“Google it”, “search for it on Google”, “log on Google and see what it says” etc… Google is like any other giant company that was able to establish itself in its industry and more specifically in its sector: search engine. Besides the fact that it has written its name in one of the most sexy ways by replacing its O’s with Pamela Anderson’s assets, Google was able to impose itself as well in terms of relevancy and importance.
Three facts about Google: Google is a highly useful search tool, a globally understood word that needs no translation just like Coca Cola and a revolutionary workplace.
First of all, as a tool, Google imposed itself as the ultimate search engine that provides us (web surfers) with the largest data possible by only typing a word or more. With a mouse click, we are linked to tens of pages that are discussing or treating our “word” in a way or another. It is so powerful, that probably its competitors (if any) have to go through them to complete effectively their search. Its great performance is not only limited to the searching sector in which it is firmly holding a 90% market share, but it also has a wide variety of application/tools that are as well highly useful: As a matter of example, Google maps, can provide its users with very accurate data by only entering a location, and gives exact direction by car, by walk, or by public transportation. I personally could not wish for a better system.
From a marketing point of view, Google, just like Kleenex, Kotex created a halo around its name and became a clear definition in the mind of any computer user. The informatics giant did not only excel in fulfilling its main purpose/task but also positioned itself as the main source of reliable information and reachable by anyone. At the moment, Google is used as a verb to define an action: “search for it on Google”: it’s now as simple as “Google it”. As my boss used to say: “I am very smart! Me and my dear friend Google and I can answer any question”.
From human resource, hence the most important asset, Google created “a very comfortable workplace” where people are encouraged to work on what they think it’s important in an entrepreneurial way. As most of Human resource employees acknowledge, but hardly apply, “people are the most important resource”. Google managed to apply it. The workplace is colorful not only in the absolute term of colors, but also of cultures, thoughts, ideas, experiences, backgrounds… And by securing a healthy work environment, Googlers are motivated to keep their company at the top where it’s and belongs. Their positive input is an asset by itself.
In summary, Google is a highly performing company and successful in terms of search engine or any other tool it has created. Its performance allowed it a strong positioning and is being referenced to as the most reliable search source. Google is a marketing success that all brands with no exception wish to have their strength, where its name is a definition for a specific action. It has also applied hence revolutionized the usual workplace to motivates its employee for a high level performance. In total:a simple success.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Depicting the world without Microsoft and without its added value to the world of software and technology, would be at least a very hard task or somehow impossible. Regardless of the angle from which we tackle the matter, we absolutely can’t ignore its contribution. It pushed the related industry to elevate its quality to be able to cope up with it from one side, and from another side the normal consumers were witnessing the biggest change and improvements of the century.
In June 2008 in the article “A future without Microsoft” http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/future_without_microsoft the IT giant was supposed to run out of business in 2010 and fall as hard as a meteorite and hit the ground with no Mercy. Well it did not. Today Microsoft is a company with $58.43 billion of revenue, and conducting harsh battles against its competitors on several fronts. It finished 2009 with roughly a 92% market share with Windows, as well as an 80% market share among enterprise customers and a 63% market share in web browsing through Internet Explorer.
First of all, Microsoft is generating the major part of its profits from “office” which is the company’s winning horse, despite the failure with Vista. However, its ability to change and rapidly develop a new product allowed recovering its downturn.
Moreover, Microsoft is competing in the Music and phone sector. It launched in 2006 the Zune, Microsoft’s Media player. It holds phones and portable music. The Zune 80 was launched to compete with Apple’s Ipod Nano mainly.
They also launched in May 2010, the KIN, that’s a part of the larger Microsoft Phone family. Yet, its performance is still to be questioned, given its drop in market share in the Smartphone category while that same category was growing by 27% in 2009.
The software giant also entered the gaming sector and competed with its X-box, however discontinued it in 2006.
Today, Microsoft is attacking the search engine. It partnered with Yahoo and the 90% market share holder, Google, can’t feel at ease with such a scoop.
These practices show us several aspects: First of all Microsoft still have a lot of room to grow and to introduce new products besides its mainstream, and also it still has a major ability to finance it. Despite all its failures, its success stories are still accounting for more and are rendering more growth and profits, and covering the negative impact overall.
At the moment, its share price is flat and doesn’t encourage investors to pump in their money. Yet its stability and long term sustainability would do for risk adverse investors. But, we can definitely count on a Microsoft’s innovations and it will definitely boost the whole package to rise up again.
A good recommendation would be to move out of the comfort zone and lead the market by distancing itself from the followers. A good start would be opening to the public the software programming, and building more consistency when competing in existing fields.
In June 2008 in the article “A future without Microsoft” http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/future_without_microsoft the IT giant was supposed to run out of business in 2010 and fall as hard as a meteorite and hit the ground with no Mercy. Well it did not. Today Microsoft is a company with $58.43 billion of revenue, and conducting harsh battles against its competitors on several fronts. It finished 2009 with roughly a 92% market share with Windows, as well as an 80% market share among enterprise customers and a 63% market share in web browsing through Internet Explorer.
First of all, Microsoft is generating the major part of its profits from “office” which is the company’s winning horse, despite the failure with Vista. However, its ability to change and rapidly develop a new product allowed recovering its downturn.
Moreover, Microsoft is competing in the Music and phone sector. It launched in 2006 the Zune, Microsoft’s Media player. It holds phones and portable music. The Zune 80 was launched to compete with Apple’s Ipod Nano mainly.
They also launched in May 2010, the KIN, that’s a part of the larger Microsoft Phone family. Yet, its performance is still to be questioned, given its drop in market share in the Smartphone category while that same category was growing by 27% in 2009.
The software giant also entered the gaming sector and competed with its X-box, however discontinued it in 2006.
Today, Microsoft is attacking the search engine. It partnered with Yahoo and the 90% market share holder, Google, can’t feel at ease with such a scoop.
These practices show us several aspects: First of all Microsoft still have a lot of room to grow and to introduce new products besides its mainstream, and also it still has a major ability to finance it. Despite all its failures, its success stories are still accounting for more and are rendering more growth and profits, and covering the negative impact overall.
At the moment, its share price is flat and doesn’t encourage investors to pump in their money. Yet its stability and long term sustainability would do for risk adverse investors. But, we can definitely count on a Microsoft’s innovations and it will definitely boost the whole package to rise up again.
A good recommendation would be to move out of the comfort zone and lead the market by distancing itself from the followers. A good start would be opening to the public the software programming, and building more consistency when competing in existing fields.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Party Details
Hola Everyone…
All great people are born in May… as a matter of Example
Bono (U2), Pope John Paul II, Ho Chi Minh, David Beckham, and obviously…
My Big Self
Therefore I am having a party at my place: Lopez de Hoyos 14, appt 6D, on Saturday, May 22, 2010,to celebrate my Birthday.
Kick Off: 9.30P.M.
The Theme is 80’s Nouveau riche.
In simple terms: You suddenly became filthy rich and now you are dying to show off… And it happened to be the 80’S.
My Party is the place to Do it.
For the party’s sake, outrageousness would be HIGHLY appreciated…
Gold and diamond (fake will do) accessories are the best apparels to show off…
Remember, that you’re a small player in the Rich/classy world and dying to prove it.
Ladies… Boob Jobs, lip jobs, low shirts, super short skirts or extremely tight pants…
Gents… Open shirts, hair out, Gold chains, Cigars….
Not showing up is ok as long as you have an alibi Matching the Lebanese standards… so you should have a damn good reason… Just remember, I am a Georges W. Bush Fan, so my standards are weirdo as well…
Play it safe.
C u all at the Party…
All great people are born in May… as a matter of Example
Bono (U2), Pope John Paul II, Ho Chi Minh, David Beckham, and obviously…
My Big Self
Therefore I am having a party at my place: Lopez de Hoyos 14, appt 6D, on Saturday, May 22, 2010,to celebrate my Birthday.
Kick Off: 9.30P.M.
The Theme is 80’s Nouveau riche.
In simple terms: You suddenly became filthy rich and now you are dying to show off… And it happened to be the 80’S.
My Party is the place to Do it.
For the party’s sake, outrageousness would be HIGHLY appreciated…
Gold and diamond (fake will do) accessories are the best apparels to show off…
Remember, that you’re a small player in the Rich/classy world and dying to prove it.
Ladies… Boob Jobs, lip jobs, low shirts, super short skirts or extremely tight pants…
Gents… Open shirts, hair out, Gold chains, Cigars….
Not showing up is ok as long as you have an alibi Matching the Lebanese standards… so you should have a damn good reason… Just remember, I am a Georges W. Bush Fan, so my standards are weirdo as well…
Play it safe.
C u all at the Party…
Monday, May 17, 2010
Foursquare Business Model
When I initiated my first Blog ever, I still was not aware of the major utility of Foursquare. My goal was to create a place where people could share experiences and recommend places and even bring an added value to any place they visit. That’s why, I launched a blog entitled: “Live it, Feel it, Share it”.
However, I’ve discovered that Foursquare does it better! First of all, it provides the service with a friendly graphical user interface and takes advantage of the various networking tools as well as the GPS locator. Upon a user’s request, Foursquare updates the user’s network giving his present location with the exact address (street, city, state etc…) and informs the network on the user’s views, recommendations or preventions. The idea relies heavily on the usage of the mobile phone device that became a “must have” in our society. In addition, Foursquare provides a link between the website and the user by following the sequence: “website-user-phone-location-network” with only one click away. This can also be accomplished through sending text messages or using the smartphones applications.
“Top 10 things to visit in XXX city” is the tourist’s Bible, having a wide audience and a trusted reputation, with sales hitting the ceiling. Yet sometimes, it could lead some people to undesired locations only because a user has followed the “Guide” which has been highly recommended from people with different tastes.
Nowadays, Foursquare provides somehow a similar service, but with a crucial difference: the person that has recommended a specific location is part of the user’s network, hence the user has the opportunity to trust that judgment or not, whereas the authors of “Top 10 things” are generally unknown.
Although it’s still funded by the founders, Foursquare is on the brink of becoming a gold mine as it follows one of the best advertising and impressing techniques in the market. It allows any announcement to easily reach the required audience with a specific recommendation, hence a method which paves the way for high revenues and the obvious cost cutting of several marketing expenses which are still used elsewhere. These creative methods will expectantly increase competition and therefore improve quality of businesses and customer service.
The fact that it’s an incentivizing game, people will not even be close to get bored, but rather increase in the usage of an innovative platform.
According to businessinsider.com, major companies such as “Pepsi” are extremely interested in the idea, and are looking for possibilities to advertize there and they are not the only ones. Nonetheless, Foursquare did not reach yet the critical mass in absolute number of users, and definitely not close to the number of Facebook’s users.
On a separate note, Daniel Porot; a leading pioneer in career design and job hunting and an internationally recognized career expert; advices his audience to refrain from using Facebook, calling it a “professional suicide tool”, although Facebook has exceeded 500 Million users. Therefore, it’s imperative that Foursquare developers avoid such; free yet unwanted; publicity. I believe that the key factor of its success would be its simplicity.
From a financial angle, Facebook, the most famous networking platform has turned down a $750 million offer, hoping for approximately $2billion according to googlesystem.blogspot.com, only 1 year after its launch. Yet on the long run Foursquare will be the new “Top 10 things to do”, with added values such as fun of competition and friends recommendations, hence a more reliable and easy-to-access tool without the burden of some heavy applications. Investing in this creative platform can be seen as “investing at the right place and at the right time”, given its freshness, innovation and its evident affordability.
However, I’ve discovered that Foursquare does it better! First of all, it provides the service with a friendly graphical user interface and takes advantage of the various networking tools as well as the GPS locator. Upon a user’s request, Foursquare updates the user’s network giving his present location with the exact address (street, city, state etc…) and informs the network on the user’s views, recommendations or preventions. The idea relies heavily on the usage of the mobile phone device that became a “must have” in our society. In addition, Foursquare provides a link between the website and the user by following the sequence: “website-user-phone-location-network” with only one click away. This can also be accomplished through sending text messages or using the smartphones applications.
“Top 10 things to visit in XXX city” is the tourist’s Bible, having a wide audience and a trusted reputation, with sales hitting the ceiling. Yet sometimes, it could lead some people to undesired locations only because a user has followed the “Guide” which has been highly recommended from people with different tastes.
Nowadays, Foursquare provides somehow a similar service, but with a crucial difference: the person that has recommended a specific location is part of the user’s network, hence the user has the opportunity to trust that judgment or not, whereas the authors of “Top 10 things” are generally unknown.
Although it’s still funded by the founders, Foursquare is on the brink of becoming a gold mine as it follows one of the best advertising and impressing techniques in the market. It allows any announcement to easily reach the required audience with a specific recommendation, hence a method which paves the way for high revenues and the obvious cost cutting of several marketing expenses which are still used elsewhere. These creative methods will expectantly increase competition and therefore improve quality of businesses and customer service.
The fact that it’s an incentivizing game, people will not even be close to get bored, but rather increase in the usage of an innovative platform.
According to businessinsider.com, major companies such as “Pepsi” are extremely interested in the idea, and are looking for possibilities to advertize there and they are not the only ones. Nonetheless, Foursquare did not reach yet the critical mass in absolute number of users, and definitely not close to the number of Facebook’s users.
On a separate note, Daniel Porot; a leading pioneer in career design and job hunting and an internationally recognized career expert; advices his audience to refrain from using Facebook, calling it a “professional suicide tool”, although Facebook has exceeded 500 Million users. Therefore, it’s imperative that Foursquare developers avoid such; free yet unwanted; publicity. I believe that the key factor of its success would be its simplicity.
From a financial angle, Facebook, the most famous networking platform has turned down a $750 million offer, hoping for approximately $2billion according to googlesystem.blogspot.com, only 1 year after its launch. Yet on the long run Foursquare will be the new “Top 10 things to do”, with added values such as fun of competition and friends recommendations, hence a more reliable and easy-to-access tool without the burden of some heavy applications. Investing in this creative platform can be seen as “investing at the right place and at the right time”, given its freshness, innovation and its evident affordability.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
36 Hours in Beirut
Below is an article from NY Times on Beirut's day to day life...Enjoy reading!
The New York Times
36 Hours in Beirut
Revelers at Music Hall in the Starco Center.
By SETH SHERWOOD May 2, 2010
WANT a Beirut investment tip? Concrete. Thanks to a couple of years of political calm, the palm-fringed Middle Eastern city is bingeing on new buildings and cultural projects. A fast-expanding night-life strip, an upstart design district, new hotels and the country’s first contemporary art museum have all sprouted in the last few years. And they’re certainly not going unnoticed. A record number of travelers showed up to discover Lebanon and its capital in 2009. If the peace holds, look for an even bigger swell this year...
Please follow the link to continue reading the article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/travel/02hours.html
The New York Times
36 Hours in Beirut
Revelers at Music Hall in the Starco Center.
By SETH SHERWOOD May 2, 2010
WANT a Beirut investment tip? Concrete. Thanks to a couple of years of political calm, the palm-fringed Middle Eastern city is bingeing on new buildings and cultural projects. A fast-expanding night-life strip, an upstart design district, new hotels and the country’s first contemporary art museum have all sprouted in the last few years. And they’re certainly not going unnoticed. A record number of travelers showed up to discover Lebanon and its capital in 2009. If the peace holds, look for an even bigger swell this year...
Please follow the link to continue reading the article:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/travel/02hours.html
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