Archive for April, 2011

Online shopping boom ‘here to stay’

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

It looks like online shopping won’t slow down when the AUS dollar weakens, with data indicating online shopping is less effected by the exchange rate.

Tony Davis, director of Quantium said retail stores need to be thinking about how they can add an online strategy to their business.

“All consumers are far more likely to consider at least shopping around online, even if they make the final transaction at bricks and mortar”

“E-tail used to be thought of as the domain of the spotty geeks in the back bedroom – that isn’t the case any more, we’re seeing older demographics, more financially mature”

You can read more over at smh.com.au

Posted in Online Sales | No Comments »

Cities battle over geographic internet domains

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

A rivalry that’s better known on the footy and rugby fields has moved to the internet.

Sydney and Melbourne are both vying to be the first Australian cities to own a top level domain.

This would mean addresses such as google.sydney would be possible.

Present rules dictate only top level domains such as .com, .org & .net etc are available, along with international country codes like .au and .nz

It’s not cheap to apply though, setting the NSW Premier’s Office and the City of Melbourne back $US185,000 a piece.

You can read more over at theaustralian

 

Posted in Australia | 1 Comment »

Teachers urged to give students an Apple

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Apple is offering an ‘unforgettable learning experience’ to teachers wanting to take students on a class trip, a chance to take their students to an Apple store.

According to the Apple website, ”Your class will experience the Mac, iPad and other Apple products as learning tools – and have fun to boot,”.

There are two trains of thought here, one would argue it’s a good way to get kids into IT and learning about computers. Others would argue it’s a chance for Apple to push their brand.

What do you think?

You can read more about this at theage.com.au

 

Posted in Apple Mac, children | No Comments »

Is your company in control of its social media?

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Social media is one of the things which keeps executives at top companies awake at night, says a Risk Management Benchmarking Survey conducted by Aon.

“Increased use of social networks was specifically sighted [sic] as providing potential risk to an organisation’s brand, image and reputation,” states the report.

Why can social media be so potentially damaging? Well its hard to control what people may say in relation to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, including people from your own company. Examples of fallout from such activities include the Tweet from Qantas CE Alan Joyce that a plan had crashed, which wasn’t correct, resulting in a lowering of the Qantas share price, or the Dominos pizza makers who posted images of themselves mucking about with customers’ food – later fired of course.

But whats the flipside of not using social media? Your company can become outdated, fast!

View the full article on SMH.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Cigarette advertising wars

Friday, April 8th, 2011

If the Federal Government has its way, smokers will soon have their cigarette packets covered in dire health warnings, with a drab olive green colour to complement their…internal organs?

The proposed legislation will only allow the cigarette companies’ brands to be displayed in small logos, rather than the huge industry currently in place in which cigarette makers differentiate between brands using a myriad of imagery and colours.

The cigarette makers are watching the legislation closely, as are other countries around the world.  And the federal government may find a fight on their hands, with British American Tobacco spokesman Scott McIntyre saying “The government could end up wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in legal fees trying to defend their decision, let alone the potential to pay billions to the tobacco industry for taking away our intellectual property.”

The legislation is set to be phased in from January 2012, subject to legal challenges.

Watch this space!

View the full article here.

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Posted in cigarette, Federal Government | No Comments »

Ripoff Central: 40% markup on iPad 2

Friday, April 1st, 2011

This is what Australians are willing to pay, now that the iPad 2 is officially sold out in stores.

Ebay is a different story, however, as the listings for iPad 2 have an average selling price of $1141 (for the 64GB WiFi models), being over 40% increase in the store pricing.

Apple itself is not helping the over-charging done by hopeful eBay sellers, with new stock not being available in Apple stores for around the 3-4 week mark.

Whats a desperate iPad 2-lover to do? Consult eBay and get bidding!

View the full article on Sydney Morning Herald here.

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Posted in Apple Mac, eBay, iPad | No Comments »