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Lisa Hronek Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
Apple, the company that never sleeps
While certain organizations can’t escape the spotlight at the moment (Toyota, the Vatican, Goldman Sachs), another company is enjoying the limelight as much as it can: Apple.
With the launch of the iPad considered a success, Apple appears to be on top of the world. While many within the company are celebrating a strong product launch, don’t assume that anyone is taking much of a break. Since the April 3, 2010 release of the iPad’s WiFi version, the company has been busy…to say the least. Apple plans to introduce a 3G version of the iPad in late April, but that’s hardly soon enough for admitted Apple fanatics.
Why don’t we discuss a few other impressive advancements from Apple?
Less than a week after the iPad release, Apple dropped the bomb that a new operating system for iPhones will be available to consumers as early as this summer. Not to mention that faster MacBook Pros will hit stores on April 13, 2010.
Add to that the recent buzz surrounding a patent application for 3D glasses, and Apple is poised to provide the public with enough tantalizing technological fare to leave them panting through the summer. The company is definitely unstoppable at this moment and consumers have a lot to look forward to in the next few months. Kudos to them.
Is Palm out for the count?
Already part of a very competitive market, Palm has its work cut out for it over the next few months. It’s attempting to add energy into the company’s sales, focus and branding. After worse-than-expected results for Q3 (a 19% decrease in shares to a 52-week low of $4.59), analysts are questioning if Palm’s stock price will hit $0 soon.
The company argues that despite high volume shipments to retailers, the product isn’t moving off the shelf because of lack of proper marketing and staff training. Palm is stating that retailers do not know the benefits of many of its phones, making it difficult to move product and in turn, change the downward trajectory in stock value. If this is the case, it seems education should be the key goal of Palm marketing and training, right?
It could be, however, that the product hasn’t fared well in comparison to other smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry) because it isn’t seen as a comparable product. How many consumers enter a phone retail location without an idea of the type of product they want? Not many, I’d assume.
So, is the issue an under-trained sales staff or that Palm hasn’t convinced the public that its product is superior to the top players in the market? If the company can’t do that, I agree with analysts that the company’s stock is going to continue to fall all the way to $0. The solution has to be in marketing and strategy, so hopefully Palm is revamping its strategy.
How people feel about financial services companies and social media
Most financial services companies are committed to the world of social media. But
what do specific groups think about financial companies on their social networking sites?
The older the respondent, the more likely they are to say that they use social networking only to connect with friends and family (70% of those 55+ vs. 50% of those 24 and younger). They are also more likely to say they ignore the advertising of financial companies (36% of those 55+ vs. 25% of those 25-34) and find it annoying (36% of those 55+ vs. 25% of those 25-34).
The good news is that these numbers do not tend to increase with income. The number of people who find financial advertising annoying actually drops off at income levels of $100k+.
So what does this mean? Financial companies may want to consider targeting by age on more specifically targeted sites. However, for social media overall, targeting by income will probably work best.
Offering coupons for local businesses like restaurants on social networking sites would be successful with 16% of consumers overall, but this drops off with age. The attractiveness of this incentive jumps substantially with incomes of $100k+. Providing incentives such as contests, promotional rates, etc. appeals to 11% overall. It similarly drops off with age but increases with income.
The percentage of respondents who agree that “the company donates to a cause I believe in” is an attractive incentive (8% overall), This drops off with age but jumps substantially with income over $100k. And the percentage who agree with the statement, “I feel more comfortable with a company after seeing it on a social networking site” (8% overall) drops off with age but is consistent across income groups.
I’m working on Mintel’s Social Media and Financial Services report right now (due to publish April 2010). I’ll keep you posted of other insights I find as I get deeper into the data.