Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

Lemonade Stand: Killer of MLM and Affiliate Marketing?

Monday, 29 October 2007 13:07 Written by Desmond White 1 Comment

lemon.jpgA company known simply as Lemonade inc. has turned some heads recently with the launch of it’s ecommerce platform that absolutely anyone can sell from. Here is how this works: One can set up a “lemonade stand” on social sites such as facebook that sell numerous popular products by well known companies like Apple and Wal-mart.

My initial thought on this subject is that this is not a very good idea. I know that we already have to deal with offline business trying to sell us on overpriced MLM products and attempting to get us to come to their “parties” where it is expected of us to buy something. Now that concept is about to be online and in your face. So I have a question- if I want to purchase a iPhone am I really going to buy from someone else, or am I going to try and get the best price? That is a simple answer and with that simple answer the most cost effective way for me to get that iPhone is to open my own “lemonade” stand and buy it from myself. As ridiculous as this whole concept seems to me it very well may take off. This has all been revolutionized by the introduction of facebook and it’s many amenities. The Lemonade Stand concept is just a part of a small but fast growing trend of retail in the Web 2.0 environment. I eventually expect that someone will figure how to sell in Web 2.0 and when they do that will be the end of MLM and affiliate marketing in their current forms. I will be baffled if the lemonade stand concept is the answer, it is just to primitive of a concept.

gPhone: Low Cost, High Tech?

Wednesday, 17 October 2007 15:14 Written by Desmond White 0 Comments

GphoneGoogle’s much anticipated “gPhone” is set to release and compete if not dominate the new iPhone. gPhone is the most sought after competitor of Apple’s iPhone in the latest cellular phone tech boom. They both offer similar features but with one big catch; the gPhone is a fraction of the cost of it’s rival competitor, Apple. Cost is generally the most important stipulation when the public is looking into updating their current technology.

Features on the upcoming gPhone include but are not limited to…

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Will Your Boss Buy You an iPhone?

Friday, 20 July 2007 10:12 Written by Michael Myles 0 Comments

This interesting article making the point of how the Apple iPhone is going to be such a great business tool for professionals on-the-go.
“Developers and users alike are going to be very surprised and pleased at how great [business] applications look and work on [the] iPhone
iPhoneThis is a little overstated, I think. The iPhone is a nice shiney new toy that we would all love to play with a little. When it comes to business apps, though, professionals need it to be more about function than form. This pretty much negates half of what the iPhone has to offer. When it comes right down to it, the Treo is a superior business tool out of the box. The only real advantage that I see in the iPhone is that it has a superior built-in Safari browser. With this browser, online applications have an easy way to say that their application works on the iPhone. It’s already fully capable of displaying and executing all the fancy AJAX and Javascript stuff that we have come to love in our applications. The AIMpromote CRM Software application is web-based, and is fully iPhone compatible just as-is. We haven’t needed to change anything. That’s nice, but it’s hardly novel. We will see that with its inflated price and it’s almost standard functionality that there are other products on the market that will serve the business community more efficiently. From an Internet marketing standpoint, I think we will be adding an iPhone logo on our site to state that it’s compatible. This will really just be a marketing move though, as there was no actual work involved on our end to make it work on this platform. If I were your boss would I buy you an iPhone? Maybe, but it wouldn’t be because it’s such a great business tool. The Nokia N800 is a far superior product at a lower price point. It has all the necessary business functionality with a price point $100 less than the iPhone. If you want something fun to play with, then get the iPhone. If you are looking for cost-benefit and ROI, get the Treo or the N800.

Increase Profits, Decrease Customer Base

Friday, 20 July 2007 09:16 Written by Michael Myles 0 Comments

Sprint made a bold move recently by canceling 1,200 accounts because they complained too much. According to their books, these accounts called in 40 to 50 times more than the average account.
Apparently, these whiners were dialing in “40 to 50 times as often” as the “average customer,” and after failing to appease them, the firm chose to “terminate the relationship with those customers to allow them to pursue other options.”
This was smart. Some people might cry about how ‘unfair’ it is, but the fact is that these are at-will relationships. If Sprint doesn’t want to do business with unprofitable customers, then they should definitely not be forced to. It wouldn’t surprise me if legislation is created regarding this issue (or at least the attempt will be made to create legislation). Sometimes it’s hard for us to realize that we don’t have to do business with every willing customer. The fact is that if we aren’t profitable, we can’t long provide our services to any customers. This article notes more detail on unprofitable customers:
Unprofitable customers are parasites. Harvard Business Review estimates that, on average, 15% of all customer are unprofitable. The book, Angel Customers & Demon Customers, estimates that, in most industries, the best 20% of customers account for 150% of profits. The worst 20% typically lose money equal to 75% of profits.
You could always raise the prices of these customers, but that has the potential to backfire. How do you explain to one of these parasitic clients that they are being charged an additional premium due to their overuse of services that were supposed to be unlimited. It may actually be illegal to do so. It’s far easier just to cut these clients loose, and let them find another company with which to do business. There are almost always alternatives for the customer. If you have customers that are clearly unprofitable, just cut them loose. It is ethical, and it is the only sane decision that a business can make.