Category Archives: Tech News

Potential History in the Making for Conduit

Tech News, ,

The Israel start-up, Conduit, could soon make history.  That’s because they are currently negotiating a sale that would, if completed, be the biggest sale of an Internet firm in Israeli history.

Conduit is considered to be one of the most promising high tech companies in Israel.  Founded in 2005, they create platforms for browser toolbars and applications. Their products enable companies and individuals to create personalized toolbars, and their clients range from small stores to singer Rihanna, and even to the NBA.

Conduit has 250 employees in its Nes Tziona center, 100 of whom were hired just in the last year.  In 2010, they had revenues of $300 million

Conduit has turned down previous buyout offers, including one that was for $100 million.  They have an impressive 230 million users of their products. Shaul Olmert, the Chief Marketing Officer at Conduit, points out that this number represents half the number of Facebook users, and more users than those that use LinkedIn and Twitter.  He also points out that Conduit is more profitable than any of these other companies.

 

 

Mega-Marketing Millions: SEO Style

Economy, Japan, Tech News, , , ,

The way to go with marketing these days – if you want to be up with top technological techniques – is SEO. Japanese car manufacturer Honda, could learn a thing or two from this marketing method. It is using just one website for different selling points. For example, whether you were looking to buy a used car or were just thinking about maybe becoming a new customer. This made things very confusing since if you would put in a Google search for Honda, you would be sent to their primary site and then you would have to spend time roaming it before reaching your particular area of interest.

Honda Hails SEO Help

So how did the extremely successful and popular Japanese car manufacturer solve this issue? It brought in the SEO experts who developed a “one size fits all solution.” What they did was set up a section that just focused on used cars and then redirected all traffic to that. They then established a map based on the user’s location so that if someone from the Sacramento area was looking for a car, the map would provide them with a list nearby and then put that potential new customer in contact with the current owner.
Higher Hits for Honda!

Well, Honda couldn’t have been happier with the results! In just a few months following their SEO work, their search queries escalated “from tens to thousands.”

SEO, SEM and SES Success

It seems that if you want to be any kind of success in today’s Internet market, the following acronyms need to mean something more than just a few letters. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Strategies (SES) are today’s mandatory media tools.

Indeed, you just need to look at what’s been going on in India to have this theory proved. Figures for 2009-10 show that of the 785 crore* spent on online advertising market in the country, a staggering 368 crore of this was spent in the field of search advertising; this amount is expected to further increase for 460 crore for 2010-11.

So, no matter what business you are, if you want to market your product well and continue to grow, or to at least really start to put yourself out there, you could be well advised to become extremely familiar with SEO, SEM and SES.

*a unit in the Indian numbering system equalling ten million (10000000; 107), or 100 lakh.

Think Google? Think Quarterly

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There are magazines everywhere around the web these days.  No matter what your area of interest, you can probably find something to peak it.  Now the multi-billion dollar company Google has also jumped on the bandwagon, with the launch of its own quarterly magazine, attempting to create a “breathing space in a busy world.”
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Google’s magazine ‘Think Quarterly’ is a 68-page glossy focusing on business.  Using a Flash app, this aesthetically stunning production is designed by The Church of London (a creative agency).  Articles are based on business and technology topics, composed by various freelancers, as well as professionals in the field including,The Guardian’s ‘Datablog’ Simon Rogers and ‘WE Magazine’ editor Ulrike Reinhard.


According to Google’s managing director of UK & Ireland operations Matt Brittin, the thinking behind the magazine is simple: “At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten ‘killer application’ – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest… We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service…But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It’s a place to take time out and consider what’s happening and why it matters.”


Google will always be jumping on new ideas and ‘Think Quarterly’ is just one way for it to naturally advance in a fast-advancing Internet world.

Best Marketing Advice: Believe in Your Product

iPad 2, iPhone, Tech News, , , ,

Verizon iPhone 4 Versus iPad 2

We all heard about the craziness for the iPad 2 and how sales went completely out of control.  Apparently not so for the Verizon iPhone 4.  They did okay but it wasn’t “revolutionary.”  It was seen primarily as “just another iPhone 4” with Apple not participating so much in promotional sales, leaving it mostly to Verizon.  At the end of the day the marketing message was clear: “Verizon can’t market its way out of a paper bag.”

Verizon Not Hot on Marketing

It’s not really a surprise when you look at the company’s marketing history.  Even when it came to the Droid, it didn’t do that well and it had quite substantial opportunity since there were plenty of customers who would have settled for it over the iPhone 4.  Verizon should have jumped on the bandwagon and used iPhone for its marketing technique by selling it as an iPhone but ultimately it did quite the opposite and promoted the Droid as “the anti-iPhone.”  Well, that wasn’t going to satisfy anyone.

Learn Lessons Like a Politician

At the end of the day, to really be a success in marketing what you need to do is believe in your product.  Just like the British Labour Party in the 1980s kept trying to be a watered-down version of Thatcherism and that didn’t work, Verizon should have honed in on its own market and those who wanted its product.  Around 99 percent of Verizon’s customers are non-geek and so only required something that was like an iPhone (for a better price).  Indeed before the era of Verizon iPhone, AT&T’s iPhone was beating Verizon Droid sales by a staggering 2.5 to 1 which led to a total flop of Verizon’s Droid marketing.

At the end of the day, any marketing buff will tell you just how important it is to hone in on your own specific market if you really want to succeed in pushing your product.  Marketing Lesson 101 learnt: believe in yourself.

Microsoft Beats Apple But Doesn’t Tweet So Good

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While Microsoft just hit the 10,000 apps milestone with their Windows Phone 7 Marketplace quicker than any other competing store, it might not yet be quite time to celebrate.  Apple took 4.7 months to hit this number while Microsoft only took 4.5 month.  This has to be good news.

Gates Overtaking Jobs?

But perhaps it might be a little too soon for Microsoft to be celebrating.  The company made a possible recent mistake with the mixed response it received from the marketing tweet it put  out following Japan’s tsunami in an effort to raise funds for the country’s victims.  The idea was that followers would “retweet a message, with every retweet meaning that an extra $1 would be donated by Microsoft, up to $100,000.”

Gates Needn’t Break Out the Champagne Yet

So even though this week did see some good news for Microsoft, it has to be taken in perspective.   Even with its fast milestone achievement, other markets still have way more apps (Android at 200,000 and Apple at 300,000).  But still, good news is good news and there is cause for recognition of their milestone.  As long as Microsoft is careful with its marketing, the products should be able to speak for themselves and any charity the company chooses to give to might not want to use the events from Japan as part of the package. The message for Mr. Gates is thus clear:  let your products do the marketing for themselves.