in one category that Apple doesn’t; gaming. Xbox is a huge market for Microsoft, and while it is not as great as Playstation (In my personal opinion or in market share) it is still a strong product with millions of users. This is also another knock on Microsoft, while Sony is able to provide internet play for its users for free, Microsoft charges for online play, as well as add-ons to their system. Apple has no foothold in this industry and it is doubtful they could gain one; I also don’t believe that they’re trying. When you think of Apple you think of Mac, not a TV, or a car, or a consul gaming system. It’s important to keep relative to what you are perceived as the best in for the market. Microsoft has such a strong share of market because they are able to product cheap PC’s that are still viable for use, so anybody no matter how rich or poor they are, they can afford a Microsoft PC. They do this by making deals with many different vendors to product different types of products. It is one major advantage that Microsoft has over Apple, and that is cost.

To conclude this blog post and series I’m going to change it up a little bit. Instead of ending with my feeling of the positive views of Microsoft I’m going to go back to the comparisons and talk about all the perks of an Apple, and all the perks of a PC. I’m doing this because I think it’s unfair for me to list the pro’s of Microsoft when I am extremely biased on the topic and prefer Microsoft and Windows (especially 7, I recommend checking it out if you are Mac user and feel like expanding your mind a little bit on the world of personal computer operating systems). So let’s get to it.

I’m going to start with the comparison of the OS’s, because the bottom line whether or not either PC or Mac users want to accept it is that when you take apart the computers they are exactly the same. Advantage; neither. The operating systems are equally useful in different ways. The #1 biggest difference is the software. Mac computers have the default operating system OS X; however you can also run Windows or Linux on a Mac (legally). I make this notation, because Mac has gone to great length to make sure that their OS X is only run on Mac computers. How far? It’s actually illegal to run it on a PC computer. Biggest reason for this (I believe) is that you could buy a $2,000 Mac and get the style, the efficiency, and the reputation of being a Mac user…or, you could buy a $1100 dollar PC with the exact same hardware, and buy the relatively cheap OS X and it will work exactly the same; save the cool design and sleek look. Another way that they differ is their applications designed for them. If you are a Windows user, you are going to be used to seeing .exe files. If you enjoy Mac, you’re probably more used to.dmg. PC’s, of course just a general term often related with Windows, generally use their operating system. PC’s are best known for running Windows, however running Windows doesn’t mean anything about a PC actually being a PC.

The second biggest difference is hardware. Advantage: PC’s and Microsoft. Mac’s are, for the most part, not very easy to make hardware upgrades too. Some people would argue that you don’t need to, that’s why they cost more to begin with, however this is not always true. There is one exception to this rule however, Mac Pro’s are highly customizable, so it’s not like they don’t have their bases cover. PC customization belongs almost solely to one company; Dell Computers. Dell makes a living customizing computers for its users to fit exactly what they’d like to see, from hardware to software to design and style. You also have the option of building a PC yourself by buying your own parts, which takes a considerable bit more skill.

When you’re talking about the ability to customize your operating systems, the technical advantage goes to Apple, because you can legally run all three operating systems that I’ve discussed as I already mentioned. However the truth is that many computer users have still install Linux and OS X on their PC’s without suffering any penalty. For sake of argument however, I will give advantage: Apple.

Style is important to a lot of computers users. Advantage: Apple. I don’t agree with this to be honest, I think my Hewlett Packard PC is a fine looking machine and I enjoy using it, even my Vista operating system. However I realize that my taste is not everyone’s taste, and the majority of users enjoy the look of a Macintosh computer.

There’s three things I’m going to group together into the next group, and in all three the advantage goes to Apple. Customer support, innovative applications, and the computers default software. All advantageous to Apple. Customer support is one of the biggest things that Apple has over Microsoft. The Apple Store will take whatever problems you have with their products and fix them at a price that is generally not too hefty, and if the product is under warranty they will fix it quickly for free. In contrast, the best thing that Microsoft has running for them is “The Geek Squad”…not the most reliable, or cost efficient option. Second, as far as innovation goes, Apple has had the advantage. ITunes is one of the biggest examples of this and is one of the biggest successes; almost every single user of any type of computer uses this program. Finally, the Apple computers default software comes with a lot more than Microsoft computers do, without paying extra (unless you consider the generally high cost of the computer to begin with).

There is one type of computer user that Apple will never take from Microsoft and that is the dedicated gamer. Advantage: Microsoft, by a landslide. Apples are fine for small games, and I’m not talking about Facebook applications or things like that, I’m talking about Counterstrike, games of lower caliber and such. Don’t get me wrong, you CAN put a game on an Apple computer, and it may run well, but a real gamer will not just have one game on his computer; he will have many, and they will take higher graphics cards and more and more RAM and other applications on the computer will suffer. This will also happen with a PC, but not nearly as fast.

In the end, the winner is: nobody. The truth is, no matter what you say about either computer, it comes down to preference or need for the computer types. Mac’s can run all of the operating systems, they’re very simple to use, you get Apple Store support with a purchase, they are more visually appealing, and have better out of the box software. PC’s can be built from the ground up, giving you max customization, PC’s are generally less expensive in price, you can get the same processor, amount or RAM, and hard drive capacity as a much more expensive Mac, for much cheaper on a PC. PC’s have a better software selection, Mac’s are more limited, more people use PC’s and therefore there is a larger support community for them. PC’s are better for gaming, they’re more upgradable than Mac’s, they have more compatible accessories than Mac’s, and they are open source. The best for last however, the majority of business use PC’s. Why is this important? Well it’s not, unless you want to work in the business world like me. Which again is why I reiterate that neither computer will ever be 100%  better than the other, and nobody is right when they say one side is wrong.

I’m going to start with Apple

I decided to start with Apple because I am the least familiar with it. I’ve personally been a PC user and Windows operator for my entire life, save 3 years in my middle school when they adopted apples into the computer room and I was forced to use them. Apples are magnificent machines as far as computers go, regardless of what kind of work you are in to. However, if you happen to focus in study in an art, graphic design, music, or something along those lines major, then Mac is absolutely perfect for you. Other than that, if you’re just looking for a cool looking computer, to have something different than everybody else, or something you don’t have to worry about viruses, then Mac is good for you too.

I’m going to come back to the virus topic in a little while, but for now I’m going to focus on the marketing. Macintosh has been famous for bashing on PC’s and PC users for awhile now. It’s a major part of their entire campaign, and it’s how they’ve developed their clientele base. If you examine the people who are buying Mac users (if they don’t fall into the categories that I mentioned earlier) they tend to be people who just think that the computers are better because 1) they look cooler (which they do) and 2) they’re more expensive. The general consensus of an uneducated consumer is that if the cost is higher, the product must be better.  It’s true that Apple spends more money to use economically friendly parts and subcontracts parts to one country in Asia and sells their software and computers themselves. That does an important thing in marketing, it makes Mac’s an exclusive product. If you want a Mac, you’re very limited on who you’re buying it from and how you’re buying it. Customization is still available, but almost always directly through Apple. I’ve never understood this part, since the general sentiment about Apple is to not look at them as this corporate conglomerate that they really are; they do this on purpose to capitalize on your purchases. In no way am I saying that Microsoft doesn’t do the exact same thing; they’ll both suck you dry and then some. I’m just saying that Apple doesn’t deserve to be put up on a pedestal. Macintosh has a strong image around the world with its logo(apparently strong enough for people to pay about $500 more for their computers)that is easily recognized, its product line which is unique and stylish, and its operating system which is known for being efficient and fast. All important factors in the home computer industry.

The marketing share for Mac has been small for a long time because of some pretty basic things. Mostly, Microsoft doesn’t allow other operating systems or computers to take off that far and has beaten down its competition over the years. Although strangely enough Microsoft is the only reason that Apple still exists; in 1997 Microsoft and Apple made a deal to provide Microsoft Office products in the future for Apple computers, and invested in shares of Apple to make sure it wasn’t going to go bankrupt. The deal also included Microsoft start to develop software for Apple computers, which is still going on today. The market shares have been bought back by Apple (at quite a profit for Microsoft) but it’s something that a lot of Mac haters like to use against them; don’t let it fool you. What is true, however, is that Windows and Apple do have joint ventures in many different things. I need to get back to market share however. As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft has about a 00% market share of the home PC market. However there is now a new market where Apple has about 80% of the market locked down tight, and that is the portable music device. The IPod was not the first portable MP3 player, but they had the best marketing campaign. One important principle in marketing is that if your product can’t be the first on the shelf then you should make sure that it is the first one that people think of in their minds. Apple was extremely successful with this. Today, the IPod is unrivaled in the industry. Microsoft introduced the Zune with moderate success, however not even close to the IPod. With the introduction of the IPhone, now apple extends its dominance in this market. The IPad will also eventually consume its own market share as well. A word to the giants however, they’re dangerously close to over extending their brand. The idea of the Apple TV might be going too far…they’re relying on their image and their name to sell these products, and eventually this will run dry. People buying IPhone’s aren’t going to buy IPod’s, or IPad’s, and overall it will decrease shares. I think that the best part is that if you do some research, you’ll find that the Zune has been proven better in tests than the IPod. Does that mean that I’m going out to buy a Zune today? No. In my mind, there is nothing better than the IPod, no matter what anyone says. ITunes is a simple program (although it has its own flaws) that is easy to use with the IPod. Truthfully, with a little bit of research and time I could learn to use a better program (Songbird, for example) but why would I when Apple has made it so easy for me? It’s the best part of all of their products; non computer savvy people can use it easily and not have to worry about viruses, and computer savvy people can use its power to take things to the next level.

I’m going to go back to the virus part now because this has everything to do with market share. As I said with the home computer marketing, Apple only has 4% of the market share roughly. People say that Mac’s don’t get viruses because of their superior operating system; and there is some degree of truth to that, the operating system is designed so you don’t need anti-virus software, and so that someone who doesn’t know how to safely navigate the internet doesn’t have to worry about that. The truth however is cruder and more boring than that; because they own such a small share, nobody has really cared to make viruses for them. Mac viruses have existed; a few big ones are noteworthy. The first was in 1994 and was called the INIT-29-B virus. This virus caused random programs to crash, though there were no specific targets on which programs it would do this too. The virus wasn’t that dangerous, however it could definitely get extremely annoying. Then there was the “pickle” virus. The pickle virus was really a virus that affected your HyperCard stacks. What this would cause was your computer to freeze, and in the error message it would mention the word “pickle”. In 1998 there was the Hong Kong virus, which generally just overwrote files with random characters. It wasn’t until 2008 when a really malicious virus was introduced to Mac that infected pirated copies of iWork and Adobe Photoshop called the iBotNet virus. This would infiltrate the computer and steal the owner’s password as well as launching denial of service attack, basically rendering the computer almost impossible to fix. New Mac viruses have been played with, mostly by Apple themselves, but rest assured that the fabrication of Mac’s not getting viruses will not exist for much longer; as Mac’s become more significant, the viruses will exist, and people will find ways to do more than just change a few file names on your computer.

Flaws in Apple come few and far between but they exist. The newest problem with Apple technology is with the IPhone 4 that was just released. I’m not talking about Steve Jobs unveiling of it when the internet crapped out either; I’m talking about its problems with reception and dropped calls due to a physical design flaw. Apple is facing law suits over it because it has been proven that they knew about this design flaw and did nothing to fix it. This is a conflict in the eyes of a marketer because they follow one law but break another. Sometimes it’s more important to get a product out than to have the best product on the market, but in this case I think Apple may have misused this rule. Apple already owns a strong part of this market share, and I think they don’t know how to deal with it. They’re used to having the small market share where they can produce the best of the best in products. Now they’re seeing what Microsoft has dealt with for years; being on top and having to stay on top.  They can’t afford to fall from the top, because that would cause Apple’s stock shares to fall, and then stockholders would be displeased.  This is a totally new sentiment for the Apple corporation.  It is because of this that Apple experienced the problems with their latest products, be it the IPad or the IPhone 4. The design flaw is that a small corner on the Phone, when covered by a finger, causes signal loss and calls are dropped. Apples solution to the problem is to release a new version, and selling a separate case for $30 that covers up the spot and solves the problem. I believe this is a poor choice, at least the latter. The new version of the phone is clearly needed since this design flaw has affected a good amount of users, but if they wanted to stop customer dissatisfaction they should’ve been ready to give out these cases for free. I don’t think Microsoft would’ve done that either however, so once again I am not saying that Microsoft is any better than Apple, but I believe that Apple is making a mistake in mishandling this situation and they are in danger of losing some respect with their customers. Then again, there will always be blind followers of any company, and those will still exist with Apple.

Tomorrow I’m going to compare all of this to Windows and Microsoft, but below were some great videos that I’ve watched doing some research and some just fun I think you might enjoy. See you all tomorrow!

For the record, personal opinion here, Bill Gates did not give Steve Jobs the idea for the IPad…he’s been developing it for years, don’t let this video fool you. They’re just both talking about the eventual demise of personal computers (that includes both types) and how tablets are the future. I also don’t necessarily agree with that…but they’re sure trying.