Nathan Bell, the CEO of Intelligent Investor, has hit out at Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey and his senior management telling them to “take a bow” and let someone else run the Company.
Web Development TBOadmin123
CSC Axes Workers, Seeks Buyer
Computer Sciences Corp. has confirmed it is exploring a sale of the company and will cut 5,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its staff, to reduce costs. CSC said it is aiming for US$450 million in cost savings over two years.
Sony Gets A Smack In The Chops From Microsoft, How Will They Respond To Backward Compatibility Challenge?
The announcement by Microsoft that their Xbox One would be backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 has thrown a spanner in the works for Sony who after under cutting the Xbox One has now got a new battle on their hands.
In 2013, Sony took to the E3 stage to announce that their PlayStation 4 would be priced one hundred dollars less than the Xbox One, sales rocketed.
Fortune said that Sony’s blow was so savage and deep the Xbox One is still trying to recover.
Now the One’s new backward compatibility has got gaming heavyweights talking.
Eurogamer’s Shuhei Yoshida told Fortune, “I didn’t think it was possible. There must be lots of engineering effort.”
He’s also a little sceptical about how it might work in practice.
“They talked about 100 games, but what kind of games will be included? Is it smaller games or big games? We don’t know.”
Right now, Microsoft is having fans vote on which games they want to see supported the most, as the system works on a case by case basis to ensure whatever architecture the old game was built on can now fit into the new system.
Sony executives are currently saying that we will never see backwards compatibility for the PS4, with the main reason being that Sony has invested a ton into PlayStation Now, their game-streaming service which streams all manner of old Sony titles for a rental fee.
Suddenly allowing the PS4 to play old games would negate a huge part of the reason anyone would bother to use the service, if they have a reasonably sized past-gen games library.
While Yoshida confirms that PS4 will likely not see backward compatibility any time soon, if ever, he instead cites technical reasons. “PS3 is such a unique architecture, and some games made use of SPUs very well,” he says. “It’s going to be super challenging to do so. I never say never, but we have no plans.”
I think this entire affair has been kind of a masterful move by Microsoft as a way to try and claw their way back to even ground with Sony after the PS4 took off like a rocket. I’m sure that while there are technical issues currently preventing the PS4 from playing older games, those issues were likely also in place for the Xbox One.
The move by Microsoft puts Sony in an awkward position as they wonder how or if they should answer this. Do they spend Microsoft-level resources investigating how to make the PS4 backwards compatible? Do they do this knowing that it could potentially damage PlayStation Now, which has already been struggling to find its footing?
Kogan-gate: Axed 3500 Mobile Customers
Kogan steps up lawsuit against ISP as it emerges 3500 were ‘flagged’ from the mobile service for overuse, it alleges.
Users of Kogan’s “unlimited” mobile service had been blocked from recharging their prepaid services because they were said to be using too much data or making too many phone calls in a short time frame.
The prepaid offering to customers, launched in December, includes supposedly unlimited calls, SMS, and MMS, and 6GB of data over either 30, 90, or 165 days on Telstra’s 3G network.
But Kogan claims that customers have been blocked from recharging their service because they were in breach of ispOne’s acceptable-use policy for using more than 400MB of data in a single day.
Read: When Is “Unlimited” Limited? On Kogan Mobile
Kogan took ispOne to court last week, alleging that the ISP had breached a wholesale agreement previously inked between the two companies.
It also accused the ISP of cutting off or ‘flagging’ 600 mobile users without first contacting the e-tailer, by restricting them from recharging their service.
Kogan also claims that by the end of March, ispOne had flagged 2000 mobile users, according to an ITNews report.
By early April, the retailer claimed ispOne had flagged a further
1480 customers.
The e-tailer owned by Melbournian Ruslan Kogan, alleges the dumping of mobile customers without notice caused “severe reputational demage” to the company, Kogan executive director David Shafer said in an affidavid, reports The Australian.
Kogan Mobile promised to notify any users who are suspected of approaching unreasonable limits, prior to cutting them off.
Hundreds of annoyed Kogan Mobile customers took to Whirpool forum to vent their anger after they were cut off from the “unlimited’ mobile service without notice and were reported extensively in the mass media.
One customer asked why “Ruslan Kogan can’t just be honest and have the
Gonads to admit that this is a right royal stuff up, and stop blaming
everyone else for kogans incompetence…”
Another wrote: “Wow I
am now really annoyed with myself for signing up with this fraudulent
mob. Didn’t know anything about this 400MB daily limit and booting off
the network crap until yesterday”
Last week Kogan won an injunction preventing ispOne from suspending further services. The case will be heard in the Victorian Supreme Court this week.
Ruslan Kogan spruiked the “unlimited” mobile plans launched in late 2012, as the best value in OZ.
“No more running out of credit mid-month, no more complicated fine print tricking you into paying more”.
Former Sales Director Takes On Belkin
She was once the darling sales director of Belkin now Mary Henderson (formerly Pateras) is set to compete against her former employer with a smart range of designer bags, cables and iPod accessories.
And to top it off some of the gear is made in the same factories as Belkin gear. The big difference is that the new range from Geek IT is smart, designed in Australia by Mary and her graphic designer husband Richard and manufactured to an extremely high standard.
 |
Belkin who known for being “vindictive” have refused to comment on Geek IT and their new product range. Or the fact that she aims to compete against them in the USA.
Currently talking to additional distributors the Geek IT gear seen by ChannelNews and SmartHouse is among some of the smartest we have seen for a long time. The cables are custom designed with bright coloured connectors and grey white cable. The bags are stylish and well made.
“The gear we are designing is just as likely to sold, by a fashion store as it is a technology store. It is trendy and designed to appeal to people who want quality and something different. We are more like a Prada or a made in Europe offering than yet another mass produced bag from a Targus or Belkin and this is why
we are different. Our bags ooze passion and personality” said Mary.
And when it comes to passion, Mary Henderson, the CEO of Geek It Group has it in droves. The former ANZ Sales Director at Belkin and Retail Business Manager at Tech Pacific before starting Geek It Group, understands that retailing is not just about the dynamic of retailing, it’s as much about the passion to
succeed and to strive higher than your opposition.
Launching her new range of laptop bags and accessories, which she co-designed with her artistic director husband, Henderson says that there has already been “strong interest from major retailers to stock the products and is in negotiations with a major tech retailer to stock the range and has aims to launch the range in the US next year”.
And in terms of other channels, as the one-time head channel strategist at Belkin, she says that “The online side of our business is something that I am developing as we have a very consumer focus”.
Henderson says at present she is looking for partners to distribute the laptop bags, although she is at pains to point out that she wants “the right partners”.
Which is just as well, as she says that, “all of our clients are marketing departments”, and adding that, the range is “a fashion accessory, designed for professionals and those who value style and functionality and those who want to compliment they way they feel”?
“I’m going places”, is one current phrase that comes out of the Geek IT catalogue, which says Henderson describes who preferred customer base “perfectly”.
The initial range is currently available nationally through Myer/Grace Brothers, which includes some very stylish leather-bound all-black laptop bags designed to fit laptops of all sizes. There is also a range that is designed specifically for the MacBook Air range and a series of bags specifically designed for women,
with enhancements like a make-up compartment. And new range will be out in early 2009.
According to Henderson, “women in IT are the ultimate orgasm”, underlining the fact that those with XX chromosones tend to be very much overlooked (or at least under-appreciated) in the male-centric IT world.
Sony ‘Kiosk’ Attacks Eels Country
PARRAMATTA – Sony opens a new kiosk in Parramatta’s Westfield Shopping Centre, but one retail boss warns about the perils of direct seling
The direct selling kiosk aims to let shoppers get hands-on experience with the company’s latest products and is showcasing its new 84″ 4K TV – the only place in NSW to do so.
Specialists will offer advice and educate shoppers about the products,
with a specific focus on PCs, digital imaging and smartphones, Sony
says, and consumers can make purchases directly.
This kiosk is one of several direct selling outlets Sony now has, including one in Sydney Chatswood after recently shutting its two Sony Centres in Sydney CBD and Drummoyne. There is now no Sony Centres in NSW.
Sony says this retail model offers shoppers the opportunity to get hands-on with products in a “flexible, high-traffic location.”
However, the CEO of a major Aussie electronics retailer doubts the direct selling retail strategy, saying consumers prefer to compare models from various brands before they purchase.
“I think we may see some more of this in some overseas markets, but I believe consumers want independent advice on brands, they would like to make a choice on a brand, based on comparison with other similar brands. “
“Single branded outlets obviously can’t deliver this,” and only the biggest brands – like Apple – can get away with it, the exec warned.
“Brands that are driven by share cannot achieve their goals this way, they need distribution channels. To do this you need tremendous brand strength, and I believe only Apple has this at present.”
Fake Stephen Conroy Iced
Telstra has now conceded that managers did tell its staffer behind the Fake Stephen Conroy blog that he had to stop.
For other marketing stories seeIn a posting yesterday, Mike Hickinbotham, senior social media adviser at Telstra, said:
“Last night I said that Telstra hadn’t shut down Leslie’s Twitter account. This was based on the advice of my colleagues. It’s factually correct, though it’s also true that Leslie’s senior managers independently told him last night to stop.”
In his previous update, Hickinbotham had stressed that Telstra had not shut down the Twitter account.
This afternoon he said: “Leslie is not prohibited by Telstra from twittering as the Fake Stephen Conroy, as long as the satirical nature of the account is clear, and it doesn’t interfere with work and as a personal initiative. True, it’s arguably questionable for a Telstra employee to be dabbling in satire that is prone to being confused with his role in the company. But in keeping with the principles of social media, we try to take a light-handed approach to the problem, assuming that users are smart enough to judge for themselves what to think of other users.”
He concluded his post with advice to other companies: “Luckily Telstra was already pretty advanced in developing policies for social media. If other corporates haven’t begun writing their policies, this illustrates it’s time to do so now.”
For other marketing stories see:
http://mumbrella.com.au/2009/03/18/telstra-okay-we-did-tell-fake-stephen-conroy-to-stop/
Adobe Q1 Profit Down
Adobe has posted lower quarterly net income on acquisition-related costs and gave a disappointing outlook, sending its shares down nearly 4 per cent.
ACCC Put Murdoch Family On Notice Over TEN TV Network
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could still have the final say in whether Foxtel and the Murdoch family get control of the Ten TV Network.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sim has apparently put the Murdoch family
who own 50% of Foxtel on notice that all of their local media interests will be
taken into account in his ruling on the controversial deal between News Corp’s
pay-television venture Foxtel and Ten Network Holdings, according to the
Financial Review
“We will take a holistic look to try and understand
what influence News and or Foxtel could have over Channel Ten that would be a
level of influence beyond the 15 per cent direct shareholding that Foxtel would
have,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman told
Fairfax Media.
His comments indicate that the ACCC will consider News’s 50
per cent stake in Foxtel as well as News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch’s 8.5
per cent stake in Ten through his private investment vehicle Illyria, which
also owns radio company Nova Entertainment.
His comments are a serious concern for both Ten shareholders
and the Murdoch family.
A decision on the proposed deal is due by September 10.
Of major concern to the ACCC is whether the combination of
shares give News and Foxtel effective control over Ten a move that could
substantially lessen competition in the market for sports rights and other
content.
Telstra owns the other 50 per cent of Foxtel.
Fairfax said that it is Mr Sims’ first public commentary on
the complex deal announced last month which will reshape the local media
landscape through the sale of 15 per cent of free-to-air broadcaster Ten to
Foxtel, who’s Multi-Channel Network will take control of the network’s
advertising sales. Ten will acquire 24.99 per cent of MCN.
“We are conscious that one of the News Corp executives
(Lachlan Murdoch) has a shareholding (in Ten) separately and we will bear that
in mind in our assessment of these things,” said Mr Sims. “It is too
early to say yet what our view will be but clearly the higher the level of
shareholding the more likely it is that there will be greater control.
“There’s no doubt that you can’t ignore these things.
You can’t be mechanical about this. You have to take common sense view of what
the various ownership stakes mean.”
Mr Sims, warned News Corp three years ago that it would
struggle to get approval for any expansion into free-to-air television.
He believes that control of Sports rights is the key issue.
In 2012 Mr Sims blocked Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group’s effort
to get hold of 50 per cent of Fox Sports through the acquisition of James
Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings.
The ACCC had voiced concerns that Seven’s free-to-air
rivals, Nine and Ten, would be disadvantaged in bidding for sports rights if
Seven also owned half of Fox Sports.
Mr Sims said that Foxtel’s move was “very
different” to Seven’s and it was taking a smaller stake, but added:
“There’s no question that in the Channel Seven/Fox Sports matter our
concern was largely around sports rights and there is no question that thinking
is in our minds now.”
Any free-to-air network needs to work closely with Foxtel in
winning sports rights because it is the richest company, making almost $1
billion a year in underlying profit, more than the three metropolitan
free-to-air networks combined.
Mr Sims acknowledged that the market for video content has
changed since 2012, an argument Foxtel is likely to make, noting the explosion
of competition for content, including from overseas multinationals such as
Netflix.
Fairfax Management Changes
Fairfax has stopped short of bringing its online and print mastheads together, but taken a step in that direction.
The company has announced to a new structure to the ASX that sees most of its online classifieds move out of Fairfax Digital and combine with their print counterparts.
Meanwhile Fairfax’s powerful New Zealand classifieds site Trade Me will now come under the auspices of Fairfax Digital boss Jack Matthews.
But the link-up does not yet cover editorial. Andrew Jaspan, the former editor of The Age complained in a radio interview after he was ousted that he had no control of the online masthead.
Under the new set-up – described by CEO Brian McCarthy as “evolutionary” – Fairfax has been divided into operating groups based on metro, regional, business publishing and online.
The key management roles include:
Jack Matthews – Fairfax Digital
Lloyd Whish-Wilson – Sydney publishing
Don Churchill – Melbourne publishing
Michael Gill – Fairfax Business Media
Allan Browne – Australian regional publishing
Grant Cochrane – Agricultural publishing
Allen Williams – NZ publishing
Ken Nichols – Illawarra, Newcastle, ACT publishing
Graham Mott – radio
A Fairfax insider told Mumbrella: “This is not revolution. There will be increasing integration of print and online as we go forward, but it will be a step-by-step process.”