Tuesday - February 9, 2010
Google has cut the early termination fee of its Nexus One smartphone from $350 to $150. It has also introduced customer support for the ordering and shipping processes. However, these moves are not as expansive as some users would like. For one thing, T-Mobile's early termination fee, which is separate from Google's ETF, reportedly would still apply. As for the customer support line, it should also be available for technical support -- especially in light of the early glitches some customers experienced with the phone, said 4SmartPhone CEO Patrick Gilbert.
[More...]
Tuesday - February 9, 2010
The term "ROBO" -- Research Online, Buy Offline -- was coined by Yahoo to describe the growing number of consumers who research online but buy offline. Online "pre-shopping" has become a common activity prior to a variety of purchases. According to Forrester, online research will influence $1 trillion in offline sales by 2012.
[More...]
Tuesday - February 9, 2010
Apple surprised some company watchers with its relatively low price points for the iPad, and it appears prepared to go even lower, if necessary. It will be flexible about pricing if consumer demand for the device does not shape up as expected, according to a note from Credit Suisse reported in The Wall Street Journal.
[More...]
Tuesday - February 9, 2010
The big question as we move through 2010 may be, "What does the future hold?" But really, the past year will give us a clearer glimpse into the future than any crystal ball possibly could. 2010 is the year of the customer. December 31st, 2009, marked the end of one of the toughest years companies have faced in decades.
[More...]
Monday - February 8, 2010
Two Monday technology stories, both involving China: Call them the yin and yang of that country's attempts to repair its image following Google's recent hacking allegations and the search giant's subsequent threats to end its business dealings in the country. Chinese police are trumpeting their shutdown of a major hacker training Web site and three related arrests.
[More...]
Monday - February 8, 2010
The tablet computer market will see 50 million units shipped in 2014, according to a new In-Stat report -- and if Apple plays its cards right, a significant portion of them could be iPads. In-Stat took several factors into account as it made its calculations, said Jim McGregor, analyst and report author.
[More...]
Monday - February 8, 2010
The commercial airline business -- ever sensitive to booms ands busts -- is struggling to maintain traffic in the short run while also trying to build a customer base for the future. Rather than compete on price and schedule alone, airlines are moving away from a mass marketing and commodity approach to sales promotion. Instead, a greater focus on customer relations is emerging.
[More...]
Monday - February 8, 2010
On January 27, a major speech took place: No, it was not the State of the Union address, but Steve Jobs' announcement of the release of the iPad. The iPad has already started to change the landscape of digital publishing: After a short battle, Amazon was forced to capitulate to a new deal with Macmillan, one of the six largest publishers; on Friday, Hachette started to make noise too.
[More...]
Sunday - February 7, 2010
David Foote is CEO and chief research officer, as well as cofounder, at Foote Partners of Vero Beach, Fla. David closely tracks the hiring and human resources trends across the IT landscape. He'll share his findings of where the recession has taken IT hiring and where the recovery will shape up. We'll also look at what skills are going to be in demand and which ones are not.
[More...]
Saturday - February 6, 2010
Just over two years ago now, Facebook began deploying a behavioral tracking service it called "Beacon," which automatically enabled the tracking of Facebook users' behavior but shared that data with advertising partners. It wasn't an "opt-in" service by anyone's definition, and after Facebook took down most of the service, customers filed a class-action suit against the social network.
[More...]
Friday - February 5, 2010
Apple's new iPad may look like a thin, fragile piece of hardware, but it's apparently strong enough for publishing houses to use as a powerful wedge against Amazon in their negotiations over e-book pricing. Hachette Group became the latest publisher to announce it was going to move to the "agency" relationship with retailers, which would result in a higher pricing structure.
[More...]
Headline Feeds
Get Business and Technology News Alerts
