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1238kmh

Listed below are comments made by 1238kmh between Friday, 4th July 2008 and Tuesday, 3rd March 2009.

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Apple's "brave" price rise 5:41pm on 03 Mar 2009 I saw clearance netbooks in the window of Currys St Albans at the weekend for less than £100.
Steve Jobs Health Hoax - Again 1:54pm on 23 Jan 2009 Another distasteful rumour.

What is interesting, though, from a news management perspective, is that it is Apple's lack of openness that really helps these rumours to flourish. They are often so secretive that any rumour, however half-baked, takes wings.

Had they had a more open relationship with the press and had they spent more time working on a sensible succession planning strategy (of which, external communications are key), they wouldn't be struggling in this way.

Apple's focus needs to be on showing the world the depth and breadth of senior management talent within the business. Pegging your value on one individual is not a sensible way to run a business.
Steve Jobs goes public 10:46am on 06 Jan 2009 Apple have made a number of cardinal errors.

The first is in allowing too much of the value of the business to be vested in the CEO.

There are many other businesses that take similar risks by putting their CEO front and center at every opportunity and having he/she lead all communications with the outside world.

It is far better for a business in the medium / long term to let people see and hear from a cross-section of the leadership team.

Ultimately, this is better for the business as it mitigates investor concerns if the CEO is unwell or decides to leave the business.

In Apple's case, the issue is compounded by two factors:

First, they run what looks like a dysfunctionally tight ship when it comes to media relations (information is hard to get, access is restricted - all acceptable in the context of a product launch of course, but it is actually a wider problem as any google search or glance at the twittersphere will confirm).

The second factor - and one where I have more sympathy is in relation to Steve Jobs' health. He values his privacy, which I respect.

However, if - as seems to be the case with Mr Jobs - you see yourself as the brand, you run external "communications" with a rod of iron and you add a deep desire for privacy to the mix - well, you're asking for trouble.
Gadget Week - what shall we cover? 2:21pm on 02 Jan 2009 I'd be interested to know:

what's happening to R&D budgets at the moment - where is the money being focused and are budgets being cut or increased?

what's happening in the area of digital health? Intel have a whole division devoted to this, I'm told, and it would be interesting to see what products and services are being developed.

where is the netbook market going this year and what new products will we see?

whether any "must-have" devices are emerging after a lacklustre, incremental year.
Can Stephen Fry kill a gadget? 8:44pm on 27 Nov 2008 Opinion has five times the influence that advertising has, as is noted here. The fact is that all the advertising in the world won't make a product successful any more. People seek out the views of others - and the views of a respected and much-loved national institution are like gold dust - or indeed, its antithesis.
Further VAT rise was considered 1:06pm on 26 Nov 2008 What's the big deal? The government works through all the options, takes into consideration expert opinion on the impact of various options and then decides what to do. I just don't see how this is even vaguely a story. Would it be better if the government didn't look at all the options? The fuss at PMQs looked like a standard piece of cul-de-sac debate - pointless.
Will the web kill the High Street? 10:58am on 11 Nov 2008 It might not kill it, but it will almost certainly reshape it.

Admittedly it is difficult to establish a successful online business these days, unless that is you have the existing infrastructure to support a business at any meaningful scale.

Who has that scale? The current national bricks and mortar businesses - they have the infrastructure and the buying clout to succeed online.

I'll put a fiver on some significant changes over the next 3-4 years. Bricks and mortar retail in many sectors is too costly to exist without a decent e-commerce presence to support it - rents alone are punitive and competing online operators create huge margin pressure.

e-commerce has been slow to gain traction as a percentage of total retail sales, but I think they’re probably distorted by the supermarkets. For many sectors, especially those in the discretionary goods sectors, I'll bet that the changes we'll see will be pretty radical. I'm sure that an analysis of e-commerce sales by sector would be illuminating.
HBOS: too big to fail 09:04am on 17 Sep 2008 Forgive my naiivety, but I'm puzzled by the airtime that George Soros is being given on these matters at the moment. Given (a) his perceived authority and (b) his business model, isn't it a rather risky exercise to allow him to make dire predictions on TV? My anxiety is that it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that benefits him in extremis.
The Scrabulous puzzle 11:25am on 28 Aug 2008 lawyers
Watching you, watching YouTube 4:42pm on 04 Jul 2008 Well, Rory, I'd never have placed you as a Jimmy Webb / Glen Campbell fan. I will henceforth see you in a new and even more golden light.

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