Women and smart bucks

I was always supporting the idea that women and not only should be smart with their money. Think that money gives power, but also can take power away. No matter the circumstances women today make more money than before and they should be the wise investors too.

Its not only a matter of culture to plan on the idea, take care of the money cause the money will take care of you in the future, but it is a life attitude. According to Suze money could be a the baby-sitter, but also the big disconnect. Having a healthy relationship with the money as the article raises is not only a female topic. Both genders have the same problem. Even within a couple, my money, your money, whose the heck money?

As we grow up we are becoming, hopefully, more sophisiticated and skeptic with our money in general. My 'favorite' are people with money that are scared to spend them or are clueless how to invest. There is no excuse, folks, in this country, having everything in front of your eyes not to be able to grow your money and wealth.

If you have the cap do the property, if you dont, go with the stock market and enjoy some small marginal profits, good enough for your Starbucks latte. Good luck with your bucks..

Took a step back from Apple's share, dropped already, due to the overall stock market drop and the oil price increase. But there is a lot of potential, it keeps up with a strong EPS and the Apple TV that will be introduced sometime in March should add more value

NYC, white again

Another snowstorm in the Big Apple...

Going to class to teach tomorrow is going to be an adventure, hopefully QC will cancel classes, cause the professor is bored :)

Thinking of my friend Panos, who is waiting for the spring to come and visit. I owe him a couple of pool and backgammon games, major activities for sluggish..and not only

E

iPhone or Blackberry?

Research in Motion against Apple.

Thats a very interesting hassle, the winner so far is Apple, having Wall-Street admiring the product and climbing the share to almost $90 last week with very positive predictions for the future. Not bad ROI in 10 days, almost 35% up making the Apple's shareholders smile so far. Things are clear with Cisco now, the share will go higher beyond $100 soon!

The Apple-Cingular deal is to 'trap' the consumer into a 2-year contract with Cingular and high-priced phone, calling the Apple fans to pay loyalty and trust to their favorite company. But things are not crystal clear yet, many concerns if thats the final product.

My concerns from the Telecom side, why should I invest $499 into a 2.5G phone, when there is no warranty that they might upgrade it into a 3G service? After 2 years I will end up having an old phone, leaving behind the 3G revolution and its benefits..How long is Apple going to share its profits with Cingular, will this alliance last or economic and market pressures will narrow down their profits and benefits?

Consumers according to the latest surveys still go with Blackberry, pushing up its share value, at least in the UK and China that represents a very fast growing market. Goldman also sneakily supports both phones, hesitating so far upon their decision. Who is willing to pay and who is not?

From my side, I am undecided, waiting for Apple to clear out the cloudy landscape and come up with a plan regarding the access to the content and the phone's 3G future. But looking at the iPhone in the Apple store in Soho, it is certainly a piece of art. Apple is sticking out the innovation, but clouds are around technology and marketing plans

E

CRM at the speed of the light

After having a discussion today with my friend George on CRM, I realized that CRM is all about people and visonaires.
Its all about fishing as it goes along with leadership and getting them to bite. Another maketing opportunity approach, as I am teaching to my Marketing class, where you need to design the right plan combining customer experience and new business model to achieve the desirable result. Be patient, a visonaire, measure your result and attack with your tools - Web 2.0 is an amazing tool. Dell has seen the Web2.0 light and is starting to engage real customers in conversations around future product innovation. These are still early days in Dell's customer-driven innovation makeover, but it is good to see that Dell is finally following the lead set of other companies.

But still business models are missing, no amazing or promising ROIs. Hard to measure..when free services are all over. Maybe more advertising at what price?
Is that the future business model based on ads, is that how YouTube will make money?

However, there is more to see, already bloggers are asking "but will it make any money?". Donna Bogatin asks this very question in her blog post "Will Web 3.0 Be In The Green?".

The game and the solution comes up to 'stick' the customer with you, offer him multi-services taking advatage of the one-to-multipoint management and lower your management cost.
Create the Ecosystem, the trusted source, that will raise your revenues and give you a secure future ROI.
Telekom Italia is measuring innovation and success of their services based on their customers satisfaction, when they call the helpdesk. A satisfied customer will buy more services from the Ecosytem. A survey always after the end of the call or use of an online agent is the best way to understand the customer and his needs, since your customer is the long-term strategic business asset.

Weekend coming up and more study on the way. Just purchased the book "Blown to bits", amazing fundamental strategic book by Phil Evans (BCG), strongly recommended..

E

WiMax on the road

This is a blog about my beliefs based on my daily observations

These days, I learn more about WiMax issues, just joined a Webinar
all these standards 802.11 something are beneficial or just another Telecom fusion?
The future is on Wi-mesh environment for municipalities
The 802.11n ranges 100-300Mbps+, might be a satisfying speed for the end user
Funny marketing, think I got a t-shirt with their logo for participating

Looking forward to reading more about iPhone, was expecting an i-something release, as I kept fusing my Marketing class. More coming up

E