Apple actions seem inexplicable — unless you understand how the company views the world |
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All big companies have their critics. But what’s interesting about Apple’s detractors is universal surprise. Their disappointment often stems from finding out that Apple isn’t the company they thought it was. So I’m going to do all you would-be critics a favor, and explain some fundamental aspects of Apple’s culture. Next time, you won’t be blindsided and confused. |
Policy advice doesn’t always have to come from the government - the Internet allows other interested parties to consult with stakeholders too.
Will innovative suggestions be stymied by inflexible IT systems? Accountants have plan to simplify small business tax
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With tax reform in the air, the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants has put up a set of proposals to radically simplify the taxation of small businesses. |
Tax is their biggest source of compliance costs and NZICA estimates its proposals could reduce them by up to a third. |
In the case of “micro” firms it proposes they pay income tax on their turnover at a 15 per cent rate. That would be the final tax and cover their ACC liabilities as well. |
The Inland Revenue, on the other hand, might take the view that simplification for small businesses, if optional, would just mean additional complexity for it and its creaky IT systems. |
It would also simplify cashflow issues around social policy systems administered by the Inland Revenue, notably child support, Working for Families tax credits and student loan repayments. |
New study provides opinions on the future of journalism - about 25 percent of all newspaper journalists will have lost their jobs between 2001 and 2009. Study pushes for net neutrality, new journalism models |
An all-star report calls for universal broadband availability and online community hubs |
| The wide-ranging study , released on Friday, calls for new ideas to share news and information, even as the traditional newspaper industry appears near death. |
“It is … a moment of journalistic and political opportunity,” the study said. “Information organisations, including many traditional journalistic enterprises, are embracing new media in unique and powerful ways, developing new structures for information dissemination and access. Political leaders and many government agencies are staking out ambitious agendas for openness. The potential for using technology to create a more transparent and connected democracy has never seemed brighter.” |
| The internet is “about creative destruction of that centralized model,” |
Social sites catch 90 per cent of Kiwi web users
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New research into New Zealanders’ internet habits has confirmed our obsession with online social networks and our growing trust of what we read on the web. |
A Research International-TNS poll of local internet users found nine out of 10 participate in social networks and more than a quarter have made a major purchase based solely on online product reviews. |
The findings show the internet has changed consumer behaviour over the past three years and marketers and retailers need to catch up, says Research International marketing director Jonathan Sinton. Read more at www.nzherald.co.nz |
Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges |
Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet. The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges cannot survive.
The real force for change is the market: Online classes are just cheaper to produce. Community colleges and for-profit education entrepreneurs are already experimenting with dorm-free, commute-free options. Distance-learning technology will keep improving. Innovators have yet to tap the potential of the aggregator to change the way students earn a degree, making the education business today look like the news biz circa 1999. |
This is a very good analysis of the strengths of the Apple business model. My thesis is two-fold. One, Apple has built a market position that enables them to simultaneously capture a broader swath of the media pie (namely, books and print media in general) AND delight consumers and book makers in the process. |
| Two, their history suggests that pursuing this path is strategic to them. |
The quick level-set is that Apple has created a rapidly growing 50M device footprint with the iPhone + iPod Touch.
They have done this by delivering a very dynamic platform (read: integrated hardware-software-services-tools) for end-to-end content creation, application development, distribution, and global reach, supported by deep application and media libraries, and a robust runtime space.
Equally impressive, their success is measured by having created a durable billing relationship with consumers to the tune of 100M credit cards on file (iTunes + App Store, Mobile Me). Read more at radar.oreilly.com |
Now there is no need to print, transport, house a book, until you need it. What will this mean in the future for the current publication -> book store business model? Google turns digital books into instant paperbacks
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| More than two million books in the public domain can be turned into instant paperbacks under a deal between Google and the company behind a high-speed book-printing machine. |
Like its name implies, the Espresso Book Machine can print and bind a library-quality paperback book with a full-color cover in about the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. |
“In a matter of minutes you can get a paperback book identical to one you can get in a store,” On Demand Books chief executive and co-founder Dane Neller said. “A 300-page book can be done in about four, four-and-a-half minutes.” Read more at www.nzherald.co.nz |
But will Apples iTunes change consumers over time, to accepting micropayments? Web users prefer subscriptions to micropayments, reveals poll |
The challenge of the Internet is pushing media business models to a tipping point. Read all about it online? It may cost you
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| With their advertising revenue drying up, newspaper publishers spent much of the spring and summer debating whether to cut off free online access to some of the material they run in their shrinking print editions.
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| A recent study by the American Press Institute found 58 percent of the responding newspapers are considering online fees. Of that group, 22 percent expect to introduce the fee before the end of the year. The findings drew upon 118 interviews of newspaper executives in the US and Canada. |
The conundrum facing publishers: It’s hard to figure out how much, if anything, readers will be willing to pay. Internet search engines and digital communication tools such as Twitter and Facebook ensure people still will be able to find and share plenty of free content. Read more at www.stuff.co.nz |
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Understanding Apple’s view of the world
