consumer

Sony names gaming chief Kazuo Hirai CEO

Sony has tapped Kazuo Hirai to replace chief executive Howard Stringer when he steps down from on 1 April. Mr Hirai has long been considered the heir-apparent for the CEO position – as a savvy gaming executive; he has been credited with turning things around at the company’s unprofitable PlayStation business and was promoted to head of consumer products last March. He takes the helm just as Sony is predicting its fourth year of net losses for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2012. The company is likely to announce its third quarter results tomorrow and provide more information on the company’s management shake-up.

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Sony names gaming chief Kazuo Hirai CEO

consumer

Angry Birds boss doesn’t see Piracy as a bad thing

Rovio boss Mikel Hed has said he doesn’t necessarily see piracy as a bad thing when it comes to Angry Birds. Speaking at the Midem conference in Cannes, the Angry Birds maker explained the company sees efforts to pursue pirates in the court system as ‘futile’ – so long as pirated products are not harmful to the brand or ripping off fans. “We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy. “We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products,” he said. “There is tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products.” Hed also explained he believes there is a lesson to be learned from the music industry – namely, approaching customers as fans, rather than users. “We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have,” he said.

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Angry Birds boss doesn’t see Piracy as a bad thing

consumer

Apple overtakes HP as biggest PC-maker

The late great Steve Jobs may have declared it the “post-PC era,” but Apple just became the biggest maker of personal computers in the world. Apple pulled ahead of Hewlett Packard in the fourth quarter of last year to become the largest vendor of personal computers, due in large part to the extraordinary demand for its iPad. According to a report by market research firm Canalys, Apple shipped more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Mac computers in the quarter ending 31 December 2011 – representing 17 per cent of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in Q4. The client PC market – including desktops, netbooks, notebooks and pads – grew 16 per cent year-on-year; however, take away pads from the equation and the PC market declined by 0.4 per cent. Of the other top five PC vendors, only Lenovo managed to increase its market share – growing by just two points in comparison to Apple’s six-point gain. Acer, Dell and HP all lost market share. Now the second largest PC vendor, HP was the hardest hit as the company struggles to keep up with competitors following the end of its Touchpad. “Currently, HP is pursuing a Windows strategy for its pad portfolio, producing enterprise-focused products, such as the recently launched Slate 2, until the launch of Windows 8,” said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling in the company’s official press release .

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Apple overtakes HP as biggest PC-maker

consumer

2012 Resolution – Avoid 7 New Website Legal Compliance Gotchas

Your personal New Year’s resolutions are important. You bet. However, if you’re a SaaS or Internet marketer, your best-laid plans for 2012 may hit the skids if you fail to avoid new website legal compliance gotchas that emerged in 2011. So, It’s highly recommended that you add to your personal resolutions the requirement to review the checklist of critical developments and related gotchas in these 2 categories: privacy and Internet marketing.

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2012 Resolution – Avoid 7 New Website Legal Compliance Gotchas

consumer

Who Owns The Copyright of Work Created By A Contractor? A Trap For The Unwary

It’s really basic: ownership of the copyright in work a business pays for can often be critical for successful commercialization of that work. Unfortunately, the U.S. Copyright contains arcane provisions that will often produce a counter-intuitive result – leaving full copyright ownership with the contractor. How could this possibly be?? Internet attorneys, advisors and businesses cannot afford not to be aware of the applicable laws

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Who Owns The Copyright of Work Created By A Contractor? A Trap For The Unwary

consumer

New Rules for E-commerce – – A SPN Exclusive Article Part 4

When the Internet was conceived, it was developed as an ‘information highway.’ It has evolved into an e-commerce solution that is a mandatory component for every business. However, the Rules of E-commerce have changed. In this article we introduce the new rules and how they impact Web Hosting Companies. • In Part 1, we discussed how the new rules impact consumers. • In Part 2, we discussed how the new rules impact online merchants. • In Part 3, we discussed how the new rules impact shopping cart software developers. • In Part 5 we will discuss how the new rules impact smart phone application developers.

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New Rules for E-commerce – – A SPN Exclusive Article Part 4

consumer

New Rules for E-commerce – A SPN Exclusive Article Part 3

When the Internet was conceived, it was developed as an ‘information highway.’ It has evolved into an e-commerce solution that is a mandatory component for every business. However, the Rules of E-commerce have changed. In this article we introduce the new rules and how they impact shopping cart developers. • In Part 1, we discussed how the new rules impact consumers. • In Part 2 we discussed how the new rules impact online merchants. • In Part 4 we will discuss how the new rules impact smart phone application developers.

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New Rules for E-commerce – A SPN Exclusive Article Part 3

consumer

5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns

Facebook Places, Facebook’s location-based feature that launched in August, allows Facebook users to see where their friends are and to share their locations in the real world. It has also become another powerful Facebook marketing tool for businesses, who can design campaigns around the checkin service to build awareness, grow their fan base and engage and reward customers. Each time a Facebook user checks into a particular location on Facebook Places, Facebook broadcasts the checkin to that user’s friends’ news feeds. This is not only viral marketing for the company – it also allows businesses to provide incentives for people to come to their physical locations or events. Although the service has only been around for a few months, quite a few companies have already begun integrating Facebook Places into their marketing programs. Here are five great examples that illustrate different ways companies can use Facebook Places, from offering simple discounts for checkins to multi-step rewards programs. 1.

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5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns

consumer

Facebook users like to clip coupons

Even in today’s digital world, clipping coupons is still a time honoured tradition. Dealmongers like Coupons.com are cashing in on this trend by offering social network based coupon platforms, and their recently launched Bancaster Social helps brands offer printable coupons on their Facebook pages. According to a recent Ad Age/Ipsos Observer survey, coupons – rather than daily deals – are the top reason consumers “Like” brands on Facebook. “Brands can always post a coupon on their Facebook page by dropping a link on their wall,” said Coupons.com CEO Steven Boal.

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Facebook users like to clip coupons

consumer

Google faces the music

Google has launched its new service – Google Music – offering users cloud music storage and full-length album and song samples. At a press conference in Los Angeles, Google’s director of digital content Jamie Rosenberg took to the stage to announce some of the features included in the search seraph’s foray into music. With the service, users can upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud – a feature already available in the beta version of the service. Google also announced it will be bringing music to the Android store. Android’s director of conference partnerships Zahavah Levine said : “We’re the first store that enables users to share their purchased music with their friends. This is the single most important way that people discover new music. I think that has the potential to transform purchasing power.” Google Music will also generate suggestions through its ‘recommendations engine’ to help users discover new artists – making use of selections made by friends. One of the most notable features – Artist Hub – gives small and independent musicians an opportunity to share their music and gives them control over how it’s sold, allowing artists to set the price of their songs – a huge contrast to Apple’s iTunes music store. Under the scheme, artists can create a page for an initial start-up fee, and keep 70 per cent of profits generated through song and album sales – there are no annual fees or upload costs.

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Google faces the music

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