Category: Marketing

Are Netbooks really dead?

Post author By yuval
Post date November 29, 2011
No Comments on Are Netbooks really dead?

Acer is sticking by netbooks.
Samsung is not.
So who’s making a mistake? Did tablets kill the netbook?

Tablets are certainly on fire right now. Not tablets per se, the iPad that is.
Kids want tablets and parents agree, as they are spreading light wildfire in the enterprise. It seems like Steve Jobs managed to invent an entirely new computing and entertainment category based on early failures of others. Again.

While you can attach keyboards and stands to tablets, seed entire accessory ecosystems, tablets remain content consumption tools. The can attach themselves to other devices as controllers and rich user interfaces – a future I am truly stoked about. But writing serious documents, creating stuff – they are not ideal. To create, a keyboard, a real keyboard, seems to still be a necessity.

Tags acerbic, android, Apple, Computing, ios, laptop, marketing, Netbook, Samsung, tablet, tablets

Marketing Social Networks

Customer Service is marketing. Get it?

Post author By yuval
Post date November 13, 2011
No Comments on Customer Service is marketing. Get it?

The day the iPhone 4s came out I had it. Love it. It’s great. Part of the pomp and ceremony associated with getting such a fancy device is to accessorize it. Chargers and cables and apps and all. The most important accessory to most is the protective case.
My iPhone 3GS was protected for the entire duration of our intense two year relationship by a case made by a brand called Incase. I liked it so much that when I was at BestBuy and saw people shopping for cases, I’d stop and tell them to pay the extra money (Incase cases retail for a plum $35) and get the Incase case.
So it was a foregone conclusion that on day 2 of my new iPhone’s life that I go get a new Incase case for it. And I did at Target, instead of buying a knockoff or bulk package from Amazon. I respected the product and was willing to pay for quality.
Two weeks later a crack appeared in the case near the headphone jack. A piece then fell off. It looked pretty bad. Naturally I went to Incase’s website and filled out the return form to request a replacement. An email was sent to me pretty quickly asking me to email a photo of the purchase receipt along with a photo of the damaged case so I can get an RMA number. I did.
I never heard back.
I tweeted Incase and got a response that I will get a response within 1-3 weeks’ time.

Really?

Tags amazon, customer service, Incase, relationship, reputation, social media, Twitter

Marketing mobile

Walgreens uses QR Codes for Sexual Education; sees 70 QR-driven hits per week

Post author By yuval
Post date November 11, 2011
No Comments on Walgreens uses QR Codes for Sexual Education; sees 70 QR-driven hits per week

70 hits per week do not echo like a major coup by any means. QR scanning apps may be the least significant factor contributing to this humble number. Was the project properly promoted, how many posters with the code were distributed, were consumers instructed how to scan, etc. In short, though, seems like teens are not necessarily jumping on the opportunity to use QR Codes. Experimentation is good and Walgreens helps us all by sharing this data. Time for NFC, no?

Mobile Commerce – Walgreens uses 2-D bar codes in a teen sex education program – Internet Retailer.

Tags 2d codes, barcode, campaign, internet retailer, qr code, walgreens